Measuring the Impact of the 2024 Draft Class w/ Matt Waldman (Ep. 141)

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome back, everybody.

Speaker 2 (00:04):
It's the Fantasy Pros Dynasty Fantasy Football podcast. I'm your
host for the day. My name is Scott Bogman. You
can follow me on the Twitter at bogmin Sports. I'm
joined us always by Pat fitz Morris at FITS Underscore
ff on the Twitter Machine. And we have a special guest,
one of our favorites. We have him on every year,
the author of the Rookie Scouting Portfolio, Matt Waldman. You

(00:25):
can find him on the Twitter at Matt Waldman w
A L D m A N.

Speaker 1 (00:30):
Matt.

Speaker 2 (00:30):
Thank you so much for coming back on and how
excited are you? It is your time of year. The
portfolio is done and now you just get to sit
back and talk about it. The hard part's over. The
fun part is here.

Speaker 3 (00:43):
Correct, Absolutely, Scott, And it's a pleasure to be with
you and Pat again this year.

Speaker 4 (00:48):
I appreciate the invite.

Speaker 3 (00:49):
It's fun to have folks that I can do a
podcast like this on a regular annual basis on this way.
So yeah, it's a good time and I'm raring to go.

Speaker 1 (01:00):
Fits.

Speaker 2 (01:00):
Are you ready for the draft? I mean we are
two weeks away at this point. It is right there
the light is at the end of the tunnel. Are
you ready?

Speaker 5 (01:10):
I am ready?

Speaker 6 (01:10):
And like Matt is almost like Matt is the human
warning track for the draft because when we have him
on our show, we know that we are about to
hit the draft. So it's always like great to have
him on that officially heralds.

Speaker 5 (01:25):
The start of draft season for me.

Speaker 2 (01:27):
Yeah, I mean, I love having at on and we're
about to get a wealth of information and a different perspective.
I'm not sure how, because I know there are some
people that just absolutely will not pay attention to other
outside opinions when they watch.

Speaker 1 (01:41):
Are you that way, Matt?

Speaker 2 (01:43):
Are you a guy that says, look, I'm going to
go into my bubble, I'm gonna evaluate, and then I'll
come out of the bubble and see what everybody else
is saying. Or do you take in other opinions, like
during the process as you're making the rookie scouting portfolio.

Speaker 4 (01:58):
I'll put it to you this way.

Speaker 3 (02:00):
If you look at the Rookie skytingport for people who
aren't familiar, it's an eleven hundred and eighty three page
document that outlines my process, probably in a way that
few people outline to the depth that I do. I mean,
I have a complete glossary of terms that I use
that to form my criteria, and it's based on you know,
I have checklists for each position that are over one

(02:22):
hundred points in terms of one hundred criteria points that
I grade even more than that some of these. So
really I'm in my own bubble so much so that,
you know, the way that I watch film, I'm not
watching college games the way that people tune in on
Saturday and go, oh, I'm saying this. No, I mean

(02:43):
like I'm watching games to the point that you know
the joke is and it was for real is I
didn't know Lamar Jackson won the Heisman Trophy years ago
until I studied him six months later.

Speaker 4 (02:57):
You know. So there are.

Speaker 3 (02:58):
People towards the end of my process that I'll have
conversations with and we'll kind of compare notes a little bit.
But even then, at most it just gets me to
go back and say, did I see the same thing? Yeah,
oh no, I didn't.

Speaker 4 (03:12):
Let me watch a.

Speaker 3 (03:12):
Couple more games and see if I see something that
didn't show up here. And usually I'm just sticking with
my process because at the end of the day, I
would encourage everyone to do that. Who's evaluating, because you're
not going to figure out better ways to become an
evaluator if you're not wrong and you're not gonna know,

(03:34):
and you've got more importantly, you've got to know why
you were wrong, and so you've got to follow your
own compass. If I listen to Chad Writer or at
NFL dot com or Lanzerline or Dane Brugler or somebody
Kurt Warner or somebody else, I don't know their frame
of reference and what they're going about to do their work.
So why they say someone's inaccurate? Unless I could sit

(03:58):
down for four or five five hours and we watched
some film together and really go through a lot, I'm
not going to know their frame of reference. So if
they say something and I'm just changing for that, I'm
not and I'm right or wrong, I'm not going to
know why I'm right or wrong.

Speaker 1 (04:12):
Right. Yeah, it's a it's a good point.

Speaker 2 (04:15):
And that's in you know, not just scouting everything in
your experiences. You know, sometimes you don't have to. You know,
you don't have to make all your mistakes. You can
learn from other people's mistakes, but you also have to
go out there and do it. So I think it's
a good way to look at a lot of things.
So let's start with quarterbacks and Pat, I know you
have a question about maybe the top guy here.

Speaker 4 (04:36):
I do.

Speaker 5 (04:37):
And before we start Boggs, I have to comment.

Speaker 6 (04:40):
When Matt mentioned his glossary, the first thing I thought
of was the term clap attack, which is a term
for an undesirable catching technique. And I'm thinking back to
Matt's appearance on our show last year when he talked
at length about Quinton Johnston, and I'm guessing that anyone
who listened to that show probably had some second thoughts

(05:00):
if they were considering Quintin Johnston in a rookie draft. So,
just in case you're wondering why you should be listening
to the show, and you are, it's for things like
that that might might keep you from going a straight
in your dynasty rookie drafts. But Matt Caleb Williams is
almost assuredly going to be the number one pick in

(05:22):
the NFL draft. He's most people's QB one, He's your
QB one. And one of the many cool things you
do with the RSP is provide these depth of talent
rankings where you include the top prospects at each position
from this year's class and also from the previous two
classes and sort of stack them all based on your

(05:43):
assessment of their talent level prior to being drafted. I
know you only include the three most recent draft classes
in your depth of talent rankings, but I have to ask,
if you went back further, would Caleb Williams be in
the same ballpark as Andrew Luck.

Speaker 3 (06:02):
Probably the tough part about that question is this is
that my quarterback evaluation process has evolved since doing Andrew Luck,
so it would have been two significantly different ways of
scoring the players in a sense. But if just from

(06:22):
ballparking it, you know, the answer would be I think so,
I think that he would probably be in that range
because where Andrew If I remember what I remember about
my evaluation with Andrew Luck, as while he was certainly
considered a very cerebral quarterback with really strong athletic ability,

(06:44):
Caleb was a little better in the pocket in terms
of moving around and he was and Luck also had
some issues with reading certain types of blitzes like fire
zone blue it says, and different types of trickery with
dropping linebackers and dropping defensive linemen that would bite him,

(07:09):
and he would throw some balls into coverage that kind
of belied the idea that he was a coach on
the field already. So yeah, I think he's I'll say this,
at the very least, he is one of the most
child proof quarterbacks that we have coming into this class.
And considering that he's you know, I joke because look,
I have respect for the way a lot of these
guys made their money if they've when if they didn't

(07:32):
inherit it from somebody else. But these owners, these owners
sometimes can be meddling children in their own teams with
how they how they circumvent their own processes to determine
who they're going to pick and then force feed them
into a scheme where coaches aren't happy with being force
fed with that player. And I think Caleb Williams is

(07:53):
one of those players that can withstand the inadequacies of
NFL life when it comes to the rookie quarterbacks and
there forced being forced to develop themselves in very demanding circumstances.

Speaker 1 (08:08):
That's interesting, It's very interesting.

Speaker 2 (08:10):
And you know, the the the process too. I like
the process answer there where you're like, well, look, you know,
I was looking and Andrew Luck a different way than
I looked at Caleb Williams. And it's a different NFL
at this point, even though it's not that long ago
that Andrew Luck was in the NFL. I think the
big question, and the thing in mocks that we see

(08:32):
and the thing in you know a lot of articles
that right now is what what would you do between
Jade and Daniels and Drake May? And I'm not saying
if you're Washington, because that's a different question, right it's
a different system that Washington is bringing in with Cliff Kingsbury.
Everybody wants to put Jade and Daniels there because he

(08:53):
is most similar to Kyler Murray, more similar to at
least than Drake May is, you know, in at least
in most people's minds when you look at those two qbs,
the next two that are going to come off the board,
and I know JJ McCarthy gets lumped in there sometimes,
but it's really it's between these two guys in my eyes,
and I think a lot of people's, maybe not yours,

(09:13):
but it seems like those are the two that are
gonna go. Daniels in May so who are you taking
right there? And is there a wide difference, is it slim?
Is it just so different that you really don't compare them?
What do you think about Daniels versus May.

Speaker 3 (09:30):
For Washington just overall overall, I think there are both
quarterbacks that need a little bit of time in order
off away from the field that they're probably not going
to get and that puts them that makes them risky
first round picks, much like the sixty seven percent of
quarterbacks who wind up in that situation on an annual basis.

(09:52):
Because of what I described about the NFL, Daniels is
the type of guy who he's getting a lot of
lamarg and type of comparisons. I think he's more of
a Robert Griffin Marcus Mariota type of prospect in terms
of straight line speed, straight line runner needs, has some

(10:13):
has some skills in the pocket, but also has some
deficiencies in the pocket that can be a little bit
that can be corrected a little bit more. The processing
is a little overrated if you ask me, by some
people who are saying it's underrated. You know, like rerec
O Sel, who's a terrific, a terrific analyst and certainly

(10:34):
a very respected one. I would argue that, yes, Jalen
Jayden Daniels can make three reads. Yes he can read
from one end of the field to the other. Does
he do it in as timely of a manner as
he needs to to get rid of the ball. Does
he not get hung up on certain reads and have
tragic comic timing in terms of like missing a read

(10:56):
just as he goes away from it that he should
have hung onto because he had more enough time. Yeah,
those are all issues with his game. And he runs
into brick walls as a runner more often than he does.
Work with Mike Got I mean intelligently, you know.

Speaker 2 (11:12):
Robert Griffin, Yeah, I mean Got hit a lot, and
I see a little bit of that Jane Daniels too.
He takes some unnecessary hits.

Speaker 1 (11:19):
I can so.

Speaker 4 (11:21):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (11:21):
So can you scheme with him like Mariota or Griffin
where you can create a lot of misdirection plays and
have him exploited in the deep game? Can he make
some good reads for you? And certain aspects of zone
defenses and certain types of man Sure he's going to
face certain hybrid coverages with better disguises and more gamesmanship
by NFL defender's pre post snap. This is where I

(11:42):
think he's going to need a little bit more time,
and then trying to integrate all that together into his
game maybe prove a little more difficult. And the big
question is is once NFL defenses started to figure out that, Okay,
we know what scheme plays are coming, Cliff Kingsbury and
all the different variations of disguises you have for the
same point, we're going to stop it. Make you do

(12:02):
some real quarterback things that differentiate Joe Burrow from you know,
Joe Schmo. Then you're you know, this is where Jayden
Daniels is going to be really tested. Drake May he
looks like the quarterback out of Central Casting. I call
him robo quarterbacks. They're the guys who that NFL decision

(12:24):
makers can justify their jobs on because they're big, they're tall,
they have a strong arm, they played it a big
time program with a good completion percentage, they have good
production numbers, and they've won games. So they think those
are things you can't teach. Those are the intangibles that

(12:44):
you can't teach. But really what those are are really
baseline in some ways, baseline characteristics of players. The things
you can't teach are processing speed, strong decision making, acumen,
pocket management, game management. You can teach him to an extent,

(13:04):
but not to the to the level of complexity that
they should already know heading in, and if they're lacking
it heading in, it's harder to integrate those things into
the NFL game if you don't have good timing. Now,
if you you know, Alex Smith was super intelligent and
had all those things, but he didn't have good timing,
and it only could carry him so far. He needed

(13:26):
a really strong team around him to deliver borderline Pro
Bowl level numbers. But he was always going to be
a beat or too late on throws when he wasn't
checking them down. So you know, on the other hand,
you know, you look at May and he can be
a beater too late in the pocket, he drifts outside
pressure and he or drifts outside his blockers and invites pressure.

(13:50):
You don't want to invite pressure. You want to be
efficient with your movement. He's tough, they'll stand in there
and take a hit. But the inaccuracy is the mechanical
flaws behind the inaccuracies, the drifting in the pocket, the
decision making flaws. He's a player that I can see
becoming a starter because he's top, he's big arm, he

(14:12):
can make some accurate plays downfield, and he does the
things that you're supposed to do that people celebrate as great.
But there's a lot of quarter name quarterbacks who have
been in Drake May's boat, and half of them aren't
playing as starters in the league now, and I would
say less than half of them are actual good starters.

Speaker 4 (14:34):
In the league.

Speaker 1 (14:35):
So we're down on Drake May.

Speaker 3 (14:37):
Yeah, we would say we're down on Drake May. And
the answer is is that we're down on the NFL's
We're down on the NFL's way of handling rookies, and
Drake May fits into that dead center target of like
this is how they screw it up.

Speaker 1 (14:56):
I got you, Okay.

Speaker 2 (14:57):
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(15:20):
and make your next trade your best trade, all right?
Fits you what he got next?

Speaker 6 (15:25):
Yeah, And just to Matt's point, like the on the
job training that quarterbacks have it thrust them into such
a bad spot. And someone asked me why teams more
teams don't follow the Green Bay Packers model of letting
quarterbacks sit for like two years, while well, I mean,
those were pretty unique circumstances with the Hall of Fame
quarterback in place, and the luxury of taking a first

(15:48):
round pick years before you were going to need them.
Like most of the time, a quarterback expected to play
right away is being drafted to a three and fourteen,
four and thirteen team and the fans are going to
be showing up at team headquarters with torches and pitchforks
if those guys don't play right away.

Speaker 2 (16:07):
And a bigger thing I think as well, is that
I don't I just don't know if there are thirty
two caliber NFL quarterbacks right now, like and maybe there are,
but you know, there's there's some bad QB play, you know,
as bad as Drake May's processing is he's probably still
better Jarrett than Jared Stidham if you throw it out,

(16:27):
throw him out there right now, you know what I mean,
Like Stidham has Stidham's may be a bad example. He
hasn't had a lot of playing time. But guys that
we've seen over and over and over and over and
over and they can't do it, you know, Jameis Winston,
you know, a great athlete can put up some some numbers.
But you know that that's why these guys are thrust
into these roles, and guys coaches lose their jobs faster now,

(16:50):
so they want to get to the talent more uh
more quickly. So anyway, go ahead, Fitzy, what's your next
question for Waldman here?

Speaker 6 (16:58):
So one of the big stories on Night one of
the draft is going to be JJ McCarthy, who has
had this sort of meteoric rise I think in just
his draft status, and it seems like it's inevitable that
one team or another is maybe going to try to
maneuver up to get him. Maybe it's the Cardinals number

(17:21):
four spot being in play, Maybe it's the Chargers at
number five. In your estimation, Matt is JJ McCarthy worth trading.

Speaker 3 (17:28):
Up for no but I think he's worth developed. Giving
the opportunity to develop into a starter. I just think
you're going to be paying a little bit more than
what it's worth, you know. I would say the big
theme of all this is that again we rush players
that we shouldn't. We should probably have. Maybe there aren't

(17:50):
thirty three starters, you know, thirty two caliber thirty two
starter caliber players in the league, but there would be
more if they allowed them to develop in a way
that they should and really they should resist some of
the team pressure, and it's really the owner pressure. If
the owner actually had the If the owner has actually

(18:12):
had the how would I best put it the fortitude
that their money would represent to think that they did
and it wasn't just like you know, expensive looking robes
hiding what's really exposing down there. We would have probably
better football, but they're more worried about things that they

(18:32):
shouldn't be. I mean, so as a result of that,
you look at McCarthy. He could develop, but I think
he's a difficult evaluation because really the end of the day,
his vertical game isn't proven in terms of the accuracy
that he hasn't really shown yet. His processing skills are

(18:54):
up and down. He has real highs, but he also
has some real lows. Some management position management decisions in
the red zone and deep in his own territory also
have real lows to it. So in some aspects, when
people say is he's Zach Wilson two point zero, I
would say he's a better version of what Zach Wilson

(19:14):
brought to the league in terms of the rise and
the hype about him, there's more substance to his game
is that he could probably survive a bad first year
if thrust into a starting lineup, and if they can
help him build on it in a functional way, he
could develop into a decent starter. But there's a lot

(19:39):
of high low with his game at this stage. And
I just think that, you know, teams are desperate to
do it, and I think it's owner driven, it's not
coach driven. Coaches don't like playing rookie quarterbacks. It's a
waste of a year for them most of the time.
So no, I don't think it's necessarily worth it. But
it's how the world, it's how it works.

Speaker 2 (20:02):
So you wouldn't trade up for him, You would pick
him in the middle of the first or late first Yep.

Speaker 3 (20:08):
If if I had to, yeah, I would probably pick
him in the second or third, and most of these quarterbacks,
I'd pick him the second or third. But that again
the realism of the NFL, Yes, mid to late perst.

Speaker 2 (20:21):
What about Michael Pennix versus bon Nicks, Because there's there
seems to be a lot of different opinions.

Speaker 1 (20:30):
I'll say I kind of like them both.

Speaker 2 (20:32):
Like I like, I watched Michael Penix tear up my longhorns, right,
and he made some throws in that game that were unbelievable.
I mean, there was good coverage on his wide receivers downfield,
he put it in the only spot they can catch it. So,
I mean that is what I came away with from
watching Michael Pennix. I watched him a lot at Indiana.
He was hurt, you know. I think at this point

(20:54):
last season FITS asked me, do you what do you
think of Michael Penox?

Speaker 1 (20:57):
I went not gonna stay on the field.

Speaker 2 (20:59):
That was my like first thought process because first couple
of years in Indiana was never on the field, right.
So bo Nicks obviously had the struggles early at Auburn,
but he went to Oregon, he looked great. There a
lot of people now calling him a system quarterback maybe right,
but he won in that system, so fine, you know,
fittest system to him, he looked pretty good. So I

(21:22):
don't know, I think that both these guys by evaluators
are coming off a little bit underrated, Am I right?
Or is there one you like when you don't like?
Do you like them both? Do you not like either
one of them? What do you think about these two
guys who are going to be the next two qbs
off the board after those first four?

Speaker 3 (21:40):
Well, I would say all the quarterbacks in this class
are system quarterbacks. Yeah, I would say they all are.
The problem is is what bias are you putting on
what system? Because really, at the end of the day,
even if you I mean Lamar Jackson played in one
of the best pro offenses that has been signed by
Bobby Petrino, But everybody discounted him.

Speaker 4 (22:04):
They didn't.

Speaker 3 (22:04):
They said he was a system quarterback and not even
really a quarterback. You know that, you know, so much
so that the Ravens implemented a system with him that
he had to prove to them that he was far
more advanced than that finally that you know in the
past couple of years. So really, at the end of
the day, both those guys are underrated. Bo Nix is
probably the safest quarterback in this class after Kleb Williams,

(22:28):
in terms of that he understands who he is. He
doesn't try and play hero ball. When he does take risks,
he takes calculated risks that have logic behind them. He's
not very immature when it comes to making bad choices,
you know, I mean, he doesn't make bad choices very often.
He moves well in the pocket. He's a better athlete
than you'd expect. He's much more of a Matt Ryan

(22:48):
kirk Cousins type of prospect in terms of that. He
doesn't have that special arm or that special size, but
he really processes the field pretty well. And Auburns receivers
didn't many favors when I watched that tape. And he
throws more in the middle of the field. You know,
people want people want mounds of data so that they

(23:09):
can say he's not a system prospect because I didn't
see you know, he throws mostly RPO, the high percentage
of RPO throws. Because see, people like to use basically
word jumble, just like they do in corporate America to
provide analysis to sound slick. They do that with stats,
you know. They do it with stats. They don't understand

(23:30):
the context behind their stats, or they like hide behind
some of the things with their stats.

Speaker 4 (23:36):
You know.

Speaker 3 (23:36):
And some stats are great, some data is awesome. I
use a lot of it. The RSP is an analytical document.
But the thing is is that quarterback throws. Whether you
have a high amount for a high when you say
that there's a lot of throws in the middle of
the field, it's still not very much when you look
at the course of a college career. So really, at

(23:58):
the end of the day, whether it's a higher sample
than average or lower sample than average, if you see
the right kinds of plays in context, bo Nicks can
throw the ball in the middle of the field. The
same is true of Michael Pennix. And when you watch
him in Indiana when he was on the field, he
wore pressure like a second skin and didn't actually make
a lot of mistakes doing it. He made a lot

(24:20):
of wise decisions with a lot of his throws, and
some of his throws had really incredible placement under duress,
which to me, since injuries are not a predictive stat
even though people often try to sell them as such,
they are not really that predictive on a regular basis,
so you know, and where they may heighten it is

(24:42):
a marginal percentage. So is the fact that he tore
tow to acls and had throwing injuries gonna is that
going to happen again? Not enough for us to really
sell that. It's medicine show stuff. If you ask me,
you know, I'm sorry, you know, I mean, but that's
that's how I feel. And so you know, when we

(25:04):
look at it from that perspective, that shouldn't be as
big of a fear. He's a tough player in the pocket,
moves well, finds players in the middle of the field, well,
processes the game well. To me, the safest quarterback in
this class, or the most talent quarterback in this class
after Caleb Williams is Michael Pennix Junior, and he's the

(25:24):
one that if the Vikings weren't didn't get Sam Darnold,
which signaled that they are Drake may aholics. You know,
I would bet you know, and they're not. They're going
to trade up to get Drake May. I would have
rather seen them wait and at the end of the
first round get Michael Pennix, because I fear the way

(25:48):
what we've seen with May, we're going to see Justin
Jefferson getting his way out, you know, getting his way
traded out of Minnesota, or be a free agent and
leaving and being Thank goodness, I'm playing with Michael Pennix
with the team that picked him, you know, later on,

(26:08):
because I wanted the Vikings to pick Michael Pennix earlier,
but I got stuck with Sam Donald's with the next
coming of Sam Donald. You know, that's the fear of
how this could work out. I hope May works out,
and I hope Sam Donald works out, you know, eventually.
But at the end of the day, Pennix is a
better bet to me in terms of how he handles

(26:29):
everything and the whole system stuff to me just tells
me that you're that you're relying on past. They're not
even models. You're relying on past narratives that have no
basis in reality. They just kind of somewhat look coincidental enough,
or they're coincidental, but they look good enough to make

(26:50):
it sound intelligent.

Speaker 2 (26:51):
I mean people said that about Joe Burrow because he
had good wide receivers, Like, uh, you know.

Speaker 4 (26:56):
Patrick Mahomes gimmick offense, you.

Speaker 2 (26:58):
Get, you get that all the time. The same thing
with Kyler, Right, Kyler's too short. You know he's not
gonna last in the NFL. Blah blah blah. Is there
a perfect landing spot for Nicks? Is there a team
you want to see him go too?

Speaker 4 (27:09):
Specifically, I'd like to see him in Denver.

Speaker 3 (27:11):
I think that maybe he would wouldn't be bad there,
but honestly, I just want to there's really the I
just want to see a landing spot where he has
a decent offensive line and he gets an opportunity to
be with a veteran quarterback who knows his stuff, and
maybe he gets a little time to sit. But I

(27:32):
don't think he needs as much of it as maybe
or his needs as much of care as maybe Daniels
and May and McCarthy do.

Speaker 1 (27:41):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (27:41):
Yeah, he doesn't have as high of a ceiling as
those guys.

Speaker 2 (27:44):
Well, and if he goes to I don't know if
he'll have that time either. Right, Like, Denver is a
good landing spot, but they don't have a guy that
will hold him back. I know Pat's got a running
back question, but before we get to that. By now,
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(28:53):
dot com. FITZI, I know you have running back questions here,
let's hear them.

Speaker 6 (28:58):
At the top of people's rankings are Jonathan Brooks, Trey Benson, Korum,
Jalen Wright, Braylan Allen. Who is your running back one
this year? And did any of the names I just mentioned,
or maybe any of those guys in your mind? Guys
who don't belong anywhere near the top five?

Speaker 3 (29:19):
I think really running back too through about running back
twelve or thirteen is an amorphous blob. And that's not
fun to say as an evaluator, because really what that
tells you is that fit is going to be a
huge factor once again, but even more so in the
sense that where the player lands and whether he improves
on one or two things that are easily improvable are

(29:40):
going to drive whether or not he has more or
less success than another eight to ten guys. It's that close.
I don't think it's a bad running back class, actually,
I just think that people don't look at the name,
don't look at the classes historically and realize that difference
between what the perception of a good and bad running

(30:02):
back class is plus or minus one running back, which
means three backs is a good class, two backs is
an average class, and one back is a bad class.
It's a narrow margin for error, folks. And so you know,
from that perspective, number one back in this class to
me would have been the number two back in last
year's class, ahead of j Jamiir Gibbs. If I'm looking

(30:23):
strictly from pre draft, not where they land, but pre draft,
just on ability, I think Jonathan Brooks was a better
running back prospect than Jamiir Gibbs, who I liked a
lot and saw as an instant start, close to an
instant starter, of not an instant starter. But Jonathan Brooks
has an ACL injury, and so we're gonna wait and

(30:44):
see whether he regains full facility with his ability to stop, start,
to celerate, change direction in a manner that made him
a very good player. So you know, his ability to
make people will miss efficiently, his ability to break tackles.

(31:04):
He's a very powerful runner because he knows how to attack.
I mean, he's he's not like Earl Campbell, okay, but
at the same time, he is someone that can attack
first and break multiple tackles because of how he sets
up angles. I'm very smart runner with great pass protection
ability for this level of play. He's the best pass

(31:27):
protector in this class. Kind of reminds me of Cadillac
Williams mixed with like what people thought Melvin Gordon was
going to be, not exactly what he is, like a smoother,
faster type of all around player. And yeah, I think
he's I think he's worth the weight and all the

(31:50):
other names that you mentioned. You mentioned some of my
second and third ranked players. I think my second, third,
and fourth ranked players. And then you mentioned a couple
of players who are probably outside my top ten but
wouldn't be very but if they, you know, Bryan Allen
finds the right system, finds himself in Jim Harbaugh's offense,

(32:11):
and they give him the gap runways to hit it downfield,
he could easily be one of the three most productive
running backs in this class.

Speaker 2 (32:18):
I like the way you put that with it's because
it's kind of a blob of two to twelve because
I kind of saw a lot of that the same way.
I think I broke maybe five, you know, and then
the next group. But I do think there are a
lot of good running backs here, and I'm surprised that
Fitz hasn't kicked you off the show for throwing shade

(32:40):
at Braylan Allen and Melvin Gordon. He did say Jonathan
Brooks his favorite running back, So look, it doesn't matter
what Pat says, You're staying on the show, man. I mean,
when the right evaluation is in front of us, it's
in front of us. But are there what teams, Matt,
do you want to see ad running backs? And are
there any perfect pairing suite for running back to a

(33:03):
team you just mentioned, you know, Brailan Allen to the Chargers,
That could be anybody the Chargers. You know, Blake Korham
could go there obviously familiarity with with Jim Harbaugh. But
is there are there perfect pairings and is there someone
that maybe we're not talking about enough at all?

Speaker 4 (33:20):
There's no real perfect pairing this year.

Speaker 3 (33:21):
But I do think that the obviously the Chargers are
a good are a team that's gonna need a running back,
I think, and are a good fit for a number
of guys. I think that, you know, overall, the the
Giants could probably use a running back, but I don't
think they should spend early round capital on that right now,

(33:43):
have too many got other things to have concern with.
I do think that the Bills could use a complimentary
back who can be a little bit more of a
banger and physical option so that James Cook doesn't have
to be that guy. The Dolphins could use a running
back if they I'll put it to you this way,

(34:06):
the Dolphins should add another running back to their stable
because Jeff Wilson and Raheem Moster aren't going to be
for their long term. And while everyone's excited about ah Chan,
let's see if he can actually hold up long term
and be between the tackles guy who is scheme independent,

(34:29):
and also add another guy so that they can I
can they can prove beyond a shadow of adopt that
Christopher Brooks could actually be a be the thing that
I think he can be. I actually think he's underrated.
But but the Dolphins certainly fit that mold. I would
say the certainly. The Bengals would probably be a guy

(34:52):
a team that that could benefit again from getting another back,
And the same thing with the Buccaneers. I mean, I
like Rashad White, but let's let's get a little bit
more depth in there and and drive some things from
that level. And the and the Cardinals are getting a
little bit long in the Yeah, you know so, so
there's that, And the same thing with the Vikings. I mean,

(35:14):
you got you brought in Aaron Jones, but you know
that tells you that they don't think ty Chandler is
anything more than a compliment.

Speaker 4 (35:21):
So let's start looking towards the cure there too.

Speaker 1 (35:26):
I like ty Chanel.

Speaker 2 (35:27):
Obviously the Cowboys are in here too, right, like they
have a big need a RB.

Speaker 3 (35:31):
Yeah, I mean I think they obviously could could go
for one there. I think that, you know, really they're
the obvious fit that you can fit a big, a
big name player with that. But I think that really
their offense is good enough that they could subsist with
the running backs they have if they needed to.

Speaker 4 (35:55):
So it would be nice.

Speaker 3 (35:57):
To add one in there. But it's not like they're dying.
Their offense is dying without a running back.

Speaker 2 (36:03):
Let's go to some wide receivers and fits. I know
you have a question for the top guys here, for
mister Walman.

Speaker 6 (36:11):
Yeah, man, I think everyone perceives a big three at
wide receiver with Marvin Harrison Junior, Malik Neighbors, and Roma Dunes.
Could you please tell our listeners how you have these
three receivers ordered and why sure?

Speaker 3 (36:26):
Like you know, for me, rankings suck. It's just something
that we want them. And I emphasize that four different
times in the RSP. Tiers are really where they're at.
Tiers are the more sophisticated way of looking at things.
But on site presidents want to have rankings because it
drives eyeballs, you know, So you know, good for them,

(36:48):
you know. But I'll put it this way. They're all
Tier one. They're all instant starters. They're all guys that
could probably be production leaders for their offense right away
if they're in a comp with an offense with good
surrounding talent done all right. Number one is Malik Neighbors
Because the way I study wide receivers, I'm not looking

(37:09):
for a specific team fit. I'm looking for who is
the most talented player at all the things that a
wide receiver can do. If you put a job, you know,
description up for what a wide receiver is, and he's
the one that has the best combo of route skills,
the best combo of releases, the best breaks, the best

(37:32):
ability to catch the ball in tight coverage and the
best ability to win after the catch, and his blocking
is competent, and you know, and you can play all
three positions that you would expect a wide receiver to do.
Romadonday's number two because he also has very strong route skills.
He could play all three positions if you needed him to.

(37:55):
He also has the ability to make difficult catches, and
he's probably the best after the catch of the three
of them if you were to combine physicality with dynamic
movement skills. And then Marvin Harrison Junior comes in third,
mainly because he's either a guy you'd play big in
the slot or as a split end. He has great

(38:20):
skill at tracking the football in tight coverage at the boundary.

Speaker 4 (38:26):
He has.

Speaker 3 (38:28):
Good route running, skill at telling a story, some decent
skills with releases, but he has some nagging issues where
he tips off his hand at the line of scrimmage
when releasing that don't get caught by top prospects most
of the time playing cornerback who would have faced him,
but by savvy mid level NFL prospects or mid level

(38:52):
NFL starters at cornerback who will jam his behind when
he opens his chest at the line of scrimmage, and
that he has his hands in a position where he
brings them down first and opens his chest and does
the hey, bro, you want to fight out in the
middle of the bar where the savvier guy's gonna knock
him on his behind, rather than doing the south Park

(39:14):
invitation that he sometimes does. You know, he's going to
have to correct that. It's easily correctable, but it's a
minor thing between being maleik neighbors and getting that score
in him. Also, when it comes to catching the ball,
he has some issues where he doesn't frame his hands
correctly like Quenton Johnston. Where Quentin Johnson clap attacks. What

(39:35):
his issue was a little different is that when the
ball arrives, where he could catch it at the earliest
point and extend his arms to earliest point and make
the catch with his hands together with that you know
diamond catch thumbs together, where you're doing it like that. Instead,
he waits for the ball to pass him to the
latest point where only has one chance to catch it,

(39:57):
and he has to use underhand position in a scenario
where you should use to over in front. And he's
dropped multiple passes doing this last year and this year
in big games against Georgia, against Penn State, against Michigan,
against other teams that I've seen, where he just isn't
as reliable in some of these scenarios that you'd like. Now,
when I say isn't as reliable, I'm not talking about

(40:18):
the difference between a starter and a non starter. I'm
talking about the difference between what Courtland Sutton does, which
is a feed me the ball, Denver. But I'm going
to drop two or three passes sometimes in a game
when you ask me to do it, but still be
considered a wide receiver one in his offense and deservedly
slow so and Stefan Diggs at the height of his career,

(40:38):
Davonte Adams where you're not going to get that you know,
out of him most of the time. And so for me,
whereas Malik Neighbors is more of an Odell Beckham junior
at the height of his career prospect, I see Malik
Neighbors as more of a Mike Evans plus you know,
aspiring Larry Fitzgerald who may never get to Larry Fitzgerald.

Speaker 1 (41:01):
Some good names to be compared to.

Speaker 3 (41:03):
So they are, but it's not. Yeah, they're good names,
but they're not.

Speaker 4 (41:07):
But they're not. Is he the best prospect of this.

Speaker 3 (41:10):
Generation a general, you know, at wide receiver, I would
say no, But he's very good.

Speaker 4 (41:16):
He's one of the best.

Speaker 3 (41:17):
He's still got one of the better scores I've given
in probably the past eight to ten years. There just
happens to be two other guys who got higher scores
in this great class.

Speaker 2 (41:26):
Yeah, I mean this class is deep. It is very,
very good. I don't know that there's a wrong answer
between those top three guys, they're all great. Like you said,
tiering is the way to go. Speaking of that, the
second tier, it has so many names in it because
there are so many goods. And I know in the
RSP you did mention that this is a historically deep class.

(41:50):
And so who is in that second tier for you?
And who's overrated? Who is also? So give me, give
me the good side and the bad side of this.
And maybe it's not even necessarily that these players that
you're mentioning that are overrated, they're not bad players. It's
just people are putting too much on them right now.

(42:11):
So who are the guys that you like to be
in that second tier? And who is getting too much
second tier love.

Speaker 3 (42:18):
Well, let's go let's go a tier down, because the
second tier in this class would be the first tier
any other class. Okay, so let's go third tier guys
who are still getting love that I think need a
little more time to be better. Davontees Walker makes no
sense to me as seeing him as a really high
end instant starter player. He's more of a djharc Ant,

(42:42):
more of a DJ Shark type of aspiring player who
has a one dimensional game at this stage, who has
a lot of details missing. The physical talents there, but
is he going to be able to hold up against
titman coverage and win separation as well as winning the ball?
And I think there's a lot of questions and marks
there that he's going to have to develop to answer

(43:03):
on a consistent level that he can and become a
full fledged starter. Roman Wilson is another one that I
just don't really get on that level. I see the
basic skills are there to build on, but the craft
of his game is missing. You know, when to how
to set up defenders based on where they're positioned.

Speaker 4 (43:20):
That can be missing.

Speaker 3 (43:21):
He makes some inexplicable decisions to try and bait defenders
where you're like, why are you trying to bait them
in this situation where he's positioned here, you're just feeding
into his position or you know, he has the movement
skills to set up defenders with releases, but he doesn't
have the craft and how to do it. It's like
someone who speaks in monotone when they're telling a story.

(43:42):
You know, it's like hearing those jewelry commercial guys on
the radio where you automatically tune them out for years.

Speaker 4 (43:50):
That's how he runs routes right now.

Speaker 2 (43:52):
Es.

Speaker 3 (43:53):
Yeah, he's the Tom Shane of you know, he's the
Tom Shane of Route riders right now. You know, if
you remember Tom Shane Jeweler, I'm Tom Shane.

Speaker 4 (44:04):
I only speak in one tone, yes, you know.

Speaker 3 (44:07):
But that's kind of how Roman Wilson is right now.
And he's got the talent to develop. But if you're
going to say he's the next Tyler Lockett, he's got
to learn how to be a better version of John
Metchi right now before we can even get to Tyler Lockett.
So I think he's those guys are a little bit overrated.
I think Malachi Corley's a little overrated for all the

(44:29):
excitement that he's getting, because I think he's more of
a quarter Roll Patterson Cordero Patterson type of guy who's
more of a gadget player right now, who doesn't win
against sophisticated one on one coverage. He's more of a
zone player who can catch the ball well, who is
a terror as a runner, But what are you going
to get out of him? He's dj Moore was a
route runner at least when he got into the league,

(44:51):
and then developed even more from there to become a
boundary winning route runner who could win contested plays. So
for me, he's much more of a quarter Cordero Patterson,
maybe even in our Darius Stewart if things don't go right,
you know, in terms of what our Darius Stewart had
to offer too, because he could run through you and
run past you, and he could catch the ball, but

(45:13):
he couldn't beat man coverage and that was an issue.

Speaker 4 (45:17):
So those are those are a.

Speaker 3 (45:18):
Few guys that hit the hit. The mark for me
is let's let's slow our role a little bit, give
him some time.

Speaker 1 (45:24):
Who's underrated in the group.

Speaker 3 (45:26):
Annia Smith easily, and it's because he's a Yeah, I
know you don't like that guy because he probably riddled
your team for years, at least on some level.

Speaker 2 (45:37):
We don't play against him, but we will this year
because we're in the Texas.

Speaker 3 (45:42):
We'll see he would have riddled your team, that's for sure.
Because Anaia Smith is a was a running back prospect
and a pretty good one who showed that he was
more in that DeAndre Swift role of like, don't put
him inside unless you've got plays that are simulating space.
But he's but he could be a good running back otherwise.

(46:04):
But let's kick him out to receiver because we already
have a guy in Spiller that we think are is okay,
you know, and could be pretty good there.

Speaker 4 (46:12):
So they kicked him out.

Speaker 3 (46:13):
And when you look him, look at him a wide receiver,
you go, why wasn't this guy recruited as a wide receiver?

Speaker 1 (46:18):
Right?

Speaker 4 (46:18):
He runs routes very well.

Speaker 3 (46:20):
He can tell the stories that you need to tell,
you know, in the way that Roman Wilson cannot at
this stage. And as a pass catcher, he makes very
few mistakes, and he makes a lot of dynamic plays
against coverage, against hits, and just Erase is bad throws
you know, with the with the plays that he makes
and then after the catch, he might be one of

(46:41):
the two the three best runners after the catch in
this class. I mean, he's up there with Corley, He's
up there with Malik Washington, who's another one that I
really think is underrated, you know, and you saw him
up there at Northwestern pat so you know before he
went to UVA, and he's a you know, he's not
Steve Smith Junior, no one is, but he is certainly

(47:05):
he could be a Santana Moss, you know, aspirational Santana
Moss maybe, who was a very underrated player who can
go up and win the ball, who can play big
at it for his size at the catch point, very
good after the catch, better route runner than people would expect,
and could be could start for a team if he
finds the right fit and be and maybe even do

(47:27):
a little bit of work on the outside as you
need him. Those are two guys that fit the bill
for me. And to give you a third that you
know that I probably like. I mean, I think that
I'm a Ricky Piersall fan. I'm a Keon Coleman fan.
But I'll let me go with Jermaine Burton, Like, you know,
I'm gonna go with guys who get in trouble. You know,

(47:48):
we got an a Smith who got in trouble. We
got Jermaine Burton, who's got some off field stuff that
people worry about.

Speaker 1 (47:54):
Walton's a big Rice fan apparently.

Speaker 4 (47:57):
You know.

Speaker 5 (47:57):
No, not really, not really much trouble, but too much.

Speaker 3 (48:00):
No. No, I like guys who I like, guys who actually, okay,
I don't even want to make that check, but.

Speaker 4 (48:10):
I won't say that. Yeah, I'll just say this.

Speaker 3 (48:13):
The guys I like generally get in fights, tend to
get in fights. Steve Smith, Yeah, I liked. I was
a Steve Smith guy. I was a Michael Westbrook guy.
You know, if you're going to punch out a running back,
you know, okay, you're going to wrestle Torrell Suggs in
the locker room.

Speaker 4 (48:30):
Yeah, I'm okay with that. But Jermaine Brooks is kind
of a.

Speaker 3 (48:35):
The the quiet assassin in this class because he can
run routes very well. He could play all three positions
very well. He's a Robert Woods type of player who
if you needed him, its split in. He can make
contested plays, but it's not probably the strongest suit of
his game, but good enough that he could do the job.
He's a but he's very good as a flanker, slot option.

(48:57):
So to me, I look at him sound pass catcher,
good ball carrier, can block as a nasty streak on
the field too, So I'm I'm good with him if
the off field stuff clears out. Same thing with Ania
Smith is that in ACL and he got busted for
a DWY that included in the illegal firearm possession and

(49:18):
marijuana possession. The marijuana, the firearms not a big deal
because we know that the NFL basically tells every telegraphs
they're testing until you show that you fail, and then
they're like, we're going to make it unpredictable because.

Speaker 4 (49:34):
That you're off.

Speaker 3 (49:36):
I think they do, but I don't. I think they do,
but I don't know. I remember, but it wasn't a
big it's not a big gilt return. And then the
firearm thing, I mean it was Texas. If you don't
that's a maturity thing. You should have just gotten a license,
you know, a licensed to carry. You would have been fine.
The DW I was the big thing. And if he
can shoot show that he's grown up and learned and

(49:56):
reflected from that. Let's give him another chance. I know,
I've hired people who were fantastic employees, fantastic human beings
who got d w i's who in their in their
college years. They got one in their college years and
turned out to be completely awesome human beings who learn
from their mistake.

Speaker 4 (50:18):
And they and they have and they had to look
in the mirror every day from that.

Speaker 3 (50:21):
And fortunately he didn't hurt anybody, you know, So he didn't,
you know, but you know, it's that kind of thing. Well,
you know, if he probably won't get drafted as a
result of some of this, but he'll probably make noise
in the camp if he gets an opportunity.

Speaker 2 (50:35):
I know, there's there's plenty of guys that make those
mistakes and learned. Dak got a duy in college, you know,
and just couldn't be a better citizen according to most
reports right now. So you know, uh, plenty of guys
make mistakes and learn. You're absolutely right.

Speaker 6 (50:49):
I know Bogman has one more tight end question or
a tight end question for you, Matt, but let me
sneak in one more quick wide receiver question.

Speaker 5 (50:56):
This one is really draft specific So we know.

Speaker 6 (50:59):
The bill now have a screaming need for wide receiver
after the Stefan Diggs trade. They've got a couple of
guys who primarily slot guys or can play the slot
with Khalil Shakir and Curtis Samuel who they signed in
free agency. But they're sitting there at the end of
the first round. And like, I wouldn't put it past
Brandon Bean to maybe go up and get Brian Thomas

(51:21):
in the middle of the first round, or maybe even
Roma Dunsay if he wants to be really aggressive. But
if the Bills sit back late in the first round,
I think their pick is number twenty eight or something
like that. Who would you like to see them get
to maybe be that big outside receiver they need that,
the alpha who could come in and replace Steph Diggs.

Speaker 3 (51:42):
Well, you threw me a softball when you said big,
and that's actually what I was thinking. And that's not no,
it's it's Keon Coleman. And I know a lot of
people don't like Kelon Coleman or they're up and down
on him.

Speaker 1 (51:58):
I love him.

Speaker 6 (51:58):
Yeah, I've come into a very key on friendly show, Matt.
So yeah, we're good. Well, that's why no wonder I
like you guys.

Speaker 3 (52:05):
You know, so no Keon Coleman is to me, he's
not a good player for a team that doesn't have
a US that has a slow processing, poor anticipatory throwing quarterback.
You know, Sam Darnold and Kean Coleman would not be
a good mix because he might not find Kean Coleman

(52:26):
on the second read where he broke open. It would
have been too late, and now he's having to erase
some of the inaccuracies of throws.

Speaker 4 (52:34):
That he can do.

Speaker 3 (52:35):
But that's the thing with Josh Allen. Alan can buy time.
Coleman can find the openings. He can also be the
first read and get open underneath. He is a good
intermediate route runner who finds the open spaces immediately. He
gets separation early. He may not have long speed, but
he has the size and the combination of enough speed

(52:56):
to be able to win downfield on contested throws and
work in zones. If I were to say that we
had to you know, we had to save our lives
by watching, by picking the wide receiver who was going
to have to work through a brick wall to catch
a football. The only one in this class that I
would like, I would have hope for would be Keon

(53:16):
Coleman in terms of how he wins the football at
the confidence he has the body to be able to
win like that. And I joke he's like the Leagarrett
Blunt of wide receivers in this class where everyone looked
at the Garrett Blunt and said, ah, he's a plotter
and he can't move, and all he does is lean
on people. And then you watch him return kicks and

(53:37):
you watch how fleet footed he is, and you watch
how good he moves his hips and that navigates tight spaces,
and you're like, he may be slow on the Stopwatch,
but he plays fast and he understands how to play.
Ken Coleman is the exact same way. And he was
a punt returner at FSU. Who looked and he wasn't
a four yard per cat per return average guy, right,

(54:01):
he could he legit returns?

Speaker 5 (54:04):
Well, yeah, we have been making that point.

Speaker 6 (54:07):
And here's Boggs trying to lead you by throwing up
the hook horns sign and either, I don't know what
were you trying to get.

Speaker 5 (54:15):
Another small guy like.

Speaker 4 (54:17):
He's gonna get drafted earlier if you ask.

Speaker 2 (54:19):
Matt, I think so too. Uh you know, Matt, Matt's
smart guy.

Speaker 3 (54:23):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (54:24):
But but also come on, you don't want to see
Josh Allen's monster rocket arm uh match paired up with Worthy.
I mean, look, I think Herbert would be a great
you know, La would be a great spot too. That
they're going to run the ball eighty times a game
with harball and a bad defense. So you know, I
I I would love to see Worthy in a lot

(54:45):
of spots, just just drafted early, that's all. I just
don't want to seem go to Denver. It is basically
my my thing. They don't have a quarterback. But uh,
my tight end question here, Matt is it's so weird too.
Like all we heard leading up to the the end
of the college football season was brock Bowers. Brock Bowers,
He's going to be this amazing tight end. And you know,

(55:06):
Fits and I have had a discussion in dynasty formats
for fantasy. You know, could he already be tight end
one because of his youth and his ability. I think
there's absolutely an opportunity for him to be one. But
the problem is that I see anyway, is the last
time we had a tight end of this caliber was

(55:29):
Kyle Pitts, and Kyle Pitts still hasn't been used correctly
in the NFL under Arthur Smith and all that stuff,
at least in terms for us fantasy nerds that want
to see these guys catch the football and score touchdowns
and things like that. So Brock Bauers, you know, the
hype has been to me relatively quiet compared to what
it was in season, but you'd still do see mocks.

(55:53):
I mean, the farthest I've ever seen him fall is
eighteen to the Bengals, which is not happening. I don't
think that's happening. I think he's probably a top ten pick,
if not at least a top twelve pick. So is
there is there that nightmare landing spot for Brock Bowers
where maybe we don't see the type of production. He
is not obviously the same type of player as Kyle Pitts.

(56:17):
But Kyle Pitts landed in Atlanta. There weren't a lot
of targets that looked like a match made in heaven,
and it just wasn't in terms of fantasy. Is there
that spot for Bowers or is Bowers kind of system
proof for coach proof for QB proof for however you
want to say it is he definitely going to have
a big time production.

Speaker 1 (56:37):
What are your thoughts on Bowers.

Speaker 4 (56:39):
Let's talk about Pits first?

Speaker 3 (56:41):
Okay, okay, first of all, First of all, one thing
that I do in the RSPO all the time is
I like to post players who are show the top
twelve production years or the top twelve rookie years production
wise for a tight end of all time. Pits made
that list in year one. Yes, even with all the

(57:04):
even with all the drama of Matt Ryan in his
last year and injured players, you know, and an offensive
line that had a little bit of issues to clean up,
coaching staff on its way out, that kind of thing.
Year two, new coaching staff, new system, bad quarterbacks. Year three,
bad quarterbacks. So Kyle Pitts is going to be fine

(57:26):
when with especially with Kirk Cousins. So by Kyle Pitts.

Speaker 4 (57:30):
Now.

Speaker 3 (57:31):
Also last year, the two players that I liked the
most out of last year's draft class, sam was was
Dalton Kincaid. First, I really liked Dalton Kincaid most and
thought he had the best chance to threaten Mike Dicka's
record that's been standing around since the mid fifties.

Speaker 4 (57:48):
And then.

Speaker 3 (57:50):
And then Sam Laporta. Okay, and Sam Laporta not only
did he knock on the door, he opened the door.
He just didn't quite step into the into the foyer.
Okay with what he did and Sam Laporta, the big
thing with Laporta that relates to brock Bauers is that
he had a great fit with his scheme. And the

(58:10):
biggest concern I had with with Laporta was and a
scout commented on this to me, who buys the RSP
He said, said, man, you have He said, you hit
the nail on the head with the fit what you
said on potential fit because you said the low range
scenario for him is that he winds up on a
team where the coach basically has a beef with the
exec who drove the pick of Laporta and is like,

(58:34):
I wanted a big in line tight end who could
catch some you gave me the shrimp who's more of
a who can run routes like a receiver. So I'm
gonna fatten this guy up and make him play in line,
or I'm gonna make him play in line to prove
a point, and now we're gonna they're gonna have to
fatten him up and he's not gonna be able to
play well. And I'm gonna say, see, I told you

(58:54):
to get what I want rather than getting what you wanted.
You know, it didn't fit my own And the Scott
literally wrote me and said, you have no idea how
often often this happens?

Speaker 4 (59:05):
He goes.

Speaker 3 (59:06):
This happens so much he goes. So Laporta really found
the right thing. So, yes, there's a risk that brock
Bauers could land in that scenario. Do I think it's
likely to happen? When you see a guy with the
speed he has not only to run past cornerbacks and safeties,
but also the ability to stop and re accelerate and

(59:28):
beat cornerbacks who are on the same side of the
field as him with an angle. This guy is the
closest thing to like Vernon Davis and Aaron Hernandez as
a as a football player that we've seen. You know,
he's got He's got little things to work on, but
they're not I mean, he's one of the he's probably
one of the three best skilled players in this class.

(59:50):
And I think that you would absolutely need to be like,
and I say this as a Cleveland Browns fan, an idiot,
on the proportion of picking Johnny Manzell after you saw
his pro day worked out from what we learned on
Netflix of what happened, and I know that the scouts,

(01:00:10):
I have to believe the Cleveland brown scouts went back
to the team and said, there's no way we can
pick this guy. He was he was hung over. They
were throwing his receivers weren't even there. They were throwing
to like accountants for Christ's sake, you know. And and
I have to think that Jimmy Haslam and his group
were like, Nope, we're gonna We're gonna pick him anyway.

Speaker 2 (01:00:32):
No wonder you love scouting these players so much you
grew up as a Browns fan.

Speaker 3 (01:00:37):
That's right, That's exactly right, you know.

Speaker 6 (01:00:41):
I mean, just so, I'm thinking about a scenario where
a GM hands a coach Rock Bauers, and the coaches
upset he didn't get tip Ryman. And yeah, if that's
the case with anyone, I'm hoping that coach gets the
bums rush out the door as quickly as possible.

Speaker 3 (01:00:58):
I would I would say, you know, now, if you're
trying to think of a team that was if let's
say Dawson Knox wasn't in Buffalo, and he wasn't and
and they needed it, and they didn't have another quality blocker,
and they really needed a tip Ryeman type and they

(01:01:18):
had Dalton Kincaid. I could see why you'd be like, look,
you're not helping my run game here. But I agree
with you still because I go, hey, McFly, like seriously,
like find someone off the street. You'll be okay with
those two guys and split one of those guys out wide.
And for Christ's sake, will you please throw Dalton Kincaid

(01:01:41):
some contested balls that he was great at rather than
throwing them flat routes all the time and getting so conservative.
Buffalo was so conservative I wanted to strangle them. And
he still was a top twelve producer of all time
last year.

Speaker 2 (01:01:56):
So yeah, is this just to put a point on
tight ends? Is this class week like people say it is?
Or is there more talent then we're giving it credit
for just in terms of like receiving guys in potential fantasies.

Speaker 3 (01:02:10):
There's there's two really strong guys in you know, in
Bowers and then in BENSONO. And I think that Jatavian
Sanders has the talent to be good, but it might
take him a little bit of time, and there may
be some ups and downs and if he doesn't survive
those that'll fail.

Speaker 1 (01:02:28):
But there's end is tough.

Speaker 3 (01:02:31):
Tight end is tight end is a tough position, and
it's kind of like running back. It's like running back
this year, it's better than you think because I think
Eric all Is is an underrated player if he can
stay healthy and that the back injury isn't an issue.
And this THEO Johnson kid. If he can figure out
his feet, he actually could become a real threat because

(01:02:53):
of his because of his speed, but he doesn't know
how to use it. And I laugh because like, what
is up with like? And I'm only gonna say I'm
joking when I say this because it's Penn State pat
for Iron Muth was a favorite of mine, but he
was slow. But what's up with having these fast workout
tight ends who don't show up on the field that way?

(01:03:13):
Because Mike Joseki has had such a great combine workout
and you'd think he was playing in sand, you know,
and it always looked that way on field and THEO
Johnson isn't completely Joseki like that way, but against man
coverage or when he has to have a plan with
his feet, he's playing in sand that's been watered down
with some concrete too wet concrete. And then but then

(01:03:36):
when he's running against zone, you're like, this dude can fly.
Looks like Robert Smith with like another thirty pounds on.

Speaker 2 (01:03:42):
It sounds like they're in their head too much. They're
thinking about the process too much instead of just doing.

Speaker 3 (01:03:47):
It, or they just don't know. They don't know good
footwork skills at the change yet. And that's a lot
of it too.

Speaker 2 (01:03:52):
Fitz, before we let Mac go, you got anything else
for him? Any more questions?

Speaker 6 (01:03:56):
I just want to give Matt the opportunity to tell
people where they can get the RSP. And you know,
I know the RSP has a charitable component two and
maybe Matt could talk about that.

Speaker 3 (01:04:07):
Sure, I appreciate that. You know, mount Waldeman dot com
is where you can buy and just go there, you know,
pay and then they will give you an opportunity to
download it. It's in PDF format. You get a pre
draft and post draft guide. So the pre draft allows
you to give my unfiltered opinion about talent, devoid of
draft capital and fantasy fit. I do that too, but

(01:04:29):
I rank my players based on what I see on
the field, and then the post draft I reranked players
based on their landing spot. I give you more of
my fantasy focused eyes. Senior staff writer at Football Guy
since two thousand and nine and being in this industry
almost as long as Pat. You know, But you know,

(01:04:50):
but I used to read Pat, I'll put it that way.
I used to read Pack and in the PFF and
the PFW. Excuse me, you know, draft guides, and I
see somebody said, you know that guy, that guy I
you know, when you're young. I got to say this,
when you're young and in this industry or want to
be in this stree, you go, you have the hubers

(01:05:11):
to go. I could do it better than these guys,
you know. But there's always that guy that you read
and you go, you go, that guy's pretty good.

Speaker 5 (01:05:18):
Like I like him.

Speaker 3 (01:05:19):
I like what he does. And I've always and that's
how I've always felt about pathwork, because I would, you know,
even in my dumb arrogance days, like I would, I
always like Pat that way. But uh, but yeah, you can.
You can get the RSP and the post draft with
all of that, and I give you tiered rankings with
sweet Spot based on ADP and my rankings, so that

(01:05:40):
if I like a Patrick Mahomes or a Jadeen Reid
more than everybody, I'm not telling you to draft him
where I ranked them. I'm telling you here's where you
can get them and get value.

Speaker 4 (01:05:50):
So I do that.

Speaker 3 (01:05:51):
And the charitable component with the RSP is that I
donate up to five thousand dollars now to a charity
called Darkness to Light D two l dot org. They're
an organization devoted to preventing sexual abuse of children through
training programs of adults to help them understand the components
that go into why people groom children and how they

(01:06:14):
do that, so that they can prevent children from being
in those scenarios and prevent themselves putting adults in who
have those behaviors in scenarios that are going to be
around children and when those situations, unfortunately do happen, help
them help these adults learn how to navigate the scenario
so that they don't put more trauma on kids by

(01:06:35):
not believing it trying to cover it up trying to
do what some of these college organizations did then have
since then done their training with DTOL dot org as
a way to try and prevent this from happening in
the future. And the RSP has raised over sixty five
thousand dollars since twenty twelve for this cause. And obviously
the events at Penn State inspired me to do this

(01:06:57):
because I was just like, okay, and among other things,
the Penn State one was kind of the tipping point
for me to go, let's do something as a football
community to try and.

Speaker 4 (01:07:09):
Move forward in a positive way in the way that
Penn State was unable to.

Speaker 2 (01:07:13):
Great great stuff, Matt, appreciate you coming on on the
show as always at Matt Waldman on the Twitter for
all of his good stuff over eleven hundred pages of
like you say, unfiltered evaluation. I love it. Go get
the RSP today, Help a good cause, help a good
man at Matt Waldman. Thank you so much for joining us.

(01:07:36):
Remember you can follow Fitz and I as well at
Boggman Sports for me at FITS Underscore Ff and we
will see you guys next week.

Speaker 1 (01:07:43):
Wormley, We'll be back next week. Right. We didn't fire him, right?

Speaker 4 (01:07:46):
Fits?

Speaker 5 (01:07:47):
We did fire him. It's gonna be Thorntrom next week.

Speaker 1 (01:07:50):
Oh that's right.

Speaker 6 (01:07:51):
We're giving you like you know, the draft gours back
to back, back to back. We might we might never
bring Warmley back.

Speaker 4 (01:07:59):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:07:59):
Well, well you know, he got Jackson holiday. He's having
a good time doing baseball stuff right now. So appreciate
you again, Matt, and we will see you guys next week.
Take it easy, everybody. Thanks for listening to the Fantasy
Pros Dynasty Football podcast. If you love the show, the
best freeway to support us is by leaving a positive
review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Follow us on x, Instagram,

(01:08:20):
and TikTok at Fantasy pros at. Subscribe to our YouTube
channel at YouTube dot com slash Fantasy Pros

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Measuring the Impact of the 2024 Draft Class w/ Matt Waldman (Ep. 141)

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