The McShay Show - NFL Combine Recap: The Workout Warriors, Risers, and Lessons from Indy

Episode Date: March 2, 2026

Welcome to The McShay Show! The guys are back from the NFL combine to recap their biggest takeaways from a week in Indy.0:00 Welcome to The McShay Show!1:25 Biggest Post-Combine Takeaways6:55 "I Can't Get Over What Sonny Styles Did."10:55 Evaluating Jeremiyah Love's Draft Stock15:30 Could Ty Simpson Break Into the Top 10?22:50 Biggest Combine Risers35:30 OL Combine StandoutsThe 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, Conor Nevins, and Daniel ComerSocial: Jon Roemer Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The 26 NFL scouting combine is in the books, and I'll be honest. I learned a whole hell of a lot more than I expected to. Just 52 days until the NFL draft. Bench, you good? I'm good, man. All right, roll that beat, tuck. Here we go. You all caught up?

Am I all caught up? I don't know about that. I'm trying to catch up. Get any rest? A little bit. I mean, you weren't feeling great last week. you don't you're hanging in there i'm trying it's i mean i don't know i don't think anyone wants to hear about my chest cold i could i think they can hear it in uh here in you know in the audio i do get a lot

of comments on x about i've got a smoker's cough i don't know what that's about i mean lay off guys don't kick a guy while he's down i mean you fought through i wouldn't say like admirably but you thought through i think it was very admirable i think it was you and i have very different opinions on what admirably is but but you fought through i'm just All right. It's in the books, man. Yesterday was wild. We'll get to the offensive line a little bit.

I've learned a lot this year. I learned this year's group and people, you know, conspiracy theorists are coming out and the track was faster. The electronic times were cooked. You know, they saw that coming. Of course we did. And you know what? Maybe they were slightly faster. But here's the thing I always go to as you read all these conspiracy theories.

If the jumps match up with the times, where's the problem? 100%. This would have to be like some deep state stuff where they like actually matched up the 40s and the broad jumps, which are indicators, typically the 40, I mean the vertical jump more so than the broad, but they would have to have really worked hard to get these times to a point where people were, you know, where it was newsworthy and all that. here's the thing. There were some guys that didn't run well,

and a lot of guys ran well, and a lot of guys didn't run because I don't think that they thought they could put up times. And you know what? If you did run this year at the Combine, you were, you know, you benefited from it. So if I asked you this, Mitch, we spent, what, seven days in Indianapolis,

talked to a lot of people, sat down with six general managers, watched every single workout, had a lot of conversations on the side, watch tape, all that stuff. give me a, I'm not saying it's the number one takeaway. It's the biggest thing for, but give me a takeaway that you walked away from Indianapolis and as you're flying back to the northeast,

that really like kind of dug home for you. I'm not reinventing the wheel here, okay? I know that this is a take that we pretty much have every year, but I think it's really important to go back, especially after sitting down with all these GMs and listening to them talk about their process. And I'm also not trying to be a downer. I love that it was the fastest DB class, the fastest wide receiver class, you know, all these guys are going out there's breaking records.

I love that there's a lot of talent in this class. But interviews at the combine have always been, it will always be more important. And one of the other things I want to try to be as concise about this as possible, so stop me if I get to start to get off the rails is we talked about outliers with GMs, right? So these guys that are, you know, too short of arms or too slow or whatever, I think it's important. important to remember that you want to get the best players that you're going to fit in your building. And I think of a guy like Jeremy Bernard who didn't have the fastest 40 time with all these guys are blazing. But I thought it had just had a great, great combine, to be honest. He ran a 4-4-8. That's great for him. He's not an outlier term. Excellent three cone, right? Right. So he's not a guy that you're looking at

and been like, oh, he just blew up the combine, right? And we've been talking about Jeremy Bernard all year. And he's kind of flying on the radar. Chris Brasel. You see what Chris Brasel did bench? All of these things. just remember what it's about. Remember it's about finding the right guys for your program. And if they check the boxes in terms of these workouts, and we hit on this during the week, sometimes it's not the best thing to be the fastest guy. It's about being the best football player

and about the guy who's going to fit best in the building. So again, not reinventing the wheel, but I want to just make sure we're keeping perspective of what this is. The NFL is not a track meet. It's not what it is. The vast majority of the star wide receivers, if you just go down and look at whether it's this past year

or the past five years in the NFL and the most productive receivers, vast majority of them are like 4-4-3 to 458, honestly. And it would shock you if you went back and looked at the numbers and how many of those guys that might be in the top 20 of your wide receivers in the NFL ran a number that was like a 4-4-8-0-2-558. You know, like I went through the list the other day,

like from D-Hop to Cooper Cup to, like, there's just a lot of, Devante Adams. Like a lot of those guys. We're in the four or fives, man. And there's a common thread with all of them, the JSNs of the world, you know, Devante Adams, Puka, all these guys, when you go back and you talk to their coaches and you talk to people who have been around them, they always talk about how smart they are and how dedicated to the craft they are.

Like it's a common theme. Physical. Every one of those, Cooper Cup, physical, Puka, ultimate physicality. Devante, physical, master of his craft, all those guys. So exciting to see all those numbers, and I love it. And I think there's a lot of depth in this class and there's a lot of talent and all of that stuff. But this was about the interviews. And that's, I think it's important to keep that in mind.

I'm going to go more poignant and just kind of drill in. I think as I was sitting on the plane, right, and you're a couple rows in front of me sitting with Matt Hasselbeck. And I've got, you know, Jeremy Fowler's there and Breer's sitting behind me. And it was kind of a, it was a good group flying from Indy to Boston yesterday. And I'm kind of going through on my phone and reviewing all my notes and typing up some notes for the newsletter, which is out, by the way. Check it out. The McShay report, Google it, subscribe. To me, it was kind of about what are the biggest takeaways?

What did we learn? Who are the guys that actually based off of what they did in indie and not just the 40 time? Like all the workouts plus the interviews and what we're hearing kind of are going to start shooting up boards. And so, yeah, dig in there if you'd like to. it'll be in your inbox if you subscribe. I can't get over Sunny Stiles. I want to rewind a week ago, right? And all the talk was, wait till you see

what Rvel Reese and Sunny Stiles do, right? Very similar. In the 6-4s, in the 240s, they're both going to work out extremely well, and they both did. The two things that I wasn't quite ready for was the level of the workout. for Sunny Stiles combined with the size.

Like, Sunny Stiles was 6.5, man. That five is different than looking at a 604-1 for Arvel Ries. That's different. 244 versus 241. And again, this isn't like necessarily a comp or a knock on anything Rval. Arvel Reese ran a 4-4-6, right? Tied with Sunny Stiles. But it was combining all these things, 43-5-inch vertical.

which is a combined record for the, when you combine the height and the position. Never been seen before. 1.56 was the fastest of the whole group. 4-5-6 was tied for the best with Arvel Reese, as we talked about. 11-2 broad, best in group. And then you start to talk to GMs and personnel directors

and guys who have been meeting with them and guys who have individual scouts on staff. And I actually talked to someone who spent a lot of time in Columbus, too. He's an executive in the league, but was kind of consulting with Ohio State for a while. And he was like, man, he's one of one in this class. And, like, he's in the very, very short list. And some other people are like, he's going to run a company one day. So you combine all those things in a class where we don't have an offensive tackle.

We don't have an edge. We got one quarterback at the top. And we'll talk about the second one. little bit. You don't have those elite players at the premium positions. And I think Sonny, like, it's one thing to be like Jeff, Jeff Caldwell from Cincinnati and to have that kind of workout and to go from maybe sixth to late third, fourth, right? That's a massive jump in terms of his, his like slot in the draft may have like jumped up

the most or one of them in the short list. but style's going from maybe like seven, eight, nine, like somewhere, you know, bottom somewhere five, six to ten

to now it's like, teams are going to have to make a tough call on do we want to draft an off ball linebacker in the top five, but he's so very clearly one of the three best players in this draft. That to me was the standout. So, Dan, don't get mad at me.

Do you want to share with what you said in the newsletter about where you think he could go where the starting point for sunny styles is now what when mendoza's you want to keep you want to keep that little nugget let's just have this conversation um because it caught my eye what caught your eye go ahead and say it that you think did he go as high as two to the jets is that right i i did and i i i wouldn't say it's a probability but i honestly think it's a possibility. I think he forced the Jets hand and maybe Arizona's hands, maybe Tennessee, maybe the Giants

to look and say, are we going to pass on a generational talent who is an instant leader, you know, a character of this team for a guy that's an edge rusher who's really, really good in David Bailey or even an Rvel Reese or that's about it, to be honest with you. You're not drafting a short arm of Rubin Bain

as great as he is at number two overall when you have Bailey. Here's the other thing, and not for the Jets. I talked a lot this past week because I'm just sharing conversations I'm having with decision makers in the league. All of us, you walk away from this combine, and part of it's just the conversations that are being had, but it's also watching Jeremiah Love run, what, a 4-3-6? Yeah. And honestly, you want to know what? It was more important the way he's running routes, catching the ball.

And you know what I mean? Yeah. I think the market for Jeremiah Love starts at three with Arizona. I'm back on that. Remember my first mock draft? Yeah. Arizona. We're like, that feels, it feels achy.

I'm back on that. And I think four in Tennessee is like, think about dayball. Think about what, you know, Camp Scataboo a year ago. He pushed for two players in that draft and got him. Yep. couldn't get Cam Ward. They tried. And then it was Scataboo and Jackson,

Dart and reverse order. So, and then at five with the Giants, Scataboo's coming off an injury. He's not going to be a guy who can carry the load for you every single year like that. It's just, it's not possible the way he runs. So I don't, Jeremiah loves not getting out of the top five, okay?

And I think he's the best player in this draft. I think then it goes to Sunny style. and Caleb Downs, to be honest with you, as the next two best players in this draft. And Caleb Downs has, it would feel a lot better if Caleb Downs had the length and the workout numbers that we just saw from Sunny Stiles. I think Caleb Downs is probably still in that six to ten range.

But most teams I talk to consider him one of the three, four best players in this entire draft class. So those are the fascinating conversations with me that for me, And when I'm talking to guys in the league, the two players I just truly don't think are going to get out of the top five, despite the positions they play, are Jeremiah Love and Sunny Stiles.

That's the biggest takeaway walking away from this draft, is that those guys are just so different and the workout numbers and what you see from them and the interviews as teams are starting to really get to know and drill down. They're so different that it's like, yeah, I wish I didn't have to draft a running back or an off-ball linebacker here,

but I don't care because their grades just stand out as much higher level or like a noticeably higher level than just a lot of those other guys who are really good players, but they're not considered blues, as NFL teams would call them, you know? So wasn't it like the old Giddings report? Is that where that started? Yeah, yeah.

I think that's right. I haven't heard that forever. Since like 2005 is part of the last time they came out of my mouth. but there was an old Giddings report, not to some, there was like a national scouting and Bresto scouting for the college guys, and the Gittings report would color code

players based off of, off of like what tier they are, you know, and the blues were the elites, the blue chips, you know? And then it would be like reds and yellows, and I'm going to go look up the old thing. But yeah, so, so you want a roster full of blues and reds,

but you take blues over reds. And I'm telling you right now, Jeremiah Love by any account and measurement, Jeremiah Love and Sunny Stiles are blues. Right. So despite the lack of length and everything you're looking for and we'll see what the workout numbers are, Caleb Downs is a blue football player. I hear you. I don't disagree with any of that.

Yeah, the top of the board is going to be fascinating, right? Yeah. Yeah. I mean, like, and also, I will say one thing. It doesn't feel icky to put love at third. And I know, like, I'm not trying to nitpick here, but it's not icky. I'm fine with it because of all these points you've made. It's just rare and unusual so it feels uncomfortable, right?

It's like, I'm not really doing this because I would never do this. And I think it's even more uncomfortable because Ashton Genty, God, I love Ashton Jenty. God, I love Ashton Jenty. And we saw what could happen when you take a running back and you're not in a position to kind of support him. So, but here's the thing. We do this. We do this all the time. We have this instant analysis.

If Ashton Jente is an all pro running back in two years, who cares? Like, you know, like we want to do this thing where, well, they shouldn't have taken them because it didn't work out his rookie year and it doesn't look good now. We'll see how this plays out. Remember in my last mock draft shifting gears here? And I wasn't planning on doing this, but I don't know. Who cares? My last mock draft, when the first line after I put Ty Simpson to the Rams at 13 was wait for it. Yep.

I'm getting dressed in my, in my bedroom 30 minutes ago. Oh, who's sitting in and I'm literally, I was clothes, so don't have a, don't have a bad mental picture. Uh, brushing my teeth. I get one of those electrical ones, right? Oh, yeah. So I put the toothpaste on, rinse and get, you know, get some water on the top of the toothpaste, getting ready to insert in mouth and press the button. And mine's loud. I feel like it's gotten louder, or it might be time to get a new one.

You got to change the heads, yeah. But I hear, all of a sudden I hear out of the, because I'm in the bathroom and I hear in the bedroom, it's Ty Simpson. I pressed the button. I was like, what are they saying? So I watch it, it's get up, right? It's Orlovsky, it's Tannenbaum, obviously greeny.

I feel like there's someone else in the set, but it might have just been the three of them. Anyway, so I'm standing there now with toothpaste in my mouth. It's not buzzing. It's just sitting there. and I'm listening for about two minutes. And it started in on, I think it was Orlovsky talking about how great he threw and then just talking about the tape he watched.

But then the conversation pivots to how early is too early. You know where we are now? Yeah, we're right where you said he was in a young one. Yeah. No, no, we've. Oh, no, no, they did go up, right? Six to Cleveland is where they think it's true. Yeah, yeah, yes, yes, yes.

It's the starting point. Yeah. I do love it. Yeah. I love if anyone's watching on Netflix or Spotify. Oh, look at that. The fireworks. Yes.

What do you want? I'm trying to figure out what else I can do. I mean, I don't know. I don't know. I can't. The possibilities are endless. Okay. Any reaction to that?

Any reaction? I hate that you're right again, but I'm not surprised. I mean, that's not why I'm doing this. No, no, no. I'm just telling you. I know you're not doing it for that reason, but I don't like it. I still cannot like the fact that you're right again, but it's also not surprising

because obviously people like the way he threw the other day. He's healthier now. We know more than we did when the wheels were coming off at the end of the year. None of that's surprising. He's a really good player when you add positional value, teams that need a quarterback, the fact he's healthier now

that he had a good workout out of the combine, it does not surprise me that this is happening. It won't surprise me either if a quarterback three starts sneaking into that, late first, early second round range conversation, even though I don't think it should happen, it won't surprise me if it does. That would surprise me.

I think the gap, here's what I think. I don't think there's as massive a gap, and I've said this from the beginning, and there's some people in the league that agree with me. Some don't. If you put 35 starts next to Ty Simpson's name, and he had the same quality of Tate, where there were a few games at the end of the year,

I think honestly we'd have a conversation. I think there would be a legitimate debate between the two. Between him and Mendoza? Absolutely. Absolutely not. Absolutely not. You can't have the year the Mendoza had to say that we're just going to have that debate. You can't do what Mendoza is.

I can and I will. I honestly got through nine games. Through nine games, Ty Simpson is a better quarterback. Not true. I've heard you say this before. You know what? This is my fault for nine. I'm pushing back.

Have you gone and watched the first eight, nine games of Mendoza? Of course I have. Of course I have. It's actually underwhelming. Okay. It's underwhelming. You and I both know what it is, and that's okay. He has flaws.

I don't think underwhelming in saying that his person has flaws is the same thing. It's underwhelming for a player that we're just absolutely, everyone, like, yep, number one overall pick. The draft starts at two. We don't even need to talk about Mendoza anymore. We'll do some highlight packages and feature them in a couple things, but he's the number one overall pick. I'm telling you through nine games of the season,

if you just watch those tapes and know nothing else, Ty Simpsons is better. It's a fact, man. We're just, we're going to throw out Florida State, or are we not throwing out Florida State? Florida State wasn't as bad as people want to say. Go back and watch that tape. Watch the Jeremy on the left rail.

Would you call it underwhelming? I'll tell you what. it was better than Iowa. It was better than Oregon. I promise you. Go back. Wow. As you're nursing,

your head cold, go back and watch. Watch Florida State and then watch Iowa and watch Oregon. Okay. The difference is Mendoza had moments that were unbelievable and the toughness. Like, this is going to get clip. Isn't that what it's about?

Part of it, yeah. But so did Ty. My point is, from that point on, as his team was flourishing and getting better each and every week, the defense is awesome. You get Hemby and Black running the rock. He's throwing the ball 21, 23, 25 times a game. Simpson, protection starts to fail. No 126 ranked run game. These are all facts.

This is a, it's like if, it's like if two of his wide. receivers. Now, fine, it's one of his, if his star wide receiver, Surrott or Omar Cooper, just can't catch the ball anymore and disappears. And then what we, when you said something, it's important to give context because not everyone's following this as madly as we are. The new information was, and I knew about some injuries, I knew the Rose Bowl with the rib, I knew he didn't throw. He wanted to play in the senior bowl. He couldn't because the rib injury wasn't even cleared to throw until after the senior ball. What we didn't know was the gastritis because of all the beef.

he took. He was down to 190 pounds by the time they got to the Rose Bowl. So I'm just telling you, but it's scary to draft a quarterback who's 6-1 struggle to stay healthy in his one year as a starter and has 15 starts. I'm not saying even I would do that, okay, especially given Cleveland's offensive line and lack of weapons. I actually don't think, I, that I'll be really upset for Tyson. and his future if he winds up in Cleveland. But I think what the part that I like is that some smart people are starting to put the pieces together like we have for a long time and probably, not probably, me on the forefront of this.

And recognizing that the gap between Mendoza and Simpson is not as great as the public seems to think it is. The gap between Simpson and next is pretty significant. We're going to leave this for now. We got a rule. We got a, like, we got a pack-load. Lazzang sur-gillet, Pucance-Moyerned for 15 minutes. We're going to dojo.

Vive the pleasure with Leo Joe. The casino in line that proposes the more recent machine-assau and the games of casino in direct. Profite of 50 tours on Big Bas Bonanza, without exigance of mischief, and with the payment instantane.

Hey, I've gained. Woo-hoo! Sentire the pleasure. Play-O-Jo. 18-8-year-depos onlyment, exclude in Ontario. 50 tours gratuys on the machine-ass-soubeck-bas-Bonanza. Depos minimum of $10. Veye to be able to fashion responsible.

The conditions apply. Some follow the noise. Bloomberg follows the money. Because behind every headline is a bottom line. Whether it's the funds-fueling AI or crypto's trillion-dollar swings, there's a money-side to every story. And when you see the money-side, you understand what others miss. Get the money-side of the story.

Subscribe now at Bloomberg.com. RBC Training Ground has discovered potential in over 20,000 Canadian athletes and counting. Your story could be next. If you've got the drive, they'll help you find your path to the Olympics. Let's see what you've got. Sign up for free at rbc training ground.ca.

I want three guys. I hate that a camera's spot, but here we go. Three guys. Yep. Who call it risers, guys that really stood out that you think are like, and it's not like, oh, this guy ran fast and all this, so he's rising up the board.

It's like after watching them as an evaluator and actually knowing the correct context to put this in and maybe some of the interviews and all the things, the field workouts, everything. Who are three guys that left Indy where you're like, man, they showed me more or they NFL teams now get a sense of how good this guy, whatever it is, give me three guys.

I'll give you three guys. You want to go back and forth? Yeah. I hate this game, by the way, because I don't want to overvalue what some guy did in one day of workouts and all that stuff. But I will say this. So, you know, these are guys that I think are rising coming out of Indy. And one of them is Arkansas quarterback, Taylor Green, who ran really fast. He ran a four, three, six, 40. Dude, I think that just matters. I'm sorry when you're six foot six and you have big hands, nine seven eight his hands and you're 227 pounds and you run.

Yes, thumbs up, buddy. When you run that speed at that size after, and I want to put this in the thing, I thought he had a little bit of an uneven throwing performance. I'm going to admit that. He did, he did. And then, but also after like what we saw at the con, we saw at the senior bowl when we're both sitting there and saying,

there's a little more to this kid than we thought. Like, well, it's not get, you know, we're not out of control. We're not saying that, you know, he's farther along the process that he really is. But both of us walked away from the senior bowl thinking, that guy could do some things. He got a little bit better over the course of the week, you know? And immediately it's going to be hard not to compare him to Jalen Milrow. I like his tape better than Jalen Milrose.

I thought he had a much better week at the senior bowl than Jalen Milro. I think when you add all these things up and then he goes out and competes and runs like that and backs it all up in the way he did, I think I think he's on his way up. I think Taylor & Green, we mentioned this on the show the other day. I think he solidified himself as a top. hunter pick. I actually agree. And I think the quarterback position at the combine is about the most useless thing in

the world outside of some of the intangible stuff that you can't see on, on the workouts on NFL network. Right. But for his style developmental player to go post those numbers, it's eye-opening. All right. It's like you would say, if you're going to be a little underdeveloped, and I'm sorry, I know we don't have a lot of time. And you've got to be a little underdeveloped.

You've got to have that special power to kind of get out of things, create, and buy yourself time to do it. has. And he absolutely does. At a more extreme level than probably we even realize, and we've seen all his tape, and he's just flat out awesome with the ball in his hands. Dylan Thineman. There was, and there probably still is a big debate at the top in terms of who's next up at safety. Dylan Thineman from Oregon competing with EMW, Emmanuel McNeil Warren.

I've gotten too lazy now with the EMW. Yeah, no, I just know EMW. I panic. I was like, I don't know what's name. I did find it interesting on the Combine list. It was just Emmanuel McNeil. But anyway, EMW had a solid workout. Nothing was like, nothing was massive red flag or anything like that.

But Dylan Thineman did things that were just sensational. He checks in at six foot, just over six foot, just over 200 pounds. He runs a 435, which is the fourth fast, which is wild, but it's absolutely elite, obviously. You just don't have a lot of safeties, six foot, over 200 pounds that run a 435, and they're physical players like he is, right? Then you get the vertical jump of 41 inches, second best of the group. Then you get the broad jump of 10.5.

And most importantly, talking to guys in the league, his interviews, as people are starting to drill down and get to know him, you want him to be that captain. The green dots are always going to be linebackers, but the safety has got to be the green dot, and he's got to kind of for the secondary, right? And even though they don't have a green dot with the communications from the NFL, I understand. But they've got to be that leader in the secondary.

And to know that that guys has dialed in on football and to see his versatility on tape and to see those numbers with what we see on tape is pretty damn special. And I think if nothing else, he has created for some teams, because EMW is 6.3 and a half. He's this long, you know, like they've created a kind of a, he's created, Theoneman, a little bit of a debate on, yeah, but look at these numbers and look at the interviews. And so, and I thought it was, I'll give you some behind the scenes on EMW.

Not a big, not a big vocal guy, apparently. But the second you put him on the board or put on some tape, he just blows you away with this football intelligence. So that was interesting to hear a little nugget as well. I thought the Niman was a big winner from this past week. Who do you get next? Don't give me a chance to do it, McShea. Don't you know what's coming. I'm going to be hammering this nail all draft season, okay?

There are a lot of corners that performed well. Dalyne Ever, Georgia. How about that, 438? That's great for him. I thought Chandler Rivers had a Duke had a nice day for a smaller corner, right? Did. Ticario Davis from Arizona is a human teradactyl and ran a 4-4-1. I mean, he, awesome.

Chris Johnson, San Diego State. Here we go. we were worried about the speed, no problem, 4-4. He had a 154 split, I believe. He's 6 foot. He's 193 pounds. He's got big hands. 38-inch vertical, 10-foot-6 broad, all just good numbers.

All solid numbers. A guy that, again, we went down to the Senior Bowl, thought he had an uneven week, didn't have the week that I really wanted to have. Now you're matching the tape. Now you're matching the production. Now you're matching this workout. Now you're hearing things about how smart he is from AIQ and Scottie Goldman. All of these things are starting to stack in this player that I really, loved his tape, man, I just think he's, you know, after maybe a little bit of a bumpy start

to the off season, he's going back in the right direction. I'm excited for him. I'll transition to tight end, okay? And I loved Chris Johnson's workout. And I thought his on-field stuff was just brilliant. Comfortable and smooth and balanced. Sorry. Eli Stowers, Eli Stowers did something that we knew he was going to work out well. But what he did on that, on that turf, you come in and you know Kenyon Sadiq is going to be tight end one, and you're kind of battling with Max Clare and some other tight ends. It's not just with them to be tight end too, but it's like, show me the worthiness of being a second round pick.

And I loved how the day earlier you get Stiles going up against Reese. And one's last name starts with an R, the other with an S. And so when Reese runs, then Stiles gets to go and run something faster. or jumps, they could jump higher, you know, the competition within. How about a tight end? You got Sadeek, S.A. versus Stowers, ST. They're like, I think there's, what you said, there's poor, Bower Sharp, Bauer Sharp.

Who's a good player? Yeah, but four Sharpie. Yeah. Sandwich between those two. Yeah, that's not good. And Sadiq had an awesome workout. 439, fastest tight end 40 ever at the combine. Like, since say, all those people are saying that I'm wrong on that, that, that maybe it might be the second.

But it blew the doors off at the 439. 43.5 inch vertical for Sadiq, 11 foot broad. But Eli Stowers comes in at almost 6'4, almost 240 pounds, which was a little bit bigger, honestly, than I thought. And with 30, almost 33, 32 and 5 eighths of an inch arm like. like pretty solid for an F tight end, right? And I told you a lot of teams are looking at him like is an F tight end slash maybe like slot receiver. He comes in and he goes 45 and a half inch vertical.

Combine record for tight end. Combine record for tight ends was the highest of any player since 2006. Okay? Vernon Davis was the one. What did Vernon Davis run? I didn't know he ran faster than that. I told you it was the two combined workers I remember. but they're engraved in my head was Vernon Davis at tight end.

He was like the underarmor. He like rolled out under armor at that point. And Megatron, right, Calvin Johnson. Yeah, that was. So anyway, so Stowers 45 and a half inch vertical combine record for a tight end, highest any player since 2006. 113 broad jump, which was the best of the tight ends. And he runs a 451, which.

is out, it's not 439. I get it, but it's outstanding for a tight end. I think, and former quarterback understands, like, spatial awareness. We talked to Scott Goldman from AIQ, and he's one of the four players he wanted to highlight because, like, between the ears. And Scott Goldman got it right with Tet McMillan, right? And I wish I had talked to Scott before last year's draft. They've gotten right with so many players that are kind of mid-round guys

that all of a sudden wind up producing like a first round. So Stowers is a player that I think went from in a pack, those other guys at tight end to absolutely tight end too. And teams are really intrigued with the chess piece that he can become. Or who do you get next? Malachi Lawrence from UCF, my guy going in, but then he shows up. He's six pounds heavier than he was at the East West game. He's 247 shows up at Indies. He's 253, 33 and 5 eighth inch arms, six foot four frame.

I think he could still bulk up a little bit. guy runs a 452 with a 159 split. And he closes well on tape. Don't get me wrong. I didn't know he closed that well. I mean, that was another level for me. And then a 40-inch vertical at 253 pounds and a 10-foot-10 broad jump. I thought he looked good on the field.

The thing I would tell you about this kid, too, you can throw out all these traits and the production and all that. The first thing I wrote in my report about him, motor. Motor. This kid gets after it. So, I mean, as much you like all that physical ability, the way he chases is impressive. All right.

Last one for me, Jeff Caldwell, I mentioned his name earlier. And you can see the list here. I've got Thiena Menstowers and Jeff Caldwell. Mention's guys are Tailing Green, Chris Johnson, Malachi Lawrence, guys that just absolutely improved their stock and are forcing some teams to go back and look at them. And I think in the case of Malachi Lawrence and Jeff Caldwell.

And for those other guys, we're talking about how do they fit what we want to do, but we now know what the traits are and they're pretty sensational. But for Caldwell specifically, 605, 3, he's over 6'5. He's 216 pounds, man. He's got almost 33-inch arms. Rare, rare height, weight, speed combination. There's just not many guys at that size that run a 4-3-140.

And so you look at, and, oh, by the way, the 10-yard split was one-four-eight, like elite, absolutely insane for his size. Then the vertical is tied for the second of all the wide receivers. You're telling me now I've got this long-arm six-foot-five-plus receiver that can jump 42 inches in the air and 11-foot-two broad, that lower-body explosion, I've got to go and dig into his tape. But if you're talking about measurables and someone who, like,

I don't know that anyone put on a bigger show. And we saw Stiles and Sadiq and Stowers and Malachi Lawrence, Tailing Green. We saw a ton of record-breaking, sensational height, weight, speed, broad, vertical combinations. It was a wild combine. I don't know that anyone put up the same combination of measurements and results that Jeff Caldwell from Cincinnati did.

So now it's like, all right, drilling back into the tape, is this guy potentially top 100? Because there's so much more potential there than maybe we saw in college. But there's a lot of work to be done on Caldwell, and that's exciting. I immediately think Alec Pierce, by the way. I just, I mean, because you think of Cincinnati receivers and go up and get who could run, like, and look what Alec Pierce has turned in for the Colts. I'm not saying that's a good comp yet.

I don't know, but I immediately thought of Alec Pierce. I think it's just priceless. and so perfect for this show that I'm going to give you one minute to recap the entire offensive line yesterday. Go ahead. I got, I'm in a bad spot right now, man. You are. There's going to be, there's going to be a lot of adjusting. I think the interior offensive lines probably better.

There's some guys that are projections. I don't even know, I did not know you were going to do this to me in my mind. Because the tape is telling you one. The arms are short. We have outliers. We have the. tapes is where do you want to start? I'm going to get into a couple of guys in a minute, but there's outliers now. We'll start with Fano, who with the short arm length. The tape is

amazing. The agility is amazing. But then you have this other issue. There's some up and down tape. There's some guys that people love that I don't love, but I also know they're going to go. I find this interesting and I want to dig in. I saw some people in X talking about how there's going to be, I think you said in the newsletter too. There's going to be a run on offensive of lineman and their offense, they're 100% will be because teams need them and they're tough to find big men that move like that. I don't know if I love this group.

And I loved it at one point and now I don't know if I love it. And there's some, like, just a lot of stuff going on. The interior I like. I mean, Logan Jones didn't have the insane 10-yard split that I thought he might have the center from Iowa, but he had a good workout. Georgia Tech Guard.

Keelan Rutledge had a really nice workout. There's some guys on the inside. Keelan Rutledge is one of the all-time pricks, right? Like so bad. Yeah, I mean, he would, yeah, they had to tell him, chill out. So good slash bad that his own offensive linemen were like really disgusted by him and yelling at him at the senior bowl, okay? Yeah. But if contained and channeled, it's a really good trait because he's a glass eating SOB, man.

But he, his, when you say worked out well, his short shuttle. So 40-yard dash for high draft picks, first, second round guys, believe it or not, better than the more, more. correlation than the 10, the short shuttle, the jumps. The biggest correlation for early round draft picks at offensive tackle is the 40-yard dash, okay? I don't believe it. I know it's true. I still can't believe that it's true. I know. But for the interior guys, it's the short shuttle. And I've got all sorts of data over the, over 25 years, right? Guys that run really well in the short shuttle. So with Rutledge at 6-4, 316 pounds, long arms for a guard 33 plus, when he ran a four-four, four, four,

and his short shuttle, that's exceptional. Okay? So it shows the body control, think poles and traps and all that, okay? So Rutledge was a big winner. Here's the thing with Fano, man. If you're playing him at center, you're looking at those numbers and you're like,

wait, this could be like Linderbaum, who was one of my favorite players ever. I don't know that he's definitively going to move a monster center, but it doesn't prevent him. But the thing with Fano was he came out and he ran a really good 40-yard dash, right? You know, 4-9-1. It was a best in class or second,

it was right up there near the top. That's exactly, anything sub-five you're thrilled with. The short arms, though, were 32 and an eighth, right? Yeah. 32-1, he's just over 32. Like, that's an interior guy all day long. No, it's not. Unless he can, unless he can, he's going to get drafted as a tackle.

I'm not saying there is, and he took snaps as a center yesterday, and they're clearly like, it's a fallback plan. And so if he becomes a Linderbom, then like, at least he's not busting out at tackle and there's nothing else you can get for it, you know? Right. Right. Yeah. So there's that with Fano, but it just goes to show when we go back to the very first conversation of there's this elite class and none of them are the positions you, want them to be if Jeremiah love and it's very true styles and downs and so there's a bunch of

really good tackles. Maui know it didn't work out yesterday from Miami. Big, big guy, physical guy. He'll work out at March 23rd. I think it is Miami's Pro Day. Fano is the short arms, but he's so athletic and like the personality and the interviews. He's awesome, right? But the story.

Really talented but raw. Like there's all these guys. Yeah, but he was the story yesterday, if we're going to be honest. That's fine. And we knew he was. going to me. And I tried to warn you. I don't know why you needed to warn me. I knew it was going to be the case. But there's

going to be a lot of momentum for him as OT1 is what I tried to warn you of. And I kind of prefer Maui Noah because I know he's going to start at right tackle. I don't care about the shorter arms. I think he's going to be a dog. Fano I think is going to be a great center, but it's going to be a struggle with tackle, but I think

he can still do it. Freeling's not ready. What 18 starts, as you mentioned. But my gosh, man, when you talk about what you're looking for, he worked out at 6-7 and 3-8s, 315 pounds. He and Blake Miller are the only ones with the arm length of over that 34 threshold, and he was closer to 35 than 34, at 34 and 3 quarters. He had a 33-5 inch vertical, which is exceptional.

I think it was best in class for the offensive tackles. I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure it was. 9-7 broad, outstanding. And he ran a 4-9-3 at 6-7 plus 315. pounds. Yep. So it's trades versus experience and tape, you know? He's got some really good tape, too, by the way. Like, I just want to be clear about that.

Like, there's times of the feeling looks freaking amazing on tape. And then there's a lot of the low light. So I really like him. I just don't think there's that guy that's clear. The best offensive lineman, and again, it goes back to the theme. The best offensive lineman is Penn State Offensive Guard, Venga, Iowone, from, yeah, he's the guard. The Guard is the best offensive line. in this class.

All right. He is. No question. We got to run. Really quickly. Lucidecki. Tampa Bay. Right tackle.

32 and a quarter inch arms. Just signed a four year 90 million dollar deal. I said, I said, okay, I think we covered it. And I agree with you. I think he's going to be a starting tackle and probably a really good one. But there is a backup plan with Fano. And I think we started to see that start to happen on Sunday at the Combine. We got to run.

We got a lot of responsibilities today. Everyone wants to talk to Combine and wrap it up. and that's a great thing. Wednesday, we're back, or Thursday. The show will come out. Thursday morning, we're back. Top 100 is going to release later this week. My gosh, I'm kind of worried about sitting down and doing that

because there's a lot to sort through. But that's excited. Top 100 later this week. And the Big Shea report is out now. If you want to get even more, just don't really deep into this. It's a good one. Check it out. You have.

You fought through hard today. I appreciate that. And for that, I gave you five stars. Thanks, man. Must be 21 plus and present in Selects. States for Kansas in affiliation with Kansas Star Casino or 18 plus and present in D.C., Kentucky or Wyoming. Gambling problem? Call 1-800 gambler or 1-800-mine-800-7-7-77-7. Or visit cc pgg pg.org slash chat in Connecticut. Or visit MD gamblinghelp.org in Maryland. Hope is here. Visit

gambling helplinema.org or call 1-800-327-50-50 for 24-7 support in Massachusetts, or call 1877-8-8-Hope-N-Y or text Hope NY in New York. For Louisiana, call 1877-7-7-7-8-67.