The Ringer NFL Show - The Most Important People in the Draft

Episode Date: April 25, 2022

Kevin, Nora, and Kaelen make their list of the most important people heading into 2022 NFL draft. Host: Kevin Clark, Nora Princiotti, and Kaelen Jones Associate Producer: Stefan Anderson Additional Production Supervision: Arjuna Ramgopal Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Are you a sports fan who didn't know the NFL draft was this week? Then boy, do I have the teaser trailer for you. I'm Danny Heifitz, and I host the Ringer NFL draft show every week with Danny Kelly, Ben Solek, and Craig Horlebeck. We're doing mock drafts before the draft. We're great in picks after the draft. Now, do we know which picks were good and who's going to go where? No, absolutely not.

We can't predict the future. But people like hearing about it. Yeah, don't you, you sickos. So we talk about it anyway. So come listen to the Ringer NFL draft show. And guess what? If you like the draft, but you don't like me, you can go listen to the Ringer NFL show with Kevin Clark and Nora Princeziati and our other NFL experts,

or you can go to NFL draft.com to check out our massive draft guide. So come listen to the Ringer NFL draft show and the Ringer NFL show on Spotify because they employ me, or it's also available on all the other platforms that don't employ me. It is the Ringer NFL show part of the Ringer podcast Network. I'm Kevin Clark, joined today by Norrinsiani. Nora, hello. Hello, Kevin. And Kaelin, Jones.

Kailen, how are you, bud? good how are y'all doing doing great i just saw this just came across the wire breaking news via adam shepter the patriots have traded a fifth round pick to the texans for their sixth and seventh round picks are we doing draft day trades two days before the draft i don't know i don't know how neat that's those are that's just nick casario and bill belichick catching up and at the end of the conversation saying hey man want to just we just trades what's what's what's what picks are We'll just trade some picks. There was a famous story.

I think it was, I think it was Andy Reid and Belichick that they traded a late round draft pick at the end. And someone asked him, why did you do that? And he said, well, we just like trading with each other. Like, that's, there's some friendships around the league. It's male bonding. Male bonding. Men would rather trade late round draft picks than go to therapy.

Men would rather trade. Thank you for doing. Kevin. All right. So we're going to do a pretty simple exercise here. And we're going to weave in some of the news, although there isn't much news from the last couple of days that's not draft related. We tackle the Debo Samuel stuff last week. We're going to get to that on these lists. But we're going to do the most important people in the draft. There's a lot of people with their jobs at stake. There's a lot of people who the entire draft, I think, hinges on the decisions that they make. There are a couple of people where 2021 is a massive. of year. There's a couple of people where 2022 is the first year towards a huge rebuild. So it's a lot there. We can take this in any direction.

Nora, who's your first person? Ooh, I get to lead off. Okay. My first person is Mickey Loomis. And let me find you. I got to find you why.

There was, I'm going to read you an Adam Scheper tweet. Kevin's got the bread on space. We love shuffey tweets. No, I'm just laughing at the fact that we're just, we've, we're podcasters. We're all, you know, source journalists and the first two bits of information are just

reading on this show, just reading Adam Shepter's Twitter account. Sheffty sweets on Elon Musk Twitter. But I think this, like this is. Yeah. Within the past week, as the draft has drawn closer, multiple teams in the top half of the draft have inquired with others to try to trade back in the first round per sources. So far, the interest in moving back

in Thursday's draft has greatly exceeded the interest in moving up. Now, we've all known this to be true about this draft for a long time, but I am leaning on our guy Shephti to like make it real. Here's the thing.

Everybody wants to go back. Nobody wants to move up. Either that means that there's going to be absolutely no movement and nobody's going to be able to find a trading partner. or there's going to be someone who decides, you know what, let's go for it, looks like the marketplace and such

that we can get a good deal and move up. And I think the most likely contender to do that in the first round kind of looks like it's the saints. And if you think about all the teams, particularly all of those who have multiple first round picks who don't want to do that, it's possible that then they're in a situation

where they kind of have a few different picks of landing spots. All of this is to say that the thing we're dancing around is that this first round is very boring. So something like the Saints going up and getting a player, even if it's a position player and not a quarterback, is going to be like, ooh, big splash. But as I went through the round, I was kind of thinking like, okay,

whoever is going to be the most willing to swim in what looks like an ocean of teams trying to move back and actually be the person who moves forward is going to have a lot of bearing on how this all shakes out. And, you know, we've seen that the Saints be willing to trade up in the first round before they have the ammo to do it with the two picks. And I still think that their move to trade for those picks earlier feels like unfinished business to me. so I'm thinking maybe we see it happen in the first round. I'm obsessed with that dance that's happening that she had to report it on this morning. And other people have talked about it as well.

I mean, that was the whole thing. There have been reports for weeks that the Jaguars could trade back. They would. Nobody wants to trade up. And I don't think that's unique to the first overall pick. I'm curious, with Lumis in general, and there's so many different directions to go with this, there have been reports the Saints think

that they're closer to a Super Bowl than maybe we think on this podcast or the general commentariat thinks. Are the Saints wrong or are we wrong?

I think we might be wrong. I think, look, if James Winston, you know, was, let's say, like a fringe top tank or, like,

if he was the caliber of a Derrick Carr for cousins, right? I think we'd be talking about the Saints a little bit more seriously. I know that they

lost Marcus Williams a free agency. They replaced him with Marcus May. I mean, their defense should still be pretty solid, especially Dennis Allen

still there. Continuities there. But I think the offense is the biggest question. And so that's probably why we're a little bit lower generally as a media. But the MC yourself

is pretty winnable. I agree. I mean, Tom Brady coming back didn't help that division. But elsewhere in the NFC, there are wins to be had. I don't think it's crazy.

Kaelin, what do you think about Norris point about the Saints and just the first round in general? You know, it's a really good point because I, you know, they've already shown their willingness to be aggressive in the first round by already making a deal to move up and get, you know, another first round pick from Philadelphia earlier this off season. So I, I hadn't even considered, you know, the idea of them not being done. But like Nora says, you know, like that, that move having happened so early on in the free end,

the offseason when we were talking about wide receivers and everybody else moving, like the Saints doing their business and, you know, potentially moving up. They could be a sneaky pick to go, you know, pursue one of the quarterbacks if they feel any of them are good enough to go after. But, I mean, the bigger deal would be could they find an immediate plug-in-play player who can be an impact guy for them that could help them, you know, prove, you know, whether or not they're actually a championship caliber team like they supposedly believe. any players that we can attach there? I don't know. See, that's the thing.

Like, I don't really know if there's anyone who the Saints are going to add. I'm going to be like, yes, they are Super Bowl contenders. I mean, if they were to go get a receiver, which I think that was the speculation for why they moved initially. Like, we all looked at the board and said, oh, they're jumping in front of the charges who are probably going to go after a receiver at some point in the draft. Like, if they were able to get an immediate difference maker, like if a Garrett Wilson could step in, play at, you know, a high caliber level. I mean, it really is pick your, your flavor when it comes to the receiver class, I think, this year.

But if they can get Michael Thomas back healthy, I don't know what his trajectory is for return. But again, you get James Swenson playing at a top 15 caliber level, doesn't make mistakes. And, you know, you add another playmaker on offense. And, yeah, the Saints are a little bit more, I guess, like, we take them a little bit more seriously than we generally are right now. Kail, who's your first important person, MIP? Yes, Nora, sorry.

I was just going to say that I think this probably makes more sense if they don't move up, but offensive line is a real consideration there. Oh, right. Good point. A loss of Leptoc. Well, no, but like if if they go up from 16

and 19, right? Like, part of what is sort of weirdly fascinating about this to me is that, okay, I imagine that if they did package those two picks and went up, that probably has to do with a quarterback. It seems sort of inconceivable that it wouldn't.

At the same time, there's got to be a tipping point somewhere where we tend to think of those super high picks, and I don't just mean like one, two, three, but let's say top five, top seven, those picks being really premium and costing a lot and they're being kind of like attacks to get up that high to get in front of other teams in that way.

At a certain point, if everybody wants to move back, that deteriorates to a certain point. I kind of think that tipping point is still going to be, like we're not quite going to get there. But this is why it is sort of fascinating to me is because eventually the market would shift in such a way where if you really, really, really do like a specific lineman and think he might still be there at, you know, nine, but not at 16,

then maybe it starts to make more and more sense. Maybe it starts to be more and more doable. And if, you know, maybe the Seahawks go like, sure, whatever, we don't really care. The strapped is weird anyway. We'd rather have two picks and be able to take two swings. That just isn't the type of thing that we tend to see happen all that much because it tends to be so expensive to move up that I wonder if it,

I wonder if it changes the dynamic at all. So that's it. Okay. Okay. But I don't think one thing that's going to complicate everything about this draft, whether that's the Saints, whether that's whoever else is picking the first round, I think we're going to see one of the most irrational drafts

that we've seen in a long time. I don't, it's hard to phrase that because any quarterback heavy draft is irrational, right? Like that's, you saw that in 2016. Carson Wentz and Jared Goff go off the board and everyone is like oh, we'll just, you know, everybody in the league knew that Joey Bosa and Jalen Ramsey

were the two best players in that draft, right? But it didn't matter because quarterbacks go first, they go off the board, that's how this works. I think the opposite is now happening with the lack of quarterbacks where there's even stranger behavior because I don't know what happens if you can't move back and you're a team like Carolina at six.

You'd like to take Kenny Pickett later in the first round. but what if there's no deal in place? What if nobody wants to move up to six and give up anything of normal value? Let's just say you're another team in the top 10. You say, you know what? I want Jordan Davis at 13, 14, 15.

That seems right. I'm going to pick up some extra picks for my troubles. I don't know if those deals are there. And that's why I think you might see a team at 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, who says, you know what? I'd love to drop 10 spots and still get our guy, but that's not really going to happen. So is there going to be a team that, as you're discussing,

or that's going to take advantage of that, or are we just going to see a bunch of guys overdrafted because the team likes it? I don't know. I don't know the answer. So. Kaelin, who's your first most improved or most important person? MIP. Most improved.

Matt or Risen. No, I'm just kidding. Shout out Roger Sherman. I'm going to go with Malik Willis from Liberty. I think, like you just mentioned, the whole idea of a quarterback. you know, this class not being regarded very highly. I figure, and this is the thing, like, I don't know what the consensus is on the

quarterbacks out there because it seems like we have a group who very much agree that Malik Willis is probably the best candidate there just because of the high end traits and you're going to go with the guy with the highest ceiling. But, you know, realistically, like you mentioned, Carolina is sitting there at six and they like Kenny Pickett, so they could end up picking them too. I go with Malik Willis here, though, just because I wouldn't say he's a lightning rod prospect, but at the same time, I think his potential selection, however high that is, it triggers a lot of other teams and manipulates a lot of different thinking.

Because let's say he goes in the top 10, suddenly, like, you're a team that's later in the first round, who was probably going to wait to see if Malik Willis is going to get drafted later. Suddenly you have to reach for potential, like, you know, Desmond Ritter or Sam Howell, what have you. you know, we can also see like Pittsburgh, like teams that are also needy, try to jump up higher in the draft. So I think like he just represents so much of, you know, the potential movement that happens across the board like you guys were talking about earlier. But it really comes down to whether or not a team in the top 10 values and or not.

I mean, like there's the Falcons, Seahawks, Steelers, Panthers, lines. Like those are the teams realistically. I could see going after a quarterback, you know, early on. But it really comes down though, you know, what your flavor is. you want to go for the high potential prospect of Willis, or are you going to play it safe with Kenny Picky? Let's game this out. What's your ideal home for Malik Willis?

Damn, that's a good question, too, Kevin Clark. I think, you know, I wanted to say Atlanta like the other day, but I think it's got to be Pittsburgh just because I think when you look at the infrastructure there, they seem very intent on being willing to develop a pastor. I know that they just signed Mr. Chubisky, but to me that signaled that they have a placeholder for a potential franchise quarterback to come in and whether it's developed or, you know, take over as a starting guy,

like being that role. And I think even their GM mentioned, like it doesn't preclude, like signing Mr. Chubisky did not preclude them from going after a quarterback, whether it's in the draft or adding another one in free agency. And so I think when you look at the weapons that are already there for Pittsburgh, I mean, we all assume that the biggest problem, or not even assume, like we pointed out the biggest problem with Pittsburgh last year was

underwhelming quarterback play. Like they didn't have Compton quarterback from Ben Rothensburg last year, at least not consistently enough. And so I think if you look at the roster, the way it's assembled right now, I know that there's going to be growing pains with Malik Willis, but I think that the floor for what is potent, you know, his athleticism provides potentially, you know,

gives you a guy who can be serviceable or at least give you, you know, comparable play to what Rothesberger gave them last year. And they nearly, you know, snuck their way into the playoffs. Hey, Kaelan, you know how I know that Mitch Chubisky signing with the Steelers did not preclude them taking a quarterback before Kevin Colbert said it. It's because the person they signed was Mitch Trubisky. I pieced that together. I piece that together.

Before Kevin Colbert said it, I said, you know what? Their quarterback is bad, so they might still take a quarterback. I agree and fit, you know, listen, one thing that, and then Mike Willis discourse has over the past 24 hours, has gotten incredibly dumb. He's a very, very good quarterback. And I think that with all young quarterbacks, in this draft in particular, because some of these guys might slip into the midfirst round, there is the real capability that some of these guys are going to find a pretty good foundation or find a place. And I don't think this is going to be the case for Willis, although Mitch Chubis he might start in September and Pittsburgh, even if Willis goes there.

They might find themselves in a spot that has a starter and get a year of runtime, almost like Trey Lance, almost like every year we do the quote-unquote Kansas City model discussion. Maybe that could really happen somewhere with some of these quarterbacks, whether that's Malik Willis, where that's Kenny Pickett, where that's Sam Howell, whatever. Desmond Ritter is another guy who's going to be available to some more premium franchises, because he's not going to go in the top 10. So that, that to me,

I think is, is worth watching. Nora, anything on Willis? Yeah. We know that I like him for the Lions. I've just decided I'm really into that. I love Atlanta.

I think more for Atlanta than for... You like him at the Lions with 32. Yes. Yeah. That would be exciting for me. I like the idea of him going to Atlanta, especially from Atlanta's perspective. I think for the reasons that you were just talking about,

just in terms of the infrastructure and not necessarily the assumption that he would sit because it is Trubisky, but the possibility that if it were the best thing for the player, he wouldn't necessarily have to start right away in Pittsburgh. I think if you're Malik Willis, that's the ideal situation. If you are in the front office somewhere, I'm kind of like, if he wound up in Atlanta, I'm a little hype, about that just because I think the fit is nice.

I think given that they have Marriota, there's some sort of seamlessness in what they could do in terms of the offense there and being able to make a smooth transition. And that's always nice. But I'm into it. I was watching the NFL network, I was listening to some NFL network stuff this morning.

And I like the theory that Sam Howell should go to the Lions with one of their non-first round picks because Sam Howell needs juice and that Dan Campbell can provide that with his caffeinated beverages. Dan Campbell just comes in, just starts yelling, just gives him some caffeine all of a sudden, Sam Hal has got some juice. That's how you do it.

Coach him up. All right, my most important person, and these are in no particular order, but I think this one's pretty obvious. It's Trump Alki. So. On my list as well. We could tee off on Balkei for the next hour.

And that's not really what I want to do. I don't. So there are a couple of rumors about now that Jacksonville could be planning some sort of surprise. There have been a couple of other reports that Trent Pauke wants to draft Walker and that Chad Khan, the owner, wants to draft Aidan Hutchinson. Now, there's a second report that dovetails with that that maybe Doug Peterson wants offensive line help. Maybe he wants an Ikey type. It makes sense that Walker is Balky's guy when you consider the length, some of the makeup. It's his type of profile of player.

I understand that. And also everything about that sort of standoff, that triangulation, that all makes sense to me. Doug Peterson won in Philadelphia. I think Chris Sim said this morning, you know, he won in Philadelphia with with having a bunch of badasses across the offensive line and figuring everything else out later. But I'm intrigued to see A who wins power struggle. Spoiler alert, it's almost always the owner

unless there's a really good case or everybody's against him. Interesting to see how much power Balki has, especially after the past couple of months, where even his presence has led to a lot of fan and media tumult, I guess you would say. and then just see what the direction of this Jacksonville franchise is. I don't know. I know that this is an obvious thing to say.

I don't know where this franchise is going to where it's supposed to go. I almost forget they have Trevor Lawrence sometimes. Because a year ago, we were talking about this franchise and saying they've got the crown jewel of the sport. They've got the young quarterback. He can do it all. They get Travis Etienne, I guess, to accentuate that. He immediately misses the entire season.

He comes out and says a couple weeks ago, if there was any season, miss. It was that one. That's correct. Urban Meyer turns his franchise to a complete joke. They have the capability to, with this pick, change the entire narrative about their franchise. I don't know where they go. I truly don't know where they go.

Well, I don't either because I think taking Walker number one overall, even though I like Walker, I don't have the same I tend to be somewhat into the idea of focusing

maybe slightly more than other schools of thought would say on traits. So I don't like, I don't hate him as a prospect in the same way that I think there are some schools of thought that are like, what this guy doesn't have the production. Why would you do this whatsoever? I don't feel that way. I do think it would be I would not draft him number one overall.

No one's asking me if I would be drafting him number one overall. I'm not the general manager of an NFL team. But for the record, I would not do that. That said, he is now the betting favorite to go number one overall. Yeah. Like the odds now say that he is the most likely number one overall pick. And Trent Falky is the first and foremost person who is in a position to make that happen or not make that happen. The first thing that will happen if it does indeed occur is that the football commentariat is going to have a lot to say.

That'll be fun as it always is, of course. And then second of all, it is a choice between making a sort of splashy controversial pick that we will have various referendums on for the next, I don't know, five plus years of this guy's career until we figure out who the player, whoever it is that they draft the top ends up being as an NFL player. or if it's say Aiden Hutchinson or one of the linemen who are considered much safer prospects, then people kind of do a quiet little golf clap for that and it's all very safe but probably smart. So the other reason that I think we're talking about this is because it's going to be divisive in a way that most picks that we're talking about here, particularly in this year where there's just less consensus than most years are going to provoke. But it's become this sort of pivot point at the top of the draft when not that long ago, it just didn't seem like there was much of a choice here.

So I guess we should at least. Do you mean between Hutchinson and anybody else? I mean, there was a good chunk in the lead up to the draft where I think it was it was, It was particularly when we were talking about the talking about the pass rushers. And I say that sort of with a grain of salt because I think some people would say, well, that's the issue with Walker is that he's not actually a pass rusher. He doesn't actually rush the passer.

And that's why you shouldn't take him number one overall. But yeah, I think a month ago it at least felt like we had consensus there. And the fact that that is no longer the case makes the- I think that the draft, the draft changes quite a bit over the course of a six-month period. I think that we've, there have been so many drafts where we've had consensus and lost it. Totally. Yeah, I don't. My point is that we have much less of, we have much less of that this draft than we usually do.

But the fact that we have it here at the number one spot is why this is important. It was interesting. I asked someone last week, before I was going on, we still actually, about like what the rising and the following the draft was. just explain this. And they said, well, it's actually like a lot of it. And again, it's really hard. There's only like four or five people on the planet who are on the outside who can actually diagnose if someone is truly slipping or not because they'd have to talk to literally

all 32 teams. Because if you say a top six pick is going to fall out, you know, a guy who was mock five is going to fall out of the second round, you would have to check with literally every team. And a lot of people don't have the capability to do that. there are some. We know who they are. There's someone that's plugged in people on the planet, and I applaud all of their information,

and it's amazing. But this person said to me that their team basically creates a big board right before the combine, and the only way that that changes is test scores, medical, or some character flag. It either comes up in interviews with the player themselves or it doesn't, or comes up talking to the high school,

or the high coach or college coordinator or whatever. So I think a lot of times the consensus it exists in December and even January and February, a lot of that's media created and it can be kind of astro-turfed by just a couple of scouts and a couple of draft people. And so I'm not surprised that this is closing the gap. I mean, I guess, Kaelin, for me, the interesting thing with the Jaguars is because quarterback's out of the equation, both for them as a franchise and for the draft, no one, there's no team that would pick, take a quarterback first overall if they had to pick

because of the way the quarterback prop is, they truly get to pick best player in the draft. Who is that? Oh, man, that's a good question. I mean, it really depends on who you're talking to. I mean, for my money, I mean, I think it's still Tibido.

I mean, if you're talking about position-wise, I mean, you can make the argument that it's Kyle Hamilton. I'm someone who loves Jameson Williams. Like there's no clear consensus like you guys have already, you know, wrapped about already. Like there's no consensus. And I think this is kind of a byproduct of, you know,

everyone, you know, getting back to normalcy, you know, in terms of the drafting and scouting world, I think getting back in person doing everything like that. We saw a lot of, you know, variants, I think amongst boards last year or a year before prior when, you know, everyone was in COVID.

And there wasn't the same type of access. So I don't know if it's a continuation of that. I just think at the same time, when you mentioned there's no flashy number one quarterback. There's so many different receivers, which we say is a really strong group this year. There is no consensus number one guy there. Offensive line, I mean, you have two guys in Icky and Evan Neal. So there's, I mean, it's because of the fact that we don't have consensus is what makes it so difficult. And I think you guys already touched on it before, but like Trayvon Walker in particular, you know, he's a really interesting case because I don't know if he would be considered for number one

if the Jaguarth and Trent Balke weren't selecting first overall. But we know he has a type. That is my point. It's not that there's risers and fallers every year. Exactly. The person who is currently rising is the interesting thing about this. And is something of an outlaw here. The person who's rising is Trent Balki.

Yeah, that's what I'm saying. Who's crushing it more than Trent Balki position? flying up the big board flying up the Jacksonville Jaguars big board is Mr. Trent Balki. Nora, anything else on Balki, he was on your list? Well, that was it. It's being the person who, and again, like we're talking about perception for a reason here, particularly because the person that we're talking about here is not the most popular guy in his area. And there is at least a perception that if it is Walker,

he is the one who's behind that, potentially with some others in the building being in favor of Hutchison or one of the linemen. And then we're also talking about a prospect who there's a lot of smart analysts who think it would be ridiculous to draft a guy with this level of production. Again, I don't feel quite so strongly just because he's in a great defense and because the traits are so very good. And there are a lot of things that he does well. And no, it is not as valuable, but being a really, really good run defender is important. Like, I can hear the argument. But we're talking about sort of against all odds, given everything that we've talked about in this draft,

the number one overall pick potentially being kind of a controversy. And that's what's changed. I guess the thing that hasn't changed is that Trent Falky is at the center of a potential controversy. Are there any guys a fun discussion though, like after the draft? Assuming he goes number one, it's going to be a fun discussion.

Is it? I mean, does Trent Falky, like, does Trent Balky know James James Tours A.C.L? That's his thing. Is drafting ACL guys? Have we gotten him a medical report on his desk of Jameson

Williams and his torn ACL? And Balky's like, that's my guy. That would be a surprise. That would be a surprise. That's my guy. Well, people are saying he might go top ten. Trent Fulke is going to be the person who makes us all have to sit through like a whole conversation after the first roundabout. Watch the tape.

Yeah. Okay. But. Tatee versus traits. But I think Palky's on team traits. But hey, I think clearly. I think that there's no. I think with Walker Hutchinson, Neil and Ikey.

Okay. And let's just say those are the four in contention here. Kael and I agree with you that Tibido is quite good. It sounds like he's not in the mixer. It sounds like he's probably late top 10 at this point. We'll see where it goes. I don't think, Nora, that there's a pick that even though it's a controversy on who it's going to be, I don't think there's a Jags fans revolt pick.

It's not like when everybody in the Giants, most people in the Giants land were questioning Dave Gettleman, and they were like, well, we can't really pick Daniel Jones, and then he picked Daniel Jones. that and then lied about who else was going to who else was going to be in the mix of Daniel Jones after that right and then Diana Erasini reported that nobody was in the mix for Daniel Jones that early I don't think that there's a pick that's going to turn Duval

it's not going to set Duval in fire I don't I don't think that there's there's a disaster pick here because they're all kind of the same genre of high high floor kind of safeish pick kind of guys, right? This is sort of what I disagree with. I'm not sure that Walker is all that safe.

I think that Walker's going to be a very good NFL player. I think that there's enough you can do with him with that type of athleticism from that Georgia defense. There's enough where he's going to be in the NFL for a while. Maybe he's not going to have, like, I'll give you a great example. Yeah, no, I mean, I don't disagree with anything that you just said. I just think decent NFL player who's going to be in the league for a while. when people are already inclined to be dissatisfied with a particular GM's decisions.

Sure. I don't think that moves the needle in a positive direction. I think that would be a pretty reasonable level to set your expectations at for most first round picks. I don't think that's quite what we're talking about here, particularly where we're talking about a prospect who, look, there's not that much to talk about with this draft. So a lot of the conversation that I've heard is, how is it Trayvon Walker, who's the guy who's rising, right? How is it this guy who the heavy analytics, heavy tape people don't think is particularly good?

I think that's about as close to controversial as it seems like we're capable of getting in that spot. So I think it moves the needle somewhat. Well, four, five in 35 vertical. I mean, and he played multiple. That's the thing. Like, he played a lot of different roles. You can totally talk yourself into it. You can totally talk yourself.

I agree with you. For the record, I agree with you because it does not make a lot of sense. Because I think it was meaning who tweeted it early. Like he'd have the lowest amount of sacks of any edge defender draft number one since they've been keeping counted in that shit. So it doesn't make a lot of sense. But projection. And that's really, this is the whole, what is hype?

It's called the draft industrial complex. Like, that's literally what this is all built on. Just conjecture. and projection because no one knows shit, but we all have to project and talk about it and analyze it, which is the best way that we can get an idea for what we know. Yeah, I mean, I think that there's going to be,

I think Walker's going to have a nice NFL career. And he's a different player. It was funny. I was looking at his mock draftable database, and 70% of his measurable is line up with Gedevian Clowny. And we were talking about earlier, kind of what expectations are for the first overall pick. I think on the edge,

the eve of the draft in 2014, if you would laid out Chedevian Clowny's career and said, this is all he's going to be, he's going to be a solid guy who bounces around, who has some good seasons and gets a little overrated at some point. I think that people would have been surprised by that. But Jadevi and Clowny in college, both of them were very, very good run defenders in college,

but Jadevi and Clowny in a way that was like, he was a tackle for loss machine, made big play. And I'm not, I'm not, inclusive playmaker. Judevian Clownie is significantly more productive than Walker was. I'm just talking about the expectations for the first overall pick. They're always

going to be, we're always going to assume that everyone's going to be on the JJ Watt sort of thing. Even though no Watt brother was picked first overall, the Bosa brothers level, that kind of thing. Sometimes these guys are just pretty good. And that's, that's a fine. Yeah, pretty good. Yeah. It depends on your perception of what number one pick should be, whether or not he's a bus. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. Like, Deavion's not a, not a bus. He's a three-time pro war. All of that is true. Let's put. it this way. If they take Walker first overall, there are a significant amount of next day headlines that say

with the first overall pick, Jags take guy who half of football Twitter thinks is not that good. If they take any of those other four guys, the response is like, yeah, that guy should be pretty good. Agreed. I think Aidan Hutchinson is the pick. I think he's the best part I'm Jack. It's my take. Good take. All right. Kaelin, you're

number two important person. Oh, my number two. I've got Joe Shane. Two top 10 picks for the Giants. I've almost put Joe Douglas. Like, I literally have Joe Douglas slash Shane.

It's all the Joe's in New York. The New York Joe's. But no, I mean, like, it's significant for two different reasons, though. I mean, we could tackle both we want to. Jets, obviously, like, are they, like, there's this whole idea that would they go pursue another receiver, maybe trade one of their picks to go to Ebo Samuel, like that. That's the potential of play here. But ultimately, how quickly can they build, you know, around Zach Wilson? I think that

they get a really good job last year in terms of mailing some of their later round picks, like the Michael Carter, pick was a really good one. ABT, I mean, decent, opposite line. And so they, they've done a really good job in terms of the agency. And I think that, you know, if they can land one of these, you know, big body receivers, I don't know if it'll be Drake London, whether it's someone who can, you know, get down the field like Garrett Wilson. I think surrounding Zach Wilson with a playmaker's the priority there. And the other thing for the Giants, like with Joe Shane, is, you know, that you're literally starting from the ground up.

We've, you know, talked about David Gettleman for years. And now, you know, you're starting new and starting fresh. if you're the Giants, I mean, supplying Brian Davel with adequate impact players, you know, that really recalibrate the direction of the franchise is super important. I don't know if they have any plans to trade down or not, but, you know, with the idea that they're sticking with

Andrew Jones this year, which is super smart, because now you can, you know, continue to build and focus on surrounding the supporting cast with strong caliber players before focusing on quarterback next year. I think that, you know, it's a really pivotal offseason for both the Giants and the Jets. And I think what those two GMs decide to do on draft day, you know, can influence a lot of things,

especially because they both have two first round picks as we talked about with trading down earlier. Hmm. I agree. I did not expect when you said keeping Daniel Jones around for another year, you're super smart. I did not expect to say absolutely. But it makes a ton of sense.

This is not the year to retool with quarterback. We either have to invest heavily in a veteran. quarterback who isn't that good or over drafted guy. And with the picks that the Giants have right now, that doesn't make any sense. So rolling that's Daniel Jones. I actually don't, I don't hate Daniel Jones.

I don't hate Daniel Jones. Like I don't think he, it was worth the draft pick. I don't think he has that high of the ceiling in the NFL. But I think he can be a starter. I think he's going to hang around. I think he'll win games in the right situation. I just don't think the Giants in 2022,

even if they hit on these picks are the right situation. Nora, Joe. Joe S? I'm really into it because I think they're a tick closer than it feels like they are. And particularly because some of their needs, like I think a tackle for them would be a really, really good fit. And it's a good class for that. Because they're not in the position to be needing to reach for a quarterback

or be too mixed up with whether or not to go there or not in this draft, they're in a position with five and seven to get substantially better pretty quickly. And I don't quite know where that gets you because they're going from being a pretty bad team with some degree of promise to two first rounders better than that. And maybe that's worth a couple of wins in a not great division that has some teams that seem like they might be getting worse before they get better. so it seems like it helps. I don't know if that makes the Giants, the Giants a playoff team, and that might be sort of the operative conversation here.

But I don't know. I think they're in a pretty good, I think Stephen Ruiz made some good points about thinking that Daniel Jones, now you're skeptical of it. Whatever it is, yeah, I'm out on it. No, Ruiz said a really good piece that was basically like Daniel Jones isn't quite as bad as you think he is.

I know. He branded himself on this podcast, a Daniel Jones guy. Yeah. He convinced me a little bit. Plus, like, they have the fifth pick and the seventh pick, right? Like, they kind of don't have any right to not get better after the draft. Right. So, Peter Schrager's mock draft had Charles Cross and Soss Gardner going at 5 and 7 to the Giants. Jane O'Jaro and Maya had Ikey at five, Jermaine Johnson, at seven. Kalan, is there a combination of guys or positions where you say, okay, the Giants are building something here? Or is it just kind of getting these guys under the bus?

Well, it's definitely about getting the guys out from under the bus. But at the same time, yeah, they need to address offensive line. Like, they absolutely do. I think Andrew Thomas came along last year as the season progressed, but they definitely need to address offensive tackle. But, I mean, the other thing there, like you said, if they can get a standout corner and I completely forgot to bring this up, like James Bradbury, the starting quarterback could be on the market.

Like that could end up being a draft day storyline narrative, whatever. If they were to end up replacing him with a younger starting caliber quarterback like Soss Gardner, you know, that would be a pretty good draft day hall, especially for day one, I think for the Giants moving forward. The Jets might cut them off at the past for it, but I think Soss Gardner for the Giants is, that was one of my fits. that's one of my favorite potential picks there. Imagine if the Giants wound up with, let's say,

sauce gardener and then Charles Cross. Like, you're feeling pretty good about that class for them. Mm-hmm. Yeah, that seems right. I'm trying to get you to buy in on this giant type, Kevin, and just getting absolutely nothing. Kevin has like person to sort of not. We had some audio issues.

We had some audio issues over the past couple of weeks that had now been fixed. I don't know why the audio issues where you couldn't hear people couldn't have come right when Stephen Ruiz said, I'm a Daniel Jones guy. That would have been the perfect time for people to be like, what did he say? And he couldn't have said that. Editorially, our podcast can't be making these proclamations. No, I, I, listen. Well, you know what?

I'm not a Daniel Jones guy, but I will rephrase, as I just said, I don't hate Daniel Jones. I think Daniel Jones can be the right guy in the right situation. I just don't, I think he's worth keeping around for this year because the Giants are in the situation that they're in. I just don't see much of the path forward. That's all. I'm not, Brian Daibald, the quarterback whisper. That's the thing. Yeah, Brian Daibol had Josh Allen.

So. But he made Josh Allen good. Josh Allen sucked. He is now one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL. I, I've written, I like Brian Daibol. I've written about Don't be. Brian Daibble. I've interviewed him about Josh Allen. Nora has too. This is a pro Brian Dayball podcast. Josh Allen made Josh Allen better. Like the work ethic, the system that he was

placed into was unbelievable. Props to Daible, Sean McDermott, Brandon Bean, the offensive line, skill guys, all those guys. Everybody had, you know, what the victory has many fathers, orphans of defeat, right? Like victory in the Josh Allen situation, there's a lot. There's a lot. There's a lot there. A lot of people can take credit for it. Congratulations to them. But Josh Allen is a unicorn. Josh Allen should not have happened.

And I think Bill's fans are extremely lucky that the Black Swan event, a low probability thing, happened in their market and led them to Super Bowl contention. But I don't think Brian Dibble can just go around the country, like a little offensive coordinator Johnny Appleseed, creating Josh Allen's. That's not what I think. You really need to get them a quarterback whisperer show like the dog whisper.

just follow him around talking to quarterbacks. Just fixing it. I had the idea once when we did the hottest take podcast back when we were all together over there at the Spotify, the ringer offices back

back in old Hollywood there. I had an episode where my idea was the Belichick could do like a bar rescue show where he just goes into teams and just tells them what to do. He just spends a week in every single facility,

just tell him. and what you do. And I feel like maybe Brian Dayball could do that with bad quarterbacks. Is that what you're saying? Yes, let's do it. There we go. Let's tell whoever we need to tell. Let's make some money off this guy.

Let's go. Day Bowl Rescue. We just did it. Dayball Rescue. I was just, I don't want to get sued, but I was just at a bar a couple weeks ago that, from what I understand,

got Barr rescued, and then everybody hated it, and then they unbar rescued it. and everybody liked it again. What if Daebel makes Jones competent and then we hate Daniel Jones because he's not like an elite, he's like average.

And then Daibel leaves, and Daner goes back to being the dorky, lovable, goopy dude who runs 80 yards and trips over himself. We just solved it. Listen, top speeds. Look it up in GPS, next gen staff. Daniel Jones is up there.

He's an athlete. He's an athlete. Yeah. Nora, who's your third important person? It's Baker Mayfield. Oh, God. Ooh. Is this man going to get traded?

Or does he have to play for the Browns again or not play for the Browns? I mean, he's going, might play for the Browns because there might be a suspension this year. Well, because he might not get traded. So, okay. Baker Mayfield clearly is upset with the Browns for, for, for, in my view, reasonable reasons. He would, thank you. Valid would have been a word that doesn't also start with R

and sound as strange, just reasonable reasons. The Panthers who have been connected with Baker, according to Ian Rappaport, are not expected to trade for him prior to the first round of the draft. If they do so at all. But if they do, it won't be prior to the first round. of the draft. Baker Mayfield is clearly limited as a starting quarterback.

At a certain point, if you can get Baker Mayfield for like a fifth round pick, somebody is going to do it. Yes? No? Am I crazy? No, I don't think you're crazy. I don't. I think the biggest issue is the figure, like the dollar figure.

I think that's probably people's hesitants. but fifth round i'm taking the fire on baker mayfield i'm sorry i know i'm criticizing what was like wait so so sorry let's see okay especially given the situation that we're clearly in where teams are are more interested in usual than in offloading draft picks for other things so he's due 18.8 18 something yeah 18.8 this year so let's go through the NFL and figure out If you were the GM of this team, would you take a flyer on Baker Mackey? Okay. Bills, Patriots, dolphins, jets.

Anybody? No. Okay. We'll throw Jimmy Gralthough on this exercise, too, if you want to. Just for fun. Yes. Absolutely. Bangles, Steelers, Ravens.

Steelers. The Steelers. But where? Where? Like, fourth round? Oh. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. I mean. Okay. I don't know. I still think my cap is fifth round. I think my cap is fifth round. But I would trade. Kayla is bidding for fifth rounder for the Steelers.

Okay. Titans, Colts, Texans, Jaguars. I mean, I don't really know what Baker Mayville does for the Texans. But. Right, right. Chiefs Raiders. Bigger Meal would be an upgrade at quarterback for the Texans. I'm not sure if that necessarily means they should do it.

Chiefs Raiders charges Broncos. Okay. Cowboys, Eagles, commanders, giants keeping in mind the commanders already have their Baker Mayfield. I was going to say, like, who's Washington, I was blanking on who Washington's quarterback was. Oh, yeah, it's cars and ones.

Hmm. No. Packers, Vikings, bears lions. Don't think so. Lions, you got Jared golf. You got Jared golf playing. Seventh round pick for Baker Mayfield to sit behind Aaron Rogers. I don't.

No. No. I don't really want Baker Mayfield and Aaron Rogers in a room. We have enough podcast We have enough podcast guests in the locker room, okay?

That would be Bucks, Saints, Falcons, Panthers. Panthers. Yeah. The Bucks? Yeah. Brady will play a year.

Do we think Brady's going to play beyond this year? I know what's a whole of us. But then we're going to sign Baker and extension now because Tom Brady's going to go. He's only got one year left. All right.

Rams, Cardinals, 49, or Seahawks? Seahawks. Seahawks. Yep. But I got to be honest with you. But isn't the Seahawks question, the same question you have about the Texans? What does Baker Mayfield do for the 2022 Seahawks?

Okay, but the Seahawks are run by different people who I think are going to approach this with a different philosophy. No, Jack. Is that what you're saying? Yeah. Well, Pep Hamilton's in Houston, to be fair. Like, he's a good quarterback coach.

But I don't know. I think Baker would vibe with Pete Carroll a lot more than he would, Lovie Smith. I don't think we moved to the Baker-Mayfield. I don't think we made much progress in where Baker-Mayfield should be playing. I think there's a reason he's already, the reason he's just sitting at home right now. And there's a reason Jimmy Grasplow is, too.

And there's a groplo thing's different because of the health is off-season because of the bigger price tag. I don't know. At some point, I agree with you guys that at some point it makes sense to say, let's give up a fifth rounder or do a pick swap just to take on this guy's contract. But I don't think we're there yet. I think some of these teams went into this thinking they were going to get some draft capital. And they just didn't. So there we are. All right. I mean, look, we're going to find out. We will at some point. Or not, or this just stands forever.

Baker Maitfield just ends his career with the Browns in 2040. True. Retires a Brown. The NFL draft this year and if you've never bet on the NFL before, there's never been a better time to give Fan Dual Sportsbook a shot. Because right now you can place your first bet risk free. That's right, you'll get up to $1,000 back if you don't win. Fan Duel gives you so many bets to choose from like draft specials, future bets,

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Download Fandul today. That's promo code Ringer NFL, 21 and up in present and select states only. First online real money wager, refund issued as non-withdrawable site credit that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook. Fandul.com. Gambling problem, go 100 gambler, or visit Fandul.com slash RG in Colorado,

Iowa, Michigan, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Virginia. 1,800 next step, or text next step to 5, 3, 3, 3, 4, 2, Arizona, 1-88-78-9-7-77, or visit ccpg.org slash chat in Connecticut, 109 with it in Indiana, 1-8777-7-0 stop in Louisiana, 1-8778-8-N-Y or text Hope N.Y 4673-9 in New York, the Tennessee red line, 1-8009-9-9-9-7-89 in Tennessee, 1-800-522-470 in West Virginia, or visit 1-800-Gambor.net, also in that Virginia. Kaelin Jones, who's next for you, bud? Oh, man.

I've got Nick Casario. Oh! Because he's going to trade for Baker Mayfield? Yeah, this is it, babe. Synergy. I see this is the thing, like, right before our pod started, like, you know, he just swapped, like, what, his fifth-round pick or six-and-seven-round picks are reversed with Patriots.

So that in and of itself is interesting. There's been a lot of reports about, you know, the Texans potentially just standing pat with their picks. Like they aren't getting calls for number three. Number 13, they'd like to offload potentially and get more picks. This is something that Nick Assyrio said the other day. He's not opposed to. But, you know, the reason like why I bring up serious is because, again,

like this is a team that's positioned within a division outside. I mean, the Colts obviously are good right now. but I think I like what the Texans are building. I know that obviously, you know, they weren't that impressive last year. I think we all were impressed by how they overperform against expectations. This is really kind of a rag tag roster, so to speak, but the foundational pieces that Casillo added through the draft last year,

especially later on in the draft, where, you know, they ended up performing really well, like Roy Lopez, some of these other guys that they nab. And I think this continues this week. I am curious to see whether they take a swing on a receiver earlier or not, because I think it was Eric Adholt, Yahoo, who tweeted out the other day. Like he said, look for a surprise to be at the number three pick. I don't know if that's Soss Gardner, who's gotten a lot of steam today on Monday,

but we'll see. I'm going to be surprised at the three just because I don't know. Like, I guess the one thought would be the top three would be some combination of Walker, Hutchinson, and then one of the tackles, I guess, at three. that would be, I guess that would be chalk, right? So if Sauce, Sauce Gardner at three would, would be a surprise. Tibido being at three, even though Tibido was previously mocked at three, I think in DJ's mock draft last month, which one month of mock draft terms is basically six years, especially once she start getting the testing numbers in and, and all that stuff. But I think that there's, I don't know, they could go in so many different directions because they kind of just need everything, Nora.

Yeah, I would bet that they will go with the linemen on either side of the ball. I would be surprised if they went corner at three. Pretty much any of the top defensive linemen, any of the top offensive linemen, any of the top offensive linemen, like, nobody who's in that mix would really surprise me there. But I would be pretty surprised if they went with, like, sauce gardener. I just think it's a really interesting pivot point, especially because they have the opportunity to take a swing on either of the picks because they've got two first round picks

for the next, I think, two or three drafts. They've got at least 10 picks over the next two or three as well. So Cisterio is loaded up on draft picks, and I think you mentioned the other day in this presser, like the UDFA pool is going to be something to watch too, but I mean, like, that's completely out of discussion. But, like, again, they will be a pivot point for, you know, where we go. as far as the draft is concerned, I think we have an idea of who's going like one, two.

I think three with the Texas is probably where it gets a little bit, you know, what happens after this pick happens. So the UDFA thing is fascinating because there's a lot of people who say that it's pretty valuable to get third and fourth and fifth round picks in this draft because of how we basically have two years worth of upperclassmen who are coming into the draft. And it's the opposite of Kevin Colbert had told me a couple of years. ago that they during the COVID year they honed in on XFL players because they were so uh instead of UDFAs because of the lack of depth in the draft lack of knowledge you know there was no combine

that year limited pro days and so they went out and they said let's just get some pros who've done it that we've seen them play pro tape have pro tape and go from there this is the exact opposite of that this is the bills coming due on that particular cycle which is it's two years worth of guys who are entering the draft now. And this is important. And you're going to see more older guys. You're going to see guys who would have gone drafted in the fifth round, slipping to UDFAs because of the amount of prospects.

And then you kind of compound that with the amount of early entrance, which is always increasing for obvious reasons. I would leave school early too under the current conditions because a lot of guys, A, or more NFL ready than they ever have been. And then B, just want to get to their second contract. they're an elite guy. There's no real reason to maximize your draft potential anymore because the number one pick is only for what, 30 something billion dollars over four years.

It's not like it used to be. So there's a lot of forces at work here as far as that goes. I think it's interesting. I'm going to ask you a stupid question, Kailen. How? That's what I do. What's the Texans time tape? Like, what is it?

Like, if they have a nice draft this year and get a quarterback next year, are they functioning NFL team that can win games in 2023? Yeah, no, I kind of think that they are. I think it really comes down to how good the staff is and I think they have, again, like I'm a fan of Pep Hamilton, I like the development

that we saw from Davis Mills last year. I think if that continues, we're going to be talking about how Davis Mills, not just competent quarterback, like, how good is he, like, what is the ceiling? That being said, I mean, you look at the moves that Casillas made this offseason, in particular,

like there's a lot of short contracts, like deals that aren't going to extend beyond, like, you know, one, two years. So you got a lot of time to retool, you know, and assess what they have on the roster in a really short time, but still have the ammo to supplement, you know, with high caliber draft picks. So, I mean, 2023, 2024, this is when this team arguably should be competitive. But again, like it really comes down to, like you mentioned, like the factors that are happening around them.

if Tennessee has any type of drop off, which I don't know if they will, because Robinson's on a really good job. And I think Rabel's a really good head coach. You look at Jacksonville potentially on the rise. And, you know, Chris Ballard and Colts seem to have a really good machine working over there. So they should be competitive in two years' time, but I don't know if that means they're going to be top of the AFC South anytime soon. All right. My last guy, my most important guy, Mr. Kenny Pickett. So I think that there are, I think that he's an inflection point.

And by the way, I have Debo Samuel on my list too, but that's just a discussion we've been happening for the past couple weeks about what happens if he's actually able to force his way out. I don't think that's going to happen before the draft. I don't, I think they're going to probably try to keep him. I also think, by the way, I want to quickly make this point. Everyone keeps saying, well, the Packers traded their top weapon. The Chiefs traded their top weapon. The Niners are a smart organization just like them. They'll get rid of it.

They'll get rid of Debo for value. there's a whole heck of a lot of daylight between having Aaron Rogers and trusting him to create and having Patrick Mahomes and trusting him to create and having Trey Lance who's never started an NFL game

and saying by the way the weapon that we have who can line up everywhere on the field who can just break tackles whenever he wants who can get your 40 yards just receiving but can also line up 81 snaps in the backfield

he's leaving he's going to the jets that's tough so I think that's completely different the more I think about it the more I think it makes sense for them to keep Debo, play the franchise tag game, and go from there. I don't know.

I don't know if anybody disagree with me, but that's my take. I mean, but John Lynchon sounded quite a bit like it doesn't disagree with you today, I believe. John Lynch knows ball. Finally. Steven's not here, Kevin. You don't have to convince anybody. Stephen saying scouts don't know ball last week when I was making a Devin-Loyd point. It was just amazing.

I love that guy. All right. So I was in Cowherd today, and he said that he talked to a GM who said that Kenny Pickett has a third round grade. And I don't know where any of this quarterback stuff goes. Because I think that in a weird way, because there's no expectations here, and I already said earlier that I think that there's a possibility that one of these quarterbacks gets way overdrafted because it's harder to move down.

For the reasons that we stated, A, because nobody wants to go in the back of the first, nobody wants to get up in the first because there's no quarterback prospects to begin with or no generational talents, anybody's going to fall in love with. But then beyond that, people want second round picks,

third round picks, fourth round picks, in this draft. So I don't, I think you're going to see some weirdness with the quarterbacks and where they lay out. But then I also think, like, I've never, you know, I think it was the Ryan Nassad year, if you guys remember that,

where the day of the draft and the day before, before the draft. There was this rumor, it was 2013, that teams had just fallen in love with him and he might be a first round pick. This actually happened.

Ask your parents, listeners, 2013 NFL draft. And he went in the fourth round, obviously. The only quarterback to go in the first round that night was

E.J. Manuel. And then Gino Smith went 39th. Mike Dlenin, won 73rd. Then Matt Barkley and Rideman. And I kind of feel like in a year like this, I think we're going to see some outcomes at quarterback that we really, really, really don't expect.

There was a report this morning, the NFL network, that there could be a run-on quarterback in the late first, maybe because of the nature of the position now where people just want to be a, you know, I don't want to make fun of the Eagles, but a quarterback factory. Maybe teams want to do that

and think that a pick in a late first is worth it. But I don't know. I think you could see some quarterbacks. I think Pickett goes in the first. Willis goes in the first and then I have no idea what the hell happens. I have no idea of some of these names that we're currently mocking in the first round go to the third round. I don't, I honestly have never gone into a draft this confused about the state of the quarter of the court of execution Kaelin-Jolns. Yeah, no, I haven't since then. That was one of the first drafts that I was

like into. You know, I was thinking about it earlier today because, you know, we have our our little roundtable questions that our editor, Connor Nevins put out. Like how many quarterbacks do you have going in the first round? I mean, outside of those two. And honestly, I think it's a question mark that even,

you know, we get two quarterbacks. There's no guarantee because, like I was mentioning earlier, like if Willis doesn't go in the top 10, I mean, I think it's pretty open as far as like how far you can drop, where picket ends up going.

There's a lot of uncertainty. And I think, you know, again, it comes down to the fact that there's no bonaf generational prospects, which is surprising because, you know, the state of college football, the state of football at the youth level is so good. Like, quarterbacks come way more prepared and more talented than ever before. And yet there's this little bit of a dip before next year where we have like a lot more

generational guys. I don't know. I honestly, I have no idea what to expect, nor quarterbacks, anything. Does this is going to make any sense? No, probably not. Because there's, again, there's so much less consensus. so most things are going to feel like a surprise. I can really see, given what you're talking about here,

something like that happening with Ritter, just because he's so good at playing quarterback, if that makes sense, that I think once you get out of the, like, really top area, there's going to be guys who maybe we're not hearing from, maybe, you know, the shepherds of the world are not even necessarily sourcing to, but like there will be people

who will have a strong, compelling argument in their draft rooms for like, yes, there are streaks where it's not as good, but here's this guy who really understands how to play the position, is relatively polished, is relatively ready, let's just go for it, this is a good player. So I can see that happening with him in particular,

but we're just going to have to find out. I mean, in some ways, the cool thing about this, draft is that there's just been so little, such little opportunity for group think to develop. That's why, that is sort of why conversely, the conversation about the number one pick is interesting to me because it's just atypical that the top pick be kind of a pivot point. But the thing with the rest of the draft is that we don't really know where the pivot points are, which I guess means that they don't exist, but it just means that there's going to be an opportunity

for some team to come out of nowhere and be like, hey, we loved this guy. We liked this guy all along, so we're just going to go for it. So that'll be fun. You see that Belichick had in this guy, E.J. Perry from Brown, Nora, you've seen this guy?

He's a brown quarterback. He didn't play lacrosse, but he did have the best three cone of any quarterback at the Combine, which means he will be a New England Patriot. I love them. Bailey's app, he's going to be a case keen to of this class. There's my draft

take call. He had like exceptional exceptional college football career. Had the numbers. Great accuracy numbers. That's saying. He'll find a way to last. At least I'm hoping, just so I'm worried.

But I was going through some of the draft guys. I mean, some of the metrics I love third down passing stats, all that stuff. But there just really isn't anybody who jumped out to me. I was looking for a hidden gem. And I just don't I just don't see it. I mean, there's guys who I feel like

probably can be better than we think. I actually do think Sam Howell can develop into quite a good quarterback if given the opportunity and given the right system. If I had to take a quarterback, if my owner said time for a quarterback buddy or else you're going to get fired, I'd go with Malik Willis. But I think there's,

I don't know, I mean, these quarterback drafts are such a crapshoot at this point that I would ask my owner, please don't make them take a quarterback. All right. Anything else, guys? Anything else in your lists I didn't get to?

I'm surprised we didn't. No one had Brian Gutakins. I was going to say him, but I assume one. He has one job. He has one job. Don't leave the draft without a wide receiver. Hey, I saw McAfee is going to have Aaron Rogers on. So he's going to be able to give real-time thoughts.

I'm sure for the Packers will love that. I'm sure. It's a little draft analysis from A-Raj. They're meeting their podcast guest quota in the locker room. And they can't have Baker on? I bet they could squeeze Baker. I bet they could happen. The other day someone sent me,

it was my son who day with Baker, where he was discussing his UFO encounter, was making the rounds again. Why doesn't anybody ask about that? Why do they ask about his terrible contract association and how his career is tanked? Why can't you just talk about his damn UFO sighting? All right, guys.

We'll be back later this week. I don't we don't really know our schedule we're going to be back a bunch uh we're definitely going to be doing a post draft show on Thursday we might be back before that um and then obviously a wrap up show on saturday night thank you to stephan inderson for construction help with additional production supervision by our juno ramco paul this has been the ringer NFL show on the ringer podcast network