The Ringer NFL Show - 50 Shades of Wide Receiver Prospects

Episode Date: February 23, 2022

Welcome back to ‘The Ringer NFL Draft Show,’ the newest show on our feed. This week, Danny Kelly and Ben Solak guide Heifetz through the top six wide receivers of this year’s draft the only way they know how: 50 Shades of Gray style. They break down each receiver’s strengths and weaknesses and then compare them to NFL players on a scale of 1-50. Treylon Burks (9:00) Garrett Wilson (17:00) Drake London (26:00) Jameson Williams (34:00) Chris Olave (42:00) Jahan Dotson (48:00) Check out The Ringer's 2022 NFL Draft Guide   Email us at [e-mail]   Hosts: Danny Heifetz, Danny Kelly, and Ben Solak   Producer: Mike Wargon Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What's up everybody? I'm JJ John D. Stramski. And I'm Jason Gough, and if you haven't heard, the ringer has gone local. I'm bringing the fire. I'm bringing the rain from the Big Apple with my show, New York, New York. And I'm reping Shy Town with my new show The Full Go on All Things Chicago. We've got episodes three nights a week with all the reaction to the local teams and guests. Plus bonus episodes around all the big games and storylines.

So whether you're uptown, downtown, downtown, in the burbs, or a transplant. Make sure you follow New York, New York, and the full go on Spotify or wherever you get your podcast. Welcome to the Ringer NFL draft show. My name is Danny Hypefitz. I am joined by Danny Kelly and Ben Solek. No Craig Rollback today. We're coming to you every Tuesday and Thursday here on the Ringer NFL draft show. All right.

We don't have to show this Thursday, but after this week, every Tuesday and Thursday, through the draft at the end of April. And then obviously you can always go NFLdraft. org.com. DK's got a draft guide. He's got a big board. He's got a mock draft. It's beautiful.

It's fantastical. It's a spectacular guide. Please check that out at NFLDraft. ear.com. Yeah, a lot of adjectives. Okay. Today, we are looking at wired receivers. We're going to go through and we're going to have Deakin Sola kind of break down their scouting comparisons for the receivers this year. We're going to do it like 50 shades

of gray style. And if you don't know what that means, you're going to find out. Watch the movies. Read the books. Not sexual. Not sexual. Probably not sexual. Well, not explicitly sexual anyway. But first, I just want to talk to you guys about this wide receiver draft class writ large. So, been some incredible receivers the last couple of years that have come out of the draft.

in 2020 had Jerry Judy C.D. Lamb, Justin Jefferson, Brandon Iuke T. Higgins. 2021. Jamar Chase. Jalen Waddle. Devante Smith. Cadarius Tony, Elijah Moore, Rondell Moore, Amanra, St. Brown.

The year before that, 2019, had, I mean, A.J. Brown, Debo. Did you just put Cadarius Tony in the list of good receivers from last year's class? Hell yeah. Yes, I did. Yes, I think that's fair. And skipped Rashad Bainment, if memory serves.

That's fine. whatever. All right. How curious. That is probably indicative of a Giants bias. That's fine. Okay. I think Tony's going to be all right.

Tony's compared. He'll be fine. He's going to be okay. He's going to be okay. He's going to be okay. All right, but how does this year's draft class compare to like the last couple years? I'll take that first.

I think it's not as good. I think it's not quite as good, especially compared to last year. Obviously, Jamar Chase is one of the all-time prospects, you know, in NFL history. And I think that's shown out. That's proven out. you know, not as mentioned Waddle, Elijah Moore, I think is going to be really good.

I'm on Ross St. Brown with a really good fourth rounder. This class, that class had to pretty much everything. 2020, I think hasn't been quite as good as maybe we thought originally, but T. Higgins, Justin Jefferson, both look elite. C.D. Lam still has that potential to be elite. And, you know, Jerry Judy, I think it still has a lot of potential, but hasn't really hit quite yet.

So this class, I would say, doesn't have quite as high in terms of, of the elite, elite potential. I think that, you know, there's definitely a lot of wide, wide ranging opinions on number one, who even is the top recruit in this class? Who is the top prospect in this class? And so, you know, I think that that alone kind of makes it a little bit less because pretty much everyone agreed last year that Chase was a stud.

So I don't know. What do you think, Ben? I agree that it's not as good. I don't think it'll be as top heavy. Last two classes had six and five first round receivers respectively in 2020. in 2021. With that said, I am strongly of the opinion

will never have a bad receiving class ever again, ever. And it goes to a point that we were talking about when we were together at the Super Bowl, which is that there's so many ways to win at receiver. There's so many body types that work.

There's so many roles that you can fill for different offenses. They do have this role. They don't have this role. There's such a variety of ways to deploy these guys, especially now that we live in like a three wide world, but there's always three receivers on the field.

Some teams live in like a four wide world. world, there's always four receivers on the field. Some teams live in a world where their receivers have to block. Some don't, like, there's always a way to carve out a role such that there are just too many athletes that are being funneled into this position at the college level that are getting reps, that are getting used, they're getting time to develop, that we're never ever going to have like a bad class again. I just like, like, sure.

Are we going to have three first rounders instead of five? Sure. But that was the case in 2019, right? When it was Marquis Brown and frigging who. Nikiel Harry. Man. Harry in the first round about that. Yeah.

But then you got Debo and the second round. In the second round, exactly, we got Debo, Angie Brown, Beagle Hartman, J.J. Rethical White side, Paris Campbell, and Isabella D. D.K. Metcalf. And then in the third round,

Deonti Johnson and Terry McCoran. So, like, even in like a class where there's not like that elite talent, there's still going to be so many options that you're going to be able to find a guy, even if not in round one, the round two,

round three that fits the role that you need, he's going to hit. Is that because offense has just dominated defense, starting with like the high school level of football. And then now college off, even Nick Saban was like offense beats defense last year. And then is that just trickling up to the NFL or now just you have so many good skill players that have just been like playing the scene. A little bit.

I think the best way of describing it is by a common refrain over the last few years, which is that quarterbacking has gotten easier. Just passing the ball has gotten easier at the high school level, at the college level. And then it trickles up even into the NFL level. We have just figured out easier ways to get a passing offense to work. RPO is living in the spread, right? All this stuff. And so you get a guy like, no spoilers, Traylon Burks out of Arkansas.

This dude is not built like a linebacker, like a receiver. He's built like a linebacker. And he doesn't have like wide receivery skills. Like he's not the best like catcher of the football. But he might be the best receiver in this class because we've just figured out ways to do the passing game, figured out ways to do offense that make this,

this athleticism, this body type not only work, but be like really valuable. And so we've widened the horizon. We've widened the scope of, what can work at receiver because the passing game has just become so much easier than now there's more pass catchers on the field, getting more reps with more time to develop, starting at high school and then cascading all the way down.

Right. And I think that's the other thing is the development of receivers is much more regimented in this era, I guess, than it has been ever before. Like you have guys playing seven on seven all the way up, you know, middle school, high school, all that. And these guys are getting more reps than in any other time in history, basically, in terms of like their development. So you get guys that just have more experience catching the actual football,

catching passes than any guys in previous years. And then the other thing is, like, what Ben alluded to is teams, I think, in the NFL are more open and more able to implement guys that have incomplete skill sets in terms of like the technical nuance, the technical nuances of the position into their offense. Like, D.K. Metcalf has a great example.

I was so glad he landed with the Seahawks because it was a perfect fit for him. They basically just lined him up on the left side and told him to go run fast. It's like Forrest Gump style, like, go, run. You know, and like he's so much faster than everyone on the field that it worked out. Plus, he's got Russell Wilson dropping like moonshot bombs down the field. It was like a perfect fit for him.

And then as he kind of developed, they started implementing him on the right side of the field because it was basically just on the left side, go run. And then they started having him line up in different spots, run more routes, expand his route tree. And, you know, just like basically the big picture is, in the old days, like West Coast offense style stuff, timing and knowing what the defense was doing and knowing how many steps you need to be

exactly when you're turning around and looking for the ball, exactly what depth you need to get to. There's like all these million things that receivers needed to know to be able to be successful in those offenses. That's why we saw so many receivers struggle early in their career. Sometimes you'd have like three or four years later, this guy is like finally emerging because it was so technically difficult to master that position.

And now it's not quite as, it's not quite sorry. It's still hard, but it's not quite as hard. There's just like less, you know, like fewer the nuances to learn right away for a lot of these guys. Okay. So let's get to the 50 Shades of Grey. Maybe that sounds weird if it's your first time. So what we're doing is scouting, it's about shades of gray.

So instead of just giving you like one comparison of, oh, this player is like X, we have DK and Soak. They each have kind of graded these players out of like, on a scale of zero to 50, with zero being the worst possible outcome for a player's career. And 50,

being the best possible outcome for a player's career, we've had D.K. and Sola kind of just get some players as like benchmarks on that scale of 0 to 50 for the range of outcomes

for how this player's career could go. So with that said, DK, let's go to you. First up, we got Trayland Burks, as you mentioned, the guy who's not so great at catching the football,

maybe, the receiver from Arkansas is your number one player on your draft guide, which again is at nfldraft. thranger.com. So I'm very curious to hear what you think about the guy You can't catch the ball super great as your number one receiver But yeah I don't know first off I don't know if that's what Ben necessarily said

It's not like he can't catch it's just he's not his catch technique isn't like super great But in terms of like how it's not like that's his job It's not like in terms of like how you're technically would teach someone to catch the football It's not optimal with that said and I don't know I steal DK's thunder I'm not sure it freaking matters man He's awesome he's got some incredible like sky up in the air, like catch a ball behind his head type deal. He's got some really incredible catches.

But I think the main point is he's not like technically nuanced to some of the other players in this class. He's just physically dominant. So Trailerks is my number one. That is going to be a, I don't know if it controversial is not necessarily right word. There's going to be a lot of people that have him as like their wide receiver six, wide receiver five, four, three across the spectrum. Basically, no one really agrees on this class.

It's more of a vibes class, I think, than anything. Like, it depends on what you're looking for. It depends on the. type of receiver you're looking for. And Traylon Burks is a very big, very fast, very versatile type player. And here's my comp. I'm just going to read them five through one slash zero. 50. And that is like the top tier, like what he could be in the league, AJ Brown. I got 40. Debo Samuel with a power up mushroom is like my official draft guide. Uh, comp or whatever. Wait, I just need to be clear. You have Debo with a power at mushroom is not as

good as AJ Brown. I just want to be clear about that. Correct. I mean, I think... Sure. Sure. Is AJ Brown. Like, I think that, like...

Okay. Yeah, that tracks to me. How about we just lump those together? That's, like, what he could turn into in the NFL. I think right down the middle, if you're, like, looking at, like, an average outcome. Something like Cordorale Patterson, where... And I'll get to this. And then going down the line, you got, like, a player like Leviska-Schnault.

And then finally, worst-case scenario, thick, Hakeem Butler. Basically, physically... Incredible, really, really fast, really, really big, just can't really play receiver and didn't pan out in the league, even though a lot of people really liked to Keem Butler coming into the NFL, including me. I was tricked, I was bamboozled, hood winked. It just didn't happen.

Let us try. Yes. So anyways, the reason I kind of went from, like, AJ Brown to Debo with a power up mushroom down to Cordorel Patterson is, and I should say Corderole Patterson, Patterson to me is like similar in style to Birx and like one of the best athletes on the field at any given time, great acceleration, great size, all that stuff. It just took the league and took teams a long time to kind of try and figure out how he's best

utilized. And I think that could be something that you run into with Birx because like Ben said, he's not necessarily the most nuanced high technique type guy. His routes are going to need some time to develop. He's sort of like D.K. McCaff in that area. They used him in the slot a lot. He didn't get a ton of looks on the outside running like, you know, vertical routes. So he's just, he's got, he's a little bit raw.

And I think that's the same deal you saw with Corderoe Patterson coming into the NFL. They tried him out as like a running back for a little while. I don't think they're necessarily going to do that with Birx. But I think that's in the range of outcomes. So, yeah, it, Berks to me is the most exciting just because he has the elite elite athleticism, elite size. He reminds me, it's like a carbon copy of AJ Brown out there, like the way he looks. Lines above all over the first place.

So there's two questions here. Do you agree with D.K.'s assessment of Traylin Burks as like this physical prospect who's physically the most gifted guy in the class? And then two, do you agree kind of philosophically that this extremely athletic ball of clay that doesn't have the best skill set yet is the number one guy in this class? Right. So one, athletic difference. Yes, with a bullet.

Like, yes, by a comfortable margin, right? Like, it's, there's a sensation you get watching Debo where he's such a hard guy to explain, where you realize the best way to explain his athletic ability is by highlighting defenders who are trying to tackle him. These are like NFL dudes. And they generally know like how fast people move. Like they've been playing football for a while. So they know like what angles to take to get to a guy. And then they go to take that angle and they're just wrong. Like it's just, it's confounding to them, not just to us watching that Debo's that.

explosive at that size, but like to the actual players on the field, they can't get a paw on him because he's just, he's gone in a blink. Trelin Burks does that. The long touchdown against Alabama, it's a long touchdown against LSU last year, right? Like the safety has an angle on him, and then he's gone. And these are SEC, these are like potential, you know, early middle round draft pick, SEC defensive backs. They just don't, they aren't ready for six to two, 230 pounds to move from zero to 60

as quickly as Birx does. The explosiveness in that frame is unbelievable. And Danny brought up Metcalf in terms of like a guy's situational fit earlier. He's a really good barometer for how we should understand Berks. Because there were a lot of things Metcalf did technique-wise and physically, right?

Like the three-comb was 7-33 or whatever the heck it was. There are things that were markedly deficient in Metcalf's game, enough to invite questions in his evaluation. But the reality was that if you got this guy into his ideal role, it wasn't going to matter. Because nobody could do what he could do

on a straight line down the field, talking about Medcalf. Nobody in this class receiver-wise can do what Berks does in a short area, ball in the hands or not in the hand. So like after the catch, whether it's behind the line of scrimmage or down the field or that's like getting off the line of scrimmage,

Berks doesn't have the technique to release off press. He gets off press all the time though. Because all he does is get to a short shoulder. He accelerates so fast. As long as he gets to, like, we talk about a half-man relationship,

right, where like your shoulders is on the inside of their chest. You're about half a man overlapping. Once Berks gets there, he doesn't have to activate his hands. No hand fighting. So there's no foot fire,

no little head fakes. He's just gone. He was there and now he isn't. And so that, that cardinal trait is, it's not just like 90th percentile. It's not just 95th percentile. It really looks 99th percentile.

And that, to me, puts him in a different, class in a different bucket than Drake London and Garrett Wilson and Chris Lov and all these other guys who are good athletes in their own right and are more technically refined but will never be able to do what that cat does. Okay, so with that said, D.K., scale of zero to 50, how confident are you in Traylenbergs? Because that sounds like a pretty ringing endorsement from both of you. Yeah, so I'm pretty confident. I would say like maybe I'll put him at a 38 or something

like just under like the Devo Samuel range. Obviously Debo Samuel just had one of the most incredible seasons, you know, that we've ever seen. So I'm not quite ready to crown him as the next Devo Samuel, but I think he has the physical talent, the physical skills to do that type of thing, the acceleration, the quick feet, the size, all that kind of like reminds me of Devo Samuel. You know, so I would put him like at a 38. I feel pretty confident he's going to be good in the NFL.

Okay, Ben, what about you? Yeah. To me, like 30, 38's good. Like, yeah, like, I would put like 36. Like, that, that's the right spot. It, I don't think, like, I think, like, assuming you're getting A.J. Brown is tough. Assuming you're getting Debo Samuel is tough.

But the floor is really high. Right. Because even if Berks, like, never fully figures it out as a rat runner, never fully figures it out in terms of, like, contested catch. You could just throw him a bubble screen. And he's got to break the first angle. He's going to get past the first guy, like, clockwork. And that is so ludicrously helpful.

Like, you can set your watch for that in terms of that floor, that puts him in like the 30s for me. Okay. I'm not going to lie. I'm like really excited about Traylundberg's now. So that's really cool. He is electric, brother. All right. Solek, give us next one up.

Garrett Wilson, the receiver from Ohio State. Yeah. What are your 50 shades of gray for Garrett Wilson? Yeah. So all that Traylenberg's excitement, we're just going to like ruin that right now. D.K. has Wilson as, as his second highest ranked receiver. I don't have Wilson as like a top five receiver.

I don't. Interesting. Okay. I don't, I don't love the. player. I get it with the player, right? So Wilson's highlight reel is pretty sick. He's got these really, really snappy routes, right, where he breaks off these guys, gets their head twisted, they're falling over, beats the corner one-on-one, uncovers

into huge space. He's got a little bit of like Inspector Go-Go Gadgett Arms, which is nice to, gives him the ability to kind of go and attack a football in the air that other guys wouldn't be able to get. He has legit long speed, which is really impressive as well. So when it's time to take the top off of defense, when it's time to use those those releases and use the threats of those breaking routes to then get down the field. He can do that really well. He can do that really effectively.

That's all great. When you turn off the highlight reel and get into the nuts and bolts of the tape, those snappy routes come at the cost of him falling over a lot. He's very oriented on this like Jerry Judy style of route running, right? People like, you know, jokingly refer to it as like TikTok rat running, right? because it's like highlighted real sort of stuff. It's like Alan Iverson James Hardin crossover nonsense. Those are just two six or point guard grades, by the way.

It's kind of got this whole like footwork to it, this headfire to it. And eventually the juice stops being worth the squeeze. And he's late into his routes. He's trying to hit like angles that it's really hard to hit. And he's not super flexible. He's got really long legs too. So it's hard for him to sink. We talk about hip sink into your routes, get your butt down to the ground, stop your momentum.

It's hard for him to sink because he's got really long legs. and he's not very flexible. And so then he ends up falling over. Like, he loses his feet a lot. The other thing is that if he gets a corner that's just physical with him, he loses a lot of that value, right? A lot of that ability to separate. Well, the guy's just mugging him up in space.

And so he can slow him down, knock him off balance. He's a little bit slender, right? He's not very heavy. And like I said, he's built pretty uprights. He's got those long legs. And so big corners just give him some problems. They get into his space. And then you start to look for the ability to work with your hands

and to generate a throwing window against that press, and he doesn't really have that too much. The route running to me doesn't hold up, and the yak doesn't hold up either. People talking about him is just like incredible yards after the catch guy, and again, he's got like a nice long stride. He can open up.

I think he's a good runner, but I don't see him as a particularly good tackle breaker because, again, I don't think his stop-start is as good as people have built it as. So you have this leggy guy who's not super dense. He doesn't have really clean releases. He doesn't have clean brakes when it's great. It's great.

But all together, I don't think, I think that there's a lot more, development that's needed here. There's a lot more work. There's a lot more of an arc that has to go on. So for my 50 shades of gray, I'm going to start at 10 and actually go up to 50, and I'll tell you why I'm going to end at 50. For 10, I have like Dante Pettis, who is another guy who was like considered like a first round, maybe early second round guy, had this, these incredible array of routes, but just never got it together at the NFL level. At 20, it's Nelson Aguilar. Same thing. More of a field stretcher type, but the routes never came around. 30 is Kenny Stills, which I think he could very

nicely become a candy stills. Good field stretcher. Adjust to the ball down field. Make these these incredible highlight real grabs, but not really like a true dominant high volume receiver. 40 is Jerry Judy, I think is a really helpful arc for understanding Wilson. The highlights are great, but in the league has been a little bit of a disappointment thus far, and it's because there's still time, there's still development needed. And then at 50, I put Stefan Diggs. And the reason I brought this last is because D. D.K. also put Stefan Diggs as his 50 for a completely different receiver in this class, which we'll get to there in a second. But for me, Diggs has that herky, jerky, style of rat running.

He's kind of he's a little bit leggy that still works for him. He's found a way to be successful in that style. The other dude that has that style, it could be the 50 is Justin Jefferson. And that's the thing is that if Wilson hits, it's going to be a really, really, really nice hit. Because these routes are devastating. It's just, I don't know if he's going to get that level of consistency.

I think that's a very rare thing to see right now in the league. So I don't land nearly as high on Garrett Wilson as D.K. does. And that's kind of the range of outcomes I see for him. High ceiling, but I'm not confident he gets there. Yeah, my initial reaction is now I see why you didn't like Cadarious Tony being included in the early part of the podcast. Right, yeah. It's included because I think Garrett Wilson is very similar to Cadarious Tony in a lot of ways. Like you said, herky jerky.

Another way of saying that is, in my mind, very sudden. Like, he moves differently. He moves at different pace. I disagree with you on the stop start in terms of his speed and suddenness. However, I agree with you mostly in terms of like the big picture stuff. I just think it's like, again, like I said earlier, it's sort of a vibes thing. Wilson, Garrett Wilson is like, what does that mean?

It's like, it depends on like how you view the position. It depends on what you're looking for at the receiver position. If you're looking for a guy who's polished, really precise, and, you know, like, has some of the more nuanced stuff of the receiver position. He's not going to be your guy. And I think that's probably what Solac is looking at. And I have a suspicion he's going to love Chris Olavé,

who will get to later in this discussion. Yes. And Wilson, on the other hand, I like Cadarius, Tony. And I think Cadarius Tony flashed a lot when he was healthy this season. So like maybe this is just me. Like again, it's like a vibes thing. It's like depends on what you like.

And I think, I think Wilson is going to be more on that spectrum of like a Tony guy who is a little bit chaotic. And I, in Cadarius Tony's scattering part last year, constantly stumbling, constantly falling around. It's like he's so fast. He like makes himself fall down. And I think you probably see a little bit of that with Wilson. But I disagree overall with like, you know,

just like the negativity. or you know, whatever. Like, I'm just more optimistic about how that translates to the NFL than Solek isn't, that's like the beauty of NFL draft scouting. It's like people can look at the same player and have totally different takeaways.

So I see him, I comped him to O'Dell Beckham on Red Bull, and I think the reason I put on Red Bull is because he is frenetic, like Solek was saying. Because of the falling down all the time thing? I would say it's not all the time. I think it's multiple times a game.

Yeah, but he's also like, leaving guys in the dust, having them grass, like turning them around, that kind of thing. Like, you know, again, it's like Tony. Like, you probably don't think Tony is very good, right? So like, is that basically, you know, the main thing that were takeaway here? I think Tony has the ACLs of Greek God and has the ability to make cuts that nobody else can make. But it's a juice worth the squeeze thing. Like, when you talk about leaving guys in the dust, to me, open is open, right?

Let's fast forward to Chris Alave a little bit. Alave is who's Wilson's teammate, Ohio State, does not. None of this footfire nonsense. None of this drop, oh, little head fake, woo woo, woo, running slow motion, time ramp,

you know, 25 times speed, crazy cuts, whatever, he just gets into his breaks and open is open. Like, so if you're leaving a guy with two broken ankles

in the dust falling over to Ron Liu, that's awesome. But to me, Chris Lave is getting open on way more routes because he's not wasting his time trying to get that highlight.

He's just in his break. And open is open. I don't care if the corner's falling over if he's a step behind, open is open. So I think this is a, perfect example, though, like overall of why this class is so interesting, is because I know a lot of people are going to have Wilson as their number one guy.

So, like, doesn't have him in his top five. And I can look at his reasoning and totally understand it. I look at Wilson, and I love the suddenness. I love the dynamism that he has as, like, a runner. And I think he's actually pretty good after the catch. And so we just see things a little differently. But, I mean, that's the story. That's the story of this class.

Yeah. That's what's interesting, though, I guess, is that all these guys have, the like the WR next to them as wide receiver and in reality these are all like very different players and that's why I want you to do next DK you've got Drake London here who's the USC receiver who's also a completely

different receiver. Yeah and he's wait hold on where did where did so like land on on Garrett Wilson? Oh yeah yeah sorry out of zero to 50 where are you? I'm like right on like I'm at like 31 I think he's going to end up Kenny Stills he's going to be a nice solid

second receiver who you're always like this guy could be really good and then he's just a field stretcher. And like, that's fine. But also, it's not top 15 pick good usage of the price. You know what I mean? DKays 0 to 50. What are you on Garrett Wilson? I'm like a 36 or 7.

I have him somewhere between like Cadarius Tony and Odell Beckham. I don't think he's as good as O'Dowell Beckham Jr. is a lot of receivers, Danny. That's why it's shades of gray. It's why it's shades of gray. Better than Kenny Stills. Okay. But I think that's what interesting is.

that it's not just like, you guys evaluating how good they'll be at their, like, supposition within the position. And then there's how much value put on that position, which is interesting. And that's why D-K. Drake London,

USC receiver is completely different than the previous two guys. So take me through the 50 Shades of Grand Drake London. Yeah. Also, incredible name. Drake London. Yeah, very good name. He's going to be an interesting one to see because,

so next week is the combine. I'm interested to see where he measures out in terms of his height and weight because he's listed at 6-4-2-10. And as Ben Fennell pointed out on Twitter today, like that's not a very common size of a receiver in the NFL. Like if you're 6-4, 6-5, you're typically in like the 225, 2.30 range, like a Mike Evans. And Drake London gets compared to Mike Evans a lot. And that would be my 50, like my top-tier example,

is basically like a slimmer version of Mike Evans. My 40, T. Higgins. I think T. Higgins is maybe like the one, the best example right now in the NFL. You could also throw out like an AJ Green type guy of a 6 foot 4, 210 pound player. It's a little bit lanky. It's a little bit like maybe too tall for like the body type. Have trouble getting in and out of your brakes type of thing.

So but then maybe not have the physicality to overpower guys. However, I think Drake London does have that. So that's kind of where we get back to. For 30, I've got Kenny Goliday. For 20, I've got Colin Johnson. And for 10, I got J.J. Arthago, White side. who came into the NFL as a quote-unquote, like, contested catch guru.

Like, he lived and died on his contested catch ability. And that has not shown up in the NFL whatsoever. In fact, he's been pretty bad in contested catch situations, which is like bizarre, real bad, baby, let's go. I don't know how that happened. I think it's a confidence thing, honestly. You've, you know, Philly fans maybe just ruin their receiver confidence for some of them.

Go birds. So, but I- Drake London. And like, is he a guaranteed? Well, I know there's no guarantee, but is he just like, okay, he has this baseline of like he will be a red zone option. And then we'll see whether he can also add that Mike Evans like down the field thing. Is this like he's a basketball player? But he now he plays football like Jimmy Graham tied in, but now it's coming to receiver.

Like, what's the upside here? Yeah. In fact, he is a former high school basketball star. In fact, he averaged 29 points and 12 rebounds a game as high school senior, which is pretty damn good. He also played. He played on the USC basketball team, basketball team for a short. short spell. He didn't star on the team or anything.

But he is, you know, he's a basketball player on the field. And he uses those skills, the basketball skills, the rebounding skills, to go up, boxed guys out, win at the catch point. He has an understanding of leverage. He has an understanding of how to get a guy on his hip and control the cornerback at the point of, like, attack

or whatever. And so he can go up and win those contested catch situations more often than not. In fact, he led the nation in contested catches with 19, despite missing four games this season according to PFF. So that kind of gives you, number one, like the baseline of what he is.

He's just going to dominate at the catch point, but I also think he's a pretty good route runner. He is a rarity in terms of his size, his height and size and his ability to kind of like sink his hips and turn on a dime. I think he just has a little bit of that rareness to him. He's not your typical 6'4, 215 pound guy. He's not a elite speedster,

but he's a pretty good route runner. He can take the top off a defense. He has build-up speed. I think he has the ability to get deep, and they threw him some deep shots. And weirdly enough, despite his sort of unique size weight profile, he was used on screenplays and sweeps and things like that.

And he forced 22 miss tackles in 2021, according to PFS. So he has some tackle-breaking ability, too. He's just overall sort of a unique guy. There's not a lot of really good comps to him in the NFL, because frankly, there's not a lot of guys his size, of course, or at least his listed weight in size, that are good players in the NFL. So it's just going to be very interesting to see how this goes.

I think everybody's sort of pegging him as the top 10 pick at this point. I know Daniel Jeremiah came with a mock draft today, and I believe he was the seventh overall pick or something like that. So I think the NFL really likes this guy, or at least that's sort of like the whispers and rumblings right now. So like, does that track to you? It does, yeah. Drake London is a top 10 pick?

Right. Like Danny started with the correct point, which is that 6-4-210 is like weird. It's not usually what we see. And BMI is a big thing for receivers. The Dynasty Committee talks about it a lot in terms of receivers needing to have functional density. It's really hard to play receiver and just be like a skinny dude. And we have a few skinny dudes. And we have Traylin Burks, who's literally a linebacker.

And then just like a bunch of skinny dudes on the other end. It's a little bit weird in that way. That's all the gyms are advertising. Like New Year, they want you go back to the gym. They're like, get your functional density back. Exactly. Let's get that BMI over 26. That way, the dynasty community on Twitter is it worried about you in the upcoming draft class? But with London, right, like you'd be worried at that length, at that height, but with only 210 pounds, he might get bullied a little bit. He doesn't at all. Like, he's incredible to catch point. He's incredibly tough. It is like packed 12 corners. You a little bit do wish it was a tougher level of competition. But in general, like you see the physical dominance you want. It's a question of, what are we going to get speed-wise at the weight? that he comes in at the combine.

Because I would love to have Drake London right up there with Traylenbergs. It's just I think he runs like a four, five, eight. He's got great deceleration, great acceleration. His change of direction for his height is stupid. Really, really cool, really, really unique, talking about like how defenders perceive players. They're not ready for a guy that tall

to drop his weight that well and then change direction. Like, that's surprising. But I just don't think he's fast. And that, I think it's going to... Go ahead, Dan. Go ahead, Danny. I was just going to, he has the buildup speed, but he's not sudden. He's not explosive.

And that is my concern as well. And that's why I threw our Sega White Side on there is just like, because I was pretty excited, honestly. And apparently the Eagles were too, if they picked him in the second round, about what our Sega White Side could do. But it just didn't translate to the NFL. I do think that Drake Linon is a better prospect, much better prospect. Yeah, I do. I think he's got better routes. I think he's got cleaner change direction, all that.

I just think if he comes in over 4-5-5, which would be my guess. that if you set the line at 4-5-5 for the 40, I'd take the over, that's going to put some teams out where they have to bet on him being a bit of an outlier to win vertically at that speed. That's where you start getting into like,

you know, I don't want to say Kelvin Benjamin conversations. That's way too much. But you just start getting into tricky conversations at that speed. And so that's my major concern for London, but everything else checks out. If he comes in at like 218 and runs like 452 to the moon, baby.

I don't think we're getting it. That's, it's funny that you say, 218 because Kenny Gulladay, 6'4, 218 pounds, he ran a 4-5. He jumped 35 and a half inches in the vert. Be it would be great for London. It just would check boxes. He doesn't need to be incredible. Just don't be really bad. And then we can go forward. Right. So if he hits the 40-yard dash time you want so like, where are you on the 0 to 50 for Drake London? Confidence scale. Where do where is Kenny Goladee at? Is he 30? 30, yeah. Yeah. I'll put him at like 35. London's my wider super two. I think that he's, if anybody's going to be better than Berks in

I think it's going to be him. I would love to get low four or five. That would make me so, so, so happy. What do you think, D.K.? Yeah, I think I'm right there with Solek. I believe I have him at 13th overall, something like that. Like middle of the first round, he is my wide receiver three just behind Wilson. I have some of the exact same concerns as Solick was pointing out in terms of like the overall

speed, ability to separate things like that. But he just feels like a unique type player to me. And so I would say he's somewhere in between that Galladay and Higgins range where Higgins is obviously turning. into a special player, an elite receiver in the NFL. I think that's in London's range of outcomes. But the floor, to me, is more like a Gallaudet, a guy that you can, like, trust to go up and get the ball.

He's going to threaten on the outside. He's going to be a chains mover. Obviously, you've got to pair him. And this is where the fit comes in. London's going to need to be on a team with a quarterback who is not going to wait for him to get open. You know what I mean? He's not going to be a see-it-throat quarterback.

He needs to have a quarterback that throws with anticipation and is willing to throw it up to him, even though he's maybe not like super separated from the receiver or start from the corner next to him. So I think that's going to be important to have that kind of pairing. Okay. Next up. So like, tell me about Jameson Williams, the receiver from Alabama. I guess it's like via Ohio State.

It's kind of like, there's a whole weird backstory there. Yeah, the first thing to do with Williams is to talk about the background. Jameson Williams, he was a, I want to say four star recruit. Yep, committed to Ohio State. in his first season, freshman 2019, six catches, 112 yards and a touchdown.

Big play guy, 18.7 yards per catch. We love to see it. Second season, 154 yards on nine catches, 17.1 yards per reception. Two touchdowns, great. But Ohio State's got mad people,

right? We had KJ Hill in front of him. We had Benjamin, the victor in front of him, and then it was Chris Oliva, and then it was Garrett Wilson, and Chris Olave decided to come back to school. So, all right, shoot.

Jameson Williams is going to transfer. So he transfers to Alabama. He had a six. 79 catches in Alabama in his junior season, his first season there. And you would assume that the insane touchdown percentage and yards per reception went down with the high volume. And it went up. He had 19.9 yards per reception, which is insane. And he had 15 touchdowns on 79 receptions, which is ludicrous.

So we have now a very odd profile, one that's hard to find a match for, which is that a player transferred into the SEC. and then at age like 20, he was 20 for the majority of this season, took over the SEC for one season, high explosive play and high volume, and then just entered the NFL draft with an ACL tear because James Williams tore his ACL this year.

Very, very different, not a lot, not great in terms of the profile. Then you throw in the fact that Williams is a clear speedster, right? He ran a 4-4 flat in high school. He's reportedly run in the 4-3s in Alabama, but unlike most, speedsters, he is tall. He is 6-219 listed. Most of the time when we see sub-4-4 guys, they are short dudes, and they're built like track stars, they're a little bit more dense, they're able to

turn over really, really fast. Jameson is 6-190. He is Lang-deep, right? If we go and we look database-wise, receivers who are over 6-foot 1, less than 200 pounds with a sub-4-440. There are eight such receivers in last 20 years of combine day. Really. Darius Slayton, DJ Chark, Dequan Underwood, Armand Shields, Lauren Robinson, Crafonzo Thorpe, which is a fake name. Kenyon Rambo, fake. Reggie Germany. Fake. Reggie Germany? Yes, those are all real people

according to both of all reference. Is Reggie Germany related to Duncan, Idaho? He should be. But when I say all those names, nobody really, like, like Darius Slayton and DJ Chark. in terms of like guys. You know what I mean? Laurent Robinson had a, has an AV of 17

according to pro football reference, right? Game out of Illinois State was a third round pick. None of those guys are first round picks. So it's a very odd profile from Jameson Williams. You just have to start there and say like he is a tough guy

to figure out what to do with even before the injury and then he's got the injury. Now we put on the film. Films really good, man. Dude can snap off a route, understands how to get into his brakes, understands how to maintain velocity

through his brakes, has the ability to see. sit down versus zone, has the ability to release versus press, knows how to separate against off-man coverage, get corners to stop their feet so he can blow past them, and he's more than just a deep ball guy, he can make a tough catch breaking over the middle, he transitions quickly into a runner, and he can take the short stuff and make an explosive play out of it by breaking a tackle. He's not super tough, but he's willing to take on some contact, and he can make that first guy miss. He can shed a bad tackle, which is a nice skill to have. He is athletically and talent-wise

an ideal field stretcher. For me, my 50 comparison to him is Deshawn Talson instead of Deshawn Jackson. My 40 comparison is Will taller instead of Will Fuller. So he's just big speedster, which is awesome. It's really nice. You have more length, you have the ability

to high point the ball, like it's great. But then it's really hard to find profiles that have been successful for this guy in the past. So for 30, I have like Marquezball to scantling, but his hands actually work on the majority of his reps. Catches the past. Yeah.

For 20, I have DJ Charles. minus 10 pounds. And then for 10, I have Rashad Paraman. Because, like, that injury plus speedster, plus not really like the toughness that you want can kind of lead to a big bust profile. So he's a very polar guy. But if you feel good health-wise, this is a round one field stretcher. If you have a quarterback with a 60-plus yard arm and your medical team clears Jameson

Williams, he should be very, very high on your board. So zero to 50, where are you on that scale, select for Jameson Williams? promise me the ACL's good. Well, no. The doctors say it's good, but not like... Okay. If the doctor say it's good, I'm at like a 40. Like, he should be Will Fuller.

Okay. Like, he can fly and is very consistent attacking the football, which I love. This guy should be in a Chargers uniform tomorrow if the universe has anything good. Any justice in the universe, he's a Charger. First question I have. Do you think he's actually 6-2? Like, have we looked, have we done research, you know, pictures of him standing next to guys? Checking the angle.

I don't, but I do think he's 6-1. And that was the way I set the filter. I was 70-3 inches. Okay, well, that was what I was going to ask. So that makes sense. Regardless, yeah, I think you nailed it. He is extremely, extremely exciting. This is one of those prospects that makes me, like, curious how many guys just get lost in the shuffle in college football.

Like, what if he hadn't transferred and he just been playing, like, some rotational role on Ohio State behind their three studs? But he didn't. And he showed out. and I think he averaged third or fourth most yards per game in the country this year. And he was third in the country in touchdowns, like just elite elite production. He's also an incredible kick returner slash punt returner. And he's an incredible punt gunner. He's just like a good player.

You know what I mean? And so I do think like what so like said is the profile is again, it's like Drake, a little bit unique. not you don't see many guys of his size and high and uh height and weight profile but i think the talent is undoubtedly there i said this on a previous podcast but he he beat ezekiel elliott state record in the 300 meter hurdles as a sophomore um so he's fast he's very very fast he also won a state title in the 400 so um yeah i don't the we're all you zero to 50 dk i'm i'm right there and like again the so with these shades of gray things.

Highfitz is trying so hard to make you commit, you just won't do it. Don't spend too much time on the actual number, but more just on like where I think he profiles. I think he's more like a 43 or something. Like he has the ability to be an elite field stretcher. I think he's probably better than Will Fuller as a prospect. And maybe there's a little bit of hindsight because of Fuller's being injured his whole career. I think you're saying healthy Will Fuller, though. That's what you're both saying.

So he is like a healthy Will Fuller. When I was watching, yeah. When I was watching him, you know who you're reminding me of? Is a tall version of T.Y. Hilton. Mm. Just like explosive,

explosive deep-filled deep threat, really good. You know, and DJ Chark is an event, like I like DJ Chark probably more than most people, but like, I was trying to think of it

a modifier for DJ Chark that would like, because DJ Chark is like the same body type, right? And very, very fast. But I didn't want to be mean. But Chark doesn't play as fast as Williams plays,

man. Like, when he ran that 4-3-4, Chark did. I remember everybody was like, Whoa. What? Hey, man.

Why not do that on the field, buddy? So I think, yeah, Will Fuller is a good example, and I'm going to go with that, like 41, 41, right there. Next up, I'm curious about this one. Chris Oliva, the Ohio State receiver, kind of divisive. DK. Can we start with Olives, 50 shades of gray, and then tell me about them? Yeah, so I got 50, Stefan Diggs, 40, Calvin Ridley,

30 Sterling Shepherd, 20 Nelson Aguilar, another Aguilar comp. I don't know, Solac and I love to, like, have similar, very obscure, not very obscure, but like somewhat obscure cops. And then 10, A.J. Jenkins, who famously was a first round flame out for the 49ers. But he was the same type of guy, like good route runner, elite speed type player. So Alave to me is sort of the way that you define him is like very fast, smooth, fluid, like a smooth operator is kind of just how I look at him. You know, fluid athlete, quick feet, really good acceleration,

technical nuance to the position. He does a really good job of getting open. He has the speed to like stretch a defense. He scored a ton of touchdowns for Ohio State. In fact, he led the team in touchdowns, I believe, this last year. So, but there's some restrictions to his game. I think that there's some question marks whether he can like beat man press coverage because he's sort of,

he's on the small end. This is something that I'm not, I'm playing the devil's advocate here because I really like Chris, Chris Olavé. But the play strength, it's not like D.K. was the one who felt that.

The play strength, I think is a question mark for some people. And Soak, like, I'm not going, stepping out of turn here. I think like a lot of people have him like sort of as like their wide receiver three, four,

five or even worse. I also have him there. I have a simpler question. I have a simpler question. Solak, do you agree? that Chris Olavi is a better prospect than Garrett Wilson because they're both teammates at Ohio State. DK's got Garis Wilson is number two.

Alave below him. So like, do you think Olavé is a better prospect than Garrett Wilson? Yeah, I do. And listen, that touchdown note that DK brought up is important, man. Because that's the Ohio State coaching staff telling you, when it's red zone time, when it's score seven points time, we got two really good receivers. There's one.

We throw the ball two more than the other one when we're in this tight area. That's Chris Olavé. And that's where, like, my, like, whole, like, open is open sort of thing comes. Chris Alave is smooth as silk, man. I mean, he's just clean. And the nice thing is that he's a senior. He's a little bit older. But he was clean, like two years ago, man.

He was, he was taking reps away from KJ Hill. He was taking reps away from Benjamin Victor because he was, he was a smooth operator from day one. This guy was born a veteran, right? That's sort of an approach to the game where, all right, like, they run that, they run that, I think called the squirrel row or the chair row, or whatever the freaking heck the name is, in the low red zone where it's like, all right, it's a curl.

No, it's a fade. No, it's a curl again. And he comes back to the front pylon. That's a big boy route. You can't give that route to just anybody. That's a Stefan Diggs route right there. Like, that's your 50 comp. Devonte Adams runs that route.

That is a route you only give to a guy who's timing, footwork, and understanding of space are just right, right where they should be. He is so consistent. He is so reliable. Alave has never. ever, ever, ever going to be a team's wide receiver one.

Like, I think, like, Devante Smith is a nice comparison for him. Devante right now is the Eagles wide receiver one, like, by default. But you could see this year why, like, you didn't really want that to be the case, because they're throwing him, like, back shoulder balls 25 yards down the field. It's like, all right, Devante can do this. Chris, Alavi can do this, but it's not how we want to use them. We want to put them in the slot, put them at the Z. We want to make them get a vertical route.

We want to put him in option routes. We want to move them all around, let him do a bunch of different stuff. And like, all right, if he, like, really, really hits, and he becomes DeVon. Devante Adams. Then like, cool, he's our wide receiver one. He's just not built that way. So a lot of it, yeah, he's your wide receiver two. He's going to be like wide receiver three, four, five in this class.

The ceiling isn't enormous because he's not the biggest dude. Catch radius isn't huge, whatever. But like, yeah, that Devante Smith, Calvin Ridley sort of, oh, man, this guy could get open in a closet. Like, this is just, he's so impressive to me in the, in the technical aspects of the game, much more so than Wilson is. So Calvin Ridley's the 40 for Dek here. Is that where you're at D. So, like a 40?

Yeah, I would say, like, Rital. was clear first-run guy because he had, I think, a bit more athleticism. I'd be like 36-37. I think Olave, I've been hearing Olawe's going to run like a low-4-3. Like, are you thinking he's not that athletic? Yeah, I also thought he was, he was like a high four-fours guy. And then, like, I was talking with Deonté Lee of PFF,

and Olave was running low-fours like a while ago, right? So I think that's going to happen. Jumps-wise, I don't think he's going to be amazing. And I think his arm-length, wingspan, height is going to come in, like, all below average, which, like, okay. Open is open, baby. So the reason I comped him to Stefan Diggs in the draft guide, and that's, I think, is like elite potential or whatever.

And it's more just because he, I, so I like, I guess we look at Diggs a little bit differently. That's why you had Diggs for Wilson. Diggs to me is like so smooth. He's just like a smooth, fluid, everything looks easy type deal. That's how I view Diggs. Obviously, like, there are sort of the highlight reels of him doing like a 12-step release from the line of scurbit.

So I get kind of where you're coming from in terms of like maybe too many steps in the route or whatever. But a lot of elite ball tracking skills, very smooth. He just makes everything look easy. And so that's why I land in the same range, like 39, like right below like a Calvin really type player. I think that's what he can be. I agree with you though. I think he'd probably be like a number two. Best suited is number two.

He's not going to overpower anyone. He's more finesse than a true alpha type receiver that is going to like be the go-to guy, you know, in high leverage situation. So, yeah, I really like Alavi. And again, like, this is, it's funny because we're sort of disagreeing. I think Ben and I in terms of our overall rankings of these guys, but I have him as a first rounder. So I really like him, obviously. He's my 18th ranked player.

Yeah. Alave to me is like fringe round one. I would have, Berks to me is like a top 10, top 10 guy. London and James and Williams with that asterisk for health is round one guy. And then Alave is like on the fringe, just because I don't think like the ceiling. is amazing for like the guy you're spending a top 20, 25 pick on. But once we get like outside of that range, he's a bucket. Just take him.

You know you got it. Well, I think the last guy is kind of the fringe person, whether their first round or not is Jahan Dotson, the Penn State receiver. So first off, Sulk, do you think Dotson's going to end up a first, well, do you think his first round talent? And I'm curious what, I'm curious what you think of Dotson. I think simply because he's a, he's got to play in the slot and he's not a body beautiful guy, right?

He's 511, 183. at least listed, I think he might be like 5, 10 and change. So it says like that body type to me isn't rare enough. And he's not so good after the catch, such a good mover athlete. It's not like KJ Hamler coming out of Penn State a couple years ago. We're like, yeah, he was tiny. Once he got the ball was like jitterbug nonsense. Like that's not Dodson.

I don't think he ends up around one player accordingly. To me, this is like a sort of guy that is again, like prototypical slot, day two, day three. In terms of my 50 shades of gray, I have Tyler Lockett is his like high, high end 50 comparison. And that's one, Nate Tice of Bleacher Report scouting team has that one. And I like it because Lockett, they're very similar. Lockett's so, so good downfield. I don't really know that Dawson's that good downfield, but also there's no way of knowing because Penn State's quarterback,

Sean Clifford, couldn't hit the broadside of the bar, brother. So he might be a really good downfield receiver. We just, we don't get to see that because of the offense because of limitations of the quarterback. So Lockett's up there. 40 have Emmanuel Sanders, which I think is a really good understanding for what he could be in the league. 30 Hunter Renfro. Just put him in the slot, give him an option route.

Let him go get you a third down conversion, man. 10, I've got Ray Ray Ray Ray, or McLeod. Still brings a little bit of returning ability. Still brings a little bit of nice juice, like, you know, on a reverse on a bubble screen. And then at 10, I have literally every slot receiver ever, right? All of these guys who are like dime a dozen, 510, 185, good separators, but they're not big enough.

They don't make enough consistent, contested catches and whatever. That kind of pulls them out of the league. The reality, though, for me is that Dodson is. is tough. Dawson will give up the body for a seven-yard catch. He will make some really difficult contestant catches. His catch radius and his ball tracking man, like for a guy this small,

is really cool. He makes a lot of catches outside of his frame that a guy his size has no business making. He takes hits for it and he survives them. He's a tough son of a gun, which I really, really appreciate. He knows how to separate, talking about that prototypical build.

He knows where the spaces are between zones. I think he could be, like I said, a better deep ball receiver than you realize. It's just like as a slot prototype, He's not rare enough, in my opinion, to be that first round guy. But overall, like Dotson a lot, good ball player. Yeah, he probably feels like an early second rounder in reality. He had like an Odell catch against Ohio State, like a one-handed where he just went up and like palmed it, like a grapefruit kind of deal or whatever.

And he has really good hands. I comped him. And when I saw it, when I watched him, this is now a very, very common comp. But I just want to say I thought of this before everyone else was saying it too. Whatever. I'm not trying to take credit for. I'm just saying I saw it too. Deontay Johnson.

Like when I watch him, I see Deontay Johnson with good hands, with really reliable hands. We got to do a hand replacement surgery on Deontay Johnson for me to get there. Deontay Johnson with stick him gloves is my official comp. Because he has really good hands. In fact, I've heard people say he has the best hands in a class in terms of the receiver position. So very reliable pass catcher in that regard. But like body style, body build, route running, the ability to get uncovered and open. early in his route with quick footwork and jukes and all that stuff really remind me of

Deontay Johnson. So, you know, how valuable is a player like Deontay Johnson? I don't know. It just depends on your offense, I guess. So that's why he's probably like a fringe first rounder slash second rounder. But I just think he's so reliable and just a good receiver. He gets open. So that's why I like him a lot. I like guys who get open. Zero to 50, D.K., lock it in. So yeah, I'll put him at like 40, like right around that Emmanuel Sanders, maybe 38 right below Emmanuel Sanders. Because Sanders obviously had a very good career. But I think that Dotson could have a long career, you know, just being that possession type guy. What about you so like?

Yeah, get Dotson in a traditional West Coast offense and he's going to be Emmanuel Sanders. It's going to be a 40 for sure. So you just want to see him end up with one of these Grood and McVeigh offshoots and then just let him work buckets over the middle of the field. Just quick passes. Quick passes. So great on third down, man. Okay. So we just went through these six guys.

So we got Trailer in Berks from Arkansas, Garrett Wilson from Ohio State, Drake London from USC, Jameson Williams from Alabama, also from Ohio State kind of, Chris Oliva from Ohio State. That's kind of a theme. John Dodson from Penn State,

all those guys. But the rankings on how they're ranked in mock drafts are different, but presumably the way teams have them on their boards are going to be in a completely different order. You two, D.K. and Solek, have a completely different order for these guys. Is that because these guys,

these guys are hard to evaluate TK or is it because even if you evaluate them accurately like the kinds of profiles they have, you're inherently going to value what they do differently. Yeah, what you said. I think number one, and I'm starting to realize this, just talking through this,

you've got multiple guys. In fact, almost every one of these guys is sort of like a unique body type slash a lot of your body types. So that I think is what makes this so intriguing. But also, again, it's like a vibes thing It depends on what you're looking for. It depends on what you want.

I think teams are going to value different traits differently and have these guys rank completely differently. Like I said, some people are probably going to have Drake London, number one. Some guys are just going to want someone who can separate. So maybe that's not London. And, yeah, it's going to be very fascinating to see how this goes. I know the dynasty community really loves Traylon Burks. I think some of the film grinders maybe don't like him quite as much

or like teams might not like him quite as much because he's a little bit raw. So we could see, you know, these guys come off the board in a completely different order than I have them, than Ben has them. But generally speaking, I think these are the top six guys. These are the guys that most people regard as the top six. But just throw, like, pick an order, and that's what could happen.

I have a different guy in my top six. Who's your other guy? George Pickens. Yes. Okay. Out of Georgia. I love him, but that's, he's an injured guy and whatever.

But we were talking a little bit about this Danny in terms of the body type thing. There aren't really many traditional ex-receivers in this class. You talk about guys. You line up on the outside. They're getting impressed. They're running the vertical routes. Like Drake London and then kind of blank. George Pickens.

All right. Listen, we need ourselves. May I present to you, George Pickens, baby? He's a good, good player.

You got to find the film when he was healthy back in the day. But if George Piggins checks out, man, that's a good ball player. Former five star, I believe. Oh, yeah. And started dominating right away as a freshman too.

Just big-boying SEC corners. Cool to see. I like him too. He's going to be in my next update here. I'm with so look on. that. So honestly, because the way you guys talk about this, I just think one of my main takeaways from this other than

just so many of these guys went to Ohio State is just like, we have Ryan Hartline, baby. But one of my takeaways here is just the receiver position, it's like this moniker, it's this bucket of like receivers, but there's so many different jobs within the receiver position. It reminds me

that Ted Lassow joke, you know, like Ted Lassos talking about the United Kingdom and he's like, how many countries are in this country? And they're like four. it's like how many positions are in receiver it's like won't four it's like you need those things differently in a draft right this is

this goes back to the email we got which I don't know if you want to transition into that but like this conversation is the answer to the question we got in the email this week okay so I okay well in that case I do want to read we got an email from Joe and I really wanted to run this by you guys and you've seen the email

but we have not talked about the answer to this so I'm actually very curious so Joe wrote well he Joe went to Purdue and wrote a lot about Purdue and a guy, one of the receivers named David Bell. I'm going to cut out his little monologue on David Bell.

But the point is he's upset. David Bell's not in the first round as a receiver prospect, which led to him writing a more broad question of, there's a lot of talk about second and third round receivers outperforming first round receivers

over the last five years or so, which it's quite the list. Devante Adams, guys who were not in the first run. Devante Adams, Michael Thomas, Keenan Allen, Chris Godwin,

Cooper Cup, AJ Brown, D.K. McCav, Debo, Samuel, all not in the first round. All not in the first round. Those guys are all went

in the second, third round last few years, Devonzi's a little older. And so Joe writes, I was wondering if you think that's because first rounders tend to be the guys with better overall traits or physical profiles or whatever, but they might not be as technically gifted. So basically the freak of nature athletes go

in the first round and then the players who are good at football without the elite traits go in the second and third rounds. So one, I know, because I'm asking about David Bell, but overall that is correct. Okay. I think right. You draft rarity in the first round because you're swinging for something that nobody else has.

But there are examples of guys who are crazy athletes, Devo and DK, most notably, we talked about both them in this pod, who fell into the second round. And some of that was injury related for both of them. But also, these unique athletes can often require unique utilizations, Debo and DK is your two good examples. And that kind of pushes them down on some team's boards because you look at a Metcalf and you go, we can't work with this guy. Because we're not as vertical based in a passing game, whereas Seattle looks at him and goes, yeah, we know how to use this guy. Like this this works for us, right? So the unique athlete thing isn't so much the skeleton key in my opinion or like the solution here. So much as it is, there's just such a wide variety of the way that these guys can be used that when you get at Michael Thomas, who never had more than like, what was it like 800 receiving yards in college, right?

Like it's weird. And you figure out all of a sudden, hey, like we can put a really big guy in the slot because those are the routes that works really well for him. Cooper Cup is another example. Like Cup is a big dude. We're going to play them in the slot. That wasn't a thing that really happened, but a team outside the first round found a good utilization for a good body type

and made that marriage work. You have your DKs and your Devo Samuels an example. A.J. Brown is another really good example. The one I'll never get is Chris Godwin. Godwin's film was amazing. There was literally nothing wrong with Chris Godwin. But the rest of them, you kind of have that conversation. So yeah, when you look at like a David Bell,

he's just good at everything. And he's going to be like a Godwin type. He can play the slot. He can block. He can make tough catches over the middle of the field. He can go downfield a little bit. Those guys don't always hit. But the thing is there are usually a couple of them in every class in terms of the height weight

in terms of the kind of just a more typical build. You identify the right one. You identify the right traits. You identify the right developmental markers and whatever. And then critically put him in the correct role, you can hit on receivers anywhere in the drafts. There's just so many people. So it's such a variety of options. There's an inundation, a glut of talent.

Then if you're smart with your evaluating staff and you know what your coaching staff wants, you can get guys outside of the first round who are big hits. this also wraps pretty neatly back to what we were talking about in the beginning where both you were saying well there's going to just keep being good receivers in the draft forever because there are so many receivers being funneled under the position so much as you were saying quarterback's easier to play so many more reps to develop exactly so are we just going to it's not so much like maybe second third round gems but just as we look over the first second and third rounds are we are going to be able to expect to get good receivers and good value at those

positions for kind of the foreseeable future yeah there's just a lot of them too like that's the other thing is like you see a lot of second round hits a receiver because there's a lot of receivers drafted in the second round. There's a volume element too. That's a good point. That's a very good point. Yeah, but I think overall I agree with what Select said, you know,

just he wrapped it up very well. I think that's why you're going to see a guy like David Bell who's not going to have elite athleticism or speed or anything that really jumps off the page. Probably going to second round and probably have a really good career. All right, we're not going to do two jargons and a lie this week. Craig's not here. And in his honor,

we are going to just double up next week when he's back Thank you, D.K. Thank you, Mike Wargon for producing this episode. Thank you, Ohio State for all the receivers. We appreciate it. Yes, shout Ohio State. Very true. Tons of receivers.

Thank you, Lorne. Thank you, Lauren. Thank you, Buena Vista Social Club. Don't know who that is. Without Craig, there's like no chance. Yeah, no shot and I are not going to get Buena of us to Social Club. Like, there's no way. I bet Craig knows who that is.

Craig's right now listening to this podcast two days later. Like, are you kidding? What's left of his voice is just like wasted on the... Yeah, who knows. Okay, also, oh, NFLDraft.com. DK.'s guide, a little sneaky plug there. I'm still not overdue a leap of, like, Dke's Shagarin, do a leap of the last episode.

I'm so high. That's going to keep me floating for the rest of February. Unbelievable. Okay. Good to hear. Goodbye, everyone.