The Ringer NFL Show - Vibing Out the Top 10 Picks of the 2024 NFL Draft | The Ringer NFL Draft Show

Episode Date: January 17, 2024

This week, the guys revisit and talk through the first 10 picks of this year’s draft now that the order is finalized (1:48). “You guys want to do some emails?” (61:25) Pick no. 1: Chicago Bears (9:02) Pick no. 2: Washington Commanders (14:00) Pick no. 3: New England Patriots (15:49) Pick no. 4: Arizona Cardinals (20:33) Pick no. 5: Los Angeles Chargers (24:27) Pick no. 6: New York Giants (30:59) Pick no. 7: Tennessee Titans (40:32) Pick no. 8: Atlanta Falcons (43:52) Pick no. 9: Chicago Bears (50:07) Pick no. 10: New York Jets (53:25) 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, Craig Horlbeck, and Ben Solak Social: Kiera Givens and Jack Sanders Producer: Kai Grady Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Did Don Draper really buy the world of Coke? Did Tony Soprano really die? Or just order more onion rings? Were those guys really in hell the whole time, or was that just the audience? The finales of our favorite shows can make us argue, make us cry, and make us crazy. From Spotify and the Ringer, I'm Andy Greenwald, and this is Stick the Landing, a new podcast where we'll be telling the story of modern TV backwards, one fade out at a time. Each episode, a guest and I will choose a celebrated series from history,

from the 70s to the streaming era and beyond and do a deep dive on its very last episode. Was it all a dream? Did it turn into a nightmare? And, most importantly, what can we learn about tomorrow's new shows from the way yesterday's ended? TV is a journey.

I hope you'll enjoy this podcast about the destination. Starting January 17th, find Stick the Landing on Wednesdays on the prestige TV feed, on Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Draft show, my name is Danny Hypertz. I am joined by Danny Kelly Benzlo. and Craig Horlbeck, we are coming to NFL

Draft Show on the Rio Fantasy Football Show feed every Wednesday at some point after the season at a point to be determined in the future. We will be changing the name of this whole feed, the whole shebang, which should be called the Ring NFL draft show. So just hit follow or subscribe or whatever. So for your own sake, it's not even like we're begging. It's just like it'll be easier for you.

We don't have to remind you just do it. Don't write that we're begging. Don't write that in the newspaper. Nobody panic. You're asking me, really. Wildcard weekend is over. We've got three quarters of the NFL draft order is set. So we're going to go through the top 10-ish teams and just kind of vibe out what we think they might do.

What do they need? Honestly, what player is going to go in the top 10? Before we do that, though, this is, I feel like an entire era of football history ended between the seven days of the last time we recorded with you, Soak, since you were on the show, Nick Sabin retired, Bill Belichick and Pete Carroll were fired. Sabin and Belichick were both replaced.

The Patriots hired Gerard Mayo as the head coach. And then Alabama hired Kalin DeBoer. And then the Eagles and Calibald. boys both give up a combined 80 points and were knocked out of the first round of the playoffs. And now Philly and Dallas might perhaps fire their head coaches as well. And so I just, let's cut to the chase. So lack, do you want Bill Belichick to be the head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles?

No. It's the sort of thing, like I, I, my Eagles fandom has dramatically changed as I've like covered the team and now as I cover the league. But there's still parts of like eight year old Eagles fan bend that like burst to the surface. Did he die yesterday? What's that? Did eight-year-old Ben, Eagles fan, die yesterday?

Eight-year-old Ben knew that Eagles were losing that game, just as well as 26-year-old Ben to Eagles were losing that game. We were on lockstep on that one. But if I see Bill Belichick in Eagles gear and I have to root for him, eight-year-old Ben's going to be like just disgusted, just furious. Tom Brady, Tony Rombo, Bill Belichick, I can never look at them and, like, feel good at all, ever. And so I don't think Belichick to the Eagles make sense.

Harvey Roseman has the most influence over the coaching staffs of any GM in the league Belichick is used to being his own GM like they are polar opposites in terms of organizational stability I think Belichick's just trying to kind of get the wind total record and get out and like Philly can do that for you

with Jalen Hertz but so can like the Chargers with Justin Herber I don't think he needs Philly Dak and Cowboys he can do it there too I don't think the pairing makes a lot of sense if they get Belichick I'm going to pretty quickly you know You'll tuck yourself into it go go go

absolutely let's go But for right now, when it's theory, no. It's so funny how that stuff can switch. Like, I hated Chris Paul for my entire life. He was on the Warriors and, like, they won the first game. And I'm like, man, CP on the Warriors. Like, kind of love it. Yeah, he's improved, actually, in a lot of fast.

He's a vet. Yeah, they're crazy. Distribute the ball. The Yankees get Johnny Damon from the Red Sox. We ritualistically shave him, like the weird Yankee thing, you know, cut his hair. And we're like, oh, this is our guy now. I'm like, right, let's go. D.K., the Seahawks also, you have a head coach opening.

We talked a lot about Pete Carroll. Yeah. You have said both that people should not overthink this and hire Bill Belichick, but do you actually want Bill Belichick for the Seahawks-Sate coach? I think it's similar to Ben. I wouldn't be, I would talk myself into it very quickly. You know what I mean? Like, especially if he's not handling the, like, if he's just doing the coaching part,

like turning around the Seahawks defense would be great. Like, the Seahawks have a lot of talented players on the defense. If he could figure out how to fix that, that'd be awesome. John Snyder is not going to hire a coach that is going to run personnel and run the coaching staff. So the buck stops at Schneider now, and I don't think Belichick is going to want that, and therefore I don't think he's going to be a Seahawks coach. But I would quickly talk myself into it.

That's how this works. Right now, in my heart of hearts, I'd rather have an offensive coach. I think that's like really, you know, the thing that's actually going to get me excited is having one of these, like, young, exciting, up-and-coming play callers, like, as one of those guys, that's really where my heart is.

So you don't want Dan Quinn? Do you think they canceled that interview? Like, as the Dallas game was unfolding? They're like, you know what? I think we're all right. No, they actually announced it the day after the game ended. Great bit. Excellent. Like, we got to help our guy out.

Let's let everybody know we're interviewing him to be a head coach. That's that good culture. I mean, for the record, I was against the Dan Quinn thing before that game happened. Because I think a lot of Seahawks fans are excited about, you know, the way that Dan Quinn has evolved as a defensive play caller, how his defense has changed, how he used Mike Parsons, et cetera. But to me, it's like, I don't really get. the idea of bringing in like an old Carol guy.

Why would you fire Carol if you're just going to bring in like Carol two? You know what I mean? It just doesn't make any sense. How often does the head coach turned coordinator back to head coach thing ever really work? Once. I don't have one in mind. I'm just assuming at some point one has happened. No one gives them a chance.

I think that's what's amazing. Steve Spagnolo has won what three Super Bowl's as a defensive coordinator. He was head coach for the Rams 15 years ago. Awful season, terrible. It's like 12 years ago. Now we have coordinators. Bobby Sloak's been a coordinator league for like, eight months.

And it's like, all right, head coach material. And I'm like, he's done very well. But I'm like, I don't know. It's weird to me. I'm curious what you think about the Solek because I feel like to grossly oversimplify all this just as we look at head coaching. There's a weird trend right now where head coaches in the NFL, there's like the CEO coach of like there's an offensive coordinator and a defensive coordinator.

And they're man, Bill Belichner. I mean, I know he's been defense coordinator at times. But like they're running everything. John Harbaugh, Mike Tomlin, you know, Pete Carroll, who can be coordinator. But like, they're kind of overseeing everything. everything on top of the clock. They're managing. And then there are these offensive coordinators that are the Kyle Shannon and the Sean

McVease, where to me it's more akin to a larger company buying a smaller company to get the IP. It's like you're hiring them as a head coach to get the offense just and hoping that they're good at running the team in the building because you think that they're good with the quarterback. And is there a point where we might swing a little too far in assuming that, hey, Bobby Sloick had a great game plan for C. Stroud this year this season in the playoffs.

So he should run the entire team or is that just like pretty clearly what's working? The general idea of the logic. Offense wins games in the NFL. My head coach allows me to protect what the fact that I have a head coach is not going to go anywhere unless I fire him, allows me to protect him. And so if I have a guy who executes a system, an offensive play caller and I elevate him to head coach, then I can secure my offensive system and offensive what's winning games. It's like that logic I think is generally sound.

However, I think we absolutely have swung very far, right? With like, all right, Bobby Sloick. Like, Bobby Sloak's been a good O.C. I've been impressed. This Brown's game was the first game of the Texans whole season where I walked away being like, man, Sloic really like is the guy who blew me away in this one. Like, it's been Shroud and Nico Collins and Tank Dell.

This is the first, like, Sloke's running the good stuff, but it's not like he, like, Mike McDaniel revolutionizing the Dolphins sort of thing. He's just running the hits. Like, it's a good O.C., don't get me wrong. I don't experience him the way like I experienced McVeigh when McVeigh got the Rams job or McDaniel McDaniel about the Dolphins job in terms of like, oh yeah, this guy might be like a revolutionary. This guy might be changing the way we think about offensive football. Maybe I'm wrong on that.

Bobby Sloat goes to the Titans next year, walks out, he's got nine receivers going 12 different directions. Who knows? We'll find out. All right. I think it's a good thing to keep in mind. Honestly, I don't remind us to Craig. I'm sure there's some like Hollywood comparison of like Tom Cruise or actors or

directors owning their movies or whatever. But I just think it's a good table setter for as we get to the draft order and everything of just like who is actually making. these decisions. That's not always set right now. But we'll get to the draft order. And we're just going to vibe this out. So we're going to go back forth here with Solic and D.K. First pick, bears, then it's commanders, patriots, cardinals, chargers, giants, Titans, Falcons, bears, jets. We'll go through all of them and then also get to, I think actually the next 10's also interesting too. But starting here, number one pick, the Chicago Bears, courtesy of the old

Carolina Panthers and the David Tepper tantrum. Bears have the first pick in the draft. They get to pick between USC quarterback Caleb Williams, North Carolina, is Drake May. who has declared. What a relief. Or Justin Fields. There we go. Or Justin Fields. So yeah, Caleb May finally right at the buzzer kind of declared for the NFL draft. I don't really know what he was waiting for.

Caleb Williams. Yeah. Yes, sir. What did I say? Caleb May, which I've done several times. It's like you just mix them together. Is that a person? Maybe. So, I mean, there's a lot of May brothers. I still can't get over Drake Mae's brother was Luke May who made the buzzer beater for the United States. Anyway, yeah. It's crazy. He's such a hairy guy.

And Drake May doesn't have much hair. It's weird. There's a director of library services in Manhattan, named Caleb Mae. Manhattan, Kansas, I should say, according to Lincoln. Manhattan, Kansas. And someone was like, oh, oh, we were talking about Kevin Clark went to Miami of Ohio, right?

Yeah. But you? Anyway, so, like, hard question, but bears, Matt Aberflus is the head coach. They're sticking with him. So everything we know right now, do you think the bears go Caleb Williams or Drake May or Dorsey?

I think they picked a quarterback at one, and I think they trade fields. They brought in Greg Roman as an interview this week for OC. That's interesting. Hey, wait a minute. I know what Greg Roman's for. He's for the QB Run game. I call BS on that.

If they hire him, I'll update, just interviewing him. I like that. Just bringing him in for a few hours. How you been Greg? Yeah, you just want the tweet on that one.

Altogether, the thing, like, wherever you estimate fields, he's the 14th best quarterback, he's the 21st best quarterback. He's still improving, the ceiling, consistent offense. DJ Moore, whatever.

The value of a rookie contract quarterback is so difficult to overcome. And I know Bears fans like the idea of like, well, we trade the first overall pick for three first round picks. And we get a rookie contract, wide receiver and a rookie contract left tackle. And it all adds up.

Yeah, if you hit on every pick, if you hit on all of them, and you actually get the positions to be that premium and Justin Fields keeps getting better. It's a real thin needle. It's a real tough eye to threat. In general, it's really hard to say no. to Caleb Williams and Drake May.

And the five years of cost-controlled play you get from them. Look across the league. Look what Stroud's doing for the Texans, man. I mean, like, if you hit on the rookie quarterback, the catapult is so worth it. You just can't say no. And so I think they, I think they'll, you know, present, oh, maybe we keep them. That locker room likes him a lot. I would not want to put a rookie in a position where he's missing DJ Moore.

And then more comes to the sideline, starts chatting adjusted fields. I think that's a top spot for a rookie. So I think you got to keep, you got to take the rookie and you got to trade Fields. We're going to talk about a lot more over the next three or four months. I'm willing to move off of that opinion, but that's where I'm at right now. D.K., which one do you think they take? Caleb Williams or Drake May? I mean, I think Caleb Williams

is probably the overwhelming favorite. I wouldn't say that it's set in stone. But it's going to be Caleb Williams probably right now if I had to guess. Do you guys think that Caleb Williams and Drake May are the only two quarterbacks in this draft that you would rather have over Justin Fields? Ooh.

You could convince me on Jaden Daniels, I feel like. I've been watching a lot lately. I still, I have been a Justin Fields fan. Like I've been a Justin Field supporter. Like I think there's something there. But I also think, kind of like Ben was saying, there has to be like a jump.

He still hasn't made the jump to the point where I'm like, this is going to be a long-term starter in the NFL. Like he still processes too slowly. Takes too many stacks. Can he work through that and get over that and get you like get to the next level? I think it's possible. But that's a pretty big deal. Like that's all it's it's close to a deal breaker.

If he never improves on that, that's a deal breaker to me. And so he has to, he has to speed things up. For Justin Fields. Justin Fields, yes. So that's why I think you could convince me to take a guy like Jaden Daniels, who is not a perfect prospect by any means, but pretty quick processor has a ton of, you know, value as a runner. Like he's a really good runner.

He's up there. I don't know if he's explosive as Justin Fields is, but he can do a lot of things that Justin Fields does in the run game. And you have, I think, sort of the upside that you can bring in, with him as like a as a dropback pastor that fields is not really shown yet. So it's, I understand it's kind of like the mystery box thing, but let's put a pin in Daniels because I think hypothetically when the New York Giants are

up, I want to come back to the third quarterback in the draft. Real quick, Ben degeneracy season has begun. Fanduel, Caleb Williams to be the first overall pick is minus 1,000, which is an implied probability of 91%. The field is plus 550, right?

And so the, in nine out of ten universes right now for Fandall, Caleb is going at one overall. So if it's the bears that are making the pick, then the bears would have Caleb Williams. I will say that while I expect Caleb to be the first overall pick, if the Bears keep it, I would put the percent chance at less than 90.

I would put it closer to 70, 75, with the combined influence of Drake, and Jane and Daniels waiting in the wings. I agree with that. So next up here, we have the Washington commanders. I kind of think the commanders are in a better spot than the Bears. The commanders just,

so they fired Ron Rivera as the head coach. They're still looking for another one to replace him. Adam Peters, they hired as the general manager. from the 49ers. I think the Niners are in, sorry, not the Niners. They hire the Niners got to be the Commanders' GM.

The commanders get to sit here and just either take Caleb Williams, who is from Washington, D.C., and went to high school, blocks from the Capitol, or Drake May, who replaced Sam Howell at North Carolina and now could just replace Sam Howell again at you and C. And they're like friends. And so it's almost, D.K., there's almost nothing to discuss here, right? It's just like, trading up probably isn't worth it.

Just sit here and take whoever, like Drake Me or Williams, whoever falls to you, right? I think Sam Howell played his way out of the even remote potential that he's going to be a starter in the NFL going forward, like over the stretch run of the season. It just makes too much sense. You're unlikely to be at this position again, picking a very, very highly touted prospect like this. And so, yeah, just take the best quarterback that's available there, whether it's May or Williams. Here's my question. Do you think it would be good for Caleb Williams to land in Washington, kind of his backyard?

or do you think it would behoove him to like just go to Chicago? Like what do you think would be actually better for him long term? There is a trope of like the guy who goes home and like there's all the people around you. It's like I want to hint Tommy DeVito basically has whole careers because he lives nine minutes. Look at Kenny Pickett. He's thriving. Absolutely. The comfort of western Pennsylvania.

It depends on the guy and depends on right. Like who he's his connections are when he's there. Right. If it's like a ton of family and his huge family guy, it's great. If it's like, you know, he went to high school and like was a, knucklehead and like he's a bunch of friends who still live there who are knuckleheads and that can be bad for him right like that's this discourse happens all the time in the draft process it depends on the guy i don't know nearly enough about caleb to say that for sure next up here we have

the patriots i think this is where everything gets interesting it's like bears commander's first two picks take the drake mayor kill blooms the patriots i feel like so again the sunseted bill bellichick it's like the they're there grandpa and then they hired gerard mayo sorry it's exactly what they did they hired rod mayo as head coach and mayo was the defensive assistant kind of like the under belichick tree's been bad but at least mayo was also a lot of linebacker like Vrabble was. Was he calling plays Mayo defensively or no? It's, they even keep that stuff secret.

I think he has at points, but also Belichick was. They want to give the kids credit. I don't know. I'm of the belief he was more of a coordinator than the Belichick kids were. I talked with Mayo for 10 minutes on the ringer NFL draft show in 2021. And he was delightful. And accordingly, he's going to be a great head coach of the Patriots. I'm doing my insider, uh, tilt now where I'm like, I had a conversation with the guy

once. So he should be a head coach. So I'm, I'm so glad you did that. Solek. So the Patriots here have three options. Do you take the best receiver in the draft, Marvin Harrison, Jr. from our house state, the best tackle in the draft, Olyfshano from Penn State? Or do you take the third best quarterback, which you have to decide who it is, Daniels, LSU, Bonix, Oregon.

So Solac, when you talk to Gerard Mayo two years ago, which of these guys did he tell you they would take with the third? Yeah, he was like, Ben, I'll tell you, if I become the head coach of the Patriots, three off seasons down the road here, and Marvin Harrison Jr. is coming out in the draft. That's likely the direction that we're going ahead with the top five pick. I take Marvin. I think Marvin's the best player available. I think wide receiver is an enormous position of need for them.

I think they're in a spot where their offense is a year away from being a year away. And so if they like Daniels enough to do it, go for it. Just understand year one is going to be a red shirt year there in terms of development. And you can always make the argument. And we'll talk about it's a ton more over the course of the draft process, I'm sure. You know, Jordan Love, he sat for three years and now he's amazing. Everybody should sit Jordan Love. No, he started the season.

it was not good and then got a lot better over the course of the season because he had experience, right? It's never so easy as to say sit a guy to make him good or start him it'll make him good. It's conditional on the guy and usually it takes, you know, a careful hand at the wheel. And so if they like Daniels, go for it, sure, whatever, but I think it's very justifiable for them to pass on quarterback in the first year and just kind of try to fill the cabinets a little bit. Not a single name though. Daniels, for Sean, the left tackle out of Penn State or Marvin Harrison, do I balk at here. They're in a really nice spot. It is a excellent top of the draft. This is without question, the best top of the draft that we've covered since we started doing this show together.

So, okay. So let's give the pages Marvin Harrison Jr. there. And also, I just think that being a junior is such an advantage. Like Vlad Guerrero Jr. in baseball. Like, just being the, like Jackson Holiday, it's like sick. But even if he was Matt Holliday, like there's something about being a kid's son, but they also have the same name. It's like this double. Yeah, Mahomes.

It's something about it. Yeah, that's my bad. I think we talk about NEPO babies all the time. Sometimes there's a benefit of, like, growing up around football and being in a locker room since you're one years old. You know what I mean? Like absorbing that much institutional knowledge over the years, I think is probably a good thing. The only thing I'd add to this is the Patriots truly had one of the worst skill position

groups I can ever remember. Like truly, one of the worst. And so getting a guy like this who has a really high floor, I don't, you know, obviously there's no such thing as a foolproof pit. or like a can't can't bust pick sorry hi fits there's doctors for that we ran ads for a can't bus for years a no not November pick

you know on uncrustable sandwiches right it's just an unbustible prospect uh yeah that's that's Marvin harrison so I agree with this I'd probably take him he's a blue chip blue chip prospect you know you're sitting there at number three you take the blue chip player okay but in this world like who's throwing the football to them year one like I was just like trying to fill the cabinets like are they in Justin Fields territory or we

already in Fields territory with the third pick here of trading a second rounder and getting Fields in Marvin Harrison? Are we looking at like Bo Nix in the second round or J.J. McCarthy or something like that? The team I keep looking at is, I mean, I guess we can go through some other stuff. The team I keep looking at the Falcons of the eighth pick. And I'm like, the Falcons should just give a second round. He went to, I mean, he went to Georgia, just rectified the whole letting him transfer from Georgia to Ohio State in the first place. Justin Fields should just be with the Bears and they should be having an offense with Fields and Bejohn, Kyle Pitts, Drake, London and a really like good, huge offensive line. Like that just seems like a no brander to me.

I think this is the permanent caveat here, but obviously we'll know more after free agency. There's quite a few veteran free agent quarterbacks that are going to be kind of available on the market that they could kind of feel stopgap year type guy. Because they obviously, I think they have to upgrade from Mack Jones and Bailey Zapier. We also don't know who their OC is, right? And so like that's also a big part of the challenge. Like, okay, what are they going to want to run and who does their OC know and like who does he like working with?

So it's very hard to pin down their quarterback plans. So Arizona Cardinals to the fourth pick here. Kyler Murray is still going to be the Cardinals quarterback. They took Paris Johnson Jr. with the sixth pick last year. He's a right tackle to finish the season. Really good film. I mean, I don't know.

Do you just take, do you just take the best receiver left here? Do you take like them to league neighbors? Or do you start looking at like screw it? Let's just take Paris Johnson. I mean, do you have Paris Johnson last year. Just take Oly Foshano. If he's still on the board, like who do you grab here? I mean, I don't think there's a wrong answer.

To be totally honest, I would probably take the receiver. Because, and I really like Malik Neighbors. I think that guy, it's like the slimmest of margins between him and Marvin Harrison, Jr. in terms of just, you know, the ability to kind of change an offense. Neighbors is the most explosive receiver I can remember in a really long time. He's like up there with Jamar Chase in terms of just like pure raw explosiveness. Just super fast, super ability to take the type off of defense, run after the catch, create on his own.

So getting a guy like that into an offense that's kind of already sort of, it's not in its infancy anymore because they've got Kyler, they've got a left tackle, they've got James Connor, who's a really solid running back. They have sort of the pieces to take a big leap here, I think. And so getting a guy like that could really make a big difference. Remember, Marquise Brown is a free agent. I doubt they'll bring him back. Like, I don't know why they would, to be honest.

And then after that, it's like Michael Wilson, who's coming off of a pretty solid rookie season, but he's more of like a number two or three. And then Rondale Moore, who has not panes, hand out whatsoever. Greg Dorch, who's 5'6. Sure. Dorch is like a fun bit and an exciting player, but he's not like an offense elevator. A rising tight end.

Essentially their number one. That's a great point. Craig. Like he's their sort of number one. They've got a good running back like I was saying, got a left tackle. If they insert a guy like neighbors or maybe it's Rowan-A-Dunzee, they like more. It does kind of round everything out a little, kind of nicely to have like McBride. You have Michael Wilson as the number two. You got Doris and you bring in a number one like neighbors or something, and you actually kind of have an offense there. It elevates everybody in that.

whole ecosystem, I feel like. And so, yeah, that's what I personally do. I think, you know, just look at what Chase did, Jamar Chase did with the Bengals offense. Like, I think that could be a really big impact type player. Yeah. I couldn't agree more with what Craig said. The offense feels weird until Neighbors is Target 1,

which makes Wilson target 2, which makes Dorch and Rondale Moore, your gadget guys. And Mount McBride is nine targets a game, he's six and just as neat. If they, if Arizona is in a nice spot to catapult here, if they get wide receiver right with the way that offense performed late down the stretch. I thought that line was playing a lot better. I thought Kyler played well.

Drew Petzing, who was their first year OC, I was really impressed by. They get one or two more pieces. That unit can go. Defense's going to take a bit, but we knew that coming in. But offensively,

I wouldn't be surprised that we're sitting around in the summer, July and August and talking about, man, this Cardinals' offense might be a headache. And you know, the best part about Malik neighbors

is if they draft them or anyone is, pew, pew, pew, explosive. Fast. Right. Which, by the way, let's beat.

Let's touch base on the Rondel more explosives. How many do they have the season? He is just... That's why he did three pews, one for each explosive play around that Mar will have this year. They just need to turn him into a running back. Let's be honest. Just turn him into Devon A-chan.

Pretty much. By the way, they also have a ton of top 100 picks in this draft, so they can definitely address... This team also plays hard. Like, they were just frisky for the last eight games of the season. They beat the Cowboys, like... Yeah, they really do. They're taking the bus to work, you know?

Yeah. For people that don't understand, by the way, go look up the Jonathan Gannon preseason interviews and preseason team meetings. Cardinals head coach is Michael Scott. Trenchworthy. But he does a good job coaching. Rondell Moore in the season had three gains of 40 yards or more.

And then four, six, eight, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22, 24, 20. He had 26 gains over 20 yards. When did this happen? Okay. Wow. Jonathan Gannon. We're back in on more. Rondale.

Rondale. All right. What about the fifth pick here? if the Cardinals are all about speed, the charges are on the other end of that spectrum. So Staley's gone, their general manager, Tom Telesco's gone. We don't know who they're going to hire a head coach.

Is it Bill Belichick? Is it Jim Harbaugh? DK., I've seen a lot of mock drafts are putting Brock Bowers that tied out of Georgia here. Yeah. How does that sound to you, considering they need anybody

who can run a 40 faster than 4-6, which might be, which might honestly be Ben Solac, the way we saw them out there on Twitter running? But what do you see for the chart? charges at five? I think it does. I think Bowers is definitely an option there. I don't think he gives them the like true explosive like field stretching speed that they're looking for. Because they have 32 year old Keenan Allen. They have Mike Williams coming off an ACL tear. They have I don't know if Gerald

Everts under contract with them. They have unfortunately for our producer Kai, a water receiver who will not be named at a TCU who had a rough year. Darius Davis. He's a pro. Yeah. So yeah, walk us through what you think they should do. Like is this no brainer they should be going after Malik neighbors or Roma Dunezay? Well, if If either of those guys are still there, I could definitely see them taking either neighbors or O'Donze. Obviously, I think O'Donzee will be there. I'm guessing neighbors is sort of like,

that's going to be a pivot point there. If he's there, they might take him because he's sort of exactly what they need. But when you talk about Brock Bowers, man, that guy is one of the most fun players watching this draft. Like, they use him on sweeps. This is a tight end. He's like 250 pounds.

And he's like being run on sweeps and all this kind of stuff. He's really, really explosive after the catch. I don't think he gives them the field. stretching element that a guy like neighbors would do. So I probably would prefer neighbors at that spot. But he's another blue chip guy who's just a really, really good football player. He's going to change the dynamic of their offense.

Is he the blocking type Brock Bowers? No, he's a strictly receiver. He's a much more of a like a move tight end type guy. Like just like a mismatch creator. But he can, he can block. He can go in line and block. I think one of the things that's going to happen over the Brock Bowers draft process because we're going to talk about him like a top five

guy is that people are going to beg, Oh, Kyle Pitts, like, oh, you said all this about Kyle Pitts. You said it was a unicorn. You said it was the biggest and the fastest and the bestest boy. And what's happened? Like nothing, which he set the record for rookie tight end and receiving rights, but whatever. Pitts was like a little bit of like a conundrum, a little bit of an enigma because he was six, six to 40. Right?

So he was playing tight end, but like he was really just like a wide receiver build who we had like supersized. Right. We just kind of like, you know, magnified a 120. Brock is like, is six four, two 50. He's actually strapped together like a tight end typically as in terms of like density. So it would be a lot easier for him than for pets to put his hand in the door and be a meaningful blocker. With that said, the reason why he's going to go top five is because he moves like a running back, right? And he's unbelievably explosive at 250.

Bowers has the rumble. The word of the year of tight end for us was rumble. He's the rumble of Trey McBride, but he has an extra gear kind of like Chico Conquo. Well, so I feel like we just had such a big year with rookie tight ends, right? We had obviously Sam LaPorte, it was fantastic, Dalton Kincaid on the Bills. Trey McBride's not a rookie. but we've had a lot of young tight ends, like really taking off Luke Musgraves on Griebe.

Where does Brock, is Brock Bowers, in your mind ahead of all those guys? I mean, like, I can't say yes with Leporta because Loporta walked out and it's just unreal.

Like, Loporda's rookie season has really been something to see. But Brock, he's clearly above the rest of them and he can do what Leporta did. Loporta walked into a position where he was the second target getter

from like day one, right? I remember going to Lions Camp, be like, they're going to throw this guy to eight passes a game. And it was just so clear. Like, they're like,

we need him to be, successful. If Brock lands in that sort of a spot, which I'm not sure he can if he landed with the chargers just because you do need to have the gravity of an actual receiver and the charges might not have that. But if he lands at a place that's willing to give him the volume, the lines gave La Porta, he's capable of having a Laporta season. I just, yeah, the Leporta one I think is actually a good cop in terms of they may not be like, pretty close stylistically, I'd say, but yeah, the high leverage situations where you need a guy who's going to go out and just like, you know the expression, I love this expression. I know it's a huge cliche, but like big

players make big time plays. Like that was La Porta this year. And I think Brock Bowers is that type of guy too. Like he's just going to go out and make big plays for you. He's going to like run guys over. He's going to like stiff arm a guy to get a key first down. You know, he's going to catch a pass with one hand. He's going to create explosive place down the seam.

He's not going to be a number, quote unquote, like a number one in your offense. Like Malik neighbors could be. But he's going to be a really important piece of an offense. And so yeah. You know what really unifies LaPorta and Bowers, which you said it there, D. D.K., is they catch everything. They both them catch everything. They make it easier on your quarterback.

Also, man, Brock Bowers immediately, immediately vaults to number one in the cool tight-end name rankings. Like all time. I mean, like, there's not a cooler name

probably at receiver or at tight end. The Brock Bowers? That guy's like a maddened generated name right there. It is. He's such a throwback-looking player. Just the way he rumbles around and just like runs dudes over.

He's just such a, I mean, he's just a meathead in the, the best way possible. Pooka Nakua is still around. Put some respect on the name, Craig. No name is being Pooka Nakuua for years. Pooka Nukua is like the funnest name to say,

but Brock Bowers, like if you just like imagine a football name, it's Brock Bowers. Puck and Akucah sounds like a magic spell, and Pukanakua plays like a sorcerer, right? It is on brand. Amonra literally means sun god. No.

I'll give you tight-end names. Don't come from wide receiver names, hold back. After an incredible NFL Super WildCard weekend, we're on to the divisional round. For these teams, It's winner go home, but you'll always have a spot in the playoffs with Fandul. America's number one sports book.

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$5 pregame money wager required. First online real money wager, only $10 first deposit required bonus issued as non-lawful bonus beds that expires seven days after receipt. See terms at sportsbook. handle.com. All right. Sixth pick here, the New York Giants. All right. Okay. How much did it kill you to not talk about the Giants like four picks ago? I am biased as a Giants fan and here is my biased thought on this pick with the Giants at six. The best four players in the draft are Drake May and Caleb Williams. They'll be gone.

Marvin Harrison Jr., he will be gone. And then even Oli Fashana, the Penn State tackle, he will be gone. I think those are the four best players and auto draft if any of them fall. be real, they will not be there. So, I think the Giants realistically, they can get out of, Daniel Jones can start one more year in 2024 and they can get out of the contract. The giant should take a quarterback here and I'm curious who you think they should, or if they're not going to, just trade down. Because at this point, what I'm asking is, I feel like this is a tier drop in the draft. There's Malik neighbors, there's Roma Dunezay, there's Brian Thomas. There are different preferences, but I feel like everyone kind of roughly agrees. Those guys are probably a tier below Marvin Harrison,

Jr. And like, you know, if the Giants move from 6 to 11, the Vikings straight up, Brian Thomas might still be there out of LSU. Or if they want like an offensive tackle, like Joe Alt from Notre Dame, like you could take him here or you can move back and get a tackle. That's kind of my thoughts on this. My question is, who is the third quarterback in this draft? I think Jaden Daniels from LSU, but I'm curious if, I don't know, DECO 30 first. I'm curious, do you think that he's the third quarterback or is a Boenix out of Oregon or someone else? I think Jane Daniels is worth it. Yeah, I think it's Jane Daniels. And I think the Giants should take him.

Like, honestly, I think it would be a good succession plan. You have Daniel Jones under contract, but then you're developing this guy behind him. I know that it's going to create some awkwardness or whatever, but this is the reality of the NFL. Also, Daniel Jones came in sitting by an Eli for a year. You're going to have to resist the urge to get Daniels in the game immediately when Daniel Jones is crashing and burning in week too. into Jane and Daniels in the second half of the first week of the first game of the NFL season. The ironic part is there is some similarities between Daniel Jones and Jane and Dan. Daniels in terms of one.

Like Daniel Jones is a really good scrambler. Like the things he does out of structure in that way is like I think a big plus for the offense. But I think Jane Daniels is probably more accurate, at least based on what I've seen. And just quicker trigger, better in the pocket, more awareness in the pocket. The big thing with Daniel Jones over the years is just been like he has blinders on in the pocket. And he just like gets so many fumbles, so many sacks. Like this is an offense.

You cannot just survive with this type of quarterback long term. But yeah, there are some similarities. And so I actually would be very excited to see what Brian Dayball would cook up for a guy like Jane Daniels. Because I think he, he, number one, he's a better athlete. I think he's probably faster than Daniels. It's funny because, I mean, he won the Heisman trophy. He had a conchillion. He also had better numbers than Joe Burrough at LSU.

Jaden Daniels is a very bizarre college prospect. I feel like when people just see all the comparative stats when they throw him against anybody, the average fan would look and go, why isn't this guy being considered a top prospect? Elite TikTok bait, dude. I mean, the amount of Jay and Daniels questions that we're going to get because there's a side by side of him compared to every Heism winner of the last 95 years, man. Like, he's TikTok bait for sure. I mean, he had more passing touchdowns than his last year at LSU than Daniel Jones had in his entire career at Duke.

Okay, well, we're comparing him to good quarterback. That's the bit. Sorry. I'm just comparing him to other guys taking into top 10. He's also sexy. like Jaden Daniels, he just, he breaks, he breaks like multiple, like, 40 or 50-yard runs where no one touches him. And I feel like I'm trying to think of it. He reminds me of like when, you know when they kick a field goal and it's long and then it's short?

And so they return it. And then when they're running, like there's this palpable dread from the field goal team that they have to tackle the guy and they're like, oh, is anyone going to touch this person? That's like every Jaden Daniels scramble. It's like he has no moves. It's like he just sprints and Madden and has the joystick. Like Lamar or Garrett Wilson or Tyree Kail, they're like jittery. Jayden Daniels, I feel like he's kind of always sprinting. Wait, I don't even know.

What are you talking about? I don't understand what you're saying. Like he's more straight lineish than laterally explosive. I would agree with that. So I think like there's been people that compare Jane Daniels to Lamar Jackson. I don't think, I think Lamar Jackson is one of the most. Yeah, he's one of the most rare athletes of all time, like truly. Like comparing him is like comparing any receiver to Terry Kill.

Like it's just like. So you're saying the lateral quickness is not there. He's a sprinter. I'd say, I will say there are moments when Jane Daniels is scrambling and running where he does this little scoot thing. Like Ben, you know what I'm talking like where he goes whoop and he'll like slip through like a gap that the defenders are not expecting him to be able to fit. He's slippery. He's absolutely slippery. Slippery is the perfect term.

So I would say he's definitely not in my mind. He's not Lamar level runner. But he is much more like he's much more slippery in the open field than I was expecting coming. in when I was getting ready to watch him. And like you said, Haifitz, he created an extraordinary amount of, like, 60-yard runs. Like, he was, like, breaking off these massive, massive runs.

And so there is something special there with him as a runner. I don't think he's Lamar, but I think he is pretty special as a runner. Now, one thing that I will say is that, I'm not in the spot where I'm like Jaden Daniels for sure at six. Like, I think, like, you look at other positions.

The thing, like, Daniels is unbelievable as a mover. I wish he had more second reaction plays that were throws. Because he ends up tucking and running a lot. He scrabbles to run. Yeah. And I think Justin Fields is a pretty good case for this, which Fields makes a lot of some throws in the move. Jalen Hurd is actually another really good one where like hurts throwing outside of the pocket

isn't nearly as effective as you would think it is. Like when he gets out of the pocket and then throws, it's usually a win for the defense. I get worried around quarterbacks who have high mobility, but use it to solve all of the. their problems and they don't have any other things to lean back on any other solutions to like dynamic issues on the field because now as a DC I'm going to mush rush you. I'm going to make you feel heat and I'm going to try to get you out of the pocket and then I think you're

going to beat yourself right as long as I just have contained on you and like you know we'll lose through a couple scrambles you know we'll give up a big Josh Allen run okay but we think generally if you're out of the pocket you've lost the structure of the offense like that's that's a concern for me and so Daniel's unbelievable mover wish that there were more plays there in that final He would get out of the pocket and create a throw instead of just tucking and running. The other thing I wanted to add about Daniel's type, it's not to get you too excited about it, but I'm actually very interested to see what Ben does in terms of the charting on this, but because, you know, a little plug, Ben charts the major quarterbacks before the draft

and, like, talks about, like, their accuracy at different levels. And to me, he is one of the best, like, moon shot down the sideline throwers. I've seen it a long time. Like he is incredibly, incredibly accurate on those, like, just deep throws. F it, there's somebody down there. I'm going to check it up to him. And obviously it helps to have a guy like neighbors. But he's like extremely, extremely accurate on those throws.

So that's another element that he brings. He had a lot of clean pockets at LSU. Like even the, like, I admit the one thing that scares me is I feel like when the pockets weren't clean, he would bail. But the flip side is, I feel like there's a decisiveness. That part of me is like, I don't know, the Alabama game. Jadno's just like running all the time. But I'm like, okay, but Bamma's playing man coverage. And so isn't that also a good thing if he's like, oh, I have a lane, run, go now, man coverage.

Like everyone's back is to me. And so I'm torn, but I also hear what Solex saying where honestly, one of the reasons C.J. Stroud is C.J. Stroud is actually because he didn't grow up using running to solve everything. I there was, I texted Brian on Hamlin. But there was this great Yahoo story. I apologize. I forget it or wrote a great Yahoo story, but C.G. Stroud growing up. And his first football coach, his C.J. Stroud's father would be at these games screaming.

for Cedor should try to run. And his coach was like, no, because it goes back to a principal Ryan O'Hanlon wrote about it in the soccer book of the reason, one of the reasons they can't teach soccer in America is they're not trying to teach kids to play. They're trying to teach them to win.

Parents are paying money. They want everyone to play the one to win the games. So the first kid who realizes that he can kick the ball over the goalie's head. You know what I mean? Because they're six, eight years old. Those kids win. And then like, but really what you should be learning

at a young age is like tight, short passing. And so it's kind of similar to running where it's like if you can just outrun all eight-year-olds, you're going to be a good quarterback, but the C.J. Stroud's coach insisted that he played from the pocket and not just scramble. And so C.J. Strad now has these absurd instincts, but also he can run. And I do look at, I don't know, but here's thing. I know I'm ranting about now, but like Bo Nix at Oregon, I think had the highest percentage in the FBS, I believe, of throws at her behind the line of scrimmage. So it's like, if it's not

Jaden Daniels, am I supposed to believe in Bo Nix as the third quarterback in this draft? I think if it comes down to it, take Bo Nix and the same. second. I don't think you take him there at number six at all. So we're saying there's no good third quarterback because I, when you guys are like, oh, he's the second on a quarterback, I'm like, I don't know. What about Michael Pennix? Is he already played himself out of consideration? I think there's a tier one, which involves Caleb May, as we said earlier. Okay.

And then after that, you have Jane Daniels in tier two. And then tier three is like the Pennix, Boenicks, J.J. McCarthy tier. Am I missing anybody? There might be a couple other guys that sneak up in the process. but that would be my guess. So those guys are you guys you draft put on your bench. Late first or second. Yeah.

Okay. And you just have them sit and hope they become good. By the way, Michael Panics going to the Senior Bowl, which is really exciting. You don't have a chance to. You don't go to the Senior Bowl. The gang. These guys. Yeah.

All right. What about number seven here, Titans? I feel like this is one of the lesser interesting teams to talk about here. They fired Mike Vrabel because I don't really know why kind of inexplicably. They thought it'd be too much work to trade him. They fired Mike Vrable. It looks like... It's like...

It looks like Will Lettus, aka Billy Jeans, is probably going to be the quarterback next year. DeAndre Hopkins is probably not going to be on this team. Derek Henry, it seems like

is not going to be on this team. They kind of seem just like they're in a massive rebuild. So, Ben, who do you think they should take and what do you see them doing? You got to go tackle here

if one of Joe Oral or Olufushano is available. I know he kind of got past it at five with the Chargers. The Chargers right now, you gave me the choice between any wide receiver not named Malik Harrison

and then one of those two tackles, I think I'd take the tackle. Olu Foshano out of Penn State and Joel out of Notre Dame are about as good as he gets at the top of the tackle. I said it's really, really strong. The Titans left tackle situation,

not great, both tackle situations weren't good. They gave a big contract to Andre Dillard. He struggled and wasn't able to stay on the field, which you would wager to be the expectation with a guy with Andre Diller, but apparently it wasn't. They had Jalen Duncan go in. It was a rookie for them,

and he had a tough time. Nicholas Petit Frere, on the right side. He started the season with a suspension. It was a revolving door of both tackle spots. So to me, like the unsexy stuff, right? Okay, go take your medicine. But it's a very good tackle class. And it's a high

impact franchise cornerstone can change your team for the next five years in caliber of tackle. Wide receiver also obviously on the table, especially if D. Hop leaves. Trailerks has not been able to get any traction with this team. Breaks my heart. That's my hog hunter. That's my boy. I love them coming out of Arkansas. And it's sad that he hasn't

panned out. Injuries have hurt him a ton. And then besides that, it's bare cupboards, right? It's not like, oh, but there's this fourth rounder. We like, no, it's Nick Westbrokekeena and Chris Moore. You know, it's kind of, it's known quantities. So wide receiver also extremely justifiable. This is also where the corner conversation starts, in my opinion. Terry and Arnold out of Alabama being the one that I would say is that is going to be the corner one in this class.

I think that he's at a fringe top 10 talent. Also, Cooper DeGine at Iowa at some point we're going to have to unpack the white cornerback. Yeah, Cooper DeGine. He's good, man. He's really good. My favorite thing is when, whenever you see like tweets, about them. They're like, you know, corners, Terry and Arnold,

Kooli and McKinstree, DB, Cooper DeGine. Like, I saw what you did just there. You said, you said that man might be a safety. Yeah. When he's been an excellent corner for years, but I can't say it to have Washington, so I don't know. Well, they, he's played all over. He played mostly corner in this last season, but he did play

like over the slot and sort of in the box, like overhang or whatever in years past. So I think, but yes, it is because he's white and there's been like zero white quarterback or corners. over the last like 20 years. Ham and Riley Moss, baby. Jason Seahorn.

When was Jason Seahorn? When did he play? The Giants in the 90s. Yeah, so it's been a while. 94. Yeah. But regardless, I think the corner conversation starts here as well for the Titans.

But yeah, the Titans need everything. And so this is going to be, this pick is going to be a hard one to nail down because all of it, everything's on the table. Paring up a left tackle with Peter Skoronski. Like, regardless of who the coaches or what the offense they want to run or what,

like a million different. variables that we haven't seen unfold yet. That seems like a good process to me. We got to protect Will Levis at all cost. Yeah. Billy Jeans. Falcons are picking eighth. They fired Arthur Smith, their head coach, which D.K. was thrilled about.

Interviewed Bill Belichick. Yeah, they interviewed Bill Belichick. Which I think I feel good about that. You said it was like making Tom Cruise audition for a role. Can you imagine Tom Cruise going and like auditioning with like. I believe he did audition for once upon a time in Hollywood to play the Rick Dalton character. I believe that.

But even that was like a performative audition, though, wasn't it? I'm not sure. I don't think they could find a stunt double short enough. So I think they went into the direction. Oh, man. Well, whatever. You get my joke, Craig. I get your joke.

What's the meme D.K. says is like you took my joke literally a guide to dying alone. Your joke is factually incorrect. A guide to dying alone. But it's more like Bill Belichick interviewing Atlanta that it is the other way around, right? Yeah. Right. That's one where you actually do come as the interviewer with questions. Bill's like, actually, I have some things I want to ask you guys.

what have you been up to? Man, if they take Brock Bowers, it's just going to be so good for content. I'm almost rooting for it at this point. I will say, so I think this is where we have to start talking defense, though. And I'm curious to think, because obviously they took Bijon Robinson the running back last year in the top 10. They took Drake London, receiver in the top 10 the year before that.

They took Kyle Pitts in the top five in 2021. So they also have the offensive line. They've given extensions, you know, Chris Lindstrom's good guard for them. They've Caleb McGarry, who is a mercurial. tackle, but they've extended last year. So they're kind of pot. They have a center that's good. I think they're pot committed in their line. Falcons are dead last in sacks over the last 10 years. Falcons have one player who's had a double-digit sack season in the last decade. Was that Vic Beasley?

Yeah. And then he was terrible anyway. Sick. Disgusting. Not reprehensible. He had the 17 sacks, barely had 17 the rest of his career. We also, we have not mentioned a defensive player really yet so far as like a pick we think will actually be made. So this would be probably the first defensive player off the board. Yeah. And so is that, D.K., is that one a fair assessment of this class is it's honestly an offensive focus thing but then who are the top edge rushers here? I think it's going to be a really top heavy class in terms of just offensive guys.

There's a ton of tackles. There's a ton of receivers. There's a very good tight end. And then there's like three or four, however many you decide it's going to go on the top. There's a lot of players that your dad wants. Your dad's like, we need a quarterback. Your dad's like, we need a receiver.

Your dad's like, we need a tackle. Like tons of those. Yeah. Foundational type players, which I get. But I think there are a couple really exciting edge players in this class. Like Leotulatu from UCLA is just incredibly fun to watch.

One of the most fun edge rushers I've ever watched. What makes him fun? His hand use is, I mean, for a college prospect, elite. Like, truly, you can't touch him. Like, he's so good at using a variety of different moves,

like cross chop, scissors, you know, club move, whatever you make, whatever have you, whatever you have. he's just so incredibly explosive and savvy at like simultaneously exploding forward while not letting the offensive lineman like remotely get his hands on you like it's incredible to watch he's like shoots into the backfield at such an incredible rate um i think he would be like a can't miss type prospect but there's a couple questions about his health he actually medically retired early in his career when he's at washington so this is one of those situations that's It's going to be very difficult to, like, figure out. He medically retired because of a neck injury. Yeah, he got a stinger at Washington, and his neck and his shoulder were numb.

And so he thought it was going to go away. And, like, it didn't really go away. And so then he got MRI'd, and he had a neck issue. They were like, you might just have to stop playing football. I don't understand or recall exactly, like, what led to the change being like, no, actually, I can play football. I don't know if he's like. He found new doctors. Exactly.

I think truly the answer is he went down to UCLA. and they looked at him again and he got doctors to sign off on it. So it's going to be, this is another player that's kind of like... I heard it was a prebiotic thing. I heard he started drinking poppy. This is the Billy Bean meme. He gets a California and immediately just feel better.

This is the meme of Jonah Hill and Billy being like, hey, Billy, there's this player that like is the best hand usage of a defensive end I've seen in years. Like, what's the problem? He's retired. He might some teams like legitimately might not have him on their boards because of us. But to me, he's just so much fun to watch. He's so good with his hands, you know, in terms of mixing his explosive first step with a variety of past rush moves that would just make it very difficult for tackles to get a hold of them. You know what I mean?

He's very slippery in that sense. So I think there's going to be questions about his overall athleticism, but I think he's really, he's really, really quick. So it probably doesn't matter. Latu is going to be a good pro. I mean, like, he's, as long as, like, March, he is, he is, he is prospect one on the combine is important for me board. Right? We're like, it's just the medical testing and what red flags pop up and what team's have on the board, what teams don't.

But if he clears the bar, like Latsu, he just screams good pro. He doesn't scream, I'm going to have a, you know, 12 sacks every season. And once in a minute I have a 17 sacks. Like he's not like the Miles Garrett pick, you know, Michael Parsons pick. Obviously, Parsons was 11 overall. But when you start talking about edge rushes who play all three downs, impact the run in the past and also can have double-digit sack seasons, lots is all that in bag of baggage chips. He is, his film is excellent.

I was in such a dark, dire place with this defensive class, the top guys that I've watched, everybody was kind of disappointing me a little bit. I don't know, top 15 or whatever. I watched Lotho. I was like, thank God, there's at least one. Lotho, absolutely,

100% unequivocally. Capital C, can capital P play. And I'm, he's edge one for me comfortably with who I've seen. I couldn't agree, Mark. So in the, like,

in the hours and hours and hours that you spend studying the draft, like there's times where it gets kind of boring. Like, you're watching like some corner like get targeted twice in a game like you're watching like a whatever the cut up of the game it's like just nothing happening it's so nice to have a breath of fresh air type player like this where it's like almost every play he's doing something good it's like wild it's one of those things where i'm like looking up i'm like why are we not talking

about this guy more like every single play he's just like getting into the backfield it's incredible he's so good but then of course comes with this massive gigantic caveat um that could push him downboards quite a bit so next up here with the chicago bear who would have just taken a quarterback first. And I think the question's like, do they just take a defensive end? Because they're right there with the Falcons with like one of the worst pass rushes in the league last decade.

They traded for Montes-Wed at the deadline and then their defense is way better. But do you either go that or do you just grab a receiver? Like, do you just put, you know, Caleb, Mayor, Drake Williams with Roma Dunezay, put them with D.G. Moore and just go from there. Or do you try to balance go quarterback and defense? Yeah, I do think that quarterback into receiver

is a legitimately viable build, like which the thing about receivers is you can get really good ones in round two and in round three. And so I don't think like, I think the bears clearly need to add a second receiver next to DJ more. It's probably the biggest need on their

roster other than quarterback. You can argue you should address it later. I think like they can go, like they need into your office of line help, but you're not taking into your office alignment this high, certainly not in this class. You can add to the edge rush package, right, opposite runner Martez-Montez Sweat.

If Latsu's not there, I don't really like a guy for it. I say, like, safety, if they were in the, if this was the Kyle Hamilton draft class, I would say, you know, Hamilton to make sense as a pick for them, but it's not. Like, there's not a safety like that in this class. So they might just end up sitting here at nine and go and like, listen, like, our biggest need left is a receiver and at the top of the receiver class is strong. Let's just do it. Let's just go Caleb and Rome and and flame throw our football for the next 17 weeks.

I mean, that to me makes the most sense. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, don't get cute. Like if we always talk about nature versus nurture like, bring Caleb Williams into an environment where he can really thrive and give him a lot of options. D.K., outside of D.J. Moore, how many Bears wide receivers can you name? Well, I know Darnel Mooney.

Which, he might be a free agent. He needs to be studied. The fall of Darnel Mooney needs to be studied. But who else? There was no fall. There was never a rise of Darno Mooney. All the Darno Mooney hype was gas. I thought he was good. Erroneous. I thought he was good.

Deceit. Was I forced Whitaker and Star Wars. Lies. Deception. That's what Darnell Mooney was. Oh, yeah. But your points well taken. Like, they have DJ more and that's about it, really, in terms of, like, playmakers. Yeah, I mean, they have Coltimore as a tight end.

They got last year out of Cincinnati. Yes, they have Tyler Scott. Sure. Equanimity of St. Brown. Trent Taylor. They have a fifth receiver as well. Trent Taylor. Phyllis Jones, Jr.

Who I was turning 30 this year. Can't forget about him. Veles. Yeah. So I think that. getting a wide receiver big sense. Give the men the tools to cook. Give Caleb Williams the tools to cook.

I feel like if you want to be a top offense in the NFL, you need at least two really good receivers. Strongly agree. And they could just like, you know, just like move right to the top there. Especially when you have a mediocre tight end, you don't really have any like, you know, special running back?

How dare you, sir? He's not wrong. Craig's valid. Craig Clears. It's fine. I have a weird loyalty to Cole Commet. But yeah. You liked Mooney too, D.K.

you were a Mooney head. That's why I said erroneous. Craig's accusing him like they accused Oppenheimer of being a communist in his 20s or whatever. No one, that was the best. Hey, look, no one forced me to come off of the Mooney train. Like, I was the one who told you guys halfway through the year. I'm like, what is it going on with Darnell Mooney?

He's just not playing, like, he keeps messing up. Jets are picking 10th. I know I've made this joke, but like, you know, general manager, Aaron Rogers. You know, what's it going to do? I feel like this is just, it's too easy to pencil in a, like an offensive lineman for them here. And yet this is a really weird team that I think 30-ish teams approach the draft,

like maybe 25 that like we should take a good player and not necessarily think about now. And the Jets are just like on this Aaron Rogers train. Well, to your point, High Fitz. I think at the beginning of the year, people were talking about how talented this offense was going to be. Aaron Rogers drop into this really talented offense. Like outside of Garrett Wilson, like they have no talent at receiver. You can play the same game, man.

people at home try to think of a Jets ride receiver and we're not talking about Randall Cobb and Alan Lazzar they have Jason Brownlee Xavier Gibson I was going to start naming it Craig's ruining my favorite game Irvin Charles like Lance McCutcheon This team has nobody I've never heard the name

Irvin Charles McHen Rams preseason great Irvin Charles is not a person Irvin Charles is a real person False I have a half make theory part of the reason I think you see so many receivers in the top like 15 of this like mock drafts

for this draft is number one it's a very very good year for receivers and a lot of talented guys but I also think like there's a there's a lot of teams that need more talent at receiver weirdly enough because it feels like for a while there's like there's so many good receivers in the league but I think there's like

sort of a weird middle area. Well the problem is all that there's a lot of teams with two good receivers and the just the one B guy doesn't have anywhere to shine like the Chris Godwins and Jalen Waddles and T. Higgins should be on their own team now. The Jets also, their line is disgusting, though. I think they have to, I just think Jacey lay them.

I, you know, I, if Joe, like, if Joe all fell in the, the Jets, I don't know if 10 spots is pretty low for tackle the fall, but I feel like that would just be the dream. Like, they need a pro-ready guy. It's kind of like how Tristan Worf's went to the Bucks and, like, just stepped in and started every game and the Bucks won the Super Bowl. Like, the Jets, you did that last year, and then the flip with the Packers kind of cost them a tackle when they swift. And the Jets kind of just once again need a pro-ready guy. I don't even know if JC Latham is as pro-ready as the other guys,

but I just, they seem desperate as hell. The Jets are in a spot where, like, Joe Douglas and Robert Sala, like, they got to win. They got to win again. They got to win it, man.

Like, it's, you've been hang on for a long time and explaining why you haven't produced in the postseason and gotten to the post season. And so for them, like, like a lot of teams approach the draft,

like, let's build for the future. The Jets is like, who can we plug in now? And it'll make us more likely to win a game. And if you're all your chips are on the Rogers bet, then you have to prioritize the offensive tackle here. You got to trade up for Joel if he's fallen. The idea that you can plug and chuck a guy in

and solve some of your protection issues is massive. They have to be super heavy on attacking offensive tackle if they have the opportunity. I have a question. If you're at pick 10 here, and let's say you're deciding between wide receiver and offensive line, and that's what you really need to help your 2024. Do you think it's easier to trade for or sign

a talented offensive lineman that you can just plug in who you know will be good and draft a wide receiver or the other way around where you draft a, a young talented offensive lineman like Alt and try to trade for a wide receiver who you think can help. You get, I think neither. You get,

you go, you draft an offensive lineman in the first. Look, who are there rookie receivers this year, drafted outside the first that are like better than Quentin Johnson? Like the Pooka Tanktel. Pukukkah, Jaden Reed.

Dantavian Wix was a fifth rounder and is like, yeah, but those are all big risks, right? Like, you need to know this person is going to be good for Aaron Rogers. Like, wouldn't you rather trade for a receiver?

There's not a lineman like that. There's a half dozen receivers that are actually, like starter caliber, like within two months. The supply of receivers is greater than the supply of tackles. So much bigger. For sure. So they probably would be better off taking a tackle, even though there's, I don't know, there's a learning curve with those guys, too.

Like this, there's no guarantee there, any of these guys are going to be like good in year one. You know what I mean? The point is if you're at the point where you're depending on your first round pick to immediately start to make your entire offense works, then you've done a bad thing. Well, so I'm looking at the Jets roster right now. So there's the top 10. I'm interested in there's kind of outside of the top 10, there's what I would call like a quarterback alley of teams that don't have to,

but could totally trade up for a guy. Vikings are at 11. The Broncos who are probably going to cut roster at 12. The Raiders are at 13 where they just have Aiden O'Connell. The Saints are at 14 with their Ponzi scheme and Derrick Carr. The culture 15 of Anthony Richardson. Seahawks of 16 and Gino Smith. And then from there, I'm curious, maybe not in the first round,

but if you guys had a bet, if you were one of those, let's say the Vikings, for example. The Vikings don't want to do one the first, but the second round, then maybe they trade up to the last pick of the first, whatever. If you had to take voice crack,

wow, that was bad. If you had to take a bet on one of these guys to be Jordan Love, you'd take a bet on one of these quarterbacks, and they're all available. Like, Drake May and Caleb Williams are gone,

and there's J.J.M.C. McArthur to Michigan, there's Michael Pennock said of Washington, who's, you know, probably been the best, but also a lot of injuries and like a limited player. Then you got Quinn Ewers ended up going back to Texas. You got Jen and Daniels out of LSU,

Bo Nix out of Oregon. Who are you taking your, who are you taking the risk and you want to sit for two years? D.K., I'll start with you. You got to say it first, D.K., so I don't know. Well, hold on. Did you, are we including Jaden Daniels in this group or no? No, let's say Jaden Dinos.

Fine, let's take him out. Fine. I mean, I would go with Pennix. Yep. Oh, Pennix? Yeah. Are you going to say McCarthy? No, it's Boe Nix.

There's a Knicks and a Pennix, which is weird. Yeah, it'd be Boenix. for me. Nix, I think actually has legitimately improved over the last year, two years of Oregon football. I've been impressed with the recent Bo Nix film, which similarly like the Jaden Daniels thing, like, man, if you told me Jane and Daniels was going to be a good player at LSU, I would have been stunned. Boy, if you told me that after that Bo Nix Auburn film, I'd be on a podcast at some point being like, man, I'll tell you, this Bo Nix might develop in something at the NFL level. I would have knocked you upside the head. I would thought you were crazy.

But he has improved as a passer. Processing is better. Pocket management is better. Risk management is better. He doesn't cause many issues. And there's still obviously legitimate movement talent there. And there's arm talent there too. Panics for me, like, it's harder for me to see a developmental arc with Pennex because of his amount of experience, because he kind of is what he is at this point. I think next you've seen a little bit more growth. McCarthy, I don't think, is the size and play style to succeed at the NFL level.

I wouldn't want to take the risk. So, Nick's would be my choice. I'd be willing to take a shot on McCarthy, especially if we're talking about specifically the two or three year plan where you sit for a little. while. I think the other, the big advantage that McCarthy has over some of these other guys is he's 20 years old. He's going to turn 21 in January. Penix is 23. Nix is 23, I want to say. And so like there's a natural growth and development arc that you can bake in. Like Jordan Love coming out of college, he was really good. His second to last year in college. And then his final year in college, the whole coaching staff changed. All his receivers left. And he regressed horrifically. His numbers did anyway. And I remember watching his tape and he's like spraying the ball all over the place. He's like trying way too hard to make plays, turning the ball over a ton. And so there was a lot of like big, huge question marks about this guy coming into the draft.

And so I think you see some similarities in terms of McCarthy, like wasn't asked to do very much this season in terms like in the national championship giving. He had like 10 completions, you know. And so like is this a first round prospect? I don't know. But I think tools wise and his ability like, you know, his numbers on third down were strong. Like, I think there's some things to work with there. I'd be willing to take a shot on him. I just don't think I would take him in the early part of the first round

because we just haven't seen enough from him. You know what I mean? So, like, if we're talking about those late first, early second type players to draft and then develop for a few years, I'd be willing to do that with McCarthy. So you say McCarthy, if you take him too high, might be a bust. Or, you know, he might bust. He might bust. Yeah.

On that note, I think just get to an email real quick. We were talking about, you know, the great bust saga of last week. where D.K. just says, yeah, Bancarthy's going to bust. And I'm like, am I the dirty mind of one here? Anyway, we're going to email from Hanlon. We also titled our latest podcast, Eagles and Cowboys bust for all of our fans at home.

So if you caught that, that was a deliberate decision. Don't forget you're in love and see you straight out, edging our greatness. Yeah, yeah. So Hanlon writes that High Fitz is right, that saying the word bust outside of NFL circles is a very, very different meeting. Inevitably, when I hear this in the NFL context, I can't help but think of the other meaning. However, the context within the context also matters because Dika saying

Pennix is going to bust is just insane and not the way the word should be used. And my skin crawls when Dika uses it that way. Having said that, saying Pennix might be a bust is totally fine. I agree. You either use it as a noun, meaning flop or failure, use it as a verb with a noun after it, i.e. Ben saying Michigan busted the coverage on this play where the corner busted his assignment. In that context, it can be a verb. It's totally fine.

I don't know why High Fitz gets still worked about those, but worked up about those. It just needs to be referring to something and not the last word in the phrase. I think that's all correct. I think he mailed it. I think this email is a bust. Yeah, I respectfully disagree. I mean, I feel like we went over all this.

I just disagree. You would say that this, you guys would say this email busted. We would say this email was a bust. Handlin. Your points are well taken, and I logically, I understand what you're saying. I, however, just disagree. I'm going to continue to use it the way that I use it. Carry on.

Carry the hell on. So my cousin Vinnie was like that is Mr. Gambini, that is a lucid, clear, well thought out objection. Overruled. All right. Well, also I'll refrain from saying Pinnix is going to bust. Pennix is going to bust. Let's relax on the P there. The first syllable is a little strong.

The wrong and fast is on the wrong slab. I'm going to stop saying Pennix is going to bust. All right. I'll do that for you. He's another junior, isn't he? Michael Pinas Jr.? Isn't that his name? Yeah.

Penix. Oh, right. Yeah. Thank you, D.K. Thank you, thank you, everyone behind the scenes. Thank you,

Kai, for producing this episode. Thank you, Jack. Thank you, Tucker. Thank you, everyone. Thank you, everyone for watching. E-Mails forringerfinacy football at gmail.com. Thank you, Lord. Lord.

Thank you, Buster Rimes. Nice. We did get a lot of emails about, like, things with that, like, the Ghostbusters. Has there was Bustin. There's a lot of songs with that, but like, from,

I'm like, you know, I don't want to break in those. Ghostbusters. After we had this show, after we had this discussion, we were talking after the show and somebody suggested that I just start using nutted instead of bust and then seeing how people feel about that. I was like, okay, I get that. They'll feel worse. Like if I said like, oh, Pennock's nutted there big time.

That's definitely. I understand like your point of view now. Like that makes more sense to me. That is what we hear. I'm, you know, I'm open to it. Yeah. I refuse. that and put up with it every single day.

We got this email from a guy named Cam who was like him and his wife were a diner. And then she was telling about his, Cam, his day was being bad. Sorry, her day was, his wife's telling him that his, her day, she had a bad day. Sorry, I don't know what they're saying. She had a bad, she had a bad. She had a bad day. And she was like, I was so mad.

I was, she was like, I'm ready to bust a nut. And he was like, what? And she was like, I'm ready to bust the nut. She's like, check please. She thought that just meant, she thought that just meant that. She thought it just meant like you were having extreme emotions. Right, right, right. And he was like, well...

Blow a gasket is probably what she was thinking. I'm just now thinking of what context did she hear bust the nut in? She was like, oh, just extreme emotions. What was being said at the time? I mean, in some ways, busting a nut is extreme emotions. Perhaps the most extreme. You know, Google says that bust the nut, it can be used both to mean ejaculate. also to work hard.

Okay. I've never heard it in that context. The English language is so versatile. Goodbye, everyone. Must be 21 plus and present in select states. Fandall is offering online sports wagering in Kansas under an agreement with Kansas Star Casino LLC. Gambling problem. Call 1-800 gambler or visit fandul.com slash RG in Colorado,

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