The Ringer NFL Show - Combine Takeaways: Caleb Williams Speaks, Marvin Harrison Jr. Ghosts Us, and Rome Odunze Can’t Fly a Plane

Episode Date: March 1, 2024

PANDA WATCH: Vibes Check Edition (2:48). Next, the guys share their biggest risers and fallers from this year’s NFL combine and other reactions to the 2024 class (26:02). Later, they talk through the most outrageous podium nonsense, including players who don't believe in space, claim that birds aren’t real, and much more (59:29). Check out our 2024 Ringer NFL Draft Guide here! Email us! [e-mail] The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please check out theringer.com/RG to find out more or listen to the end of the episode for additional details. Hosts: Danny Heifetz, Danny Kelly, and Ben Solak Social: Kiera Givens and Jack Sanders Producer: Kai Grady Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In a world where coaches are still the main characters, the players are now legally chasing the ultimate bag, and the game of basketball is always the top priority. There was only one brand you can trust to help you wade through all the madness. Hey, I'm Tate Frazier from One Shiny Podcast, and you can join me twice a week as we navigate the always entertaining world of college basketball. Every Monday, the ringer's comment helps me make sense of the biggest stories from the weekend, and on Fridays we talk to our many friends of the program. We're locked in on the best postseason in sports. Make sure you follow One Shining Podcasts on Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to the NFL Draft show.

Nope, got to be louder. You're holding back so much. Yeah, I'm in a room with other people. That's okay. No one fucking cares. DK's like the guy who handles the 40 time

and you came out of the block stumbling. He's like, no, no, not quite my tempo. Okay. Not quite my tempo. You just, you don't actually have to go louder necessarily. Okay. But you're going like, Welcome.

You're like, welcome. Yeah, a little higher pitch. Welcome. I'm just going to be louder. All right. Just be better. Also, it's Friday. No one cares.

Welcome to the ring or infelds. No? Yeah. Welcome to the ring of Lerfell Drach. It sounds like I'm holding your head underwater. My name is Danny Hyatt. I am joined by Dana Kelly and Ben Sleck. And I have the Yips.

We're live in Indianapolis. I have the Yips. This is the fifth time we've done. We're going to be cute. go on this. The fifth time I try to do the intro, DJ is telling me that I can't do it right, and I don't know if it's a psychological issue, like I'm Chuck Knoblock, I can't go to the first base,

or if it's just like I've had coffee and beer, and like, there's no water in Indiana in the convention center. And yet it sounds like I'm holding your head underwater. And so it's like, is it a physical issue with my voice? And we would think so. It's a performance issue, all right? Yeah, I think I have the yips on the intro.

And it happens to pull out of 10 men, so don't worry about it. We got hymns up in here? It's totally normal. Like, as long as it's not four hours. Yeah, no, whatever happened, that sponsorship. Yeah, yeah, him, sit us up. Okay, we're live in Indianapolis. Man, Craig Horlebeck is here in spirit.

I can't, I can't, Craig probably. It's very sad he can't hear all these takes your mind. But we're live in Indianapolis to the Combine. We're recording this Friday. You'll be listening to it whatever. Kai can get it up. Isn't that right, Guy? Kai.

Well, at least someone's got to get up if I can't. Oh. Anyway, we're going to be covering risers and falls from the Combine, other guys with performance issues, which is totally normal. Normalize it. wrong with a bad t, you know. And we're also going guys who have been crushing the combine, guys who are, as D.K. would say, big, fast, strong.

But first, we're the best things to be. Yes, big fast, strong. But first, we have to start with America's new favorite segment, perhaps the biggest installment of this segment yet. Panda Watch. The timing was kind of hard on that. I didn't know when he was like trying to send me in. We did Panda Watch today.

We watched the Pandas. We did actually watch the Pandas. So just for those who don't know, we're in Indianapolis. And like the, it's weird. The comment sketch is weird because you watch them TV Thursday to like Sunday or Monday now. Like we get here Monday and like we're here until Saturday. But then they're doing press conferences. So what's really going on is these players have so many scheduling blocks.

They have to meet with a thousand. There's 32 teams. They meet with like 20 of them. And then they do media interviews and they have to wait in line for MRIs and x-rays and also training and doing all these drills and meeting with agents and all the stuff. But we then get to see them. They carve out a whole 15 minutes. And we get to stand there. 30 people stand and yell really weird questions at them.

Like, did you talk to the Indianapolis cults? And then the next person's like, do you think birds are real? Right. And then the next person's like, could you talk to the Texans? And it's kind of bizarre. Preparing them for the league. You never know what's coming next. So we got to do these interviews today, and the podiums were crazy.

We had all the quarterbacks and a lot of receivers spoke. This is a very quarterback receiver heavy draft. So, D.K. A lot of these guys are going to the same. same time we get to hear all these people. I'm curious as you're walking around, you're looking at the quarterbacks. What are you trying to like assess, like what are you trying to gather when you do all through this insanity

with all this? The big thing, I'm sizing them up, essentially. I'm all about like the vibes, you know this. I think, I don't think it's like you necessarily write a guy off if he has terrible poise or presence at the podium, but it is something that you kind of think about. So yeah, basically just vibes. This is the

Combine podium. The Combine Podiam. It's like how, if there were pandas of the zoo, you'd be like, oh, that one looks cuddly. And that one looks out. He looks angry, right? Keep your distance. You're projecting emotions on the pandas.

That's what you're doing. You're kind of, because with a quarterback, remember, like, the way that we think about it is, you know, passer defines the winning window and, you know, wide receivers. And certainly teams think about that as well. But another big thing for them is like, we're handing the keys of the franchise to the guy. Like, this is going to be the name and the face and the personality that is associated with the team for the next five years. We want them to be capable of representing the team well.

So how they comport themselves this week. Comport. I think it's even further than that. I've never thought about it this way, but it's kind of also the defining aspect of the people's, like, lives, like their career, like their professional lives, like they have families and kids. Well, there's a lot of pressure, yeah. But, like, let's be real, a lot of these guys sacrifice a lot of stuff in their families for their jobs. And it's like, like, Ryan Poles, not to be dramatic, but this is the defining decision of Ryan Poles' life is taking a quarterback or trading the pick. And, like, it really is for these coaches and stuff.

So they kind of, you fret the details. Excellent film. And the testing is amazing. And the athletic history and the injury history is great. But if you don't, like, feel like you trust the guy. If you don't feel like you like you like the guy, you don't really want to pick him. You want to feel that. And part of that is the personality of the dude.

So it's not that it's like real and that it's important. It's that it's real and that it is reality. It is that is the nature of what's going on here. We make fun of all the time that like, you know, the Niners took Alex Smith number one over Aaron Rogers. And there's a story that came out because that Aaron Roder, they didn't like how Aaron Rogers like, Alex Smith held the door open for the, like, someone's, like, the GM's wife or something. It's like crazy. Aaron Roder.

They didn't like his handshake. And two things were. That's an insane way to pick a quarterback, but also that's just how people are. People just make these snap decisions. And like, that's just so, anyway. The vibes thing is real. And we just started here with Caleb Williams,

quarterback at USC. Deky's the number one overall quarterback on your board. He's the number one overall player on your board. He's the number one overall person on most people's boards. He spoke today. He himself admitted he does not talk to the media a lot. Probably the most polarizing personality here. He's the biggest personality here.

I'm curious. What were your vibes seeing Killer Williams in person? So I kind of went into this. thinking I was going to be a little turned off by just everything because he it's been so anticipated he's obviously extremely extremely confident guy to the point of where some people are like he is like too cocky almost he's like delusional at times but to be totally honest like I bought in when he came out he came out with like this shit eating grin on his face he took like a big chug of water and then he was like all right you motherfuckers like his look on his face was like all right you

motherfuckers, what he got for me. And the first question was, why are you so afraid to compete or something like that? Why are you scared to compete? Wait, really? Is that what the first? So we can hear Hayes on Mike, but the questions are? I did not know that's what he said. Literally the first question was, why are you afraid to compete or scared to compete?

Wait, what was his answer now? He just did like a really boilerplate thing. Like, that was just the decision of my team and I made. And then he moved on. But he's like, he was not, so at the combine this week, the drills, Caleb was not going to participate in the drills. Right, right. There was a follow-up to the why you're scared to compete.

It was essentially like when all these other people are running and throwing and jumping and doing all that stuff, why do you feel that you don't need to do it? I mean, the obvious answer is because he's going to be the first pick. It's irrelevant. It's immaterial what he does there. But he just, I thought he showed his charisma. He showed his confidence. He wasn't over the top. He was gregarious and outgoing.

I don't know. I came away and pretty impressed with him. I think that was the general gist for most people. So also remember, we talked about this. a couple months ago, but remember, I cannot get over this detail that he said this in an article with GQ that the show scandal, which is about a fixer in D.C., is Olivia Pope in this show scandal, is based on a real-life woman in Washington, D.C., and in real life, that woman, like Caleb Williams' dad, hired that woman to train Caleb Williams how to answer media questions. And that's before he went to college, not the NFL. He went to Oklahoma or Lincoln Riley. He was taught how to answer questions by the woman whose scandal was based on. And they were like, why do you do you need media trading? He's like, questions are traps.

And it was like, you could see. He looked at it like combat, but not like in an aggressive way. And he looked at it like sword play almost. And it was wild to watch him like answer. Caleb's coded the right way. Caleb, if your quarterback's going to be elite, like Justin Herbert, nonwithstanding, they have to have like an insane degree of self-belief and like vibes and a little bit of walking out of their chest down peacocking.

Caleb's got that man. I, um, I, they, so much of the bad. narrative around Caleb's pre-draft process is a product of kind of the his dad's involvement in his in his pre-draft process and there's been you know thinly veiled threats of like we're gonna go back to school because of NIL money and like oh we're not gonna go to Chicago we want to go to DC and like there's like a ton of you know okay the commanders want to go get Caleb those a ton of like and and he's not throwing and he's not participating in medicals for

teams that have no chance of drafting him like all of that is we have to remember like that's those are red flags and noxious and tough for teams teams don't like that. When you sit here on the outside, this is an extremely confident dude saying, if I'm not going at 13 of the Vikings, I'm not going to spend time standing in a hallway of my skivies at 6 o'am in the morning waiting for the Vikings to check me out. I'm going to, I'm asleep.

I'm good. This is a guy who is leveraging how, not only how talented he is, but now also the money that he makes at the college level to bring light to some of the really ridiculous parts of the NFL draft process, the combine, and the concept of the NFL draft, where it's like, hey, you don't get to choose where you work, I get to choose where you work because I sucked at football this year, right? Like, from an outside perspective, it's easy to slide into the team perspective and be like, this guy's causing problems, his dad's a headache, but when you sit back with a sober mind as a third party

and a viewer of the league who wants parts of NFL football to get better, college football to get better, the draft to get better, Caleb's always wired the right way. I am extremely impressed with Caleb, the player, Caleb the person. I love the lot. I kind of like that he's really shameless about the whole thing, too. He doesn't feel bad about any of the stuff that's happening in terms of like people were freaking out that he wasn't doing the medicals because I don't think anyone's ever done that before. So yeah, so just to elaborate. So again, the reason the combine, which is dumb, it's the combined is the reason this whole thing exists is like 80 years ago they were like we should.

Logistics. They literally is the logistical thing. Yeah. We have to evaluate these guys medically. And so it was a bunch of like regional medical things. And then as like commercial air travel became more thing, they just put it all in one place. and they just had all these guys to be evaluated by NFL doctors together, and then it's all equally distributed to the teams.

And there's a whole way that works. But basically, Caleb Williams took a page of the NBA. And he's like, yeah, I'm going to give my medicals to like, whoever I want to actually give me. So he's like, I'm not going to be in the NBA. It's more common. Like, you know, maybe the top 10 pick is like, I'm giving it to 10 teams. Give it who you want to go to.

And I understand that because Caleb Williams, he's going to go first. worst case in the world, Caleb Williams is going to go the second pick in the draft. Why do you want the other 30 teams to have some detailed breakdown of your medical background and your knees? Why would you want your opponents to know that about you? And like I understand like I mean

I get what, like it's funny because we talk about like documentaries or IP and quarterback. Like that's content. Like I understand why you wouldn't want other people to have your literal medical background for people companies that don't hire you. So he's doing that but that's new. And then the other thing

to what you were saying to look about the attitude the Mina Kimes rule of just like do you want to be a quarterback in the NFL you either have to believe in God or believe you are a God and it's like you listen to Jaden Daniels every answer basically he talks about his faith how it empowers him how he's grateful for life

and Caleb Williams God didn't come up he believes he's God and it's like Aaron Rogers right like irrational confidence someone asked him who do you compare yourself to or who do you model your game after and he's like I don't really model myself after anyone. I want to rewrite history.

Dude, yeah. That's like, that's a Kanye West's sentiment. He said, for years, I've dream. I've dream about being the first overall pick. He didn't say, oh, I've dream for the commanders. I grew up in D.C. Oh, I've dream of winning Super Bowl. He goes, no, I dream being the first overall pick. Dude, yeah. I would like to enter a field of the best athletes in the world and be considered the absolute best one. Please and thank you.

It comes back to what Dick said about when he walked up. And it was kind of like he walked into a, like, a memory, but it was like, he had visualized this moment for his whole life. He walked up and was like, who nailed it. And then you said it after we walked away, you were like, He reminds me of Cam Newton. Not in the play style, but in Cam Newton.

The most confident person I've ever. Cam Newton invented his, Cam Newton writes Instagram posts in a fake font that he left uses that's barely, it's like a dialect of writing. And he's just like, yeah, learn Sanskrit because you need to know my content. It can't be in the same way that other people write. Yeah, yeah. So anyway, I love the Caleb Williams passed the test.

We also had Drake, Meg, quarterback from UNC. He's the number two quarterback on your board at NFLdraft.3.com. He is your number two overall player on your board, D.K., rifle draft.3.com. What was your vibes take on Drake May? He was definitely more understated. You know, I think he had a... Hard to be more overstated. He said, he said, I actually... No, the first thing Drake May said was

Caleb Williams was going to rewrite history and then I'm going to immediately rewrite his history and I'm going to rewrite my own history. He's like what-uping him. Yeah, yeah. No, he just went up there. He was confident. He was calm. What I, what I... I think the biggest thing that I took away from it was, like, in no way nervous. You know what I mean? Like, he was really, really

calm, collected, answering questions like, you know, with a little bit more detail than a lot of guys who, because there's a lot of players that just go up and be like, yeah, you know, work hard, play hard, you know, give it all for the team and then move on or whatever. It's like just like platitudes. You know, I just want to just the team, you know, be a good teammate and jakemate. Yeah, he. I mean, so I appreciated that he kind of like went more in depth than some of the answers. He was just really, really comfortable.

And so I think that was like the big vibes thing I got from him. It's like confidence is not going to be an issue with this guy. I can see why, you know, you've heard a lot about how his teammates look up to him and follow him. he's a good leader. That was very apparent that he had a different kind of charisma, but he had a lot of charisma out there. And the stuff that Caleb does will rub some people the wrong way. Will rob enough people the wrong way that he doesn't go one overall?

No, I'd be shocked. I think he's one overall. Drake's got a side of confidence that will never rub anybody the wrong way, right? It's just like Drake is his turnkey, right? Like, and if I was a pro is pro, or play the game the right way, whatever. He said, NEPA baby confidence. Drake Mae's dad, Drake May his dad was the quarterback at UNC,

and then Drake May's dad had a bunch of kids, and those kids all went to UNC and played college sports. Like Drake May, Drake May's brother, Luke May hit the winning shot in like the elite eight and the UNC won the like the final four. Like, he was going to say like his family's been in a lot of big moments before. Yeah.

This didn't feel like it was a big deal. Yeah, dude, his brother won the NCAA tournament. Right. He's like, yeah, I could talk to 30 people. So, however, we have to,

can we address it? Sure. Drake May, big tongue guy. A lot of tongue. There's like, what? So he's 21 years old, right?

22. How does that connect? Well, we're in Indianapolis. It's probably... Hyfitts is hyper fixated on his tongue the entire time. We've been in Indianapolis. And like, right now, you know, I forgot my chap's thick of the...

My lips are chapped right now. My lips's chapped. It's dry out. And then he's talking, he's nervous. And so, but after every answer, he would like lick his lips, which I get. But eventually, I noticed it... It's like he counted how many times he blinked.

But you know, you know, those memes of like the, once you see it, like you'll be like shit bricks. Like, once I saw it, I kind of just... But they got more, like, there was more licking. the fervor of each lick as he kept answering questions. At the beginning, he didn't do it. And then, like, every answer was just kind of like, there were multiple licks.

And then suddenly I was like, he's like the new Steve Belichick. I've seen so much this guy's tongue. How much Steve Belichick tongue have you seen? Dude, one clip. It's all I see. There's that one gif. He does it all the time. Here's the thing.

It's one clip. This was nowhere near what that was. No, it was that. The Belichick one was like creepy and weird. This one was normal. No, I took videos. I went back and I watched this. for the answers, not the tongue.

And then I went back and watched the slow-mo. Zoomed in on his lips. I didn't. I didn't. I didn't know it on his face. He was talking with his face. How many videos of Drake Bay's tongue do you have on your phone right now? Well, okay, let's be real.

We're acting like I took videos for the tongue. I was thinking videos because we're fluid in Indianapolis and I want to hear Drake May speak. And then as he's speaking, I realized this is. This conversation's making me uncomfortable. They save the videos. They save the transcripts. You don't need to do that. So right now you have those on your phone because of the tongue.

It's content creation, Ben. I'm like, well. It's a tongue is what it is. Well, it became about the tongue. It's like, look, journalism. We're here to do the story. Sometimes you don't know the story until your story. I'm sitting there.

I'm like, the story is this kid needs some chapstick. That's a huge story. Like, yeah. Maybe there's something on those receivers shouldn't drop their phone. It's like, man, if quarterback can't remember is chapstick, I was supposed to remember a play call. I'm supposed to remember a whole Gruden play call. If he can't remember is Bert Spies.

JJ McCarthy spoke at the same time as Jane Daniels. I went to Jay and Daniels. You were at JJ McCarthy, D. McCarthy's quarterback at Michigan. He's your number four quarterback in your board. He's number 27 over. role for you. Yeah. What was your, what was your vibes takeaway from JJ McCarthy? He was another very confident guy, obviously. I think, you know, you can tell he's been in a lot

of pressers. He's obviously plays for the national champion team. You know, he's been in a lot of big moments, big games. It was very clear. I thought he was like so polished. It was almost like fake. Yeah, it was like borderline Russell-wilson-esque in the way that he talked to the, did you even see his tongue one time? Red flag. His tongue did even come by his about? But my impression was, yes, he very confident, like, gregarious, outgoing, but he said the exact same thing to like every question. Like Marco Rubio? It was just like. Chris Christie debate.

He kept repeating the answer. Yeah. Like, by the way, part of it was like the reporter's fault because, again, there was just like a lot of questions like, oh, if you could play for this team, how would that make you feel? And it's like, okay, well, he's just going to be like, oh, yeah, it'd be exciting to play for that team. Great players, great coaches. You know, like all that, it was just basically very boilerplate platitudes, very generic. no like insight really into the answers I felt like but I'm not gonna dock him for it but it was very like Russell Wilson's

you're saying that he actually was asked like he said did he actually repeat the same words like he's like did you interview with the Colts and he just said like what I mean I don't know it the basic gist for a lot of the answers were like almost exactly the same basically um because his agent their agents are prepping them for this stuff very polished his hair interests me greatly he has a he has a very big tough of hair on the very front of his head it's like it's like it's not a I'm not going to talk about like hairlines. You guys can talk about hairlines.

It's not a winters. It's just like a crest. He looks like a male bird. Like, what do they call that? He's a plume. Wait, wait. Wait, wait. A crests.

Oh, like a cresting wave. Yeah. There's more of a plume here. It's like where does the hair start? Is it falling forward? Where is it generating? Oh, you ever see people who tried to diagram him, Donald Trump's hair.

Like, where did this? Where? The angles of the hair. Right. Yeah, that's how I felt too. Anyway, yeah, JJ was throwing in the hotel. And there was a clip of it. It was like, look at JJ throwing in the hotel, which is something that has been

done by every other quarterback that's ever been here ever. Yeah. It's been documented at other times. And Michael Penix literally did like four hours later. But when JJ's doing it, man, when JJ ripping that throw in the hallway, getting warm, getting loose. Well, because he was throwing it over like a drop in like an angle. and if he screwed it up, it would have gone down the floor.

And I think that that made me think, I want quarterbacks throwing in more like weird places. Yeah. Like trick shots. It's only fields. And I'm like, yeah, like, we should just put him in weird spots. First, I thought I meant Justin, and I was like, where is he throwing it?

And then I realized Fields. He also said the only stat I care about is winning, which, you know, it's like you win the championship. You can say that. Also, JJ McCarthy. So he's the only one of the top four quarterbacks throwing. So Caleb Williams is going to throw because he's like, you know, don't need you guys.

Drake May's not going to throw because, sure, I guess he doesn't want to throw. And then Jane Daniels, they're all going to throw at their pro days and their own, like, more, you know, making teams come to them. Yeah, more prep. They have their receivers. Like, prep for all this stuff. And then, and then J.G. McCarthy, though, who is probably the fourth guy

who might be a top five quarterback pick, he is going to throw. So the next one is going to be a J.J. McCarthy show. So the next episode we do, we'll see him throw. And then I'm curious, if you guys are, I said, before we see him, are you guys like McCarthyites? the McCarthyism. I mean, I think I'm in the middle on the spectrum of people who either love or hate him. I'm just like, I think he has traits and talent and the skill set to be a starter in the NFL.

I don't know if I buy like the top 10 talk necessarily in terms of like the ideal value for him. I think he probably end up going in the top 10. But yeah, I'm kind of in the middle. I think I'm actually like a believer in some of the intangible stuff that he brings to the table, like how good he was in clutch situations and things like that. but like, you know, I'm not, I don't like absolutely love him. He's my quarterback four, so. I would not like to draft Jay John McCarthy where McCarthy is going to go.

I would love to get a Jason McCarthy. Which is where do you think that is as you say? Yeah, I think he can go top 10, top 15. I would love to take him, I pick 58, right? 58? Yeah. Like you just take him. 58.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So insultingly. I first I was, I first thing, 57. I was too rich. Yo, who is the 15, 15, 15, 15, wait. Reasonable. He's 58 at best. I think he's a developmental player.

young player who's got some tools. Last year, the 58th pick was Luke Schoonmaker to the Dallas Cowboys. Also at Michigan, actually. But 57 was John Michael Schmitz and 58 was a 7th. 56 was Tyreece Stevenson. Those are good players. You'd rather have I'm a Giants fan. John Michael Schmitz,

Center for Minnesota. Solid rookie season. You'd rather have him than J.G. McCarthy? No, so maybe 57 then. Let's go back to 57. This is what they're doing in draft rooms right now, by the way. This is how they make the board. The board gets built. They just look at last year's draft and they go,

John Michael Trance, projecting McGrath thing. Yeah, so that's the thing is it's a value thing. It's a quarterback inflation thing. I just think he's a year away from being a year away. And even if he comes into his ceiling and he rounds into form, I'm not sure it's like, you know, real above average starter.

I think he's a Brock Purdy sort of player sort of arc. And that can work for a team like the Falcons or team like the Vikings, who I really think, given the way the Vikings have talked about the quarterback position, the way the McCarthy, you talk for the Vikings. I do think that's a pairing

that you're going to see become really popular over the next couple of months. also you can work for them. I just don't think it's like a high-end starter. Okay. And again, J.G. McCarthy won the top four quarterbacks. The last one here, Jaden Daniels, quarterback at LSU. I was at this one because McCarthy. I bounced around to. I was there too. So what's your vibes taking, Jane and Daniels?

He was a little quiet, honestly. I mean, like relative to the other guys, I think he was a little bit more reserved and reserved and quiet. You know, he wasn't, he was confident, but he was just not as boisterous, I guess, as some of the other. Like Caleb Williams and Jane Daniels, I would say, like, are on two ends of the spectrum in terms of like their outgoing personality. And I think this is what we've heard about Jane Daniels before in terms of like his leadership style. It's not necessarily super rah-rah.

He's just like a quiet leader. So that was kind of positive though. Like reserved and quiet. But like he every question he was like, I'm grateful. I'm like the like the, also we haven't talked of this yet. But like when he left Arizona State, he was like one of the best prospects of the history of Arizona State. And Antonio Pierce, who coached the Raiders, like recruited him when he worked on the

Herm Edwards stuff, I think recruited Jaden Daniels two years. Arizona State. He leaves, Jane Daniels ends up transferring and I think just the disappointment of it. When they left, the video went viral of his teammates, like, raiding his locker,

being like, this dude sucked anyway, taking stuff, throwing in the trash, keep what they wanted. And like, they did it. And they asked him about it.

And even then, like years ago, he was like, you know what, man, I'm just so happy with the opportunity. I want to judge him in a heat moment.

Like, I love those guys. That sounds like Russell Wilson. Yeah, that's Ross. It was wild. Sorry, maybe this is Russell Wilson,

actually. I don't know. Or he just, I don't know. I don't know what this dude is like super positive. I mean, that's a very good quality to have as a quarterback, whether it's projected or real.

I think being able to bounce back from bad play, bad pick, you know, a bad situation where your teammates end up not liking it or whatever. Like, that is absolutely a good trait to have. Here's the funny story. I don't know if you were there for this.

The only one time the veneer of positivity dropped. So he was at, so again, Antonio Pierce is like his guy. And like, he was at the Raiders Week 18 game. And like Antonio Pierce was asked Like I think him and I think they both would like to him to go to the Raiders

Pierce and we'll see if it happens But like he was asked oh how would you mean with the Raiders He's like man I love those guys like you know I just love the coach AP And he just spoke so glowingly of them for like so long he was like oh it's so nice I love working with them like was such great interview and he was like bubbling you know he's got He got the 13th pick then he was asked the Broncos at the 12th pick he's like how was me with Denver? And he's just I saw his heart sink he was like just I could see his minds I go back to talking to Sean Payton? This was a theme

actually among several different quarterbacks. I actually heard, because of course one reporter was going around, hey, how was your meeting with the Broncos, right? And I remember Michael Pennix, his reaction was like, he like kind of like thought about it and like laughed. Dude, yes. He was like,

it was unique. I think it was what he said. Something like that. I think something weird was going on in these Broncos meetings. The Jackson and Jigba when he was asked about Luke Getzzi. He was like, are we live? Shane Waldron. Sorry, yeah, Shane Walger's like, are we live?

He's a nice guy. He's a nice guy. He's like, you know, it's good to talk ball, man. It's good to talk ball. I know Panic said they put a bunch of his bad plays up. Show Peyton. I'm out on the Broncos, man. Austin, Txas.

J.J. McCarthy said the Broncos meeting was amazing. Just lying. You know, like lying. Poping open a can, grabbing an answer, tossing into the fishes. Oh, my God. Let's talk about the receivers. Leight neighbors and Roma Dunezay

both spoke so highly of the near Giants and they both basically described Is it Daibol or Shane that they love? Joe Shane is the Giants GM and Brian Daibald's head coach and based on what they said of how much joy was in the room I don't think it was coming from Joe Shane. I have to think Brian Daibald was so overwhelmed

and thrilled to find someone who could run faster than like a four or five like that might play New Giants. Dude, they have fast guys. Wano Robinson. Do you know that Darius Slayton Jalen Hyatt. Jalen Hyatt is extremely fast. All right, fine, but can he turn? No need.

But the neighbors, first of all, Malik neighbors, so again, number five overall play on your board, Dekes, number two receiver behind Marvin Harrison, Jr., who we will get to. Malik neighbors, talk about vibes. Malik neighbors was asked, so, you know, and again, you compared it to Ricky Bobby in your draft guy, D.K.,

and, like, just wants to go fast. And Jaden Daniels said at his podium, he's like, I've never seen Malik Neighbors tackled by the first guy who tried to tackle. them, which I thought is like a perfect description. But Blake neighbors asked, so, you know, who are some of the best cornerbacks that played against you? You played against so many good ones.

Who's like some of the best players who guarded you? And Mike Nevers, like, oh, man, you know what? Just like, you know, there's just so many cornerbacks to get thrown against me in every game. I use you six, eight cornerbacks. Every game to throw against you stop. It's so hard to think about one that tried because, frankly, I don't really think any of them did.

So I can't think of any, to be honest. It's tough to figure out what it says on their nameplate when they're five yards behind me. I'm sorry. I mean, was that a one, is that a seven? It's tough to see. I just was like, nope. He was intense.

That was my impression. You know how wide receiver brain is like such a big thing in the league? And it's like, why don't not have 10,000 targets? They're basketball players. Like in spirit, I need the ball. Tweet crazy things. Wide receiver brain peaks of the NFL combine. The kids are still like, they're like 21, 22.

They're just about to get into money. They're about to get into the league. The whole point of the week is just tell everybody how great you are. They're loose. They have the podium, the big lights. everybody's excited to talk to them. Wide receivers are the best interviews at the combine without question. It's so true.

From a league neighbors in Roman Dunezay down to a seventh round pick out of Stephen F. Austin, you have him to be like, man, like, what's this week been like? And he's like, man, I'm just so excited to get to the league and dominate Pooka's record as well, only 1,500 yards. It's not going to be a problem. Like I was just like, the wire receiver brain is that it's absolute pinnacle. What's it was a mountain? What do we say on? Apex Mountain.

Apex Mountain. Apex Mountain. Apex Mountain for Ring or Brane. Paramount Plus. It's right here. It's right here. And then it's just down from here on from here into the league. Yeah, Romo Dunezay was also awesome.

Like, I actually do think the Giants are going to draft a receiver base. Malik neighbors also said Malik neighbors went into more detail about the meeting. He basically was like, yeah, man, the Giants, they really need a receiver. I think they want, I mean, they might want a receiver. Yeah. You know, because O'Dell left. I was like, they told him they are going to do it. So I think between neighbors and a Duzay, I became thrilled because they're also just,

they were cool. And then O'Donzee, again, receiver out of Washington, he's number six overall on your board, de case your number three receiver. And O'Donzee, yeah, the top of the joy in the room. And then also people ask them wild questions. But the vibes for Oduin's, like, he was so comfortable and he had the same confidence,

but instead of neighbors, like, the intensity, Oduenze had this wild quality where we kind of put everyone else at ease. Like, the reporters, he couldn't hear them. I've never seen. He got out of his, he, like, leaned forward and stared them directly in the eyes. eye contact. He was like, just staring down. And then he also just like one reporter was trying to dominate.

He's like, hey, man, you got to three questions. I got to get to everybody. And, like, everyone laughed. It was weird. He put everyone at ease. And then he was so comfortable in his own skin. But I don't know, kind of like in a wise beyond his year's way. And it was like, it was very impressive.

I forget what year was. It was definitely a year of quarterbacks. We did a thing about like who leaned on the tables and looked big and who like stepped back and like, I remember talking about Michael Mayer was like, he was just towering. I love someone who's willing to be out and be leaning over the mic. It's a power move. Looking six foot seven, that's a good move. It's like coming up to someone's desk that you're working with

and just like putting your leg up, putting your foot up on their desk, you know, leaning in. How you doing? It's a power move. The other thing about O'Dunesay, so Roma Dunzae was not patient zero of this, but there were people going around asking every player, are birds real? Yeah. And O'Don's who was like, no, no, no, not. dude, like, they're AI generated.

Dude, they said, all birds are real except for pigeons. Oh, yeah, so that's important distinction. Right. And then they were like, dude, you ever seen a baby pigeon? There's no baby pigeons because they're just made by the government. And I'm like, why would the pigeons show you the babies? Yeah, the baby, like, part of part of nature is you try and protect your young.

Yeah. And therefore you hide them. No one's ever seen a baby animal anything. It's the whole point of nests and coves and hollows. Like, there's no... Burrows. Right, exactly. Whales swim like 6,000 miles just to have their babies somewhere in the middle of nowhere ocean. The humans are the only animal they have a baby. They're like, ah?

Here, hold this baby. Pretty good. Everybody else is like, this thing can't live, hide it. Or the alternative, they're like, they birth it and they're like, walk, go, we're moving. Also, if you Google pigeon baby, like, there's a lot of pictures. There's many pigeon babies. Also, the other thing. The other thing with the pigeon babies is like, you know what?

Well, they can't fly. So, like, they're in the nest. It's in the sky. It's hard to see it. because they're not visible to your eye. Yeah, let me just make 20 feet up and they can't leave the nest. It's like the whole thing. Yep.

You ever heard of camouflage? Yeah. It's a fun bit, though. It is a good bit. Right? Like, if you've ever seen a baby pigeon, be like, nope, and my view in the world hasn't changed.

Email us at Ringer Fantasy Football. Oh, this is the other thing. All right. Email us to ringer fantasy football at Gmail.com. If you have thoughts on the birds aren't real thing, low-stakes conspiracy theories are back. I have a lot of those. But Drake May is asked this question, too.

Drake May laughs and then says, you know what? It's so funny you say that. I took a class in conspiracy theories at UNC and then gave his answer. And then no one followed up on that as if that is like, did you talk to the Houston Texans? I'm like, I would like to know more about what Drake May learned in his conspiracy theories class.

You should probably look up what the classes like online. Oh my God. Kai, why you do you find the syllabus for the conspiracy theory class. Syllabus is the word I was looking for. Drake May, if you get drafted by the Denver Broncos have to fly into the Denver airport. Will you be concerned about them? The Denver airport, that one's weird.

But at least that makes sense. What's weird about it? Dude, the Wikipedia on the Denver airport's crap. Have you ever never talked about this? There's a theory that there's like underground bunkers under the Denver airport where like the Illuminati and the fleaasons and aliens are. So the short answer is a giant plateau, but underneath it's like a fort. I'm giving you all the information I have it this time.

It sounds plausible. few things. The Denver airport's massive and weird and got to remember, it's near like the U.S. Air Force. So it's like an airport. The U.S. Air Force is in Denver? I believe so. In Colorado Springs, right? The Air Force. What did I say? No. The Air Force has probably multiple things.

Oh, sorry, the Air Force Academy. It's by the U.S. Air Force. I'd be worried if we had our entire Air Force in one location. I'd be concerned. I mean, I'm not like a military strategic strategic genius or anything, but you should spread out. We should target Denver. The Air Force Academy is in Colorado Springs.

And so it's an airport around the Air Force Academy. So obviously it's like government. But then the weird part is that the airport leans into being weird. So that they're like, yeah, sure, let's put up like a demon horse with red glowing eyes. Like the meme. There's a guy who listens who every single week posts a tweet that's like, ringer fantasy football or bring out of a full draft shot out of context. He's got four images. This is going to be a good one.

Shout up. Every so often during the pod, I'm like, oh, this is one of them. And the second we said Denver airport, I was like, oh, yeah. I want one of them to be the weird horse outside the airport. Yeah. Thank you to that. Joshua Ray, I think it is. Shout out.

Yeah. Also, oh, talking about airports. Roma Dunsday was asked if you had to take over a plane, if you had to fly it, could you fly it? He said, oh, no, no, no, absolutely not. He's like, all souls will perish. We are died. I appreciate the honesty.

Which also, like, it's like, oh, let's find a clever way to ask him if he's clutch and see if he's confident. And Roman's like, yes, I'm clutching confident. Also very practical about my ability to fly an airplane. I love reasonable confidence. I mean, you've seen how many, like, knobs? A lot of buttons. There are.

I will say every time I deep plane and the doors up, I do take a look in there. And I'm like, just taking stock. I kind of wish. One of what those lights do. I kind of wish I had known what Caleb Williams answered.

I do actually wish it Caleb Williams that answered that question. Oh yeah. We should ask. The person we don't know is Marvin Harrison, Jr., who, this has never happened. So Marvin Harrison Jr.

is not going to do testing and stuff. And like, honestly, I get it. He's the best receiver in college football. And he's like, yeah, I'm not going to run. So a lot of players don't run at the combine because they want to do either because their health are just like, nope, not for me.

And then they're going to do it at the pro day. Marvin Jr. is doing the rather extraordinary step of being like, I'm not going to run for you at all. I'm just not going to run a 40-0 dash. I'm not doing anything for anybody. But then to the point, but he was still in Indianapolis and then scheduled to speak.

And then, like, literally moments before he was supposed to come out. And NFL spokesman walks out and says, so he's not coming. And I have no further information for you whatsoever. Irish exit. He just Irish exited the press conferences. And so, I don't know. Dika, do you respect that?

Yeah, yeah, that's my move. Yeah. If I wasn't going to do that, I wouldn't like, help people ahead of time. I just not show up and or just leave without telling anyone. Yeah. I think that's the move. The Marvin Harrison, I'm not going to participate in the draft process is a really unique. I'm not going to participate in the draft process because it's not in being like I'm not doing the combine. The combine's a mess. I'm going to do Ohio State pro day where like, you know,

we can control the environment. Obviously everybody's going to come and so Ohio stay and they're going to see me. They're going to want me anyway. He's just not doing the pre-draft process. He is not going to train for drills that quasi-connect to NFL skills. He's basically just saying, listen, like I, you've seen this tape, right? Pretty good tape. Like, I think, fundamentally, I'm the best non-quarterback in this class. My film is good enough to stand on that. I'm not going to waste my time doing something otherwise.

I have some admiration for that. I get that. I'm like, I think it's good to, like, I mean, like, do some weird training at some stuff in risk and injury. Like, you know, pop my Achilles coming out for the 40. Like, I get that. I also don't think he could pull this off if he had the equivalent tape and his name was like Bob.

What if you still Marvin Harrison's son? But he was just named Fred Harris. I think Fred Harrison has to run and show up. It's just Marvin Harrison. I think the NFL legacy is a huge part of what allows him to do this. I also think that he can do this, and his film is unbelievable. They're also, I have to remember, we walked into the week with, like, some teams of Malik neighbors wide receiver one. This is not going to stop that.

This is not going to help answer that, right? Roman Dunez is doing all the testing, and his thing was like, I'm the best receiver in this class, and I'm going to show that, right? Like, wide receiver one is not as locked up as I think Marvin conceives of it to be. And so to give this approach kind of implies like I'm very clearly why does your one. I'm very clearly top five big. And there's there's disagreement with that across the league. And so I'm not sure how well this will play for him. I'm still right now telling you like I would put all my marbles,

my life savings on Marvin Harrison to be the first non-courtback taking. He's going to be four overall to the Cardinals. But there's a chance we have legitimate movement on that over the next couple months. I'm glad that in him, Fred. Also, by the way, he's not the only one that's ever done then. Like this is relatively common. Yeah, Brock Bauer is tight-in Georgia. NFL draft out there to come.

Dika's number four player, number one tight end. Just quick update for Craig. I assume he's listening. Oh yeah, Craig the Hater. Not only just the hairline thing. I saw him before he went on the podium. Dude, the guy doesn't comb his air. And I get it.

It's like eight in the morning. Who has a comb? Well, I think he probably got combed. Well, not me, but I never had it. Do you use a comb? Yeah. Oh, man. I didn't know people still use combs.

Tika, what do you think? Just use your hand or something? I don't know. You're using a comb? You're using a comb. This is a very standard behavior. I'm not gonna lie. I think like the overwhelming majority of people use combs.

Austin, have you ever used a comb in your life? Yeah, he's not a yes. Did you use a comb before you lost your hair? No, no, no.

Like my mom used a comb when I was a little baby kid, you know? I didn't know that adults used combs all that often. I thought that was like a, like the greasers in the 50s would like run a comb through their hair. You're thinking right now like a little tiny plastic. Right, right. That's called a comb.

Yes. Don't look at us like we're crazy. Right. There's other combs that are like, you know, a little more expensive for adults. What are these combs? Are you saying we use brushes, or you're surprised that, like, grown men use anything other than their hands to use their hair?

Specifically, combs. I thought that was just kind of like an archaic thing. No, I mean, no, like, carrying around combs. So like... So, like, it's... Google's pictures of combs. Things like this, like, they help be like, like, I have, like, a part of my hair, a side part of my hair, right? That allows me to, like, make sure I get all the hairs down that I want to get down and then...

Got it. Wait. What's the Will Ferrell movie where they're skating? I can't believe I just explained combs to a man. No. I understand. I've seen a comb before. What's Calvin's hair situation?

$1,100. What Italian handmade? Well, Calvin gets his hair brushed. So your son has something other than hands for his hair. But he thinks it's like a chip thing. Again, Hyphitz is missing the point completely. Yes. 25 years old and you had hair.

Right. You didn't own a comb? No. I like when he says something and then you ask him the exact same thing. I just want to clarify. I just want to be word it here. What are you saying? I don't get it.

I wanted to make sure I got it. He's saying I'm missing the best. I concede the point. I'm the weird one. I truly just didn't realize people still use combs a lot. I thought that was like a 50s greaser thing. All right.

Anyway, well, Brock Bowers came in a lot of your than expected. Anyways, he's not combing his hair. Also, dude, Kirby's smart, the coach of Georgia said Brock Bowers, I didn't get three words out of him in three years of Georgia. Brock Bowers is the least comfortable person in a, I think it was his personal hell. So, but anyway, yeah, I asked about, that. But anyway, Brock Bowers, he measured

in, and what blew my mind is everyone's like, oh, Brock Barrow's a small, and because of the picture with Rob Gruncowski. And you just tell me now, his measurables are more or less the exact same. Brock Bowers is the same size, basically, Sam La Porter for the lines. She said, like, one of the best rookie seasons for a 10th century. Right. Like, the 21st century. Austin was, Austin was trying to, like,

freak me out about Brock Bowers a lot. Like, this time last week, he was just, like, pulling up all these stats on on tight ends that, you know, tight ends under 245 pounds have, like, never had a big season, essentially, something like that. And or the only tight ends that have had big seasons at that weight are like all in the last

three years. So it's a number one, it's a new thing in the NFL essentially that. Well, weight is not your fate. Lighter tight ends. You can talk about this four years. Yeah. But I thought it was interesting that he was almost exactly the same size as. Do you want to elaborate on the weight is not your fate?

You made this point with all the receivers last year in the season. Well, I mean, obviously, I think in the history of the NFL going back like whatever it is, 50 years. the guys under 180 pounds it's like very very rare to see either you know receivers or corners that light it's becoming much much more common now you even have a guy like tank dell who is

I don't even know what 155 60 pounds literally selects weight when he has an not even slot an outside receiver in the NFL and he's literally select size and I mean a lot of that has to do with the way that offenses look right now and a lot of it has to do with the things that defenses are not allowed to do anymore

and so you know obviously the NFL is changing tight ends are lighter. They don't have to do as much blocking. They're used flexed out a little bit more often. You know, guy like Brock Powers in particular is a run after the catch weapon. He's kind of like a debaub guy. Like they use him on sweeps. They use them on

screenplays. He's like lines up in the backfield everyone's all that stuff. Offensive linemen. You know it's the lightest offensive line in the league and has for like six years is the Niners because you need those kinds of athletes to be at line. And it's like when we keep saying about how the Shanan stuff is spreading, it's like you need the philosophic commitment. Everyone's just lighter. Yeah, the rules change.

I miss real football. I miss 265 founders, collision in chaiju against Jaeger, man. I miss big football. This reminds me. Highfiz and I were talking the other day.

Maybe you were here so this would be a stupid quiz. Do you know the measurements for Brandon Jacobs? Oh, dude, yeah, Brandon Jacobs was Brandon Jacobs was like 632-260. Yeah.

6-4-260. I was like, I guess I was like 245. It's what defense events are now. Please never heat-checked me on measurements. No, I wasn't trying to heat-check you. I mean, I kind of assumed you. Wow, that was feisty.

I was like, I was like 260 pound running back. Big fella. Dude, he's a defense defense. Six. He's defensive ends. There are two linebackers at this combine who weigh more than 240 pounds. They are 240 and 241 pounds.

What has happened to my sport? Bring back 260 pound running back. So like once the days when ESPN had jacked up and McDonald's fries at trans fats, that's the past year. I want everyone to have very healthy and safe collisions. And I want mental health and no concussions. but I also, I meant football is a big person sport. I miss the big people. Brock Bowers is going to be unbelievable.

He's going to be so good. Just to round it all out, clear cut. Samuel Porter last year, 6.3, 245, 32 and an eighth inch arms. Brock Powers, 63, 243, so 2 pounds lighter, 32 and 3 quarter inch arms. It's going to be interesting. As of right this minute, he has not tested, and so it's going to be interesting to see if he opts out.

Basically, the whole gain 8 pounds and then not test thing. We'll see if he does that. He may have bulked up a little bit for the combine. That's valid. But then the people, I think there are people like wondering, oh, does this mean he's not going to test? And if he doesn't test, does it mean he's actually really slow at this weight? Like, I would just say, I would not worry too much about his speed.

Like, have you ever watched him play football? Well, here's my question. He's fast as hell. He's explosive. And here's the thing. Defenses will give you tight end routes underneath. Like, defenses are built to be like, right.

Let's stop the wide receivers from running very far down the field. Let's stop the tight ends running very far down the field. If the wide receivers are running underneath the running quick game, let's try to get connected to them because they're scary. and they're fast. And if they chip with a tight end and they leak him out into the flat and he catches the ball,

we'll live with that. We'll go rally and tackle that 260 pounds son of a gun. He can't break any tackles. Four-yard gain will live for the next down. Brock Bowers can make that a 20-yard game. Like Brock, it is very challenging for me to envision a world where Brock does not

find a good role in the NFL. There's a chance that he goes like top 10 and ends up not, you know, Sam Lapporteur and 900 rookie yards. There's absolutely a chance he's not like walking. Oh, immediately top five guy near one. But I would be shocked

if Brock Bowers' career ends without him having a significant stretch of being a useful player. in the league because of that one ability. He could create an explosive play with your yards after the catch at the tight end position. That is an extremely rare quality to have. So here's my question. D.K., you have Roma Dunez

received from Washington number six. You have Brock Bowers number four. Let's say the bears have taken Caleb Williams number one. The bears also the ninth pick. The bears are on the board. You have, I assume, you're saying that the bears should take, if you were in charge, would you take Brock Bowers over Romadunze? You haven't ranked higher.

That's tough. A lot of the rankings are you know, I mean, I think there's, you can definitely be like, oh, well, what about contract value? You know what I mean? Like, because tight end, if you take a tight end in the top 10, then you start to talk about whether that's a good value relative to the guys that are making the most money at the position because, you know, the tight end market essentially hasn't moved in like three years, whereas the receiver market is going up, like, not exponentially, but like a lot each year. And so you could make the argument Romadunze is more valuable at that spot because why receivers

make $23 million a year or whatever. Because Brock Bowers will be the top three or four highest pay tight end, but Roma Dunez would be like a top 35 place receiver. And so there's a value argument there. There's also a fit and what the quarterback needs and all that stuff. I think it's like a toss-up honestly. That's basically me sitting on the fence.

I really like both these players. It just kind of depends on what you want. Do you want a guy who's going to get a ton of yak? That's Brock Bowers. Because O'Donzee is really not that good at that. Brock Bowers could probably fly a plane. I don't think Romney Zanezai. He would feel confident not killing all the souls on board. Brock Bowers would not say anything over the intercom because of passengers.

The light would just go on. He'd click on and he'd be like, uh-oh, click back off. It was a problem. Yep. He kind of looks like just like the prototypical like airline pilot. Sheveled.

Didn't get great sleep. Anyways, but yeah. Would you pick Odunzee about it's to select? Nine pairs. O'Donzee for sure. I mean like, Komet isn't my favorite.

A tight end. I thought the contract was a little big. But there's a lot more snaps and a lot more room for, for Rome. And I think Rome pairs really nicely with DJ because Rome is so rock steady and DJ's good explosive. DJ more at the base. DJ Moore. Absolutely, yeah.

So I personally take Rome. They take Brock over Rome. I wouldn't feel a certain way about it. I think Brock should be an excellent player. I only call you on DJ because you also refer Daniel G.R. Maya, the NFL network mock draft analyst as also just DJ. And I never know if you're talking about DJ Moore or Daniel Jones is DJ.

Yeah. He just wanted to clarify. Anyway, they also do drills here. So, uh, well, unofficially called Big Fast Strong, which is kind of DK's thing. I'm big on that. He's just like, I love it. I'm huge on that. Yeah.

Small, slow week. We do some risers and fall. Yeah, some Big Fast Strong and small slow week from the day one. They get their measurements. We still don't just measure these guys for suits, which I feel like I don't know why they don't do that yet. They just do the draft day suit measurements here. And I want to know one of the proportions.

So number one, Chop Robinson, pass rush her to Penn State. D.K's number 13 overall on your big board. She's the number two pass rusher on your big board. I'm curious how, like, Chop Robinson, and riser from the combine. Tell me why. I mean, I think he will be probably because coming into the week,

it was like first, second round range, I think like the borderline first second round. I think everybody knew he was explosive, so there may not be that situation where they're just counting it twice, but like everything that he did in testing-wise was like just, holy crap, this guy is one of the most explosive athletes in this draft.

Yeah. And my lightly held take that I'm not 100% sure that I want to, like, all in on is like just looking at get off and the explosiveness of the first step is like almost the only thing I care about with this guy like he has an absolutely ludicrously elite first step and I think you can work with that obviously there's question marks about how early you should take that but because there are question marks about him from a size like the technique that he uses is he a three down player all those are legitimate questions and probably why he's

going to fall a little further than I have him ranked three down plays player. We're discussed, I'm shocked that we're discussing when someone's a three-down player, but also 13. Why is he 13 on your board? If that's a question.

Because of the, my soft loosely held take that I don't care about any other other stuff. Do you just want guys that's like the most explosive player on the field? Is this because I feel like

of all the positions in football, raw athleticism most easily translates to like winning at pass rush or in the NFL and edge rusher more than any of the positions? I don't think he's like raw. I don't think he's like raw as tuna. He's not terrible. But so like for instance,

just going back. Pure athletic season. Jim, Jeremiah Owusu Coromo. JOK. He was like my eighth overall player in that draft. He went in the second round.

Was he a linebacker, right? Linebacker safety. He's like a lot. Yeah, exactly. And he's been awesome. I mean,

he's not even necessarily like a three-down player. He's kind of like, you know, used in different scenarios, but he just flies all over the field. I want those types of players on my team.

That's why I'm so high on this guy. I think there's, he's probably in the boom bust area. You know, like there's a chance for sure that he could end up being a bust. But going back a couple years ago, you know, it kind of reminds me a little bit of like the Brian Burns conversation. There was a ton of conversation about Burns being like way too skinny and way too light.

And he was defensive end out of Florida State and he's in Carolina. Yeah, but I was like the way this guy moves, I just think it's going to work in the NFL. And so like I think this is kind of similar vein for me. I like that. So yeah, so Chop Robinson up running a 44840 yard dash. Cooking. What's up? Cooking.

I'm cooking. He's cooking. He's cooking. I believe it was flying, dude. It's cool to see. So the 10-yard split, we've talked about the 40-yard dash, the 10-yard split, 1.5 seconds,

one, I don't know what that means, but two, is that more important? Like, when's the defense van got to have to run 40 yards? I think I saw this was one of the highest, like the fastest ever at the combine, right? For a 4-48? Yeah. No, no, no, the 10-yard split.

Oh, the 10-yard split. I don't know if the 10-yard split date up just yet. Right. Okay, so 10-yard split at the combine. I'm looking at mock draftable's database. 152 Nolan Smith last year set the record. You have a 153. from Bernie Goldston.

Amardi Barna 154, Barquevis Mingo, 155. All those and Jermaine Jones, all those guys are famously like

athletes that haven't done anything in the NFL either so far or ever. Like, Vernon Goldston got Borkievus Mingo got people fired for taking them. D.K. is right to say

that like if a guy has a wicked first step, he can make an entire living off of that. My issue with guys like that is that we have seen guys like that enter the league. And it turns, like, whenever you watch you guys

first step explosiveness, you're trying to figure out what percentage of that is for real Twitch. What percentage of that is snap anticipation, right? Because if you know the snap count and you're going right as that ball is being snapped, your first step can look a lot more wicked than it is. And with Chop Man, like, I can't feel confident at the percentage,

the piece of the pie that's his actual twitch and his actual skill relative to a snap jumping stuff. Isn't that also a football skill, though? Like, that you want people who get into. It is, but I like my edge rushers to be good on the road, not just at home, right? And so you start to run into some crowd noise problems, some silent count problems, right? You start to run as moth sides issues. in terms of if they're anticipating snap counts. Then there's also just fewer solutions, right?

If you are living off your first step, living off your outside rush, I put a tight add next to the tackle. What's you going to do? Can you go through a guy? Can you use your outside rush and your outside threat to generate an inside spin, inside counter? Chopp is starting to figure out how to use his hands. He's starting to figure out how to build his counters.

He's not there yet. So D.K's higher on Chop than I am. Yeah. Chops, I think he's pretty young. So you keep making Chop, by the way. You have to mention that he was born like, what, 11-pound baby or something? and that they nicknamed them. 14?

14? Good Lord. I saw that. I thought I was wrong. So they nicknamed him pork shop. And it just stopped for his entire life, which is wild, by the way. But so it's Chop Robinson, which is just an elite name. The other, honestly, the edge rushers, the names are better than the players.

The other 14. Dude, God. Daniel Jeremiah said on the broadcast, like, God bless his mother. 14 pound. And the other name, also a great name. Dallas Turner, the pass rush out of Alabama. Number 23 on your NFLdraft.3.com. Your big board decays.

your fifth pass rusher. Dallas Turner's arms, his wingspan is six foot and 11 inches. Yeah, he's six foot three with a six 11 wingspan, which is hilarious. Right? It's just, he can touch his kneecaps not bending over. Joey Porter Jr. arms. Yeah. Oh, yeah. And if you, and the nice thing about that is that when you're a taller edge,

sometimes you can challenge with getting down your stance, getting your pads low, getting underneath an offensive tackle, you can be upright, you present a really big target. You can get offensive tackles will lay in their paws on you. like if you are shorter, then you can more easily get underneath offensive line. And Dallas Turner can do that you can dip underneath, right? You can make them miss that punch. But then you have length.

You can get to a long arm, right? You can get to a two arm and get a fork left. You can defend the runs. Like that's, that you, if you were to build an edge is how you would build him, right? You probably make them a little bit taller, but still, like a little bit shorter with huge reach, that basketball player build. That's how you would build him. Then you throw on the fact that he broad jump 10 foot seven, vertical jump 40 and a half.

So here's the broad jumps like a split. What is that? What are those numbers? Vertical jump is how high you jump up, and then a broad jump is how far, far, two foot jump forward. You jump in length. And you put them together, you can also get a rough conduit for like the explosiveness. Yeah, absolutely. And so like a 10-7 broad and a 40.5 vert, like both those are going to be at least 80th percentile, 85th percentile for edge rushers. This is a guy who has a great build.

He's got great explosives in terms of assessing numbers. You do see that on film. He has play strength. You see that on film as well. I don't, I wish for as good as he should look. I wish he was more productive as a sack artist. I wish he was more productive as a pressure guy. I understand that Alabama didn't necessarily deploy him in a role that would

just like, go, go, go, go, go, go for the quarterback, get after the quarterback. So I was a little... He dropped back, kind of... I was a little suspicious off his film. Testing-wise, this has been really impressive. Turner, if I had to bet on a guy to be Edge 1 right now, for the league, it would be Turner.

I'm gonna probably watch some more of him over the next couple months. Yeah, I think I've got him too low. I'm moving him up a little bit here, just based on those traits. Again, I trust the explosiveness. He's also, I think, pretty bendy. Like, flexible, can get low,

can duck under a... Oily hips? Yeah, it's just a really, really good athlete. And the length thing is a big deal, too. I got to tell you, at some point, we've through it now. We're going to have to talk about the pass rushers and all this sexual. Like, it's just every pass rush.

Penetrator? You know, yeah, it's like, dude, the get off, the penetrate, bend, explosive, it's all about the length, finish. Just like, it's just, the whole thing, I just try to, like, he does that. And I can't hear anything except for, like, good scouting terminology.

I can get my brain to be. Literally your problem was he can't finish. And I'm sitting here like, yep. I can't. I don't know what you want for me. Dude, performance issues are super normal, man. Yeah, yeah. That's the theme of the spot.

That we clarify that. Okay, other, not an edge rusher, but defense to tackle. Tavangé sweat. Big fella. Big fella. Oh, man. Defense attack. Well-fed young man.

I'm saying that right now. Healthy. Didn't someone predict you would have said that, like, verbatim to me on Twitter? Yeah. It's just, oh, man. Just young man's been eating prolificate. And I'm buying for it. We need a level above corn fed.

We say that about the Iowa line, but we need a corn. We need something above. He's a beef fed, young man. He's been a phogo to chow for a few hours. Fondre Sweat. Go ahead of his grace. He loved him so much. He put a Tafogo out of business.

Devontrey sweat took off 365 pounds of himself up on that podium. They said, what are you going to run to the 40? And he said, baby, I'm running a 4-4. Ain't no problem. And then he ran a 5-2. Go off game. I fucking love this guy. Dude, he's so good.

He took 366,000. I love it out of a 4-4. He was like, you guys are going to be shocked at what I run. Exactly. It's going to blow your mind. And he ran exactly what you'd expect him to run. It's such a good bit, dude. The best thing is that he didn't weigh in at the senior bowl, which implied like, hey,

I'm trying to cut a little mass. And then he shows up in Indianapolis, 366, what he was listed. What was he in the senior ball? The 375 casually on Friday? Unbelievable. Also, just weird anecdote, but the, like, he was talking on February 29th, which is like, you know, or weighed in on February 29th. your 29th, which is the 366th day of the year.

And he's listed at 365. High Fitz loves numbers, by the way. He was listed at 365, and he's waiting at 366. It's big on, he's big on numerology. Yeah. Just weird. It's like literally a leap. The day that he did it on is the 366 where it's supposed to be 365, and that's him.

Yeah. So it's like a car, the universe itself brought us this dude. Yeah. That's all. Yeah. Good player. No one cared about that, did they? Just laughing.

No one cared about that. Whatever. Uh, uh, go on. No one give you, it's fine. It's the other theme.

Uh, other faller. I feel like the linebackers is saying they suck to mean. The linebackers seem bad in this class. Seems like a bad year to the linebackers. Uh,

there's, I don't really like any linebackers in this class. I gave a two to junior Colson who I thought. A two? A second grade. Oh, yeah. The junior Colson out of Michigan. Kim had a good size, like 6-1, 2-338.

He's got length to him. He can cover. 19 times on his film, I wrote down, like, play bigger. Like, if you're gonna, he's one of the few is like almost 240. Play it with your size. Go into contact. Let's create. Get some stopping power. I wish you played a little bit bigger.

You're like getting off blocks and things like that. Yeah, but I like him. And then Edron Cooper, I gave it to the Texas A&M kid because he's fast as all get out. He can run. He did not test well. I don't think his eyes are that great. Like, I know the league likes him a lot. I personally, like, I got to take him in the second round to develop him.

I don't think he's a ready-made thing. after that man. Payton Wilson out of NC State is the guy that a lot of people like on film, and he ran a 4-44, that's sexy, that's great. He is light and he has extremely short arms. He is not good into contact, in my opinion. I can't. I don't know.

I want to feel the linebacker's not good into contact. That's just counterintuitive. I was going to say, literally, why would you draft him in any round if a linebacker kid to contact? Jeremiah Trotter out of Clemson, I think runs extremely hot and cold. What did you say? Jeremiah Trotter Jr. Jeremiah Trotter's boy.

Jeremiah Trotter's son is here. There's another Nepo. So we got Frank, Marvin, Let me make that comp easy. We have Marvin Harrison Jr. Jeremiah Trotter Jr. had a way worse son. No, that's too mean. So we have Drake May is the son of a quarterback at UNC.

We have Marvin Harrison Jr. We have Frank Gore Jr. We have Luke McCaffrey, who's Christian McAfry's brother. And we have Jeremiah Trotter Jr. Yep. I don't know. Like a lot of the people. Am I just old?

Is this always been like this? And I just never noticed because I didn't make me feel old. Joey Porter Jr. came out last year. You know what I'm saying? It's starting to get to that point where it's like guys that we watched. But in general, man, like the kids who are going to be NFL-style bodies, like often are coming from NFL parents. You know what I'm saying?

I think I'm noticing it more because it never registered. Because it's kind of like your first level of like being old is that you grow up and all the athletes are older than you. Then they're your age. And then there's like an athlete who's like, I mean, I was so old. It was on the cover of SI. I remember Derek Fabers was on the S-Side. He's younger than my brother.

And I was like, boy, you're old. But then it's like, oh my God, this person's son. Son. Jeremiah Trotter, I remember blowing up Reggie Bush on the Saints, and now I'm like, his child is here. Yeah. Anyway, old. I mean, that is how time works. Yeah.

So anyway, I don't like many of linebackers. They're all too small. And it's nice that they're fast, but the reason why they're fast is because they're small. And so that's not worth it to me. I would like for one linebacker in this class to be good into contact. A couple other nonsense things that happened to the podiums today. One, DK, you told me Keon Coleman, the receiver to Florida State. Yeah.

I was not at this podium, but you just told me you had something to tell me. I'm moving him up a really solid amount. I'm all in on Keon Coleman now. First of all, his interview. His interview was amazing. Like, he was really, really. And again, this is not that big of a deal, literally.

But like, I was very excited about his podium time because he, number one, he was answering like every question with so much enthusiasm and like wit and just like really into it. But at the very end, one guy asked him, yo, should folks be drafting you in fantasy football or whatever? And he was like really confused. He was like, and then he was like, what? And so he asked him to repeat the question. And then he was like, what? Is that like where if you get like a catch, you get points?

He didn't know what fantasy football was? He'd been in the lab. He's been grinding. He is just stock up. If you don't know what fantasy football is, like that means the only thing you care about is working out and getting better. Hit the jugs machine. Fantasy football is like if real football was worse. It's the worst he never heard.

Does he not, he doesn't know what fantasy football is? He described PPR, which you're right. That's fake fantasy football. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. And this is a longstanding debate, right? Yeah.

Yeah. What's your side? The yards and touchdowns are the points. I'm with you. Okay. Here we go. Should you get, if you catch a ball and you lose two yards, should you get points? You lost yardage?

Not on the football field, but a fantasy. Yeah, because it's point per reception. Yeah, but should that... Solex learning. He's learning. Thank you. Thank you. The other one told me that I have...

Christ. The other one you mentioned who said something happened with Adi Mitchell, who is the receiver out of Texas. You said a bunch of words and I like, I don't know what that means. Just tell me later. Yeah, that was pretty much what happened. So somebody asked Eddie Mitchell, the receiver out of Texas. It was a question about how he varies the tempo in his routes, which I think is actually

a very good question. But Ad. Mitchell kind of was just like, he just went on sort of a meandering answer. And then at the end, he said, if he ain't cheating, you ain't trying. And I love cheating or something like that. And I was like, I don't actually know what he meant by that. I think my, I think what he was trying to say is like he does a little push-offs and things like that at the catch point. Oh, stuff like that.

This is like one of those situations where he like heard someone say that once. He was like, that's a really cool thing to say. I'm trying to shoehorn that into my NFL media developer at the combine. Like a Mike McDaniel just bets people. He's like, I get to say that. And they were like, how do you run routes at him? And I'm, he was like, if you ain't cheating. trying. That's pretty sick, sick line, isn't it? Yeah, but it doesn't really make sense here.

It's like, I don't think you know what that means. No? Just trying it on. But anyways, that was pretty funny because it was like, I don't exactly know what the context was there, but I like it. So I'm stock up on him too. Tyler Owens said in the podium, he said, I don't believe in space. Fair. True. And he makes an interesting case, which is that it might not be there. I don't know what, yeah. What is space? What, like, dark matter? Like the universe, like the planets, like the outside. And, you know, he said, you know, he said, I'm very religious. And he's like, I just don't believe in all that.

It's a tough ask when there's a big, like, Our Birds Real thing, the NFL Combine to come in over the top with something that's, like, wilder than the birds. And Tyler Owens hit that. Tyler Owens might leave this combine with the fastest 40 time and also the best take. It's never been done before. So back with the Birds thing, the combo of these things, I feel like the Birds thing. I remember seeing on Instagram and it was like, Our Birds Real. And I remember thinking, is this a meme account trying to sell me a T-shirt?

or a t-shirt company trying to make a meme. But I feel like it was like a bit, like a joke, that birds aren't real. And then it became, but then the zoomers just grew up on the internet and see all this. And then some people actually are starting to believe, like it's a joke, but some people are like, no, it's real, though. And now I'm worried that like 10 years from now,

people are actually are going to think the pigeons are like the government mics. Yeah. Kind of confession. Tyler owns the DB. When I first saw the quote was like, he doesn't believe in space. I was like, oh, it's hardcore. He's like, you know, like, condense the area. Go get tight.

Football. And then it became more clear to me He was discussing It's not on leverage He was discussing a different space than the one I anticipated Do you guys believe in space? Yeah

Do you believe in aliens? I think so I do I believe in aliens like existing in the universe because it's so big But I also think the same argument Is why the odds that they've been here

are very low It's like they exist somewhere But they also probably haven't been here So I'm like they exist somewhere But I don't think You know That's my take That's fine

Kyrie Jackson, 11-foot-1 broad jump. Oh, baby. Oh, dude, Romadine to the other funny thing he said is, dude, the receivers this year, there's so much bigger, you know, guys 6-2, 6-4, and he looks to his left. He's like, whatever height Johnny Wilson is. Yeah, dude, he's like 6-7. He's like 6-7.

I really want to do a bit next year where I go up to all the undersized guys, and I'm like, hey, like, I was like a bigger corner. Like, you know, how does that affect the way that you play the game and make him admit to me that he's not a bigger corner? That's such a good. That's a good. Well, actually, I'm a little undersized.

Obviously, they don't want to admit it. As one of the larger quarterbacks here, you say. Just walking up to a straight nickel and being like, so how's your size? Like, you're just really big. Help you have the catch point. I'm like, no, that's not me, actually. That's kind of brilliant.

Yeah. All right. We can get out of here a second. Last up, Austin, come over here. So we just, following up on, you know, earlier this week. Austin's some of the Dune bucket. And again, if you haven't seen it, we can put the image up. The Pondoon bucket.

The Dune 2 is coming out. Popcorn bucket. They're selling. We can put the image up with Spotify. is the giant sandworm. Austin, you are the author. There is the incredible 22 things I did with the Dune 2 popcorn bucket.

Did 2 or with? I like to say did 2. A.k.a. The Dune 2, the Kama Sutra. The goal really was to do something to the bucket. So I did 22 things to the bucket. I encourage you everyone to read it.

Go to the Ritor.com and check it out. I also feel like some of my favorites came from editor Justin Sales. Going to give him a shout out as well. But he told me we should. baptize a baby with it. I like that. I can get off board with that. Baptize a baby.

Hide weed from your parents. Hide weed from your parents. I feel like everyone else. We just skipped over the triple human centipede bucket. We just skipped over there. Most people do. What does that mean? High difficulty mini basketball was included.

High difficulty. Take communion. Take communion. Take communion. Finally try and at home fondue dinner. Because everyone's like, we got to do fondue one time. It would be so fun. The Dune 2 bucket is the reason to get involved.

I also, I'll leave you with this. Novelty. for your grandma's ashes. You have to start getting inspired with some of this stuff. When I was getting to the end and I was a little delirious, I was like, yeah, let's throw that one into. Novelty earned. That has nothing to do with the combine. It's so funny, Justin's like, I didn't know you were at the combine.

That's the editor of Justin Sales. And I was like, yeah, we're writing on dude too at the combine here. Not even due to the popcorn bucket. Reading this thing, he says, I mean, let's call this bucket what it is. The bucket looks like a flashlight. You guys know what a flashlight is, right? Yes. I mean, yeah.

So, like, you haven't said a lot, but you come up on that one. No, it does look like a flashlight, though, right? We can all get a little bit. That's why it became viral. Austin, that's, yes, that's why it's funny. Hi. Yeah, if you wrote the whole thing, you're like, right? It looks like a flashlight, right?

It does. It doesn't. It actually was worried. Like, what if it does? It does, right? Like, a really specific one. I'm glad you guys liked it, though. You definitely should read, read the full feet.

We never said that. Read the piece of full, for sure. No, we did. Thank you. All right. Let's get out of here. Thank you, DK. Thank you, Solek. Thank you, Austin's legend for... Also, I swear Austin did so much more than just that, but it's all we talked about. But shout out, Austin. Thank you, Kai and Jack for producing this episode. Thank you. Thank you, Dan Comer. Thank you, Dan Comer, so much help researching the players. Dan Comer, you know, I think we should get him a gift or something. Honestly, we should get him the... Get him the Dune Bucket. Yeah, yeah. Thank you. You know, he can do whatever on to that. Whatever he wants.

There's 22 things you can do to it. Thank you all the players we bothered. Email us for your fantasy football at gmail.com for low-stakes conspiracy theories. If you're a zoomer and you actually wonder about the bird thing, let me know. I'm a little worried about you. I want to change my mind. Emory's actual draft questions, especially stuff, you know, the combine, all the questions you're watching this weekend. Email us ring your fantasy football at gmail.com.

Thank you, Lord. Did I have it that time? That was actually loud. He did it. Thank you, Creed. It literally echoed through the building. Yeah. That was great.

You didn't hold back. It sounded like I was giving you a swirl. The yips are over. Yeah. Knock of wood. Welcome to the greater fire for a moment. All right. Goodbye, everyone.

It sounds like I'm holding your head underwater. Dude, that just might be the like four days of coffee and beer with no water. I don't know if it's that. You might just like. I can like hear the bubbles. Might be like a physical distortion. I'm giving him a forlily. Should this be the cold open?

Yo, Kai. This is the, called open. It's like, I can't say it. I've been water and dance. It sounds like when someone gets like throat

like, I mean. Oh my God, dude. I know, I feel like you have the yips. Must be 21 plus and present in select states.

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