The Joel Klatt Show: A College Football Podcast - Daniel Jeremiah on his latest Top 50 Draft Prospects list and Anthony Richardson’s rise

Episode Date: March 13, 2023

FOX Sports’ lead college football analyst Joel Klatt welcomes in NFL Network Draft Analyst Daniel Jeremiah to the show to discuss his latest Top 50 Prospects list and give out some players that that are flying under the radar. The two also debate how Jaxon Smith-Njigba projects in the NFL compared to his former Ohio St teammates Chris Olave and Garrett Wilson. Daniel then shares what he heard at the NFL Combine about the potential of Anthony Richardson to be selected above Bryce Young or CJ Stroud and why Bijan Robinson shouldn’t be viewed as just a Running Back. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey, welcome into the program. Joel Klatt here. This is the Joel Klatt show. Super excited for today's episode. Remember, always subscribe to the show, rate review us, do all that good stuff. You can follow us on social at Joel Klatt. But as you see, we are being joined by not only a great friend, but one of the best in the business in covering football, talking about football, analyzing football. He is Daniel Jeremiah, the lead draft analyst for NFL Network, and all around one of my favorite people in this entire industry. DJ, I appreciate you coming on, man. How you doing? I'm doing great. I just want to, just to clarify, when I'm asked about you, I always say you're my favorite person in the industry. I always say you're the best. I don't use this one of the best, one of my favorite people.

Like, what is that? How many people are in this club that you put me in right now? You know, you're one of one, one of one, one of one, DJ. You are like, you are the go-to, not only for me, but for a lot of of people when it comes to the draft. And we just got done watching you and Rich, you know, the conversation for hours on end over the combine. The combine, man, and this is the time of year where everyone starts getting heated up and we start talking about risers and fallers and everything like that. But the first thing I wanted to start with was just your overall feelings about

the combine. I know it's exciting for you, but do you, Do you value it in the same way that fans value it for on-field workouts versus everything else that happens? Well, it's a great question. I think there's kind of a movement right now and you see it and you hear whispers about it. And you hear the term, the underwear Olympics, right? That's the popular phrase that people like to throw out there. And the games are over. So, you know, anything that happens between the end of the season and the draft,

you guys are just falling for it. You guys fall for this every year. You go watch these guys workout. It's not real football. what are you doing? And then I push back on it because I do think there is value with the combine. Obviously, there's this stuff that everybody knows. The medicals are huge.

You know, they give the information there from the doctors. That's going to cause more movement on a board than anything else is getting your physical there at the combine. Getting a chance to visit with the kids, you know, the teams having that opportunity to get that, you know, that up close one-on-one encounter with somebody. That could help in an evaluation. But I think even on the field, Joel, the way I always like to say it is I like the combine for kind of help you separate clumps. In other words, I'm not going to compare the guy that was my number one corner on my board versus a guy who was my 40th corner on the board. Like, that's not, there's not going to be that movement there. But what I might say is, you know what, I've got three or four corners that they're like in my third round range.

I have the exact same grade on them. There's three guys. And when you watch them move on the same field one after another, not only watch them, watching them run, watching them work out. That can maybe be that little, that little separator for that little clump of three guys. I think that's where the combine is, is valuable. You know what? That just gave me an idea and it's a great idea. Rather than alphabetical, we should clump the guys in, in kind of projected range. Watch the quarterbacks that are projected, you know, in a sub-tier in one corner, so on and so forth. Now I'm, now I'm into it. I would love that. You have a

committee to be able to vote on the players in terms of what group that they're in. Yeah. It's kind of how they do like high school playoffs, you know, a lot of times. It's not necessarily what school you come from. It's kind of what type of year you have. And okay, you guys are in the open division this year. I like that. I think we're, I think we're really workshop, workshoping something here. So the open division. I will tell you, I'm so, like, it just kills me when I see guys like Vorhees or, or Juan Yomorris, you know, come up with it. It's just like, gosh, especially because remember now, like, where I come from, everyone's trying to devalue bowl games.

And in my mind, I'm like, hold on, isn't a bowl game even more valuable than running and doing the, you know, a three cone drill at the combine? Now, maybe it's not for some of the NFL circles, but it is for me. And that's why, you know, like this year, I was just like, I was heartbroken for those kids because that's going to make a difference, as you know, right? Like in their because availability is something to NFL franchises, but I was bummed out for those guys. But I'll say that on that too. And I feel terrible for those guys.

But there's more guys that got hurt in training. And since the season end, then got hurt at the actual combine. And we'll see it every year. I mean, we'll see it in the NFL. You hear about it, non-contact injury. You know, over the summer when guys are just out there running routes with their, you know, trying to get ready running with their guys and you have injuries. It's part of it.

There's going to be injuries whether we're playing games or working out. out. It just sucks for those guys. So Indy is so much, like, and I wasn't there this year, but it's a fun experience, not just because of the combine, but because of, and not just like, oh, you go to dinner. Yes, you go to dinner, but you hear the whispers. The combine is unbelievable for the whispers, right? And that generally gets leaked out, and that's where guys get their information of like risers and fallers and who's showing out and so on and so forth.

But I would love for you to bring us like a name that you heard whispered around those executives in the NFL over dinner at St. Elmo, so on and so forth. Yeah, I'll give you two guys that I actually really liked when I watched them, who I felt like these two individual players have not gotten a lot of juice. Maybe I should have been talking about them more. And then they had, you know, talking to folks there, there's love for. for them amongst NFL teams, and then they backed it up with great workouts. And there are two guys that you've seen plenty of.

One is Marvin Mims, the wide receiver from Oklahoma, is just a really good player. Knew he was going to be quick. You could see that on the tape. I did not know he had the top speed that he showed in his workout there. And then the other one is Charlie Jones from Purdue, who made maybe the smartest transfer decision of anybody in the transfer portal era. I'm so glad you brought him up because it's so true. He didn't transfer from Iowa.

He escaped from Iowa from that offense. It's so true. And got to Purdue where they actually can complete passes and throw the ball. And he has a big year. And he had a great workout. It ran fast. Like those two guys, to me, are like, third. They're going to go in the third round, maybe the fourth round.

But like, that's what's awesome about the combine is. You're like, dude, I kind of like this guy. I got a little feel for this guy. And then you start talking to buddies around the league and like, yeah, there's some love on the streets for them. And then you see him work out. like, all right, yeah, these guys can play. The thing I loved about when I was getting ready for Purdue, so I had them in the Big Ten championship game,

and I had them in their first game of the season. And number one, I love Charlie Jones because Gus started calling him Chuck Sizzle during the first, you know, so it's just like, well, that's incredible. So, you know, he's immediately one of my favorite players. But not only the transfer and everything like that, when you actually, when I studied him after the, you know, the week one, he kind of breaks out. And you're like, wow, this guy can play.

What a great transfer. And then he has a great year. And now I'm studying the tape, getting ready for the Big Ten championship game as they're about to face Michigan. And DJ, he's just got such a good feel for the field and the space and the awareness of the defense. Like, he's a smart player. And smart players at his position that are reliable, can get separation, understand the nuances of coverage, and then are a reliable catching the ball. They do well in the NFL. Like there is a spot for guys like that in the NFL.

It's not going to shock me at all if this guy goes out there. Now, maybe he's not going to be the number one producer in the National Football League. Would it shock you if in a couple of years he's catching 50 or 60 passes? No, I expect it. Yeah, that's the expectation. I think he's going to be a really good player. To me, he's like one of those guys were at worst. He's a really good four who can go out there and cover kicks as well because he's got some toughness.

But I think he's got the upside of being a two. I really do. I think he can be a two, give you some vertical stretch as well as some of that feel. And Joe, we've talked about this. It's one of the things I love getting a chance to, you know, spend so much time together as we do every year in the spring, as we kind of talk about what you're seeing in the college game, you know, why I'm looking at things from, you know, NFL evaluation standpoint. And I feel like we've had some of these kind of like breakthrough moments where I don't even know who says it first, but we kind of get on the same page. And I remember talking about white about whiteouts a few years ago, we were talking about like, dude, it's it's the polished route runners. the guys that are the craftsmen. It's the guys who have play strength. They play through contact. They have strong hands. Those are the field guys. The NFL graveyard of receivers is chock full of height, weight speed guys. Like, they're everywhere. But if you've got some polish and you've got

some feel, some route savvy and play strength, then you're going to be successful. Okay. So I didn't, I had this further down, but we're in it now because we're talking, talking about wide receivers. So let's dive in it. This is one of the things I wanted to talk to you about was the wide receiver evaluation, because it's hard. It's hard. This is why, so like behind the curtain, this is why DJ and I have talked about it a lot is because it's not as black and white as you think. And no evaluation is, but wide receiver in particular, because you've, you've got guys that have production and you wonder, well, is it system or is it, is it player? Then you've got guys with great traits and physical attributes, and you think to yourself, will he get some of that

polish, whether it's the ability to catch the ball or in the route nuance? And then you've got guys that have, well, how do you say it? It's just like overwhelming success that's hard to separate yourself from. So I want to talk about Jackson Smith and Jigpa. Because obviously, I was around him a tongue. I mean, I basically do Michigan and Ohio State. right and this year you're mail gets sent to Columbus now by the way is that true it might the people still do mail i don't even know if that that's a thing maybe we're aging ourselves probably not probably not this year obviously heard him yeah but i thought last week was really big for jackson smith and jigpa because for the first time since the season i got the sense

that people were like, oh yeah, like he is really good. Oh, yeah. He was probably the best wide receiver that Ohio State had when they had Garrett Wilson and when they had Chris Olavay. To those guys admission, by the way, when I would talk to him. And I got the sense that he was one of those guys that really benefited from the combine, in particular after, you know, basically not playing all year. Yeah, I would agree with that. To me, you know, he's an interesting evaluation because he's a slot. He's somebody that's, he's incredibly strong. He's incredibly quick. He's got a great feel, the things we were just talking about. But there's times when you see him get out in the open where the difference between him and the other two guys in that Ohio

State team, when they got out in the open, it was over. They were gone. And they would get away from you. He's going to play in a little more, he's going to play in a crowd, I think, a little bit more than those guys are, which is a good thing and a bad thing. He's not going to get the separation. I don't believe that those guys are able to get at the NFL level, but he's stronger. He's got play strength. He's going to be able to work in crowds and have what we like to call those combat catches. He's going to be able to get that done.

Now, he had an unbelievable shuttle times, had an outstanding field workout, which in some instances you can look at it and say, some people look at it and say, well, yeah, he's been training for this for the whole year. Why are other guys playing football? He's been training for these tests. This is true. By the way, I saw it. Like, I saw him in the weight room training for these drills, specific.

back in October. So, yes. So, and that's, look, that's, that's, that's his deal. And he aced him. The only thing is he didn't run a 40. So those other guys were four, three guys. They were legit in terms of their speed. And he still hasn't run yet.

I don't think he's going to run. I don't, I mean, gosh, we're going to do the pro days. I hope he does. We have something else to talk about. But the, you know, I don't, if you're not going to run on that track as fast as Indy has proven to be with, you know, the last couple years and the times that are coming out of there, guys that don't run there. I think a couple of things.

you're really hurt. Or number two, you're not fast and you're not going to run. That's what it is. So that's the tricky part of his evaluation. Like he's, he is a really good player. But is this like of the caliber? I don't think he's as talented as his other two Ohio State guys.

Obviously, you have the LSU guys that we've had recently with Jefferson and with Jemar Chase. Like he's not his dynamic. He's just not as dynamic as those guys. Now, I do think he's going to lead the league in catches, one of these next few years. He'll be a high-volume guy.

That's literally in my report. Right? Like, he's in the Cooper Cup mold a little bit, you know, but stronger. I think he can catch 120 passes, right? Like, I legitimately believe that. The one thing I would leave you with is, like, it was my experience that when I would go up there and I would talk with the coaching staff, whether it was Coach Hartline or Chris Olive, or.

Garrett Wilson. And I would always like press him. I was like, well, you know, like who's, who's the one? Who's the alpha? Who's the guy? Who's the best player? And they would always kind of be like, Jackson. Jackson is. And when I would go and talk with opposing defensive coordinators, and I just said this on my last episode, DJ, they always started with him. Every one of them started with him. And I think it has something to do with production. And I get that. But there's, there's a big part of me that thinks that even with where he's at right now in this evaluation for this year that he's still being overlooked a little bit. I could be wrong and I could just be a guy that's done a million Ohio State games, but there's part of me that thinks that.

Yeah, no, I think he's a really good player. I would circle back on Cuff. I have to go back and look it up. I think Cooper Cups at least 15 pounds heavier than he is. So he's bigger than him. And Cooper, though, was interesting because he couldn't run vertically either. But he He had unbelievable, his shuttle drills were the same. His shuttle drills were off the charts. They might have been the best in that draft class because the change direction, the quickness, the polish, all that's there. I look at Smith and Jigba, and I see a guy who's another high-volume guy

as Alman Ross St. Brown with the Lions, who's been a really, really good player for them. Young and his career, obviously shouldn't have fallen as far as he did in the draft. But he's, I don't know. I think he had over, he might have had 100 catches this year. I think he will be a high, high-volume guy. I really do. So to say he would, to say, I think it's, you know, it's a power statement to say somebody's going to lead the league in receptions, but that's a power statement on your, on your part,

but I don't think it's crazy. I don't think there's anything. I wouldn't, I wouldn't fight you on that. I wouldn't. I could see that happening. Well, get ready, because you're going to hear it again. Can I just bring up the obvious real quick, though? Sure.

If you look at a background here, you'll see, there's some greenery that I've got. You've got nothing back there. I mean, no. Where's your green? Get a plant for crying out loud. Look, get some color back there. Do you see it? No, it's out of the shot.

Let's put it in the shot. Now it's in. Look, do you see it? No. What? Are you working off of an iPhone? I don't understand. I've got you on my computer.

This is the screen. What type of computer is this? Are you using like an eye mac? I don't know if they're the colored IMAX from 1990. First of all, first of all, I don't know if this one's a league sponsor or not. So I'm not, I'm not saying that. I'm not telling you what kind of computer I have. That's a good point.

That's a good point. I've got to have the buffalo because it's prime time. And I got the family and then the show, you know, there's some greenery. Listen, I understand. It's been a source of contention amongst, by the way, the Joel Klapp show staff DJ about how dark this room is. And so they tried to like put some lights back there. And so we're going to do something about. I just imagine you like right before we start the show up.

just like, d, d, d, d, like a little techno music. Just, just, a little strobe light, a little strobe light in that dark office. I love it. Dude, you, you never cease to amaze. I love it. I love it so much. By the way, DJ is the wittiest guy in the business. Every time I've ever on any, you know, show with him, he always says things and I'm just like,

I've got, I've got nothing because you just like stone, you just stone me with some sort of pop culture reference or so yes wittiest guy in the business i didn't even say one of how's that but but that was very nice of you but by the way pop culture let's let's be let's be specific here up until like 2000 okay well but pop culture after 2000 that's about where it ends that's about where it you know then you start getting into well you know i don't even want to talk about it let's let i do want to talk about these uh quarterbacks yes so i i'm anxious to see because this is bailing to me. And I'm sure you've probably gone on record. I haven't seen it yet. Okay. So this is, I'm going to, I'm going to, you know where I am. I don't know where you are.

So I'm looking forward to this. I've got the obvious two. And then I have a bit of a gap. And let me tell you why. So I've got Bryce Young number one, C.J. Stroud number two. And then I have a bit of a gap. Then for you going to, first of all, are you going to be able to go back to Columbus with that? I didn't know. I would have lost money. I would have thought Big Ten Joel would have had Stroud over price. I would have thought that. that. No, I said before Bryce played Texas, a game that we called, I said, that's your first pick in the draft. And I think we actually even did a show maybe back then. I don't know, maybe we did. No, we did. Yeah, I think, no, we did. Yeah, you came on on Move the Sticks, either right before,

right after that game. We talked about it. Yeah. And my stance has not changed. That guy, he's, he's, incredible. I love Bryce Young. I think CJ is the next best available quarterback. Then to me, there's a bit of a gap only because then there's just more questions with the next group. And then the next group I always lead with, okay, now you're in one of those clumps like you talked about earlier. And so I go to upside. Once I get a clump, I go to upside. And that's clearly Anthony Richardson. So he's my number three guy. And past that, I'm honestly not thrilled past that. You know, those are the three guys that excite me. Those are the three guys for different reasons, obviously. because they're all different body types and statures and game game ability.

But I do want, we can get into Young and Stroud, but to be honest, I think that that's a little bit boring because those guys are just what they are, and we will. But Richardson, here's what I said, DJ, and I would love for you to shed some light on why these teams are so enamored with a guy like Richardson. My analogy was that I think Richardson, as is many quarterbacks, but they're Rubik's cubes. And you've got to think to yourself, like, once he's figured out, how good is he?

So that's top end. To me, if Anthony Richardson ever got figured out and he was a solved Rubik's Cube, he would be the best player on the field in any game. Right? And I'm on record saying that. So he's got the ability to be one of, if not the best player in the NFL, just because of his ridiculous traits. Now, the problem is that he's about 27 turns behind Bryce Young and C.J. Stroud, if you're talking about the Rubik's Cube. So it's going to take a long time and you're going to have to turn that Rubik's cube quite a few times. But Richardson, to me, like, if you can figure him out, man, like, it's, I don't, I've never seen anything like it, to be honest with you.

I mean, he harkens back to like Michael Vic traits in a lot of ways, but, but it's a little different than that. What are your thoughts? Well, I would say that I feel like we're both auditioning to be a guest host for Colin because you had a very strong analogy. The Rubik's Cube thing is very strong. Cowherd approved. Okay. And so mine that I've been using on him is if we agree that even, and we have the same order of the top three. So I have Bryce one.

I moved him out to my number one player in the whole draft. I was like just rip the band-aid off, like get some guts and do it. So I just moved him all the way up. He was number three, put him the number one overall. Stroud has been my number two the whole time. To me, those two guys are separate. Those guys are kind of by themselves. And then I moved Richardson.

up. So he's my third, third quarterback. So we have those guys stacked the same. The analogy I would say is even what's... So you copied my top five from last week? Yes. Yes. Yes. Absolutely. But I will not copy your background because there's no greenery. Okay.

None. It's nothing. Drab. So my analogy is if we would agree, you know, with Bryce with his size, C.J. maybe not as, you know, dynamic and urgent and explosive. of an athlete and you'd say Richardson obviously a long way to go in terms of the development as a passer.

And you go through all these quarterbacks, they all have flaws. But if we look at it, say they all cost the same. In other words, they all are going to cost you a top 10 pick. You're going to have to expend the top 10 pick to get any of these quarterbacks. So if I'm going to go buy a lottery ticket and they all cost a dollar, but one of them, the payout is $500 and the other one to payout is $5 million, then shoot, if I'm going to be spending a top 10 pick, I want the one that. that if I hit, I could hit it big, big.

And that's Richardson. That's the case for him and why you're seeing, you know, kind of the hype on him and the buzz on him build. So I think that's part of what it is, is like, man, in a league right now where I call them like these cyborg quarterbacks, we've got eight of them, eight to ten of them, that are just ridiculous and they're all young. And it's Mahomes and Burrough and Herbert and Lamar Jackson's still out there.

Josh Allen's out there. I mean, it is, it's a murder's row. Trevor Lawrence, to get through all these guys, you're going to need a dude, man. You're not going to want someone that's just okay. So you're going to chase the ceiling. And he's the ultimate ceiling chase with Richardson. Now, in the evaluation of him, I think people are labeling him. He's, well, he's just not accurate.

He's, you know, look at his completion percentage. He's not an accurate passer. And I'm like, let's look at it a little bit. His average depth of target is over 10. they pushed the ball down the field. In an era where guys like us would have been able to get a bunch of bubbles and quickies, you know, just to get our completion percentage

up that fit some of these guys, it was a downfield attack that they had there in Florida. His team, skill position-wise, is not very good. Then you look at, I mean, I watched the Missouri game. I kind of documented that during the combine or whatever. I mean, he throws a seat on a deep over that's dropped. He throws another one on a post route that's dropped. It would have been a touchdown on that game.

The interception hits his receiver. and the hands pops up in the air and gets picked. So I would just say on his evaluation, there is enough there. You can see the moments of brilliance with him, with him as a thrower, not just as a runner. You got to search for him, but they're there. Obviously, the Utah game is one people will reference.

But I think what I'm getting at in a long-winded answer, Joel, is that I think there's enough evidence there where you could buy in, you know, where you can say, okay, I can see this. I don't disagree with that at all. in fact i i would say like the the more the more i watch and i've watched basically all of his stuff the more reminds me a lot of josh allen and like i remember what i said about josh allen unfortunately right and i was pounding the table that he wasn't accurate enough and this and and when i go back

and i think to myself like what did i miss i missed all the things that you just talked about downfield passing attack, not very good in the skilled positions, all those things that would lift a completion percentage up and make a quarterback seem more accurate because there's accurate passers and then there's guys that complete a lot of passes. And those are not necessarily the same thing, in particular with the eclectic nature of systems that we see in college football. So I'm with you, it sounds like to me, with your analogy, it sounds like you think that he might even be selected before one of the other two? I could see that.

I could see that. I would not be shocked if we come to the whole process and somebody just says, we're going to go for it. Caution to the wind and we're just going to do it. If he was the first quarterback, surprise, maybe surprise. I would not be shocked because I think all these guys have, they have flaws. This is not a year where, you know, with Trevor Lawrence or Joe Burrow, like Andrew Luck.

Those years, there was no debate. Like, you maybe try and manufacture. like, oh, is it Andrew Luck or is it RG3? But I mean, if you pulled 32 teams, they all had Andrew Luck as the top guy in that draft. We don't have that this year. So you think there are teams with Anthony

Anthony Richardson as their top guy? I know two teams talking to two general managers of teams that don't need quarterbacks. So again, they're not doing the deep, deep dive. They've got real dudes. And they had him as their second guy. And then I had a third general manager

who also has a quarterback who had texted me a few days ago and said he's just just doing the quarterbacks just to do him and he's like I just watched Richardson I could see him I could see somebody doing that I could see him being the first guy all right last thing on these quarterbacks and then we'll move on and try to go a little quicker because I want to hit on a couple of other things but DJ two things one is the trend in the NFL is guys polishing and completing themselves and like some of these, quote, projects that in the last four or five and six years that I've sat there and been like, I don't know, I just don't see it. You've got to control the game from the pocket and so on and so forth.

They're working in the National Football League, right? Like, we are seeing guys mature and progress and work out. I think on a much greater ratio than what we've seen previously. And part of that is what we've heard from some of the old guard. We've heard it from Aaron Rogers. We've heard it from Tom Brady. In the fact of like the game has regressed a little bit down to like more of a college game. The rules have allowed the game and the passing game more specifically to regress. Where a quarterback doesn't have to think about everything that he used to think about in terms of protecting receivers over the middle and so on and so forth. I think both of those trends are why I wouldn't put it past someone to.

taking Anthony Richardson in the top five and being like, listen, we think it's going to work out. And he doesn't have to be what a quarterback had to be 10 and 12 and 15 years ago. I would also say to me it's just purely the mobility. Like if you look at Josh and you look at Jalen Hertz, two guys who needed polish as passers, right? First of all, those guys played a lot of football. They had played a good amount of football in college. So at least there was that. With Richardson, you don't have quite as many snaps there.

but you had guys that needed to progress as passers. And the way I look at it is if you're raw as a passer, you better have the legs to buy you time. Like if we look at guy like Zach Wilson hasn't worked out for the Jets, well, Zach Wilson still needs to be developed as a passer. But unfortunately, even though he's a good athlete,

he can't physically stay healthy to run like that. And he's not at that level of athleticism. But man, to me it's like with Anthony Richardson, if I'm in the room, if I'm a scout in the room, I'm like, guys, we can run him 16 to 18 times a game. He's 244 pounds. We can't do that for 10 years, but we can do it for the first two years while he's

developing and learning and growing as a passer. We can be in games. Now, I know that the bears, obviously, they're picking first. They didn't win many games, but they're in games because of Fields ability to run. And that's my whole thing with what do they do with fields. I'm like, well, look, you're making it through this part. You've bought him the time now. Now it's time for him to deliver.

but he did his part early in his career. So I'm going to use my legs and we'll be in games just off my legs. Okay, let's go. A couple more position groups that I want to touch on. And really just one player in this group, running backs. Bejohn, you've got him number three. So those of you that don't know, DJ just released his third, 3.0 top 50 players available in this year's draft.

Yes, Bryce Young did move up to number one. Will Anderson was number two. And then Bejohn Robinson, running back from Texas, went all the way up to three post-combine. I've loved Bijan for a long time. So I'm with you. I'm a big believer in Bejohn Robinson. We haven't seen a running back get taken up that high in the draft, D.J.

since Sequin Barclay. Take me into why you love Bejan Robinson. Well, first of all, to get around the running back discussion, I just listen to as a weapon. Because if you're just going to take a running back who's just a running back only right now, I can get, you know, I'm not going to fight that fight on that one. I get the argument. but when you get somebody that can make plays and you get him, you can put him in the slot, you can put him out wide if you want.

This guy's got unbelievable hands. You saw it up close and personal, just what he's capable of. So he's a complete weapon as a wider, as a player, not just as a runner, but also as a receiver. He's as good at his position as we've seen over the last 10 years. You go back to like, I put him in the same class as Sequin. I put him in the same class as Christian McCaffrey. Like these are difference-making players, not just running backs. I'm 100% with you.

I mean, part of me wishes we could disagree on a little bit, but you're 100% right. Here's why I think it's taking a lot of people time to get to Bejan Robinson is because Texas was such a disappointment. I don't know how Texas can constantly bring in five-star offensive line, but none of them are really good. How is that possible? It's wild. It's, I know that, I mean, that would be a whole other podcast of talking about like what exactly, was going on during the last few years for Texas. Okay, let's go quickly now.

Edge and cornerbacks, 17 of them in your top 50. 17, 10 edge players, seven cornerbacks. You've got Will Anderson at the top of those edge players. This is a passing league, and the decision makers have got to be really excited about what's going on with some of these edge rushers. Oh, it's awesome. Yeah, it's awesome. To me, there's not a Von Miller.

There's not a Miles Garrett. I don't put Will Anderson quite in that class. But the depth of this is ridiculous, you know, starting with him and going all the way through. And there's another three or four outside the top 50 that I really, really like. You're going to see an incredible run on those guys in the first two rounds. And corners is another one. I mean, even outside my top 50, there's another handful of corners that I really like. It's been a while.

And Bucky and I were talking about this today. It's been a while, Joel, since the corner stack was so much better than the wide receiver stack. Yes. We've been begging. We've been begging for this. It's unbelievable. Five years, every draft, we're like, man, the wide receiver group is really good this year. I give, I give the Move the Six podcast 100% of the credit for this.

Because for years, we've been doing this. We're almost in a thousand episodes. And every year, Bucky and I go, young kids, you're a junior in high school, your freshman in high school, whatever. Like, play corner. There's a million receivers. If you're 6'1 and your athletic can run, play corner, you'll make millions. You'll play forever.

And it's so true. It's so true. Even though it's hard, obviously, and the rules aren't, you know, aren't tailored to you. You're going to play forever. There's no doubt about that. Okay. I want to know about your favorite part of this entire process, this time of year. Tell me what it is. I'll be honest with you. It's kind of weird. But it's after I have a conference call before the combine. So before the combine starts, I have a conference call and there's usually, there's a ton of folks on there. And you're going to get field questions from college football fans or writers from cities. You're going to have NFL writers. You're going to have people asking you about the needs of Detroit Lions.

Then the next question is going to be, tell me about the Cincinnati players in this draft. And then it's going to be, if you're the Rams and you don't pick to the third round, if you wanted a third round linebacker, who do you like? Oh, my gosh. So it's just, it's like taking the final exam. So once I get that done,

there's that feeling of it's like being in college again and like you just you just finish your last class and it's that that relief feeling after that conference call before the combine it's my favorite day of the year and i'll always i'll always text mayaac afterwards because i feel like there's not many people that know this feeling and he's like i'll text him go mike calls done he's like isn't that the best i'm like it's the best man once that thing is over the volume of information that that you are peppered with on that call is astounding. It's astounding. I prepare for three rounds. And it usually comes to about DJ. I think it's probably around 270 guys on average every year. Then I'm like, you know, garnering and granted, like those last 70 for me, you know, I'm trying to

You can talk about them. You just need to talk about them. You just need to talk about them a little bit. And listen, I've seen all of their games because they're all teammates of guys that are usually in the top 200, right? So I've seen all of the tape. But you're doing how many? I'll do 400 every year. Oh, that's the number. But you know what I look at it? I love it.

I have fun. I have fun watching it. And I, you know, I love getting a chance to, I mean, every single day, Joel, I'm probably, there's probably four phone calls a day with different GMs, head coaches, buddies in the league. And it's literally like, we're just talking players, man. And it's like, you don't get to have those conversations. do it so i enjoy i enjoy watching it and i enjoy the discussion um all right worst part that's your favorite part what's the worst part is the worst part also the call is that like the best and worst

part of the entire thing no the worst part is always i'll say right after uh right after thanksgiving because thanksgiving's the best you know such a great holiday and you have a great meal and you're with your family and then you get back home that night and you go oh crap i got a lot of players i got to get watched. It's like the whole holiday season. You're just grinding on film. Yeah, yeah. But I'm like,

because I kind of like, I always like map it out. I'm like this year I'm going to get ahead. I'm going to start a little earlier in September as they start playing these games, start watching them. And then inevitably I end up, I get to November. And I'm like, wait, how many weeks do I have left?

Okay, I better get cranking on this stuff. Oh my gosh. I have a similar feeling. I get to, mine doesn't happen until later though, because I go all the way through until like the national championship game.

And then when that game gets done, I'm always like, oh, here we go. And it's time to get going on the draft. Okay. If you could change one part about the draft, the process, anything about this time, what would you change? That is a great question.

To me, I think that the, I love the All-Star games. Like the senior bowl is one of my favorite weeks of the year. I think the league could get up with the times a little bit on this. Because even, you know, now they can take juniors provided that you've graduated. But when we've got guys that want to come out and they declare for the draft, I think they should be allowed to play in those games. Let's get a chance to get these guys a fair evaluation.

That is just one of those things that I think that's a little antiquated. With so many guys coming out early each and every year, I think having them both of the full process is helpful. I think they should play it as juniors versus seniors. I love that. That's the second great marketing idea you've had in this call. Boom. This is what I do.

I might not have greenery, but I come with the ideas. Yeah. I mean, and the other thing is that maybe a white shirt would help offset the dark background. Maybe it's like now everybody, listen, you're just giving, did my team talk to you before this? Because they're all nodding along and they're like,

we tell them all the time. Nothing. I swear there was nothing. No. Unbelievable. Unbelievable. Dee, Dee,

Dee, Dee, Dee, oh, Daniel Jeremiah. Find him on Twitter at Move the Sticks.

If you're listening to this show, you certainly know how to find his podcast. It's the best podcast out there outside of the Joel

class show. Nice. Move the sticks. You can download it anywhere you get your podcast. They've got new content coming out

every single week, sometimes multiple times per week. This is the time of year for the guy, my favorite guy in the business, Daniel Jeremiah. I appreciate you coming on, man. I really do. So you know, you're not special because you have a microphone. We all got these things.

Come on. Ha! See what I mean? You're in for it. You bring DJ on and you're going to get all the wit. I appreciate it, my man. You're the best, buddy. Thank you for your time, brother.

I appreciate you, man. Look forward to catching up. All right. There he goes. Daniel Jeremiah. Catch us coming up next week. New Joel Clatshow. Remember follow us at Joel Clatshow on social media.

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