The Herd with Colin Cowherd - The Favorites - NFL Combine with Matthew Freedman

Episode Date: February 25, 2022

The first event of the NFL offseason begins on March 1st in Indianapolis, as NFL coaches and executives gather for the annual NFL Combine. Agents and more than 300 draft-eligible players descend on the Hoosier State, jockeying for draft position through a gauntlet of physical and mental tests. Together Chad Millman and Simon Hunter of the Action Network discuss the betting implications of this annual talent showcase, and are joined by NFL Draft expert (and former Action Network stalwart) Matthew Freedman of FTN. They cover top pick and first QB props, who has the most to gain in Indy, Kenny Pickett's thumb and so much more. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Learn more at COVID-19.ca.gov. Brought to you by the California Department of Public Health. The Favorites podcast is presented by Fandual Sportsbook. There's no better place to make every moment more than with Fandual. I bet with Fandual, because they're safe and secure. They offer great odds and markets across the NBA, NHL, and more. And because it's fun to combine multiple bets, into same game parlays.

So if you're new, just download the Fanduil Sportsbook app to get started now. Sign up with promo code favorites so they know I sent you. You must be 21 and over in present in Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Indiana, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, or Louisiana. Gambling problem. Call 1-800 next step or text. Next step to 53342 in Arizona. 1,800 gambler or visit fanduel.com slash RG in Colorado, Indiana, New Jersey, and Virginia. 1-88-7-8-8-8-9-7-77 or visit c-cpg.org slash chat in Connecticut,

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But Combine is coming up. Aaron Rogers' speculation has us all on high alert. I am going to be joined by the one that got away. In addition to Simon Hunter, professional better, my BFF, my companion, my compadre, still on his world tour of God knows where. Matthew Friedman, chief strategist at FTN, former Action Network analyst,

draft genius, the man who originated the draft coverage for the Action Network is joining us on the podcast today. Simon, how excited are we to see Friedman? We're so excited, Chad. And I didn't realize how excited you were to hear a story about a fan of yours in Cuba. I don't know what you're talking about.

I would never twist your arm but tell people in public a story about when someone recognized me from another country? No, you would not. Someone named Chad would not do something like that. No way. But yes, Chad, the rumors are true. We have fans in the Middle East.

We have fans all over the world. We even have a fan in Cuba, which people wouldn't believe it. They use satellites to get internet and get music, podcasts, everything you can think of from America. Hearing a Cuban person talked about liking Chad and how they went out of their way to smuggle a book from America that Chad wrote so they could read some of your writing, Chad, was truly alarming. Chad Milman wrote a book. Which fun fact, people doesn't know, Cuba has the most literate country in the entire world.

Like, it was shocking hearing a Cuban talk about his love for Chad, his writing and his gambling knowledge. There was a lot to take in, Chad. Doesn't sound shocking to me at all, Simon. I'm surprised you would tell that story. That comes out of nowhere to me. I'm so glad you would spontaneously share that. We're definitely not going to clip this and put it on YouTube.

There's no way we would do something that's shameless, and I probably won't text it to everyone in my family. I feel like Friedman should be disappointed that he decided to ditch the Action Network where he could have been working with someone who's known worldwide. I don't know, how many people at FTN, Friedman, are known, have fans in Cuba. First of all, I just want to say,

I previously thought that all Millman books should be banned. Now I no longer think that, given that they are spreading the good news in Cuba. Chad, thank you for the wonderful introduction. Although I want to say, I'm not just the chief strategy officer at FTA. By the way, great title. Sounds impressive, but no one knows what it means. So they don't expect anything from me. But not just the chief strategist at FTAN.

I'm also the former one-time fill-in host of the favorites podcast. While you were off last summer, gallivanting around the country, Simon Matt Mitchell and I were holding down the fort and it was probably the greatest episode the show has ever had. Simon won't say that because I imagine he still has a performance review coming up. But he knows it's true. Also, Simon, great job on the Sunday morning live show this year. A real upgrade on the bozo who sat in that chair last year. I mean, the show's obviously great. But one thing the show is missing, missing the nemesis, the donkey every man who can sometimes make sense out of stupidity. You need to get yourself a freedman. Another. someone that you love to hate. And speaking of which, you know, I know I'm going on the tangent now. But anyway, I had a girlfriend early in college from my hometown. I gave her a ring, not like a ring ring, but like a we've been dating a while here's a ring kind of ring. Anyway, we eventually broke up after we graduated. I was with someone else. She was with someone else, but we were both back in our hometown for the summer. So one evening, we met up just to catch up.

And she wore the ring. It was a nice gesture, you know, for old time's sake. And so that's what's happening here, Chad. For you, not for Simon, not for Matt Mitchell, but for you, Chad. you alone. I am wearing the action network hoodie because, you know, we did have some good times together. And, you know, I just want to say, thanks for having me on the show. It's good to be back. You are 100% of class act, Friedman. I rue the day you decided to ditch us. Speaking of ditching, there's a lot of speculation about what Aaron Rogers is going to do. So on Tuesday, midday, before he made his appearance with Pat McAfee, there was an announcement that the Packers were having a press conference on Wednesday with their G.

him. He put out a post on Instagram about how grateful he was for this past season with the Packers. He goes on McAfee and immediately punctures a hole in any speculation says, look, I'm not making any announcements right now. I'm still contemplating my decision. I was on a Poncha karma cleanse, which he does every offseason for 12 days. And when he was done, it filled him with gratitude. That's why he put out the post. That's all it was about. If we're betting on this, if we are betting people, which we are. Simon, I already know your futures, Ravens, Jags, Steelers, Falcons. And we're trying to make a bet on where we think Aaron Rogers will be next year.

Friedman, you're first. Do you think he'll be with the Packers? If not, where do you think he goes and is there value in making that bet? I think he will likely be with the Packers, but I will say, if you're of the mind that he won't be with the Packers, I think the bet is actually on the Bears. Chad, this is blatant. I'm trying to appeal to your homerism. In fact, I would say you could take it a step further. Right now, you can find 150 to one odds for one second year quarterback who happens to

play for the Bears to be the league MVP. And I actually kind of don't hate that bet on its own anyway. But if you think Aaron Rogers is leaving the Green Bay Packers, then that bet all of a sudden becomes a little more intriguing. So if I had to think about Aaron Rogers and what, what that might mean if he leaves, I'm actually looking at Justin Fields at 150 to 1 to be the NFL MVP. Simon, that's an interesting take. That's what we love, Matt. He's sitting outside the box here.

That's a good way to look at this position where if you're looking to get value off there and Rogers move, if he is going to move, those are the kind of bet you make. I just don't believe it either. I'm thinking Rogers needs to go eat mushrooms in Hawaii and walk around butt naked for a couple weeks. And then he'll make a decision like he always does. So we know he's a weird guy.

He's going to do some weird stuff. So it's impossible to say. But last year, what we did chat is we just faded the noise. And what we do is we wait. We wait for Rogers to become the narcissistic he is. He'll talk more. He'll throw up more speculation. The Green Bay odds will keep shifting up.

More people on ESPN and the Action Network will talk about Aaron Rogers going to Denver. Aaron Rogers going to Pittsburgh. Green Bay is odds. We'll keep going up. And last year we got Green Bay at 28 to 1. to make the Super Bowl. Obviously, that was a terrible bet. They lost in the second round at home,

but that's a value bet. They dropped all the way down to six to one, five to one at some books for Super Bowl at that point. So when you're trying to find value in a long-term, long-term bet, usually the waiting games to go. So if you do believe the hype and you do think he's going to leave,

don't speculate on what team he's going to go to. Try to take Matt Freeman's approach here and just take, you know, the Bears to win the division because we obviously don't believe in Minnesota. We don't believe in Detroit. that's a good bet on a second year quarterback in fields with this bearers team. So I like Brie's thinking with that. I love both of those stakes.

That's great. All right. Let's get to the combine because that is coming up. More and more you're able to bet on the combine, more and more markets. For those who don't know, the combine has been going on for years. I covered the combine when I got out of college and worked with Sports Illustrated in the mid-90s. And Peter King, who is probably one of the preeminent NFL writers in the history of covering the NFL. He couldn't go one year and he whispered to me. He said to me before I was going,

he called me on a telephone on landline because that's all we had. And he's like, Chad, you're going to love the combine. You're going to have GMs just whispering sweet nothings in your ear all week long. And I'm like, this is going to be amazing. And it actually is great to cover. You go, you basically hang out at St. Elmo's, the steakhouse, which is a block away from where they hold the combine. the coaches, the GMs, the writers, the analysts, everyone, sit at the bar for eight straight nights or seven straight nights, whatever it is, getting drunk, trading gossip, and sharing news about what's happening at the Combine and elsewhere.

That's everything you'll see on every single media outlet is coming from somebody at San Antonio Steakhouse. I'm just telling you right now. All that talking is just to drop Peter King's name. All right, Chad, let's keep it going. Why are you being mean? Are you mad because I'm known in Cuba? No, it's just adorable.

It's just a long story to do. just drop Peter King's name. We love it. We love Peter King. We love Trad dropping names. Oh, my God. So here we go. All these players are flying to indie. 300 players are flying to indie. They're going to be tested physically, mentally. They're going to be interviewed. Everybody is going to get poked and prodded. You've all seen that famous picture of Tom Brady, sort of in his combine photo. This is where decisions are made, fortunes are made, fortunes are lost. the players move up and down the draft board based on combine performance. So, Freeman, I'll start with you.

What type of player has the most to gain from the combine right now? So I think there are two types of players. The first is maybe like the smaller school type of prospect, the guy who's on the fringe of NFL value. And so I would put that as the guy who, you know, does he go on day two with a good combine or does he fail at the combine and go day three or go on drafted? And then the second kind of guy is the one that already has clear NFL value. The question is, does he catapult himself to being a top player at his position?

So think of Kvon Tibido, right, who just four to six weeks ago look like he might be the number one player in the draft. His draft stock is declined, but we know the guy is a freak athlete. We know that from his days as a high school student. He was potentially one of the, if not the top prospect in his. recruitment class, a five-star recruit the top defensive lineman in his class, we know he could tear up the combine. If he does it, he shoots right back up to having potentially number one draft stock. So a guy like that, he has a lot to gain from the combine. And then smaller school guys, if they have a good combine, they have the college production, you know, they've got the size.

If they have athleticism, the draft capital will follow. Who has the most to lose? I mean, I would say guys who have already checked all of the boxes or most of the boxes, and they just need to avoid a catastrophic combined. And so there are some guys who come to mind. I would say this is a decent wide receiver class in comparison to some of the other positions. It's a decent wide receiver class. So we could see five to six guys go in the top, we'll say, 40 picks at the wide receiver position. So there are a number of guys who just need not to destroy themselves at the combine.

I'm thinking of someone like Drake London, Garrett Wilson, Chris Olavay. All of these guys are kind of consensus first round wide receivers. As long as they don't do anything terrible at the combine, they should all go in the first round. So guys who are in the wheelhouse of locked in, top 40, top 50 NFL value, those are the guys who have a lot to lose. This draft class, honestly, I think we talked last year a lot about it. I've mainly focused toward the quarterback. Because quarterback, that lets me help prepare for the upcoming season,

knowing these quarterbacks, know what their strength or weaknesses are. I kind of had minions now run through the draft and other prospects. And when I bet the draft, I bet off rumor and try to find the value in what the pros are talking about and where I can find where the public here is one thing, but the pros know it's going to be a different thing. So this draft class is on paper. People are going to talk about it. It's not what last year was.

Like last year was, we could argue, one of the best drive classes we've ever seen. The three receivers taken to the top 10 were all incredible. Like none of them were bad. Pitts was great at tight end. Both offensive linemen were great. It was just a very special draft last year, where this draft is more of a class of just solid players.

Like there are, as an Eagles fan, we have three first round picks. That's a big deal in this draft. Like if you need a de-lineman, if you need an offensive lineman, if you need linebacker help, this this draft class is littered with studs. So I definitely want to hear what Matt's taken on this quarterback class. You know, there's a couple different athletes that could push their way into being the first quarterback taken. But like Chad talked early in the year, it's hard to see a quarterback on the top 10. But I can see it happening just because teams are going to be desperate.

where we always know teams are going to take a quarterback. So I would love to hear what you think, Matt. Like, who do you think will be the first quarterback to go? And you think that would be one in the top 10? Hold on. I want Friedman to answer this. But Chad didn't say it'll be tough for a quarterback to be in the top 10. Chad said there will not be a quarterback taken in the top 10.

And you and Mitchell laughed uproariously. So Friedman, please weigh in. It's a great take, Chad. the two teams that might give problems, the Panthers and the Broncos. But I think both of those teams have a decent chance of going after other quarterback. So let's say Aaron Rogers, I mean, there's a natural landing spot with the Broncos. And the Panthers, I could see them looking to make a splash in the trade market. You know, you could see them going with Jimmy Garoppolo. You could see them going with

Deshaun Watson. And I mean, you would rather have any of those quarterbacks over one of the rookies in this class because as Simon said, this is a nasty class. Balance of probability, we probably get one quarterback in the top 10, but I think it happens at pick number nine, but I don't have any confidence in that. I would just say, I think it's probably likely. But this is a disgusting quarterback class. Any of the quarterbacks who go in round one this year wouldn't have gone in round one last year. I think if you're looking at the betting market, we might talk about that a little bit later. But Malik Willis is interesting as the guy who could be the number one quarterback.

I think he's starting to get some heat. He had a good senior bowl. He's the guy I would look at right now to be the number one quarterback drafted. But Kenny Pickett is also a guy who's been universally mocked in round one. I'm going to be interested at the combine. The hand measurement thing is hilarious and ridiculous. So nine inches is sort of like the threshold. Like are you a legitimate NFL quarterback?

back nine inches is a threshold. Kenny Pickett would not let his hand be measured at the senior bowl because he is reportedly double jointed. So his thumb sticks out at a weird angle. Okay, whatever. That's a sign of where we are in the off season that we're talking about in a dude's thumb. Anyway, he's apparently doing thumb exercises to try to stretch out his hand. This is ridiculous.

I think he has small hands and is using the double jointed stuff as an excuse. Like I think it's real. He does have double jointed hands, but it's an excuse. So I will be curious to see the hand measurement for Kenny Pickett. But that's the most notable thing about these quarterbacks at the combine out of what we see. For the most part, it doesn't matter. This is a class that is really boring. I cannot believe we're having a conversation about a quarterback who would be a third or fourth round pick.

But because of the shallow nature of this particular draft and the quarterback's in it, he could be a first round pick and we've got to talk about him being double-jointed. I got validation from Friedman that there will not be a top 10 quarterback taken in the top 10. Simon, you mentioned the rumors. Do you feel that the rumors that come out of the combine are reliable and do they drive any sort of betting, actionable betting for you guys? So I think there are two types of rumors that come out of the combine. One has to do with the prospects.

That's obvious. The other type of rumors are like free. agent type of rumors. Like, you know, we think that this guy is going to be released by his team or something like that. Those rumors seem to have more validity because it's like why else would teams be talking about that or like this guy's on the trade market, stuff like that. Those rumors are interesting and we can see them come to fruition pretty quickly with a free agency coming up just a little bit after the combine. The rumors that have to do with the prospects, a lot of those are fluffy type of rumors, you know, to where it's like, oh, and a

NFL teams, evaluators are high on this guy. He seems really likely to be a first round pick. You add up all of the rumors and it's like, look, everyone's saying that 50 guys are going to go in the first round. Like mathematically, that is not possible. But the rumors that are negative on guys, those are the rumors that really catch your eye because, I mean, it's fluff season. Everyone's in love with different prospects. If people are out there talking about how a guy isn't really impressing evaluators, that stuff means something. So that. is really where I start to pay attention on prospect rumors. Yeah, I'm right there with them.

It's hard, though, like, especially the more I've learned about media, that it feels like the less I know. But the one thing I have learned is there are certain guys are just straight puppets. You kind of, when you kind of need to make a list of who's legit and who's reporting stuff that you're like, okay, this is really good info. And there's other people that they're just reporting back what other general managers are telling them, which is to get people off their scent or whatever. and we've seen people in the media, they drive markets.

Like we talked all last year. I mean, it literally, like not to brag, but it felt like we were the only show that said Mac Jones was not going to be the third pick. And it was just one of those where, I mean, we took a lot of heat for it because people are just like, well, pro football focus or ESPN or all these different shows were talking about that Mac was a lock to be the third pick or roll and that it was Shaneahan's guy. And John Lynch was obsessed with him.

He had traveled out to go see him and he'd visit him and bam and all this. their stuff that, I mean, after the fact they're not to just simply not be true. It's like these people have to fill two months of conversation. That's their job. Their job is not to be right. Their job is just to get people to well listen and watch the stuff they're saying. So my advice would be to people is a lot of it is true, but it's so much of it just BS, where it's the general managers trying to mess around with other teams, either trying to get

to trade up, trade down, different players to follow them. So definitely, definitely be careful what sources you use. It is a fluff season. It is definitely fluff season. What I will say, I'm like, okay, I am blocked now by Adam Schefter, which is hilarious to me. But Shefter, I mean, he outright said last year, he outright said it will be Mac Jones.

When someone asked him about the number three pick, he backtracked a little bit after that. But, you know, Schaefter hasn't had a great year. I said that on Twitter and he blocked me. So now I'm just going to say, if Adam Schefter says anything, Adam, please stop blocking me. You are great at your job. If Shafter reports, it must be true.

Here's the thing. Simon, you're wrong in that people are trying to just fill the airwaves. Yeah, they're trying to fill the airwaves, but they also want to be right. You don't want to give bad information. Listen, don't be that ex-NFL player who goes into the broadcast booth and then whines about the media as if you're not a part of the media. you're a part of the fucking media, buddy. You have a massively popular podcast. Your face is part of the logo.

You are in the media. You want to be right as much as the next guy. Yeah, but my job is easy. I have a job where I need to be right for a half hour segment for an hour or a show, whatever we're doing. And I know what I'm talking about. These other people on TV, they don't know. Like, not everyone has sources. It's so hard to get good, reliable sources in life.

Like, that's the thing I joke all the time. there are not thousands of professional sports betters on Twitter chat. Like it's the same thing in media. There aren't hundreds of people with good intel. Here's people that do shows five days a week that just need to fill the airwaves. Yeah, they might be right every now and then. They're going to talk up those rights. They're not going to talk about their losses, which just could show up right at the carpet.

Like, do you ever hear Chris Sims go backtrack about how loud wrong he was or Adam Schaeft or how loud wrong they were about Mac Jones? No, they moved on to the second day of the draft and kept it moving. So people in the media, they skew shit all the time. But I think more often than not, it's going to be good info. Like, again, we just talked about Shepter had a rough year. That's because he was so good at his job all these other years. And like that's what I'm trying to give to people. It's like, yeah, I think a lot of it's fluff like Matt was saying.

But there is a lot of good information. That's your job. You have to kind of figure out who to trust and who not to trust. All right. That's a good point. I like the way you're framing it. Excellent. As a member of the media, a longstanding capital J journalist.

I feel like people do their best. Sometimes you get it right. Sometimes you get it wrong. I'm not a hater. Don't hate. Participate. I tell my kids. They're like complaining about something.

I'm like, don't hate. Participate. Fandual Sportsbook is an official sports betting partner of the NBA. And with Fanduals, same game parlays, you can turn little bets. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal, but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential.

Either way, the podcast Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what you're saying. Yep, that's me, Cliver Taylor the 4th.

You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from back. basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment, and the next we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music.

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Friedman, you're kind of a draft freak. Are you already thinking about players you're excited to see at the Combine, excited to get reports on? Who are they? Yeah. So, you know, running backs, you know, I'm a fantasy guy. So I always like to think about the running backs. There were three running backs in this class that I think have a decent chance of being, you know, your sort of typical three down leadback grinder.

Those guys, Brise Hall, Isaiah Spiller, Kenny Walker, all three of them had multiple years of production. I want to see how big these guys actually are. we want verified size on them. Are they the type of build that can be an NFL leadback? And then, you know, we want reports on them in the past catching drills. Can they actually be three down backs, high volume guys who can contribute on the ground or through the air? If so, I think all of them have a decent chance of going in round two. If not, maybe round two, probably more like rounds three or four.

And there's for running backs a pretty big difference between the guys who go in round two and the guys who go after that. And then a couple wide receivers really catch my eye. The first one is Traylon Burks. Stud SEC receiver, Dominator out of Arkansas, listed at 6-3, 225 pounds. Is he really that big? Right. And then if he is, what kind of athleticism accompanies that size? His tape looks great.

Does he have the measurements to back it up the way that Justin Jefferson and Jamar chased it? If he's big, easily going in round one. If he's big and fast, I think he could go in the top 10. Personally, right now, I have him as the number one wide receiver in the class. In part, that's because Jameson Williams is injured. But I have him as the number one wide receiver in the class. It could change based on the combine, but I'm excited to see him.

And then the other wide receiver, Jahan Dotson out of Penn State. He's a do-it-all type of playmaker. He's scored touchdowns as a receiver, a runner, as a punt returner. He's a smaller guy with an electric skill set. and he's on the round one borderline. So if he blazes a really fast 40 time and the low four fours or the high four threes, I think he's going to go on day one.

So excited to see what he can do at the combine. Like how Simon has already indicated, he's coming after me for dropping Peter King, but how he casually drops in there. I got minions who are helping me manage a lot of my draft research. So I will throw this one to Simon. Have you or your minions considered either of the two draft props that are currently up at Fanduil? Number one overall pick or first QB taken?

Do you have an opinion on either one of those? Yeah, I definitely struck down the first overall pick. I basically was betting on either Detroit having the worst record in football or just anyone but like the Jaguars. Like you just didn't want to have the worst team and football have a quarterback that they just drafted last year. So I was hoping I was going to be Detroit and then maybe hit on one of these quarterbacks to be the first pick just because, you know, Detroit would be desperate and they would maybe just take a quarterback,

but I failed that one. So the way their first pick's looking, it seems like they're either going to take an offense alignment or D.N with the Jaguars. So we touched on a little bit this offseason. We had the NtC state offensive alignment. I don't know if you remember. Oh, but I remember we talked about how his draft numbers were moving.

Right. So it went from about 101 to 8 to 1, 7-01, down to 5-1 to be the first row. fixed. So it's between him and his kid from Bama right now for offensive lineman. And then we all know the D-N story and stuff. We got the kid out of Michigan, which is like being hyped up. So I'm going to get more into it. But as we sit here right now, I just see, again, we're going to talk a lot of Jags this year. People are going to learn. I really love the Jaguars. I love the hire of Doug Peterson, which we can argue all day about how Carson Wentz might be one the worst

quarterbacks in football. He turned that kid into a stud and was one number one seat in football the year he coached Carson went. So that was Carson went second year. So I'm, I'm betting a big leap from this Jaguars team with Trevor Lawrence at the quarterback position. They got to get offensive alignment. The kid was running for his life all the time. So if you're, if you're looking to make a bet right now, you just want action. I like being the first pick overall, being offensive linemen. It's, it's good value right now. But Leibbif Van der Leibald was plus 140. They took it down. So again, I've been away for a week now. If they hang it again, it's probably going to be plus 110, plus 120 because all the pros I've talked to, they think the same way I do.

They think once they hired Doug Peterson, that's the sign they're going to take an offensive lineman for this team. Friedman, number one overall pick, first QB taken. So on first quarterback taken, I already have positions, Malik Willis at plus 200 and Kenny Pickett plus 175. A fan duel, those lines are now Malik Willis, I believe plus 150 and Kenny Pickett plus 120. So shout out me on getting that sweet, sweet closing line value. But I still think that there's value on both of those guys. I don't see Sam Howell, Matt McCorrell, Desmond Ritter. I don't see any of those guys challenging to be the number one quarterback. I think it's a two-man race between Willis and Pickett. And for the number one pick, I mean, Kavon Tibado at six to one,

he is intriguing because, I mean, just a couple of months ago, he seemed kind of locked in as the number one pick. Now, I do know that we could see, as Simon was mentioning, offensive tackle as the number one player taken. And it's between Evan Neal and Akim Aquano. And okay, I think this is very similar to the situation we had last year where everyone had Penae Sewell as the number one offensive tackle, but really close just behind him was Rishon Slater. And I think similarly now, Neil and Aquano are very close. Everyone is saying that Neil is number one, but Aquano has a very, very good chance of going in the top five. And if he does well at the combine or Evan Neal slips a little bit, Equanu could be the top tackle in the class. And right now he's available 10 to 1 at Fandul. I think there's some value there.

So Aquano, if I had to make a bet on the number one pick right now, I would go Aquano. That's exciting. I like both of these conversations. The top QB, I'm just, I'm pausing because I'm making a note on Malik or Pickett and Aquano at number one overall. Friedman, you know what? You came back. I think it shows what big people, me and Simon and Matt Mitchell are, and that we're having you back on because we respect your draft authority, even though, you know, you bailed on us.

But no one questions your largest, Chad. Everyone knows how magnanimous you are as a person. All the way to Cuba, they know. Absolutely. Chad Milman is proud of himself. Matt. So much regret. So much regret.

Matt Friedman, chief strategist at Ft N, check it out. Really good content, really good ideas on the FTN network overall, whether you listen to podcasts or watch it on video or go to the site or you're on Twitter at Matt F the Oracle on Twitter, his AMAs are legendary. Simon Hunter, professional better, my BFF. I'm so glad you're enjoying your world tour and taking your job seriously and coming on even when you're on vacation because I'm not doing that for Matt Mitchell, our producer.

I am Chad Milman. This has been the favorites podcast from the Volume Podcast Network. Download us from Apple Podcasts, Spotify. Until next time. Love you. You may think the NFL season is over, but now it's tapehead's draft season. And this NFL podcast gives you the inside slant on all the top prospects. Hi, I'm Bob Wusshusen.

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