The Joel Klatt Show: A College Football Podcast - Klatt Ranks his Top 50 Players in the 2024 NFL Draft

Episode Date: April 8, 2024

Fox Sports’ lead college football analyst Joel Klatt reveals his Top 50 players in the 2024 NFL Draft. In a draft class loaded with talent at QB and Wide Receiver, he makes the case for North Carolina’s Drake Maye as an elite prospect and tackles the question of where to rank Michigan QB J.J. McCarthy and Washington’s Michael Penix Jr compared to the rest of the top prospects in the Draft. Klatt ranks the elite WR’s in the class like Ohio St’s Marvin Harrison Jr, LSU’s Malik Nabers and Washington’s Rome Odunze and explains what makes them so special. He also reveals a surprising pick for his top defensive player on his board. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Why is everyone knocking him? The dude's phenomenal. Watch his tape. And don't give me this bull crap about like, well, his feet aren't that good. Watch the tape. Watch the throws that he makes. College football has never been better. Interest has never been higher.

Believe that we are at the dawn of the golden age of college football. It was an epic day of college football. It was one of those days where you fall in love with the sport all over again. What up, brother? Welcome into the Joel. Clatt show. I am Joel Clatt. Thank you for joining us. We've got a big one had to come into the studio. We had to be with all of our boards and graphics. Why? Because today we are giving you our top 50 players available in the NFL draft. This is it. This is the Clat 50 and I can't wait. I've got them right here.

Boom. Hot off the press. My 50 top prospects. Hey, remember wherever you're listening to this show, go ahead and follow us, subscribe to the show, rate, review us, all of the things on YouTube. that as well. Subscribe to the channel. Make sure to leave a comment below. I like to jump in the comments from time to time. So make sure to leave a comment below and then follow us on social media at Joel Clash Show wherever you like to social media. We are there. Okay, a couple announcements at the end of the program. So sit tight after I unveil these 50 players. I'm going to go 50 to 1, even though I know there's not a lot of suspense for my number one player. But I will say that this is deep a draft as I can remember covering. I've covered the NFL draft for 10 years. I will be live

in the first round and second round and third round, first two nights with the NFL network, with Rich Eisen, Daniel Jeremiah, and Charles Davis. And I can't wait to cover the draft again with the NFL network and it's going to be awesome. So I've been excited for this draft for its depth for a long time. There are a lot of good players. And this top 50 list reflects that. every one of these guys, I think in any other year, you could argue, you know, a potential first round grade. So we'll see how it all pans out in Detroit. And here we go. Let's start with number 50. My number 50 player here is Ricky Pearson, the wide receiver from Florida. Now, he's been a bit of a late riser during the course of the process. I like his game.

I like his athleticism. And he falls just inside of my top 50. He's there at 50. Number 49, one of my favorite players in college football last year, and really for the last few years, Mikey Sain Ristill, the nickel back from Michigan. He falls inside of my top 50. Now, if you listen to the Plant Your Flag podcast episode, I guess, last week, you'll know how highly I think of Mikey Sain Ristill. He was the best defender on the best defense in college football, and he's only been playing defense really full time for two years. his ceiling is ridiculously high because he's a hybrid player. He can play all over the interior of the defense, meaning like the interior of the passing game,

and he's not a guy that's going to get intimidated with matchups. I think he can cover tight ends even though he's small. He can cover wide receivers. He was a wide receiver, and he's constantly around the ball. Really love his game, so he's number 49. Tyler Nubin is a safety from Minnesota. This is a name that you've also heard on the plant,

flag episode. Love his game. Good leader for PJ Fleck and a guy that I think is going to be a solid pro. He's going to walk into any locker room in the National Football League and fit right in. At number 47, I've got Roman Wilson, the wide receiver from Michigan. Now, Roman Wilson

is an interesting one because this draft is filled with solid wide receivers. Roman's one of those. His production wasn't what you're going to get from some of these other guys, but in large part, and we've talked about this before, it's because of the system.

And more specifically, the philosophy of the system that Michigan used to win the national championship. They just did not emphasize throwing the ball. Now, they did, and they could, and they don't win the national championship unless he makes some of those plays, in particular on what the fourth down play late in the game, he made some incredible catches against Bama to win the Rose Bowl. They would scheme him open. He's fast.

He's faster than people believe. Roman Wilson is going to be a really good wide receiver at the next level. At number 46, I've got Jonathan Brooks, the running back from Texas. This is a guy that I really believe in. I love his leadership ability, his ability also to do everything on the field, whether you want him to run between the tackles or outside, hit home runs or gain tough yards, or catch it out of the backfield, he can do it all. That versatility is what I believe is where value is created for a running back,

and he's got value. He's my number 46 player. Number 45, also from Texas, and a guy that hasn't gotten a lot of chatter, I would say, is Jatavian Sanders, the tied end. Really athletic player, and because of the fact they had so many different weapons, whether it was Brooks before the injury,

whether it was C.J. Baxter, the running back, the two freshmen after Brooks's injury, or Adonai Mitchell, or Xavier Worthy, there weren't a ton of touches specifically for the tight end, and yet Jetavian Sanders produced, and he's a heck of a player. And I love what he's able to do, in particular as a flex move H-back style tied-in.

At number 44, I've got the linebacker from Michigan, Junior Colson. Now, for a few years now, going all the way back to when Mike McDonald, who's now the head coach with the Seattle Seahawks, when Mike McDonald was the defensive coordinator for the Michigan Wolverines, he raved about Jr. Colson and said, all the way back then. This is three years ago, okay, 2021, when Colson

was just a pup, he was just a freshman, and he said that kid's going to be a great pro. Love his background. He works hard. He, in a lot of ways, like Mikey St. Russell, like Roman Wilson, like all these Michigan players, he epitomizes what it meant to be a Michigan

Wolverine this last year. He was selfless. And his ability to be a hybrid player also in the middle of a defense, I think, is going to be highly valuable. So I like Junior Colson a lot. At number 43, I've got Camari Lassar, the corner from Georgia. And number 42, I'm going to stay in Georgia and go Ladd-McConkie, the wide receiver. You're going to see all sorts of wide receivers littering this list, because, again, it's a super heavy, deep, wide-receiver

draft. I'm a big fan of Ladd-McConkie. So it goes Lasseter, then McComachie at 42. And Ladd-McConkey's, his route-running ability, I think, is underappreciated. Maybe it's not. I don't know, maybe it's not. But Ladd-McConkie gets open and he's reliable catching the football. To me, those are two traits that are highly valuable, highly valuable. And in a lot of ways, when they did not have Bowers after the injury, the entire offense, at least the passing game, kind of went through Ladd-McConkey. So he's at 42, the wide receiver from Georgia. At number 41, I've got Devandre Sweat, the defensive tackle from Texas. Now, Devandre Sweat, huge, run stuffer, and in a lot of ways, is exactly what the NFL is looking for from their defensive tackles.

So remember, it's a copycat sport. Now, it's going to be a copycat sport, whether we're talking about the college level or the NFL level. What has succeeded? Well, Baltimore was the best defense in the NFL. Michigan was the best defense in college football, and then they won. won the national championship. And so everyone's going to be wanting a piece of that defense. It's a big reason why Mike McDonald went from Baltimore as a young defensive

coordinator and got the head coaching position with Seattle. The crux of that defense is that the number one building block is that you've got to build a run wall. It's not get a run stuffer. It's build a run wall. And making that a bit of a different description means that you have to have depth at the tackle position. You can't just be one guy that's stuffing the run, but you've got to have a number of tackles that can all go in and do the same thing.

So, Tavondre Sweat, as that style of defense and that philosophy defense becomes more prevalent throughout the National Football League is going to be highly valuable because that's exactly what he is. In fact, he in a lot of ways, even more so than Quinn Uers or Jonathan Brooks or Jatavian Sanders or Adonai Mitchell or Xavier Worthy, The reason Texas finally got over the hump and they were, quote, back, as we've been talking about for decades now, they get to the playoff, they beat Alabama on the road. The reason that they did that is because of their defense in the line of scrimmage, not necessarily their skill position. They've had skilled position players. They haven't been real at the line of scrimmage in quite some years. Now they are, and Devandre Sweat kind of epitomizes that along with Byron Mitchell, who we'll get to later in this list. I'll stick in Texas.

Xavier Worthy is number 40. Another wide receiver, Xavier Worthy. His speed and the ability to take the top off the defense is going to be highly valuable. We all know that. His ability to make plays is going to be highly valuable. We all know that. And he's going to be a huge threat early in his career.

At 39, I'm going to go with Edron Cooper, the linebacker for Texas A&M. Now, linebackers along with running backs, it's really hard for them to generate top-end first round value. But at least in my estimation, I think Cooper and Colson are a couple of your better inside linebacker types. And I think Cooper is going to find himself a good home in the national football league. 38, interior offensive line. Zach Frazier from West Virginia. He's a really good player.

Interior offensive line can be, I guess, is a better way to put it, a hard evaluation. And yet, it's highly important. you've got to have an offensive line, in particular in the middle, that doesn't get pushed back into your quarterback's lap. Drafting someone like Zach Frazier is going to help somebody out. Jordan Morgan, the tackle from Arizona, he's a really good player. And that year that they had, yeah, Noah Fafito was incredible. McMillan was incredible, right?

And Jed Fish did a lot of great things. But in large part, they were able to do that because they could, could protect Fafita. The year that the Wildcats had rested in the hands of Jordan Morgan in a big respect. And he was sensational. And then when he didn't play in the bowl game, you kind of saw them struggle offensively, even though they played okay and decent and ended up getting the job done. I'm going to go to 36 wide receiver, Troy Franklin from Oregon.

He's another guy. Listen, this is littered with wide receivers. I've already got one, two, three, four. this is now my fifth wide receiver. I'm only to 36. Troy Franklin, I think he can be a number one wide receiver. His ability to get open and then I would say make adjusted catches. It's not always contested like a Keon Coleman, which we'll get to you later.

But it's the adjustment catch is really uncanny. And I like that ability of his. Graham Barton is number 35. He's an interior offensive lineman from Duke. Here's another Texas Longhorn, Adonai Mitchell, transferred in from Georgia. He was excellent. And he's the type of guy that goes under the radar a bit as we're going through this draft process because there's so many different wide receivers.

And yet it's not going to shock me if we look up in four or five years in Adonai Mitchell. Maybe isn't the best one, but he's a number one somewhere. Like he's got top end potential to be a number one because of his size, skill, speed, athleticism, combination. All of that combination means that he could go be a number one. At number 33 on my list is Enis Rake Straw from Missouri, the corner, good player. And he's a guy that has that requisite length and coverage ability that makes him valuable. Then we get to another wide receiver. This time we go to Keon Coleman from Florida State.

again, his ability to make contested catches is special. And I talk with Daniel Jeremiah about this quite a bit. And actually, we talked about it on the podcast that he and I, that he joined me on right here. So a couple of weeks ago, go back and check it out if you haven't listened. We talked about wide receivers. And there was one small portion of that interview conversation. And we talked about the importance of having guys that can make contested catches, because in the playoffs in the national football,

you have to make contested catches. And it's not always just 50-50 catches. It's just that you will be contacted. Nothing's easy in the playoffs in the NFL. It just isn't. So the guys that can go in and be physically ready for that and succeed through it are the ones that can have more success early in their career. And I think that's what Keon Coleman can potentially do.

31. Kool-Aid McKinstree, the corner from Alabama. I mean, we've been talking about him for a long time. he's a really good player and he's number 31. At 30, I've got Jackson Powers Johnson, another interior offensive lineman, this time from Oregon. He can play center. He can play guard. He's highly valuable. And I think he's probably one of the better offensive linemen as far as a versatility goes. Now, he's probably not going to be your tackle. But he can play all over on the inside. And to me, that makes him pretty valuable. And he's a really good player. Darius Robinson, another Missouri Tiger. He's number 29. He's on the

edge out there on defense. And when you start evaluating these players, you start to realize like, oh, yeah, I get it. I know why Missouri was such a good team. You start studying their defense and you see Darius Robinson. You see Enis Rakestra. And you're like, okay, these guys are NFL players. You understand why Michigan won the national championship.

You walk through and it's like, okay, you can give third round or better grades to like all of their players. They're going to have so many guys drafted. and that is the lifeblood of success in college football, is the ability to have players that will play at the next level. And Darius Robinson is certainly one of those. Nate Wiggins is 28, corner from Clemson. Love his length, he's athletic, he's got a lot of value.

And again, you always know that people are looking for corners. They need to put as many corners as they can at times on the field, and Nate Wiggins is going to find the field pretty early. And number 27, a guy I talked about last week. Jerzan Newton, defensive tackle from Illinois. His productivity from the interior of the defense is outstanding. I think it has to do with his power and then also his quick twitch ability to move and his quickness. He can beat blocks with his quickness or his power.

That doesn't happen a lot in the interior. A lot of times you get guys that are just brute force and strength and they can win that way. I'm not saying it's bad. But then you get these guys that are like playmakers, they're difference makers. They can shoot gaps. They can win with strength. They can win with quickness. All of those different things.

And they are unicorns in some way. And Jersan Newton, at least for me, fits into that mold. At 26, my first quarterback, that means all of my quarterbacks are going to be in the top 26. I would think that that's unique. I've looked at everybody else's list, and I'm higher on these quarterbacks. than most, all of them. I love all of these quarterbacks. So Bo Nix is number 26 quarterback from Oregon. Now, here's what I'm not going to allow anybody to do is based on where I rank them as opposed to the others, say, like, well, why don't you like Knicks? I love Nix. He's 26 on my list.

Why am I getting upset? Because I'm not going to deal with that. I'm not going to deal with it. That's my least favorite part of the draft process is that inevitably these players have to be ranked against each other. And then inevitably, you take a Bo Nix who's going to be my sixth ranked quarterback on my list. And yet he's my 26th player overall. And people are like, why don't you like Nix? I love Knicks. Here's what I love about Bo Nix, his feet, his schematic acumen, his intelligence. He's off the charts as far as a leader goes. He's accurate. the ball goes to the right spot on time all the time. They were so good and so hard to stop.

And it was because of Bo Nix. If he goes to the right organization, and this is why I think Denver fits him like a glove. Sean Peyton fits him like a glove. I was in Sean Peyton's offense. I know Bo Nix. I know how Bo Nix was taught. In fact, Will Stein, who was his offensive coordinator, he and I talked about Bowen, and he just talked about how cerebral he was in Nays.

in terms of knowing where to go with the ball, knowing how to check protection, knowing how to re-mike the protection so that you are protected and can get the ball down the field. This guy is NFL ready, all right? And I love his game, and I think Denver should draft him. He's my 26th player overall. And number 25, here we go, top half of my top 50. Latu Latu, Edge from UCLA. Now, listen, the neck injury thing is interesting.

Remember, he starts at Washington. He has a neck injury. They say, you can't play anymore. It's a career-ending neck injury. He gets a second opinion and a second lease on life in terms of his football career, finds a home at UCLA and played amazing. I mean, the guy is productive. You put him on the field, and he's, and all my teammates are going to roll their eyes

because our coaches used to say this when I was playing. He's just a football playing Jesse. Put him on the field in a uniform, given a helmet and a defensive scheme. and he's going to go produce. That's what I think about Latsu. I think he's a heck of a player, and I really love his story. At number 24 is Cooper DeGine.

The corner from Iowa. Cooper is a, I think, more valuable player than anybody's going to give him credit for because of what he can do all around. Listen, he's dangerous with the football in his hands. It's not going to surprise me at all if he's in the return game early in his, career. He can cover in the slot. He can cover on the outside. If you put him into a defense that

plays primarily zone, and there are those defenses out. Now, he can play man, but he's better in zone. He's got such a good feel for route structure and route combinations, which is one of the reasons why he's so productive in terms of getting interceptions. So DeGine from Iowa, he's at 24. Amarius Mims at 23, the tackle from Georgia. And this is when we start getting into kind of this offensive tackle rotation. So Mims from Georgia is 23. Tyler Guyton is 22, the offensive tackle from Oklahoma. I like Guyton's game a lot. I like Mims' game a lot. And again, we've got, I think, a great depth at this position in the draft.

Wide receiver is deep. Offensive tackle is deep. Quarterback is deep. And that's reflected in these rankings. And we get to my next quarterback at 21 and a guy that I've been high on for a long time ever since he was a quarterback at Indiana, saw this guy almost beat Ohio State in 2020 in the COVID year. He took Ty Fry Fogel and the Indiana Hoosiers in there. And in a lot of ways, made Tom Allen a lot of money because he got an extension based on that solid COVID year in 2020. Michael Pennix, Jr., I've been a fan of him for a long time before he even got to Washington.

Everybody wants to take shots at Michael Pennix because of his injury history. And I get it. it's there. Like he had a hard time staying on the field at Indiana. I get it. He just stayed on the field two years in a row at Washington and there was nobody in college football that threw

the ball better than he did down the field. It was uncanny. His ability to throw with leverage down the field and really pass with leverage and I've talked about it at length and we'll have more on that as we get closer to the draft process. But Michael Pinnock's Jr., and again, fit with these

quarterbacks makes all the difference in the world. Bo Nix. If he's in with Sean Payton, guy can succeed. Michael Pinnix. I cannot get Miami out of my head. I get it. I get it. It's probably not going to happen. But whatever, whatever. I think Pinnix would fit perfect in that offense.

At number 20, his offensive tackle, Troy Fontenou, a really good player. He wasn't touched for the better part of two years. And that offensive line has a lot to do with that. At number 19, back to the wide receiver ranks, Brian Thomas Jr. from LSU. Brian Thomas Jr. is in any other draft, easily a top three wide receiver in the draft.

It just so happens that we have some elite wide receivers up ahead of him so he can be in my top 20, and he's not going to get the accolades or the acclaim as some of these other guys just because the other guys, in some cases, are generational. But he's in there at, what do we got here? that 19. 18 is another defensive tackle from Texas. Byron Murphy, he and Devandre Sweat. Big reason why Texas was so good.

Byron Murphy is, I think, the best defensive tackle in the draft. He is a leader. He's strong. He can make plays. And he could be an anchor for an NFL defense for years to come. at 17 from Penn State, Chop Robinson. Now, Chop Robinson, the reason I didn't put him ahead of the guy at 16, and I'll just throw him up right now because they kind of can both be talked about.

Jared Verse, Edge from Florida State. The reason I ranked them like this, I thought Verse was a little bit better holistically, also against the run. Not that Chop can't stop the run, but there are times. when he would take chances. And when you take chances and leave your gap and try to win with speed, you can get beat. That's what happened against Michigan on Blake Corum's touchdown run over the left side in the second half of that game. He's also the guy that totally changed Michigan's game plan.

So Chop Robinson, he beats the right tackle twice in the first two series so fast it makes your head spin. And Michigan immediately is like, well, Well, we're not going to throw the ball during this game. So what are we going to do? Call 32 straight runs. And again, I've said this many times. It wasn't that Michigan was trying to protect J.J. McCarthy or play away from J.G. McCarthy. It was playing away from Chop Robinson.

He's that good with his speed rush. Now, Jared Verst, on the other hand, I think he's a little bit better holistically in every down-edge player. So I gave him the nod up there. I think he can be a very productive player in the NFL. I love everything about his game. Jared V.S. is a phenomenal player, so he's at 16. Tackle from Alabama, J.C. Latham, is at 15. And again, now we're getting into all those offensive tackles here.

And at 14, a guy that I'm higher on than most, have been for a long time, J.J. McCarthy, another quarterback. So here's my third quarterback in my list, and J.J. McCarthy lands inside the top 15 at 14. I've seen J.J. McCarthy since he was just a pup when he comes in as a true freshman, he's getting spot duty with Cade McNamara. And he grew into a guy that was the reason they were able to go win a national championship. They've had teams that did what this team has done in every other facet other than crunch time, fourth quarter, can the quarterback go win the game. You know it's true.

Michigan has had really great teams for a long time, Jim Harbaugh, but they didn't always have the quarterback that could raise the level of the team when they needed it most. And guess what? He was able to do that in the Rose Bowl against Alabama. He was able to do that a few times. He did that in some ways against Ohio State. That touchdown pass to Roman Wilson was out of this world. A lot of times we watch what's called cutups. So I'll go into my film database and I'll say, okay, I want to. I want to be. I want to, want to watch just J.J. McCarthy on third downs and seven plus. And when you do that, basically hardest down to play as a quarterback. When you watch his cut up at third down

seven plus, it's like, wow. Wait, why is he not a top five player? And you know what? Fair enough. Maybe I'm too low on J.J. McCarthy. They didn't need his ability on first and second down because they were so good up front. But when he had the ability to change the game on third downs, extend plays, make plays on the edge, create, throw on the run, use his leg to move the chains. He did it. He did it. That's why he's going to be great at the next level.

And oh, hey, by the way, oh, hey, by the way, totally unselfish, doesn't care who gets the credit and is just flat a winner. Who doesn't want that in the locker room? I think a lot of people are going to want that. in their locker room. Number 13, Corner from Alabama, Terry and Arnold. He was recruited as a safety and just got better and better and better freshman All-American last year than All-American this year at Corner.

And I think this guy's got a bright future, a really bright future. My top edge player in the draft, Dallas Turner at 12 from Bama. and the top of my draft is loaded with offensive players. And in fact, there's only one more defender left. And I think that defender is going to surprise some people that he would be my top defender in the draft. A lot of people are going to have Dallas Turner as their top defender in the draft. And you know what?

Yes, I'm on board with that as well. The offensive talent in this draft is just deeper. And I think the top end is excellent. But Dallas Turner is going to find a home. And he's going to be productive. He can play on every single down. He can stop the run. His motor never stops.

He can get to the quarterback. And this guy's going to have a fantastic NFL career. Talese Fulaga, the tackle from Oregon State is number 11. Not a lot of people know him, but this dude is a run grader. Like if Jim Harbaugh gets Fulago, watch out. Like, they're going to run the ball all over everybody. My next offensive tackle is Joe Alt from Notre Dame. He is at number 10.

so now we're inside of the top 10. Joe Alt's fantastic. I think he's probably the most well-rounded pro-ready offensive tackle in the draft, but he's not my top offensive tackle. I'll get to that in the moment. Number nine is my top defender in the draft, not even a Power 5 player, but Quinyon Mitchell, the corner from Toledo. He reminds me in so many ways of the trajectory of Soss Gardner, and we knew about Soss more because Cincinnati was better than Toledo. But guys can succeed from that level, and that's been true.

proven out by sauce and now sauce is probably the best corner in football. And Quinyon Mitchell with his strength, his length, and his speed. Like this guy, he's my best defender in the draft. That's all I can say. And I know that that's unique, but I just have a hunch that this dude is going to be phenomenal. I went also with top end potential on this next one. Number eight, my top offensive linemen in the draft from Penn State.

Olu Fashtonu. Now, I know it's easier to put Joe Alt as the top offensive lineman. You know what it is? It's safer. It's safer because he's more polished than Olu Fashton. He's played more football than Olu Faschano. But the top end potential Olu Fashnu has, I think, supersedes that of guys like Joe Alt or even Tales or Fawga or any of the other offensive tackles. I think Fashtonu has the potential to be one of the best two or three offensive linemen in all of football in four or five years. That's the trajectory. He's on. He's very smart. He's incredibly driven. He's got great feet and he's very athletic for as big of a frame as he has. So Fashtonu is a guy that I'm a big fan of. Now we get into the top seven. Quarterback from LSU, Jaden Daniels. All right. So here we go. Jaden Daniels is a phenomenal

football player. A lot of teams are going to have Jaden Daniels all the way up there at number two or three. And you know what? It's not going to be surprising to me at all if Daniels actually goes number two in the draft. It's not going to be surprising to me at all. In fact, I think that's likely is that he goes number two. He's safer. He's played a ton of football. He's athletic. He makes great throws. There's nothing to knock about Jaden Daniels. I really like his game. I think my one question would be, can he stay healthy? With the way he plays, the style he plays, we've seen that with some other running quarterbacks, and I'm not saying he's just running. He's obviously a great passer. But he will run. And when you will run, you will expose yourself to further hits.

So it remains to be seen how he's going to be able to stay on the field at the next level. But phenomenal player, he's number seven. At number six, I've got Malik Neighbors, his wide receiver. Neighbors is an absolute rocket ship. And his ability to turn nondescript offensive plays, what I would call like advantage or ratio throws. That's when the numbers suggest that a quarterback just stands up and just throws the ball out to the slot receiver. Okay, based on the leverage of the defense or the numbers from a run ratio and a pass ratio, and you just flip the ball out there and he's got a one-on-one, this dude has the ability to turn that ratio throw into a home run.

And not many people have that ability he does. That's why he's a top 10 player, really like Malik neighbors. Number five, Brock Bowers, I have told you from the start of this process, I am a big believer in tight ends, and I'm a huge believer in Brock Bowers. Bowers is fantastic. The dude gets it done and he is the perfect style of player for an offense to really build around

from a skill position perspective. He's going to be in the playoffs. He's probably going to be the focal point of an offense that can go and win a Super Bowl at some point. Why do I say that? Because every Super Bowl winner of the last eight years had a guy that could own the center of the field, whether it was,

Edelman or Gronk or Kelsey, that's what you have to have. You have to have that. Or else you can't run the football. When I just talked about ratio and advantage shows, that's what I'm talking about. Guys that can play in the slot or even in line from a tied-in perspective and win. And Brock Bowers can do that. His value should not be questioned just because you see the letters T.E. Next to his name.

I love Bowers. He's a top five player all day long. don't overthink this. Anybody that's knocking Brock Bowers just for being a tied end, I think is hunting ghosts. And you know what? I was taught not to do that. You don't hunt ghosts in this profession, and I'm not going to here.

At number four, I've got Roma Dunzei, wide receiver from Washington. Love this dude. He can be a number one. He can win. There's not a lot to not like about Roma Dunzee. He's going to go in and be successful right away. I think he's a pro. And in particular in that offense, they ran a lot of routes that needed to adjust

post-snap so you know he's smart and you know he can get on the same page with the quarterback because that's what he was with Michael Pinnock. At number three, I've got Drake May. He's going to be my second quarterback. A lot of people are going to knock Drake May over the next few weeks. For what reasons, I'm not quite sure. He falls in the C.J. Stroud category for me of like, why is everyone knocking him? The dude's phenomenal.

Watch his tape. And don't give me this bull crap about like, well, his feet aren't that good. Watch the tape. Watch the throws that he made. He makes throws that the other guys outside of Caleb Williams cannot make. And these guys are great players. They're top 26 players in the NFL draft, from Bow Nix to Pinnicks to J.J. McCarthy to Jaden Daniels.

And none of those guys can make the throws that Drake May makes from a top-end perspective. He's got a gear that they don't have. So I'm sorry, like, nitpick all you want, but it just doesn't sound right. if he's passed over by Washington, I think it's a mistake. That's not a knock on Daniels. That's how much I believe in Drake May. Drake May is phenomenal.

Just watch the tape. Just watch the tape. Even though he can make some bonehead mistakes from a mental perspective, the dude is, oh, man. I mean, there are some people at this position. I feel like Crash Davis right now. Like God reached down and turned that guy's right arm into a thunderbolt.

He makes throws that the rest of us dream of making. And he does them without even skipping a beat and live action. Those type of guys don't come around all the time. I will not fall into the trap of what I did with Josh Allen coming out of Wyoming, Justin Herbert coming out of Oregon. I heard people nitpick about the offense they ran, the lack of accuracy, look at their footwork, and I would go back and I fell into it.

And I was like, yeah, that's right. Yeah. Let's nitpick these guys. Nope. Not going to do it. Drake May is a phenomenal player. I will stand by that. Number two and number one are two of the best players

that I've ever covered at their positions. college football. Marvin Harrison, Jr. and Caleb Williams at two and at one. These two guys are, say it with me, generational players. I have not covered a better wide receiver in my career than Marvin Harrison, Jr. And I have not covered a better college quarterback than Caleb Williams. And there have been plenty that I've covered. Okay, that's, I can only evaluate based on the way I evaluate these players as I cover them. These two guys are phenomenal. Marvin Harrison, Jr. is going to be a number one wide receiver right away. You can game plan to him as a rookie because he will get open and he will make the catch, in particular on

third down, which is rare. In the playoffs, when he has to fight through contested areas and make physical catches, he will do it. He can be the catalyst to an overall offense. And that is very rare. And that's why he's number two. And Caleb Williams is elite. in every category that I can evaluate on the field. You can question some of the antics off the field, but I know as coaches. I've talked with his teammates. They loved Caleb Williams.

And in a lot of ways, he was navigating waters that no player has ever had to navigate in the history of college football. No player has ever had to play college football as an incumbent Heisman trophy winner with $12 million in the bank, or whatever the denomination was. And you can say like, well,

boo-hoo. Ooh, Joel. I'm just saying no one's had to navigate that. All right? Like, this dude is an anomaly in a lot of ways. And he's having to do things that there is no blueprint for it. And he's still a young man. So are there going to be mistakes made? Sure. There's going to be mistakes made. Let me tell you what I do not get concerned with. Watch his tape. He is elite in every category, whether he's creating on the run, threatening with his legs,

his football IQ and his acumen, his ability to threaten the defense with armed talent, all of it. He's an elite player, a totally elite player. And Caleb Williams is the number one pick, and he will be the number one pick. And he is phenomenal. That's it. That's my top 50 players right there. Tons of wide receivers, tons of quarterbacks. I've got 12 pass catchers.

That's a quarter of my top 50, basically, almost a quarter. I will have some more draft content this week, actually. You don't have to wait until next week. This week, I will have YouTube. exclusives. So you've got to go subscribe to the Joel Clat show on YouTube because I will have breakdowns of all the quarterbacks on YouTube. Their film, we've done some fancy video and I will explain exactly what I love about these guys. So go follow on YouTube, subscribe on YouTube, and I will have those exclusives later this week. And then the hats. I know we had all you

guys send in bench press videos. The hats are coming. Here's the deal. I was not going to give you some generic hat and just send it off to you. I am designing a special hat. It will be a Joel Clat show, special hat. It will come to you at some point here in the next couple of months after I get a design and made, and then I'll send it off to you. And then everybody else will have a chance maybe to buy it. But I think that the ones for the bench press guys, you will get a unique version that only you earned. Yeah, that's my that's my vow to you. vow to you, promise? I can just say promise. I can just say promise. Hey, remember to follow us on social media at Joel Clatchew wherever you like to social media.

And then email us, the Joel Clatshow mailbag at gmail.com. Any question you have, college football, draft, life, fathering. Or you could say parenting. Marriage. I can give you marriage advice. You might not want to take it, but I'll give it to you. All of that at the mailbag and send them in and we'll get to that. Thank you for listening.

We'll be back next week with another podcast. and remember go to YouTube for those exclusives later this week.