The McShay Show - Day 1 from the NFL Scouting Combine: Shedeur Sitting Out, Stafford’s Next Move, and Pre-Workout Draft Tiers

Episode Date: February 27, 2025

Welcome back to ‘The McShay Show’! Todd and Steve are LIVE from Indianapolis to talk all the latest news from around the NFL. They open by breaking down the implications of a potential Matthew Stafford trade and what to make of Shedeur Sanders’s decision to not work out in Indianapolis. Then, they talk updated draft tiers and reveal the players they’re most excited to see work out at the combine. Sign up today to receive Todd’s Mock 1.0 and premium access to every mock draft, exclusive scouting reports, inside information from league sources, and deep-dive analysis from now until the draft. https://mcshay-report.beehiiv.com/ 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 Guests: Steve Muench Producers: Tucker Tashjian, Mark Panik, Conor Nevins, and Daniel Comer Social: Troy Farkas Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

live, Mench. Yeah. Staring at the camera. Dead air. We're live. 2025 NFL scouting combine. Let's do this thing. 57 days until the NFL draft, Mention, good?

I'm good, man. I'm glad you're here. I'm great. All the day. Up at 4.30. Landed here on time. Bags came out quick. Yeah, we checked bags.

A lot of production stuff. We'll blame it on that. Rental car, piece of cake got here. Great interview, by the way. Great interview, our next in line with the decision maker series. Today we're able to get Howie Roseman, general manager from the Super Bowl-winning Philadelphia Eagles. We'll have that interview for you coming up soon. Everything was smooth.

Yeah. Then we went to try to check into our hotel. We won't mention names, but we got it out for them. We actually had to change hotels today. Five hours we waited. Got coffee, had lunch. Saw a lot of good people. It was actually good to catch up with Adam Schaefter.

saw Charles Davis, saw Albert Breer doing live with Colin Cowherd in the middle of the lobby in one of the hotels. But then we just couldn't get in the hotel. And we found out they don't have NFL network for when we're back at the hotel and we want to watch workouts. So we went out.

Nobody cares about our day, though, Mitch. We're here and we're live and let's go. So there's a lot to get to, right? We just got in. We've had conversations. We know what's going on. I think the biggest news, and I want to get into like how big a news is it really, but always the biggest news.

You got to understand. NFL teams come in on Sunday, and they're here, and agents come in, and so the media comes in. And so a lot of people are going out to dinner, having meetings, doing all this different stuff, and there's a lot of information, and people are getting kind of revved up. And so, but there's this news cycle going on. If you could see here, there's like a hundred different tables where on radio row or whatever the hell you want to call it. it. And people need news. There's a buzz. There's a buzz. And there's, there's real buzz, like the Matthew Stafford

situation with the Raiders, some of the free agency talk. Shefter comes out and drops a Schefter bomb. The Browns are taking a quarterback at number two. But there's also this like, every year, and I'm all four, and I want all quarterbacks to throw at the combine, all players to work out at the combine. But it doesn't always happen. And you know what does happen, everyone forgets about it in about two weeks, okay? So with that in mind, give me some names that you're hearing that, just notable names, notable names of guys. It's obviously going to be some other players. Most of them because of injuries, most of them understandable and maybe a couple choosing not to and going to go and put their work in at their pro day. But give me some names

that you got there. Let's start with the talented edge group. Abdul Carter, probably the best player in the draft, the best player on my board, Abdul Carter from Penn State, not going to work out. Mikel Williams from Georgia, not going to work out. Jaylon Walker from Georgia also not going to work out. Then you get to the quarterback, Shador Sanders, not going to work out. My understanding right now, Cam Ward's a little fluid. That's not a definite either way. We'll see what happens with him.

A couple of the talented tight ends that we like this year, Michigan's Colston Loveland, not going to work out. Shoulder injury. He had surgery in January, and his doctor just released information that... He said he should be ready by training camp. By minicamp and full participant in a training camp. Yep. Got it.

Also, the titan that we've talked a lot about is Miami's Elijah Arroyo. He had an injury at the Senior Bowl, I believe. He's not going to be able to work out. And then, of course, Boise State running back, Ashton Genty, not going to wear out. Those are some of the bigger names they're aware of right now that aren't going to be able to work out in Indy. They're choosing not to work out. Side note about the Senior Bowl, we found out today, our good friend Jim Nagy, is moving on from the Senior Bowl.

So really sad to see him go. Happy for him. But very, very personally happy for him. I know he's been looking for an opportunity and he could not have done a better job. To me, he was the person in a long line of really capable, you know, highly successful people at the Senior Bowl. To me, he transitioned it to this kind of new generation of scouting, brought it to another level, the zebra technology, scout-friendly. week. The work he put in there was, he's going to be impossible

to replace, but excited to see who they replace him with and how that moves forward. Jim is taking the job and we get some fascinating stuff in the off season. I've talked to a couple of guys who've started businesses, but he's taking the job as a general manager of the Oklahoma Sooners.

And so we'll talk to him and I've just had a recent conversation. Joe Douglas, our good friend, put me in touch with a former personnel person with the Eagles who is now kind of of a consultant in all of this. So a lot to get into in the off season, but that's not today. Today is the 2025 NFL Combine, and we are on the eve of the workouts. Let's give you a breakdown. We've got tomorrow workouts on Thursday, starting at 3 p.m. Eastern time. We've got the linebackers

and defensive linemen working out, okay? And then we will have the defensive backs, I believe, on Friday. And then on Saturday is the big day. Everyone gets excited about it's quarterbacks, wide receivers, and running backs, followed by on Sunday, the offensive linemen. We are going to be here live right here in this spot. Thanks to Nick and Jake and Tucker and Dan and everyone in our ringer crew.

They were in here a couple days. They put it all together. Beautiful setup. And we're excited to be here. But every single night for the next three night, no, four nights, we're starting tonight. 7 p.m. Eastern Time. So please be here. We appreciate everyone who's watching live right now and anyone who's tuning in and watching the tape version of this as well. Continue to support us if you can.

The clicks we need, the likes, the subscribes, all of that. YouTube, Spotify, Apple, wherever else you get your podcast, we really do appreciate it. But we get a lot of work to get to tonight as we preview things and we get into what we've been doing recently, which is a lot of tape work and a lot of looking at our rankings and boards, right? those are the players that are not going to work out as you mentioned i kind of started it off with what does it matter here's what matters shedore sanders is not going to throw i equated in a situation like this when you decide not to take a breathalyer in a DUI okay you're essentially admitting guilt right but

mention i were talking about it earlier and and i say guilt guilt meaning I don't want to line up with all these other quarterbacks that might have stronger arms and look like, you know, an average in these drills. Because Chador's game is about instincts and processing quickly and throwing with timing and touch and understanding where his receivers are going to be and seeing a receiver over here with a linebacker here and throwing the ball here and doing it beautifully and on time and the ball placement to create yards after the catch. That's his game. And he's excellent at it.

And he's the best pure passer in this class when he's on time. His receivers are where they need to be, and he's dealing. He is the best pure passer in this class, okay? But what he doesn't have is an elite arm, and he's not great in terms of running speed, okay? So to come here and work out, he's going to, it's stacked against 14, 15 other quarterbacks. He's not going to look like one of the top two quarterbacks in the class. If you were dropped on this planet, as I always say, and you could only evaluate based off the combine. So I'm not supporting the decision not to work out, but I understand.

understand the decision not to work out. And so he's admitting guilt. But then again, like, tell me a person here who's wearing a hoodie with a team logo on it. That doesn't already know that. That doesn't already know that. Right. Right? Yeah.

And if he goes to this pro day and he has a great day, I just think it's going to be blown off a abortion maybe in the long run. Because, again, everyone already knows that this is a weakness. This is not one of his strengths. Outside of maybe like Teddy Bridgewater when he had the glove at his work. workout and I was there and it was it was a it was a kind of a disaster I can't really think of a quarterback where like maybe even affected a few slots or changed the entire narrative on a guy so while we get worked up about it in terms of the quarterback's throwing at the combine and the pro days and

all that talk to NFL GMs the decision makers in this process and they'll tell you we made him the I mean, we heard we did hear last year, Denver Broncos, right? Sean Payton. I knew 17 throws in. I get news for you. Sean knew he just wanted to see it maybe in person and during his pro day. But it's a lot more about obviously the tape starting there, the interviews, getting to know their minds. And also, if you're going to work, if you're going to base anything off of a workout, it's going to be when you fly into their hometown or where they played college ball.

and you put them through your drills, you do installs with them. You ratchet up the degree of difficulty. And I've heard teams like, we met with him, we spent a day with him. We put him through our stuff, and we became then comfortable with him. So that's where I stand. This is what's tricky and what kind of drives me nuts about this term, this time for evaluating players is that we will say all year arm strength is not the most important trait for a quarterback. but here we are talking about arm strength at the combine.

I don't need him to be, I don't need him to have the fifth strongest arm or the sixth strongest arm. I just need him to be the second best quarterback or the third best quarterback to be the second or third best quarterback on my board. So to me, again, it's blowing a little bit out of proportion. Yeah, so, I mean, that's where we are. But we needed news this week, and that's always going to be the news when a top prospect chooses not to work out. It's not, when it's not medical, when they choose not to work out. And it's frowned upon. I don't want to like, I'm not sending the wrong message here.

I'm not saying it's something that NFL teams are in support of and are kind of like, yeah, it's fine. They're not. And it pisses people off. But I am saying at the end of the day, I've literally never talked to a decision maker who said I based, you know, he didn't throw it at the combine. We were done with them then. So that's where we are.

Yeah, and it stinks when we have to talk about players not competing versus players who are competing. You know, that's what I want to be talking about, is the guys who are going out there and, you know, improving their stock and doing well. Let's get to that in a minute, because I do want to get to that. Right.

But I think Shador is a perfect segue, if you will, to really the news that I think is kind of taken over the new cycle and it's taken the combine. Really, it's stolen a lot of the buzz from the combine so far, and that's Matthew Stafford. Yeah. Matthew Stafford reportedly went skiing with Tom Brady

I mean I don't know how well I mean I guess he spent some time with him in Montana listen we're always going to stay in our lane we've got Shafti we've got Bert Breer we've got Diana Rossini we've got a host of other reporters talented people very talented people who that's what they do full time and I don't expect Shephty to come in and watch tape with me and be like I really liked his outcut

I like his acceleration out of his break like this we all stay in our lane for a row reason, right? But the reports are that there's interest there, regardless of the ski trip, was it on purpose, was it not on purpose, all the stuff that I'm reading on social media and the buzz I'm hearing from people here today just in a few hours of being in Indianapolis. What I do believe is, and I trust this information, the Raiders absolutely have interest in Matthew Stafford. What that ultimately becomes, we'll see. We've heard other organizations. We've heard about the Giants having interest in Matthew Stafford.

If you need a quarterback, how are you not interested? How are you not feeling that out? But here's what I want to spin forward. And I talked about this in the McShay report the other day. And thank you for everyone. Really, off to a really great start. All the subscribers. Just Google the McShay report.

If you're interested in getting the report, we've got a, we've got to double down. Yeah, double down for $36. I'm not doing the used car salesman bullshit today. We're at the combine. I'm done with the use car salesman stuff. You guys figure out what you want to do. Be pissed at me. I saw not all of them.

I saw a handful of comments. I got it. I'm used to it. 17 years of ESPN insider. I'm used to it. Keep them coming. That's fine. But what you will get is information you can't get anywhere else if you want it.

So choose, right? So Google the McShay report and you'll find it. But we talked about in the other day the McShay report. That the Tom Brady element of all this is fascinating to me. $350 million from Fox. to be an analyst. Not allowed to go into meetings, restrictions from the NFL,

minority ownership in the Las Vegas Raiders. And I don't know why people are surprised if anyone who's met Tom, spent a minute around Tom, knows anyone who's in his circle. Tom's not going to do something as a fun investment without investing in that. Right, he wants to win.

Blood, sweat, tears, he wants to win. That's like everything. That's his wiring. It's like telling Michael Jordan, you can't get involved. Right. So when people started to be like, I'm surprised. I'm surprised. I didn't know he was going to be this instrumental in like the, you know,

bringing in free agents and the evaluation process. Like, I'm shocked that you were surprised, but that's the situation, okay? And he was a big part of bringing in Chip Kelly as an offensive coordinator. And Chip bought the cat out of the bag, apparently, as if that wasn't going to be the case. So my point in all of this is Tom Brady absolutely believes, and he's kind of planted his flag in this, and I appreciate that. We need ambassadors for the game that are going to help in the development of young players. And he believes he is a card-carrying member.

He's like one of the captains of the sit-and-weight quarterback club. Don't throw them out there. They're not ready. College these days especially is not developing. not part of you're not in a program and if you go to the mickshay report we even gave you a link where you could go see some of his quotes on that i think with Colin cowherd and maybe another couple places um but if that if you're making so think of all the different stances he could have and the things that he would go out and spend his time great people i've learned this and i've

talked to you about this great people great leaders great ambassadors i've learned this they all have a message. Everything is done intentionally, okay? So when you go and you talk to somebody who's a general manager or who's a superstar quarterback or you get, the one trend that I've always noticed in all my being fortunate to have conversations with these very successful people is that even in a casual conversation, there's going to be some messaging. And with Tom, if this is, if he's choosing this messaging where he believes social. strongly in the development of quarterbacks and that rookies shouldn't come into the league and be forced to play right away and let's be better as a league and let's support these young guys so they got a chance right and we've seen that with Aaron Rogers we've seen that with Jordan

Love we've seen that with I mean Patrick Mahomes with his first year right you can go down the list and we've seen some other guys get thrown to the fire Caleb Williams this past year where it's concerning we've seen a lot of guys over time so With all that said, it makes so much sense. And I heard Sam Darnold is a name. But Sam Darnold's younger, and maybe that winds up being their guy. But Sam Darnold's younger. Sam Darnold's still a pop.

He was like 20 when he came out. And so maybe it makes more sense of Matthew Stafford in the last, let's call it two years of his NFL career. Maybe it's one, maybe it's three. Let's call it two. So you bring in a guy for one to two years. And now I'm picking it seven. Or I'm trying to take it. trade up a little bit. And maybe it's Cam Ward. Maybe it's Shadour. Doesn't matter. His point is

any of them. Give him time to develop. Maybe he likes the traits of a guy you can maybe get in the second round, like a Tyler Chuck, you know, maybe maybe that's the guy they want to get later on. They can still get a good player at seven. Maybe that's what they're looking at. What a hell of a bridge quarterback Matt Stapner would be. That's insane to me. And you would be interesting to see what they would have to give up to get him and all that stuff. No question. But I love the idea. I think it just kind of... Brock Bowers, being... Getting the ball from Matt Stafford.

That's... It gets real interesting, real fast. But don't you think it makes... I'm not saying that's what's going to happen, but clearly it's being pursued, right? I think that's what we've learned this week. It's being pursued, and it lines up with what Thomas said publicly. Right?

Makes sense. So, I look at that pick seven. Is it seven or six? Seven. The Jets are seven. It's six. It's six. Sorry.

The Raiders are sitting at six. six, Jets at seven. Those are just two teams we keep hearing a lot about Shador Sanders winding up with in the first round of the NFL draft. So that to me makes a lot of sense. It's funny, you talk to some people in the league, and a lot of people I've talked to have kind of cooled on, I don't want to say cooled on Shador Sanders as a, like a player or what he can be, but like, I don't know the teams are going to rush out and go get Shador.

this is what's interesting me about this and you know this better than anyone else sure Sanders is not convincing every team that he should be a top five pick he's trying to convince one of the teams in the top five that he is a top five pick so that's what he's doing that's what all these players are doing if you can convince five great I mean if you're a Travis Hunter you know the cornerback and wide receiver out of Colorado who everyone loves and you can convince a bunch of teams that you're that pick great you only need to convince one to go there. And that's what I think that they're doing. And that's what I think is smart for any player to do. Yeah, I was just saying the contradiction in all of this is, while the

majority of people I talk to are like, you know, I don't know that there's that big of a gap with, you know, maybe a Jackson Dart or a Tyler Shuck. And maybe we could get a something similar in the second round or late in the first and, you know, conversations like that. And I'm just not sold and I'm not, and maybe it's got to be in the right weather with, without the elite arm strength. That's a real conversation that's going on. Maybe like in the dome team or good weather team, like you'd think the AFC stuff. I know. I understand.

I'm just saying the conversations that are kind of like flying by the window shield, the windshield, right? But I, but on the, and this is my whole point. But on the flip, it's like, all right, if Cam Ward winds up going number two to Cleveland, since Chefty just decided to drop that in our lap. and I saw Shephty today and big hugs, good to see him. But I know a lot of things about Shephty. Nothing more than he loves his fantasy basketball team. But secondly, and maybe not secondly, but I'm joking.

My man is not making a statement with that conviction unless he knows something. And legit knows, not like, oh, I talk to him. No, he got it and it's confirmed. He feels good about it. So, like, every mock draft now is like, Okay, number two, Cleveland. And I had heard differently. Right.

But that's why he's Schefter, and that's why we stay in our lanes. But if it's Cam Ward at two, and now you get the Giants at three, and I don't know that, I don't know. I don't know. And you've got, but I've also heard they could love them. So it's this time of year. But now you've got the Raiders potentially with interest. You've got the Jets potentially with interest. is there a move up to go get?

I don't know. It'll be interesting to see. There's just, it's this time of year. Yeah. Does that third quarterback sneak in and go earlier than anyone that I know thinks that they should go just because of the need? I mean, there are so many quarterback hungry teams right now that, again, it's just going to drive.

It drives up the market every year, regardless. But this is an interesting year because the talent really isn't there for to have three quarterbacks in the top ten. We mentioned some of the workout work. I want to, but I want to get to the, now, you know what, let's do it now. Screw it. It's our show. We're live.

You don't want to talk about the tears? I mean, I mean, Tucker can, like, take us off the air, but I don't think he's going to do that because I'm going to talk about the workout warriors before the tears. So let's get into some of the guys that we're excited. We're here. We're here at the combine. Yeah. Just, you know, 1,000 feet down the road.

We're going to have workouts starting tomorrow. mention linebackers and defensive backs. Sorry, I keep saying that. Linebackers and defensive line. And I'm so freaking excited about this defensive line group, man. It's going to be awesome. I'm so excited about this. And yes, there's a few of the top guys that you mentioned.

Abdul Carter's not going to work out. Michael Williams is not going to work out. Jalen Walker's not going to work out. But what you're going to see is this depth of this class. Okay. So we start with that and the linebackers as well. I'm going to give you, let's just go back and forth. Pick a guy.

We'll go back and forth. My guy. I've been on them all year. South Carolina safety, Nick Ema Mori, I think is going to put on a show. I've had him in my first round all year long. I think people kind of looked at it a little bit sideways when I first had him in that group. I think he had a really strong year. I think he's versatile.

And when you watch him, he's a guy that, you know, he could be 220 pounds and run in the low four-force. He could really put on a show. And he's one of those guys that, you know, like when we do this every year, every time we do this exercise, he was the first guy that came to mind for me. I got to finish his tape. Mention, like, off air, if you will, are having. He's needling me. He just keeps needling me about it.

No, I'm not needing. I'm asking questions that he doesn't want me to ask. Because I see, like, pre-snap confusion sometimes on tape, and I see, I see him, like, focused on one thing before the snap, and I see maybe not dialed into the play with the same consistent. So I want to watch, I need to finish that tape, and I have not gotten to the safety. yet but I have I just finished up the top 100 150 wide receivers and corners and we'll get to that later in the show bite in my tongue so we don't turn into a nick even more he's correct thank you you're you're you're growing maturing um Shamar Stewart he's going to steal the

show yeah and we talk about the edge guys we're going to get we're going to get a live look at this son of a gun tomorrow man 280 plus pounds wingspan for days he's going to work out like he's You watch. He's going to, this mother bleeper is going to run into four-fives. He's going to. He almost said it. He's going to run in like four, five, eight or something stupid. And then you're going to see him run on the field and do those, the hula hoops things, the big loops.

And you're going to see the way he bends and picks up those towers. And then I'm going to start bragging about it. And then the same scouts that have been calling me and texting me are going to be like, yeah, put on his tape. Where's the sacks? I was on with Pollock the other night. what did he compare he's like he's like he goes he's that fisherman who's got like the best the best he's out in the ocean he's got all the the the um all the tools and the bells and whistles and he sweet cast out there and then he i didn't get anything this time he's like when's he going to catch me

some freaking fish i get it i get it he the sack production wasn't wasn't always there's not all about sacks but the pressures were outstanding the effort i thought was outstanding i think the tools and the traits are there. And if he works out, kind of like, remember Trayvon Walker? And it wasn't just about his workout. It was about the Jaguars had an absolute, you know what for him. Like they just, the decision, yes, loved him. And he's a good player and all that.

But, and I'm not saying he's going to one, he's not. But I just think if he works out the way we think he's going to work out, plus some positive traits on tape and the pressures that he got in the SEC and all those sorts of things, it's hard to keep them out of the first round. Some people I talk to in the league want to keep him out of the first round. So I'm excited to see Shamar Stewart, you know, put on the show. What do you got? Michigan defensive tackle, Kenneth Grant.

I mean, this is a guy that a lot of people have been talking about for a while now. And, you know, when you play next to Mason Graham, who's, I think, a top three player in this draft, I think it's a consensus top three player in the draft. Three or four consensus. Yeah. He's up there. It's, you know, you kind of live in a shadow, a little. little bit, but this guy, when you watch him and he, defensive tackles don't get a chance to chase

that often. When you see, when you get to see him open up on tape, it jumps out. Like, you see the speed. He's going to be 320, 320 plus. I don't know how low he's going to run, but it's going to be an impressive number. And again, he's a guy who moves well. You're going to see, it's not just straight line. When you see him, he's going to be able to change directions. And again, a human being that size, they just don't do that. There's just not a lot of guys like that. I'm going to shift to some of the skill guys for a second. Ariens Smith, Georgia. Yeah.

He's tough. He's tough to evaluate because he, my man struggles catching the ball. When you got Herb Street calling you out for like, why are we jumping to catch the ball? The Herb Street does not like to do that. Right. And I just use that as an example because, like, those were the struggles. And the struggles were real. But we've also learned, if you run in the four.

twos and you're a wide receiver, we're going to find a place for you. Like, I don't, if we got to hand you the ball three times a game, or throw you a couple screens, like, we're going to find a place for you. So, Arian Smith has a chance to make a lot of money if he runs the way he's supposed to run. Yeah, I'm excited to, I'm just excited to see what he can do, almost kind of pulling for the guy at this point, to be totally honest with you, because it's been kind of a hatchet job, like, you know, all the evaluations on him and the struggles he had and they were real.

But we've seen guys whether it's LASIC surgery or whether it's sports psychology or what, or it's just pounding the jugs machine. We've seen guys improve catching the football. Yeah. Like truly. Shoot, our ball boy and our ball guy at Richmond. You remember that? I can't remember his name.

That guy couldn't catch a cold. And by the second year, he had the best hands on our team. I'm saying people can better people get better awesome special teams by the way too Aaron Smith yes awesome special yes yeah so that's you got it who else you got uh I'll go with the Louisville corner Quincy Riley I think he's gonna you're hearing things yeah he's gonna run really well I think and he's a guy who I think is going to move up it's a it's a competitive corner class I think it's a good corner class I think it's messy because of the injuries that you have up top but it's a good group and I think that he's the guy that's going to run

well and he's going to help himself with the way he performs. I'm not ignoring you. I just want to look this up. Double-checking? No. Are you live air double-checking me? No. I'm not. I feel like that's what's happening. I'm not.

Zebra. Oh, shoot. I'm Zeber Insurance. What the hell am I doing? This is live, by the way. This is the ball skills? This is how you don't do live. Experience? Live TV. And I did like 17 years of it, so you'd think I wouldn't screw this up, but I don't care. This is the beauty of this job now. I get to do whatever I want. Okay. So the fastest guys at

the senior ball. This is what I was looking up, the zebra technology. And what's tricky is some guys just don't get to top speed during practices and all that or don't have the runway or or intention or they're not being chased. So it doesn't always line up. But what does line up is when you reach a top speed, that means you're capable. And that means you're probably going to run in the four-threes, four-fours if you're Darien Porter, who's another guy on my list that I wanted to talk about, running the fastest time of all players at the Senior Bowl this year, 22.17 miles per hour on the Zebra technology. That's going to equate to four-th-threes. And by the way, while we're on Darian Porter, former wide receiver, emerged last year at cornerback, six-two and three-eighths inches,

197 pounds. Oh, fastest this year, this is why I bring my notes. Fastest, this this year. Second fastest in the eight years in Zeber Technology at the Senior Bowl. You know who the fastest was? Darryin Porter. Rieck Wollin. Tarik Wollin. Oh, okay. The fellow, what, the fifth round of the Seahawks? That's still

baffles me. But he wound up, so he ran the fastest time ever, just slightly faster than the 22.17 miles per hour, Darien Porter ran. Also a tall lanky corner. Also, kind of raw tape, like you see with Porter's tape. But Rick Wollin, one of. on then at the combine here to run a 4-2-6.

So like, I was looking for that with Porter, but also looking Jalen Noel is another guy. Yeah. Almost 21 miles an hour, wide receiver from Iowa State. Yeah. Two Iowa State guys, two of the fastest players of the entire senior bowl. Jalen Noel will get to him and wide receivers. I'm in love. Oh, here we go.

I'm in love with the guy. He's a, like, there's no, there's no, this is what I wanted to get to, though. your boy Quincy Riley Louisville 20.41 he was the two three four five six seven eight nine it's tenth fastest we'll see yeah so it's going to equate to it's probably low four fours at worst okay but it could be in the four threes yeah and great ball skills great balls skills yeah um anyone else you want to get to that that kind of rounds up my list you got anyone else we're going to do most again or we're going to just kind of fold those give me some whatever you got man we're here it's the 2025

NFL scouting combat. Oh, by the way, my boy popped his cherry and indie. This is the first time. I'm allowed to say that. I guess. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. You just did. I mean, if, if Howie Roseman can give a sex analogy on our, and that's, that is, that did happen. That is a tease for what's coming up in the next installment. We had Eric Dicosta from the Baltimore Ravens. We had Nick Casario from the Houston Texans, two playoffs teams, and Super Bowl. champion winning general manager, Howie Roseman from the Philadelphia Eagles. We interviewed him today.

We'll have that coming out soon, and we'll let you know on social media when to find it, where to find it. But he made a sex analogy, like right out the gate too. Like, hey, what's up guys? But that's a tease for you. He was in rare form, man.

He was awesome. And it was a great analogy. But back to my point, Mench is here. You know, Mention's been working with me for two decades plus. This is the first time he's coming to Indy to the Combine. I'm so happy to have the big guy here. Yeah, it's going to be a great week.

So I don't even know where I was going. Tennessee running back Dylan Samson. Go ahead. He's a guy that is going to climb. These are the guys that you're expecting to help themselves this week. I think Samson will climb. I think he's going to run well. He's explosive on tape.

He's going to be explosive here. Listen, it's a great group of running backs, and we're going to have this conversation back. and forth until I really the finish line but I think Samson's going to be a guy with the way the pre-draft process works he's going to start moving up and you know who else is umari and hampton and I haven't heard that he's not going to work out so I'm assuming he will work out the North Carolina running back see your boy Mel no what had Dallas taking Hampton over a jenting I don't know if you saw it fucking Mel I could have like literally I could have told you I could

have told you that before you know what he did I'm going to hey Mel, I know you're watching. You're watching because you're stealing Hampton, and you're still doing the same stuff that you used to do for 17 years, and I'm watching you now, too. Okay? I'll make sure. He called me the night before he released his mock draft.

I didn't pick up because I was in, we were taping something. We were doing something, and I owe him a call back, but now I don't know if I want to call him back. This is the same stuff. Of course he had Omar and Hempton. Yeah. All right. I could have told you that all there.

We're actually, we're going to, we're going to call him now on the ride back to the hotel tonight. And we're going to get some answers. But my point is, Omarine Hampton's going to put on a show. Yeah. I'll never forget being here and being in. This is before I was doing TV, radio, anything like that. Adrian Peterson, one of the first years I came to the combine.

Might have been the year that Gary Horton snuck me in. This wonderful lady, Deb, someone I wish I could remember her last name for the Rams. I can't remember if there was St. Louis back then or not. It's so old I am. But I remember being inside in a young pup, like, I don't know, 24 out of college, kind of figuring out what's going on. But this, like, Hercules-looking dude comes out, and it's like RB24 or whatever it was.

And the workout that he put on, I was like, I don't know anything yet. I'm just learning. But I'm like, that guy's different than everyone here. Right. and I think he ran like a 4-4 or whatever it was. His numbers were outstanding for as big and physical as he was. But my point is, I think Hampton's going to have one of those types of workouts. Where you look at him, you're like, wait a second.

This guy's like chiseled. He's 220-plus, and he just ran 4-4. What? Yeah. What? Yeah. It's going to be that. Yeah.

And Ashton Ginty's not working out. and I'm not going like this is what Kuiper the fact that I'm still talking about Kuiper drives me nuts but I do have to mention this and I've been saying it for 17 years Kiper does the over correct and then he does the re-correct and he gets it right by the draft. He gets it right. But he's got to get his attention

Mel's always got to get his attention and so he got his attention with O'Mary and Hampton then the next mock draft or maybe two from now he'll recorrect it if that's what's the real but he had to get the attention other people are moving up O'Maryon I'm going to move him up higher. He's one of those kids like when you're playing in the sandlot.

Hi, Mel. I love you, bud. I'll talk to you tonight. But it's the same stuff. I love it. So it's going to be fun to watch these other running backs because it feels like opportunity. When the big dog's not out there, some of the other dogs come out. Like, no, I'm the big dog now.

This is going to be fun. Yeah. Listen, you're fired up. Sorry. I'm like, we're going to keep it rolling for you because I know there's a player that you're dying to talk about because I got a text, screw it, best pure defensive back in this class. Yep.

I'm done. This is the guy. Don't say it. I'm not going to say it. I knew you get mad if I said it. You don't want to do it yet. I don't want to do it yet. You're on a role right now.

I know. We'll get to it. All right, fine. Tucker sell me and Dan, we've got to keep some semblance of order. Are there any more guys that you think that you're looking forward to Oregon. Oregon Edge, Jordan Birch,

and Maryland defensive tackles, Jordan Phillips. I mean, again, I think four of the five guys I've talked about are defensive lineman. Yep. It's just the class, right? Jordan, Jordan and Jordan Phillips. Burch is like 290. Yeah. And had eight and a half sacks this year and was kind of nicked up towards the end. One of those guys that, you know, they hurt, like Mikel Williams, we're talking about it other day. There was times you just thought he, you know, he's still got to put it together, then it comes out that he's playing maybe 60% during the year. And when you find these things out, and they're not long-term injuries,

you reevaluate what you're looking at. Yeah. Another player I'm interested. I mentioned Jalen Newell. We'll get to him at wide receivers. I think he's going to actually really help himself here. Because if you ain't big, you better be fast. If you're going to be talked about in the top tier,

two tiers of receivers, and I think he's going to prove he's going to be fast when we talked about Y with the miles per hour and honestly got just the tape. If you follow me on X, at McShay 13 just go and I did a whole reel on on Jalen and I could have gone on for days but I had to move on excuse me you know else I'm going to leave it with this Tyler Shuck yeah your guy yeah and I just gave a whole speech about how it's not the most important thing but but when but when you have

opportunity and maybe Cam Ward doesn't work out maybe he does and they'll be in the same group because remember it's broken up by by last name alphabetically so the the first group of quarterbacks wide receivers, running backs will be like A through M last names and then like N through Z, typically somewhere somewhere in that break. So they'll be in the same group throwing if Ward's throwing. I don't think he's going to back down arm strength-wise. Maybe there's a slight difference, but you'll see it's not a big difference. And I think, and Sanders, by the way, his last name begins with an S.

and and you like one thing you know Shador's got a damn good team around them. They're not dummies. You know, his, his, his, pops has been through this game. He played, he played this combine like a fiddle. Don't forget that story, right? He's been working in NFL network for many years before he started the coaching.

He understands how this works and how this works is if you're a quarterback and your arm is an elite and you're lining up and you're named Sanders and then the next guy up is Shuck, right? And then a couple guys after that is Ward. Right? I mean, pure and simple. But to my point, Tyler Shuck, it's like, everyone I talked to is like, yes, I see the same thing. It's only one year. It's 25 years old. It's three years of injuries. But we see the same thing. The tape is damn good. And so I'm excited to see him work out here. And I think he's going to gain a little, I think he's going to run pretty good too. And I know it doesn't matter all that much. But when you're sure.

really like his tape. I really like him. I can't believe you think he's a better runner than Jack Stard, though. Okay. I didn't say better runner. I said what you did. I think you did. When he takes off and goes, all right, here we go. I'm pretty sure you did. Dinner, Saturday night. Okay. Dinner Saturday night. If they both run a 40-yard dash, that's not what I'm saying. I'm not saying faster. I said, I'm not saying he's more elusive. I'm saying when he tucks and runs, and like, I don't, it's not that big of a deal, but when you're comparing him to these top guys, he's got just as good at his arm and, uh, as, like, in the same neighborhood as Cam Ward and better than Sanders and maybe better than dark. And when he takes off running,

I think he's faster and he's, he moves well. And he's bigger than these guys. So I'm just saying, if we're starting to just like go through the line of things, so you're not going to make that bet. I just didn't want you to get carried away. No, because it's not speed. Okay. How long we've been going? 43 minutes. That's good. That's good.

It means we've got some time because we've got some stuff still to get to. All right. I spent a lot of time on tape. And I purposely did a couple things. Okay. Purposely went through and I made sure that I, I don't want to say finished up because I always will go back to it when I start. Here's what happens.

I put out this tier ranking, right? And I put it up at McShay 13 on X if you want to go check it out. And we're going to have it with some breakdown and getting discussion in the newsletter coming out tomorrow morning, okay? Google at McShay report and you can find out where to get it. It's real simple. But I do this every year, and I try to break into tears the top guys in the draft. Because I make a note, I think this year I'm just going to put it up against the wall. Because it's a reminder to me.

Some of it's good noise and important noise, right? but a lot of the noise from here on out there's no more football from the senior bowl on there's no more football and if you've finished up their tape evaluation for all intents and purposes and yeah you go back and you rewatch some things but like if you're done stacking by cornerbacks stacking by receivers and you've done the top guys so that you're ready for this it shouldn't change drastically by a workout or by noise okay exceptions yeah of course uh Will Johnson runs a 4-7. He's going to drop out of the, like, for the most part, check yourself.

And this is going to be my checks and balances right here. 2025 NFL draft pre-combined tier rankings. We've got a, we've got a graphic. We got it up. Nice job, Tucker. These guys, man. We get the best crew in the business. We flew in Jake and Nick again, by the way, from the West Coast.

I love it. We're not messing around. This is our crew. I've got three in the top tier. All right. Abdul Carter, Travis Hunter, Mason Graham. Five in tier two. And I know where the bitch is going to come.

I'm anticipating the bitch. Ashton Jinty, Boise State, Tyler Warren, Penn State, Jalen Walker, Georgia, Jod Day Baron. You heard it. Joday Barron, Texas. Will Campbell, offensive tackle LSU,

Colson Loveland, tight-end, Michigan. Those are my top two tiers, eight players. Your complaint is going to be Gentie and Warren should be in tier one. Am I wrong? Gentia, I think he's debatable because there's been a lot of talented running backs. I think Gentie's up there. I'm not sure he's tier one. He's in the conversation.

Tyler Warren is a no-brainer tier one prospect. There is like, there's no question. When I see that, I feel like you're trying to piss me off. Like, that's what I think you're doing. Like, you're just trolling me. I had a bigger debate in my mind. You're just trying to. You know I'm tired.

I do like to kick you when you're down because you're kind of a wimp with travel. I had a bigger debate in my mind of how much of a gap am I putting between Warren and Loveland? Because I just got done with Loveland. He's going to be a massive weapon. He's not a good blocker. and that I think differentiates the two. Warren's not a great blocker. Loveland's a poor blocker.

Warren is a good blocker for a tight end, not great by any stretch. He's not. I agree. He's just not. He's satisfactory. He's not the gronk blocker than people say he might be. He's not. There are moments.

If you watch the highlights, you'll find some. I forget which game it was. The guy into the end zone. He's got moments and he's capable, and he works how he wants to. But my point is, I think Colston Loveland has got a chance to be absolutely special. Like, I kind of forgot. And I think this year with the quarterback play, he's an unbelievable route runner. He separates better than Warren does.

Okay. They don't run a lot of downfield routes with him and stuff. Warren's, I'm not tape. When I build someone up as tight end two, it's not me building, bringing down Warren. Warren's my guy. If you want to put him at the bottom of Tier 1, go ahead.

But my bigger argument is, is there that? Then go ahead. Go ahead. I like how I ask you to explain, like, my, my question is what else does a Tynan have to do other than what Tyler Warren has done this year?

I mean, what does a guy have to do to get into your tier one as a tight end? And all of a sudden, I'm hearing about how good Colston Loveland is. I know how good Colston Lovelland is. I didn't ask you that. I asked you why Tyler Warren's not a tier one guy what's his speed what's his speed I don't care watch the tape I know I've watched the tape it's phenomenal I have him as I have him as the number four I hope he runs the four or five I have him one is one of six guys with a 93 grader above like I love the guy he's a tight end tight ends don't go

this high no I know I haven't it's not where he's going to be drafted in terms of elite tight end prospects Tyler Warren's there yeah okay but is the elite in this class Yes. Is he elite in every year? Yes. If you go back to last year's draft, are you still screaming that he's in? I say there are two elite tight ends. You kidding me? If you had Brock Bowers and Tyler Warren in the same draft,

would you have both of them? You have both of them. You have both of them. You have both of them. What do you put Colson Loveland with Brock Bowers? They're more, compare Colson Loveland with Brock Bowers. They're more comparable. Yeah.

I don't know why, you know, I want to support all of my tight ends. You want to, you want to compare. pair them and knock them down. So you think you think that Warren and or Loveland is as good as Brock Bowers? No. Brock Bowers just broke like

20 tight end rookie records. So was there only one elite tight end prospect ever? Maybe. Oh, God. All right. I mean, we could sit here and fight this. I mean, I literally have them in number two in tier two behind an unbelievably talented Ashton Jinty at running back.

The point being, I think it's important to, at this point in the process, remember what the tape told you. Yes. And there's been a lot of changes. Changes like Jadae Barron, moving up to the number one pure cornerback, number two cornerback behind Travis Hunter, who's also a wide receiver. Changes like Colston Loveland, moving up to a 92 grade after I completed his tape,

this guy is going to be an absolute problem for defenses in the NFL, and it's going to be right away. He's the best route runner. Like he is the most NFL ready receiving tight end in this class, NFL ready, in terms of receiving. Now, Warren's more of a complete package. Warren is a bulldozer after the catch. But I'm saying in terms of like ability to separate with his feet, Colson Loveland is, he's him. Like, it's as good as it gets.

Okay. Then the next group, the tier three, guys who are rising, guys who I think are have chance to be outstanding. but I can't quite stamp them because of something. I'm not going to go into all the somethings with these guys, but Michael Williams. I'm betting on him. I'm betting, I'm buying low to hopefully one day sell high, okay?

Cam Ward, we've talked about it all over the place where in terms of the physical tools, the development that needs to happen. Omarian Hampton's in this tier three, and that's a jolt. Fucking Kuiper, man. You know what I mean? By the way, he was my guy before was your guy.

Fine. But, like, I know Mel didn't pop in the tape this week and do all the running. Like, Arnold Membue from Missouri belongs in there. James Pierce, Mike Green. We got some stuff to unpack. Yeah. With these guys, okay? The full evaluation on and off the field.

But from tape, James Pierce, Mike Green, belong in that tier three. Will Johnson, dropping a little bit. We'll get to that in a minute. Jihad. Campbell. Did I mention him? I don't think I mentioned him. No, you didn't. I didn't mention him. Shamar Stewart is probably the guy I'm most interested in watching. Campbell's number two on that list of the combine. And that's going to be tomorrow. We're going to be here live, by the way. Again, thank you for watching live right now. You're a maniac if you are, and we love you. We love you

for it. And if you're watching, you know, an hour later or two days later, thank you for watching too. Please keep supporting us. But tomorrow we'll be back 7 p.m. Eastern Live. Please join us. after the workouts. They'll be actually finishing up. We've got a TV right there. We'll have the screens here. We'll watch the end of some of the position drills. But we'll be live and we'll have so much to unpack with this truly historic interior

defensive line, DT class. And another outstanding deep edge class. And then the linebackers led by Jehad Campbell, who I've got in that tier three and then Tyler Booker, the offensive guard from Alabama. So we'll keep that and we'll revisit that and see how much I've, allowed the noise to seep in later in the process as we get closer to the 2025 NFL draft in Green Bay in the last weekend in April. All right. I kind of mentioned it, and I want to get to a couple things. And you tried to get me to jump the gun. Yeah. Move you along. Yeah. I mean,

are you in a rush? It's 7.53. Dinner's not till 8.30. I'm not going to tell people where we're going, but we'll give you a review tomorrow, I promise. And it's farm to table. Like, we'll get to St. Elmo's and we'll do the cocktail sauce. This is my fault. I'm sorry. We'll do all that stuff. But tonight's a farm to table.

I like to find the, you know, the right places. Not everyone's going. Smoking a cigar after. Have you a soup of whiskey. Like, we got to branch out a little bit, you know. All right. Cornerbacks, man. I'm planting it.

And yeah, you love him, and that's great. But I'm planting it for good. Yeah. I don't care what he runs. I'm planting the flag on Jada Baron. I don't care. I've done it enough. I got yelled at by Nick Saban.

Nick's secretary called. And so Nick wants to talk, and he was mad at me. And Nick can come, he'll be mad at me again for bringing up the story. But he's mad at me because he didn't think it was the time, Brian Branch. Okay? I absolutely adored Brian Branch. I had him in the first round, and he thought he needed another year. And you know what? I'm sure he would have continued to advance under Nick.

And Nick had called me in the past and yelled at me before, and he was right on some guys. And I've been right on some guys. So that went back and forth. But I was right on Brian Branch. And I kept yelling. There's not 25 better football players in this draft. And it goes 33. Sanristill.

Sanristill. Sorry. Mike Sanristel out of Michigan. Didn't understand why he was falling as far as he fell. There's been these nickel guys. Mm-hmm. Right? Jaday, I'm not doing it again. I'm just not doing it again. And he's more than just this nickel guy who played this star and all. Yeah. My guy is playing outside corner a lot. And you brought this up. Go ahead on him for a minute. I just don't think he, I thought he was more of a nickel. And then you watch the tape. And it's funny because I watched so much Texas tape. And then you start to dig in on individual players. And you're really focusing in on Jade. And he's playing outside all the time. And they played a lot of zone, but he's a, like, he's strong in press, and he can match up in man. And then the instincts, the spatial awareness, the ball skills in zone, it all jumps out.

He comes up. He hits, he tackles. He blitzes off the edge if you do want to use him in that slot. I love the way he closes off the edge in that role. He's just, I think you said this, so I'm just going to echo it. He's just a damn good football player. He's better than a damn good football player. He is.

He is. I get worked up and I get, you know, parched. Parched. Me too. Here's a couple things that jump up. He plays all over the field. I saw him at Mike Linebacker one play. I saw him in outside corner the next.

I saw him playing zone covers or some playing men. So I'm playing deep free safety. And he does it all at a really high level. I will readily admit, I will sit here right now and you can clip this off. My man does not have 4-4 speed. And if he runs a 4-4, then he trained really well. He's not a 4-4 guy. I see like the only flaw in his game that I see is that if he gets in trail like on a

crosser if he's got to like work his way around the ref or defense like if he for whatever reason and it's not often because of his instincts but if if every once in a while if he gets just a little bit behind a guy and a ball is thrown on time and and and the receiver has good speed he's not catching up that's his flaw. but he can protect it 95% of the time, okay? And yeah, will it be accentuated a little bit in the NFL? Sure. But I want to remind everyone, Brian Branch, 6'190,

about what Jad A. Barron projects to be. He's listed at 511-200. So my guess is he going to be close to that. Brian Branch ran a 458, and that's why he went, what, 33 overall in the draft? Yeah. I don't think he's going to run a 4-5-8, but I don't care if he does because he's that good.

He's better than Brian Branch. He's better in coverage. He's two things to me. Yes, he has excellent ball skills, okay, in terms of taking the ball away. I go back to my notes, like Colorado State this past year, awesome job, like instincts, peeling off of his guy, going and playing at center field, tracking it down vertically. Beautiful job, right? Hand-eye coordination, the tip ball against Georgia in the first game, right, interception.

He's going to take the ball away, and that's critical. Here's what he does that it took me watching tape after tape on him and comparing him to other defensive backs to realize. He's one of the best I've ever seen, Jadae Barron is, one of the best I've ever seen at detaching the ball from a receiver. And so if he gets in there a court account late, or if he gets there on time, but he has the body control to reach around,

he's got this way about him. It's almost like watching a snake when he goes to attack and just wrapping him. I've never seen anything like it. He always places the hands, yeah. He's hands, but with body control to not create the contact. He doesn't get past interferences like that. Yeah.

But he, like, go and watch the tape. Go and watch the point of attack. I was going, like, click, click, click, three, you know, all right, fast forward. Ball knocked away, knocked away, knocked away. Yeah. He's, he's an unbelievable pest if you're a receiver because you think, like the ball's here. I got it. It plays over.

I get first down, whatever it is. And you're like, what the? You even have to pay attention. on tape because every once in a while you'll think it's a catch and all of a sudden you'll see you'll see this you know what I'm and you're and you go back and you're like wait a second and yeah he got it out the other thing that I love he is so savvy in run support again six foot probably not even he's like 511 195 let's call him he is so savvy in support it sets him apart from some of the other corners right yeah because and he can do it from safety he can do it from

this the nickel star he can do it from outside he'll he does a great like of not only funneling inside when he's playing that outside corner, but then getting off the block and going to make it. He just, I just, he's, you can't tell me there are 10 better football players in this 25 class than Jaday Barron. You just can't. I'm not here for it. And I don't care if he runs a 4 or 5.

I don't. He, he belongs in the top 10. And that's where he is right now. Other interesting news from my tape study, I call it news. Breaking news. Breaking. Do you do, do, do, do, do. Will Johnson, I see the talent.

I like him. I mean, there are some plays, right? There are some plays. He's at his best in off-man coverage when the plays in front of him. That's what he does best, okay? So when you're watching him, you think, Will Johnson, well, he's this big guy, 6.1 and a half, 202, estimated 4-4-5 speed. So you would think he's a pressman corner, right?

And he can do that. And the interesting part about him, too, is he's almost as good, maybe better at times in zone coverage than he is in pure man. Off coverage when the plays in front of him is when he excels the most from what I saw on tape. He's got that man's own flexibility. You know, when you're still like Charvarius Ward, I think is a similar type of player in terms of play style where he can play both, okay? It's the way he breaks in the ball. It's the way he breaks on the ball coming forward. you can't have a, how do I phrase this properly?

Because I don't want it to come back to bite me in the ass. It's hard to watch a player that you believe should be and very well could be a top 10 draft pick. And to see that many bad plays on tape, though, to go along with that many great plays, he makes a lot of great plays. He does. And they're exciting. And I think they're, I think you're going to see a lot of great. that Fresno State pick six. Yep.

Awesome play. Okay. I watched the interception against MHJ, Marvin Harrison Jr., 23. Yep. That's when you're at his best. Off coverage, reads it, squats, drive, pick, right? But there's so many other plays that go with it. The Maryland game, right? The Maryland game. O'Donzee. The Maryland game, sorry, against number. four. He's not one of the top guys. Not Prather Felton. Number four, he was like a sophomore at the time. I think he was back in twenty, twenty three. Two-13 left in the first quarter. That's when the play was. Vertical route down the right rail. Does he have elite recovery speed? I didn't see it on that play, you know, concerning there.

Later in the Maryland game, Pressman gets beat by Prather. Kaden Prather, number one, down the left rail for a touchdown. Stays in phase. Okay. But the ball's in the air. I saw this several times. Balls in the Go back and read the Belichick and Sabin, some of the stuff on social media, and we've talked to many different defensive back coaches, but that's something you can go look up by people you trust. How important, how high up in the list, confidence when the ball's in the air, production when the ball's in the air. Do they freak out?

When they get out of phase, what do they do? Are they able to recover? Do they have the recovery speed? Do they have the body control to protect themselves from past interference? All those things. Are they able to locate the ball? Makes me worry about length sometimes when guys are in position and they don't end up making plays.

So I looked at those plays. I looked at O'Doonsay, the example that I just mentioned before, he got burnt bad peeking in the backfield because he gambles because he gets away with it a lot of times and he makes some big plays. The pick sixes that we all seen on the highlight reels. But there were multiple times where I saw he got burnt on a double move. So now what he does best can be used against him.

So I'm not saying, like he has the tools. He's going to be a really good corner in the line. league. But for a top 10 pick, you'd like to see more of an advancement in his game than what we've seen. Burned badly by Roma Dunesay in the national championship game down the right rail, a double move, had the interception early in that game held up relatively well against the Dunesay I put, but got flagged for obvious past interference shortly after getting beat on the double move. So it was like back-to-back plays. Okay. That's why you see Will Johnson now at a 90 grade down at like, you know, seventh on my, in the tier three.

I just thought that was fascinating. Yeah? Because forever, Will Johnson, he's like, he's the guy in terms of pure corners, his second corner behind Travis Hunter, who's going to play both ways. And so he gets that athlete grade and that bump. The other thing, Benjamin Morrison, if he is cleared medically here at the combine and cleared by NFL teams, you're right. like it's been your guy all along you've been steady on him and i agree with you i see some like jalen

johnson he's a ball hawking zone cover cornerback assuming full health he competes for a starting job in his own heavy nfl scheme if you're a fan of a team that's zone heavy like this is this is going to be one of your guys maybe you get him in the second round because it concerns a medical whatever it is um he's not going to run great i don't know what his status is if he's if he's going to work out here or not we'll find out on um on Friday but benjamin johnson on tape is fourth best corner in this class right if we're going Travis hunter one jade a baron two will johnson three Benjamin Morrison is four for me and i and i'm pretty firm on that if again based off the medical um a z thomas is interesting well we can get i don't want to go into a long thing we're here at the

combine. But let me just say this. This year's cornerback class is kind of, there's a line in the sand. You're the man cover guys and the zone cover guys, right? Will Johnson's the one who's kind of both. And we talked about that. Travis Hunter is a pure press man corner. Will Johnson is both, as I mentioned. A. Z. Thomas is a pure pressed man corner. Shavon Ravelle, I just did his tape. Yeah. I had to go back. You know what I liked? He reminded, in 2023, you reminded me of Rick Wolland. Yeah. The tape was scary at times. You were concerned. He wasn't using his arms. He wasn't his hands in the press.

He wasn't using that great length that he has. He is a tall, long cat with freaking unbelievable recovery speed. And what I saw and I was so excited to put in the 2024 tape, it was downloading. I was watching the 23. And when I put it on, I'm like, please God, please God, let me see a guy who worked on his technique in the offseason is more physical and is more confident in his press technique. And I saw it. Yeah.

Before the injury. I saw it. This guy's got so much potential. Savon. Savon, I think. He changed it. What is it? What is it, Dan?

Savon. Yeah, Sabon. I just looked at. I literally watched the tape of him saying his own name. You sure? Yes. Okay. All right.

Savon Revel. But don't be upset with yourself. The ECU coaches and media were calling him Chauvon for like two or three years into the process. So we're doing well. All right, last thing. Agree with you, by the way, on him. Yeah, go ahead. What do you got on?

Yeah, it's interesting because, again, I think this is a really good corner class. It's just messy because of the Morrison injury. Will Johnson also injured. So, you know, Will Johnson injury, the Morrison injury, and then the Revel injury, those were Morrison and Revel coming into the year were guys who were legit first round prospects. Yes. Now you have Joday jumping up. Harrison's an interesting player.

He's a little undersized. I wouldn't put him in that same group. but it's a good group of corners. Harrison, I liked. Harrison I liked from Kentucky. And we'll do a deeper dive. I comped him as like a Jason Verrett, Casey Hayward, if you can remember back a decade or so ago.

5-11, a quarter, 179 pounds, lean, average arm length, actually, 31.5 inch. Pretty good for that size. It's quick. But he's his own guy. 400 snaps, nearly 400 in cover three or cover four last two years. Or last year, I guess it was. No, last two years.

And he excels in zone. Again, you break up this class. It's the man guys versus the zone guys. Harrison's in there with the zone guys, with the Jaday Barron, with the Benjamin Morrison, and I think he's the third best zone heavy cornerback in this class. and the thing I love about him is he just takes the football away. And that's why I said Casey Hayward and Jason Verrett,

they were just, they were ballhawks. Wide receivers. Here we go. I'm not going to bury the lead. I'm done with his tape. And I see the traits and I see the special ability. And I see how he can be productive and successful in the league. I'm just not going to be a Tet McMillan guy.

I'm just not. I'm sorry. When you say that as a Ted McMillan top 10 guy is what you're saying. Correct. Where I'm seeing him mocked, where I'm seeing people come out and say that he's one of the 10 best players in this class, I say there's no way in hell. Tederoa McMillan. Tederoa McMillan from Arizona is one of the 10 best football players in this draft. His talent is undeniable.

He's 6-5 estimated, 212 estimated 4-48 estimated. We're going to find out real soon. We're going to find out on Saturday. Production, awesome. Wrecked up with final two seasons, 179 catches, 2738, 2,738 yards, 15.3 yards per catch, 18 touchdowns. Okay? He's got an awesome catch radius, right? And he makes some of the most spectacular catches you're ever going to see, right?

And that reel is great. Huge mitts. Just nine drops, drop rate of 4.7 the last two years. I went to check to make sure I would watch, you know, that I saw enough. I just worry he's an ex-wide receiver. Maybe he becomes a good number one. But his routes, his consistency, his urgency, his urgency, his run-blocking effort, and his attention to detail are not that of a top 10 player in the job.

draft. Scathing criticism right there. It's not scathing if it's real. No, it might be fair. If it's what I'm seeing and evaluating. Right. Again, unbelievable talent. I just listed the size.

Unbelievable production. Ball skills are really, really good. But it just lacks suddenness off the line of scrimmage. That's not what concerns me when you're saying that. It's about the run blocking what concerns me. The attention to detail is what concerns me. Those are, when I hear those, he's a bigger receiver, man. He's not going to be as sudden as some other smaller guys.

So that I get, and it's still worth mentioning, it's still worth talking about it, don't get me wrong. But when you talk about a lack of attention to detail and when you talk about a lack of effort with run blocking, that immediately jumps out to me as red flags. Yeah, I just, I left the tape wanting more from what is projected to be a time. top 10 player. And I watched them, but now I'm, and I see the trait. So I'm like, yeah, he belongs up there. But now we've got to make some tough decisions. I've talked about it, air traffic control, right? Early on, we're getting the planes headed in the right direction. We got thousands

of them from 100 different airports across the country. And then, you know, midseason towards the end of the season, we've got a flight plan, estimated time of arrival, right? But now here we are in the process. We're 57 days from the NFL draft. I better know. exactly when you're going to land and where you line up with the other planes, maybe that changes as you get within the last 30 minutes and we can divert some planes here and there. But like we got a plan to land these things in order every 90 seconds, major airports, Logan Airport, every 90 seconds, planes landing, right? Plan's taken off.

I just don't see it with Tet. You don't see it. I don't see it as a top 15 pick in a class that has all these. these guys when I'm talking about Abdul Carter's and Mason Graham's and Jalen Walker's and Mike Lilliams along the edge, James Pierce and Mike Green depending on the full picture, okay? When you're talking about Travis Hunter and the generational type talent, we've never seen anything quite like this before playing both sides of the ball. When you talk about Ashton Ginty is one of the elite running back prospects to come out.

When you're talking about two of the best tight ends we've seen in a long, long time outside of the guy we saw last year who just set all the damn records. for the tight ends as a rookie in the NFL in Brock Bowers. And you're talking about a player who I just fell in love with the more tape you watch in Jod Day Barron. You're talking about Omari and Hampton, another star running back that's rising up, not quite as high maybe as Mel Kuiper has him. I love you, Mel. I can't wait to talk to you.

But anyway, my point is when I'm talking about all these names, I don't see that is not there. I don't disagree with you. Okay. I don't. I guess what I, and I know you hate this, that's why I'm, maybe I love doing it, is let's reframe the conversation of he's not in that range in terms of early first round. He's still going to be first round pick.

I'm not saying that. No, no, not early first round. What I'm saying is, is the gap between him and the other receivers in this class maybe not as big as some other people may portray it? Or is there even a chance that he's not wide receiver won? Let's reframe it. Yeah. I got done with his tape and I see very similar traits. to Drake London.

Drake London. Okay. What a great year. Okay. I see some of the same stuff in terms of running polish was not there can develop. I saw some of the same special plays, the contested, the acrobatic, all that. The difference is Drake showed, Drake played the game like a maniac at USC. Yeah.

And that, like, don't ever, I'll never. Like Mike Evans, when we got done talking, we were like saying. nasty things about how like how much he he was just an absolute dog right and Drake London wasn't a dog but Drake London for a big finesse basketball player and all this stuff

like had a little dog in him right had more than a little dog in him and he ran great after the catch and he and he gave he had want to and there was like attention to detail he didn't know how to do it all yet but he was trying his ass off to do it all right and I'm not like

I don't want to sit here and not but If I got to put it in recent historic perspective, I just saw a difference between, like, Drake was here. And Drake had some struggles as a rookie and showed some flashes. Drake came back this year and had, I think, over a thousand receiving yards. There were questions about Drake coming in. With a bad quarterback situation. But I'm saying, so, and Drake went, what, seven to the, eight,

I think eight maybe to the Falcons in that range. Yeah. Okay, top ten. I didn't see that player. So there's talent, there's ability to get somewhere close to that, but I just, I didn't see it. it. All right, let's flip it positive. Okay. Here's how I see this class.

And there's an interesting graphic I want to put up in a minute. But I just want to say this. Ted McMillan is now, instead of in his own tier wide receiver, I'm lumping them in with Matthew Golden, a mecca, Hibuca, and Luther Burden III. Okay? And I got to finish up Burden's tape. And I love Abuka. And I think he's just NFL already.

You know what you're getting. it's not going to be this elite one. He's not going to be a burner, but he's just going to be like an 80-90 catch guy here or something like that. He's going to be a great second round pick. I don't think he's the first. Okay, fine. We can have that argument later.

But those are my four that are going to be somewhere in that late. And I liken it a little bit to 20-23. I think this is how it should play out. When we had four receivers go, I think it was picked. Four consecutive picks. 20-21, 23. Yeah, something like that. I think it was those four spots, okay, back in 20203.

I think that's where. these guys belong. I'm not saying consecutively, but I'm saying kind of in that range. 20 and beyond. Late first round, maybe one of them falls into the second. But then there's a clear second tier to me, okay? It's Higgins. Jaden Higgins from Iowa

State, X-wide receiver, big, physical. He is a really damn good route runner. Grewing you at the senior bowl. Grew on me at the senior bowl. As a week went on, you go watch him on tape, you get to really appreciate the release package that he has, the ability to get in and out of breaks for that.

size. He does a lot of great things. Now, not as developed and polished as Trey Harris from Ole Miss. But my goodness, is he good after the catch, man? And I can, as an evaluator, you want to, like, do you see, do you see what he is? Can you literally in your mind, like, close your eyes for a second, but yep, that's what he is. He is a West Coast big X wide receiver who, if you can get him the ball on that three are like the Jerry Rice slam and let him take care of some stuff after the catch, he is going to be. be an absolute hit, okay? He's going to be. Not the same type of player, but his teammate, Jalen Noel. I'm in love with him. Very different players. I mean, polar opposites, but he's in that

second tier, okay? He's in that second tier. And I want to go through this with you. And after that, I think there's so, I think after those, those are my second tier, those three, Jaden Higgins, Trey Harris, and Jalen Noelle. And I'm interested to see these workouts because it does matter wide receiver more. Harris runs a number. Right. Watch out. I swear. Watch out. Okay. Because you give me that size and the development that he can do and knowing if he's running a certain number at his size with that run after catchability. I'm telling you, he could be, he could now work into that bottom of, so this is going to be interesting to see. The wide receivers and corners move the most based off the 40 times and the workouts in general. So that's going to be fascinating to see. But I've got Higgins,

Harris and Noel in that second tier. And after that, Jack Besh, TCU really liked his tape. I think he's a notch below those guys, but I know what I'm getting. A.O. Manor, there's a lot of work still to do. Ball skills. I'm not going to sit here and attack someone, but the ball skills are not where they need to be. And we'll get into more in depth with all of this. But that's kind of where I was in the receivers, okay?

Yeah. I found an interesting stat thing. You know it's not like my thing, right? Have you ever just gone and studied the RTG rank on PFF? No. And I don't even know it. For receivers? Yes.

What's RTG? It's the rating. It's the rating. I know quarterbacks. I didn't know they had a rating for receivers. I guess when targeted, when targeted, the rating. Okay. This is held behind on the analytics I am.

I just got it. So, I mean, whatever. And I just like, I play with stuff every once in a while just to say, I want to see, I want to see what's telling. Not what's telling them where they got drafted. What's telling, okay, well, how did it produce in the NFL? Get this. If you were to rank the top RTGs from last year's class,

okay. Here's how they were drafted. They were, I don't want to go through all of them. Let's put up that graphic if we don't already. If you were to go off the RTGs for these wide receivers back in 2024 last year, great class. Listen to these rankings of just following them. Brian Thomas Jr., could argue have the best year of all of them.

Ladd McConkey could argue it had the best year of all of them, second best year. Marvin Harrison Jr., Malik Neighbors, A.D. Mitchell, are your top five. There's a couple in there you're like, well, let's see. But Jalen Polk was six. But then it was Kean Coleman, Roma Dunzee, who was the ninth overall pick. Didn't play like the ninth. It was his quarterback. Was it the offense? We'll see. Fascinating to me.

Yeah. Because remember, how they were drafted was Harrison Jr. 4. neighbors six, O'Donzeh, nine, Brian Thomas 23, Ricky Pierceall, 31, obviously got shot in the chest. I mean, Leggett, 32. No, sorry, Xavier Worthy at 28. My point is, the rookie play on the field much more, correlated much more with the RTG rank than where the draft pick was.

Yeah, that's interesting. So this year, let's just spin it forward for whatever it's worth. I'm not saying, well, my rankings are going to change. Like, I'm not. But let's keep perspective on all this. But you're going to like this. I like to finish on a good note with you. I know my guy's getting hungry.

We got dinner tonight. We're going to have a food report tomorrow. Travis Hunter, top RTG rank. Just perspective. Brian Thomas had 142. Second was 133.7 last year. Travis Hunter's was 137.8. So he would have only been behind Brian Thomas,

ahead of everybody else. Okay, pretty good for a guy who, by all reports, by the way, spent all of his time in meetings with the cornerbacks. It was really developed as a cornerback, no matter what the noise was coming out, and put in packages like we talked about. Installs every week, right? Trey Harris, number two. McGa. 124.9, which would have put him at fourth last year, ahead of Malik neighbors. I had a head of A.D. Mitchell, for what it's worth.

A beca, a mecca, Abuka, right? 124.5 ahead of neighbors. Ahead of A.D. Mitchell. Fascinating. Matthew Golden, 120.7. Restrepo, and 120.7 would have been fifth ahead of A.D. Mitchell. Restrepo, 119.5. That's interesting to me because it's ahead of, it's ahead of Luther Burden, who's 107, a ninth on this list.

It's ahead of Tett McMillan, we just talked about, who's eighth on this list, with one, 10.3. It's ahead of my guy, Jaden Higgins, 104.4. Fascinated to know how, let's get more into this. Yeah, but that's somebody keep an eye on. That's interesting to me. I agree. Oh, thank you. Thank you for watching. Thank you for tuning in. Thank you for supporting us.

I'm hot. I know. Talk too much. Nick's handing me water in the middle of this. I'm like, oh, my lips are cracking. Like, wake up tomorrow, 3 p.m. I know you'll probably get a workout in. You'll do your thing. You'll get a good cup of Joe somewhere. You'll get your morning routine. Three o'clock, you're ready to go.

What's the thing that you're just like... I'm brand new, man. I'm just taking it in. You know what I mean? Like, I don't even know what I don't know yet. But, I mean, with that group tomorrow, it's going to be... Fireworks. Yeah.

Yeah. So, I mean, I'm just excited. You know, obviously, I know what I'm looking for in terms of drills and how guys move, but I'm really going to be soaking up this first experience for myself. I'm not going to let it, you know, pass by. Yeah, and I'm here for it. I love seeing it through somebody's eyes the first time. For me, it's going to be fun to watch because every single year, it's like, yeah, that's great,

the defensive line and linebackers are today, but the DBs are tomorrow. This year, it's like, yeah, I'm pumped for the DBs. There's a lot to learn, but, like, this defensive line group is going to be epic. And then for the first time and as long as I can remember, maybe 2017 with that, with the Leonard Fournett and Christian McCaffrey class where they had 30 backs drafted the most we've seen in a long time. And we probably will see that this year, the running backs are going to steal the show. Yeah. Over the wide receivers, over the quarterbacks.

And we haven't seen that in eight years, seven, eight years. And I don't even know that year if they did steal the show. But this year, they are absolutely going to be the show. So we're back tomorrow. Same time. Same places. YouTube, Spotify, video and podcast. Apple podcast, wherever you get your podcast.

But we are live tomorrow night, Spotify, YouTube, be here with us. And we're going to cover all the workouts from tomorrow. We're going to be back again on Friday night. If I get my date, yeah, Friday night, 7 p.m. Then we're going to have another show after the workouts on Saturday. So we get you covered all week. Thanks for joining. Please continue to do so.

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