The McShay Show - What We Got Wrong About the 2026 NFL Draft

Episode Date: May 11, 2026

Welcome back to The McShay Show! Today, the guys are self-scouting their prospect evaluations and pre-draft predictions, beginning with a behind-the-scenes look at what happened with Todd's Jets intel on Arvell Reese and David Bailey. 0:00 Welcome to The McShay Show!0:45 What we got wrong about the 2026 draft12:45 The Ty Simpson market18:20 Derrick Moore vs. Zion Young23:35 Too low on Malachi Lawrence27:05 Drew Allar's potential development34:10 Jadarian Price as a first rounder38:20 Prospects that fell to the fourth round44:10 Chase Bisontis rising to the second round46:05 Coming up on The McShay Show The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please visit https://fanduel.com/playwithaplan to learn more about the resources and helplines. Host: Todd McShayGuest: Steve MuenchProducers: Tucker Tashjian, Conor Nevins, and Daniel ComerSocial: Abou Kamara Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It comes as no surprise that this is the most viewed show that we do outside of draft week. What we got wrong in the 26 NFL draft. Self-scouting's, uh, it's helpful, but it's painful sometimes. Only 353 days until the 27 NFL draft. Good, Mitch? I'm doing way better, man. Roll that thing, tuck. Today shows about picking ourselves apart, you know?

It's not fun, but good. the audience loves it. I mean, honestly, one of the least surprising things when we went down and did an audit of last year's shows, what were the most viewed shows? What was absorbed the most by our audience? And this was very near the top of all the shows that weren't like the 10 days leading up to the draft.

And today's... We need to squeeze one of these in. We got to figure out how to do this after the rookie season, though. It feels a little early for this. I think it's good. I think it's good. We could check ourselves now. Let's check back in, you know, January and say, this is really where we were off.

Good. We will revisit this. And I'm cool with that. But I also think the premise today, let's just lay out the premise. The premise is, all right, we have a board. We gave grades to all these players. And at the end of the day, it's not where the NFL viewed them is essentially our premise. right? Yeah. I want to start with this though because it's not, you know, most of these guys

it would be like, well, we had, we had them ranked 15 and they went 45 or, you know, one of my, I wouldn't call it a regret, one of my learning moments from this draft. And I've told you, all the way back to the very beginning, like to Marcus Russell, I got kind of bad information from people around that building. And I've worked very hard to make sure I'm secure with my, my, with my sources, if you will, in my relationships in Baton Rouge, and they've been fruitful in many years, even back to last fall with the Brian Kelly stuff. But sometimes you, it's interesting because you start, we're starting today, actually, today's Monday.

We're starting today on evaluations for next year. You and I are going to get off of the show and we're going to lay out our schedule and go through evaluation. So this is all year long we're doing evaluations and it's what we see and are, you know, leaning on our experience. you get closer to the draft and there's some medical stuff and there's some character stuff that you try to like get a feel of is it going to help or hurt player stocks, right? But then there's like two week period leading up to the draft happens and everyone becomes,

you know, becomes Peter Schrager and becomes Adam Schaefters and Albert Breer, you know. And so that part is, I mean, we have these resources and we have these relationships we've built over so long. But when you have a new general manager, like the Jets, right? And I know he's not brand new. This is his second draft. But Darren Mugi is relatively new to this. And you have the first pick that has been locked in for over a month, right? And obviously the Raiders were taking Fernando Mendoza.

So it became, all right, who's going number two? And my instinct, my experience of all that was this information is getting out. but my sort and I'm going to just lay this out but it's not even a regret it was fun it was exciting and it took us on twists and turns but the thing that people were kind of banging on me the most for about 48 hours is when I was like wait I'm actually hearing now it's arval rice and we were kind of first to market on david bailey and the why on david bailey and he's a proven pass rusher and all that and I remember even turning to you after those conversations that had the weekend before the draft and being like

It may not make sense to us, but the thinking that I'm hearing from Mugi in the building is that Rvel Reese is actually the safer pick for them. And Reese winds up falling to five. And you're looking at me and you're like, I don't agree with that. And I don't care what you agree with. I don't actually agree with it either because we always talked about bird in hand with David Bailey. He's the proven pass rusher, right? And I've got to be really careful here. this is the part that's tricky because if I give any background or mention anything having to do with this source or that source, it will blow this whole thing up.

And I will lose that. So I'm going to be very careful here. But let me leave this for those people who are. And then people are like, oh, McShay, he's trying to change the lines because Fandual sponsors this. Like, stop. And I yelled at people about it draft week. Like, people come to me, our folks come to me. We have an unbelievable partnership with Fanduel.

They're all, they, they are the reason we're able to put up the website that we're going to grow into the best database that's not in the NFL. Like, our, I love our partnership with them. But at the end of the day, someone in our group brings me some lines, like, hey, what stands out? Put out a post, you know, that's our partnership. And so I do that. And so some things that jump out.

And by the way, by the way. you know, I talked to a couple people like, plus 1,400 on Ty Simpson going 13 to the ramps for some people, and they made a lot of money. David Bailey, we were on that real early when it was like plus 460 or plus 600, okay? But I'm not, I don't know. So the mistake I made was, and it's not a new source, but it's a source I've never leaned on this heavily, because there is a relationship, okay? I'll leave it at that.

came to me and said, you know, I talked to, and I'm not going to say any names, I talked to, and I can't say definitively, but I've got a heavy lean. I'm feeling a heavy lean towards Reese. You might want to reevaluate that. Well, then on Tuesday, I talked to another person in our industry. This is where it gets messed up, and this part I will share. I talk to another person in our, who does something similar to us. They said they spoke to the same exact source I did.

And that source told them David Bailey. For the same reasons that said source told me it was Arvel Reese. And that's when the flags went off. So then I talked to people that I've leaned on forever and more football stuff, not like, hey, who's this team pick? Just football guys that have come to, you know, develop relationships over the years. And it was like, hey, I had the one conversation, I think you remember this.

Hey, nobody knows. So if someone's telling you that they know, they don't know. And that's when I, like the alarm bells went off. I'm like, I'm going back to Bailey. Because the information we got back then was information when they were making that decision. And we also had the Bailey canceling the visit and all that. So, well, today's show is in a, go ahead. Hold on.

You open the door here now, and I'm, and now I'm intrigued. And I kind of shut it down if you need to shut it down, right? This is like in the Spycraft area of what you do. How do you approach that source that source going forward now? How do you, is that a source? Yeah, how do you, how do you handle that? I mean, I'm sure this isn't the first time it's happened. I called the source out initially to the, to over the phone.

I mean, not to their face, but right. directly to them. Correct. Correct. Okay. And how did that go? No, it must have been a misunderstanding. Interesting.

Okay. Okay, thank you. But you can't go back to that source now, is what I'm saying, right? Like, is that a source that you're- But that source also had a, it's part of this game, not game, but part of this, what did you call it, Spy? Spycraft. Spycraft.

Is learning what, because I also got a lot. lot of good information. We traded like information that helped you know both sides and that's typically how this goes got a lot of good information about other things that led to some some things that we were all over. They weren't definitive on that but like pieces of puzzles to get the picture, you know. Right. So you learn you learn what you learn two things. You learn what kind of information to lean on. Yeah. Certain people right. Like certain people know. certain organizations or have relationships. So like you kind of get a sense, right, of why I really trust that and versus like, yeah, okay, that's something I need to, you know, flush out, right?

But then the second part of it is there will always be in the conversations moving forward. There will always be, I better double and triple check that before I even like bring it up, you know, as a, hmm, this is interesting, you know? So live and learn. And I don't, like, I would, listen, there are things I have regrets on. There are things that I view as mistakes. This to me was like, this was fun and it was wild. And it was like, and so you learn from it. And I know exactly how I'm going to utilize it moving forward.

But it was wild, you know? And then the accusations on top of it added to it where I was like, whoa, whoa, whoa, you know. But I felt like if we were going to do this show today, let's let's start up with the, the, thing that probably for about 48 hours became this like ground swell of of and i had executives for my former employment texting me how strong are you on this you know and i'm like i don't know yet i don't know yet but it's what i'm hearing and then i had to circle back and be like now it's i'm back to bailey so it's just interesting it is very interesting that would i would not be able to handle it as maturely as you would i would burn that bridge that person would

ever here for me again. 35-year-old. I'm a loyal-year-old. I am too, but I'm a loyalty guy with those that I have developed loyalty with. Not, you know, and I haven't.

So it was my mistake to trust it. I got you. There were so, there were, here's the thing. Here's the thing that we all learned in this process. And even in the, in the, in the breeze hall like no one knew about that going and then all of a sudden it's like oh he's signed

to an extension you know like the jets are just going to and so now we all know definitively because it was one thing last year were they picking it like seven it was one thing last year and I was wrong on that but I also didn't have this source and so I got the sense like this this jet's thing's going to be a struggle

you know and and honestly good on that that's an awesome thing. And it's different. So if you're Jets fans, you love this. Like they had the first overall pick essentially in this draft from an information standpoint. And they still were like, go fuck yourself. You know?

They were. Amazing. Yeah. And I think that's great. And it makes it. It is great. And you know what's great. Set the tone.

They get set the tone. It's. And it's more. More about the principle of this building is a vault. And now they get three picks in the first round next year. And they're going to be quarterback. So that's going to make it even more fascinating. When you got all these different quarterbacks

and they may be leaking out little tidbits here and there of, no, we like Dante more than we like Arch, more than we like Carr, more than we like that. You know, so that's going to be fun too. I'm here for it. I love the game. I love it. All right, why don't you kick things off?

I just want to get that off my chest. Well, I'm not going to ignore the elephant in the room. And it's very obvious to anyone who follows our show that we don't agree on everything and you are really proud of yourself about the Ty Simpson pick. I'm not as high. I obviously wasn't as high. So let's start there. That's, I think, a good jumping off point for me because you were right about the market, man.

You were right about where he was going to go. So good on you. I guess what I'm underestimating and what I have on. underestimated is this kid is so smart and so accurate and so just damn good when he's right, when he's healthy, that the starts don't matter, that the lack of elite mobility don't matter. The lack of any elite natural skill doesn't matter as much as this kid's ability to decipher defenses, get the ball out quickly, and deliver the ball accurately. And I really, that's what it comes down to.

Like that I, I overestimated how important starts are. Now, again, this one's kind of, it's sticking with me a little bit because it's a little bit of a let's wait and see. But how dare I? It's a massive. How dare I question Sean McVeigh. Like, and less neat. Like, I just don't know how I.

That part makes it harder, right? Because it makes it a lot harder, man. It's like when Mahomes went to Andy, when, when Mahomes went to Andy Reed with a year behind Alex Smith, it was like, oh, like, this is going to work, you know? So that part makes it more like, this is going to wind up working, isn't it? Right?

If you're like, if you're like, can you tell us I'm talking that I haven't accepted this? But like, I understand. Here's the thing I want to defend. Here's the thing I want to defend. I haven't accepted it. I was the second highest in, in our industry, if you will, on on Ty Simpson, right?

Yet. And it probably probably was the greatest call of my 26 years when we put out that first mock draft in like December and my first line was wait for it, you know? Yep. But even I, as they traded that second first round pick for the cornerback with the chiefs, was like, oh, it's changed and all that. And there was there was information out there going back to November of like, you know,

less is close, less need is close with the dad. and there's word out there that it was like if he comes out we're taking him but everyone assumed because that was kind of before the slump happened down to 190 pounds with gastritis they trade the second of their two first round picks oh and so everyone was kind of like uh yeah i heard that but and i was just kind of like i'm let's hold on hold on i'm not sure yet you know And then some other information. But there's two parts of it. It's nailing the pick.

Right. And kind of doing the victory lap. But then it's also, I ain't mad at you for your stance and for a lot of other people's stance. Like he's going to have to be a historical outlier. He's going to go probably, because Stafford, it looks at minimum one more year,

probably two more years. Right. That means after three years of citizens, before starting, that he's going to enter in a six or seven year span with one year as a starter and really only eight or nine good starts where you're like, that's our guy. That's why we drafted him. Yeah. So it's going to be like, let's call it nine starts where you're like, that's our guy

going up against all the historical evidence that fewer than 20 starts works. It's killing me. It's killing me. And he's going to sit. Yes. Is this his fifth year at Alabama or fourth? Why am I blanking on that? Fourth.

Yeah, it was his fourth year. That's right, because he had another year. So that's three years of sitting, one year of starting, but only eight or nine games where you're like, that's exactly what I'm drafting. And then two more years. So it's five out of six years. He's going to enter that seventh year where he was a starter for one year. And so, like, I don't know. And the weird part is we just got to sit back and wait because I'm feeling good and beat my chest.

Right. Yeah. If McVeigh loves them, I've told you so. But then it's the opposite side of we're not going to get an answer to this. And for those who are like, I just don't agree with this pick, we're not going to answer for this probably until 2028 or 2029, you know? Wild. It's wild. It's wild.

but obviously they see something and obviously it's all of the all of the analytics are great but they go out the window when an evaluator

or a coach sees something different in a player and that's obviously what's happened here the tape is really good man I agree the tape is really freaking good the lack of starts the lack of an elite natural skill

and the injury and the frame I mean it's just all that scares the crap out of me. But again, how can you question Sean McVeigh in less need on this one? That's what I keep coming back to. So that's what I started with. Okay. I'm going to go to one that's going to become a personal, not vendetta, a personal lookout for me for the next couple of years. Okay. And it's at the edge position where I was, higher than most on Zion Young.

And the league just told me, lower than the league on Derek Moore, the edge from Michigan. So Zion Young coming out of Missouri, the sack production was not what anyone wants, right? His run-win rate was 9.3%. You can see him at the Senior Bowl. He was awesome there.

You see the length, 33-inch arms. he's got, you know, the height, he's 262 pounds. Like, this guy's, he looks the part. Last season, six and a half sacks. It's not atrocious. We've had guys come out with two sacks. Like, Dion, no, was it, was it Deion? Well, all right, this past year.

Caldardt Falk. Yeah, sorry. Four sacks? I think it was four. In his career, and it was two this past year or six in his career. So, like, we've had worse. Shemar Stewart, the year earlier coming out of Texas A&M. This isn't that, but you'd like to see more SAC production, right?

And he, like, but his, he was eighth of all the top edge rushers with pass rush win rate was 17.5. But it was still above average for, like, first rounders over the last several years, okay? So factoring all that in, he is powerful, he is nasty. he plays with an edge. He is violent, and I think his traits, they translate to the NFL. And I watched Derek Moore, who's got the long arms too. And he's not quite as filled out in his frame, but he's got that same power. And they both did the same thing at the Senior Bowl.

They both took that long arm, stood an offensive tackle up, and drove them back and just bulldozed them, right? There was like that viral moment for both of them. They had one did it on like a Tuesday, the other did it on a Wednesday, whatever it was. Right. And so, and you're watching the senior bowl one-on-one drills. And so it's not surprising, you know, mention, they were drafted one pick apart from one another. Love it. The thing that, the thing for me is, and this isn't something where it's like, I was totally wrong on Zion Young.

I had him as a top 50 player. I had him at 35 overall, actually. But I had Derek Moore at 73. And I've got, you know this. I've got an enormous amount of respect for Brad Holmes. So it's kind of like, oh, McVeigh drafted Tyson. It's like, oh, Brad Holm. And like I was planting the flag that year

when we were in Kansas City for the draft. What, three years ago now? Jamir Gibbs. Right. They drafted the linebacker from my Campbell from Iowa. Leporta later on, right. Leporta. Yeah.

So, but I'm like, get out of here. that was a terrible draft. This is going to be franchise change. Jack Campbell. Jack Campbell. Jack Campbell is a dude. A dude. So anyway, so when Brad Holmes takes him, I'm like,

I wish a GM that, like, I didn't maybe have hold him to pedestal like, like Brad. And you're looking at him opposite Hutch, right? Like, this is probably going to work. But then you're like, Baltimore and DeCosta and what they've always done. They took one pick later. So this is a personal one for me. I wasn't massively off on either. I was a little higher on Zion than most.

And I was significantly, like I had Zion as our, if you count Reese, it's two, four, six. I had them as our seventh edge, which sounds like, oh, you didn't love them. Like, this edge class was loaded. So I had five other edges between Zion and Derek Moore. And so time will tell. Time will tell. And they're both in positions to succeed. They both are.

You brought in Hendrickson and Baltimore. He's a perfect fit in Baltimore's eye on is. So both of them, there's no excuses here. If Derek Moore goes on to have a better career in Detroit, I have nothing to excuse except my mis-evaluation of Derek Moore. So that one's going to be fun for me. Yeah, it's interesting how you paired them up because I wouldn't have done that. really like both of them.

And I was obviously a little higher. I just put them in different clusters. You know what I mean? I know. And one was like, firmly in that late first, early second cluster. The other one was like towards the bottom of the next cluster,

you know? So that's why it was, it jumped out to me. Yeah. I love me some Derek more though. So I know you do. I was happy about it. I was happy about it.

Did you know who knew this going into the draft that we were too low? on Malachi Lawrence, the edge out of UCF who went 23rd to Dallas. I feel like we were too low. We were his defense lawyer for like a month and a half, maybe two months. We kept pushing them up our board. You started it. I don't want to. Yeah. You started it when we got back and you would watch tape because Nigelah Kelly,

the other UCF edge was at the senior ball. Yes. I watched, I just watched the other UCF. And I'm like, all right, I got to get to it. And then he, and I, and we had both watched by the combine. We both liked him at that point, but you were like, you were bullish on him. And then he did what he did at the, at the combine. And it was like, whoa.

But even then we were like, yeah, top 50, but I'm not, I'm not sure. I'm not sure first round, but then even that early in the first round. Yeah. We had, I thought we had, no, it's good. It's 43rd overall is what we ended up with. I felt really good about that. I felt this was a talented ascending player. And why we didn't have him higher, I'll tell you right now,

he's 251 pounds. I didn't think he was great against the run. I think he needs to get stronger there. And as much as I love the motor and the effort of chasing the quarterback and all of his upside in that area, he needs to chill out and break down and wrap up and finish guys.

There was so many mistsacks on tape that it got to the point of like, if this guy, if he finished every time he got to the quarterback, the numbers would have been insane. on the plus side, we just talked about the pass rush. I mean, he is explosive. I think he bends pretty well.

He's got good length. All of those things. What's interesting to me is they obviously think he can be, like, do you take a designated pass rusher, which I think he kind of will be early in his career that early, and there's no guarantee he's going to develop into a starter? They obviously feel like develop into an every down player, and they obviously feel that he's going to be that,

which is intriguing. I mean, it's exciting. And I really like the player, I was surprised that he went that early. But pass rush over everything, man. Pass rush over everything, right? It's a weird place. It's a weird place we're both in,

but especially you, because you were the torchbearer on Malachi Lawrence. And then to see him go that early, you should be like, yeah, I knew it. And you're like, but wait, caution, of that, like, even that's, it should be noted that UC, like, his coach at UCF is now their D-Line coach,

Right. Yeah. So there's that familiarity. But yeah, like, that was, this one's a weird one. Right. Because it's not like, I think you've got to be honest about it too, right? Like you have to recognize.

As much as we love this player, we also saw a couple of flaws that were preventing us from putting him even higher. It wasn't like we were like banging the drum for this guy to be a first-round pick. If gay back is from Illinois went 18th overall, I'd be like, I knew it. And then I'd be like, but wait, even this, even that's early for me, you know? Right.

That's one that jumped out to me is I really like this player. I really hope he does well. But, hmm, that was, that was even earlier than I expect. I remember that night. It was one of those picks where I was, you know, you're trying to explain the last pick and all this thing. And I'm hitting you on the arm. Can you believe that just happened? Right.

Drew Aller. Let's just do it. Here we go. Yeah? He's in a really good spot because I think Mike McCarthy had some time away from the game. Mike McCarthy has had success with quarterbacks. And I think he's identified what he's looking for, right? And as we see and by the time this show post,

like Aaron Rogers could be back for another year or that thing could blow up. It sounds like he's been in Pittsburgh for a couple few days and now there's speculation on what's going on there. But assuming Aaron's back, this is a good opportunity and even like Drew's not going to be the starter week one. There's mechanical things that have to be worked out with Drew. No question.

I'm of the belief and this is the disconnect for me. And I told you when I did his deep dive And I don't know that I've spent this much time on a quarterback because it was confounding. It was confusing to me because he's big and he's strong and we know he's not mobile. So just take that off the table. The mobility is not going to improve. But he's this like coordinated, weirdly athletic for kind of slow feet guy, right? And he's competitive and he's tough and he runs and he won a lot of games before this year.

But then you hear about some of the like, Is he going to, like great human being, awesome guy, but is he going to be the alpha dog and, like, and he's going to go in there and just take it? Like Tom Brady went in there and took it, right? Yeah. So there's that element of it. But the most important to me is, or the most, the thing that was the hardest to figure out, because a lot of times when guys are off with their mechanics, it's like, or with their ball placement, it's directly tied to the mechanics. and maybe the long levered guys, their eyes are going,

but their feet are back here. And so if you're just listening on Apple or wherever your podcast and not watching the video, like the eyes are transitioning from left to progression read one, to the middle of the field, two, to the right. But the feet,

when you're kind of the taller, longer levered guys, the feet don't come with. And that's what we talk about, you want to marry your eyes with your feet. So your eyes should, if your eyes are moving right, your feet got to be moving right.

And in order to get yourself in a loaded position to have the same mechanics with every throw. And Fernando Mendoz is one of the great all-time examples of someone who very, very, very, very, very rarely. Does he not have the same mechanics with the base underneath him? And that's why he's so damn accurate, right? For a taller quarterback. And so that wasn't even the problem with him. I always, and this was so unique to me that I kept watching and watching and watching.

I'm like what, and it almost felt like a visualization thing, where it wasn't just like deep ball throws or certain throws or it wasn't just his feet married up to his eyes is the problem. It was anytime a receiver was running away from him and it required like throwing to a spot, leading a receiver, his accuracy declined so drastically that I started to like think through it as a former quarterback and I'm like, maybe it's just a visualization thing.

Because there are certain throws you're more comfortable with as a quarterback. I never love that deep comeback where it's like the receiver's running, kind of faking the post and then darting back to the sideline. And there's that awkward, like, ch-ch-ch-ch, you know? Yeah. And so you're having to hit a spot and trust the receiver's going to get there and kind of throw them to the sideline without throwing them out of bounds. It was never my favorite throw.

But there were other throws, like the post and the in-cutters and the post corners that I just like, it was like throwing the ball in the ocean, like just, you know? And so I don't know. I'm fascinated by it because at the end of the day, I had him at 127 overall. And if I'm going to be honest with you, I came up on him because I did recognize like all the positives there. If he was developed properly, he winds up going 76 overall. So I'm fascinated to see what Mike McCarthy and that organization. do with Aller and if he can become more than just a serviceable backup in the league because I have a hard time seeing that.

Big picture question that I think relates to how you view Aller and how I view the next player I'm going to talk about, to be honest with you. Narratives that develop through the scouting process of this guy's a first round pick. This guy's in, you know, top 10 pick. And when you watch, when you start to hear some of these things, in the Twitter mafia, which you tell me not, the draft mafia, you tell me not to look at, but you start hearing some of these things in the media

and all of that stuff. For me, there's a backlash, right? Of you're out of your mind. Like, Caden Proctor was probably a good example of a player with me where there was a lot of buzz about maybe Caden Proctor going six, and it just didn't make sense in my mind. And so do you ever get concerned?

I do this with myself. Do you ever get concerned that you are, the backlash, the response, Those kind of things. Are you over correcting? And I think I do it. I've been, I'm a fight, a prize fighter who's been worked back into the corner. That's a better way to say it.

I like it. I can't just throw a couple punches and work back into rhythm. I've got to fight my ass out of this corner, right? Yes, I love it. I'm not saying I don't because I do. And it's human instinct. Right. I just made it because quarterbacks to me are,

a little different, right? It's, it's like, and the league shows this every year. If they're not a first rounder or maybe early, early second, then I'll get to them in the fourth round, you know? And so my view was, and essentially, if I don't, if I don't see the path to them becoming a starter, I've got other starters I got to get in the second and third round. I'll get to him in the fourth. And that's where I put him.

So initially, though, I gave him like a fifth-sixth. And I recognize it was me throwing too many punches, too hard, wailing. Yeah. To try to be like, am I on crazy pills? Because anyone else actually watching the tape, are they just going off of what maybe the national, Besto scouting grades were in the preseason? And so, yes, I did. But then I think you could probably remember, identify the time where I was like, I've come,

I've now settled in on where I truly believe he belongs if nobody else was in and 127 overall, which is middle of the fourth round was where I settled. But it's a very, very astute point by you, having gone through as many of these as I have. Yeah. Let's get to it, Janarian Price, Notre Dame running back. Seattle's 32nd overall pick. I'm wondering if that's a little bit of what's going on with me in an engineering price because I don't get it.

I just don't get first round for a guy that wasn't, you know, who's productive with the touches he got and was a good kickoff returner, but doesn't have great size, doesn't have elite speed. I mean, high four fours, good speed, but doesn't, you know, he runs better on tape seemingly, but I don't see a, he didn't like back that up with a blazing fast time at the combine. He was always Jeremiah loves backup. I just don't see a guy that you would use a first round pickup.

I also didn't like his running style. I think it's a little bit, he doesn't dance, but it's a little east-west. He's always trying to take an angle instead of getting north-south in my mind. And again, doesn't have elite power. There's nothing about his game that I was like, first round backs, man. Like first round back should be, should have some kind of a superpower. And I just didn't see it with Price. I never did.

But that being said, maybe it was the idea of putting him in the first round that pissed me off so much. Because when I look back at it, I do think he's clearly. clearly the second best back in this class. I do like Mike Washington from Arkansas and for a long time had him ahead of price. The league spoke on that. I mean, Washington wasn't even the third back to go. The league clearly saw price on a different level.

It's one that I'm going to look back at and I'm going to be interested in. And Zach Charbonnet for Seattle coming off a knee injury and the one-two punch that they could have with those two talented backs is going to be interesting to see how that develops. but it's the whole first round pick for Janarian Price drove me crazy. And of course, it ended up happening.

But maybe, maybe I need to take a step back and realize he's a little better than I realize. And in this class, that's not the worst thing that they could have done there. Was Jonah Coleman the third back? I think he was. Yeah, he was. But it was the fourth round. So it was a clear difference. Clear.

Clearly. Today is not about defending one another. You know who the third back was, by the way? Who? Caleb Black. Oh, in the third round. That's right. That's right.

That's right. That was an interesting one, too. Another guy that we loved, but not to that love. Does it make it any better that Schneider wanted to move back at 32, from 32 to get him at a more reasonable price, like 38 or 40 in the early second round? but just there was no trade to be had at that point. I want to say no, it shouldn't. It shouldn't matter, but it probably,

let's put this way. Where would you have drafted Judarian, like you're my general manager. I'm director of scouting. I come in and I say I had him top 50, but in like the 40s, you know? Yeah. Where, where, but you're in control. This is your draft room, your career, your family.

Where would you have been comfortable taking him? knowing you have a running back meet. Late second. Yeah. Probably is like, yeah, it's a full round for me. It really is. But again, now we're getting, it's interesting the players that we're picking

and from the teams that have picked them, right? So it's Snyder. It's, it's this guy has a pretty good track record of building a roster, man. Like, and I'm not, we can't do this thing. We just talked about like, you know,

realizing when maybe you are fighting back, against a narrative and course correcting a little too much. Yeah. As we get older, these are things that you recognize. And I'm not going to be the guy who's going to be like, I know better than Schneider. Like, I just, I don't. With his two Super Bowl rings on his hands. Yeah, he's like tapping him on the table.

Like, hey, man, you didn't like the pick? Yeah. You know what I mean? So, yeah, like, these are the things that are going to stick out to me. Like, these are the things that are going to jump out to me. So, like, we'll see. I'm going to give you a couple fourth rounders real quickly because I don't think we have to, but the two guys are kind of like, it pissed me off a little bit when it happened.

One a little less than the other, but Bryce Lance, the wide receiver from North Dakota State, he was picked 136 overall. So you're talking late. There was only, I think, 141, like one, pick 141, I think was the last pick in the fourth round. So he was like late, late fourth. Okay, almost a fifth round pick. More importantly to me, and I had him at 81 overall, okay? I just see, I see potential in him.

I see that vertical presence, the height at 6-3 plus, the speed, you know, what are you like, a 4-3-2. Yep. I just so, so I'm thrilled that the Saints took him. I'm thrilled for Tyler Shuck. I think it's going to be one, wind up being a really great value for them. But the league spoke, and that's what's kind of. kind of getting under my skin.

Because it wasn't like, he just, he went 40 picks later. In this case, 55 picks later. But the run on, but the run on wide receivers just happened to start, you know,

that tier of wide receivers happened to start later. It wasn't that, Mench. No. I had him at wide receiver 15 in a loaded receiver group. He went wide receiver 21. And here are some guys that some names that, you know how like you hear guys like they write it down their locker or they, they've got in their journal of like every, you know, and I know Brady had it. And there's a bunch of other, Amonra St. Brown has got.

Yeah, St. Brown famously has it. You can literally walk down the street, see him on the street and be like, give me the wide receivers that was dropped ahead of you. And like, bang. Right. Right. So this is the list I'm going to keep in my desk drawer right here. Okay. Okay. Caleb Douglas, Jacoby Lane, Xavier on Thomas, Brennan Thompson, two speedsters.

Right. To the fastest guy, the fastest guy and either the second or third fastest guy at the combine, which you know I'm not a fan of. And Skylar Bell, who I actually was one of the last players I watched tape on, like to make sure as I was going back and doing the cluster of receivers. and the fact that an NFL team viewed Skyler Bell, and I recognize these are slots and vertical guys. They're looking for different things,

but the concept of me sitting here in this office with the light's darkened, and I've got this remote right here, and I'm sitting here, and I've got family downstairs. I could be doing all these other things, and I'm trying to make sure this is right, and I'm like, back and forth, and Skylar Bell and Brendan Thompson. And I like those guys.

I like Brendan Thompson. Right. I know what he is. But the Lance went, so I'm going to keep an eye on that. Here's the other one in the fourth round. Two picks later, Kyle Lewis goes to the dolphins.

I knew this one was coming. I had him at 64, bro. Yeah. And I'm not backing off. Now, obviously, this organization's going to go through some bumps and bruises, and he's undersized, and I get all that.

But the same thing happened with Zach Thomas. The same thing happened with, London Fletcher. There's been undersized, the Chiefs guy who I absolutely loved. Why am I blanking? The Chief's late first round pick. They used a 30-second overall pick.

Not Nick Bolton, right? Yeah, Nick Bolton. Now, he wasn't, none of those, the first two were just, were short, all three of them were shorter. He's more lean frame. The end of the day, it's all the same to me. Like, some guys just have the instinct to overcome.

their size. Yeah. Red flag. And this guy's as instinctive as I've seen in a few years in terms of like the coverage. You see when at the senior bowl. He was every single practice picking off balls first to the drill, knocking balls loose as you saw there, forcing fumbles. Like he's just a playmaker. And so I'm going to keep a track on Kyle Lewis.

I had him as linebacker five. He went linebacker 12. You tell me Wood as, you're telling me Woodass from Clemson. It's a better player. Rick said to say, Wade Woodhouse. You're telling me Kendall Daniels is a better football player than Kyle Lewis. Like, uh-uh.

So I'm keeping two lists in this desk drawer. And it's the linebacker list and the wide receiver list from the 2026 draft. And in maybe 2029, I'm going to pull that list out. I'm going to dust it off a little bit. And we're going to revisit it. And maybe maybe the league gets the last laugh. but the league spoke and I was wrong on both

Bryce Lance and Kyle Lewis What did the NFL exec tell you at the Senior Bowl about Kyle Lewis? Some guys they get out here I hope you remember the quote because it was great but it was like sometimes they get guys out here and you just see that they're different in terms of their instincts.

Like they just have a feel for. But the thing, the quote I got from an executive about Bud Clark and Kyle Lewis was what did we expect? He just turned to me. He's like, because we had just like an interception. It just happened from Bud Clark, two plays after Kyle Lewis.

And he just turned to me. He's like, what would people expect? It would be any different. Okay. That they're going to come out here and not be the best players on the field. Like, that's who, that's just who they are. You know? And I was like, you know, yeah, that was it.

Any more for you? I'll go really quickly here because this is a get over it, Mitch. Chase Pesantis, 34th pick over. all Arizona Cardinals. I'm glad, listen, I'm glad that Keelan Rulidge out of Georgia Tech was the second guard to go off the board to Houston. I think that was the right call.

This is a pretty this is not dissimilar from Derek Moore versus Zion Young for me. This is an Emmanuel Pregnon versus Bissontas. Yes, but I wasn't going to say it, but that's fine. I mean, the league spoke, Manuel Pregno went the third to

Jacksonville and Chase Bassantus won 34th overall. And I was, I felt like alone. I thought like it was an island with this hauntas, a lot of the process. There's a lot of people that really liked him. A lot of people I respect that loved him. And I just, I couldn't get the Miami tape out of my head

and the short arms and all that. But now you're getting a guy, 34th overall. It's early, but it's still second round. Who, if you put, if you force me to answer, I would say, this guy has a chance to be like an eight to 12 year starter. And maybe never in all. pro guy, but a really good player. And at that spot in the drafts,

maybe we get over it, Bench. Maybe you get over it and realize that because you had a certain player, a Manuel Pregnod out of Oregon who's going to be an absolute stud, ranked ahead of this guy, doesn't mean doesn't mean that he's not a good player or two.

This show... I love how you sniffed that out, by the way. This show is as much about coming clean and admitting our faults. as it is, as it is getting our final shots in and, you know. Yeah. And, you know, and then also taking, you know, printing some receipts to hold on to, you know.

Fine, you got me for now, but let's see. Yeah, check back in. Speaking of receipts, I'm excited. And we're going to be back on Thursday. I'm excited. We're, the, our crew is going to do a fantasy football. We're going to, we're, we're diving in this year. Because it's time to compete, man.

And so we're going to, it's a soul-sucking endeavor. Fantasy football. But I want the, I want the audience to get involved. I'm not sure exactly how. I don't know if we're going to take a, a member from, from the audience to be in our league. I want, I want suggestions for our league name. I mostly want suggestions for what the, the winner should receive and even more so, what the punishment for the loser.

So we're going to make this interactive. But we're not going to become a fantasy football show. I'm not saying that. But we are going to start diving into kind of the rookie stuff in terms of fantasy football. Yeah, on Thursday. It's a good tool. As we kind of wrapping up some of the 2026 NFL draft stuff, as I already mentioned, we're starting in on evaluations for 2027.

Like, people are so fired up about this class. And for college football, it's starting in early September. like I can't remember talking to people in the league, talking to other friends in this industry. Like there is so much excitement for this class, and I know we share that. So there's definitely some transitioning we're going to do. But before we do that,

I want to start getting to the bottom of this fantasy football team, or my team, and this league is going to look like, and start like doing some rookie projections for some of these players. So we're back. But Mensch, I know this is a tough one for both of us. I hope people enjoyed us having to admit our faults. But as always, five stars, sir. Thanks, man.

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