The McShay Show - Drafting the Top AFC High-Impact Offensive Rookies

Episode Date: May 8, 2025

Welcome back to The McShay Show! The guys are drafting who they think will be the top high-impact offensive skill position rookies in the AFC! Which players will immediately make a major contribution? Which late-round picks got drafted into the best situations to thrive? What do you want to hear from us this summer? Send your ideas to [e-mail]. (0:00) Welcome to The McShay Show! (2:13) Drafting The Top AFC Rookie Skill Players(6:25) Pick 1: Team Muench Drafts Ashton Jeanty(9:29) Pick 2: Team Todd Drafts Travis Hunter(14:55) Pick 3: Team Todd Drafts RJ Harvey(19:15) Pick 4: Team Muench Drafts Mason Taylor(21:10) Pick 5: Team Muench Drafts Kyle Williams(23:42) Pick 6: Team Todd Drafts Harold Fannin Jr. (27:25) Pick 7: Team Todd Drafts Kaleb Johnson(32:02) Pick 8: Team Muench Drafts Pat Bryant(35:00) Pick 9: Team Muench Drafts Brashard Smith(37:58) Pick 10: Team Todd Drafts LaJohntay Wester(41:48) Pick 11: Team Todd Drafts Xavier Restrepo(44:44) Pick 12: Team Muench Drafts Elijhah Badger(48:52) Pick 13: Team Muench Drafts Jalin Conyers(51:05) Pick 14: Team Todd Drafts Daniel Jackson The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please visit www.rg-help.com to learn more about the resources and helplines available. Host: Todd McShayGuest: Steve MuenchProducers: Tucker Tashjian, Mark Panik, Conor Nevins, and Daniel ComerSocial: Eduardo Ocampo Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We've got a fun one today. If you're an NFL fan, today's show is for you. If you're an NFL draft fan, today's shows for you. If you're a fantasy football fan or a general manager, today's shows for you. Now that we know where all these prospects have landed, today we identify the top rookie impact offensive skill players for the 2025 NFL season. And we can take the time to do so because we're 350 days away for, next year's NFL draft.

Mench, you good? I'm good, man. All right, let's roll it. We appreciate everyone there. YouTube, Spotify, Apple, wherever you get your podcasts. Yeah, the McShay report. It's out.

You can Google it. A lot of stuff coming up this month. Get involved. Thanks for being here. And we're, I'm excited for today, Manch, you? Yeah, this is great. We're fantasy guys now. This is a fantasy thing, man.

It's a fantasy exercise. Would you call me? Calm down. Let me fix this, Mike. Honestly, goodness, the pushback. We could, I don't listen, I love it. I think it's great. There's no pushback.

I do think more of this. It was not, conceptually, that's not like, that's not how we arrived at this plan. Right. Right. Right. But as I was starting to map it out, I've got, I've got, uh, Dan helping me. And he's, I, I send him a bunch of ideas. He's like, well, why don't we do a draft?

I'm like, I love a draft. Mench loves it. a draft, let's draft it up. And then it's, but then as I'm reading through the concept and I'm starting to put it pen to paper and I'm like, oh, wait, this isn't just for like fans of NFL teams. This isn't just for like NFL draft junkies like ourselves. This is also for your GM, like that I don't even like the dynasty leagues and all that stuff. Yeah.

This is kind of for you too. So here's the concept. You're ready? Rookie impact, offensive skill position players. why are we doing it now in the afc by the way we're doing the afc today just want to make that clear thank you mensch that's but i mean that is why best wingman in the business um we're doing it now because now we know where they're playing now we even under now free agencies happen and so there's it's been sorted out we kind of understand the roster's clearer than we have in the last several

months we also have the draft picks where they're going to be playing and yeah we'll know a little bit more when they get to camp and we'll know you know and we can still build on this but as of right now they're i mean i've got friends who text me like i'm getting ready for my what is it like the dynasty draft or like the year over year so yeah i think it could be helpful tools i mean we're sickos too so i understand the concept yeah you know one of us same cloth just different pattern um so that's it so here's how it's going to work it's a snake draft as mentioned is mensch mentioned uh a only will come back on Monday and we'll do the NFC. So you'll basically get between the two shows today and Monday, next Monday,

you'll get both the AFC and the NFC. And essentially, we're going to break it up into a draft. Mets, you go first. Right. Okay? We're going to do a snake draft. Going to be on the fly. Deal with us as we make mistakes and go through it.

But it's always fun that way. Here's how we decided to do it. No quarterbacks. We know Cam Ward's going to start. There may not be another quarterback starter from this year's class as a rookie. This is all about the 2025 season. Who can you expect to be the highest impact offensive skill position players? Running backs, wide receivers, and tight ends.

And in fantasy football type fashion, we are to draft a running back. A running back, two wide receivers, and one tight end with a flex position. Digging into my fantasy knowledge. So it's a snake draft setup, okay? So Mench and I each get, it starts with Mench, then it will go to me. I get picked two and pick three. Then Munch gets four and five. And then I get six and seven.

All right, you understand the concept. So you get one pick each from round one. going to leave some good talent on the table. One pick each from round two. Then we each get two picks from rounds three through five. And then we each get one pick from six and seven. And just throwing a little bit more knowledge, digging deep into our scouting reports, deep into our pages.

We're going to do bonus picks. Two each undrafted free agents. Here are some guys like, this gets away from the, I know, I know, I can't help myself. I think it's great, though. I think it is great. It's fun. Well, it's better than Dan Comer's not here today.

He's in Ohio, man. He's chilling up in Ohio doing his thing on the coast. It's beautiful up there in Cali. He got a day in Ohio. He wanted to do a whole show on undrafted free agents. I'm like, listen, I'm a lunatic, man. But that might be pushing a little bit. So we're going to do two undrafted free agents.

agents each part of the rotation, okay? And we'll put them on the bench. So a running back, two receivers, a tight end, and then two bench play. One flex, it could be a wide receiver, running back or tight end, and then two bench players. Okay. Everyone get the concept. Let's roll. I've got a whole sheet here.

Okay. I've got my sheet of all the AFC offensive skill players that were drafted for the seven rounds. Bench with the first overall pick in the AFC offensive skill position player draft, you are on the... Here we go. I love it. We're already back into that sound. Here we go. This is a no-brenuous, Tucker.

Fun memories. Yes. This is an absolute no-brainer, right? I mean, we're turning the car right away. You know, this is the worst kept secret. We're taking as to Gentie. It is. We'll get into this in a second.

I know you're going to make an argument for your guy because that's what you're do you just have to you're wrong i'll tell you why in a minute ashti the running back for boise state you don't draft the guy that early mcche and not making the focal point of your offense yeah brock bowers maybe the best tight end in the league has a chance to be i mean outstanding awesome they drafted some receivers they got jack bash out of tc u good that's great there's no way they're not handing that ball off to ascenty early and often he's by far their best back you know the volume's going to be there in terms of carries You also know the volume's going to be there, I think, in terms of the passing game.

I think they're going to be involved in passing game. Chip Kelly, the offense coordinator was at Ohio State last year. Had a couple talented backs knew how to use them. He's going to know exactly how to use Jason Genti, too. To me, this is, I think he's the odds on favorite. We should get these odds. But I think he's probably the odds on favor to be a rookie, the offensive rookie of the year. I just think this is.

I mean, we'll ask Van Duel for the NFC show on Monday. We'll get those odds. Yeah. It's so obvious to me. I'm having a hard time coming up with things to say about it. It's just that clear to me. I don't disagree that it's a great choice. Okay.

The only thing I wondered with this first pick, and you turn the card in fast, I didn't have time to. Ready to go. Yeah, you boxed me out. I was trying to get a little jab in before you started. The only part of it is it's tricky because the wide receivers run out. out fast because it's not a good group. We already got the odds.

Look at this. Look at Tucker, man. Yeah, Ashton Jinty plus 270. Cam Ward plus 380. Uh-oh. My pick is third on the list. But I did want to say, I did want to say because it wasn't a really good tight end group, but when you start getting out of the rounds, now all of a sudden,

when in the third round, if you don't have a tight end, it gets interesting, right? Because we did have Tyler Warren and Colston Loveland's in. the Bears in the other conference. And we did have Mason Taylor. He's going to be available in round two. But, but, but Jake Ferguson, not Jake, um, Terrence Ferguson from Oregon is, is in the other conference, as is Elijah Arroyo. Okay. So there's a limited pool in the AFC of tight ends. And that's why I thought you would consider Tyler Warren there. As I say that, I did, too, but I'm not taking Tyler Warren. I'm taking the best offensive skilled position player in this draft.

And he just so happens to be two sides of the ball. But they made it perfectly clear in Jacksonville. Travis Hunter is a wide receiver first. And we'll figure out how we're going to utilize them on that side of the ball. Ashton Genti, Genti's rush yards over under a thousand fifth, while they are putting some stock in your boy. Man, I'm taking it over. I love how Tucker's now all of us. He's serving as, first of all, he's, he's your hype, man.

Always. Yeah, Tucker's locked in. And second of all, he's distracting me. But I love it. It's a good distraction. It's May and he's playing like it's April then. He's locked in. I'm taking Travis Hunter, second pick in this draft, second overall pick in the

2025 NFL draft in a trade that shocked a lot of us, even though we were getting information that Jacksonville was trying to do it. I didn't think Cleveland was going to do it. Important for this. I want you as an audience, when you think of Travis Hunter just as a receiver, I think you can expect to see out of him what we saw out of Garrett Wilson as a rookie with the Jets.

Think about the impact that Garrett had, okay? That's a good comparison. It's all about ball skills and yak with this guy, okay? Like, he is so creative. and slippery getting off the line of scrimmage. He's smooth in his movements and all those things. But where he's rare and different is with his catch radius and his ability to adjust to the football. And when you've got Trevor Lawrence as a quarterback, it's not always going to be pinpoint accuracy.

So I think that that will aid in this mission for Jacksonville to get Trevor Lawrence back on track. I think also what helps the quarterback a lot, a guy who you can get, greens, three yard outs, five yard outs, quick slants, all that. So the quick game, I think his ability after the catch. This is a guy who had three drops on a hundred and twenty eight targets last year. I'm telling you, it's rare, rare ball skills. And I would go back and debate a couple of those three drops, by the way. And he's absolutely special with the ball in his hand.

So we brought in Liam Cohen, head coach, right? I want you to remember, OC of the Buccaneers last year, one of the highest 11 personnel teams in the national football, 78% they were, almost 80% of the time. They were in three receiver sets. They're going to move him around. They're going to put him in the slot. They're going to move him out wide.

He's, I just, I love his fit there. And it's, honestly, this is every, the entire off season was about getting Trevor Lawrence fixed. and is certainly a qualified man to do that. And they didn't give away a first next year and all they gave away to bring him in and make him your average number two, number three receiver. This guy is going to be, you know,

he's going to be a major, major factor for Jacksonville in year one. I hear you. Is he wide receiver one on this team? I mean, at best he's 1A, right? I mean, Brian Thomas is coming off. an outrageous season. No, he's probably two. So I just want to see that.

I want to see two things. This is why I hesitate. I love, we all love the player, right? Yeah. Let's not kid ourselves. Everyone loves the player. And I hear exactly what you're saying.

I think you make some great points. Don't get me wrong. I want to see the target chair. I want to see how they utilize him, how they manage him. He could be a guy that, you know, doesn't get a ton of touches and puts up a ton of production. I mean, that's his, that's the kind of ability he has. And I want to see is, is Lawrence fixed? They're doing everything they can.

form and I thought Trevor Lawrence was a lock, as close to a lock as you can get coming out of college. Is he fixed? I want to know if he's fixed before, you know, this is, I'm catching myself here too. There was only two other players you could have picked, right? Tyler Warren at tight end. Because there's only four skill players taken for the AFC. Yeah, Hunter, Gentie, Warren, and Omari and Hampton.

So it's a no-brainer that you take Hunter here. but I would say that Gentie is clearly head and shoulders the first pick, and then it's Hunter above the other two, because here's the thing with Tyler Warren. Who's throwing on the ball? Is it, is it? That's why I didn't take him. Right. Is it A.R.

Like, so I want to see that too. And then O'Mary in Hampton, I think I would probably take third overall. I would, but they got Najee Harris. They might use him a little bit differently. Justin Herbert's going to throw the ball. I think he's, I think Justin Herbert's still a focal point of that offense, where I think Gentie will be the focal point of the Raiders off. offense. So, I mean, it's easy to, in those four, those first four picks in the first round,

I think it's easy to slot them. But I think if you're making an argument, you would take Travis Hunter or Rash and Gentie, come on. Come on. It is a, clip this off, Tucker, because he's getting a little, he's getting a little. Yeah, Emeka, Bouca wasn't going in the first round. I think you're getting too much sun, man. I think you're getting too much sun. I know. I've been in the sun a lot. It's been nice. It's been nice. I've walked like six miles today, feeling it. All right. It's a snake draft.

So I get the next pick. You get the next one. Yep. This one's interesting for me, man. I'm passing on six other offensive skill position players that were drafted in the second round ahead ahead of R.J. Harvey to take R.J. Harvey. Six of them. There's other running backs.

There's other wide receivers. There's other tight ends. So this is where if you're a fantasy football player, you might want to listen up. Yeah. too because because the like a lot of people with some of the medical stuff long term thought maybe R.J. Harvey's third, maybe fourth round. The tape said absolutely second round. Love this guy. You know what I love about R.J. Harvey? By the way, he's the Broncos draft pick at number 60 overall. I love this. I love, let's talk about the player first. Then we'll get to Denver. I love the fact this guy paid his dues. He started off as a quarterback back at Virginia in 2019. He transferred over to UCF as a running back.

He, you know, he was in a kind of a rotation a little bit early on, didn't do much. The second year, he was set to be, you know, he was set to be a starter and wound up getting injured before the season. Then like this third season there, he winds up, he winds up like third and carries as he's kind of getting back to full speed. But the last two seasons, you go look at what he did. And it's 2,993 yards on 458 carries, 38 touchdowns, caught 39 passes. For this is the important one, 13 yards per catch, mensch.

This guy, like, usually running backs is like 7.8, 9.2, 13 yards per catch. I think, I think, now, I get it. Like, shorter frame, but he's tightly packed. Excellent top end speed. also showed like the lower body explosiveness, the 38 vertical, the 10-7 broad. Like R.J. Harvey is a dude. And Sean Peyton recognized he's a dude.

And that's why Sean Peyton stepped in after they couldn't move up and go get Ashton Genty and said, don't worry about it. I just spent two hours in the film room. He's my guy. Let's take him in the second round. Everyone is talking about him, maybe in the third. Let's take him at the end of the second.

Let's get ahead of the curve. And you think about like, Sean Peyton does not like to spend early round picks on offensive weapons. He thinks he can kind of create him. Well, now he spends an early round pick on an offensive weapon, and he can create what that role is. I just, I love, I love, and Audra Guestimei is the backup, but he could take some of the pounding carries off of him,

and that will keep him healthy and fresh. I just, I think this is a perfect spot for R.J. Harvey. In fact, I gave him the Aaron Jones comp. think he can be for that offense what Aaron Jones has been in the NFL. Talk to me about why you passed on Junkins, Quinshon, Junkins, the both Ohio Statebacks, Quintan Junkins at the Browns. Yep. And Trayvian on Henderson, who I know you love with New England.

That one seems a little more obvious. That's maybe a workload thing that Henderson, we're talking about impact. And I think Henderson can have a great impact for New England, but he may not play a big enough role early on as I think Harrison is going to be a lot more passing game, and like you're talking about in a rotation. Harvey gets more tough. touches though, right? I think more overall.

I think so too. Yeah. I think. We'll see. But I... Right. Sean, I mean, look at Bo Nix. When Sean Payton goes in and comes out of the tape room or out of a pro day and says,

this is my guy, it's not like the general manager who's now trying to sell the coach, the head coach who then has to sell the OC. Like, it is the play caller for the organization making that pitch saying, he, that's, that set of specific skills that he carries fits exactly what I want. Let's go. That's right. That's great. It's a good example because I know you had both Ohio State guys ranked higher. Oh, yeah. And this is just an example of what this, this exercise is supposed to do. It's all about the fit, the landing spot. How many touches, volume, all of that stuff comes into play now.

100%. Great. Yeah. All right. So you're up. My, this was the easiest pick. This was almost as easy. as Genty in the first. I took the LSU tight end, Mason Taylor, going to the Jets because I just think when you start looking at these tight ends

and the roles they're going to play, and then again, how many touches are they going to get? Mason Taylor is tight end one for the Jets. I'm not sure there's another guy going down that list who is a lock to be tight end one. So I saw that and you're mapping out where you're going to go in the future. And to me, it's Mason Taylor.

in the second round, he's ready to go, man. We've talked about this ad nauseum, but we'll do it again because I think it's very true. The way LSU used him is borderline frustrating. Yes. Just going to run him in the flat, going to dump the ball off to him, you know, put him in motion,

dump the ball off to him in the flat. They didn't do enough with him, in my opinion. They mixed in a little bit of some seam routes and all that stuff. I think when you get him to the pros, he's going to be a far more productive pro because you look at that skill set, you look at that frame,

and I think he's going to take off if they can get on the ball. Like Justin Fields is a little bit concerned. How consistent he will be, I get that. But in terms of volume, I think he's by far the best tight end left on this list in terms of how many touches he's going to get in the role he's going to play. So for me, this was easy. This is, you know, when you're looking at a fantasy draft, this is why people take or have traditionally taken a Travis Kelsey earlier, or why they'll take Brock Bowers early because tight ends are tough to find that play a big role in their offense. So to me, I was a lock for Mason Taylor.

I agree. Yeah. I mean, quite honestly, 42 sounded about right, but it wouldn't have surprised me if he came off the board earlier. Absolutely need it. And with that quarterback situation, you need security over the middle of the field. And Mason Taylor is perfect for Justin Fields. Love it. So the next pick.

Yep. And this is now we've got, so we've both exhausted our first and second round picks, right? Yep. So now we're in the three to five. I've got my running back, my tight end. I better get some receivers, man. And I am going with Kyle Williams, the third round pick for the New England Patriots.

For a couple of reasons. They have bodies there. They signed Matt Collins. They got Stefan Diggs, who's coming off the knee injury. They got Pop Douglas, Kendrick Bourne. There's a lot of bodies there. I think Kyle Williams has a chance to be a top three receiver on opening day. I just think he's that talented.

He's a four-four guy. He's only 5-11-190, but I like the way he gets. off the line. I like he stacks his vertical routes. I think he's got a lot of upside as a short to intermediate route runner. And then you got Josh McDaniels who I think is an excellent coordinator in terms of putting receivers in great matchups and great situations and understanding how to attack defenses. And then you add on top of that, of course, like this is the most important part of the deal. You have Drake May at quarterback. And I think Drake May, we'll see. Could be a sophomore slump. That happens. It happens with guys. I think he's ready to elevate his game to the next level.

He's at all the talent in the world. And you're giving him a talent like Kyle Williams, and I'm getting him with my third overall pick. I think Williams is good there. Yeah, and the league spoke and the league's agreeing with you. I mean, he was the first wide receiver taking rounds three through five. He was the second offensive skill position player taken in rounds three through five. So, like, yeah.

And it's a good landing spot. Even if you don't like the rankings, you start looking at some of the other names that were in the AMC there. I mean, you start going on. The pool gets shrunk, right? Because it's the AFC. So we'll get to the NFC on Monday. It's the AFC in a wide receiver group that just wasn't great to begin with. And then you got a fact, like Jalen Knoll, I absolutely adore.

Like I should be screaming about this. But he was the second receiver taken by Houston. Houston's still got a couple of cats with Nico Collins and Christian Kurt. But like, so he at best, if things go really, well he comes in as like the number four so and yeah the two receivers that tennessee likes that they drafted we like we like both of them more but then you look at you know they brought in a couple guys and now you have two there that they drafted in the same round it gets muddy it's a rookie quarterback so you you're making a rookie quarterback and who's targeted like it just again Kyle

Williams i think is in a really good spot and he's a talented player yeah so i mentioned that Kyle Williams was the second offensive skill player from the AFC drafted in rounds three through five. The first was my pick, Harold Fanon, tight end, Bowling Green State University. Let me tell you a little bit about fans. Is it state? Is it Bowling Green State? BGSU. Oh.

I always call them Bowling Green, man. That's interesting. Go ahead. You're right. I'm sure you're right. I'm lending a little love. Yeah. I'm learning today.

The thing I love, first, like with Fanon, it's ball and it's ball. skills, right? It's coming in, and I trust him catching the football, 2.3 drop rate, 94th percentile last year, okay? And actually, the last two years, it's just who he is. He's going to catch the football. He's not the biggest. He's not, like, huge catch radius in terms of, like, a 6-6 guy, but he catches everything in his neighborhood. And the second thing is, it's almost like watching, I don't know, it's not a running back, but it's like a little bit like a bigger back who's, like, in space he's it's a smooth and and comfortable and a feel he just has a natural feel that you don't normally see with tight ends right with the ball and his hands after the catch so and and

and it kind of it got proven too when you start looking at you know going to pf and and some of the numbers like he led all players that were invited the combine and mistackles forced on receptions with 34 that's more than Luther Burden. Like second on the list was Luther Bird. So that tells you what he can do after the catch, right? So here's the guy. Watch the Penn State, man. Oh, man.

Yeah. I mean, he put up numbers against good competition. Was it Texas A&M too, right? It was a, it wasn't A&M. There was another big school. I think it was A&M. I think it was A&M. I remember looking right on the screen.

I'll double check what you're talking. Okay. So, so we know he's going to catch the football, and we know we can create after the catch, okay? And then I think about Cleveland, and this is why I hesitated for a minute. I'm like, oh, they've got David Joku. But this is a team that had Jordan Aitken's a year ago

as the number two tight end. He was fourth on the team with 40 catches. So now Fanon steps into that role. And Stefanski, yeah, they were in like 72% of the time or something like that in three receiver sets. but maybe it was just because they didn't they didn't have the the personnel and i think stefansky will try to be a little bit more loose with the 12 personnel given to jocko some some breathers i don't know i think fanning's got a chance to be i'm not saying he's got he's not going to have a monster

rookie year but getting him is the you know the what of the the the third pick here and as a third through uh round three through round five guy i feel really good about then i get my flat go ahead hold on. Fanon had 11 for 137 in a touchdown against Penn State and then two weeks later, but eight for one 45 and a touchdown again, Texas A&M. The other thing I will just say this quickly about that landing spot too. I love this the fancy thing. One of the surprises for me with the Browns was they weren't aggressive about addressing the wide receiver position in the draft. I mean, they need pass catchers. He becomes a, yeah, a slot. Exactly. They don't have, they don't have a ton. They have Jerry Judy on the outside

and then a couple, like some bodies. So I think when you're looking at that, sense that they go more 12, that they get fanning involved a lot. He's a big slot. I agree. You can run split zone with him where he comes across the formation and blocks a linebacker. You know, you can use him as a move blocker. But yeah, I think you're right. He's essentially a big slot receiver.

So that puts me in a predicament now, right? Painted yourself in a corner. A little, but I honestly, I think the wide receiver class painting. us both into a corner. Oh, man. Killed us. Right? And so I'm looking at this rounds three through five, and there's some other wide receivers.

Yeah, like you took Kyle Williams. There's Pat Bryant. I mentioned Jalen Knoll, Tremere, D.K., who I love out of Florida, but it kind of developmental guy I said from the start ran up, he ran 90% of her throats in my, in my recollection are deep crossers, right? So he's got some growing to do and he's got a rookie quarterback. Ari and Smith can't catch the football. Yeah.

I was surprised he went, yeah. that early. But he's a burner. And so, but like, again, developmental stuff there. You get down to like Jalen Royals coming off the injury. Casey, I considered that. Alec A. A.O. Manor, I consider that. But again, the second tight end for, I mean,

second wide receiver for Tennessee. So I went running back here with none of those guys. I went with none of them. None of them. I love it. I filled my flex spot. It's a fantasy. Don't reach for need, baby.

Don't reach for need. Why am I going to take a receiver that like might be a three or four? There you go. With a rookie quarterback or can't catch the ball or all runs deep crossers. When I can take Caleb Johnson. Right. The Iowa running back. It's like those crazy guys who have to fill out their fantasy roster where they're going

through the draft and end up taking a kicker in round like eight or nine. It's like, dude, what are you doing? Like those are the guys that everyone else starts whispering about it. The draft, like, dude, this guy doesn't know what he's doing. Yeah. Yeah. So Caleb Johnson was, was interesting study, right? What he was a three year player, but just a one year starter, right? But he finished with almost 2,800 rushing yards, 508 carries, six most in program history, 29, only 29 catches, though, in, in three seasons. I will throw that in. And he also, like, the, the combine was

concerning and it wasn't the four or five seven it was the one six two ten yard split quinshawn judkins similar build similar not i wouldn't say style judkins is downhill this guy's his own block scheme okay kind of patient go uh but he was a one six two which was tied for worst among all the running backs again it's just a number but it showed up on tape sometimes so it'll be interesting to see how it translates. But his run skills are ideally suited outside zone. He's okay and inside zone, but outside zone. But he can be effective in all of them. But I just, as a zone, zone blocking scheme fit, I loved his vision, his feel. Just I thought his vision and feel were like the ingredients in his secret sauce.

Right. No waste of motion. No wasted motion. So much of his game is on feel and vision. And he's got good contact balance, sets up his blocks, he's everything smooth. And I just envision him in that Pittsburgh offense. And I think about what Najee Harris was at his best for that Pittsburgh offense. Remember the comp I gave to him when we went through all the running backs? We did the running back deep drive. It was Najee.

And now now Najee's in, in, in LA, in the Chargers. And this is like, they know what they're doing, Pittsburgh. They didn't identify this guy and say, let's use a, our only day two pick, remember, because the second round pick was on DK Metcalf. Our only day two pick, we're going to get this guy because he's a perfect fit. I see him in a rotation with Jalen Warren and with Kenneth Gainwell, who they brought in, but I think he's the guy. Rookie contract, running back.

Let's squeeze every ounce of juice out of. them and you know Pittsburgh's going to run the football, especially considering we don't even know who their freaking quarterback is right now. No, we don't. And Kenneth Gainwell is a nice piece. He's a nice complimentary back, but they didn't bring him in to be the number one guy. And if they were comfortable with Jalen Warren being the guy, you don't take Caleb Johnson that early.

But they're only Jay two pick. Yeah. So I like that one. Yeah, I agree with you. All right. So now you're up, right? I believe that is correct. Yeah, I just took Bannon and Caleb Johnson.

And I am going with, this is my second three to five round pick, right? And I'm going with my guy. I got to go with my guy. You mentioned him. Pat Bryant from Illinois. Oh. I mean, you just got to be. I mean, look, I need a receiver.

I think he's, you know, I think he went earlier than both of us expected when you looked at how he ran at the combine and the four sixes. But you look at the production average over 18 yards of catch in the Big Ten. Productive dude. Tape is way better. He plays way fast. on tape. And then I think about him and Sean Payton's offense. And he's a little smaller, but I can't help but think Mike Thomas. I can't help but think he's going to be that physical

slant receiver that they let run after the catch a little bit. I think Sean Payton has a plan for this young man when he drafts him that early. And you think about Bo Dix, Bo Nix may be taking the next step. I get excited about the idea of what Pat Bryan could do in that offense. Yeah, and it's the same logic that I applied to R.J. Harvey. Some guys you just trust they know what they're doing when they take players, right? Because he knows how, yeah, go ahead. He's going to make it fit. Yeah, he's like, they have a plan.

They don't draft a guy based on, oh, good tape, good talent. They draft the guy based on how does he fit with us? It's like, you know what reminds me of is the watching Les Sneed and Sean McVey talk about Pooka and Nakua. Yes. When they do the behind the scenes, right? That was awesome. We'd love to get this guy, right? He's just, he's, I like guys who are where they're supposed to be when,

when they're supposed to be there and all of those things, how much they trusted Pooka Nakua. Yeah. My guess is that McVeigh and his staff looked at Pat Bryan or like, man, like, I know he didn't run that well, but look at this tape. Michael Thompson didn't run well. Right. Like, would you tell me he didn't work out well?

You know what he mean? Like I think that that's the kind of player he could be in their scheme. Yeah. And they, they identify and target, Sean does. identifies entire like i'll take him around before maybe the league is going to take him right but i want to make sure i get him right i'm not taking the chance he's not there next time around his his list is shorter than a lot of teams list in terms of like the draft the draft board his fits in his back pocket with like i'm going to get my guy i don't care where the league takes him and i sometimes sometimes you

look at and say well that doesn't match the value you could have gotten him in the fourth but like yeah you could have not gotten him in the fourth too and if you specifically specifically see like that so it's the same thing with r j harvey it's the same thing with pat bryant and and if you're a fantasy football fan out there like i would i would put stock in the fact that sean peyton made those two picks to fit his offense and guess who gets to call the place and by the way the league had bow nicks late for second yeah last year right yeah john didn't right just showing i i did i had them late i absolutely early second absolutely didn't and right so we saw we saw all right so you've one more now i got to go yeah i got to go

my seventh right six seventh round six seventh and i took the uh broussard smith your guy out of smu oh yeah went to the chiefs i think he went the sixth round correct i like that i like that i like that pick no seven look he was early seven yeah seven pick two 28 overall so he went the seven to the Chiefs and first of all, little background of the player, former wide receiver, turns running back, but when you look at that background, you know he's good out of the backfield. You know that he can make plays for you in the passing game. And when I look at that and you're taking players later on and you're looking for a player who can play a role that could be productive, I mean, it's just, they have very different

profiles coming out of college, but in terms of the role that they could both play for the chiefs, it's Jerich McKinnon all over for me. I mean, Jerich McKinnon, you know, similar sides. similar speed. McKinner ran a 4-4-1. Smith ran a 4-3-9 running back, by the way. The Chiefs got a 4-3-9 running back with the receiving profile, and they got him in the seventh round. I mean, I think that's silly, to be honest to you. But you look at McKinnon, and there was, he had 56 catches one year for the Chiefs. I think it was 2022. And Pacheco was in that backfield. I mean, all those other guys were in this backfield, and they still find a way to use McKinon, a ton. And I think that's the same thing that Prasard Smith could do for them.

So when you're looking that late in the draft and I'm trying to get a flex, I love that I think this player has as a real opportunity to play a significant role in the passing game for them. Yeah, I totally agree. And McKinney, the super interesting thing about that is because I do think they can be different players. McKinney, if people remember, was a option quarterback to start his college career. Was it Georgia, tailback? Georgia Southern. Towards Southern, yes.

Then he moves to tailback. I think he had 10 career catches. I think he had 10 career catches of college. And we're all sitting there saying it just goes to show you just because a player isn't used in a certain way doesn't mean they can't do something. Correct. You got to be careful about that stuff. You do have to take into account that they haven't done it in your report, but it doesn't mean they can't. And for a guy who is a former triple option guy to turn into a great receiving back in the NFL, he had a couple good years with the report.

Vikings too. I think it's super interesting. Tommy Milat was, was picked a 15, 15, 15, 15 picks earlier, right? The Raiders picked a quarterback. The end of that. Yep. You're welcome. I say it was one less player you had to write up, but you did the tape.

You saw, oh, I watched them. Yeah. Yeah, I know you did. You'll listen. You'll go watch. and you'll tell me I'm an idiot when you think I'm crazy, but that one you agreed on. All right, so my pick, this is a final pick I have

until we get to the undrafted guys. Right. And I have to fill a receiver spot. I went, I went, what I do? A wide receiver with the first pick. And then I went with Travis Hunter.

Yep. And then I went. RJ Harvey and Harold. Did RJ Harvey Harvey? running back from UCF. Yep, RJ Harvey, I should probably know my team better. This Harold Fanon in tight end. Then Caleb Johnson is my flex because of value.

And now I'm going La Jante Western. Six round pick, 203 overall. Coming out of Colorado, he was drafted by the Ravens. Tiny guy, man. 510, 163 pounds. But he, but he ran a 4-4-6 and he's quicker than he is fast. Listen to the They had other guys, right?

Jimmy Horn Jr. Ran fast. They get bigger guys. They've got faster guys, all that. It was always Western, though, if you noticed. Obviously, Travis Hunter, but it was always Western, like getting the tough yards, like, in a pinch. If they were double teaming or rolling coverage to Travis Hunter, he showed up. And he's been doing it for a while, just nobody knew about.

He was at FAU, Florida Atlantic. for four seasons, okay? The final season at FAU, he was second in the FBS with 108 catches. Nobody knew about it. If a tree falls in the woods, like nobody knows. But Colorado knew. Call them up, bring him in, come on, fly into Boulder.

13 games, he played, played all 13 games. 74 catches, 931 yards, almost 13 yards per catch, 10 touchdowns, okay? he's a tough little nugget man Wester's a tough little nugget I'm telling you this guy's gonna he's gonna get in there with the Ravens receiver room and he's gonna look around they're gonna be taller than him and they're gonna be thicker

and stronger than him and Wester's gonna look around and be like hey I can play on this team I'm a six round pick I'm 163 pounds I can fucking play on this team I'm telling you he can't he's gonna get his shot you got Zay Flowers you got Rashaid Bates And you got DeAndre Hopkins, who's on his last leg.

Like very last. Okay. Those are the three starters. Last year, Nelson Aguilor was the third leading receiver, okay? By in terms of receptions, by receivers for the Ravens. He's gone. The fourth leading receiver in terms of receptions of the wide receiver, that room he's walking into with a bunch of bigger, older, stronger guys, whatever. the fourth leading receptions guy of the wide receiver group was tylin wallace who's back

but he had 10 catches last year there's a space there's a spot for wester he's one of those guys yeah they show they had a plan for they can use smaller receivers when they took zay flowers i mean that was my concern was eight flowers he's like five nine 175 pounds i mean that's scary how how small he is and i mean he was outstanding i mean he's been outstanding when he's been on field and Wester gives you that guy who can play a similar role. And you got, again, who's your quarterback? It's Lamar Jackson. If you're taking guys late, I want to, you know, you do this.

Again, these are the parallels with fantasy. When you take guys late, you want to take guys who are in good situations. And Lamar Jackson, Lamar Jackson can get him the ball. So to me, that's a good spot for him. All right. I get the first pick of the UDFAs, right? Lucky you. I love it.

My first bench spot. Then you get two UDFAs and then I get the final one. Of all the undrafted free agents in the AFC, and there were hundreds of them that wound up signing with NFL teams, I'm taking the one that just makes the most sense. Xavier Restrepo. I love it. Miami-wide receiver, formerly the go-to guy for Cam Ward,

brought in, not drafted, because he ran a, a 485. Slow as molasses. He can't play in the NFL. He can't separate that speed. 45's disgusting. He tried to say that it was a hamstring that was tight. We don't buy that.

We're not drafting them, the league said. Cam was like, hey. What if it was, though? Can we just say that? Like, what if it was because he has, I mean. I promise you, I saw 465, which ain't fast and it's not good. I saw 4, 6, 5. Like, we've seen plenty of guys.

guys at 4-6-5 have really great careers. Yes. Yes. His toughness, his savvy ability to uncover. I just, I trust him. I trust him. So it was an undrafted free agent with the quarterback that's asking for him, with an organization that provided him. Cam Ward wants him. Cam Ward wants him because he trusts him. Yeah. They had two fourth round picks. We mentioned him. Tamari Dike,

still developing, but talented. He was one of my guys. I love to marry Dakey, but still developing. We're playing the long game with him in terms of running and all that, but he's fast.

Second or third fast is the receivers. Then Alec Ayo Manor. Love it, love his tenacity, his toughness, the energy, he plays with the urgency. He's tough. He's gotten enough speed to get down the field, but he's, he does. But he is not a reliable target.

And so if I'm Cam Ward and I'm, and every, the bullets are flying fast. And this league is fast and it's physical. And I'm just looking to get the ball out of my hands of someone I trust. Maybe Restrepo makes this team. Maybe he becomes part of that rotation. I don't know. We'll see. They got Tyler.

For thinking he makes that team. for thinking he makes that team? I think he makes that team. I actually think he will make that team. Calvin Ridley, yes. Tyler Lockett, they brought in, yes. Van Jefferson, yes. Is Traylon Burke's going to hang?

I don't know, man. I don't know either. And then you get the two rookies as well. I think he's got a chance. We'll see. I think he's got a chance. All right, two, you do, UDFAs, undrafted free agents for you.

My first one's going to be DKs, Florida running mate, another guy that loves that D. Crosser. Elijah Bajer out of Florida. You son of a bitch. I thought they. Ben's to Mrs. Mench. This. Restrepo was the,

was the bell of the ball. I got him right here. Elijah Badger. Yeah, but this guy's close, man. He's close. I mean, 6-1, 200. Good arm length, 32 and a half. We ran a 4-4-3, average 20.7 yards per.

reception last year of Florida. He was at Arizona State before that, and he led the sun devils and catches for two years in a row. I mean, did you imagine if Arizona State kept and developed all the players that we're now, that we're now writing the one on to get traffic. I want a documentary on it. I want a documentary on that.

There's got to be like a 30 for 30, right? There was some talent on that team, man. Yeah. So that would be interesting to go back. Was it, was it not Sabian Jones? Yeah. was my other you my other udf guy yeah i think switzerland was there yeah swinson was at a there was a bunch of them this year my other udf my other udf my other udf uh a was there too but just to finish up with badger

okay obviously talented man four four three 200 pounds like i was surprised they didn't get drafted maybe it's because he does like just like dk i mean they love those deep crossers of florida and you know what if it ain't broke don't fix it those guys were running away from yeah that's how you average 20.7 yards per catch. But then I look at, I'm like, where do you end up? Well, Kansas City. And I like Jaylon Royals, and he was definitely a consideration when I was looking at my board. When you look at him in the fourth round, I think that's a great value, you know,

considering he's coming off an injury. But then you got Xavier Worthy. He's going to be a really good player. I wouldn't, I'm not sure he's, you know, that elite player that you would have taken in the first round looking back on it. But they draft late in the first round, whatever. You got Rashie Rice. And then it's a Hollywood Brown, Jaylon Royals, Sky Mo.

Moore, Judeo Smith, Schuster. A lot of bodies, but I'm not sure. I mean, there's no one there. I'm like, oh, I mean, like, it's exactly what you're saying about Restrepo. He can, like, he's going to, or, who the Ravens took. I can't remember the John DeWester. He's going to look around that wide receiver room and say, man, I can play here. I got a shot.

Yeah. I got a shot. Like, I can play here. The other thing with Badger, he was six in the FBS. If you go back to 2023, almost 29 yards per kick return. So some guys. He's going to help you out there, too, if you want to use them that way. He's going to peat in that area.

And then again, who's your quarterback? Who's throwing the ball? Oh, it's, it's Patrick Mahomes. Yeah. Great. And you know, this is the case of all great quarterbacks. If you run your rights through routes the correct way, you catch the ball and you make plays, you get more targets. So it's not one of these situations where he's going to end up somewhere and, you know, he's going to play well.

Maybe it's a practice squad to start and then there's whatever it is. Whatever it is. Right. So, you know, you end up some other places and they're like, well, we want to give our second round or a little more run. like Kansas City won't mess around with that man the chiefs will like if this is the guy who's playing best we're going to play them you know that that's going to be the situation

so I love where he landed I mean talented player I love where he landed one other quick note Kansas City like it's funny you wanted Badger's so bad I wanted Badger so bad I had all these notes I was ready to go Kansas City added

I mean I literally was ready to go like I didn't know for a second you're going to take Elijah Badger of all the hundreds of guys the chiefs also added Jake Brenningstool the tight end from Clebson and it's funny because I didn't see it and I heard I heard a lot of noise

I don't see it either could be top 100 could be fourth I didn't see it but it's like when the market over I had like a six I had like a six round grade on you know yeah probably should have got drafted should have got drafted so

that one's interesting to me he's another one if you're a chief's fan to keep an eye on the heat could wind up never going to be special but like reliable enough, I think he could wind up making that team. Go ahead, Matt you. My last UDFA, Jalen Conyers out of Texas Tech.

He was another guy who was another former Sun Devil. And what I love about this guy is his versatility. I mean, Miami signed him. They already have Johnny Smith. They signed Farrow Brown, I think he's a pretty good backup, but on the back end of his career, Jalen Connors is a big body tight end

who could be their number three. I think he goes into campus the number three or comes out of camp as the number three, has some upside. But what I really like about him, just my last pick in this draft, he plays wildcat quarterback. You could put him at wildcat quarterback in short-yardage goal-line situations.

So now we got a guy who might, you know, I'm looking for, I'm taking a flyer on someone I think could maybe win me a game, you know, if I have to call him off the bench. And here's a guy who could get a couple touchdowns in those goal-lines packages. And that's, I think that's what I love about him. he is he's great with the ball in his hands whether it's after the catch or as a ball carrier he's

really good with the ball in his hands for a guy's 265 pounds i think 255 maybe 265 pounds anyways he's he's much more athletic than you would expect looking at his frame i think he runs better on tape than he ran it at the combine he's an interesting player that if they can get they can unlock his upside he's going like down the stretch and i think it could end up that number two tight end who makes them plays and again gives you that extra versatility as a guy they can use the certain packages do do do what if I told you there was a program that had 75 players drafted in the 2025 draft that that still that still made it to the college football playoff but that's 70 of those 75 players were drafted from different

different schools. That might be the craziest part of the story. When you look at all the guys that fled, the, the exodus and where that, that, that program was, the story of Herm Edwards. Yes. The great 2020 recruiting class, whatever it was. Right. Holy smokes.

And for them to turn it around and give. What if I told you all Texas could handle? All right. All right. I got my last pick. I had to scramble here. I don't think many people know about this guy, but I like him. He was sneaking.

He was sneaking around my chicken coop. I wound up giving him a late round grade. Never heard his name called. But I always, I just, you know, like certain guys, like, I'm going to keep a marker on this guy. I liked him. I liked his tape. The Houston Texans brought in undrafted free agent named Daniel Jackson, wide receiver from Minnesota. He was at the combine, okay?

quicker than fast slot okay like when you watch him's like he's one of my twitch guys i i love slot receivers i love twitches right maybe it's because i never had any twitch as an athlete so i just i just adore players who are like agile crafty route runner okay 510 193 so not the tallest guy obviously but kind of packed tightly acrobatic catches like adjusting to the football plays tough, plays a physical brand of football. That gives him a chance. Houston Texans, right? Oh, by the way, I should mention this.

You look for traits and you look for things that fit. And the things that fit are he can separate and he's tough. And he could catch the football away from his frame. Then you look for traits. All right, what are the traits? Well, yeah, he didn't run a 40 at the combine because he's not the fastest guy in the world. But I talked about that twitch and the quickness and the body control. He ran a 407 short shuttle match.

You know what that was at the combine? No one talked about it. No one talked about it. Second fastest of all the wide receivers. Then he went and ran the three cone. 6, 7, 8. It was a fourth fastest of all the wide receivers. Those are important drills.

I remember training Daryl Jackson 20-something years ago for the draft. And it was with Travis Taylor, who was late first round pick, New England Patriots. It was with Peter Warwick, number four overall pick, I think it was, two or four, whatever it was with the Cincinnati Bengals. D. Jack was the one who always separated in his routes for the Christmas. And I'm training all those guys, and I'm like, he's got something different. And then he had great three cones and all that stuff, but didn't run a great 40. It wound up falling to the third round of the Seattle Seahawks.

You know who had the best career of all those receivers? Yeah. Jackson, yep. So watch out for Daniel Jackson, a different Jackson, a different D Jack. DeJack, yeah. I didn't even expect to tell that story. It all came together. You're pretty proud of yourself.

I'm very proud. Sometimes the sun, the sun shines. What I found in production, traits in production, 208 catches for Minnesota, third all time in school history. So I look at Tankdale out. obviously they've got Nico Collins, they got Christian Kirk, they've got John Metchie, okay? And they brought in the two rookies. I understand who I love Jaden Higgins and Jalen Knoll from Iowa State. But Jackson could prove himself to be too valuable in camp to cut or maybe like we said,

practice squad, whatever it turns out to be. This is fun, man. I got like the quarterback there too. I mean, maybe I'm being too optimistic with him. but I'll put the little bit of a regression last year on the injuries at receiver. Oh. In the mess of an offensive line. And we'll see if time will tell if I'm right, but I'm still a market.

They were still in the playoffs with an offensive line that they literally had to send like, like you haul trucks to get the bleep out. And with what Nico Collins missed like five games and tank Dell with the devastating ACL, PCL, MCL, and dislocated kneecap. and oh and Stefan Diggs who they brought in. Only played what, eight or nine games. And they still were in the playoffs, man. Okay?

No, that's going to be fun to watch. Just remember everyone. He's at McShay 13 when you want to let him know how much better my team is. You can just Twitter. All right, throw up the graphic. There we go. His team versus mine. I'm sorry.

I mean, fan do it. I don't even think this is close. Sorry. I don't either. I don't either. Yes. The running backs are what killed, we're going to be over the top.

But we'll see. All right. This is fun. It was great. Love you all for joining. Thank you. We're having fun, but like this is good stuff

and it's good stuff to prepare for the season. And then we're going to do it again on Monday. So come back on Monday. We'll do the whole NFC. I hope there are more receivers. I mean, I didn't study it by conference. There's got to be, right? I hope there's more receivers.

There has to be more receivers. I know there's a couple good tight ends. We'll battle through it. I'm excited to do it. But yeah, you know where to find us. And the where is YouTube, Spotify, Apple, or wherever you get your podcast. The when is next Monday. And we look forward to being back with you then.

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