The Athletic Football Show: A show about the NFL - What matters and what doesn't at the combine

Episode Date: February 23, 2026

The annual NFL Scouting Combine is part NFL convention, part week-long networking event, part exercise in backchannel communication, and part job fair. It's also the legitimate start of that year's NFL Draft season. So what matters and what doesn't at the combine generally, and the 2026 edition specifically? Dave Helman and Dane Brugler dig in on this episode of The Athletic Football Show's Building the Beast.Connect with The Athletic Football ShowBuy our merch! http://theathletic.lnk.to/tafsmerchYT: https://www.youtube.com/@TAFootballShowPodcasts: https://podfollow.com/the-athletic-football-show/viewX: https://x.com/TA_FootballShowIG: https://www.instagram.com/tafootballshowTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@tafootballshowDiscord: http://discord.gg/theathleticfootballshowCall us: 847-448-0701Email us: [e-mail]: Dave HelmanCo-Host: Dane BruglerExecutive Producer: Michael BellerVideo Producer: Katy DuffyAudio Producer: Michael BellerSocial Producer: Scott KrinchFollow Dave on Bluesky: @davehelman.bsky.socialFollow Dave on X: @davehelman_Follow Dane on X: @dpbruglerTheme song: HauntedWritten by Dylan Slocum, Trevor Dietrich, Ruben Duarte, Kyle McAulay, and Meredith VanWoert / Performed by Spanish Love SongsCourtesy of Pure Noise / By arrangement with Bank Robber Music, LLC Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to another episode of Building the Beast. I am Dave Hellman and today, Dane Brugler and I ran through our 2026 NFL Combine preview. If you're new to the draft, if you need a refresher, NFL Combine, one of the most fun, interesting events of the NFL calendar, the entire league, descending on Indianapolis this week for what is essentially the most important job fair of the year. It's a job interview for NFL prospects, searching for a team to draft them. It's a job fair for NFL GMs and coaches. This is where trade talks heat up. This is where the free agency market comes into play. Teams investigating their own players, players from other teams, the espionage,

the subterfuge, the information gathered in Indianapolis worth its weight in gold. Like I said, it's one of the best weeks of the NFL calendar. Dane and I took a look at it from the prospect portion. That is why everybody goes to Indies to look at guys on field, testing, interviewing with teams who might potentially draft them. So that's what we did. Took a look at what the Combine is, what you need to know about the advent itself. And of course, we walked through some of the most interesting players in this year's Combine with the most to gain. A loaded episode for y'all as we make our way to Indianapolis.

Let's get right to it. Well, Dane, I don't think it gets more on brand than this because we're doing another magic of podcasting tricks right now. We are recording this on Sunday afternoon so that the bulk of our staff can use Monday as a travel day. And you've still got some NFL combine material in your feed while we're all traveling to Indianapolis. Except, Dane, not only are you already in Indianapolis, you've already been there for like 24 hours. That's how jacked up you are and how attentive to detail you are. You get there before everybody else. Yeah, someone's got to turn the lights on, you know, get the spread ready.

But no, this is the most important week of the year for my purposes. I learn more this week than any other week. And it's really just the amount of resources that are here in one place for a six, seven-day period. All the scouts that are here, the coaches, the players. I mean, most of these players, I've talked to all these guys, but there's maybe 15, 20 that I haven't talked to yet. So it's important to get FaceTime with them. You know, I talked to Scouts throughout the year.

Some of them I haven't talked to since last combine. So it's good to sit down with them. You know, it's a coffee here, you know, meetup in the convention center there, all these different things that help me in my process and inform who these players are. So every minute of this week, Sunday to Sunday basically is full. It's a full schedule. And so there's a lot to get done.

But it's a really important part of my process, but also the process of these teams. Yeah, I think I'm glad you laid that out because I think I figured you out. But because if you talk to any of the old heads in this game, like you and I both know the legend Rick Goslin, who was so instrumental in turning the combine into an event. He was one of those people that started going. to Indy and the information that he was getting helped fuel draft news and turn this into

what it has become. And obviously, with more media showing up every single year and whatever the number is, like 1,200 people get credentialed for this thing, it's harder to get that access than it used to be. But the earlier you show up, the more time you have to set up meetings and run into people. So a tip of my hat to you, sir, that's very small. Well, we'll just get, let's give a brief history lesson on what the combine. So the combine, it really started in the mid-80s as a place for a centralized location for all the teams to get medical information from all these prospects. Instead of sending all these guys from city to city to city to get the full medicals, let's just do one central area.

And it really started in like 1982. And then it bounced around. It was in, uh, New Orleans for two years. It was in Arizona in like 1985. And then I think it was 1987 is when it moved to Indianapolis. And it's been here ever since. It'll be here for at least the next few years. And they keep flirting with, maybe should we take it on the road?

But I think everybody is pushing for it to stay in Indianapolis. It's logistically, it makes a lot of sense just for a central location for everybody coming around the country. you need a certain amount of MRI machines within a half mile radius. That's really important. So I think that and then just the way the city is set up, it's a convention city. And so it's just the accessibility is really works for everybody involved. So hopefully it stays in Indianapolis.

But the medicals, the interviews, central location for all these teams, that's what it was really about. And yet, to your point, in the late 90s, there were, you know, a handful reporters set up outside the hotel who would cover this thing. And now it's, yeah, it's well over a thousand credentials. Even when I started coming here in 2011 was my first year. So this is my 16th straight combine. But even back then, it was maybe like 200 credentials or so. And it's just amazing to see how it's grown since then. But the thing that gets everybody excited, you know, from a fan perspective, is obviously the players and the on-field stuff.

So, you know, there are basically four main groups broken up by positions. Each player is in Indianapolis for basically five days. Those days include like three days of interviews, three days of medicals. There's a pre-exam. There's a full medical. There's an ortho. And then those are the two main. areas. Like I said, the interviews and the medicals. But then the, and those two reasons or those

two areas are why the combine exists. So I think a lot of people say it's overrated. It doesn't matter. Those two reasons alone are why the combine's never going to go away. But obviously, the sexy part of this week is the on-field testing and the 40, the jumps, the shuttles, the position-specific drills. So the day before each prospect leaves, that's the on-field stuff. And that's what you'll see on TV. That's what get all the headlines. and there's value in that, you know, position by position. But it's, if we're going to rank why the combine's important, it's a distant third behind the medicals and the interviews for teams.

The, yeah, the very unsexy truth of the matter is having these medical facilities in downtown Indianapolis where you can send 319 prospects through a battery of tests as efficiently as possible without anybody really needing to get in a car or at the, very least without needing to drive more than two or three blocks. That's the real purpose of it. And teams are going to get to the bottom of medical stuff here over the next six days. A lot of it won't ever come to light. Occasionally, some of it does, obviously. Dane, I remember back in the peak of our time together before this show, Maurice Hurst's heart issue coming to light during the combine. Like that type of stuff will make it to light. But the vast majority of this stuff is for teams and

teams alone typically to know outside of the players themselves. And then obviously. It's funny you bring that up because I was just thinking about the other day. That was, gosh, I was, 2017 maybe. I don't even remember what year it was. But I remember you and I were sitting with Broadus. Broadus gets a tip about Maurice Hurst's heart issue. And I remember seeing Adam Schefter.

And I'm friendly with Adam. So I went over to Adam. I said, hey, did you hear about Maurice Hurst? He said, I just got it. And he's like, watch this. And he showed me. And he was putting his tweet together to send it out. And it's just funny how this whole thing, how it works like that.

Some of these players are, you know, their medicals are going to be a little more important than others in terms of they've got past injuries that we need to figure out, okay, they missed half the year. How are they feeling now? You know, that's a big part of this. But like you said, yeah, some of these guys played every, every game of their career. Like they're durable.

They didn't miss any time due to injury, but then they come here to the combine. We find out, well, actually, it's bone on bone and there's with his knee. It's, you know, there's an underlying condition that maybe we didn't know about. And so it's maybe the most nerve-wracking part of the combine is when we get that medical feedback for both the players and for teams. You know, teams, you know, they, it's just, it comes down to the medical, to the, to the doctors and whether or not they give thumbs up, thumbs down. The number of times that I have complained to my friends in the scouting world and been like,

why don't, why didn't you like my guy? Why did this guy slip to the third round? Why did this guy slip late into day three? Like, what's y'all's problem? He's a great football player. And they'll say, yeah, he is. And what you don't know is that this medical issue is a ticking time bomb. And we just weren't going to be the team to take a chance on that.

And sometimes that's for good reason. Sometimes players outperform that or prove people wrong about it. But I think it is the single biggest thing that gets accomplished here in Indianapolis and why I hope they never move it. I just think it makes it easier on the scouting in the NFL community. You got to bring up the interviews as well. This is the first opportunity for NFL teams to get FaceTime with a lot of these guys. Obviously the Senior Bowl as well. But this is a way bigger pool of players and underclassmen are invited to this.

this as well. I think it's a little bit overblown, like spending 15 minutes with select guys on three or four nights. I think on Monday and Tuesday night, as well as Wednesday morning and Wednesday night and Thursday morning and Thursday night, teams can meet with these guys. And it's like speed dating where you just get as many members of your organization in a room as possible and try to quiz these guys. Like I said, I think it's a little bit overblown. And I think teams are starting to reflect that. I saw one thing I wanted to make sure we hit at the top of this show. The Jaguars are not sending Liam Cohen and James Gladstone to the combine this year. Their head coach and GM, I think teams, it's not a coincidence to me that those guys are part of

the L.A. Rams operation. They both came from L.A. Teams having differing opinions on how valuable that stuff is. Their staffs are still going to be there, absolutely. But I think teams more and more are saying, yeah, I mean, 15 minutes in a hotel room with these guys doesn't need to be the end-all be-all for whether or not we draft them. Well, and yeah, and there's a lot of things that's part of that process. Like all the video or all the interviews are recorded. And so, you know, every scout, every part of the front office, the coaches, they'll have access to that. Even if you're not present at the Combine, if you're not in that meeting. but this is also the kind of the first impression for a lot of these guys in front of GMs and head coaches.

So, you know, it's important just to get FaceTime, even if it is only 15 minutes. You know, if you're a head coach and, you know, some backstory just in terms of where teams are in their process, they spent the last two, three weeks meeting and setting a preliminary board. So they have an idea of, you know, they're not trying to bite off, you know, more than they can shoe and interview all 319. Actually, it's 318 now because Isaiah World is not going to be here, as I reported this week. Had the ACL, just had the surgery. They decided, you know, he needs to stay off his leg. It's not worth kind of parading him around. You know, he'll go back for medical rechecks. It's a bummer for him. But I understand why they made that decision. So anyways,

318. So teams have the preliminary board of this is who we're looking at. This is, you know, who we need to make sure and talk to. And sometimes guys can really help themselves in those meetings. I remember it was, I think it was Devin Witherspoon. After his meeting with the Seahawks, I think they were kind of like, all right, that's our guy. Because he was just so dang impressive with the way he carries himself and, you know, his knowledge, his intelligence, but also his, how genuine of a person that he is and how that carries over to the field. And so meeting with the head coaches and the assistant coaches and, you know, there's a lot of prep that goes into it.

It's not just, you know, when these players and these prospects are training for the draft, it's not just speed training and, you know, the 40 and the vert and all that. It's, it's interview training and just understanding the kind of questions that are going to come at you. So you are able to think on your feet and have the answers that teams are looking for. One last thing I do want to hit before we get into some actual prospects. You mentioned the on-field. I do agree it's the third most important thing. It's overblown. People call it the underwear Olympics.

But one thing I've always appreciated about working with you, you were one of the people that taught me what matters at the NFL combine. And so we all know the 40-yard dash is going to take up a lot of oxygen on NFL network and ESPN this week. I think people talk a lot about benchbring. press and whatever the hell else we do here, it doesn't all matter. But some of it matters a lot. And I was hoping you could give me your personal rundown. I fixate on the three cone because of what it says about change of direction and fluidity for players. But give me your personal

rundown of what matters for who when you're watching this coming week. Yeah. And the three cone is absolutely my favorite as well. C.O. Bracado, legend. Gary Scout, you know, one of my mentors created it. You know, it was he wanted to come up with a drill that really showed ability to redirect and change directions at a quick pace. And regardless of position, I think it really is relevant for every position. So that's, that's something I care about for, you know, across the board. For position by position, it really, it really depends. You know, for for linemen i want to see you uh you know just your movements and i think i love about especially with lineman is i love it when guys are grouped together so like spencer fano

monroe freeling they won't be exactly back to back but they'll be close so it's just oh one after the other you can tell the one movement and you have an immediate reference point to compare it to the next guy and i remember going back to one of my first combines like 2013 It was Eric Fisher, Luke Jokul. Everyone was talking about Luke Jokal being the number one overall pick that year. I remember being right there watching those guys work out, watching Fisher move and then watching Jokul move. I remember walking out of Lucas Oyo and saying,

Eric Fisher is going to be the number one pick. BU is so much more impressive as a mover. The movement skills were fantastic. And so I think that that immediate reference point, comparing each one of these guys back to back, is something that across the board, no matter what the position, is really important to watch.

I love the gauntlet. That's one of my favorites, tight ends, receivers, just to see their ability how natural it is to stay calm, no panic on that straight line, catch the ball, not a lot of movement once the ball hits their hands, and then the ability to get upfield. So there's a lot of position-by-position-specific drills that matter, but the gauntlet is probably my favorite.

in terms of breaking down the past catchers and how cleanly they're able to do that. I love the DB version of the gauntlet where you just have to flip your hips as many times as you can because that just feels like one of those drills that's going to expose you. And that's what I'm looking for.

40-yard dash definitely matters for backs, receivers and DBs, I suppose. But yeah, the three cone, the shuttles. I feel like people have really become hip to what shuttle can mean especially for like offensive linemen and guys like that like you said change of direction from a standstill that is the stuff that i am paying attention to more so than than the made for tv events i guess and it's like okay for guys that want to for anybody out there who wants to be a scout

i would go into this if you've watched these guys go into this with with expectations you know you've watched uh carnell tape uh you've watched this tape at ohio celsius state, you know, make a mental note. What do you think is 40-yard dashes? And then when he actually runs the 40-yard dash, if it was a lot better than you thought, okay, then maybe you need to go back to the tape and say, okay, what did I miss? Or if it was maybe worse than you thought, same thing. Have expectations going into this.

So you can kind of maybe go back and adjust because that's what the combine is one big cross-checking exercise. It's not meant to, oh, okay, well, all of a sudden, he's, He wasn't fast on tape, but he ran fast in shorts. And so all of a sudden, I'm going to bump up his grade by a round. That's not how it works. It's more of a cross-checking exercise where if a guy drastically performs outside of what you thought based off of what the tape says, then you have to go back to the tape and figure out,

okay, what am I missing? Maybe I watched too many tapes earlier in the year when he was banged up and then later in the year when he was healthy, it looked a lot better or vice versa. And so there's a lot of different ways that, you know, you've, can maybe misinterpret things on tape that shows out in the testing. It's just a matter of getting to the bottom of that. It is a very informative week in the NFL and some of it is overblown. The vast majority, in my opinion, not so much though. Like if you know what to look for, I think this can be a very useful week. We're going to dive into it deeper. We'll take an early break

and we are going to work through players at every position that we are excited about what's in front of them this week in Indianapolis right after this. All right, Dane, we laid out what's happening, what's at stake in Indianapolis. Let's talk about the prospects themselves, the guys that will be working through this week in Indianapolis. It is a little bit tricky in this day and age. Guys are more likely to sit out of certain things or opt not to do things. So I'll call it a moving target.

We know some of this ahead of time, but things tend to crop up over the course of the week. So let's keep that in the back of our minds. But let's just work through this position by position. And at the big money position, we do fortunately already know Fernando Mendoza is not going to work out in Indianapolis. He's going to save that for Indiana's Pro Day, which I actually appreciate. I think Mendoza's doing it to raise the spotlight at IU Pro Day for his guys, which is cool. It also raises the spotlight in Indy for the guys who have more work to do. Fernando Mendoza is going 1-1 to Las Vegas.

I'm confident of that. we don't know what the hell's going to happen with tie simpson with garret nussmire and i'll even throw in one more name for you dane i'm very intrigued this is the time on the calendar where i'm ready to see what's going on with drew aller and i don't know what that means if he's physically available to work out but again we talk about the medicals this is a guy whose season was ended by injury this is a big step in the process for him to find out where he is from a health standpoint so simpson and nussmire i would assume are going to workout and indie. I don't know for sure about Aller, but I'm, I'm ready to start hearing things about Drew Aller. I think all three of those guys could stand to gain a lot from what's going

on this week at the Combine. Yeah, and I'll throw another name in there too. But first, yeah, I think Ty Simpson is the one who has the most to gain from this week. I mean, what's his draft range right now, if you had to guess? Like, it could be what? Anywhere between the 13th pick? and the 60 third pick? I was going to say 12. I was going to say 12, but yeah, somewhere, somewhere between. I think the Rams are 13, I believe. The Cowboys obviously at 12 aren't taking him.

So that's why I said 13. But you never know who's actually going to pick 12. Absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah, somewhere right after the top 10. And then I'd be surprised if he's still there at the start of the third round. That's about all I got.

No, and that's exactly kind of what I was thinking. And that's a wide range. There's a lot of places in that range where he could fall. And it really just comes down to what do you think Ty Simpson is as a pro? Is he a – some teams see him as a high-level backup. Some other teams see him as a low-end starter. Others see it a little bit clearer or a little more optimistic and say this could be a mid-level starter by the time that he's done developing.

You know, I just – he's a guy with 15 starts. And so I think he's really going to impress during the interview process. This is a guy that has, he's really been receiving a quarterback education his entire life growing up on a college campus as part of a Division I program with his dad. But there's just a lot of things on tape where he just, he hasn't seen enough live reps yet. Yeah, he did it in college. But between his final, or in high school, but between his last high school touchdown pass and his first. college touchdown pass, it was like a thousand, four hundred days.

Like it's just there was such a big gap in there where he didn't see live reps on the field as a starter. And that's, there's a development piece missing. And so that really causes some unknown in terms of his projection. And so how much can he answer this week? I think he'll crush the interview process. I mean, you're just to even get the verified for his size. That'll be, he's not the biggest guy.

And so just seeing how big he is will be something. And then how does the ball come off his hand? And again, I mentioned it with the offense alignment, but with quarterbacks too. See how that ball pops off his hand, one guy after another. That's something that is a really good reference point. I'm really glad you said that. Shame on me. A big part of Combine Week that I forgot to mention.

One of my favorite parts, we get official measurements on all of the biggest names in the draft. And we have them for a lot of guys already. Yeah. But we can really fill in the gaps here. And there's no more guessing. There are still some guys that are like hiding behind their college measurements. And that ends starting tomorrow. And I can't wait to finally know arm lengths and hand size and wingspan and height and all that good stuff.

It's very, very, it just makes it less tedious and less like a guessing game. Yeah. And for some, it matters more than others, obviously with offensive line and arm length. I remember at this time last year, it was all about Will Campbell and would he get to that 33 number? And look, there will be some different numbers from the Senior Bowl, from the Shrine Bowl to the Combine to the Combine to the Pro Days. And some teams, they take the average. Other teams just take your best. You know, if you were 32 and a half at the Senior Bowl, but 33 inches at the Combine, they're going to take 33 inches.

They're going to give you that benefit of the doubt. So that's, but that's definitely a big part of this. I don't think we're going to see Drowler do anything. You know, I don't know, he's not ready for that yet. It feels a little early in my, yeah, like that would have been my guess. Hopefully we see him get out there and throw before the draft. That's the hope. But, you know, by the time he's healthy, how much training will he have had by that point?

How much rust will there be? So hopefully this week will have maybe some more clarity on when we'll see him actually throw the ball. Nussmeyer, like you mentioned. And then I'm also really. interesting to see Cole Payton, North Dakota State, who is going to be one of the more intriguing quarterbacks in this class. Another one-year starter, just like Ty Simpson. He actually has fewer starts, only 13, and they all came at the FCS level.

And so it's kind of like a double whammy there. But he's a big guy. He's going to come in at 230-ish pounds. He's going to run in the four-fives. I think the athletic testing is going to be really impressive. Remember, like over the summer, Scouts were talking about him as a possible tight end convert before he had a really productive

senior year of quarterback. So I'm eager to see how he throws the ball, how consistent he can be. Senior Bowl was up and down for him. But also more context with that, he broke his thumb on his throwing hand in the last game of the year. He just started throwing a couple of days before the senior bowl.

And so that's important context. with his performance there. And so how he looked this week at the combine. There's a lot of, like, I would have a hard time taking him before, like, maybe the fourth round just because there's so much missing from his development that he's just going to take time. And he's kind of in that weird spot in the middle where he needs more reps, but he's not near ready to face NFL competition.

So it's kind of like, he's one of the rare cases where he really, like, you want to give him credit for staying put. and because he went to North Dakota State because they were losing Trey Lance and it's like, oh, I'm going to have a chance to go on the field. But then Cam Miller was in the program. He was a four-year starter. And so he was a four-so, Cole was a backup for all these years. Finally got a shot.

You see a ton of potential. He's a true dual-threat quarterback, good size, good athlete, but can also, you know, push the ball downfield, really aggressive passer. It's just he's almost like he would be perfect for if NFL had some type of minor league system outside of college. And so this will be a big week for Cole Payton to kind of stake his claim about being a top five quarterback in his class. It's so true. Developmental quarterback sound really exciting until you remember that it's hard to develop guys while you're trying to win games in the NFL. I love the added wrinkle. I mean, you see this a little bit at the senior

bowl as well, but the added wrinkle for quarterbacks and pass catchers at the combine where you just get dumped onto the field that Lucas Oil and assigned to a group. And it's like, all right, go look good with this guy that you, like, these guys, you don't know, you're catching the ball from a quarterback you've never played with. You're throwing a receivers you barely know anything about. And so it doesn't mean everything. But if you can look good doing that, especially as a guy who's trying to prove something, that carries a little extra weight for me.

I mean, two of the worst passing performances I ever saw at the Combine. in 16 years doing this came from national champion winning quarterbacks. Cam Newton, it was terrible. And Will Howard last year was awful throwing the football. But, you know, you don't put too much into it. At the same time, C.J. Stroud was one of the best that I ever saw during a combine workout for a quarterback. And him and Smith and Jigbo were just unbelievable during workouts.

And so not a shock that they were drafted where they were. And obviously have been produced. Dr. Pros. Let's move on to running back, which we know the score, Jeremiah Love, RB1, Jedarian Price somewhere not far behind him, but like outside of those two guys, and maybe you don't even like Price as your RB2, but outside of the Notre Dame guys being very widely liked, it feels like a big opportunity for pretty much everybody else. So I'll just throw it to you. I have a couple guys I'm intrigued by, but I'll throw it to you as far as, as guys that might be able to step up and stand out this week.

Yeah, and I'm interested to see Price and what numbers he can put out there because I think he should test well. That's part of his appeal. And he also, he had an Achilles earlier in his career, so just making sure the medicals are good with him. The guy outside of those two that I'm probably most excited to watch is Mike Washington from Arkansas,

who had a good week at the Senior Bowl. And he's a bigger back, but I think he'll run well. I mean, I wouldn't be surprised if he's able to be somewhere in the four-fours and be impressive at that size in the way he moves. I'm very curious what the narrative would be on Levi-on-Moss out of Texas A&M if he hadn't gotten hurt as early into the season as he did. I know he came back for the playoff game,

but that was after a two-month absence, not a whole lot of offense happening for either side in that game. game at the end of the day. And so I'm curious to see what he looks like, what the medicals say on him and just, again, having an opportunity. It's a guy that a lot of people were really high on. He looked really good. I don't think A&M's offense was quite the same after he got hurt last season. So I'm really intrigued by what he can do. And I will throw out another shameless plug for my guy Jonah Coleman, who I'm just, I'm going to keep riding with. I'm a little offended that people seem so low on him. Like, I think he's in the mix to be one of the top three running backs in this

class. But we'll see if he can prove me right with some good workouts. I really wanted to get up there with you on him. I just, I couldn't get there. It's a bummer. Nick Singleton, the Penn State running back broke his foot at the senior bowl. Because he would have been, this would have been his time to shine. Four threes and at that 220 pounds, the, the testing would have been fantastic. Unfortunately, just we were all robbed of being able to see that, which is too bad. Wide receiver, I struggled, I struggled to come up with juicy names here because I know exactly how I feel about the top guys.

I guess I would say Mackay Lemon from like a testing standpoint and a measurement standpoint, let's let's find out exactly how big this guy is and exactly how fast he can run. I think that'll be very interesting. Other than that, this maybe could be a week for Zachariah Branch. Like we talked about it a couple shows ago where it's like, okay, how good of a receiver are you? You weren't targeted downfield ever in Georgia's offense. This seems like a good opportunity for him to get out there and do the gauntlet and show off his hands, show off all that type of stuff. I don't know if he's going to do it, but I think it would be a good idea, yeah.

Well, and I want to see him track the ball over his shoulder because, you know, it's, he's used to screens and these quick hitters and being an underneath target. Okay, I want to see you track the ball over your shoulder and, you know, catch the ball downfield during these drills, something he just wasn't asked to do a ton of at Georgia. The name that I can't wait to see is Brennan Thompson. He's, when I watched his tape in December, after Mississippi State C. season was done and I sat down and watched his tape. It was like, okay, yeah, he'll run the fastest 40. There's no question about it. I mean, you watch him and he has, there's a jetpack on under his pads.

It just, you know, he erases pursuit angles like nothing. He will stumble out of his releases and still create two strides of separation. He should be somewhere in the four twos. Now, could he challenge for the record? I won't rule it out. I mean, anything in the four twos is remarkable. But if he's able to get close to Xavier Worthy in that 422, 421 range, look out, man. Thompson is small.

He'll probably be right around 170 pounds, 5-9. But when you can fly like that, and he's not just a speed guy. And he had over 1,000 yards in the SEC, led the conference in receiving. Would have had probably 2,000 yards if his quarterback was any good. So he is more than just a speed guy, but this is his chance to kind of really show. show off what he can do. So yeah, Brendan Thompson, easy pick for Fastest 40 this year. And, you know, a couple other guys that I am very eager to see test.

Kendrick Law from Kentucky. There's some Cadarius Tony there with the way he moves. It's just, it's really fluid. It's really fast. Acceleration's oppressive. Malik Benson was a 10-4 guy, a wide receiver from Oregon. Benson's interesting. He's on his fourth school, the last four years. It's not a polished. player, but you see these, especially vertically, you see these flashes where there's something

there. And so if you have a floor of a pretty good vertical receiver, that's something to work with that you can maybe hope he can develop into. Zachary Branch, that's a good name. He should be in the four threes. Dionne Burks from Oklahoma. He should be somewhere in the four threes. So, yeah, I think this is a receiver class.

And then honestly, I mean, I know, like, so. So in my top 100, Cardinal Tate, number one, and I don't, unless he runs a four, six, five, like, I don't, I'm not even going to consider, you know, dropping him or anything like that. What do you think he'll run? Like, what, what would you guess? Give me an over under. Four, five, four. Under. I'll be, I'll be surprised he's not in the four-fours.

I think he'll be, I think he'll be somewhere in the four-fours. And I think he's just, he doesn't come off or, you know, you know, you watch. him and you don't say burner, but you, he's so, those long strides are just so dynamic and he eats up grass so quickly. I think it will translate it to the 40. And so I'm expecting some one of the four-fours. Tate should, hopefully we see him do everything. I'm very eager to see because he's, he's tall, he's long. You know, what does he get over 200 pounds? I think he was listed at 195 maybe. So just interested in getting Tate and and lemon and just entice and getting those official measurements, that'll be important.

I got a name for you at tight end that I'm just shamelessly stealing from you. You put him on my radar in like October. Okay. I think Michael Trigg out of Baylor is a, like he's the type of guy that quote unquote wins Combine Week because he's just a big athletic freak and his potential measurements combined with what he might be able to do in a non-contact open field gauntlet sort of situation. I just, people love a freakish tight end who can make plays down the field, even if they'd have a spotty track record once they finally get drafted.

But I think he could be a guy that turns a lot of heads and makes people say, wait, who's this guy from Baylor? That's my pre-combine prediction. Wait so you see his measurements. because this guy, like he's like six, three and a half, uh, 250 pounds, but his arm length and hand size and wingspan are unbelievable. And he, like he, there will be plenty of offensive linemen saying, oh, I wish I had that. I wish my arms were that long.

I wish my hands were that size. Uh, it's, it's remarkable. And you see it on film, right? I mean, the way that he, it looks like he's catching Nerf balls. And, um, yeah, I'll be interested. see what how he works out the gauntlet just from a consistency standpoint um but yeah he is he's a freaky dude um i stowers from vanderbilt i'm very i think he's going to test really well um maybe even over 40 in the vert that's your guy you love stowers i yeah you do well i i i really

like the athlete and that's where i struggle with him i really like the athlete and i really like the past catcher. But okay, is he a, is he just an F? Is he like, I just, I don't know. I want to be, I hope I come away from Indy feeling stronger, more conviction about his, this is exactly what he is and what he can be in terms of his NFL role. But yes, I do really like him because, but the athlete that he is. Jaron Kanek, the Oklahoma, tight end.

I think he's, he was like a 10,600 meter guy. He's going to fly. So another, this draft is, there are more tight ends. I don't think we mentioned it earlier, but for those that don't know, Combine is invite only. It's not like anybody, any prospect can go. There were more tight ends invited, I think it was 27 tight ends invited this year. The average is like 18 or something like that.

So the amount of tight ends on day three is crazy. It's a loaded group. And so this will be, the Combine will be important. for all those guys in terms of just separating yourself. It's just those stacks are so crowded that one, you know, impressive outing in a certain drill or catching the football, it could really matter from team to team. And with the exception of Kenyon Sadiq, like after him,

it's like pick your flavor at tight end, right? Like you could come up with half a dozen names. Max Clare's awesome that, you know. Stack them in any order you want. Yeah. Justin Jolie's awesome. Jack injuries, we didn't get a chance to see enough of at the shrine. So hopefully he's, I believe it was a hamstring, just a minor hamstring injury.

But hopefully he's full go at the combine. But all those, yeah, all those day three guys, Nate Borkicker, Wilkak Merrick from Ohio State, Dallin Bentley, Sam Roush. I mean, there's a lot of these tight ends that are pretty good. Riley Nowakowski, my Indiana tight end. I want to see who can separate themselves from all those day three. projections. Let's wrap up the offensive side.

We can just, we'll just roll offensive line into one category. Who stands out to you on the offensive line? Well, I mentioned earlier how, you know, Spencer Fano and Monroe Freeling, how seeing those guys back to back. Like, I'm very eager to see just how these guys move in person. Caden Proctor should be impressive for a guy that will, I guess we'll find out how big he is. I think he was listed at 360.

So very eager to see just exactly what he comes in at. That's the type of guy where you get excited about the way and day where you're like, what are the numbers actually say? Right. Exactly. And so hopefully these guys are doing the shuttles. They're doing the change of direction drills just to see. I want to see how they move.

And some of the position specific stuff, the wave drills and, you know, just different things like that. You can see who's explosive, who starts to wear down. you know, that's, that's, that endurance part of this is pretty important. And I want to see among these centers, who can really jump out? You know, is it Jake Slaughter? Is it Zun from A&M? Sam Hesched from Kansas State. Hopefully we get an injury update on Connor Liu, who's coming back from the ACL injury.

How serious is the knee, or are we feeling good about that? So Parker Brailsford from Alabama should test really well. At least you should because that's kind of what you like about him is the athleticism. So hopefully I want to feel better about some of these centers and kind of, I don't think any of them are going to go top 75. Maybe one gets in there, but more likely we see them in that 76 to 125 range for the teams looking for a potential starting center this year. So you're telling me there's going to be a run-on centers on Friday. night into Saturday morning. That's that's the draft nerd shit I love to hear.

Real quick, one guy, we talked a lot about Max I, not sure, as a big senior bowl winner. Just intrigued to see if he can build on that and continue to sort of climb into that conversation with the upper rung tackles. I also wanted to ask you where you stand on Caleb Lomu right now, the other Utah offensive tackle. Bare minimum, I think he's a guy that, that looks the part.

And I think guys that look the part really do well for themselves at the combine. So I'm anticipating that that's a name we hear a good bit about this week. Where do you stand on him right now? Yeah, I think that's he should. I was told he's going to be testing and doing everything. So hopefully that's what happens. But that's what you like about him. He's a light framed tackle.

You know, very spry, very balanced in his movements. he recovers well. And so all those things translate to just being nimble in these drills. So the redirection, the foot quickness, that's something that should show in the results. And I don't like that's what we already know about him. So it's not like he's going to put up these numbers and, okay, let's vault him up the board because we already know about that. But it's still, it's something that was going to make you feel better about the evaluation. Because the things that you worry about, the play strength and the ability to get full,

extension control blocks. You know, that's something where he's, his youth shows. You know, he's a young player. He's a third year sophomore. He just turned 21 years old. So there's things about his physical profile in terms of controlling blocks, being powerful that he needs to get better at. It's the movement stuff, the athleticism that should,

that's why you're thinking about drafting him somewhere in the first round. And that's something that should show during the combine. All right. That wraps up the offensive side of the ball. we're going to hit on some defensive names that we are watching for at the combine right after one more break. It's been a theme all year, Dane. Edge Rusher is, if not the most exciting position in this draft.

It's definitely one of them. And there's no shortage of options of guys that you could get a close look at this week. I think from a measurement standpoint, I'm intrigued by a lot of these guys. Like the top edge rushers, I hope they all test. I'd be so excited to see how Arvel Reese runs everything and how he clocks in, what all his measurements look like. Keldrick Falk is another guy that seems like he should dominate an event like the NFL Combine. You could take this in a dozen different directions, in my opinion. Well, let's start with the Miami guys.

I want to see. Sure. Yeah, them too. Everybody in this position group is interesting. Oh, and there's no doubt about it. and, you know, the 10 yards split, you know, we mentioned a 40-yard dash, obviously, but for linemen, especially past rushers, you want to see that 10-yard split. How fast are they off the ball in that short area?

You know, Ruben Bain, we've talked about them all year, how he's a little bit polarizing because of the body type and the shorter arms. And so, you know, what does he come at with the verified measurements? You know, I gave what a scout gave me from his measurements, you know, from earlier in the year. You know, we'll see if those measurements change at all. I doubt it. But, you know, it's just the measuring tapes sometimes they're a little bit longer in Indianapolis. You know, who knew?

But I want to see, you know, Mesodor's kind of be labeled as that the older other Miami pass rusher. The on-field stuff, eager to see him. And then also just the medicals. He had passed injuries to both feet, and that was something that held him back as an underclassman. And so just making sure everything's okay, medical-wise, with Mezador, that'll clear his way to being a first-round pick. Cassius Howell, the A&M, past rusher, he's, his calling card is, it's not length, it's not power, it's movement skills, it's burst. And so that should play itself out during drills. But, yeah, I mean, to your point, hopefully we see all these guys work out.

out because there are some freaks in this group and some guys that should really impress. I'm going to, I'll do my best not to hold it against guys for not working out, right? Because like I appreciate players taking agency. If you want to wait for pro day, if you want to do it where you're more comfortable on a track that you're more familiar with, I'm going to do my best not to hold that against you. But like, I'll just, I'll be disappointed. There's no way around it. I'll be disappointed if we don't get to see the guys at the top of the list do stuff.

PSA for And I tell us to agents all the time Get your guy in shape so we can run Because this is a fast track And it's you just get it over with It's a fast track Do it get it over with And if you don't love what you did

You've got to plan B at your pro day To make it better And teams will take the better time If you're able to do it better at the pro day Not doing it here If you don't have a good reason Now some guys are banged up I get it

that happens. But if you don't have a good reason, you're just, you're putting all your eggs in one basket at the pro day. And it's just, I think you're doing yourself a disservice by being a healthy scratch for the combine, just my two cents. I would rather have the number on the board and be able to work for another month to improve it than, then put all of my hopes and dreams on the number at my pro day. Even if pro day numbers are typically more favorable, but even still, I'd rather just know if I need to work for something more over the next two to four weeks. But again, this is a fast track here in Indy. So even not every pro day numbers are better.

I mean, there are a lot of times where it's not. And so go work out here on this fast track and get it over with. And then you can just coast the rest of the way. Worry about going on 30 visits. Worry about, you know, just finishing strong instead of having to train so hard day and day out to run another 40. So hopefully we see a lot of those guys take that type of mindset into this week. I'm jumping back to earlier in the show, but I hope Carnell Tate and Mackay Lemon both run

and do all this stuff. And I mean, Tyson can't do it if he's dealing with his injury, but it would have been must see TV to have all three of those guys trying to post their best number at the combine. Hopefully the same can be said for the edge rushers. Detackle. I'll just keep being a caricature of myself. The medicals on Caleb Banks are very interesting to me. I know, I mean, he was at the Senior Bowl.

I get it, but teams are still going to be taking a close look at him with all the medical testing and stuff like that. That's probably the most interesting thing here for me. I talked to him this week and he's going to work out. Let's go. Yeah, he's excited. I'm in. He's really got a good head on his shoulders, the way he approached.

things. He wants to show what he can do. And it's kind of like making up for lost time because he and it's fascinating because he never played football until he got to high school. So like there's a lot of development that's still happening with him. And like the senior year, that was supposed to be launch point. And of course we know it just didn't happen. And in reality, he should not have come back from that injury. Like, and everyone was telling him not to. Like Florida's not good. the record's bad. He didn't care. He said, I just wanted to finish strong.

That's the type of guy I am. And so he worked his butt to get back for like the final two games, plays in the senior bowl. And at the senior bowl, you saw him get better every single game. Thursday was his best week or day of practice week. And he wants to continue that momentum here in Indy and kind of, like I said, just make up for lost time and show why, you know, he should be in consideration for being that first defensive tackle drafted.

Give me a reason. Caleb. I never lost faith, buddy. I'm ready. I am ready to beat the drum. That 2024 LSU tape will always have that. 2024 Florida season. He's a wrecking ball, dude. He's, he's 6-6, 335, 35-inch arms.

It's just, it's hard to find those guys. He benefits from the planet theory. There's only so many people on this planet that look like him and move like him. And that's something that teams are always going to be intrigued with. And so, yeah. But to your overall point, this is a big week for him. And I think he's really excited to get after it. Moving to linebacker, you know, we talk about not overreacting to on-field testing results.

And that's just one item, cross-check, all that very responsible stuff. I look at a guy like Jacob Rodriguez. And I feel like this, this is a guy where it matters a lot, like how you measure, how you test. And I'm not trying to hate on the guy. he's a phenomenal football player, but there is a category of player where teams are going to be looking at you saying, okay, how fast are you really?

How well are you moving? And if you don't meet certain thresholds, it can very negatively impact your draft stock. And Jacob Rodriguez seems like a name very worth highlighting in that regard. Watching him move at the senior bowl up close in person, I'm a little, excited to see how he can test.

Like I was a little bit worried just watching his tape, not worried like he's a bad athlete, but he wasn't going to post numbers that were super impressive. But watching him in person, I don't know. I've got a little more optimism for what he could be. Well, the counter to that is, and I hope you're right,

because that testing and athletic ability is the only thing holding anybody back on this guy. And if he can shut that up, then now we're talking about a totally different caliber of draft grade. So I would be very excited to see that. I mean, in my top 100, I gave him a nice little boost after seeing him up close and personal at the senior bowl. I mean, he got, he's what, 64th in my top 100. So he went from a late third to kind of like a late second, early third for me. And I, you know, and that's kind of factory in already.

him moving better than I expected. So big numbers aren't going to make me vault him up too much more. But yeah, this is like to your point, this is a chance for him to really impress. And so that, hey, yeah, remember, I was a former quarterback, dual threat quarterback. And, you know, I'm a good athlete. And because, yeah, there's a lot to sell with Rodriguez with his instincts, the way the ball just finds him. So, yeah, that's a good shout. Jake Golday from Cincinnati, very eager to see him.

You know, he's been in my top 50 since September, but he pulled out of the Shrine Bowl. So we haven't seen him in like two months. He's a freaks guy, Bruce Feldman's Freaks list, 6-4-240. If he comes anywhere close to the numbers from the freaks list, he was like a 154-10, 107 broad, 36-inch vert. The shuttle was outstanding. So Gold Day could be a guy that at 64-240, big guy should be able to put on a show. Sunny Stiles. Hopefully we see him work out. Same thing with Orville Reese. Those guys are just freaks and being able to show what they can do. That would be a lot of fun to watch.

Kyle Lewis from Pitt, undersized. You worry about the take on, you know, worry about him in a crowd. But the athleticism, the open field speed and quickness, that's something that is his calling card and something that should show in the drills. I really hope Sunny Stiles puts on a show. And a lot of times, like on the outside, you're behind teams anyway. Like, teams already know how they feel about these guys for the most part. But Sunny Stiles could put on the type of show where everybody watching is like, okay, this guy is going to be a top 10 draft pick.

And NFL teams might be like, well, he always was. Like, what are you talking about? But running well and testing well at the combine can just sort of, shut everybody up and make that more of a consensus opinion than it might have been. Sorry, I'm just thinking more about like talking about Rodriguez and the whole concept of quote unquote risers this week, you know, it's interesting because it's one of my favorite topics around this time of year. Well, it's like I don't think it happens a ton, but at the same time, like I can go back

in my text messages and read texts from scouts. and they mention it. Like they say, oh, yeah, he could be a riser. Or, like, like, so, like, NFL teams talk about it. And so even though, like, it really isn't that much of a thing and shouldn't be that much of a thing, it still kind of is a thing. And so it is. I think it's, I think it's like, it's like perception is reality almost.

You know, like we have, we have a mountain of evidence that suggests Sunny Stiles is this freakish player that should go at a certain point in the, draft like top top 20 for sure potentially even higher than that and if he were to go out there and just put up wide receiver numbers in all of his workouts then it's just then there's it's just one more thing that you can't deny and sort of pushes it over the edge where like not everybody's going to go watch 800 snaps of sunny styles but if you combine what you've seen of them as a player with an undeniable workout then i just think it pushes it over the edge it's it's a very interesting topic because I think you're right. Scouts talk about like Scouts will mention that too,

but scouts are also the first ones to say, you know, I'll text a scout during Combine week and be like, holy shit, Sunny Stiles ran this 40. Like he's going to go in the top 10. And scouts love to text you back and be like, you're just finding that out. Like you just now learned that about Sunny Stiles. And I'm like, okay, no, but it was still impressive to watch. It's a very fun cat and mouse game at this time of year. What I think part of it too is like you're saying, perception's reality and the kind of expectation that, oh, this guy ran what? Okay. Well, someone's going to take him in a top 20 now.

You know, like even though I'm not changing my grade, somebody's going to because it was that impressive of a workout. Yeah, it's that that is an interesting part of it. One more linebacker to mention, Jack Kelly from BYU. He's got a fascinating backstory. He was a national champion BMX racer at the age of five. and he's going to he should test pretty well at least in the 40 and the vert i want to see what a three cone is i want to see the change of direction but the explosion drills he should be pretty good

i will posit to you dane cornerback might be the position with the most quote unquote at stake in this entire combine and that's because two of the top guys have a lot to gain this week mansour Delane, the knock on him going all the way back to August. August is testing and how big are you, how fast are you, how good of an athlete are you? You can quell some of those concerns with a big week from him. And then obviously Jermad McCoy, the most talked of prospect that we haven't seen, which, hey, if you miss all of 2025 because of an injury, medical week at the combine is a big week for him as well.

So those two guys, I don't want to say the narratives are bad because people are high. on both of these guys, but there are very big questions about both of them, and they both have a chance to answer them this week for different reasons. Right. And McCoy is, I have not heard what he's going to do, what's the extent of what he can do. Obviously, the medical is first and foremost, just making sure the knee's okay. And then I don't know how long he's been training to even be available to be a full participant at the combine.

Those are variables for me that I, I, I, don't know at this point. So very eager to see McCoy and what he does or doesn't do. Mansoor Delane, I think it's more of a threshold thing with him. Like, he doesn't need to go run a 4-3 to verify that he's a top 12 pick in this draft. I do think he needs to get under like a 4-4-8. If he's somewhere in the 4-5s, maybe that does disqualify him because he's not a big guy. He's going to come in right around 5-11, right around like 190 pounds.

His arm length will be under 30 and a half probably. So he's not big. He's not long. And if you don't have maybe that speed component at a position that's a stopwatch position, that will create some doubt for some teams who have very strict thresholds about what that position needs to be to draft you in the top 15, which I understand. I'm not saying that's crazy. Does he have the best tape of any corner in this draft?

Yes, he does. but just hitting certain thresholds will be important for Mansour Delane. You don't have to be fast, but you can't be slow. And I would say corner is the position. Receiver to receiver also, but to a lesser degree, corner is the position where I'm locked on your 40 time. And yeah, like as long as Delane comes in under four or five, I'm turning that card in.

I don't give a damn. But if it's higher than that, then I'm like, oh, do I need? to be, do I need to be worried that there's just enough, there's just too much working against him to ignore at that point? I think Brandon Cese, South Carolina, this should be a big week for him, four threes, 40 inch in the vert. DeAngel Pons, Indiana, he should be, he's a former 100 meter state champ in high school, 200 meet state champ as well. So he should test pretty well, even though that size is going to be not exactly what you want under 30 inches arm length, under 5-9.

So the speed, the athleticism, the positional drills, that'll be pretty important for DeAngel Pons. Safety, I'm going to steal another one of your guys. And again, I think when I was looking at this, I was just thinking, who is the NFL community at large going to be talking about when Combine Week is over? Emmanuel McNeil Warren has been on your radar for a long time. But at 6.3 with almost 33-inch arms, if this guy steps out and has himself a nice week at the combine, I think he's going to be on freaking everybody's radar as just a freak darling.

So I'm excited to see if he can pull that off. This happens every year where I love a guy and then everyone goes past. me with the love and it's like oh i i still love them but you know like people are just a little bit further than i i can go nobody likes even keeled in the draft community day you either got to love him more than anyone or think he can't play those are the options yeah but you're right he's going to be six three and a half 210 pounds um i mean i would guess he's going to run four four five three um something like that, which is awesome for a safety. You know, he's a good kid, too.

I've really enjoyed talking to him the last six months or so. Dylan Theanaman, Oregon, I think he's going to be really impressive during the drills. He's going to be right at 6 foot 205 around there, but the speed, I will see if he can get in the four threes. He's going to test off the charts. And so the safety conversation with Caleb Downs, which, Caleb, Hill of Downs would be interesting too, because he's not going to blow anybody away with the physical traits. He'll be fine, size, speed.

I think he'll be just okay. He'll hit certain thresholds, like not, he won't be below average, but he won't blow anybody away. But the intimate has a chance to really knock some socks off. So does McNeil Warren and some of these other safeties as well. So it's a really good safety group this year. You're going to see Genesis Smith, the safety from Arizona. Yeah, he's a horrible task. Tackler is just say it, say it what it is. But he's, if you're looking for that true centerfield

skill set, that's what he brings. And I think that he has a chance to test well this week. So, yeah, overall, it's a good safety group that I'm eager to see kind of get out there and move around. You are one of the most diplomatic people I know. So I have to go watch this tackling for you to give, for you to give that review. I'm going to, he's going to, he's jumping to the top of my list. their business decisions are made you know like it's just it's it's tough because you have to it really will test your um just how much you're willing to stomach a finesse safety for a guy that has range has ball skills again that true centerfield skill set it's going to really force you to figure out just how much you're able to give in terms of tackling because he he's just he's too passive in that area

for what you want to safety. And he needs to get better. But I think that if he's able to go out there and test like he's capable, that's going to give him the benefit of the doubt. And remember, Kaelan Bullock from USC who fell to the mid-third round? And he's had a pretty good career so far. He was phenomenal this season for Houston. Well, and obviously he went to a really good spot where he's playing on an all-star defense.

And that helps. You know, if you're the. seventh best player on your defense and not the third, you know, like that, that makes a big difference. And so that, that helps him. But he's also more the exception to the rule. And so can Genesis Smith be that same type of guy? You know, I guess we'll, we'll see how this week plays out. That wraps it up for guys that are in Indianapolis. Before we get out of here, I did want to ask you if you have a handful of snubs that you were offended, did not make the invite list. And then, you know in a couple months we can point back and say NFL what are you doing listen to dane bruegler

there weren't any like um where i was offended um but a couple of guys that i like performed really well at you know all-star games uh as a bummer and i can be able to see him here like uh landed robinson the defensive tackle from navy undersized but that guy can play um our john carroll receiver tired montgomery uh who turned heads at the senior bowl um but you know the the combine is It's just without going too far into it, it's voted on by representatives from everybody that's part of the National Scouting Service, all the teams. They vote on players that should be here at the Combine. And so sometimes guys don't get enough votes and they don't clear that mark. And so they don't get invited.

But I will say there's a lot of times guys don't get invited. And some teams do a little fist pump. You know, they want to keep them. little under the radar, a little bit off the beaten path. Like, you know, we don't, we don't want you getting blown up too much. And, you know, whether that's, you know, unfortunate for the kid, but at the same time, you know, teams still really like some of these players. And, you know, not being at the combine doesn't close any doors by any means. What a, what a business where you're, you're actively rooting against this guy's opportunities because you love him so much.

Right. Fantastic. What an industry. All right. That does it for us. Dane, I will see you soon. I'm leaving for Indianapolis in the morning. Cannot wait to see you. Cannot wait to talk more ball. Talk about what's actually happening. We'll have some results to go over. And who knows, maybe we'll split a shrimp cocktail. Looking forward to it, man. I appreciate you. We will chat with y'all soon.