The McShay Show - Bill Belichick as a College Coach, Todd’s Flash Mock, and CFP Prospect Rankings

Episode Date: December 12, 2024

Welcome back to ‘The McShay Show’! Todd and Steve open by reacting to news that Bill Belichick will be the next head coach at North Carolina. Then, they preview the College Football Playoff matchups and reveal which teams have the most top 250 draft prospects. To close the show, the guys go through a top-five Flash Mock Draft and give “their guys” of the week. (0:00) Welcome to The McShay Show! (1:12) Bill Belichick Agrees to become UNC Head Coach (16:21) The Top 250 CFP Draft Prospects (19:15) Ohio State's Draft Prospects (24:15) CFP Matchup: Tennessee vs. Ohio State Prospects (28:51) CFP Matchup: Oregon Prospects (29:50) CFP Matchup: Clemson vs. Texas Prospects (33:38) CFP Matchup: Indiana vs. Notre Dame Prospects (38:13) CFP Matchup: Penn State vs. SMU Prospects (43:08) The Top 10 2025 Draft Prospects (51:43) FLASH TOP 5 MOCK DRAFT (1:08:16) Muench’s Guy: Jalen Catalon (S - UNLV) (1:10:41) Todd’s Guy: Kalen Johnson (RB - Iowa) (1:15:31) Thanks For Watching! The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please visit www.rg-help.com to learn more about the resources and helplines available. Host: Todd McShay Guest: Steve Muench Producers: Tucker Tashjian, Mark Panik, Conor Nevins, and Daniel Comer Social: Eduardo Ocampo Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Bill Belichick instantly advances the college football landscape. UNC, guided by Bill's program, should quickly become the standard in college football leadership. Also, my first 2025 top 250 NFL draft prospects overall is out. You can only get it here on the McShea show. I can't wait to tear this thing apart, man. I'm sure you will. We'll also apply it, though, to the college football playoff, which teams have the most talent, which teams are a little bit restricted by the prospects that they have.

Then we'll walk through the top prospects in this class. Take a look at the top 10 overall, maybe go beyond. It's full season in college football. Week 15 in the NFL. And how many days left until the NFL draft? 133. Mentsch, you good? I'm good.

Mr. Director, strike up the band, please. Imagine I've gotten a no-go, Belichick, a little bit over the years, okay? I want to say almost more indirectly than directly. I'm not going to overstate my relationship with Bill. One of the first dinners I had, Gary Horton, who started both of us really in this business. Former NFL Scout worked with Bill Belichick at the Cleveland Browns, worked with Mike Lombardi at the Cleveland Browns.

I went out to dinner with Bill and with Scott Pioly and kind of got an understanding of how Bill operates. I've talked about it before. It was the most awkward dinner I'd ever been to for the first half hour, because we were trying to have small talk and Bill does not do small talk. The second we transitioned to to football talk, he was the most engaging, interesting conversation I've ever had in football,

to be honest, to that point. I look at also kind of the connections. Obviously, I spent a lot of summers on Nantucket. He was on Nantucket. A lot of the same people I knew, going golfing, seeing him and his lady friend riding bikes by, like all of that. but more indirectly, right? Like Jim Nagy we worked with.

He's the senior executive director, I should say, at the Senior Bowl, went from working with us to the New England Patriots and worked there. So a lot of stories and insight into the operation, if you will. Sean Gustus, who we played with it at Richmond, worked for him. I can remember seeing Sean after about the first eight months of working for Bill and the stories of sleeping inside the office and the bags under his eyes. And I was worried about, I was worried about Sean. Keith Kidd we worked with.

He also worked with Bill Belichick for a long time. Mike Lombardi, very close relationship to our guy, Gary Horton, gotten to know Mike very well over the years. You know, text with him on and off all the time. Mark Magna, who we played with at Richmond, played for Bill. Teddy Bruske, who I've become really good friends with on a personal level and obviously professionally at ESPN, has some stories and insight into Bill that very few people have, okay? So with that is kind of the backdrop, I feel like I understand Bill and his process and what makes him tick to a certain degree. Okay.

So when I hear that Belichick reportedly has a long list of demands when he takes this job at UNC, including a 400-page document calling for a new coaching and recruitment staff and process, it does not surprise me a bit. He also demanded that his son be a part of it. there were early reports that he automatically will get the job when bill decides to step down apparently uh bruce feldman has come out and said that is not necessarily the case so we'll find out more reporting on that bill is 72 years old okay and we can sit here and we can talk about well mac they just got rid of someone in their early 70s and mac brown and is this the right long-term decision for unc i'm going to argue against that i look at him bill's a football historian okay he really really is he is driven by the history of football he has an appreciation that i would say that i

don't know that anyone else in the nfl has ever truly had and so when you take into consideration that that mike shul is the only one of the only part don shul i should say i'm not my his son don shul is the only one ahead of bill bellichick on the combined win list in the nfl and that in maybe one or two seasons back in the nfl he could become the winning head coach in NFL history. There's a lot of things that come to mind. The first is, were there opportunities there? And when he started, when he went on the McAfee show and confirmed that he was talking

to UNC, was there a window there where he was looking for an NFL team to come racing out and say, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, right? So we can analyze all of that. But I also, for me, and I'm curious to see what your reaction was, but for me, when he at this point in his career, albeit maybe the NFL teams were not banging down his door, but when weighing chasing the record and being number one on that list ahead of Don Shula versus other personal goals at this point in his life, not his career, but in his life, he chose this. He could have said no. He could have pushed him off. He could have waited. He could have

negotiated with NFL teams, but he chose to take this job. Okay. I think it lines up with his sensibilities where he is in his life at this point. Both of his parents were teachers. Dad, college football coach, Navy, grew up at UNC. I think I read a report like some of his first words out of his mouth that he hated Duke, right, the blue devils. So I think this is an opportunity when he kind of weighed where he is in the life and everything that he's trying to accomplish now at the, let's say, the back nine, if you will. I think this is an opportunity for Bill Belichick to pay it back first and foremost. As he's a historian, I also think his appreciation for football and what it has brought to his life and his love for the game. This is an opportunity

after doing it the highest level and truly being regarded as the greatest NFL coach of all time. This is a chance for him now. It's not about he also wants to be known as one of the great college. He's 72. It's not. about that it's about paying it back developing young men showing in it when we're in an intersection in college football where we're hearing about general managers and personnel departments nil's transfer portals being free agency all of these things i think he's looking at this and saying we have a program and it's documented in these 400 pages that can apply to today's college football and we can change the standard and the operation in

college football and take it to another level. Advancing. What do you think? I am surprised, but not. I shouldn't be stunned, I don't think. I think we never assume, right? How many times you heard that in your life? Never assume. And the assumption I had was that he was going to go for the record, that he wanted that record, that he had to have that record, that Bill Belichick is the most competitive human being on the planet, maybe. And he just, there's come hell or high water, he was going to go for that record. But he never said that. I don't think, I've never heard him say that in an interview and say that that was the most important thing to him.

And I think you're right. I think that he evaluated. And again, what opportunities was going to have at the NFL level? We don't know. That is an interesting thing. And I think that people are going to dig in there. I don't know if we'll ever know the answer to that. But looking at it, it does make a lot of sense.

Like him going back and being a teacher, like if you read about his book about his father, like him being a teacher, him being in that area of the country, I think the mid-Atlantic, he loves that area of the country. I think it's a perfect storm of what college football programs are becoming. After reading about this program and how it's going to be a pro program that gets kids ready to go to the NFL, if you're a kid, you know, five star and you're thinking, man, who's going to get me more ready for the NFL than this guy? I mean, there's some exciting stuff in there about that. On the flip side, the one thing I do worry about, and you saw Brady talk about this, is how is his recruiting bedside manner?

How is he when he's going into the living room and saying, you know what I mean? Like, how is he going to do in that sense? Are kids going to be able to relate, you know, we're talking about 18 to 22 year old kids, you know, roughly. How do they relate to the 70-year-old guy? You know, our generation knows what Belichick is. And these kids, their parents are going to be telling him, this guy's a legend. You want to go play for him.

But how much do they relate to him? And more so 16, 17-year-olds when it comes to recruiting. Right. So I'm fascinated by the whole thing. I mean, look, it's going to be so much fun and interesting, for lack of a better way of saying it, to watch how this unfolds. Yeah. Yes. Just the thought of like Belichick versus dabbo.

Like there's, I don't know. Yeah. All of a sudden. Him swinging the whistle and the Carolina blue on the practice field. Yeah. It's going to be fun to watch. Yeah. like ornery ornery half time you know interviews with like molly mcgrath you know what i mean like

that i mean it's going to be pure entertainment that aspect right but from a functionality standpoint he's not going to be doing tic talk videos and and all that stuff like yeah i don't see maybe i doubt it yeah no no he's going to do it his way he's going to do it his way and it'll be fascinating to see if his way will work i believe he he will have success And I think because of where we are, I think, so here's a deal. Like I've told you before, text messages and calls and conversations with coaches I've had in the last like four or five years has been very different. You know, when you look at college coaches that a lot of guys that have either left for

the NFL or have an eye on leaving for the NFL in college because of all this madness in college football, Bill's always been against the grain guy. Right. You know, like I'll never forget that first meeting when I told you the dinner that I had with Belichick and Puyole, he didn't want to talk. And I think it was Washington that year, not surprising, was like signing all these free agents, free agents and all that. He wanted the mid-level guys that fit his system, guys that were hungry, guys that were worried about feeding their family. And that's how he was going to build that thing. And he was perfectly fine being 500 that first year because he wanted to bring in people to fit his program, humans, individuals that were. hungry that would accept his coaching, would accept his level of detail. And that's where it started. Now, Brady took it to another level. There's no question. We can argue what he would be without Brady and everyone, all my friends here in New England do all the time. But we're not here for that today. But my point is, I think he sees a window now where you got a lot of colleges kind of scrambling, trying to catch up to this new system, if you will, in place in college football. He sees as an

operative advantage. Wait a second. I've been doing this for 40 years or whatever. I don't know how long he's been in the league, but decades. I've been doing this for decades. It's basically the same, not the same, very similar now to the NFL. We have free agency. We have, we have a salary.

I mean, you heard him on McAfee. I was watching that interview. We have a salary cap. You have free agency. We treat it the same way. It's going to be a business. Right. And there's going to, I promise you this.

He's going to get a lot of great recruits. four stars five stars he's going to he's also going to lose he's also going to lose a handful of them right that's that's part of the business i do think i'll say this in terms of make no mistake about this he's not going to be out of touch and get to into north carolina and say to himself like wait how does this work this is a man that reads and studies every aspect of every rule of every regulation he will get to north carolina and know exactly what he can do exactly what he can't do and where he can exploit where other people may be behind him. That's what's interesting about this to me is you make no mistake about this.

Belichick knows exactly what he's doing going into this. This is who he has been his entire career. I've already seen. I just saw a post on X a few minutes before we came on that Mike Lombardi is a vision network put out a press release, if you will, or a message that Lombardi is leaving Vision Network. He's going to work with Bill. They're going to run this thing absolutely like a pro personnel department.

There's going to be a salary cap person. There's going to be a director of personnel. There's going to, you know, there's going to be a general manager that he works in lockstep with. They're going to have talent evaluators there just like they had college scouts. They're going to have, I'm sure they'll regionalize it. I mean, it will be run like an NFL personnel department. And we'll see.

But I know this. wins, losses, longevity of his career at UNC. College football as we wake up this morning is instantly, and by a large percentage, more interesting than it was a couple days ago. Zero question. Yeah. I mean, there's no question. I hope he wins. We've lost Nick Sabin. We lost Jim Harbaugh. We've lost some characters in college football. You're telling like every single week, I don't care if they're, who they're playing i don't care if they're playing wake forest like it's still you it's must see

tv at least for the first year to see how this thing plays out so it's a better sure if he wins i hope he wins because it's a better story the idea of him like sticking it to craft all the drama of that you know it just in in north carolina those uniforms the that school i mean if he wins it's it's going to be all the better story but it's regardless i you know i can't wait to see what happens I mean, to your point, it's more interesting today than it was yesterday. Did you think it was going to happen when you saw the report? I thought this was like, eh, that's kind of a cool story. But there's no way he takes the job.

After I, honestly, I was skeptical like everybody else. And then I watched the McAfee interview. And he's, I could tell there. He put the, he said in capital letters, if I. I could tell there he was going to do this. but only if an NFL team didn't come banging down his door at the last night. It was, I want to do this, but I'm still going to answer the knock if it comes. And I also, and I don't want to, we don't need to get in.

This isn't a coaching show and NFL, you know, the carousel and coaching carousel and hot seat. Like, that's just not what we're here for. But I also, I think the landscape has changed so much. And I think there's so much emphasis on finding an offensive coach that can come in and develop up young quarterbacks and almost all of these teams that we're looking at who have fired or are rumored to be, you know, heading down that road of firing their head coach, they've got a young quarterback, almost all of them. And so I think that there was hesitation from NFL teams.

Is this the guy? We saw like the Matt Patricia, Joe Judge debacle in New England, you know, with Mack Jones when they had a coordinator year one with McDaniels and, and Josh McDaniels before he went and took a head coaching job. Mac Jones had, what, a 10-win season, his rookie year. Right. And then all of a sudden, Joe Judge and Matt Patricia, and it's a disaster. And Mac Jones hasn't been the same since.

So anyway, it's fascinating. I don't know. It's a great story. Yeah. It is. All right. I mentioned it in the open. Top 250 is out.

And as of right now, the only place you can find my draft rankings, if you have any interest in it, is right here on the McShay Show, right? And so we're not, it would be the worst viewing experience and listening experience of all time if we sat here and went through all 250 prospects that I've now right. It would be even worse if we did it by by college or by like it's just no thank you. We're not, none of us are here for that, including and especially us. But I did this exercise and it started in the summer as you and I do starting watching tape, create a top 100, build from that. And I'm not going to sit here and lie and say that I have. all the answers. These are going to be the rankings that we talk about in April when we put

our final board out there. But I always reference our rankings as air traffic control. That's how I visualize it in my head. In May and June and July, we start and we're just, we're getting the flight patterns out there. We're getting all these planes to take off. And there's over a thousand planes taking off, if you will, referencing NFL draft prospects. Right now at this point, you'd think we're getting ready to land all of them. It's not the case. And it's not just because where we are in the process and the tape is the vast majority of the evaluation because we haven't had the time to go through all 250 players and watch a minimum of four tapes, which is our standard. Okay. But we've watched enough tape to this point, talk to enough people in the league. I've talked to

enough scouts who have been on the road to put together a list that I feel good about that at least I feel like we're mid-flight. Everyone's heading in the direction. Everyone knows, when they're landing. Everyone has reached, you know, uh, altitude for the, for their flight. And so we're, we're everything's kind of flying in the right direction. With that is the backdrop. I think it's important. We'll get to the top 10 and we can debate that and talk about kind of the top prospects in this class. But here we are. We get the college football playoff coming in just over over a week. And so I want to break these down, these prospects in the top 250. And this is why I did. I always used to do this at the ESPN.

before bowl season, and you would see it would run on the tracker. The Scouts Inc, you know, these five prospects are ranked in the top 200, top 250. And so I'm used to this process. And so applying it now to the college football playoff is even more fun, right? So let's take a look real quickly in terms of the most NFL draft prospects that are included in my top 250 by the teams that are in the college football playoff. And we'll go most to least here. First off, not a big surprise, Ohio State with 15.

And again, this doesn't include sophomores that aren't eligible or freshmen that aren't eligible. And for each of these teams, like Tennessee, they have a lot of prospects, but they're not eligible yet. You know, a lot of these teams, there's younger guys on their roster. Ohio State, even, for example, you got a wide receiver who could be a top three pick in 2027, Smith, and you got a safety, Caleb Downs, and we've talked about all season long, is arguably the best defensive player in college football. They're not included here either. But Ohio State did bring with that $20 million roster a lot of guys back that typically

in years past would have gone on and played in the NFL, right? So they have 15 top 250 draft prospects, the most of any team in the college football playoff. Just behind them, though, three other schools, not surprising. And I know the seating is different, but the rankings, these are four of the top ranked teams in the college football. playoff by the committee. Ohio State with 15, Georgia with 14, Texas with 12, and Oregon with 11. Does that surprise you at all? No. I mean, you see it on the tape. The talent is evident. It jumps

out when you watch on the tape. And these are, you know, these are the bluebloods of the college football. So it's not surprising at all. So I think the highest ranked team, as I'm looking at right now, the highest ranked team that's not on that list would be Penn State. Yeah, they're ranked four. Yeah. And they're not on that list. But they're in that next tier of schools, they're at the top. Penn State was seven prospects.

Behind them. Go ahead. Really quickly. People might think that Ohio, like, Ohio State hasn't played that well, they just lost to Michigan. Why do they have 15? Two names, like I just want to mention really quickly. I think the two guys that are hurt that are two of their better,

prospects are hurt. And that's a big reason why they're maybe not playing to the level that they could be playing. And that's the tackle Josh Simmons, who I went back and watched. And I'm convinced if he checks out medically, I think he's going to be the first tackle off the board. I really think he's that good. I love him to throw stuff out like that. Yeah. So he's someone to keep an eye on.

And the other guy is Seth McLaughlin, who is the center. Not, I think he could sneak in the day. You have him day three, early day three. I think he'd sneak into day two. Do you remember who? I, you know, all these. players, I lost track as something. You know he was the Alabama Center last year who couldn't snap?

That was Seth McLaughlin. He was the guy who had all the bad snaps and was killing Alabama last year. Goes to Ohio State. They said it's something to do with the cadence. I don't know. Looks like a different center. Now, I do wonder if teams are going to look at those two years and say, maybe this guy's a guard.

But watch his tape, man. He is really, really good. In terms of tape, I think he would be a day two. Those are two guys that are out. Those are two guys that are lost. You're jumping out. ahead of us here. So yeah, sorry. Go ahead. But I appreciate it. And we'll get to that. And it's critical. And I want to get into the matchups against Tennessee. And then and then if they,

you know, both teams, they went against Oregon. But again, Ohio State, Georgia, Texas, Oregon, the three teams with double digit draft prospects in our top 250 in my top 250. I have to separate them because you have, you have your own work that you're doing for the ESPN draft tracker. Penn State was seven. Okay. Then you've got Indiana was six and then three other. schools with five, Notre Dame, Clemson, Tennessee. Okay. Not surprising the draft prospects, the teams with the fewest draft prospects are the ones that were conference champions and got bumped up to in their seating for the for the most part outside of. Yeah. Well, yes. No, SMU was not, but Boise State SMU, we thought for a while would be represented as the

ACCC champion, but lost to Clemson still still got in. Boise State and SMU both have two and Arizona State just has one, not surprisingly, Cam Scadaboo. So that's the backdrop on all of this. That's kind of preface all of this, where the talent is. And I think it's important to know because if you go and track, I think almost every single year, the national champion is up there in the top two or three in terms of draft talent. Makes sense. When Clemson was making a run and won a couple national champions, they were right up there

with the Alabama's and the head of Georgia and all of the other schools. Georgia, like record setting, draft talent, you know, and the, and what was it? 20, 21 was like the best, yeah, Michigan last year, loaded, okay? Florida with Urban Meyer, loaded. The only time I can ever remember, the only time I can remember a national champion where I went to their pro day and I was like, oof, they had two players and everybody else was like seventh round free agents. And it was kind of an ugly pro day.

It was Cam Newton. And remember Farley, the, um, or fairly, Nick Farley, yeah, yeah, Nick Farley, the defensive tackle. Both first rounders, other than that, there was like not like no talent to be found. That was the only time I can remember where they weren't among the top two or three in terms of NFL draft talent. So that in mind, Tennessee, Ohio State, when you look at the prospects. Yep.

I think offensive line for Ohio State, going back to the conversation, you just started prematurely. What else is you know, right? Versus Tennessee's defensive line, we've talked about all season long. It goes well beyond just the three draft prospects for Tennessee. James Pierce, Jr., who I've got ranked 14 overall and what's shaping up to be a very good edge class. Interior defensive lineman Omari Thomas at 116 overall, and Omar Norman Lott at 160 over. overall, all grades equivalent to the first four rounds, okay? That defensive line and then beyond, we've talked about, like, what do they say,

eight or nine defensive titles that they rotate. And then another six guys at edge. There's a defensive tackle that I think you're going to have. And again, these are the kind of conversations, just to be honest about this kind of behind the current thing. This is not a, you know, a gotcha moment or whatever. We have these conversations all the time. Like, you've got to check out this guy.

Like, you watch this guy. Yeah, well, did you see him? I think Bryson, the defensive tackle number 20, he may have another year of eligibility. He's been there for four years, so we'll see how that develops. But he was a dude who came in. He was a 255-pound linebacker, and he's now a defensive tackle. He's got seven tackles for loss this year.

Real disruptive guy. I mean, he might be their third defensive tackle taken in the draft. That's how good they are in the interior. I'm fascinated because this team for Ohio State was built for this year. their best recruiting was to bring back a lot of these guys. Okay, when you look at Tyleek Williams, Amika, Abuka, we thought he was going to be in last year's draft class. J.T. The Edge. Jack Sawyer, the Edge.

Thought both of them were coming out last year, probably, definitely day two prospects last year, okay? Donovan Jackson, Trayvion Henderson comes back and is rotating. Like their best recruiting was to bring back their quote unquote free agents, They're veteran guys, right? So it was built for this year. And then I look at this matchup, and Tennessee, I mean, with Nico,

Yamaliava, a quarterback, who's a red shirt freshman. A lot of the young talent they have, their veteran running back Dylan Samson is that offense. Like, he's the heartbeat. Nico can bring him to another level when he's playing, like he has the last five games. But he is the heartbeat.

We have him in an unbelievably, like a ridiculously talented, the running back class at 14 with a fourth round grade. But I think in a lot of other years, he'd easily be in the top 10, okay? We're going to have great debate in that class. It's going to be. Oh, my gosh. So anyway, my point is you look at Tennessee with five draftable prospects and maybe

it's six, maybe it's eight when it's all said and done. But there's a clear difference between 15 and even if it were eight for Tennessee. Okay. Right. And then you factor in there playing at home. Like this is Ryan Day's got to have this one. And I've said like it might be short of a national, at least getting to a national championship and maybe winning a national championship where I think the Ryan Day, Ohio State marriage lasts beyond this, this, you know, off season. So this is a game they absolutely have a clear cut talent advantage and they're playing at home.

That to me, there are some matchups that are concerning, right? There are some matchups on the interior of that offensive line versus that Tennessee defensive. defensive line. And then you have a guy like James Pierce, who is, I mean, he's a freak. I mean, if you watch his, did you watch his pick six against Iowa on the bowling last year? Yes. I mean, it's, people are like, oh, he doesn't make enough plays. I'm not buying him. He might have 20 sacks when it's all set and done over the last two seasons. He's fine. I mean, this is not a guy. His pressure. He's, I think he, yeah, lead the SEC or he's up there in pressures. Like, it's not just about. And remember, he's not, when you're rotating six guys at edge,

he's not playing the number of snaps that a lot of these other guys that are, that are closer to the top in sacks. So Donovan Jackson has played well, left tackle, but I mean, Abdul Carter did give him some problems. Abdul Carter from Penn State in that game, gave him some problems. And I do expect James Pierce will give him some problems. And when you're losing up front,

things start to get neutralized, right? Like they have the talent advantage that, you know, in so many other areas, but it's going to be interesting to see how that unfolds. So I think that Ohio State does have a talent advantage overall, but there's some weaknesses, some vulnerabilities that I'd be worried about if I was going to that game.

And we'll circle back in two weeks after the first round of the college football playoff and talk about Oregon versus Tennessee or Oregon versus Ohio State and what those matchups look like as well. But again, just to remind folks, Oregon with 11 draft prospects and right up there in terms of the overall level of talent. And honestly, some of the big risers in this draft class, Tess Johnson, a wide receiver. Evan Stewart is, I wouldn't say riser, but it is up there like having two wide receivers. in a year where we've talked about it.

It's the haves and have knots at wide receiver in college football, have those guys and Terrence Ferguson all in the top 75, plus James Jordan at running back. That's their advantage. And one of the fastest risers, for me at least, and I don't necessarily hear this or see this elsewhere. I didn't think Dylan Gabriel was much of a prospect coming into the year. I thought there were a lot of.

I think he is leaps and bounds as a prospect. And I've got him now with a fourth round grade. I saw that. Yeah, I know you did. But we'll get to argument. All right. Now, Clemson, Texas. Clemson, five draft prospects in the top 250.

Texas with 12, not a big surprise. I just, I remember back in the day with Clemson, and yes, it was always the quarterback. And they had Deshaun Watson and Trevor Lawrence, and they had wide receivers like Higgins, T. Higgins and D.Hop. But their defensive front, it was like year in and year out. they were rolling dudes out there right that's not the case this year when i look at this you got barrett carter linebackers a day two grade and then you go to r j mickens at the safety

position but other than that there's not a lot of and i know they're young and i know they've got some young dudes on the yeah i i i'm aware of that so clompson fans don't at me and go crazy munch is your guy to attack on this show yes if you're an angry clemson fan take it to mitch at what is it at Scouts Inc. Scouts Inc. M-E-M-G-M-G-E-M-CH. It's M-U-E-N-C-H, just so you get it right. But that offensive line for Texas, Kelvin Banks, will he be back? Right. That's a question.

But you still have Cameron Williams on the other side. I know he's been inconsistent with balance and those. But my goodness, he's a big physical dude. You got DJ Campbell at Guard, Jake Majors at Center, all in the top 250. That, to me, is an area where I think Texas needs to. to take advantage. Yeah, I mean, how wild is it

that your top Clemson player is 58th overall on your board right now? And I'm not sure he's going to go that early, to be honest with you. I like Barrick Carter, but he's an off-the-ball linebacker

that I think could easily sneak into the third round. I think there's other guys when you're looking at those two Alabama off-the-ball linebackers. So to me, that's interesting that that's the first guy in the list. But you're right.

I mean, Texas has, this is a differently built team. That offensive line, And they have guys that maybe aren't going to be two tackles, I think, will go early round picks. And then there are three interior guys will probably play in the NFL. I mean, that is a clear advantage for Texas. And that's something, like you said, if you've been following Clemson for years, you might not expect that. But that is the case going into this game.

Connor, our producer, asked me for something they're doing it. Fan duel, Spotify, Ringer. I'm not sure exactly where it's going. I didn't feel very confident in it. I just shouldn't say that. I struggled with it. That's a better way to put it. And I wasn't like some years, I'm like, I'm dogging on.

Like this team's going to win the national champion. I pick Texas to win the national championship in part, obviously the talent that we're talking about, in part because they have the two quarterbacks, if necessary, should something happen. In part because I believe in coach Sark. And I think that there's more. they still have to unveil and they also don't have to play Georgia until a national championship. And we don't know that Georgia is going to get there with their quarter question mark with Carson Beck. And then, but finally, the path.

I think it's an advantage to play that first week and not to sit out for 24 days or whatever it is until until the first game like Oregon, Arizona State, Georgia and Boise State. I think getting a home game against a quality opponent in Clemson, not an elite opponent, an opponent that you should be is an advantage. and then you play Arizona State. They should, by fan dual standards in terms of the spreads, by eye test, by everything out there, they should get to the semifinals. It would be a massive disappointment if they don't.

And then they're going to play Tennessee, Oregon, Ohio State, one of those three teams. So you got one huge challenge to get to the national championship. So I kind of bet on that just for whatever that's worth. All right, moving on. Indiana versus Notre Dame. probably not the least amount of talent, but two teams that aren't in the double digits. This is the first one that we've covered

where neither team is in the double digits. Notre Dame, I think Notre Dame, when it's all said and done, will wind up having more than the five that I wind up giving them. I think there's a lot of day three guys that I just haven't gotten to their tape. So like even call it eight if you want.

But Indiana, it's six. But mind you, Indiana coming into the year, I mean, I remember Pete Thamble on like four or five, maybe six weeks into the season on college football on on game day saying you know talking to NFL scouts there's not one clear cut prospect they may have two that are drafted but compare that to like Georgia or Texas or Ohio State when you're talking like literally 20 plus prospects for those schools that at least had to be evaluated with consideration right getting drafted Indiana had like one or two at that point now I think guys have risen up and I think we've

seen over the course of the year. And remember, a lot of transfers, first year starters in this system. We've seen positive trajectory, but still with Mikhail Kamara at Edge, I've got him at 93 overall. So we're talking about like third round. CJ West, defensive tackle. I know you like him a lot. I put him as a ninth defensive tackle, third round overall as well. So they're in that similar range. Elijah Surratt, the wide receiver. I've got him at 145 overall. Tyson Lawton, even though he, Justice Ellison, they rotate. I think I see, I've said it from the beginning. There's more juice in his game.

Got him as a day three prospect, Kishon Williams, day three prospect, a wide receiver, and Curtis Rourke, day three prospect of quarterback. So you compare that to Notre Dame and the talent they have. What jumps out to you in terms of matchups and what we should be looking at? First of all, I think that that matchup between that defensive front from Indiana and the offensive front from Notre Dame is going to be really interesting because I do have, I do like that Indiana defensive front.

But I'll say this, I don't think they have the depth to handle it. I think it could be a game that starts slow for Notre Dame because early on, Indiana's front gives them problems. But as that game develops, it's going to be, I think that Notre Dame's run game in the second half will eventually be what the difference is in that game. Also would say that Notre Dame's top prospect here, Benjamin Morrison isn't even in this game because of a hip injury, the corner.

Really good player. I love the matchup between Rourke, Curtis, the quarterback from Indiana and Xavier Watts, the safety from Notre Dame. I love the safety from Notre Dame, man. I just think he plays the ball really well. I think he's instinctive. He's got good size.

He's physical. Rorke doesn't make a lot of mistakes. How can they use Watts to kind of keep him off balance and mix up coverages, you know, change things post-snap read. That's going to be a chess match that'll be, you know, again, it'll be that run game versus Indiana's front. But the second thing I'm looking for is the chess match between those two. Yeah, I want to see Rourke in this game.

if pressured. You can't study that Ohio State tape. Remember that Ohio State tape? The first series, four-man rushes weren't getting pressure. And you would think Ohio State, well, we're talking about Tileak Williams draft pick. We're talking about J.T. We're talking about Sawyer. Like, these are all guys who are going to go in the first two days of the draft. But they're not an elite pass rushing defense in terms of their front four. But they dialed it up with just one more guy. And all of a sudden, And it was a long, sustained touchdown drive for Indiana on the first drive. From that point on, it was five-man pressures. And Rourke was honestly irrelevant the rest of the game.

He was he was completely ineffective. And so you can't watch, you can't study that tape if you're Notre Dame's defensive staff and come to any other conclusion outside of, all right, our corners are going to have to hold up. We're going to have to really trust our safety. 15 watts to make good decisions and to be that deep third guy, you know, to prevent big plays, which you can do. And but we got to dial it up with pressure. And let's see.

Can Rourke learn from those mistakes? Can they have a better game plan for a lot? I mean, just a better strategy for dealing with it. How are they going to adjust from what happened at Ohio State versus what they know is going to be the case against Notre Dame? I don't know. I like Notre Dame in that game. That didn't sound very promising. All right. Let's flip the switch.

Penn State, seven draftable prospects, top 250. SMU 2. And again, this is another program, I think, a lot of transfers, a lot of Miami transfers. I think there could be a couple more guys that wind up, you know, in that list when it's all said and done. Obviously, their best player, Kevin Jennings, their quarterback. he's not not on the radar yet but Elijah Roberts I have at 192 overall at the as an edge I think

he's their best defensive lineman but they're deep at defensive line they're there they can be frustrating when they get going in the defensive line and then brashard smith on the other side of ball running back and I already had him as that's my guy once and I've talked about him and the difference making he can make he's not big he's not powerful but he is a playmaker and catches the ball extremely former wide receiver. So going up against this Penn State defense with Jennings is a mobile quarterback, that Penn State defense that is loaded up front, starting with Abdul Carter, who could be the number three overall pick in the draft.

They also, you know, they've got the two safeties in Winston Jr. And Reed, Winston Jr. has really risen this year, got a third round, early third round grade on him. There's talent on that defensive side and they're not even all draft prospects, but they're loaded up front defensively. they're coming off that Oregon, and we talked about Oregon and all the offensive talent they have, they're coming off an Oregon game where it was a shootout and they're not used to that. So I'm just curious to see SMU with that offense and the firepower that Jennings brings,

what they're able to do against Penn State. And most importantly, can they sustain it, you know? Yeah. I don't know. I think, you know, you're a little lower on denied Dennis Sutton than I am too, by the way. I think they have two edges that are going to give. SMU's got those big offensive tackles, but they're, to be honest,

they're just not athletic, and they're going to have some problems. They had problems against Clemson. If they had problems against Clemson, they're going to have some problems against that Penn State front. And again, Jalen reads, the other safety that we want to hit on is he's a guy that can move around. He's instinctive. He can make some plays.

Kevin Jennings is going to have to be the magician that he's capable of being, but it's going to take four quarters of him pulling a rabbit out of a hat for them to be, I think competitive than that game. Yeah. Yeah. I would argue this is the biggest talent difference in the first round matchups.

I think so. Truly. Notre Dame has higher level talent. They're more physical up front. They're bigger and stronger than Indiana, even though the numbers are kind of similar in terms of draft prospects. I see a talent difference there,

but not to the level with Penn State versus SMU. It's going to have to be speed It's going to have to be Jennings' playmaking. They're going to have to play a special game and do some things that they've shown this year, but it's going to have to be their best game to even make this a four-quarter battle, in my opinion. I agree. It's a fun exercise. I mean, it's one thing that I feel like we can do, just given the NFL draft and the amount of time and the tape we study and the rankings and everything else,

just to provide perspective. And does it mean? that, you know, that Ohio State should win this whole thing because they have one more prospect than Georgia, which has two more prospects than, you know, than Texas, which has one more process, you know, like, that's not how it works. But history is shown us outside of that Cam Newton year with Auburn. History has shown that it's very likely one of those top four teams that I mentioned, Ohio State, Georgia, Texas, Oregon is highly likely to win this national championship.

It just, it's been proven year in and year out. And that Cam Newton thing was, what, 15, 17 years ago, whatever it was? It's been a long time. It's not always the X's and O's. Sometimes it's the Jimmy and Joe's. Yeah, bud. We know that. The McShay Show is brought to you by Fanduel.

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Bonus issued as non-withdrawable bonus bets, which expire seven days after receipt. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook. Fanduel.com. Gambling problem, call 1-800 gambler or visit RG-Help.com. We're unveiling this top 250 in different pieces, right? I did want to get to the top 10 prospects overall. And this is where I mentioned in the open and you cut me off, that you're going to have fun, have fun chopping away, you know, chopping wood when it comes to this and tearing me down. That's fine, too. It's a different role for us, right? It's always been, all right, study the

tape come up with your own rankings let's get on the call let's let's let's agree or agree to disagree i mean i can't tell a lot of agree just if you're a listener or viewer just to take you behind the curtain for a minute mench is an unbelievable soldier like needs no credit needs no on-air you know it's like his ego is is just not non-existent when it comes to this okay he's been unbelievably supportive. And anyone who's watched his show now for a couple months, the wealth and the depth of knowledge he has is unparalleled, okay? But every once in a while, not every once in a while, like 20 prospects a year or so. He just sticks his feet in the sand, digs in hard, and he becomes a total pain in my ass on like,

whether it's 15, 20, 25 prospects every year, that I'm wrong. Fine. And it's always fine. Like, you can rank them wherever you want. But like, we'll come back to this in three years. I will say I've matured a little bit because it used to be like, I would call you and I would be upset that you would have a guy late third that I thought should be late second or early third.

And you'd be like, dude, it's not that big. We're not that far off. It's 11. We have a minor disagreement on this. Yeah, yeah. We have a minor disagreement on this player. Yeah. I've got a 68 grade on him.

You got a 63. Like, what are we doing? Right. Anyway. So this is different because mentioned, if you don't know, he's, he's fueling the ESPN draft tracker still, still, you know, doing the scouts. Inc. process. I'm obviously have moved on.

And this is solely for, for my, it's solely my rankings for these purposes for now. Okay. And things, things will change. We're excited about where this is all headed. and have some exciting announcements in the near future, hopefully. But for now, this is kind of how the process is going to work. And Mensh has got his own deal. So when the producer, one of our great producers, Tucker presents him with the top 10.

He says, okay, hold on. Right before we came on the show, he's like, I haven't seen it. Hold on. Keep that graphic up for a minute. I see him taking vigorous notes. So here's my top 10. Okay. And Mentz is taking a lot of notes on this.

So we'll get to him quickly. Travis Hunter at number one. Here's the thing I'll tell you from my tape study and then talking to people in the league. There's Travis Hunter is a clear cut best football player in this draft, okay? Period. Whether you want a wide receiver at cornerback or both. He's the number one player in this draft in terms of just all around football player and athlete. Will Johnson, for most people I've talked to, would be considered number two.

Then it's kind of like this, I don't want to say a notch down because I've got 93 grades, as you can see. but Travis Hunter's in kind of a league of his own. I want to want to say it's a huge gap between him and the next guy. But every team in the league may view him a little bit differently, what he's going to provide, but they view him as the top football player in this class. Then it's Will Johnson for a lot of teams. And I think kind of in that same tier is Abdul Carter,

the edge rusher from Penn State. I know Mench is not going to argue with Mason Graham at number four, may even have him higher. And then still like Bichel, Williams, I wouldn't say is the player yet that he's going to be, and you're gambling that he's going to develop into a more consistent player, but his talent level earns him a spot with a 93 grade in that second tier. And Ashton Jinty, if he wasn't a running back,

might be talking about he and Travis Hunter is the best two football players in this draft. I've got those as the top six. Then a little slight notch below that. We get into Jalen Walker, who's an off-the-ball linebacker slash hybrid edge rusher. And I think for some teams, that will decrease his value. I think for other teams, that versatility and the ability to stay multiple with the same personnel will increase his or maximize his value. Kelvin Banks Jr., offensive tackle. We've got them as in the number one offensive tackle right now, but I'll be totally honest with you.

There are some people I talked to in the league who believe it's Will Campbell. Mench, you just talked about Josh Simmons, offensive tackle from Ohio State coming off the injury, but talent-wise may be the best in this class. and I've heard some scouts I've talked to, echo that. I look down and to me, the most underrated player in this draft, and not for me, as you can see, I put Josh Connerly at offensive tackle number two OT, number 10 trying to make a statement. I learned from my boy Kuiper. If you want people to know how much you like them, make sure you emphasize that,

and I did in this top 10. So the offensive tackles, I think throughout this process, the Senior Bowl, the Combine, the interviews, all the private workouts i think that they will adjust a little bit but those are kind of the big names that you need to know about and then obviously malachi starks is is in there at number nine so mensch have at it but uh i'm glad to see you have gentie so high i think you because again the temptation as a is the positional value i have at five i think you have them six we don't have a lot of big differences i will say two things uh or two names that really jumped out of me should or

Sanders is definitely a top 10 player in this draft in my opinion i like it got to get him in and i got him at 10 so i'm not saying that he's you know i don't know where you had him maybe well just so people understands i'm looking at my list that goes beyond i've got i've go top okay yeah yeah uh i've got and it's important shedore sanders i've got at 11 overall okay cam cam ward i have at 19 overall and they're the only two quarterbacks in my top 32 okay i the other one i would say is i have james pierce in at nine i have him ahead of jalen walker i love jalen walker and i just went back and did this because i'm he's an off-the-ball linebacker and can a guy that size because he's short and light for an edge can he be effective now when you go and you look and you see guys like will

mcdonalds who's a light edge putting up big sack numbers and nick benito from denver putting up big sack numbers that makes me a little more confident he's also short and you know Michael Parsons has, you know, he's taller, but he has shorter arms. So is this guy going to be Micah Parsons or is he, I'm a little all over the place on Jalen Walker. I'm not, I haven't a fully formed opinion about him to say that. I love his tape. I love what he can do, but I also have some concerns of where ultimately he's going to fall. It's still a question mark for me.

I feel more safe with James Pierce because he's, even though he's like, too, at 245-ish, he is a taller guy. He plays off the edge predominantly. Walker moves over all, moves all around. So to me, I feel like he's a little safer. I'll say this too. I need to update my rankings and do this this weekend.

I have Banks Jr. at 8. I don't think there's an offensive tackle who's a top 10 player this year. He's out. I think he's dropping. I think Simmons, even though I think he's going to be the top tackle, is going to move ahead of Banks in my next rankings. I don't think he's in the top 10. I think I've watched two.

tapes of Connerley, full disclosure. I got to watch more. I got to lock in on him. I know he's your guy. I don't see it yet. So I think this is a keep watching. A week. I will. It's a weak tackle class. So to me, I don't, which is crazy to think about. I wouldn't have a tackle on the top 10 because you know one of those guys is going to go there. I mean, history tells us that. The other thing I'll say is that I do not have Travis Hunter first overall. Whoa. Yeah, yeah. Behind. Travis Hunter behind Abdul Carter and Mason Graham. Because it's not a mock.

It's not a mock. It's a ranking. Michigan defensive tackles. Always. Yeah. This is not a TV show with commercials and a hardout. This is the beauty of what we're doing here at the McShay show. We have our, like, and I'm sure our producers are like, here, here McShay goes again.

Like we told them on Thursdays that we don't need an hour and 40 minute show. But we're here. Let's do it, right? Let's do it. Yeah. Flashmoth. Flash mock. Let's do it. Quick mock draft, top five. We'll come out with the mock draft soon, a full 32. We're kind of waiting. We get the college football playoff and all the excitement, but let's just do a top five picks. You ready?

Yes. I always, I told you from the beginning. Every single week, I'm going to have the rankings. Right here in my notes, right here. Okay. We're going to have the rankings that is currently constructed and obviously the playoff teams will adjust. But for these purposes, for this flash mock, we're going to do a top five. Okay. Giants are sitting at number one. Raiders at number two. We just talked about the quarterbacks. We'll get back to this in the second.

But what's fascinating is I don't have a quarterback in the top 10. Munch has got Shador in the top 10. I've got my next one is Cam Ward at 19. But this smoke, there's fire. Okay. Number three is New England. So Giants at one, Raiders at two. Patriots at three, Panthers at four, and Browns at five.

we would have thought about three, four weeks ago. The Panthers absolutely were taking a quarter. That may be the best story in the NFL this year. Oh, it's awesome. It's awesome. Just watching Bryce every single week get a little bit better in the confidence in the confidence of teammates of him and all. So I think when I look at this,

the Giants quarterback need, Raiders quarterback need obvious. Patriots do not. Drake May continues to play really well. And I just love his future in New England. I truly did. to. Bryce Young, I think, has earned the spot, the right to come back as the quarterback and to be developed. And Cleveland at 5 needs a quarterback. But is there one available there? All right, let's start with the Giants.

Here's what I'm, I'm ready with my list and our guys have the music. I don't know what to make of it because I talk to people in the league and it's funny how sometimes I feel like people in the league know other organizations better than they know. their own sometimes. But there seems to be a sentiment among people I've talked to that the giants have a thing for Cam Ward. Yeah. But then again, like, is the GM going to be the GM? Is Brian Daibel going to be the head coach?

Right. Making the decisions. Who has a thing for him specifically? Is it the owner or is it the staff? You know how these conversations go. I know. I keep here. I hear the giants have a thing for Cam Ward.

Like, okay, so what the fuck does that mean? Yeah. What is that, you know, like, and the people who on the Giants who have a thing for them, if you're right, are they still going to be there in April when we, when we have this draft? But with that in mind, okay, I think Shador Sanders is going to be a Las Vegas Raider. It's okay. So slot him in at two. Slot him in at two.

And I keep going back to this, though. If you're the, remember the Giants were on the other end of the last time we saw this was 20 years ago. The Rothlisberger, Eli, excuse me, Rivers draft, right? 20 years ago,

almost to the day when we come up on the 2025 draft, 20 years ago. The Giants were the one on the receiving end, Ernie O'Corsi, right, with Eli Manning.

And the trade that happened and the confusion that was that draft early on, what do you mean? The charges took him, but he's not going to be a chart. Like, I just so,

I just wonder if the roles are reversed a couple of, decades later, right? And they're like, yeah, we know the Raiders want them, but we want Cam, but why don't we just take Shador at one? And then again, this is, this is if the draft was to be held today. If the Giants win a couple games, it doesn't matter. If the Raiders win a couple games, it doesn't matter. If the Giants win one game and the Raiders continue to lose, it won't matter. So the Raiders could be picking at one, but the Raiders win one or two down the stretch, they could have to trade up to go get them. Right. So instead of just,

giving him the giving the raiders their guy do you take should door maybe your intel's wrong and they they would be happier with cam so do you just take your guy if they truly when it's all said and done this is so premature i know but it's fun it's just fun do you take chador and gamble even if you have a little bit higher grade on cam on your intel and try to get fleece the raiders for a pick or or more to for your guy or do you just take your guy you take your guy i mean it's too much of a gamble it's not we're not looking at a a prospect that i think again i have sanders 10 you have 11 this is not a guy we have one two or three are on our board so the raiders might love shador but how much they love shador is a whole other thing and they're and they have enough firepower to be like look we

all know that shader is not andrew luck he's not an andrew luck prospect he's not on that kind of a level an elite prospect coming out. So I don't know. And he would have been he would have been the fourth quarterback taken in this year's draft, 2024. Right. The fourth quarterback. Yeah.

If this was a Caleb, Jane and Daniels situation, you preferred Jaden, but you knew whoever was that too wanted, you know, wanted, uh, Caleb.

So you just take Caleb and try to do that. It's a big gamble, man. What do you can't get caught with your pants down on this one. You just can. Like if you end up with a guy and stuff gets leaked all the time and they will, they really know. If this is the.

draft order, you know the, like the, the very first thing that you're going to hear in terms of draft buzz leaked from a, from a personnel department is that the giants absolutely love Chador Sanders. There's going to be some little report like, hey, I'm not supposed to say this. But on the, you didn't hear, you didn't hear it from me. You didn't hear from me. If you draft. If you drafts, if you drafts, or. The giants love Chador. Right.

Right. If you draft Chador and it comes out that you really want to can, but you were playing this game. What a nightmare that is inside your building. where if you get if you get stuck with should or and i don't want to say stuck with shador because i think he's the better quarterback but that being said here's the other thing though like is cam ward is cam war like when you study is cam ward worth the number one overall pick or the number two i like him a lot i think he's got a lot of potential but i good player he would have been the fifth first round if you merge these two classes together

2025 and 2024 would he even be the the fifth quarterback drafted last year. No, I think Pennix and McCarthy probably would have gone ahead of him too. At least as a discussion. And Bo Nix has turned out like Bo Nix could be offensive rookie of the year. Yes. You know what I mean? So there is a world like a personnel department could argue that Cam would be the

seventh or eighth quarterback drafted if you're mixing Shador and Cam into last year's class, right? Right. Yeah. And I get the other. them first overall. Remind people. This isn't to like dredge up excitement. I promise you, this draft class is actually loaded late first, second, third, fourth round. There's a ton of talent. I think part of it's transfer portal, guys coming in later. A lot of guys were utilizing the COVID

year, an extra red shirt, all those things. There is a ton of like depth in this class. But this top 10, I read somewhere and I don't disagree. I read somewhere. I read somewhere, scout came out and said or personnel director who said that that um Travis hunter would be the only player that in the top 10 of last year's draft. The only thing is class. And I'm not saying I totally agree, but like conceptually like Will Johnson, Abdul Carter, Mason Graham, McKell Williams, Ashton Jinty, they're all awesome players. But in a usual draft, it's quarterbacks, edges.

Offense tackles. A stud wide receiver. This wide receiver class is terribly disappointing. So, all right. So now we've got the top two. So however it shakes out, let's put Cam Ward with the Giants, George Sanders with the Raiders. This is where it's fascinating to me.

Okay. That's not going to get old. Patriots are on the board, number three. They need an offensive tackle desperately. Bill Simmons and I were texting just two days ago, I think, about this. Need an offensive tackle desperately. You just told me, Steve Mench, is our resident offensive line guru. There isn't an offensive tackle in this class.

Even with Josh Simmons from Ohio State being fully healthy, when you come around on Connerley and watch more tape and start to agree with me more, whether it's junior from Texas and all of his talent. But there still isn't a tackle in this class that you believe is top 10. Not on December 12th. You look at last year's class. It's the same thing. You probably have to get down to like three before you see.

start talking about where these guys would stack up. Patriots desperately need an offensive tackle, desperately need to take care of their quarterback. They've got their, the one thing you can say about the New England Patriots, you don't know about, is this the right coaching staff? You don't know about how much ownership is meddling. You don't know about how much power Elliott Wolf has in personnel decisions. You don't know, you have huge question marks about perimeter talent on this team at wide

receiver. They don't have difference makers. But the one thing you know is that they've got their guy quarterback. And honest to God, I would rather have that problem solved than have a whole bunch of those other things I just mentioned, because that's the hardest thing to do in the NFL is to find your guy. So they got their guy. Now we got to protect him and we've got to surround him. If it's not offensive tackle, I'm going with Travis Hunter here. And when I was texting with Bill, he was like, you know, great cornerback could help a wide receiver. I'm like, uh-uh. For me, it doesn't mean the Patriots would do this or any other organization. For me, he's a wide receiver that maybe we, we utilize as a nickel corner and some,

some plays on the defensive side. But with that situation with Drake May, let's get him a weapon. When's the last time the Patriots had a weapon? Like truly, a perimeter guy, you were afraid of vertically and after the catch. Randy Maugh. Randy. Randy Moss. And prayers out to Randy and his family. that whatever's going on there it's not good yeah yeah i mean there's there's reports now and i'm concerned and worried about him he's very misunderstood very good human being and um obviously every everyone is empathizing with him and hopes the best um but back to our point randy moss is probably

the last time we're talking like that's like 15 years ago or something like a long time so i would go Travis hunter here would you go in a different direction abdul carter penn state edge i get I'm going to build inside out. And listen, I want tackles and I want, you know, for this purpose, we can't really do this, but I want, I do want to tackle. And I do want them to get a weapon. And it's not a deep receiver class. So that's concerning too.

It's not like, you could say like last year, you're like, oh, you're still going to get pretty good guys in the second round. You're going to get okay guys in the second round. I think if that's what you want to do with this asset, you go in a different direction. You try to make a trade with the first round pick to get a proven guy because the value's not there. And if I'm going to do it this way, I'm going to build inside out. I want to build in the trenches.

I want to, that's how I think you build. Look at Brad Holmes of the Lions. Yeah. I mean, I want to look at, they've got to find a way to get that offensive line better. And it's, there's no excuses in a front office. So like, oh, well, this draft's not very deep. Find the guys that are the diamonds in the rough. Get out there in free agency, make a trade.

You've got to find a way to help this kid out because he's that talented. So I was, I was telling both of it. I was telling Bill this the other day. A number one priority, if you're a Patriots fan, start to root for the Raiders. You want at least one win, maybe two down the stretch. So that they're behind you and you're a team sitting at one or two where you can move out and move down to five or six.

And then talk about maybe moving back again or at least now you've recouped. You've gotten a couple additional picks, take the best player available, not getting much different talent-wise. We just told you at five, six, seven than you are at, two or three. They need assets, yeah. Yeah, they need assets. I totally agree.

All right. So number four, since I've released my top 250, I'm going to, we're going to make this a dictatorship today, not a democracy. So we'll say that Travis Hunter went three to the Patriots. Panthers are on the board. Abdul Carter's still there.

I watched the Panthers. I've watched them more in the last few weeks than I did kind of after the first few weeks because now Bryce is back in. I'm interested when Judevian clownie is not out there and Genevians no spring chicken. They don't have any. They don't have to say that. Yes and no.

I can remember going to his pro day with Brucey. Like it felt like 25 years ago, like a different lifetime. But yes. I think Abdul Carter, if he's available, is to pick here for the Panthers. And it's really kind of a no-brainer. I like Mikel Williams, too. I think if you look at, I know what you're saying, he hasn't been a consistently elite, but you look at the two Texas tapes and you're going to,

there's going to be a lot of defensive line coaches like, like, Yeah, uh-huh. I want that kid. We can work with that. That tackle. Yeah. I want Mike Hill Williams in the building. Then we get the Browns at five.

Play it. I look at their needs. They need quarterback. They need upgraded edge, you know, opposite Miles Garrett. They need offensive tackle help. And they still, with Judy emerging, they still need another wide receiver. And they also need defensive tackle. Those are the needs.

Better team, talent-wise, than any of these. other teams. They just don't, the quarterback situation has been a nightmare. Um, but it's not going to be a quarterback here, even though they're going to want one. It's just not. If, if Cam and Shadur are gone, it's not. And I don't even know if you want to, I don't know that Shadour, I don't, Shadour, I don't, Shadur, I don't, Shadur, I don't, should be allowed to go there. I'm already told that, New York is not going to be one of the, isn't, whether giants or Jets that, that's not on on Coach Primes list. I got to imagine given, given the, the, the, just, I can't can't think of a worse history with the quarterback position.

I mean, the Jets and the Browns have to lead that charge, right? Over the years. And so I can't imagine that Coach Brown's going to be like, yeah, I'll go up to Cleveland. Shador. They were great for Baker. So quarterbacks out. You got the edge talent. There's no wide receiver.

We've said there's no offensive tackle. I think I think Mikel Williams would be in play here. I think offensive tackle would be in play here at five. But for these purposes, I think I would go with Mason, Graham, take the best football player. Michigan defense to tackle. Just a thought. Oh, you try to play nice at the end here? You know I'm not going to argue with that. I mean, what kind of concept we're going to come up with here?

I mean, I can, basic Graham is, is definitely a top five player in this draft. I mean, his ability to win with his hands, his ability to be double teams. I think, you know, this year's been different for that whole Michigan defense. Go back and watch that kid in the run that Michigan had through the playoffs last year and towards the end of the season. And all the offensive linemen that he played against and guys that kind of matched up with him, whether he's on the outside of times or predominantly inside, but sometimes he's outside.

And look what he does to these offensive linemen. They're like top end prospects. He is just, I mean, I have number two on my board. He's a defensive tackle. I know he's not going to go that early. I would love to see him go five because I think he's that good of a player. Okay. All right.

So I love the flash. There it is. They've even building graphic. FlashMod. draft. I love it. We're early in the process. We'll get we will get it may be right after the college football playoff. We'll keep you alerted. I'm excited to unveil first mock draft, full mock draft sometime relatively soon within the next month. But let's let's hold off. Let's continue to evaluate these players. Let's get through the college football playoff.

When the time is right and it's it's coming up soon. We will unveil the first mock and then we'll get rolling from there. All right. Last thing, Mench. Got to, it's a Thursday. Oh yeah. It's a Thursday. Almost forgot. Got to finish every Thursday with it. That's my guy. I'll let you get started this week. Go ahead. I'm going with UNLV safety, Jalen Catalan.

And you might remember him. Do you remember this Arkansas, right? When he was at Arkansas, he's first team SEC as a, as a freshman. I feel like we've been evaluating him for like six years. We have. 99 tackles, three picks, two force fumbles. That year he had 12 tackles, a pitch. kick and a force fumble in the Tennessee game. He had 16 tackles in the LSU game.

So what happened? Really hasn't been able to stay healthy. The next three years, two of them were at Arkansas. Then he went to Texas, or he had four years at Arkansas, ended up at Texas again banged up. Really, he's been banged up since his freshman year. Then he gets to UNLV this year. He's finally healthy.

I honestly, to God, don't know that I knew that he was at Texas. No. You have one year, just there for a minute. So then he's healthy this year, 89 tackles, five picks. I'm watching him. First of all, he's awesome in the run game. He's a little, he's not very big, but he's physical, he's tough, he's aggressive. One of the reasons he's probably had a hard time staying healthy,

and that will play a big role in where he goes is that he's such a violent football player. I mean, he's just violent. But if you watch his pick, I think it's in the Fresno State game, it is, you have to go watch it. It is insane. He turns and runs with the slot, locates the ball with his back to the line of scrimmage, somehow gets one foot down in bounds. I'm like, he's not, I think he has some weaknesses and coverages. He could be a little bit better in that area.

He could be a little bit quicker to react. And he's a smaller guy, so he can get posted up a little bit. But don't tell me you want to test that guy too much with the way he plays the ball. So, I mean, I just, he's someone who could probably go on day three because of all the injuries and the lack of production for years and all of that stuff, not the biggest guy. but he's talented man if he's able to stay healthy and i hope he is he's going to be good football football player in the NFL all right i like that i'm going to go with a guy that i think is for some reason i think it honestly has become the because the running back class is so loaded and

every week i feel like we're unveiling a new running back you know we talk about dylan sampson his role with tennessee talking about breschard smith and i just had him as that's my guy i think a week or two weeks ago but i just i just can't help it like every week i feel i feel drawn to mention that's my guy to a running back. I think the second best running back in this draft class is Caleb, Kalin Johnson from Iowa. Wow. I just studied his tape this week.

And I was trying to look and kind of compare him to some other guy. And I started comparing. And I said, no, he's better. Nope, he's better. I got to the point where I put him at number two. And this draft class is loaded. I want you to understand. First, this was his first year,

fully healthy as the full-time starter. The freshman kind of rotating. Last year, missed like four or five games. This year he comes in. He's the workhorse. Full season, full-time healthy. 1,337 rushing yards. Average 6.4 yards per carry, 21 touchdowns.

Not accomplished as a receiver. Mostly, if I'm being honest, swing passes, screens, those sorts of things. But 22 catches this year. I think there's upside in the passing game. I want you to understand this. though. Against a pretty salty Minnesota defense, 206 rushing yards. He averaged against Ohio State 5.8 yards per carry.

Didn't have a ton of carries, but average 5.8 yards against that really good Ohio State defense. 166 rushing yards against Washington, 135 versus Wisconsin. This guy, yes, it's not the greatest schedule you're going to see. It's not the SEC weekend. But those are competent defenses that he just trashed, okay? Absolutely trashed. his contact balance. I talk about it all the time.

Arguably the most important factor, in my opinion, at the running back position, watch him, like that screen pass against Nebraska. If we get that clip, the screen pass against Nebraska was a thing of beauty. Just watch his feet. They never die on contact. That's, like, folks is what we're looking for

at the running back position. It's like his upper body's in this struggle, but his feet don't know it. He's just churning through. I love that. He's quick for his size. He's powerful and he's a patient runner. And why is patience important?

I learned this from a scout who's scouted, you know, at the high level. He wound up being the scouting director. Denver Broncos. Talk to me about why is it the Broncos with Shanahan have had such success and then Washington? Okay. And he went with Shanahan there. Why are what's the difference? Why are you getting these fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh rounders that are rushing for over 1,000 yards in the NFL?

Because we know what we're looking for. That outside zone scheme, the Shanahan's run. The ability, there's two things. It's the patience you have to have. And then the most important thing is, can you, can that, when they see that crease about to open, can they stick their foot in the dirt and accelerate? So it's a lot of like slow play, slow play, patience, feel it. Go. Right.

Has it. Kalen Johnson. If you get him in the Shanahan tree, I think he's got a chance to be a huge, success in the NFL. Now, the other thing with the Shanahan tree, if you go watch like Green Bay, Josh Jacobs, there's outside zone, but they are there a lot with with Josh Jacobs, a lot more inside zone too. I put on yesterday because I was just, I don't know, my mind, you know when you get in rabbit holes. I started watching Josh Jacobs because he kind of similar bill, like around six foot, around 220, powerful. I think Jacobs more built at this point,

but, but Kaylin will get there. The inside zone stuff, like you can start. start to stretch, but if it's there, and, and they, like, I saw, I've watched a couple clips of Jacobs and then I put Kalin on some of inside rods, back and forth, and I'm like, there's a lot of similarities. There's a lot of similarities. So, I don't know. He's intriguing to me. And I know he's not the most exciting.

He's got himmed up, man. You're excited. Connerly, the offensive tackle from Oregon and Kalin Johnson, the running back from Iowa, the two, that's my guys that I think are going to really surprise me. people just don't don't be surprised when we get to draft time and and you could see kailin johnson i'm not saying first round the running back position is what it is and there's so much depth i think teams are going to wait there's going to be like a hold hold hold and then it's going to be this like you know barrage of running backs to come off the board so he may fall into that but he i'm not saying he's

going to be the second drafted behind ashton ginty who we both agree as a top 10 prospect in this class and is very likely to go in the top 15, worst case, top 20. But I think he's the second most NFL, not ready, but NFL gifted type runner in this class. There we are. This is a fun one today, man. We got through Bill Belichick. We got through the top 250 prospects in the college football playoff matchups. We got through the top 10. You got to pick my top 10 apart, which I know you enjoyed. We got a flash mock draft. And then that's my guy. We appreciate all of you. you thank you very much for tuning in um help us out if you can still building this thing like subscribes all the things you need to do spread the word if you enjoy it keep your mouth shut if you

don't i love that but um but but but but thank you for everyone who's tuned in and taking the time we will uh we'll be back next week no saturday show this week weird get get your whatever your religion is like get your get your get your holiday stuff ready take care of your kids get the presents whatever you got to do this is your time munch but i need you to be ready to back at this thing on tuesday then we've got tuesday next week Thursday regularly regularly scheduled and then we're we're going to have a fun run in the college football playoff yeah the reaction shows on saturday night live reaction shows we'll get rsillo back on with us maybe we'll grab a guest or two doesn't even matter like just reacting to those games and then spinning it forward to the next week

the new matchups. Like, I can't wait. All right. Tennessee, Ohio State's over. Now let's start talking Ohio State versus Oregon, Tennessee versus Oregon. You know, like, there's just going to be so much fun to be had in the next month or so. Finally, a 12-team college football playoff,

and we will be with you the entire time through. Thanks again for tuning in. We'll see you on Tuesday. Must be 21 plus and present in select states for Kansas in affiliation with Kansas Star Casino or 18 plus and present in D.C. Gambling problem, call 1-800 gambler or visit RG-Help.com. Call 1-888-88-88-88-88-78-777-7 or visit ccpg.org slash chat in Connecticut or visit MD gambling help.org in Maryland.

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