The Ringer NFL Show - Mocking the Top 10 Picks in the 2026 NFL Draft!

Episode Date: March 24, 2026

Sheil and The Ringer’s own Diante Lee get together to analyze and debate who they think should be the first 10 players taken off the board in the upcoming NFL draft.(00:00) Mocking the top 10 picks in the 2026 NFL draft(02:35) No. 1 Las Vegas Raiders(16:07) No. 2 New York Jets(23:59) No. 3 Arizona Cardinals(27:57) No. 4 Tennessee Titans(37:15) No. 5 New York Giants(43:53) No. 6 Cleveland Browns(47:43) No. 7 Washington Commanders(54:41) No. 8 New Orleans Saints(57:25) No. 9 Kansas City Chiefs(01:02:36) No. 10 Cincinnati BengalsThe Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please visit www.rg-help.com to learn more about the resources and helplines available.Host: Sheil KapadiaGuest: Diante LeeProducer: Chris SuttonVideo Editor: Stefano SanchezProduction Supervision: Conor Nevins and Arjuna Ramgopowell Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the Ringer NFL show. I'm your host, Sheel Capadia. We are jumping into the 2026 NFL draft today. Simple exercise. Let's look at the top 10 picks and do a little mock draft. And don't worry if you're not totally familiar with all these players. We're going to give you the background.

We're going to get into the big storylines at the top of the draft what these teams might do. So I got the perfect guest, Deonti Lee, of the Ringer. His full mock draft is up on the Ringer. ringer.com. We're just going to do the top 10 picks today. We'll get to the other picks down the road. Let's take a break. We'll come back with Deante. All right, we are back here on the Ringle NFL show with Deontay Lee. Deontay, you're carrying me today because you put out a mock draft. You are way ahead of me on draft prep. You've got firm opinions on these guys. I spent my weekend catching up on a bunch of them here. But we're going to go through your top 10 picks. I think this is an episode not for the

people who've been following this for three months, but the people who are like, all right, let's, you know, it's almost draft time. I want to, I want to know about the big storylines, the big players, the big things that are being discussed right now. So we're going to go through your top 10. I got some questions about some of these. I agree with some. Maybe you want to pick your brain on some others. I think I have a feeling on where you might have some points of contention. Yeah. Yeah. So it'll be fun. We will, we will go through this, the top 10 picks. And then, of course, we'll hit on the other teams here in the weeks ahead. But let's get it started.

You did a mock for The Ringer. Everyone can check that out at the ringer.com. First pick, we think, is a no-brainer. Raiders take Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza. Now, as we record this, Deonté, there has been some discourse on the internet. I think Dan Orlovsky of ESPN, I'm saying, I'm going to go out on a limb today and create some chaos in the football discourse atmosphere on this Monday. and he says that Ty Simpson of Alabama is the best QB in this draft.

So I just want to get your take. Where are you with Mendoza? Is this a no-brainer number one pick? Do you think that's a wild take? Are you like, no, I could actually see how someone would get there. Where are you with Fernando Mendoza, the expected number one pick to the Las Vegas Raiders? I think in the mock draft, I said it's a fate of complete, right? I think that it's probably been clear really since like October, November-ish of the college

football regular season in 2025 that he was going to end up being the number one overall pick. And I think that you should be fine with it if you're a Raiders fan, right? I think honestly if there's really the biggest question to have is A, I would say the biggest two questions to have is A, what's

his ceiling and B, do they try to bring in a veteran free agent that can maybe hold down the fort if they genuinely believe that he needs some time to learn the offense between when he's drafted and when we ultimately see him on the field. I think in terms of skill set, he checks all the boxes, right?

Like, the player that I will comp him most favorably to is probably Kirk Cousins, right? I think there's some irony there because I think that there were some rumblings right before free agency started that Las Vegas might be kind of kicking the tires on whether or not Cousins was interested in coming over. And I think a player like that, if that was his backup, would be the best overall kind of outcome, right? I would say that to answer the latter of my own questions first. And as far as a former goes, I think that you're probably looking at a ceiling of something

like Jared Gough, right? at his best can probably get you 35 or so touchdowns, especially in a well-schemed up offense. But you know you're going to have certain limits, right? He's not the most mobile guy. He's not going to blow you away with arm talent. You know, he's not going to be a dynamic athlete in the pocket either. So you're not getting a Joe Burrow type of pocket passer.

You're obviously not getting a Lamar Jackson. Anything can happen once the ball's in his hands type of quarterback either. But I do think you can get Pro Bowl level production maybe, you know, three to five times over a decade in the perfect scenario, which I think you should be pretty happy with if you're making a draft for a quarterback number one overall. So you see a gap between him and the rest of this quarterback class. Like you wouldn't be having to have long meetings inside the Raiders building saying,

are we doing the right thing? I mean, what you just described, you know, I'll get to that in a second, but it sounds like you see a gap between him and Simpson and everybody else. Yeah, I wouldn't say that it's like a chasm between the two. But there is a clear delineation for me between what Fernando Mendoza is stepping in the league and the questions that I still have about a Tye Simpson coming into the league. And some of this is maybe unfair because we just have a much wider body of work with Fernando Mendoza between what he was at Cal two years ago at Indiana, what he was his past year as a Heisman winner.

Right. Like we just have a wide breadth of throws. We have a pretty complete passing profile for him. With Ty Simpson, right, you're really talking about two. thirds of one regular season for him being the guy at Alabama. And then I think it's really hard to try to square what you saw for the first two thirds of the regular season with what he was post-injury, because he was certainly a different quarterback. I mean, I'm sure the people who watch college football in January can remember what he looked like in the Rose Bowl before he was

ultimately benched. And that was just very clearly just not a guy who could contribute because he was so banged up. So I think that, you know, with that said, it is really interesting to me to see where the discourse is at right now, right? Like, I'm really struggling to try to figure out, you know, if you're Dan Rolovsky, I think Chase Daniels shared this opinion as well, right? Like, I would really struggle to try to figure out exactly why it is that anybody would feel so certain that you're getting a, you know, QB1 type of prospect from a, from a Ty Simpson if you were to draft him this year.

Well, I mean, quarterback evaluation, we can just say. It seems like it's the hardest evaluation in sports. it's the hardest evaluation of football. We see it every year and everybody comes up with, well, all right, I've come up with a formula. The guy has to start this many games. No, I've come up with a formula. It's about accuracy and decision making.

No, I've got this, you know, this one coach told me this about. And it's always like, this scout or this great GM told me this. And it's just like, nobody has it figured out. If anyone tells you they haven't figured out, that's like the biggest red flat. If anyone's like, I feel great about knowing how to evaluate these quarterbacks. I mean, I respect everyone, just kind of, here's my opinion and here's why. That's the best you can do. That's what the teams do because it has just been so difficult to come up with the way.

And we see it every year with guys slipping and then guys surprising and guys taken early and then not playing well that. There's just no formula where anyone, if anyone had this figured out, they would literally be the best executive. GMs would never be getting fired. Yeah. I mean, if it was a lifetime contract. you could probably get a share of team ownership if you had a proprietary way to evaluate these quarterbacks. So I'm with you. I think what you laid out there for Mendoza, it's like there are these different tiers of quarterbacks in the NFL right now. There's like this sort of Josh Allen,

Patrick Mahomes, and we can decide who else goes in there where basically if they're your quarterback, you're having like a top five, top five to top eight offense. If you're not winning 10 games, you're disappointed with that level of quarterback. Yeah, you really, something crazy happened. If you just don't have an efficient offense, maybe it's your defense things, maybe it's injury, something else. But like, they guarantee you a certain level, regardless of coordinator, regardless of offensive line, regardless of wide receiver, they're that good and that impactful that they set that floor. And then, you know, the ceiling is maybe set by what the supporting cast looks like. That tier is just very hard to chase. It's great if you have one. Bill's fans, be very excited about it.

but it's very hard to find. And then I think, yeah, kind of different tiers after that. And the one I would say Mendoza falls into is like, could you, if things go well for him, win a Super Bowl with him? And I think the answer would be yes to that, just based on his skill set. It doesn't mean it's going to happen, but we just watched it with Sam Darnold.

We watched the year before with Jill and Hearst, which I don't think anyone would say now is a top five quarterback in the NFL where can you build a system, a scheme around them, where it doesn't mean they don't have to do anything. they still have to play well, but you have other factors on the team where they reach that certain level where they're good enough

to have you competing for Super Bowls. And I think his skill set, his accuracy, his work ethic, his decision making, those types of things feel like with the right structure around him, this could go well for the Raiders. Some with you.

I think if you're a Raiders fan, it's like, all right, this isn't, you know, Andrew Locke or, you know, maybe not even, is Joe Burrow or whoever your favorite prospects have been. But it's also,

someone who you can reasonably say if we build this thing right, we have a chance to be competitive. I would agree with that 100%. And I think if you're the Raiders, this would be the right cherry on top given what they've done in free agency, right? I think that they've done the work this offseason, and as much work as you could probably

do in one particular offseason to try to create the right incubation for a rookie quarterback. You go and you get the offensive coordinator off the tree that everybody wants to pluck, right? To run your program. You have, you know, Tyler Linderbaum, as center. I know that in the style of offense, you like your center to be directing traffic.

Tyler Lindabombe should be able to give you that even if he's not at a, you know, perennial all pro level of play. And I do think that he can still access that when he's healthy. You go and you try to address your defense a little bit, get a little bit more stable on the other side of the ball. I think that really the last thing that you can do outside of drafting this guy is going to get a star receiver. And it just seems like, you know, with the way the trade market went, it would have cost Vegas more than it would have made sense for them to go out. acquire a Jalen Waddle or even a DJ Moore for that perspective. And I would say certainly for an AJ Brown as well. So I think that all things, all things considered, you're happy. I think if

you're a Raiders fan with what you're bringing into the building, I think that, you know, to kind of circle back to the other talking point that was out today, right, when you listen to people bring up Ty Simpson and I kind of wanted to address this a little bit more pointedly, the thing for me that I get hung up on are quarterbacks that have a very particular passing profile, right? And here's what I mean by that. When Michael Pinnock's played in this offense, right, at Washington, playing under Ryan Grub and Kalin DeBore, one of the things I had a big issue with is everything about this offense is super deep pockets, right? You're running routes in that 15, 20, 25-yard range. And those are NFL throws. I think that Dan Olavski is correct when he set

it on Get Up this morning, right, that these are NFL-level throws that you're evaluating. Here's the thing, though, I just don't see a dynamic arm making those throws. So if you're evaluating it on, okay, does this guy have the requisite? an amount of throws deep over the middle of the field late in the progression. Yes. Have you seen him take those easy one-on-one? I check the coverage. I know what the tendencies are.

I can throw the ball over the top. Yes, you do see those things. Here's what you don't see. You don't see a lot of avoidance in the pocket against top competition. That's a big concern for me. You don't see consistent accuracy all the time outside the numbers, right? You'll watch him throw these deep comebacks and the ball is all over the place. You'll see him throw these bend,

trouts, right, which is kind of in that 12 to 14 yard speed out, you know, type of range. You don't always see consistent, consistent ball placement, consistent timing, consistent footwork in those regards either. I don't know if you always see an arm that beats tight coverage, right? So those are the things for me that are kind of hangups. And then you package that in physically with a smaller frame, right? And hey, maybe this is going to be the quarterback who comes in and that kind of six foot to six one range.

and less than 220 pounds. And he's the new Drew Reese. Right? Maybe he's a Brock Pretty. Smaller guy, but he's able to extend once he gets in the league. You get him with the right offensive coordinator, and you're able to kind of dial it up and really cut this guy loose. And he continues to grow physically once he gets into the league.

I don't want to rule that out because we genuinely don't have enough tape on the guy to say what he can or can't be. I just know from what we saw last year, once he did start taking hits, once he did start getting banged up, what we saw physically. was really alarming. And you're not going, you never make a pick banking on injuries happening or not,

but I will say that over the physical rigors of a 17 game season, knowing how often these quarterbacks are going to get hit, knowing how many times are going to be

under duress and having to play through pain, having to throw the wall in a tight coverage when you're dealing with a Miles Garrett rushing you or a Max Crosby rushing you

or a Trey Hendrickson rushing you. I do have some questions about what Ty Simpson is going to be like not only over a 17 game stretch season, but over an 85 game stretch if you were to take him in the first round and you've got to give him that five-year runway, right?

So that to me, I think, is a little bit more precarious. That's not to say that if you're at the back end of the first round, or maybe you're a second round team or early in the second round or you want to trade up with Seattle or with the team after, you know, pick 25 or so to get access to this guy in case he is good enough to merit paying him on a fifth year option. I don't think I will poo-poo that. I just think that anything that is, any take that I think that is too definitive saying, that Ty Simpson is certainly not just a first-round quarterback, but the best quarterback in this class.

You've really got to lay it out for me because when I look at his games against top competition this year, especially even when he was hot, I think I just have some questions about what that's going to be when you up the 80, when you're asking more of him in the pocket, when there's going to be more challenging situations being thrown at him at the NFL level.

I don't see a guy physically who is always going to be able to rise to that occasion. Yeah, there's so many factors. there's, are we betting on an outlier? What's the most likely scenario? If they are an outlier, what does it look like? What's the trajectory long time? What does it look like? What can you improve on in the NFL as a quarterback?

We still kind of don't know that. It's like, well, Josh Allen got a lot more accurate. Okay, do you want to really compare your guy to Josh Allen? I guess you could. Like, maybe there's something there, but maybe there's, yeah, maybe there's nothing there. Maybe that was just the exception, not the rule. So this is what makes it really, really difficult.

Last thing on the Raiders, it's going to take some time. I was looking at this, Deonté, the last 10 times a quarterback has been drafted first. How many times do you think their team finished above 500 the next year? The next season? Yeah. Rookie quarterback drafted first. Last 10. Last 10 quarterbacks who have been drafted first.

So this takes us back to the 2016 draft, 2015-2016 draft? It goes actually back to 2012. I think you're probably talking about maybe four. I would say the most optimistic would be four for me. Yeah, it's one. Andrew Locke. You got to go back to 2012. Luck would have been the only guy I knew for sure.

Everybody else would have been. Okay, I don't exactly remember where their record was as a rookie quarterback. Cam Ward, Caleb Williams, Bryce Young, Trevor Lawrence, Joe Burrow, Kyler Murray, Baker Mayfield, Jared Goff, James Winston. All those finished under 500. on average, the team that picks a quarterback first the last 10 times. On average, you have a five-win season the following year. And if you ask me what Vegas would be, I would probably say they're probably about a five

and 12, six and 11 team more often than not. Yeah. All right. There you go. Mendoza, number one. We don't think there's a lot of mystery there, but who knows? Maybe the takes will start flying and people change their minds over the next month. All right, the second pick, the New York Jets, Deonté, you've got them taking Arvel Reese.

Now, I feel like this is, you know, I don't know if this is your favorite player in the draft, but this is a player Jets fans can really get excited about the possibilities with. Absolutely. I think that probably is my favorite overall, like, non-quarterback in this class. I think that I like the athletic profile on him best of any player in this class. I think the production last year probably flashed the most on tape of any player in this class, if you're asking me. I think that also on the other side, I don't know if there's a less enviable spot to be

in the entire first round of this draft than picking number two. This is one of the rare situations in a draft where you don't have a runner-up at quarterback that makes sense to take with the number two pick. You don't have a Travis Hunter like you did last year that can kind of where you can manufacture enough interest where maybe I can make a trade. There's not necessarily a sure fire. Like, you know you're getting the next Joe Thomas left tackle where you can go draft that guy

or be able to trade out to get a team who's desperate, you know, to upgrade in the trenches. I think that New York is kind of stuck. And while I don't think they did anything over the last two offseason that were preclude you from making a pick in any spot outside of maybe tackle because they have spent the last two first rounds getting Olu Foshanu and then Armand Mbou to be their bookends, both guys that I feel pretty good about long term,

I think that right now you just look at the big board and you're the Jets and you don't have a lot of good players, you don't have a lot of young players that pop. Arvel Reese to me is just the one guy who pops most. Like if you're asking me non-quarterbacks that can turn into multiple time all pros just because of their athletic profile and what they can be at their absolute best,

Arval Reese can be a difference making linebacker and maybe you can flex him down to edge rush. I think that that might just be the biggest question is what do you think he's going to be on his second contract? Has he proven that he's an all-pro linebacker? Has he proven that he's an 8 to 10 sack, you know, edge rusher? And what do you kind of see as a long-term goal? But at least for the first couple years, I just think the New York needs a player that can get you to go buy a jersey

and be excited to go watch that guy in key situations. And I think that Reese is probably your best bet at that. Yeah, normally I don't like taking a player where there's like a projection where it's like, well, he did this in college. But in the NFL he's going to do this. This is kind of the one exception because we've seen it. And for people that are, again, still sort of new to some of the prospects and haven't dove in yet, Arvel Reese was playing off-ball linebacker.

And then he kind of turned into this hybrid role with Ohio State where he's, yes, he's off-ball, but no, he's getting some edge-rush snaps here. But he hasn't been a full-time edge-rusher in college with the Buckeyes. Yet you look at the profile, 64-21, ran 4-4-6, like, elite athlete. And again, we've seen these types of things. before. I mean, I don't want to put anyone, I always just use the term water down because I don't want to be like, Micah Parsons did it? He can, I'm not comparing anyone to Michael Parsons, but like, Michael Parsons had a similar thing. He dropped because it was like, wait a minute.

Why wouldn't he just be rushing the passer every down in college? Well, sometimes you get used a certain way. Abdul Carter, we had this conversation with Jalen Walker, we had this conversation with, you know, could he be some version of Nick Benito? So I look at Reese and just kind of the explosive athletic profile, the history of guys with these rare tools that are actually then able to turn into really impactful pass rushers in the NFL. And I think I'd be pretty excited about it. You're right. It's not like a no-brainer. It's not like, oh, this is one of those drafts where this is a clear number two. And it's not even clear that he's definitely the best edge rusher in this class. We'll get to some of the other guys that are up there with him.

but I do think that ceiling would be pretty exciting for me if I were a Jets fan. And then you talk yourself into the possibility if he hits, all right. Now you look at premium positions on your roster. You have a wide receiver one in Garrett Wilson. You mentioned the two tackles on offense, not guarantees, but the arrows pointing up that that could be one of the better tackle tundoms in the NFL. Now can you add like an impactful number one edge rusher in Reese. It's not perfect.

there's still work to do on the roster. We're not talking about quarterback right now. But you do have draft capital where you say, hey, at least we've filled some of these premium positions with younger players and now we can grow this thing the right way. So, yeah, I think, I think Reese is a good pick there. And again, he's what, going to be 21 as a rookie? Going to be 21.

I think he's not even going to be 21 at the time of the draft, right? Right. The trajectory there, if you get this right, it could be to the moon, right? It could be Nick Benito. And I think that you would be over the moon if you're a Jets fan, if you got a Nick Benito style of edge rusher and especially that level of production, I think that maybe the thornyest piece of this to me is that I don't know if you can come in the

door and say 100% of the time he's only going to be an edge rusher. That's it. That's all he does, right? Because you are really shrinking now the positive outcomes. Now that also means that you might have some weeks where, hey, maybe you played linebacker more than he should have. Maybe he played too many snaps early downs in the run game as an edge. because he is only 240 pounds,

even if he adds 8 to 10 pounds this offseason, maybe he's in the low 250s. And that's just a really small type of edge rush to be playing on early downs, especially young before you really learn how you can use your body to your advantage. It is tricky. I don't want to position this as though,

hey, great athlete, sick player. You're going to love all the whole highlight splash reel when he is drafted and you don't have to worry about this. There are a lot of ways in which this can go sideways or get a little Ari for this team. but again, I just think the instincts, what you see on tape, almost everything he does well, instantly translate, I think, to be in a difference-making talent,

potentially a difference-making talent in the league. And if you're asking me to choose between him as a project, or Ruben Ben, who's got outlier arm length who I know we'll get to, or David Bailey, who's another kind of smaller guy, not the greatest against the run all the time. I'm just going to make my bet that the freakyest athlete, you know, this is a planet theory thing for me. I'm going to make a bet that the freakiest athlete with the most first,

little skill set can end up hitting, you know, maybe more than some of the other guys he's competing with for the number two pick. I agree with that at that position specifically because we, when you hit on that guy and they have that ceiling, it's just such an impactful player that's going to be hard to find otherwise there. So yeah, I'm with you on that with the Jets. Yeah, as you were just talking about that, it's like Aaron Glenn, like you have a plan for, you know, if that's the pick, you got to have the right plan for him where he's having an impact. but like you said, he's not just doing one thing. If we talk, if we zoom out, it's like, well,

defenses are playing differently now and there's more hybrid players and edge guys are asked to do more things. And it's like in the right scheme, I would be like he's going to be able to be an impactful player right away. And this coordinator is going to know how to use him. Aaron Glenn's taking over that defense, taking that defense back this year. We'll be calling the plays.

If they take Reese, you can't get to a point where it's week six. And you're like, wait a minute, you know, we're reading about how did they use him? And he's like, well, yeah, I'm not really sure. They said one thing in August and now it's been hard, you know. And Aaron's like, well, he's got to get up to speed. Like, those are the stories you do not want to read if you're a New York Jets fan. But I do think you can get excited about the ceiling for Arvel Reese.

All right. Let's take a break. We come back. We get to the Arizona Cardinals. All right, we're back here on the ringer NFL show. Now, when I first read this pick, Deontay, for the Cardinals, I was a little surprised because it's not a guy you see. viewed as just like a top three top five prospect in the draft

if you're just listing your favorite prospects but then the more I thought about it and read your reasonings I think I got it and I think I might be on board with this so Arizona Cardinals you've got them taking Miami offensive tackle Francis Maui Noah

what is the reasoning there at number three for Maui Noah I kind of laid it out right in the in the mock draft and I do genuinely believe this if you're going to tell me what the biggest failing of Arizona's time was in the Kyler Murray era, it's that they were never able to get the offensive trenches together. And if you're asking me what kind of impact that had, ultimately it led to this team asking

Kyler Murray to be a superhero. And for all his physical gifts, I just think it was too much weight. And I think that if you're honestly evaluating, if you're the ownership, if you're GM, Moni Austin for it, you know, and you're sitting down and you're just looking at what has this been over the last half decade? And how can we make sure that this doesn't happen again when we take a quarterback, making sure that you can protect the guy that you can build a stable run game around whoever the next quarterback is should be the top priority. And I think that Francis Maui Noah, and I'm a big

upside guy in the draft too, right? Like Francis Maui Noah, another young player who's been good for as long as he's been starting. You're not really going to find major flaws on tape, even though it doesn't always pop in terms of pass protection. I don't necessarily think you're getting Lane Johnson here. But I do think you're getting a Pro Bowl level run blocker and a guy who's stable enough in pass pro to really play well opposite Paris Johnson Jr. as your left tackle and help you really rebuild this offense. And if I'm Arizona, knowing that I've got to deal with Seattle, knowing I've got to deal with the Rams,

no one I've got to deal with the 49ers, you're not just going to be able to do that by saying, hey, let's stack up on defense and try to get after quarterbacks. You better be able to put some points on the board, given what's going on in this division. And I think that that really should inspire them to make sure that their offensive infrastructure is as pristine as possible. before the 2027 draft. So that way, whatever quarterback

that do ultimately bring in, you can speed up their trajectory to try to be the best version of themselves. The hard part about the Cardinals, if we don't really know, like, what are you trying to do? Exactly. Exactly. Like, you're so severely outbanned

in your own division where even the biggest Cardinals optimists can't paint a picture for how this thing goes well for them in the next year, maybe the next two years. So I was looking at that and that's when I saw your vision.

I'm like, all right, well, if you have two good young tackles and maybe Marvin Harrison, Jr. and you have Trey McBride, I can maybe squint and get to a place where this time next year, we're saying, hey, it's not a bad situation to bring a young quarter back into. Yeah, in Arizona where they've got two good tackles and they've got some people to throw the football too. So now we know a three-year starter at right tackle. Some people are thinking, you know, could he be moved into guard in a certain situation or what? stay out there at right tackle, but I think what you're saying made sense there. You know, I think it would probably come down to Maui Noah or are you adding a pass rush or some of the pass rushers we'll get to here in a minute. And I wouldn't be mad at him for going to

either of those. You could talk me into if you just think the pass rushers in a different tier in your scouting and your grading. Like you do need pass rush. You added Walter Nolan last year. If you add another young pass rusher there, maybe on the edge, that would make sense to me too. but if you're saying let's build a good, what did you say earlier? You had a phrase, incubation? Yes, yes. Fantastic. I'm stealing it, Deiote.

Yeah. So if you build an environment there, your QB incubator, you know, as Deonté would say, maybe it makes sense to go tackle. This puts you in a better situation. I would say like, this is a pick your flavor right tackle spot for me. Like, if you're not a Francis Maui Noah guy, if you like Spencer Fennoe, go get Spencer Fenno. If you like Monroe Freeling, who I've come to love, the more that I watch, right?

And kind of checks all the boxes of a prototypical right tackle. And that's who you want at number three, I'm happy with that too, right? Like, I just think that physically I look at Francis Maui, no, and I say, for all to talk about maybe he kicks inside to guard, I think maybe you let the 20-year-old get a little bit of time to develop as a past protector because what you can get out of him athletically and as a run blocker plus what he can be as a past protector might really give you an impact player as your book in right tackle. All right, the fourth pick, the Tennessee Titans.

I have a feeling Deontay loves this player. Just knowing him, I think I'll know his taste maybe now at this point, reading his write-up, he's got the Tennessee Titans taking Miami defensive end, Ruben Bain Jr. Where DeAte, I always think it's good to just be like, like, talk to the biggest college football fan in your life and just be like, what do you think of this player with the prospects in the top 10? and this is one where they would be like, oh, yeah, wait, why is he, you know, lasting until four,

he's amazing, can't miss, great player, and then you get the scouting and the measurables, and it goes in a different direction. So I want your take on Bain and why you think he's a good fit for the Titans. And then I want to talk about how these different edge rushers may be like people, they're going to be stacked on different teams, boards, differently,

where you have them and what the differences are. But what do you like about Bain to the Titans here? I'm sorry, I want to start by saying, the thing that I hate is that his arm length is an outlier territory because if it weren't for that, he checks every box that everybody should be looking for for a young edge rusher coming into the league. He's technically proficient, right? You see the hand usage in spite of, you know, the smaller arm length. You see the hand usage is great.

The get off is great, right? How he plays the run, how he sets edges. That's where you know that when I watch Rubin Bain, he's my kind of guy. Because he sets edges with a bad attitude. I love to see that for me. a young edge rusher, right? You see the motor, right? People who have been following, you know, me and my analysis of the draft know how I felt about Will Anderson and his motor when he was coming out of Alabama. And I'm not saying that this is a one-to-one comparison, but again, when you turn

on the tape, you see Ruben Bain and how often he is finishing rushes, getting closer and closer to quarterbacks, even if he's not getting a clean hit on the guy. You see him always working a move, always working a second or third effort. That's what I love to see for this guy. He's got the great repertoire. And then ultimately, again, this is not a player, especially in this era of college football, where he's 24 going on 25, he's played on three different teams, he's a total late breakout player. And you're like, okay, well, by the time he hits a second contract, how old is he going to be, how productive is he going to be based off the tape that we've seen coming out of college. Again, this is another player that everything he does on tape, it feels like you can just draw a line

directly to what is going to be on the edge at the next level. And then the fit to me between he and Robert Sala in the way that they like to play defense, right? They love those guys who can get in a four-point stance, line up, set edges in the run game, and be a power rusher, really crushing pockets, and allowing him to play those two deeper, those soft zone shells behind it. Ruben Bain is the kind of edge you go get

that allows you to play that style of football. So I just think that the synergy there between player play style and what I think we're going to get from Tennessee defensively, I think it checks all those boxes. Yeah, it's pretty fun. with these edge guys because they are all different. None of them are perfect where you say that, you know, like you've been saying, they check every box.

To your point, he's 6-2-263 with short arms. So this is like a completely different body type than Arvel Reese and David Bailey, the other guys maybe we're talking about in this tier here. But I can just picture him in a Titans uniform and I look at the moves they've made in the off-season. And I think, you know, on this pod we're making fun of them for a while. We listen to Brian Dayball with the all- Offensive personal things.

Getting his guys, right. Yes, but defensively, I get it. Sala has been a good defensive coach. And if you add Bain to a group that has Jermaine Johnson, Jeffrey Simmons, and John Franklin Myers, like I just remember my time on the beat when you would hear like, you know, Jason Kelsey or Lane Johnson, there will be certain weeks where they'd be like, I know that these are all 10-s-sac guys,

but this isn't going to be fun for us. Yeah, you know, they like that's the type of defensive line you're building, which I think is a very powerful thing there. So I think you can be a tone set. type guy, someone who can bump inside on passing downs if you need him to. You spent big on cornerback in free agency. Like if you add him to this defense, I'm getting kind of interested about this defense where we're doing a show in August. Hey, top 10 defenses. Oh, I've got a stunner for you. I think this Titans defense is going to be pretty good. So ideally, I'd be like, I would still

like to find some help for Cam Ward, you know, our franchise quarterback over there who still might not be in a great situation. But I just add four, you can't force it. You can't be like, oh, we're going to go this direction because we have to help our quarterback with, you know, whatever wide receiver, you know, tackle, whatever it might be if that's not the best player. And so I think Bain makes sense to me here. Now, these three edge guys, Deante, so we mentioned R. Velryce, yep, hybrid-type player. So you got to, all right, you got to figure that out.

That's kind of the deal with him. Bain, the measurables, you know, how much do you care about? His arms are short and he's not this long guy who's just going to get around the edge and win every time, like some of the prototypical pass rushers in the NFL. And then the third guy, David Bailey, Texas Tech, 6-4-251, he's got the long arms. He's got the great testing. It was excellent last year, but that was after transferring. And before that, he was a sub-package player. So he's not proven against the run, and it's one year of great production. Do you have a strong opinion about, like, I don't care what team I'm on? I would stack them X, XYZ. Are you more

or hey, it depends on the scheme and what else you have. Because that, I think that is maybe not the biggest storyline, but one of the biggest storylines when we just mock out the top 10 in this draft. I do think it's really scheme dependent, right? It's the reason why David Bailey, for me, is towards the back end of the top 10 and not going here to Tennessee because it was something that I considered. But you think about, A, the way that you know that Robert Salah,

as I mentioned, how he wants to play defensively. You think about what the body type is like in a David Bailey. I don't think that it's as extreme as like Chop Robinson coming into the league where I was like, okay, this is a guy that is never going to be at the point of attack because he's just not going to give you a lot of heft when it comes to setting edges. This is not necessarily some Max Crosby blowing up every run. He's going to be able to freelance, you know, out on the edge and still get in the right spot because he's just so twitchy and has such great instincts when it comes to run stopping. But to me, I think that if you're asking me to stack it overall, I would say still Reese's number one because the ceiling is something. high. I would say Bain is number two because you do get a very polished repertoire. I think that what

you've seen over the last season, really last two seasons should give you a lot of encouragement for what he can be as a football player. And then I'm right there with you at David Bailey. I think to me, Bailey is the kind of guy that for me, I'm going to say, I do genuinely believe that he can end up having a 14-sack season. It's just going to have to be on another roster. I'm just not willing to wager that all the things that could potentially be an issue, right? you kind of lighter in the frame, especially in the lower body. You don't have a lot of plus plus reps in terms of setting edges and stopping the run. And the fact that his best production did come after he transferred in playing on a loaded defense that has several pros, right?

I think there are probably going to be four or five pros coming out of their front seven alone, right? Which tells you a lot. That's really the reason why they were a playoff team at Texas Tech this past year. I don't necessarily know if you can say, hey, David Bailey showed up and he made that defense that as much as him in conjunction with a lot. of other guys on that defense, ended up turning them into a playoff quality team. So, yeah, I would say the way that my top 10 is listed is exactly how I would have them ranked as edge rushers,

where Reese and Baynor close, and then Bailey is maybe a half stride behind. I like to call it the, if I were in an organization, Deonte, the let someone else find out bucket. Yes, 100%. I'm not hating on this guy. I understand. I see the vision if it works out.

But sometimes you have to draw that line. Like, what are you know, what type of risk are you willing? to take. What's the most likely outcome? Sure, you're going to miss some guys doing it that way, but I think I probably would have, and sometimes it's off the field, sometimes it's injury, sometimes it's just, all right, they haven't, you know, played a lot, that type of thing. The one thing with Bailey versus Reese is there is an age difference there, like a pretty significant one where I think he'll be 23. I can't remember if you, if you mentioned that or not,

where he'll be 23 as a rookie where he's two and a half years old. older than Arvel Reese. So if you look at it and you're like, what's Arvel Reese going to look like in two years? Like if he stayed in college for two more years, you know? Right. What type of impact would he be having? It's like, all right, that I think makes the decision a little clearer. You're like, all right, let's bet on the upside here and let's trust our coaching a little bit

with someone like Reese. All right. Number five. Now, one reason why this draft is very interesting, why the top 10 is very interesting. And the first round is very interesting. The positional value. conversations. There are great players at off-ball linebacker, at safety, and at running back. Or if you just said, team, give me your grade, those guys might have the highest grades on their board

just in terms of we feel great about this person being a great NFL player. But we know it's not that simple. You have to take positional value into account. So I think that really comes into focus here at number five with the Giants. You've got them taking Ohio State, off-ball linebacker, Sonny Stiles, who seems like, you know, would have a very high approval rating

for basically anyone who scouted him, watched him, media, GMs, whatever. You have the Giants going ahead and using the fifth overall pick on an off-ball linebacker. Why do you feel good about that here? Again, is difference-making talent, especially in a draft where you have to

ask a lot of questions about, you know, where are we going to get access to difference-making talent if we don't do it in the first round? And I think you're really going to struggle, especially, you know, if you're looking for an edge-rower, if you're ideally would be looking for an edge-rusher, if you'd ideally be looking for a corner, I think you're really going to struggle trying to stretch to get some of the corners that you might be interested in or, you know, some of the edge-rushers. I don't think that there are certain teams that just don't need them. I would say that New York doesn't need them. Had they traded Kavon-Tibato? I do think that that may be open. up the door to say, hey, we can bring another guy in, even though this is kind of duplicitous,

because they do have Abdul Carter. We do have Brian Burns fresh off of a very productive season. Maybe still, we just want to have another guy for, you know, the post Brian Burns when he wants to get paid again. So that way we're not in the position that the Bengals were with Trey Hendrickson, right? Well, we've got a franchise tag this guy or we've got a one year at a time with this guy, you know, as he approaches his 30s. But for me, I think Sunny Stiles, even though the team does have Tremaine Edmonds to potentially be their Mike linebacker. Again, I think that this is a guy that can give you at his best all pro-level impacts. I do think that you get a guy who plays great in zone coverage.

At times, I think you have a guy who's great downhill. More often than not, he's a great tackler, didn't really miss any tackles this past season. And you're bringing in a safety skill set, which is really where the league seems to be looking for when you talk about second-level guys. There's guys with linebacker-type bodies with safety skill sets. and that is literally Sunny Stiles's career trajectory. A guy who played safety for a little bit, added some weight, and did not lose a single bit of his athleticism, and you see his instincts, you see his tackling ability,

you see his versatility both as a blitzer and as a dropper, really showing up often in Ohio State film. Again, it's not perfect. This is going to be one of those where if the Giants take it, you know that all the nerves on social media are going to post the charts of this is what the hit rate is when you take a guy outside of the premium positions in the top five, of the NFL draft.

And I'm not saying that that's not the right way to think about it over the long arc of football history when you're approaching the draft. But again, I think I'd much rather be, I think I'd be much more comfortable with styles than even taking a Jeremiah Love or a Carnell Tate who can be genuine offensive playmakers for the Giants. But to me, I think you just want to go load up

on what I think, you want to make an overloaded strength, I think, in the draft if you're in the top 10, if you're in the Giants' position, where I think for them bringing in John Harbaugh and what they've added in free agency, they want guys that can go play right now, they can go help them win right now. And I think the Sunny Styles

will certainly be able to go do that for them. I mean, I could make the case that offball linebacker right now is more important than maybe it's ever been since I've covered the NFL. It feels like that anecdotally watching it. Like, you got to be smart. I mean, if you don't know what's going on there,

you're getting picked on. I think it's Ed Rush Corner and then you might have an argument after that that they're the next most important position group. You got to play the run. You know, teams are running the football more now. You can't get exposed in coverage. Right.

You know, if Stephen Ruiz is putting the microscope on you on a week, that's going to, you don't want to have somebody like that. So you have to have this hybrid type of skill set. Offenses are attacking the middle of the field at a very high level where if you have a linebacker who can't cover in there or doesn't know what's going on in there or slow to react, you know, like offball linebacker and nickel, think of like your favorite defense is in the NFL and the guys they have playing those positions.

It really actually does make a difference. So I actually will not be somebody who's saying, how could you use your resource on an offball linebacker here? I mean, he's 65-244 elite athlete. I'm a sucker for a linebacker who you tell me they got a defensive back background. I'm like, oh, great. This guy's going to be amazing in coverage. You mentioned it. It's worth repeating.

did not miss a tackle last year. And I think the previous year, he actually missed a bunch. So, I mean, just it's like, oh, is that something he worked on and got better at? I like seeing that from a player just turned 21 years old, wore the green dot. So like the Michael Parsons thing, I'm not going to tell you he's going to be Fred Warner. That is, you know, sacred territory. We're not going to say that. But can you have a very, a water down, Fred Warner, just a very impactful offball linebacker who

just directs your defense for the next whatever, five, six, eight years. It feels like he has the profile to be that type of player. Now, if there were somebody else here that they liked, like if they loved David Bailey, I would say, yeah, that go ahead. Yeah, go right ahead. And take him. Best player available. I know you got edge rushers like you mentioned.

You're strong there, but you're not really in a position where you're like contending, where you're like, oh, we can't double up on that. I would say if you really think, hey, we have Bailey in one tier, we got styles below, go ahead and take the edge rusher and don't worry about. you know, positional redundancy. But if that's not the case, I would actually, you know, I think Giants fans should be pretty excited about a guy like Stiles, being their new linebacker here at number five.

I agree with you. I think the only other guy I might consider, given where my mock draft would, that this was the way that the board played out, you couldn't make an argument maybe for Jeremiah Love. I think that they have an excess of running backs in New York, but none of those guys are as dynamic as Love is. But again, we're now talking about top five running back versus top five.

linebacker. I was saying on both sides of the ball are guys that you really do, I think, have to be more, you have to look a little bit close, a little bit more closely at where our offensive line is, where is our defensive line at? Have we checked other boxes? And can this be the guy that helps us take a leap from, you know, we're kind of league average at baseline to we now have somebody who can give us game winning, game altering, team can't game plan to play us because they know that this guy is going to be everywhere on the field. I think that styles can be that. And I think the woman gets Jeremiah Love will obviously have a conversation about how he can provide the same value on the offensive side of the ball. All right. Let's take a break. We come back.

We find out where Deontes got Jeremiah Love going in the top 10. All right, we're back on the Ringer NFL show. Number six, this one was just hilarious to me because I was just like, I have, I don't really know what they're trying to do or what they should do, the Cleveland Browns. You've got them taking Utah, offensive tackle, Spencer, Fano. They got no quarterback. They're bad at wide receiver. They had to put together a brand new offensive line this offseason, which they did do.

They've got some talent at running back in tight end. I think you're going to see a big drop-off defensively without Jim Schwartz, but you do have Miles Garrett. You got Mason Graham up front. You've got Carson Schwessinger. After that, I don't know that you necessarily have a lot. So I was looking at this going, do they go wide? receiver. Do they go offensive line? Do they go past rush? Why did you

settle on offensive tackle here, Deontay? I mean, if you're, if you're the kind of person who takes free agency moves as a signal for what might happen in the draft, I think you look at Cleveland's offseason and you say they basically checked every box, every obvious box that they needed to on offense, except for two, right? And that's a legitimate wide receiver one candidate and a left tackle, right? Those are the two spots where you can see them making a move. And for me, again, this is a spot where you can go in either direction, and I don't think I would protest it much. But if you're asking me who has the higher upside between the two positions or the top guys at those two positions, I think taking a Spencer Fano and then moving him back to left tackle, which is where

he ultimately started his college career before Caleb Lomu took over as left tackle, I think that there's just a better chance that you get impact play from him at that spot than what your number one wide receiver would be, which is why we really haven't even discussed who the number one wide receiver will be. And I think if you asked 15 different people who do the draft, you might get six to eight different answers, right? I think that it's kind of all over the place in this class. I think that Fano is just somebody I feel very, I feel very steady about. I think, again, Monroe Freeling, if you want to take on the project of moving a guy from right to left, go right on ahead. I wouldn't hate that. You know, I think that there are other tackle prospects later on in the draft.

if you want to say, hey, maybe a Max Ian Ocho. Right. This is a guy who's kind of late to football, plays on the right side, but maybe we take him for a year, set him to the side, let him learn left tackle, or let him go take his lumps as a left tackle before we ultimately, you know, kind of feel solid about him at that spot. You can go in a lot of different directions, but I think that ultimately, Spencer Fano has been no less than pretty good to really good throughout the course of his career.

He has shown you that he's got right and left versatility, and I don't think that you're going to get any bus potential or much bus potential from him, even if you were to move him back to left tackle in the NFL. I hate talking this much about short arms, Deante, but just have to mention he does have the short arm thing that Will Campbell had last year, but to your point, he's played both tackle spots. To your point, also give these guys a shot at tackle before saying you're moving inside to guard. Athletically, he checks all the boxes, man.

Let him try. Outside of the arm length, I don't really see much for you to be all that concerned about on his tape. Yeah. You can draft him and know he's going to be one of your best five. You get a young offensive tackle there. So I really, I just think they got to add what they have graded as their best player to premium position here.

If they say, we disagree with you, Deontay. Carnell Tate is the best wide receiver in this draft. We love him. Go ahead. Take him. Go ahead. If they love David Bailey at the edge or another, you know, defensive alignment, go ahead and take them.

And if they love the tackle here, then go ahead and take them. So I think this is a spot. I do wonder, would this be a trade-down team? I actually think both of these is where you have to start thinking about the trade-downs, the Giants and the Browns. Is there a team that falls in love with one of these prospects there? Maybe they're in a good spot to trade down and accumulate some more draft capital. All right.

Maybe the biggest storyline in the top 10. Jeremiah Love, where is he going to go? We're having the argument once again. an annual spring tradition, great running back. Where should they go in the draft? Deonti says, number seven, Washington commanders take Notre Dame running back, Jeremiah, Love. I will give the nerd take, Deonté, that you are obviously fully prepared for, maybe even on board with.

And then you can give me the commanders aspect here. Love is a wonderful prospect, a wonderful player, a complete back, explosive, big play, threat, pass catcher, can pass protection. He does it all. If I'm in one of these buildings, I'm saying, I'm sorry, we are not taking a running back with the top 10 pick. We're not paying him $9 million a year, which is like top 12 running back money when there are wide receivers. Sorry, Josh Palmer, I don't mean for you to catch a stray here, but make it, but wide receivers like Josh Palmer making $10 million per year. If I'm in the top 10, I really want a premium position where I can get surplus, and I don't mean to talk about players as surplus value,

but you know what we're talking about here, team building where I'm getting surplus value. If I hit, that's one. Number two, I just think we have too much evidence that great running backs cannot overcome bad situations. We just saw that with Ashton Genty last year, offensive line, scheme, quarterback involvement, all those things are huge factors that determine the floor of your run game.

And maybe that running back determines the ceiling of your run game. I'm on board with that. but we also have evidence that less talented, less expensive running backs that require fewer resources can thrive with those good surrounding factors. And if I'm a team like the commanders, I don't think they're positioned to make a luxury pick like this. They spend big and free agency. They try to set the floor at all these positions.

Those aren't like difference-making players that are long-term solutions. They need pass catchers. They need pass rushers. they need corners and I think if they talk themselves into a running back at seven, I'm sorry to the listeners, but I will

have to come on here and represent the nerds. All right, Deontay, what do you agree with? What do you disagree with that? All of everything that you laid out I'm right there, right? If you're just asking me blank slate, right, blind item test, how do I feel about a pick like this? I'm going to say everything that you just said

and then I'm going to look at the commanders and say a couple of things. I think A, you go out and you spend all the money that it takes to go get an Odafay-O-A, that tells me you're probably not in the edge rush or market in the top 10, right? And it doesn't mean for certain, but I would say the combination of OA, K. Levant, Chesson, and Charles A. Minahue as your signings, you're probably feeling like we'd rather play vets there, right? I think that cornerback, if there were a guy, and I think today, you know, Mansour Delane was at his pro day, ran sub 4-440, that's a guy that people are very excited about as a cornerback

prospect, maybe you can squeeze him into the top 10 because you feel really good about where he's at athletically. I wouldn't protest that either. And I think that ultimately this pick is made on the assumption of two things. A, there's kind of already an understanding that Brandon Iyuk will be a commander, right, by the start of training camp or by the start of week one of the regular season. There's also an assumption I'm making there that he's going to be healthy enough to play week one and give you some quasi-close production to what we saw from Brandon Ayuk early in his career. San Francisco. And if you believe that, that really only leaves a couple of spots, I think, for you to go take a shot if you're Washington and you're not trading out of the top 10.

And to me, the biggest difference maker you can get, given the way that the board fell for my mock draft was Jeremiah Love. And if I'm making the sales pitch, right? If I'm making the sales pitch as Washington at the press conference, why did you take a guy like this in the top 10? I'm saying, turn on the tape of what we were asking Jaden Daniels to do for the last year and a half for the first year and a half of his career before injuries really kind of ended his campaign last season. And we can't do that to a guy that we genuinely believe can be an MVP, right? We look at Lamar Jackson and what it did, what was done for his career after they brought in Derek Henry. And he wasn't asked to do so much as the lead runner.

You look at what we've had to ask Jaden Daniels to do as a scrambler and in the design run game. And then I'm going to show you Jeremiah Love's tape and say, I can get this guy the ball at any spot at any time of the game. and he can turn six yards into 65, right? This is a guy who can make people miss. He can run between the tackles. You can split him out as a wide receiver. This is as close as we can get to a Bijon Robinson, to a Bijon Robinson level impact player.

And we're getting that right where Bajon was picked, right in that same range of where John Robinson was picked. You should be happy for us. And I think that ultimately that is, I think that that is a persuasive enough argument to me to make this pick and not feel terrible about it, given what else is available on the board. Listen, it would be really fun.

It would be exciting. I would criticize the pick, but I would also understand that if you're a commander's fan, you can be pumped about this. Because Jaden Daniels, Jeremy Love, and their offensive lines could be pretty good next year too. I mean, if you tell me that the lineup could be Jeremiah Love, Jaden Daniels,

a combination of Terry McLaurin and a healthy brand in IEuk. Yeah. I'm willing to listen. You have a chance. Yeah. If you believe that what you saw from Jaden Daniels, his rookie year is real and something that he can replicate or thereabouts, why wouldn't you feel excited about that if that's your offensive lineup? And if you're a commander's fan and you want to be a little delusional, you say, hey, we brought in all these guys who are veterans who have produced in other places. Maybe Adafé Owe is on the rise in his career.

We might be right back in the thick of things in the NFC East, you know, while other teams are pretty vulnerable right now. Yeah, you can, you'll talk yourself into it very quickly. there. And like Deontes, the confusing thing about the commanders, they got these two new coordinators. We don't really know what are they want to do offensively. They obviously didn't like what Cliff Kingsbury was doing. Are they go, you know, David Blow, are they going more under center play action? In which case, it's like, yeah, because I could get excited about if you're saying Daniels is still involved in the run game and you're going shotgun spread with him and love, like that's going to be tough to account for. Maybe I guess if you're going, hey, more, you know, zone run, play action

boots, then you're saying we need a good running back there. But also the point of that is the scheme and the blocking. You don't need to pay the back. You don't need to spend big on the back in that situation. So it's a tough one. I want to make it clear. The player's awesome. I hope I hope Jeremiah Love gets everything he deserves and I can't wait to watch him. Next year, I'm just talking about. If I were the team, I still stick by. I cannot spend a top 10 pick on a running back there. All right. Number eight, Deonté, we talked about this guy already so we don't to spend a whole lot of time on him, but you've got the Saints taking Texas Tech Edge.

David Bailey, he's kind of among those three guys with Bain and Reese that are expected to go pretty high. He's got the length. He's got the size. He's got the athleticism. He was productive last year. The question is he'll be 23 as a

rookie. Has not necessarily been asked to play the run at a high level, but you think this is a nice spot for him to go to New Orleans. I think he's a very complimentary player taking putting taking everything we've already discussed about his upside and setting that aside in the fit here in new orleans focusing on that he's a very complimentary player to chase young who's a good run defender great power rusher pocket crusher type now you can take that

speed element and put him opposite a chase young and i think that he can add a lot of value there i think that for me and you look at the way that new Orleans played defense under brandis daily last year and when they really started finding their stride still with everything they were doing well from a coverage perspective and being able to stack the box and take away runs on early downs as well. The one thing I still felt that they did not have was instant speed off the edge, right? I think that a lot of what they were doing in terms of making quarterbacks uncomfortable came from playing great coverage and forcing quarterbacks to hold the ball or these kind of pocket crushing, very manufactured past rush lanes between Young and their interior defenders. At his best,

David Bailey can be a, we're going to line you up in the widest nine you can imagine, and you just go, right? You just go, don't worry about if they run a draw or screen on third down. We want you to go impact the game that way. We want you to be our Nick Benito. And I do think that he can be that, especially when you look at his ceiling because of his speed, his arm link, and what he can give you, you know, if he is able to add a couple more things to his repertoire, I feel really excited about what that can be.

And if you're to take, you know, on the other side of things and you want to make an argument for what New Orleans can do offensively. I think that what we saw last year, again, especially in the second half of the year with Tyler Shuck, you should feel like, let's go give this another look. Let's hope, let's hope like hell that our offensive line stays healthy. Let's see if Chris Olavay can stay healthy. We added Travis Etienne, right, to be our lead back.

Let's go see what Shug can do in this situation. And while they don't have to be a playoff team, I think that if they're just able to build off of what we saw over the last two months of the year, the Saints are headed, I think, finally, in the right direction to be able to build something stable up. And they're not dealing with dead cap hell. And this gives them an opportunity to really take some swings

on premium position talent early in the draft and then be able to ultimately fill other gaps on this roster in future off seasons. So you mentioned the Saints offense. And the guy you have going nine, I will say, I thought, hmm, could be an option for the Saints. Yeah, would he be there? Would the Saints take him number eight?

you've got the chiefs. It sounds weird to say that. The Kansas City Chiefs drafting number nine. Ohio Statewide receiver Cardinal Tate. I got to say, as I was reading your mocked, Deonti, I thought, this is the type of selection. And I'm usually the guy saying everyone's settled down. It's hard for rookies to play really well right away.

And so I stand by that. But this is the type of selection that could really be more impactful to who's playing in January than maybe any other pick in the top 10. If the Chiefs come out of this draft in the first round with a wide receiver who can compete for offensive rookie of the year

right away, who can make plays downfields for them, and that's what Cardinal Tate did last year, averaging over 17 yards per reception, 6 to 192 wins on the outside there. I thought, man, that could maybe change

what I think about the Chiefs going into 2026. So I thought, this was a very interesting pick. And I almost got to the point where I thought, when I do a mock, do I need to push these wide receivers up a little bit? Yeah, because I'm looking at it going, well, would the Saints be interested?

You know, with the Browns, with the command, if there's someone in the commanders who would say, Cardinal Tate is going to be more impactful for us than Jeremiah Love is. And if we hit, it just is going to make a lot more financial sense. So to your point, and I did want to ask you about this, the number one wide receiver in this draft, Are you on? No, it is Cardinal Tate.

I know other people disagree, but I'm firmly, it's Cardinal Tate. Are you like there's a lot of guys bunched and I might change my mind 10 times between now and the draft? I do think that's a big question with this draft is how much separation is there with these top wide receivers and how does that kind of inform what a team like the Chiefs might do at number nine? I believe the Jordan Tyson from Arizona State is the best wide receiver I've watched in this class. I think ultimately the hamstring issues that he's been dealing with for what's been going on. I mean, it's March, late March now. This feels like he's been dealing with this for six months, right?

Five, six months that he's been dealing with a nagging hamstring that's kept him from testing, right? There's really not a lot of clarity on what the recovery timeline is. To my knowledge, I don't think that he's got any like scheduled operations to come. And I don't think that we've seen anything that hints at him or his team believing that that's going to be a necessity for him to be ready for his rookie season either. So under that shroud of kind of confusion with Tyson, I think I kind of, I walked him back a little bit to the middle of the first round. And if a guy like Tyson is not going to be a kind of take him with a bullet because he's healthy and he's ready to contribute right now, the most steady pick I think you can make if you're Kansas City and you want a wide receiver

would be Carnell T. T. T. T. Higgins, right, at the next level. But you look at, he's a pretty consistent separator. He's got good, you know, he's able to make catches. outside the frame of his body. He's a great red zone threat. You can use him on third downs. I do think that you can move him around a bit to be able to manufacture some touches for him, even though he's not necessarily a yak guy. That is a guy that you can just get over the middle of the field, right,

to run those dig routes, to run those crossers and a guy that you can go run, you know, those deep outs, those comebacks, those one-on-one fade balls. I think that that's exactly what Kansas City has been missing in the passing game. And to your point, talking about how rare it is that we consider a Chief's pick in the top half, let alone the top 10 of an NFL draft. They may not ever have access to a wide receiver that can give you legit inside, outside flexibility, lead your team and targets, be a legit red zone threat the way that Carnal Tate can be, right?

And if you're not trading out of number nine, which if I'm Kansas City, I'm not unless I get blown away, because again, we might not be in this position again in the future, knowing that we have Patrick Mahomes on our roster. Go get a guy like Tate. And I think that he's a guy that I wouldn't necessarily say he's bus proof. I think it's just very likely that even his median outcome makes you feel really, really good given the situation that he's walking into.

Seems like every draft there's a receiver at the first round, who everyone agrees is a good receiver. And it's just like this guy's reliable, professional, dependable. And sometimes we say, oh, they might not have like the highest ceiling. I would have to go back and look. It felt like we were having that conversation with Jackson Smith and Jigba. Yep. Who just today got paid as the highest paid wide receiver in the NFL.

And it turns out can actually take. over a game and just be the number one wide receiver option on an offense. So I'm trying to get myself out of that mode of saying, well, the ceiling, I don't know. It's like if you like everything about him, even though it takes a tough one because it's like doesn't have like overwhelming speed. You mentioned it doesn't have overwhelming yards after the cash. The production's good, but it was 875 yards, you know, it wasn't like 1,200 yards. But it seems like he has the know-how, knows how to play, trade, which just seems like it's translating with these wide receivers over and over again, specifically with a team like the Chiefs, that wants someone to come in and be impactful

right away. All right, we finish at number 10 with the Cincinnati Bengals. Maybe my favorite sort of team prospects fit out of the 10, where you've got them taking Ohio State Safety, Caleb Downs, who I said it about, I think, Sonny Stiles earlier, but Caleb Downs might be the guy who has the highest approval rating just from everybody Deonti, it seems like he can be someone where the Bengals are like, we need talented, good defensive players.

And yes, if it were a premium position, if it were edge rusher, would that be great? Sure, but we're not going to overthink it here. This guy can play safety for us and be our leader for a very long time. Absolutely. I would say that outside of the Fernando Mendoza pick at number one, this is probably the chalkiest one in my top 10, right?

Like, you look, you know, you go and you search. After I put in my mock draft name was published, I wanted to go judge it against what else was out there and just about everybody, you know, all the people who do the draft, the people who do the national reporting that kind of tell you what to predict around the draft, you see Caleb Downs's name very often here. And I think that, A, not only is it a great player plugging a need fit, but I think that stylistically, this is a player that I think defensive coordinator, I'll go to needs in this backfield.

I mean, I cannot, I cannot list the amount of times I watched a Bengals game and a coverage is blown because they're just playing a guy that they shouldn't be playing. in a certain spot and he's just got no shot. Or they miss, you know, an adjustment to the coverage based off the formation. Or even worse, the coverage is good. The ball gets checked down. And then what should be a six-yard gain turns into 16 because somebody out in the flat misses the tackle.

Somebody in that middle of field area misses a tackle or allows a lot of yards after the catch because they take a poor angle. You're not going to see that be a problem for Caleb Downs, right? I think that, and I think that wisely, as people have watched him, and evaluated his film over the last year. I do think the people are right to say, all right, this is not some Earl Thomas, not some Eric Berry coming out of Tennessee,

put him in the middle of the field, and he's just going to be able to range and go take the ball away from anybody. He might not be that at his best, but if you want to talk about slot versus safety, flexibility, a guy who can be a good blitzer, but can help match up against tight-ins or lesser slot receivers,

he can certainly be that. He's a great tackler. He's a great communicator. And if you're looking for your version of Nickyman Worry, your version of Cooper DeGine, your version of those, you know, difference making slot defenders that can give you a little bit more

in different spots as well, that certainly Caleb Downs. Like there's almost no way that Cincinnati in three years is like, man, we could have done something else with our number 10 pick and we would have been much happier than we are right now

being stuck with Caleb Downs. I just don't see him failing in this scenario or really any scenario in the league. Yeah, the conversation we had about off-ball linebacker, I think, applies to a versatile defensive back like this. And if you want to call him safety, if you want to say hybrid,

whatever it is, I mean, it just feels like he's going to come in, and with the right defensive coach, is going to be a very impactful player for you who can do a lot of different things, which is the direction that defenses are going right now. So it's funny with him, you read like a million different names.

You know, you mentioned it, Cooper DeGene. I saw I think Nate Tice had Buddha Baker. Our friend, Fran Duffy was like, Mika Fitzpatrick. I'm like, these are all really good players who I like. Yeah, I think at number 10, if you're a Bengals defense that needs impactful players, this would make a lot of sense. So I like that one quite a bit. This was a lot of fun.

Jumping into the draft with Deonté Lee. Check out his full mock draft on the ringer.com. Again, we'll get to the other teams. We're not just going to focus on the top 10, but we need an hour on the top 10. Get to know some of these prospects, get to know some of the big storyline. at the top of this draft. So thank you to Deante Lee. Thank you to Christopher Sutton for producing

Stephano Sanchez on video and additional production supervision by Connor Nevins and Arjuna Ramgopal. I'm Shio Capadia. We'll talk to you next time on the Ringer NFL show. 21 plus and present in select states for Kansas in affiliation

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