April 21, 2021 • 29 mins
On today's episode, Jason kicks things off with a quick thought on the James Harden now being out indefinitely after suffering a setback in rehab for his hamstring injury. It's looking more and more likely that we won't see the Brooklyn Nets Big 3 together again until the playoffs. If they're all back by the second round, would that be enough time for them to gel and make a run at a championship? Heck, without Harden, are we sure that the Nets even get out of the first round if they ending facing the Miami Heat? Later, Warren Sharp from Sharp Football Analysis swings by to discuss how a focus on analytics helped him get his foot in the NFL media door, how he's able to navigate smokescreens leading up to the NFL Draft and why it's so important to identify reporters with a history of correct prognostications, why some around the league believe that 2022 Draft capital is more valuable than 2021 Draft capital, why he values Florida TE Kyle Pitts higher than any wide receiver available in the NFL Draft, why he's betting on Alabama WR Jaylen Waddle going ahead of his more heralded teammate Devonta Smith, why he's skeptical that Mac Jones would be worth all the draft capital that the San Francisco 49ers spent to move up to #3, and much more!
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
This is Straight Fire with Jason McIntyre. What's up, everybody,
It's me Jason McIntyre, Straight Fire, Wednesday, April twenty one.
We've got a phenomenal interview today. You're gonna yeah, I
know you love him Warren Sharp. If you follow the NFL,
you follow the NFL draft free agency statistics. I mean,
(00:28):
he's really built something great sharp football analysis. He's working
for a lot of NFL teams while he's doing this.
It's pretty interesting stuff. I think you're gonna really like
the interview with Warren Sharp. Before we get to that,
couple quick housekeeping items, remember subscribe, rate and review. I
keep being told by the podcast people that the numbers
(00:48):
for the podcast are continuing to do well. March was
incredible for us. Halfway through March, through halfway through April,
you know, the middle of the month, through the middle
of the month, still numbers going strong. So thank you
very much for supporting, sharing with your friends, family, loved ones,
sports fans, people that are gonna be angry with like
takes On Zion or Steph Curry. And we're gonna be
(01:11):
doing heavy NFL Draft stuff here for the next week,
starting today. But first before we get to Warren Sharp.
I just wanted to quickly follow up on some news
that happened um sort of late on Tuesday, in case
you missed it, James Harden, who has been out for
I don't know about ten days two weeks for the
Brooklyn Nets, had an m R I still injured out indefinitely. Obviously,
(01:36):
I know you care about my my son's fantasy basketball team.
Harden was our number one pick. We got to the playoffs.
We don't have him this week. We ain't gonna have
him next week if we win. But in real NBA action,
I mean, the Nets just keep chugging along. They don't
have Durant last night, they don't have a hardened and
they barely get by the Pelicans, who are such a
(01:56):
bad defensive team. The Nets shoot, uh hit a ton
of threes. Kyrie Irving at thirty two, and the Nets
win and close one again. Zion and the Pelicans just
inching further and further away from the playoffs. And it's
a travesty. Really, you know Zion at thirty three, he's great,
But first of all, this Nets team, I'm gonna go
(02:18):
ahead and guess they will not have one more game
in the regular season with Durant, Harden and Kyrie, they're
just gonna have to just go straight to the playoffs
and be like, yo, who we got first, And they're
just gonna have to try to get by them. They'll
probably be fine in the first round. As of right now,
you know they're looking at the play and winners. So
you're talking about I'm just gonna say Miami doesn't end
(02:39):
up in the play and I think the Knicks will
fall back a little bit, although they've won seventh straight.
At some point, I've got to bring on a Knicks guest,
right as a Knicks fan, I've got to bring one on.
A couple of buddies who I think would be very
thrilled to talk about the Knicks. Will do that. But
still it's looking like the Nets, if they can't get
the number one seed, they're half a game back. They
will have a tough first round matchup, probably against the Celtics.
(03:03):
If they do get the number one seed, they'll face
either the bull the Pacers, the Hornets one of those
teams and they should steamroll them. Although LaMelo Ball is
coming back, um it sounds like he'll be back for
the final couple of games of the regular season, so
that means he would play potentially in the play in game.
(03:23):
Bulls are trying their best to stay in there. I'm
gonna say this, the Wizards, led by Russell Westbrook, yes
Russell Westbrook, not Bradley Beale, have tied the Bulls for
the tenth seed. And I know you don't care. It's
the bottom of the East playoff wrong. That being said,
the Nets will face the play and winner, and Folks,
there is a chance that the big three will not
(03:45):
all be healthy at that point based on this latest
Hardened news. I don't know how you can feel super
optimistic if you're a Nets fan. All of a sudden,
you're looking at diving into the second round, probably against
the Milwaukee Bucks, probably, and you have had zero games
together in the last two months with Hardened, Kyrie and KD.
(04:06):
So I don't know how you can be excited if
you're a Nets fan. I think you're holding your breath
a little bit, still waiting on Anthony Davis to return
to the Lakers. That's potentially this week. I'm excited about
the prospect. We shall see, but we've done a lot
of NBA this week. It's time for the hard pivot
to the NFL Draft. Here is our interview with Warren Sharp.
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
(04:29):
the nation. Catch all of our shows at Fox sports
Radio dot com and within the I Heart Radio app
search f s R to listen live. Jason likes to
think he knows everything when it comes to sports. I
know what sports stands want, but for everything he doesn't.
He knows a guy who does. Let's just say I
(04:51):
know a guy who knows a guy who knows another guy.
All right, let's welcome into straight fire. A guy everybody
knows who come or is football? If you gamble on football,
you like analytics, you know this guy, Warren Sharp Sharp Football, Warren,
How are you man? I'm doing great, Jason, happy to
join you. Thanks for taking the time. Obviously, the draft
(05:12):
right around the corner of free agency in the rear
view mirror. But I want to start um, not necessarily
with your full story. But I'm sure you get asked
this a lot. People are the young kids, either in
college or coming out. Hell I'm in high school. They're like, man,
how do I get how do I get in the industry?
How do I get where you are? And One of
my you know, boilerplate answers is you know, not find
something you love, but like find a backdoor in or
(05:35):
you're gonna have to take forever to climb the ladder. Um.
I kind of think you you came in a back door,
did you Not? I did? Uh. It was more so
just trying to put out good work and put out
good analysis, try to get my name out there as
much as I possibly could. Uh sort of did it independently.
(05:55):
I didn't latch on with a big group that you
know road or published It's yearl at a big prominent place.
I kind of grew everything on my own and up.
Some teams just started reaching out to me, and that's
how I got my NFL connections and why I work
with a number of these guys. Now that network has
grown over the years, But it was a lot of
(06:15):
hard work and just trying to come up with insightful
information that other people weren't talking about. If you answer
the same question that everybody's already answered, and you share
the same type of information that everybody's already talking about,
you're just gonna be one of hundreds, if not thousands
of people. But if you're coming up with new insights,
new way to do things. UM, that's when you sort
(06:36):
of make a name for yourself. Agree. And in football
that you know, the football community, especially the old school coaches,
have been very reluctant to dive into analytics, you know,
the old school football minds. You know, baseball was first, UM,
NBA kind of came second, and football in the last
what would you say, like five years, has really become
(06:57):
more analytically driven than ever it has. Um. You know,
one of the things that was great for football was
when the Eagles won the seventeen Super Bowl. That year,
they were going very much by analytics on fourth downs
and Doug Peterson got really well known for doing that
and elevated the discussion of being aggressive and trying to
(07:19):
use analytics and decision making and doing things not necessarily
by the old school book. And then I think over
the years since there's just been more and more teams
that have been accepting of it. Previously, you know, the
Patriots were having a ton of success, and I think
the smart people figured out that the Patriots were utilizing
a lot of this with Ernie Adams and other people,
but they never talked about it. They tried to keep
(07:41):
it extremely quiet, UM. So you know, ironically enough, like
what the Eagles did in terms of winning that Super
Bowl brought the discussion of utilizing analytics a little bit
more to the forefront. But it had been gaining steam
prior to that, and but it's really certainly come along
of of the last three or four years really wrong. Now.
I don't know how much you could talk about the
(08:02):
teams you work with. It would be awesome if you did.
Obviously I'm interested in that aspect. But I feel like
I read a story recently, it might have been the
Philadelphia Inquire, a deep dive into the Eagles, and I
feel like your name came up in that story. Was that?
Is that accurate? My name came up in that story?
It is accurate. UM. Unfortunately, with several of the teams UM,
(08:23):
I either have official signed n d A S or
I just operate under the understanding that I'm not going
to discuss anything that I do with those teams, so
they never ever have to worry about working with me
and me sharing any information. So that's kind of the
principle that I operate with UM. It's it's obviously known
that I work with multiple teams and uh, I love
(08:45):
doing that. I love helping various different teams on certain levels,
you know, because for so long, Jason I was you know,
kind of yelling into the abyss of Twitter, and and
it only goes so far. You know, other people because say, hey,
this guy is really saying something that's interest thing. I
agree with what he's saying, but you still watch the
same things unfold on TV every Sunday, week after week,
(09:07):
year after year, and it gets a little frustrating. But
being able to help teams from the inside and actually
see some of the suggestions that you give them actually
come to fruition on the football field, and then they
win games as a result of it. There's not really
much more fulfilling that I've experienced in my career than that.
I you don't have to say the team, but I
(09:27):
am curious the first time you got an email or
a text from someone at a team whose name you
were aware of, what was the reaction, Because I will say,
when I had started the Big Lead anonymously in two
thousand six, I don't you might have still been in
high school for all I know. Um, the first big
name that emailed me, I was like, whoa what's this
(09:48):
all about? Really, I must be cutting through. I'm curious
if you could take me back to when you got
your first email or text from a team. What's your reaction.
What did you run and tell the wife? Did you
call your dad? I don't know, it was it was
a similar situation. I was taken aback. I was like, on, like,
how you know who? Who is? This? Is this for real?
I double checked, you know, the foot or of the
(10:10):
email to make sure, you know, the email address had
the NFL dot com I had the team's name in there.
I just wanted to verify that everything looked correct. I
I looked up the individual's name, make sure that that
person was actually working with the team, and uh, and
then yeah, I went and told the wife and obviously
emailed the individual back, and then we got on the
(10:31):
phone and UM, certainly, you know, my my, that was
a thrill for me. Um. Getting to go and meet
various different teams at their facilities, flying there, talking with
some of the people behind the scenes. Meeting people at
all levels of their organizations has been a thrill. Meeting
coaches at the NFL Combine for several years now and
(10:53):
having private sessions with those guys in person, and you
know there's there's during the season, there's elements of talking
to these guys on on different teams before their game. Uh,
I'm talking about like the week before, I'm talking about
the night before. I'm talking about two hours before the game,
just going over some things. I'm talking about getting some
(11:14):
phone calls on the team bus after the game. UM,
just you know, congratulating us on on the things that
we were sharing and the thoughts that we had and
going back and forth. So UM, it's definitely been a thrill.
But the first the first time was certainly you know,
you had to pinch yourself. Yeah, definitely, that sounds awesome. Now,
(11:35):
before we get to the draft and some players, I
am curious what happens when two teams you're consulting with
are playing each other and they're both hitting you up.
Is that? Have you had that awkward moment and how
do you handle it? Have not, because I I will
not work with I won't I will not be I
will have to disclose that relationship prior to doing that.
(11:56):
And so fortunately the way that I have operated, I've
picked teams that will don't play one another. Um. But
if they if they do you know that relationship gets
disclosed ahead of time? You listen, you know what's coming
a bidding war when my Jets figure out that you're
working with X team in the a f C East
(12:16):
and they're like, we we need to get it, we
need to get started. Let's let's outbid the other team.
I'm sure that's coming warrant, but let's let's go to
the draft, which is I guess a week away. And um,
I don't know this forty nine stuff. You know, the
gambling markets have spoken, But then you've got the Chris
Simms and um, you know, Mike h what's Lamla Bombardi
(12:38):
is saying Trey Lance and Christims is saying Mac Jones.
I don't know. How do you decipher fact from fiction
when it comes to the NFL Draft. Well, so I
brought on a couple of guys who are writing about
the draft, and I'm digging into it a little bit
more than I have previously. And I go to the
guys that no information, just like teams come to me
(12:59):
if if I know it for is, I go to
guys that have done this, and they've done it at
a high level. A couple of the guys that are
doing the mocks at Shark Football Analysis. They are like,
one guy has had the most accurate track record on
the Huddle report for the last four years, and one
guy is number two over the last five years. And
and they go and they actually evaluate they've they've keep
(13:21):
they have spreadsheets the different reporters and how accurate those
guys are, and so they'll see, well, Adam Schefter has
like a almost clean hit rate, like the guy does
not miss and so when he comes out super strong
talking about mac Jones, we really need to not just
pay attention but almost write it down in pen when
(13:41):
he's that convicted of it. Um. So it's it's evaluating
the source and who is sharing that now, specifically with
number three and the forty nine, Like they're trading up
significant future capital and I just don't buy, although it
could be true, you never know with the NFL, So
anybody's saying, well, this is definitely like you never really
(14:03):
know unless you're actually talking to the individual who is
the source of the information. But it would be shocking
to me that you're drading up, trading up multiple future
first rounds plus your own first round this year, so
three in total to move up to take one of
a couple or one of three different quarterbacks at that position.
(14:25):
What you effectively are suggesting is that you have two
to three quarterbacks that are better than the number one
and number two class, and all of them are. And
I just don't see how that's possible. Are we suggesting
that we have five quarterbacks that are franchise caliber quarterbacks?
We haven't seen anybody like these in the last several years.
We want in the next couple. I don't buy that.
(14:47):
So I feel like they're going up to draft a
particular person, but I don't know who it is. Obviously,
the draft thoughts swung tremendously when Schefter suggested it was
gonna be uh Jones. Then they swung back when there
was the work out for fields. And I am just
focusing my efforts in trying to decide what's going on
with the mocks and prop bets and that type of thing.
(15:10):
Just skip over number three. I have no freaking clue.
I don't know what's gonna happen. I'm not gonna roll
the dice on one of these and and and hope
that I'm right. There's more value on the board elsewhere.
And I'm just not sure. I really am just not
sure what's going to happen there. Yeah, I love the
latest thing was Oh wait a second, um, justin Fields
is his quarterback coaches, John Beck, and John Beck was
(15:32):
one of the backup quarterbacks in Washington with Shanahan, So
Shanahan's gotta have the inside info. I mean, you could
play this game warring with so many players in the
league and so many teams. It's really fun. I I
personally love the draft the first time combine, So go ahead, good, Sorry,
I was just gonna interject. The funny part is that
John Beck is also working with with Land, so it's
(15:53):
it's it's like he's working with multiple of these guys
because Shanahan told him, I want you to work with
these quarterbacks because I'm interested in taking them. Yeah, and listen,
it could be Lands, that could be Fields. I personally
think it's Fields. But the first time I went to
the combine and you just walk around to people like,
oh yeah, I know your work, and they're just willing
to say whatever to you. But without that combine and
(16:15):
without you know, the text messages, you could say whatever
you want. You could jump on the phone call and
say whatever and I just feel like this year is
extremely tough, and I don't usually look at other mocks
until like submit mine for Fox, And I will say
last week I looked at a couple and some of
it's just everybody's just chasing the same names and the
same positions and trying to pigeonhole what like you said,
(16:36):
Schefter and mel Kiper and those guys do. But the
dirty secret is, like it's not Kiper is not very
good at the mock drafts. If you look at that
huddle report, hit rate, um Kuiper and mcshade, they don't
usually do well in those. Yeah, they're you're You're right.
There are certain guys that don't have success that you
kind of just take what they say with a grain
(16:56):
of salt. There are other guys who at the very
last minute will move a guy up into a certain
position that no other mocks are tracking, a guy like
Daniel Jeremiah, for example, And that is something you should
pay extremely close attention to. When somebody gets instarted who
wasn't there before is matched to a team and and
(17:17):
you know that guy has a good hit rate in
terms of the person creating those marks. Those are the
types of things you should pay attention to what I'm
really interested to see. To Jason, that's very unique is
because of that uncertainty, there was no combine, there were
no team business there. They are all these question marks
about these prospects. I have talked to GMS. That's say
(17:37):
draft capital is worth more than one draft capital because
we have we will have more knowledge on all of
these players, will ever reviewed more film, will have met
with them in person, will have seen a combine and
multiple workouts with them, so we will have a better
understanding of how to evaluate those guys. And I'm curious
to see how many teams trade down out of this
(18:00):
first round or you know, down over the course of
the draft to amass twenty two draft capital. Um not
to say that teams will hit better then just because
they know more about these guys. Teams, you know, the
draft is is a is a crapshoot a lot of times,
even if you're a good talent evaluator. So it's not
like you're gonna be better in hitting these guys necessarily,
(18:22):
but you will have more information, and so teams think
that that those picks may be more valuable. Yeah, information
access is so huge. One quick note before we move
on to the Lions, who I think are and maybe
the best trade down spot. So, uh, for instance, McShay, uh,
and I'm not taking a shot at him, We are friendly.
He went to college with Joe Douglas h the Jets
GM and mcshaye was putting this out forever in January
(18:47):
that oh, well the Jets could. They're gonna keep saying Donald,
they could keep Sam Donald, they could keep him. And
I had in my marks, no way, it's gotta be
Zack Wilson. And you know, eventually everybody came to realize, oh,
McShay was probably doing that to jack up Sam Donald's
trade value so they could maximize what they get for him. Right,
And I don't know, warrant do you take the time
(19:07):
to dive into this stuff? And uh, we know the
most connected guys are probably getting fed in for for
a reason. Right. There are definitely mouthpieces for different teams
out there who are well known and talking to people
internally around the league. I'm not gonna put the individual
reporters on blast, but there are guys that you know,
(19:28):
I've I've been told you know, this guy will say
whatever you want him to say. So we don't trust
what he says at all, UM, and so there's no
doubt there's a lot of misinformation. UM. At this time
of year, it really doesn't do much good to disclose
what your plans are. I mean, too many NFL teams
do that on a given basis with their game plans.
(19:50):
People asked the coach, what are you gonna try to
do this week? Oh, well, we're gonna try to do
more of this and that, and then they actually try
to do this and that like that. That happens a
little bit on game day. There's no benefit at all
for then, and there's no benefit of it all for
the draft. So some guys get good information that they
sneak out and we're able to or we're able to
read tea leaves and try to put two and two together.
(20:11):
But you know, guys a lot of times that are
reporting a lot of information. UM, sometimes they're just being
fed information and half of its right, half of his wrong.
But so sorry, before the Lions let me falcons at four.
You know, you can look at the new coach, the
new gm UH, the owner who has a lot of sway.
I personally don't think it will be a quarterback. I
(20:33):
haven't thought that forever. Given some people who know Arthur
blank and say, oh, Matt Ryan's my guy, But I
don't know what are you thinking it for. Are you
thinking they go offensive line? Do they go Kyle Pitts,
um Trey Lands, mac Jones. If it's me, I am
going with Kyle Pitts because I can't wait for him
to work with Arthur Smith. Arthur Smith in Tennessee used
(20:57):
some of the highest rates in the NFL that we've
seen over the last couple of years of priests not
motion of play action, and so much of their play
action ends up targeting a tight end that I think
he would get his utility in Atlanta and we would
see some of his best upside were he to go
to Atlanta and work with Matt Ryan, who is obviously
still a very good quarterback, still in above average quarterback
(21:20):
in the NFL. I think if you're the GM there
and you decide to go quarterback, like you're now tying
yourself to this guy, and this is going to be
kind of what your statement is for the first few years,
and if that guy doesn't work out, maybe your job
is at stake, Whereas it's so much lower risk to
just And besides, we know Jason, you're no getting no
(21:41):
better than the fourth best quarterback in this class, right
because we've got quarterbacks going one to three in the
future year. Let's say Matt Ryan doesn't work out and
you go a future year. Are you really gonna be
a bad team? Probably? But are you gonna get in
the fourth worst quarterback or fourth fourth best? Probably not.
You're probably gonna get a higher QB than that. So
I just think of goo pits there. That's what I
(22:01):
would do. There is the possibility that they trade down
because other teams may be looking to move up, especially
if mac Jones goes three to San Francisco, then you've
got fields and Lance both available to you at four.
I think that's when a trade down scenario could occur.
But if I'm staying there, I'm probably gonna pitts. Let
me give the counter offer, um when has a like?
(22:21):
First of all, let me the counter is, you know,
just tight end even really matter? Obviously tight end is
important to what Smith does, but when you're ranking the
most important positions in football right quarterback one, left tackle two,
or edge rusher two or cornerback too, is tight end
really on the list. The goal with the tight end
(22:41):
is to create mismatches and to gain leverage over the
defense to be able to win on any snap that
you're passing the football. And Kyle Pitts is not going
to be the blocking type tight end like Rob Gronkowski is.
He's going to be the receiving type tight end like
Travis Kelsey is. But he can still get in away enough,
which is what Bill Belichick's old discussion port about tight ends, like,
(23:04):
we want a guy who can catch the football and
a guy who can move around and create mismatches before
the snap. If necessary, you can split him out wide,
you can line them up in a few different places.
He can create mismatches. We don't care if he's not
necessarily the best blocker. He just seeds to do enough
to get in the way to be out there personally.
With the receiving talent, the speed, the athleticism of Kyle Pitts,
(23:26):
I would value him above just a pure number one
wide receiver because of all the different things that you
can do with him. And Daniel Jeremiah had a great statement,
and it was if you don't like the fact that
you're taking a tight end as high as potentially for
just right wide receiver next to his name, and you
will be very happy drafting Kyle Pitts as a wide
(23:46):
receiver in the NFL in the top five picks. But
he could do a lot more than that. He can
be aligned in different places and match up in different
types of versus different types of defenders to gain even
more leverage then a pure number one wide receiver would
line up on a number one corner or potentially with
cloud coverage. So that's why I like Kyle Pitts and
(24:08):
I think he still has value traditionally. No, there's no
tight ends that are going to be this great in
the NFL. But there's also a pretty big hit um
sorry misrate amongst wide receivers that are drafted up high
in the NFL too. So a guy who could do
more than just be a pure wide receiver, which Kyle
Pitts can check a couple of other boxes, that's why
(24:28):
I like him. There. Yeah, I'm I'm not bullish on
wide receivers in the top ten. I mean, Jamaar Chase
is an exception, but I don't know where you are.
But Wattle and Smith from Alabama exceptional talents. But there
I don't know if a smurf is that a fair word.
I mean Davante Smith. We don't even know how much
he weighs. Like. I don't see either of those guys
going in the top ten. I see some people mocking
the Lions two Wattle, We're all young, two Alabama receivers.
(24:52):
I actually took a little wager on Wattle to be
drafted before Smith. I'm not overly confident, but from a
speed perspective, which is a lot where some of these guys,
the teams they start salivating about the possibility of a
guy coming in with speed like Wattle brings to the
table even though he didn't run um at his as project.
(25:13):
I really think that that may elevate him a little
bit over Smith. Even though Smith has all the credentials
to being like the premier wide receiver in terms of awards,
I like Waddle ahead of him. But in general, I
agree with you. Um, you know a lot about the
NFL is finding that quarterback, protecting that quarterback. Um, you
(25:36):
still need guys out there to catch the football and uh.
But but there are a lot of different ways to
evaluate receivers and to try to match them up against.
You know, NFL type caliber defensive UH players and dbs
and that they'll be going up against. Sometimes it's difficult
for teams to get that correct. Um. Alright, Detroit Lions.
(25:59):
You know I didn't love the coaching higher, Um I do.
I did look at the GM. They brought in the
kid from the Rams, and if you look at how
the Rams have drafted, they made one mistake drafting a
wide receiver in the top ten. It was Tavon Austin,
which totally blew up in their face. But otherwise they
found good receivers in the second, third, fourth rounds. Um,
(26:21):
what do you think? What do you think the Lions
are doing at seven? Or are they trading down? Yeah?
I think that there's the possibility that they do trade down.
There's just so many needs. This team is so far
away that I think that there's just too many needs
for them to uh stick where they are, And I
think there will be enough interest, um from various different
(26:44):
teams to want to come up and and get potentially
a quarterback. One of my guys has the New England
Patriots making a trade with the Detroit Lions. Obviously we've
got the familiarity their aspect with the former head coach
now back as the assistant head coach of the New
England Patriots. And uh and and going up and grabbing
Justin Fields who uh this mock drafter his names Ryan.
(27:07):
He is projecting will fall out of the top three selected.
So the Patriots come up and go and grab a
quarterback and then the Lions at fifteen go with an
edge defender. So that's kind of the thinking from his perspective.
I am curious to wrap up mac Jones. I have
him fifteen to the Patriots. People think I'm crazy. I'm
(27:27):
just not buying it. Um, I just I don't see
again only what seventeen career starts. And it feels like
just all this chatter in the media is just total
smoke screen season. Um mac Jones, what have you seen?
Do the analytics love him? Well, the analytics love him
simply because of his production is accuracy and all of that.
(27:48):
But the question is how do we isolate that from
the offense that he was in with Steve Sarkisian and
we saw some of the struggles that to a Tongue
of Valoa had last season. Who came out of that
same team as well with potentially you know, a better
receiving class. I think the receivers because he still had
Waddle there and he and he still had a Smith there,
(28:08):
but then they also had rugs, et cetera. Who was
with two of you. But but there's so much that
Sarkisian does with that offense to help elevate the passer,
which is smart. Every offensive coordinator should be doing it.
But then it's a matter of like how much is
the offensive coordinator where you're taking this guy in the
NFL going to do those same types of things and
elevate him there as well. Um, I tend to think
(28:32):
that there was a lot of if you said before
this draft, who's the guy that you would draft trade
three first round picks four, it's not going to be
that quarterback. So I don't think you're thinking Jones would
be a possibility. He had one massively great season. Um,
on the flip side, he's probably a little bit better
than even two. It was like, if you're talking about
(28:54):
what he did, now, I know he didn't win the Heisman,
but if you look at what he did, uh, you
know they You've got these receivers, You've got this performance,
You've got this production there. It's it is hard to
overlook that, so I can understand where some NFL gms
fall on him. And if a guy like Kyle Shanam
really thinks this is the guy, then by all means
(29:15):
go after that guy. I just think it's a tremendous
load to give up there, and I would be shocked
at the end of the day if it was him.
But you never you know, You truly never know, You
truly never know. Alright. He has Warren sharp, sharp football analysis,
bright guy fun stuff. I love your content, Warren, and
keep up the good work. Many thanks Jason, you too,
This is Straight Fire with Jason McIntyre. What's up, everybody,
It's me Jason McIntyre, Straight Fire, Wednesday, April twenty one.
We've got a phenomenal interview today. You're gonna yeah, I
know you love him Warren Sharp. If you follow the NFL,
you follow the NFL draft free agency statistics. I mean,
(00:28):
he's really built something great sharp football analysis. He's working
for a lot of NFL teams while he's doing this.
It's pretty interesting stuff. I think you're gonna really like
the interview with Warren Sharp. Before we get to that,
couple quick housekeeping items, remember subscribe, rate and review. I
keep being told by the podcast people that the numbers
(00:48):
for the podcast are continuing to do well. March was
incredible for us. Halfway through March, through halfway through April,
you know, the middle of the month, through the middle
of the month, still numbers going strong. So thank you
very much for supporting, sharing with your friends, family, loved ones,
sports fans, people that are gonna be angry with like
takes On Zion or Steph Curry. And we're gonna be
(01:11):
doing heavy NFL Draft stuff here for the next week,
starting today. But first before we get to Warren Sharp.
I just wanted to quickly follow up on some news
that happened um sort of late on Tuesday, in case
you missed it, James Harden, who has been out for
I don't know about ten days two weeks for the
Brooklyn Nets, had an m R I still injured out indefinitely. Obviously,
(01:36):
I know you care about my my son's fantasy basketball team.
Harden was our number one pick. We got to the playoffs.
We don't have him this week. We ain't gonna have
him next week if we win. But in real NBA action,
I mean, the Nets just keep chugging along. They don't
have Durant last night, they don't have a hardened and
they barely get by the Pelicans, who are such a
(01:56):
bad defensive team. The Nets shoot, uh hit a ton
of threes. Kyrie Irving at thirty two, and the Nets
win and close one again. Zion and the Pelicans just
inching further and further away from the playoffs. And it's
a travesty. Really, you know Zion at thirty three, he's great,
But first of all, this Nets team, I'm gonna go
(02:18):
ahead and guess they will not have one more game
in the regular season with Durant, Harden and Kyrie, they're
just gonna have to just go straight to the playoffs
and be like, yo, who we got first, And they're
just gonna have to try to get by them. They'll
probably be fine in the first round. As of right now,
you know they're looking at the play and winners. So
you're talking about I'm just gonna say Miami doesn't end
(02:39):
up in the play and I think the Knicks will
fall back a little bit, although they've won seventh straight.
At some point, I've got to bring on a Knicks guest,
right as a Knicks fan, I've got to bring one on.
A couple of buddies who I think would be very
thrilled to talk about the Knicks. Will do that. But
still it's looking like the Nets, if they can't get
the number one seed, they're half a game back. They
will have a tough first round matchup, probably against the Celtics.
(03:03):
If they do get the number one seed, they'll face
either the bull the Pacers, the Hornets one of those
teams and they should steamroll them. Although LaMelo Ball is
coming back, um it sounds like he'll be back for
the final couple of games of the regular season, so
that means he would play potentially in the play in game.
(03:23):
Bulls are trying their best to stay in there. I'm
gonna say this, the Wizards, led by Russell Westbrook, yes
Russell Westbrook, not Bradley Beale, have tied the Bulls for
the tenth seed. And I know you don't care. It's
the bottom of the East playoff wrong. That being said,
the Nets will face the play and winner, and Folks,
there is a chance that the big three will not
(03:45):
all be healthy at that point based on this latest
Hardened news. I don't know how you can feel super
optimistic if you're a Nets fan. All of a sudden,
you're looking at diving into the second round, probably against
the Milwaukee Bucks, probably, and you have had zero games
together in the last two months with Hardened, Kyrie and KD.
(04:06):
So I don't know how you can be excited if
you're a Nets fan. I think you're holding your breath
a little bit, still waiting on Anthony Davis to return
to the Lakers. That's potentially this week. I'm excited about
the prospect. We shall see, but we've done a lot
of NBA this week. It's time for the hard pivot
to the NFL Draft. Here is our interview with Warren Sharp.
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
(04:29):
the nation. Catch all of our shows at Fox sports
Radio dot com and within the I Heart Radio app
search f s R to listen live. Jason likes to
think he knows everything when it comes to sports. I
know what sports stands want, but for everything he doesn't.
He knows a guy who does. Let's just say I
(04:51):
know a guy who knows a guy who knows another guy.
All right, let's welcome into straight fire. A guy everybody
knows who come or is football? If you gamble on football,
you like analytics, you know this guy, Warren Sharp Sharp Football, Warren,
How are you man? I'm doing great, Jason, happy to
join you. Thanks for taking the time. Obviously, the draft
(05:12):
right around the corner of free agency in the rear
view mirror. But I want to start um, not necessarily
with your full story. But I'm sure you get asked
this a lot. People are the young kids, either in
college or coming out. Hell I'm in high school. They're like, man,
how do I get how do I get in the industry?
How do I get where you are? And One of
my you know, boilerplate answers is you know, not find
something you love, but like find a backdoor in or
(05:35):
you're gonna have to take forever to climb the ladder. Um.
I kind of think you you came in a back door,
did you Not? I did? Uh. It was more so
just trying to put out good work and put out
good analysis, try to get my name out there as
much as I possibly could. Uh sort of did it independently.
(05:55):
I didn't latch on with a big group that you
know road or published It's yearl at a big prominent place.
I kind of grew everything on my own and up.
Some teams just started reaching out to me, and that's
how I got my NFL connections and why I work
with a number of these guys. Now that network has
grown over the years, But it was a lot of
(06:15):
hard work and just trying to come up with insightful
information that other people weren't talking about. If you answer
the same question that everybody's already answered, and you share
the same type of information that everybody's already talking about,
you're just gonna be one of hundreds, if not thousands
of people. But if you're coming up with new insights,
new way to do things. UM, that's when you sort
(06:36):
of make a name for yourself. Agree. And in football
that you know, the football community, especially the old school coaches,
have been very reluctant to dive into analytics, you know,
the old school football minds. You know, baseball was first, UM,
NBA kind of came second, and football in the last
what would you say, like five years, has really become
(06:57):
more analytically driven than ever it has. Um. You know,
one of the things that was great for football was
when the Eagles won the seventeen Super Bowl. That year,
they were going very much by analytics on fourth downs
and Doug Peterson got really well known for doing that
and elevated the discussion of being aggressive and trying to
(07:19):
use analytics and decision making and doing things not necessarily
by the old school book. And then I think over
the years since there's just been more and more teams
that have been accepting of it. Previously, you know, the
Patriots were having a ton of success, and I think
the smart people figured out that the Patriots were utilizing
a lot of this with Ernie Adams and other people,
but they never talked about it. They tried to keep
(07:41):
it extremely quiet, UM. So you know, ironically enough, like
what the Eagles did in terms of winning that Super
Bowl brought the discussion of utilizing analytics a little bit
more to the forefront. But it had been gaining steam
prior to that, and but it's really certainly come along
of of the last three or four years really wrong. Now.
I don't know how much you could talk about the
(08:02):
teams you work with. It would be awesome if you did.
Obviously I'm interested in that aspect. But I feel like
I read a story recently, it might have been the
Philadelphia Inquire, a deep dive into the Eagles, and I
feel like your name came up in that story. Was that?
Is that accurate? My name came up in that story?
It is accurate. UM. Unfortunately, with several of the teams UM,
(08:23):
I either have official signed n d A S or
I just operate under the understanding that I'm not going
to discuss anything that I do with those teams, so
they never ever have to worry about working with me
and me sharing any information. So that's kind of the
principle that I operate with UM. It's it's obviously known
that I work with multiple teams and uh, I love
(08:45):
doing that. I love helping various different teams on certain levels,
you know, because for so long, Jason I was you know,
kind of yelling into the abyss of Twitter, and and
it only goes so far. You know, other people because say, hey,
this guy is really saying something that's interest thing. I
agree with what he's saying, but you still watch the
same things unfold on TV every Sunday, week after week,
(09:07):
year after year, and it gets a little frustrating. But
being able to help teams from the inside and actually
see some of the suggestions that you give them actually
come to fruition on the football field, and then they
win games as a result of it. There's not really
much more fulfilling that I've experienced in my career than that.
I you don't have to say the team, but I
(09:27):
am curious the first time you got an email or
a text from someone at a team whose name you
were aware of, what was the reaction, Because I will say,
when I had started the Big Lead anonymously in two
thousand six, I don't you might have still been in
high school for all I know. Um, the first big
name that emailed me, I was like, whoa what's this
(09:48):
all about? Really, I must be cutting through. I'm curious
if you could take me back to when you got
your first email or text from a team. What's your reaction.
What did you run and tell the wife? Did you
call your dad? I don't know, it was it was
a similar situation. I was taken aback. I was like, on, like,
how you know who? Who is? This? Is this for real?
I double checked, you know, the foot or of the
(10:10):
email to make sure, you know, the email address had
the NFL dot com I had the team's name in there.
I just wanted to verify that everything looked correct. I
I looked up the individual's name, make sure that that
person was actually working with the team, and uh, and
then yeah, I went and told the wife and obviously
emailed the individual back, and then we got on the
(10:31):
phone and UM, certainly, you know, my my, that was
a thrill for me. Um. Getting to go and meet
various different teams at their facilities, flying there, talking with
some of the people behind the scenes. Meeting people at
all levels of their organizations has been a thrill. Meeting
coaches at the NFL Combine for several years now and
(10:53):
having private sessions with those guys in person, and you
know there's there's during the season, there's elements of talking
to these guys on on different teams before their game. Uh,
I'm talking about like the week before, I'm talking about
the night before. I'm talking about two hours before the game,
just going over some things. I'm talking about getting some
(11:14):
phone calls on the team bus after the game. UM,
just you know, congratulating us on on the things that
we were sharing and the thoughts that we had and
going back and forth. So UM, it's definitely been a thrill.
But the first the first time was certainly you know,
you had to pinch yourself. Yeah, definitely, that sounds awesome. Now,
(11:35):
before we get to the draft and some players, I
am curious what happens when two teams you're consulting with
are playing each other and they're both hitting you up.
Is that? Have you had that awkward moment and how
do you handle it? Have not, because I I will
not work with I won't I will not be I
will have to disclose that relationship prior to doing that.
(11:56):
And so fortunately the way that I have operated, I've
picked teams that will don't play one another. Um. But
if they if they do you know that relationship gets
disclosed ahead of time? You listen, you know what's coming
a bidding war when my Jets figure out that you're
working with X team in the a f C East
(12:16):
and they're like, we we need to get it, we
need to get started. Let's let's outbid the other team.
I'm sure that's coming warrant, but let's let's go to
the draft, which is I guess a week away. And um,
I don't know this forty nine stuff. You know, the
gambling markets have spoken, But then you've got the Chris
Simms and um, you know, Mike h what's Lamla Bombardi
(12:38):
is saying Trey Lance and Christims is saying Mac Jones.
I don't know. How do you decipher fact from fiction
when it comes to the NFL Draft. Well, so I
brought on a couple of guys who are writing about
the draft, and I'm digging into it a little bit
more than I have previously. And I go to the
guys that no information, just like teams come to me
(12:59):
if if I know it for is, I go to
guys that have done this, and they've done it at
a high level. A couple of the guys that are
doing the mocks at Shark Football Analysis. They are like,
one guy has had the most accurate track record on
the Huddle report for the last four years, and one
guy is number two over the last five years. And
and they go and they actually evaluate they've they've keep
(13:21):
they have spreadsheets the different reporters and how accurate those
guys are, and so they'll see, well, Adam Schefter has
like a almost clean hit rate, like the guy does
not miss and so when he comes out super strong
talking about mac Jones, we really need to not just
pay attention but almost write it down in pen when
(13:41):
he's that convicted of it. Um. So it's it's evaluating
the source and who is sharing that now, specifically with
number three and the forty nine, Like they're trading up
significant future capital and I just don't buy, although it
could be true, you never know with the NFL, So
anybody's saying, well, this is definitely like you never really
(14:03):
know unless you're actually talking to the individual who is
the source of the information. But it would be shocking
to me that you're drading up, trading up multiple future
first rounds plus your own first round this year, so
three in total to move up to take one of
a couple or one of three different quarterbacks at that position.
(14:25):
What you effectively are suggesting is that you have two
to three quarterbacks that are better than the number one
and number two class, and all of them are. And
I just don't see how that's possible. Are we suggesting
that we have five quarterbacks that are franchise caliber quarterbacks?
We haven't seen anybody like these in the last several years.
We want in the next couple. I don't buy that.
(14:47):
So I feel like they're going up to draft a
particular person, but I don't know who it is. Obviously,
the draft thoughts swung tremendously when Schefter suggested it was
gonna be uh Jones. Then they swung back when there
was the work out for fields. And I am just
focusing my efforts in trying to decide what's going on
with the mocks and prop bets and that type of thing.
(15:10):
Just skip over number three. I have no freaking clue.
I don't know what's gonna happen. I'm not gonna roll
the dice on one of these and and and hope
that I'm right. There's more value on the board elsewhere.
And I'm just not sure. I really am just not
sure what's going to happen there. Yeah, I love the
latest thing was Oh wait a second, um, justin Fields
is his quarterback coaches, John Beck, and John Beck was
(15:32):
one of the backup quarterbacks in Washington with Shanahan, So
Shanahan's gotta have the inside info. I mean, you could
play this game warring with so many players in the
league and so many teams. It's really fun. I I
personally love the draft the first time combine, So go ahead, good, Sorry,
I was just gonna interject. The funny part is that
John Beck is also working with with Land, so it's
(15:53):
it's it's like he's working with multiple of these guys
because Shanahan told him, I want you to work with
these quarterbacks because I'm interested in taking them. Yeah, and listen,
it could be Lands, that could be Fields. I personally
think it's Fields. But the first time I went to
the combine and you just walk around to people like,
oh yeah, I know your work, and they're just willing
to say whatever to you. But without that combine and
(16:15):
without you know, the text messages, you could say whatever
you want. You could jump on the phone call and
say whatever and I just feel like this year is
extremely tough, and I don't usually look at other mocks
until like submit mine for Fox, And I will say
last week I looked at a couple and some of
it's just everybody's just chasing the same names and the
same positions and trying to pigeonhole what like you said,
(16:36):
Schefter and mel Kiper and those guys do. But the
dirty secret is, like it's not Kiper is not very
good at the mock drafts. If you look at that
huddle report, hit rate, um Kuiper and mcshade, they don't
usually do well in those. Yeah, they're you're You're right.
There are certain guys that don't have success that you
kind of just take what they say with a grain
(16:56):
of salt. There are other guys who at the very
last minute will move a guy up into a certain
position that no other mocks are tracking, a guy like
Daniel Jeremiah, for example, And that is something you should
pay extremely close attention to. When somebody gets instarted who
wasn't there before is matched to a team and and
(17:17):
you know that guy has a good hit rate in
terms of the person creating those marks. Those are the
types of things you should pay attention to what I'm
really interested to see. To Jason, that's very unique is
because of that uncertainty, there was no combine, there were
no team business there. They are all these question marks
about these prospects. I have talked to GMS. That's say
(17:37):
draft capital is worth more than one draft capital because
we have we will have more knowledge on all of
these players, will ever reviewed more film, will have met
with them in person, will have seen a combine and
multiple workouts with them, so we will have a better
understanding of how to evaluate those guys. And I'm curious
to see how many teams trade down out of this
(18:00):
first round or you know, down over the course of
the draft to amass twenty two draft capital. Um not
to say that teams will hit better then just because
they know more about these guys. Teams, you know, the
draft is is a is a crapshoot a lot of times,
even if you're a good talent evaluator. So it's not
like you're gonna be better in hitting these guys necessarily,
(18:22):
but you will have more information, and so teams think
that that those picks may be more valuable. Yeah, information
access is so huge. One quick note before we move
on to the Lions, who I think are and maybe
the best trade down spot. So, uh, for instance, McShay, uh,
and I'm not taking a shot at him, We are friendly.
He went to college with Joe Douglas h the Jets
GM and mcshaye was putting this out forever in January
(18:47):
that oh, well the Jets could. They're gonna keep saying Donald,
they could keep Sam Donald, they could keep him. And
I had in my marks, no way, it's gotta be
Zack Wilson. And you know, eventually everybody came to realize, oh,
McShay was probably doing that to jack up Sam Donald's
trade value so they could maximize what they get for him. Right,
And I don't know, warrant do you take the time
(19:07):
to dive into this stuff? And uh, we know the
most connected guys are probably getting fed in for for
a reason. Right. There are definitely mouthpieces for different teams
out there who are well known and talking to people
internally around the league. I'm not gonna put the individual
reporters on blast, but there are guys that you know,
(19:28):
I've I've been told you know, this guy will say
whatever you want him to say. So we don't trust
what he says at all, UM, and so there's no
doubt there's a lot of misinformation. UM. At this time
of year, it really doesn't do much good to disclose
what your plans are. I mean, too many NFL teams
do that on a given basis with their game plans.
(19:50):
People asked the coach, what are you gonna try to
do this week? Oh, well, we're gonna try to do
more of this and that, and then they actually try
to do this and that like that. That happens a
little bit on game day. There's no benefit at all
for then, and there's no benefit of it all for
the draft. So some guys get good information that they
sneak out and we're able to or we're able to
read tea leaves and try to put two and two together.
(20:11):
But you know, guys a lot of times that are
reporting a lot of information. UM, sometimes they're just being
fed information and half of its right, half of his wrong.
But so sorry, before the Lions let me falcons at four.
You know, you can look at the new coach, the
new gm UH, the owner who has a lot of sway.
I personally don't think it will be a quarterback. I
(20:33):
haven't thought that forever. Given some people who know Arthur
blank and say, oh, Matt Ryan's my guy, But I
don't know what are you thinking it for. Are you
thinking they go offensive line? Do they go Kyle Pitts,
um Trey Lands, mac Jones. If it's me, I am
going with Kyle Pitts because I can't wait for him
to work with Arthur Smith. Arthur Smith in Tennessee used
(20:57):
some of the highest rates in the NFL that we've
seen over the last couple of years of priests not
motion of play action, and so much of their play
action ends up targeting a tight end that I think
he would get his utility in Atlanta and we would
see some of his best upside were he to go
to Atlanta and work with Matt Ryan, who is obviously
still a very good quarterback, still in above average quarterback
(21:20):
in the NFL. I think if you're the GM there
and you decide to go quarterback, like you're now tying
yourself to this guy, and this is going to be
kind of what your statement is for the first few years,
and if that guy doesn't work out, maybe your job
is at stake, Whereas it's so much lower risk to
just And besides, we know Jason, you're no getting no
(21:41):
better than the fourth best quarterback in this class, right
because we've got quarterbacks going one to three in the
future year. Let's say Matt Ryan doesn't work out and
you go a future year. Are you really gonna be
a bad team? Probably? But are you gonna get in
the fourth worst quarterback or fourth fourth best? Probably not.
You're probably gonna get a higher QB than that. So
I just think of goo pits there. That's what I
(22:01):
would do. There is the possibility that they trade down
because other teams may be looking to move up, especially
if mac Jones goes three to San Francisco, then you've
got fields and Lance both available to you at four.
I think that's when a trade down scenario could occur.
But if I'm staying there, I'm probably gonna pitts. Let
me give the counter offer, um when has a like?
(22:21):
First of all, let me the counter is, you know,
just tight end even really matter? Obviously tight end is
important to what Smith does, but when you're ranking the
most important positions in football right quarterback one, left tackle two,
or edge rusher two or cornerback too, is tight end
really on the list. The goal with the tight end
(22:41):
is to create mismatches and to gain leverage over the
defense to be able to win on any snap that
you're passing the football. And Kyle Pitts is not going
to be the blocking type tight end like Rob Gronkowski is.
He's going to be the receiving type tight end like
Travis Kelsey is. But he can still get in away enough,
which is what Bill Belichick's old discussion port about tight ends, like,
(23:04):
we want a guy who can catch the football and
a guy who can move around and create mismatches before
the snap. If necessary, you can split him out wide,
you can line them up in a few different places.
He can create mismatches. We don't care if he's not
necessarily the best blocker. He just seeds to do enough
to get in the way to be out there personally.
With the receiving talent, the speed, the athleticism of Kyle Pitts,
(23:26):
I would value him above just a pure number one
wide receiver because of all the different things that you
can do with him. And Daniel Jeremiah had a great statement,
and it was if you don't like the fact that
you're taking a tight end as high as potentially for
just right wide receiver next to his name, and you
will be very happy drafting Kyle Pitts as a wide
(23:46):
receiver in the NFL in the top five picks. But
he could do a lot more than that. He can
be aligned in different places and match up in different
types of versus different types of defenders to gain even
more leverage then a pure number one wide receiver would
line up on a number one corner or potentially with
cloud coverage. So that's why I like Kyle Pitts and
(24:08):
I think he still has value traditionally. No, there's no
tight ends that are going to be this great in
the NFL. But there's also a pretty big hit um
sorry misrate amongst wide receivers that are drafted up high
in the NFL too. So a guy who could do
more than just be a pure wide receiver, which Kyle
Pitts can check a couple of other boxes, that's why
(24:28):
I like him. There. Yeah, I'm I'm not bullish on
wide receivers in the top ten. I mean, Jamaar Chase
is an exception, but I don't know where you are.
But Wattle and Smith from Alabama exceptional talents. But there
I don't know if a smurf is that a fair word.
I mean Davante Smith. We don't even know how much
he weighs. Like. I don't see either of those guys
going in the top ten. I see some people mocking
the Lions two Wattle, We're all young, two Alabama receivers.
(24:52):
I actually took a little wager on Wattle to be
drafted before Smith. I'm not overly confident, but from a
speed perspective, which is a lot where some of these guys,
the teams they start salivating about the possibility of a
guy coming in with speed like Wattle brings to the
table even though he didn't run um at his as project.
(25:13):
I really think that that may elevate him a little
bit over Smith. Even though Smith has all the credentials
to being like the premier wide receiver in terms of awards,
I like Waddle ahead of him. But in general, I
agree with you. Um, you know a lot about the
NFL is finding that quarterback, protecting that quarterback. Um, you
(25:36):
still need guys out there to catch the football and uh.
But but there are a lot of different ways to
evaluate receivers and to try to match them up against.
You know, NFL type caliber defensive UH players and dbs
and that they'll be going up against. Sometimes it's difficult
for teams to get that correct. Um. Alright, Detroit Lions.
(25:59):
You know I didn't love the coaching higher, Um I do.
I did look at the GM. They brought in the
kid from the Rams, and if you look at how
the Rams have drafted, they made one mistake drafting a
wide receiver in the top ten. It was Tavon Austin,
which totally blew up in their face. But otherwise they
found good receivers in the second, third, fourth rounds. Um,
(26:21):
what do you think? What do you think the Lions
are doing at seven? Or are they trading down? Yeah?
I think that there's the possibility that they do trade down.
There's just so many needs. This team is so far
away that I think that there's just too many needs
for them to uh stick where they are, And I
think there will be enough interest, um from various different
(26:44):
teams to want to come up and and get potentially
a quarterback. One of my guys has the New England
Patriots making a trade with the Detroit Lions. Obviously we've
got the familiarity their aspect with the former head coach
now back as the assistant head coach of the New
England Patriots. And uh and and going up and grabbing
Justin Fields who uh this mock drafter his names Ryan.
(27:07):
He is projecting will fall out of the top three selected.
So the Patriots come up and go and grab a
quarterback and then the Lions at fifteen go with an
edge defender. So that's kind of the thinking from his perspective.
I am curious to wrap up mac Jones. I have
him fifteen to the Patriots. People think I'm crazy. I'm
(27:27):
just not buying it. Um, I just I don't see
again only what seventeen career starts. And it feels like
just all this chatter in the media is just total
smoke screen season. Um mac Jones, what have you seen?
Do the analytics love him? Well, the analytics love him
simply because of his production is accuracy and all of that.
(27:48):
But the question is how do we isolate that from
the offense that he was in with Steve Sarkisian and
we saw some of the struggles that to a Tongue
of Valoa had last season. Who came out of that
same team as well with potentially you know, a better
receiving class. I think the receivers because he still had
Waddle there and he and he still had a Smith there,
(28:08):
but then they also had rugs, et cetera. Who was
with two of you. But but there's so much that
Sarkisian does with that offense to help elevate the passer,
which is smart. Every offensive coordinator should be doing it.
But then it's a matter of like how much is
the offensive coordinator where you're taking this guy in the
NFL going to do those same types of things and
elevate him there as well. Um, I tend to think
(28:32):
that there was a lot of if you said before
this draft, who's the guy that you would draft trade
three first round picks four, it's not going to be
that quarterback. So I don't think you're thinking Jones would
be a possibility. He had one massively great season. Um,
on the flip side, he's probably a little bit better
than even two. It was like, if you're talking about
(28:54):
what he did, now, I know he didn't win the Heisman,
but if you look at what he did, uh, you
know they You've got these receivers, You've got this performance,
You've got this production there. It's it is hard to
overlook that, so I can understand where some NFL gms
fall on him. And if a guy like Kyle Shanam
really thinks this is the guy, then by all means
(29:15):
go after that guy. I just think it's a tremendous
load to give up there, and I would be shocked
at the end of the day if it was him.
But you never you know, You truly never know, You
truly never know. Alright. He has Warren sharp, sharp football analysis,
bright guy fun stuff. I love your content, Warren, and
keep up the good work. Many thanks Jason, you too,
Host
Jason McIntyre
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