April 26, 2025 • 17 mins
Stephen A. Smith is a New York Times Bestselling Author, Executive Producer, host of ESPN's First Take, and co-host of NBA Countdown.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
Now let's get to Round one of the NFL Draft.
As expected, cam Ward went number one overall to the
Tennessee Titans, and not too long after the pick was announced,
news broke that the Jacksonville Jaguars traded with the Browns
to acquire a second pick in acquiring Heisman Trophy winner
Travis Hunter. Meanwhile, my Steelers are still looking for a
quarterback after day one and Shador Standers is still on
(00:26):
the board for round two. So joining me now to
break it all down? Break it all down the headlines
we saw last night as the one and only Adam Schefter.
What's up, buddy? How you doing, Steve?
Speaker 2 (00:36):
And a always great to be with you, Nice to
see you.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
Shador Sanders didn't even get drafted in round one? Were
you surprised by that?
Speaker 2 (00:45):
The longer this went on, the more it seemed like
this was a possibility. It felt like the Giants weren't
going to take him at three, the Saints weren't gonna
take him at nine, and the one shot he had
was twenty one to Pittsburgh and the Steelers talked about
the idea of taking him, but there was not consensus
within the organization and they needed help along their defensive line,
(01:07):
and they opted for the Oregon defensive line and Derek Harmon,
and so Shador Sanders was left sitting on the board
watching other quarterbacks like Jackson Dark go number twenty five
to the New York Giants. So when you asked it,
were surprised. I think the longer this went on, the
closer we got to the draft, the more we all
recognized that this was possible, And when the Steelers passed
(01:30):
them at twenty one, it became a reality.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
What about Jackson Dart, the Giants moving up to grab him.
I didn't hear from anybody other than I very owned
Dan Alovski that Dart was going to be somebody that
possibly would be taken ahead of Shador Sanders. Was I mean,
that did throw you full loop at all?
Speaker 2 (01:48):
And we talked about it in the pregame show on
College Game Day, Pete Famill pointed out that there was
a possibility that Jackson Dart could go ahead of Shador.
And look, the Giants and Saints and I believe the
Cleveland Browns as well, all really like Jackson Dart so
much so that I think each of those teams would
have taken Jackson Dart ahead of Shador Sanders, one of
the three did, and I believe the other two are
(02:09):
in the same category as well, And so Shador Sanders
is still sitting there right now, going into round two
on Friday night. I really think we're at the point
now the Steelers don't have a second round draft pick.
Their next pick is number eighty three in the third round.
And you say, well, could he would? He would he
last till then, and it's hard to imagine that he would,
(02:31):
But strange things have happened. And I also think that
people are reacting like, oh my god, he didn't go
in round one and he is milk Kiper Junior's top
rated quarterback. Guess what, There have been a lot of
quarterbacks over the years that have slipped into the second
round that have gone on to have successful NFL careers.
When milk Kiper first started in ESPN in his very
(02:52):
first year, his third rated prospect on the entire board
was Boomer Sison. Boomer Sison went into the second round
and all he did in the National Football League was
win MVP. Drew brees Felt into the second round, Jalen
Hurtzfeld into the second round, and now Shador Sanders has
done the.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
Same, Adam Scheft, I always appreciate the knowledge that you dropped,
So help me with your perspective, because I'll certainly take
it from you verbatim covering this league the way that
you have me covering the NBA and just overall sports
over the last thirty years. Certainly, your talent and your
skill is paramount. That's primary issue. Number one. You gotta
(03:33):
have the ability. But I've seen many executives sometimes make
decisions because they didn't want to deal with potential headache
somebody that could have the ear of folks, somebody that
could have the kind of influence in Cashet that could
disrupt whatever their vision was for their franchise. That brings
me to Dion Sanders. Did that play in? Did his presence,
(03:57):
his aura, his cachet, and the fact that he's a
relatively loquacious to the visual what he needs to be
and he will speak up for himself, his son, etc.
Did that play any role in your mind at all
in the possibility of Shadu falling out of.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
The first round? Oh? Probably did? I mean again, I
don't want to blame Deiana, That's not what we're doing.
But I think when a team is drafting Shadoor, it
recognizes what would come along with that, and you'd have
a very famous, very accomplished father that would come along.
And we wrote this in our ESPN Draft Intel column
(04:35):
that ran on ESPN Plus last week. I said, short
of Mike Tomlin, there aren't many coaches around the league
that might be comfortable drafting Shador and knowing that if
and when their seat gets warm, people in that city
could be calling for his job and calling for Shador's
dad to replace him. Like that definitely could happen in time.
(04:59):
I don't think Mike tom We care about that, but
I think there might be other coaches who would. And
beyond that, I just feel like, for whatever reason, Chador
didn't have the best interview process. There are some teams
that did like him, there were more that didn't for
whatever reason. It's strange to me because again, he does
(05:20):
have the support and when you watch him, you see
how talented he is. And the bottom line, stephen A,
is the facts speak for themselves. Every team had a
chance to pick him in Round one, nobody did. We're
back at it again Friday night. More teams will have
another chance to draft him. And so that's the great
(05:43):
part about the NFL Draft. You gotta put your cards
on the table and you see where teams stand on
certain individuals. And right now you're seeing where teams stand
on Shador Sanders.
Speaker 1 (05:53):
His collegiate teammate didn't have that problem, Travis Hunter, Jacksonville
Jaguars moving up to the number two and making a
deal with the Cleveland Browns that ultimately landed them Travis Hunter.
You broke that story. Can you talk about that Travis
Hunter and what they told you or why they told
you they liked this kid so much?
Speaker 2 (06:14):
Oddly enough, I think we could first lean into what
the general manager of the Cleveland brown said about him,
despite the fact that he traded away the draft. He
called Travis Hunter a unicorn. He compared him to show, hey,
o'tany wow, a two way player. And I think those
are some of the things that the Jacksonville Jaguars were
drawn to. In the end. They saw what they felt
(06:36):
was like the best player in this draft. They saw
somebody that they thought could come in and play wide
receiver at a high level for them. They're gonna onboard
him as a wide receiver. They're gonna have him play defense.
I think they're gonna do everything they can to get
the value out of the number two pick in this draft.
And they felt like they were getting a star player,
(06:59):
a dynamic presence, a great personality. You saw him last
night dancing on the stage once he was selected. They
loved everything about him so much so that they were
willing to give up their second round draft pick today
and their first round draft pick next year, which is
quite a lot. But Jacksonville would tell you, hey, there's
(07:20):
no price that's too great for a star that has
been compared to Shoho Tying, and that's why they paid
up and they're gonna play him on both sides of
the football.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
How would have Jacksonville Jaguass feeling about Trevor Lawres right now?
They're fifty five million dollar quarterback.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
Well, Steve and I what I would tell you is
they have a new head coach and Liam Cone who
they brought in to elevate Trevor Lawrence. They have a
new general manager, James Gladstone, the youngest general manager who
pulled off that trade on Thursday night. That's a huge
swing to take. Think about that, the first trade of
draft picks in the twenty twenty five NFL draft pumps
from the youngest GM in the league and somebody who's
(07:56):
making his first draft day trade, and that was a doozy.
There aren't too much people that start that big. But
he comes from the Rams. Don't think he cares about
taking big swings, not as concerned about keeping the draft picks,
and I think that they feel like he can help
elevate Trevor Lawrence. And so that's the idea and the
thinking gear. They're giving Trevor Lawrence a restart, a reboot,
(08:17):
with a new head coach who has worked in elevating
the playoff quarterbacks. They're giving him a new GM who
obviously thinks differently and aggressively than a lot of other gms,
and they're hoping that between the new head coach, the
new GM, new assistant coaches, and the changing culture that
Trevor Lawrence can turn out to be the quarterback that
(08:37):
many thought the Jaguars were getting when they selected him
with the number one overall deck.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
That would be crazy. The new GM is thirty four
years old, so it's going to be really interesting to
see how that works out for them. Switching to the
Cleveland Browns, they're on the other side of this deal,
they passed up on a Travis Hunter to make this deal,
move down the fifth in the draft, ultimately got a
first round pick for next year, sort of recouping some
of the losses that they have to you know, they
(09:02):
have to suffer from the Deshaun Watson trade. What did
you say, Adam Scheffer?
Speaker 2 (09:06):
How is it that?
Speaker 1 (09:07):
How you would break it down?
Speaker 2 (09:08):
Well, Steve, and they have not had a top fifty
pick in the the three previous drafts. So when they
selected Mason Graham from my University of Michigan and Thursday
Nights first round, that was the first time in four
years that they've had a top fifty pick. And they're
making up for it now because now going into tonight's draft,
they have two of the top four selections in the
(09:30):
second round, picks thirty three and thirty six, and they
already have the Jacksonville Jaguars first round draft pick in
twenty twenty six, So they're on the board with two
first round picks next year. And that's why I know
a lot of people are saying, what are back tonight
for the Browns. They might go that route, they could, certainly,
(09:52):
but they also could opt to pick two really strong
players and say we're punting on quarterback in what we
consider to be a week quarterback draft class. And we
will revisit this topic a year from now when we
have double once. That is an option going into the
draft tonight, and we'll see how the Browns react to it.
Speaker 1 (10:13):
What's the NFL feeling about the draft that the Giants
had last night Carter and then obviously moving up to
Draft Dark, How are people feeling about the Giants right now?
Speaker 2 (10:21):
Well, I think most talent evaluators felt there were two
blue chip prospects in this draft, Dravits Hunter and Abdula Carter.
Jacksonville got one. The New York Giants got the other,
an Abdula Carter, who has been compared to Michael Parsons,
who wore number eleven at Penn State. Plays like him,
looks like him, and if MICHAEH Parsons a version of
that showed up on the Giants roster, that would be great.
(10:43):
Jackson Dart the quarterback. They move up, and Steven Aams
is telling you, I think that they jumped in front
of the Browns. The Browns were happy to sit and wait,
and they jumped in front of the Saints, who definitely
wanted Jackson Dark. The Saints Warren scheduled to pick again
to number forty. Saints warn't willing tell you was their
number nine overall selection on Jackson Dart, but clearly there
(11:04):
was something of an arms race to try to get
the Jackson Dart and the Giants won that. And the
great part about that is that they did it without
having to give up a first round draft pick next year.
So if Jackson Dark comes in this year and they
feel like he's a total bust, which isn't going to
be the case, they could always use their first round
pick on a quarterback next year if that's what they want.
That's not their plan, trust me. But all they had
(11:27):
to do is trade. I believe it was a couple
of third round picks to move up to that spot,
whereas the Atlanta Falcons, one slot in front of them,
wound up trading a first round draft pick for next
year to go get draft James Pearce, a defensive lineman.
Giants didn't have to give up the future one the
Falcons did, the Giants didn't, and the Giants moved up
(11:49):
for a quarterback and the Falcons a pass rusher. So again,
what they gave up in return they felt was more
than worth it to get the quarterback that let a
few teams wanted. Here, there's a.
Speaker 1 (12:02):
Couple of minutes left with you, Adam Schefter. Very few
things surprised you, one can imagine, because you're the ultimate
inside and you know what the hell is going on
better than anybody in the National Football League. Anything shocky
last night.
Speaker 2 (12:14):
Well, that trade that came down was such a huge trade.
It was one of the biggest on the clock trades
that we've seen in NFL history. There have been only
two teams that had top five picks traded. One was
the Minnesota Vikings and Atlanta Falcons in the eighties when
the Vikings traded their pick to go get Chris Dolman
and the Falcons got Bill free Look. And the other
time it happened was when the Chicago Bears traded up
(12:36):
with the forty nine ers to go get Mitch Trubisky,
famously in a draft where they drafted Mitch Trubisky ahead
of Patrick Mahomes. That was the size and scope of
this trade last night, and it was a trade that
I think you look at and you say, both teams
win here because the Jaguars get a certifiable star in
Travis Hunter, and the Browns come away with so much
draft equity for a team that hasn't had any draft
(12:59):
equity in recent years, and a chance to remake their roster.
I was surprised that we saw two teams last night
that we're willing to part ways with their first round
draft pick in the twenty twenty six NFL Draft. For
the record, if I ever were part of a front office,
and I never will be, but if I ever were,
I would never trade a future one unless I was
(13:22):
some super Bowl champion in some great position, I would
hold onto those picks like my life depended on it.
And we saw the Falcons, who haven't won a playoff
game in any recent season, trade their one next year,
and we saw the Jaguars, who haven't had recent playoff success,
trade their one next year. We'll just wait to see
how that works out for the Cleveland Browns and La
(13:42):
Rams who hold those future picks in twenty twenty six.
Speaker 1 (13:45):
Speaking to the end of the NFL analysts and knowing
the game the way that you do, who's the biggest
winner of Round one thus fall in you estimation. Is
it simply Jacksonville and ter Avasento as this somebody else?
Speaker 2 (13:54):
Well, Steven, I it doesn't really matter what I say
as the winner right now, because we could go into
any year and annoyed some winner, and then all of
a sudden some player turns into some star that we
never saw coming. It's a fun exercise. I mean, it's
always gonna be about quarterbacks. So really, if cam Wore
turns out to be a star, then the Titans won
the draft. If he doesn't, then they failed. If Jackson
(14:16):
Dart turns out to be the quarterback, then the Giants
get eight plus. If they don't, no one's keeping their jobs.
So I mean it's great to me. It's like giving
a student a grade on the first day of school
before they completed their first homework assignmon return paper. It
doesn't mean anything like I gotta take some tests before
we're giving him a grade.
Speaker 1 (14:33):
Totally fair, Shador Sanders, Cleveland or New Orlean's gonna pick
him up in the second round of the estimation. You
think that's you think that's likely.
Speaker 2 (14:41):
Not expecting New Orleans. And I don't feel overly confident
on Cleveland. But I don't know that for sure, we'd
have to see again. You get to certain spots in
the draft where if Shador is the best player on
your board, even if you didn't think you were gonna
take him, you go ahead and pick him. I stephen A,
I just got a feeling, like I said to you,
(15:01):
I'm not going to be surprised if he winds up
on a team that we just never connected to him, whoever.
That is, unless and this is hard to imagine, unless
he falls to number eighty three and the Pittsburgh Steelers
is a third round.
Speaker 1 (15:15):
Last question. I love that I saw asking Gent just
running back extraordinary out of Boise State, landing with the Raiders.
One of the things that I love about what I
saw this week as they were talking about him, you
brought up Saquon bark People brought up Saquon Barkley. I remember,
I brought up Derek Henry. I remember a few years ago,
back to twenty twenty three, to be exact, where you
had Austin Ecklin, these guys rallying the running backs to
(15:37):
sort of make a case because they were being devalue
just by their birth certificate.
Speaker 2 (15:40):
The loan.
Speaker 1 (15:41):
You collected enough dust or excuse me, we ain't giving
you a long term contract. We don't know if you'll
be able to last. And you heard guys like Mel
Kape Jr. And others never draft a running back in
the first round, et cetera, et cetera. To see him
go in the first round, it's like hope that running
backs and being more appreciated. With what Sakwon Balky did
for the Eagles last year, with what Henry did for
the Ravens last year, you just sort of find yourself
(16:01):
hoping that the running backs there's going to be an
elevated level of appreciation for them. What do you think
about that? Is that possible?
Speaker 2 (16:08):
Well? I think it's interesting that there was an elevated
level of appreciation. We saw the Eagles reward Saquon Berkley
and redo his contrary after one year, the Ravens have
talked to Derrick Henry about a new deal. We're here
in Green Bay where Josh Jacobs came to Green Bay
and had a huge impact on the Packers roster, and
we are heading into rounds two and three in a
(16:29):
draft where the strongest position in this draft was running back,
and we're going to see a slew of running backs
taken tonight and on Saturday they can come in and
make a difference for teams. But you're going to get
a bunch of running backs tonight that teams are counting on.
This was considered the big press count or the big
(16:49):
draft for these running backs. Again people texting me a
press councter. Sorry, big draft of running backs and that's
the strength of this draft. Steven A, the.
Speaker 1 (16:58):
Best in the business, The one and only Adam Schefter
live from the NFL Draft. Man, thank you so much
for taking time out of your busy schedule. I know
how busy you are.
Speaker 2 (17:04):
I really appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (17:05):
Man, Thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (17:07):
I appreciate you, steven A. Thank you for having me
all the US.
Speaker 1 (17:09):
Talk to you soon. Well, only Adam Schefter. There's nobody
better when it comes to the NFL. Nobody better
Now let's get to Round one of the NFL Draft.
As expected, cam Ward went number one overall to the
Tennessee Titans, and not too long after the pick was announced,
news broke that the Jacksonville Jaguars traded with the Browns
to acquire a second pick in acquiring Heisman Trophy winner
Travis Hunter. Meanwhile, my Steelers are still looking for a
quarterback after day one and Shador Standers is still on
(00:26):
the board for round two. So joining me now to
break it all down? Break it all down the headlines
we saw last night as the one and only Adam Schefter.
What's up, buddy? How you doing, Steve?
Speaker 2 (00:36):
And a always great to be with you, Nice to
see you.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
Shador Sanders didn't even get drafted in round one? Were
you surprised by that?
Speaker 2 (00:45):
The longer this went on, the more it seemed like
this was a possibility. It felt like the Giants weren't
going to take him at three, the Saints weren't gonna
take him at nine, and the one shot he had
was twenty one to Pittsburgh and the Steelers talked about
the idea of taking him, but there was not consensus
within the organization and they needed help along their defensive line,
(01:07):
and they opted for the Oregon defensive line and Derek Harmon,
and so Shador Sanders was left sitting on the board
watching other quarterbacks like Jackson Dark go number twenty five
to the New York Giants. So when you asked it,
were surprised. I think the longer this went on, the
closer we got to the draft, the more we all
recognized that this was possible, And when the Steelers passed
(01:30):
them at twenty one, it became a reality.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
What about Jackson Dart, the Giants moving up to grab him.
I didn't hear from anybody other than I very owned
Dan Alovski that Dart was going to be somebody that
possibly would be taken ahead of Shador Sanders. Was I mean,
that did throw you full loop at all?
Speaker 2 (01:48):
And we talked about it in the pregame show on
College Game Day, Pete Famill pointed out that there was
a possibility that Jackson Dart could go ahead of Shador.
And look, the Giants and Saints and I believe the
Cleveland Browns as well, all really like Jackson Dart so
much so that I think each of those teams would
have taken Jackson Dart ahead of Shador Sanders, one of
the three did, and I believe the other two are
(02:09):
in the same category as well, And so Shador Sanders
is still sitting there right now, going into round two
on Friday night. I really think we're at the point
now the Steelers don't have a second round draft pick.
Their next pick is number eighty three in the third round.
And you say, well, could he would? He would he
last till then, and it's hard to imagine that he would,
(02:31):
But strange things have happened. And I also think that
people are reacting like, oh my god, he didn't go
in round one and he is milk Kiper Junior's top
rated quarterback. Guess what, There have been a lot of
quarterbacks over the years that have slipped into the second
round that have gone on to have successful NFL careers.
When milk Kiper first started in ESPN in his very
(02:52):
first year, his third rated prospect on the entire board
was Boomer Sison. Boomer Sison went into the second round
and all he did in the National Football League was
win MVP. Drew brees Felt into the second round, Jalen
Hurtzfeld into the second round, and now Shador Sanders has
done the.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
Same, Adam Scheft, I always appreciate the knowledge that you dropped,
So help me with your perspective, because I'll certainly take
it from you verbatim covering this league the way that
you have me covering the NBA and just overall sports
over the last thirty years. Certainly, your talent and your
skill is paramount. That's primary issue. Number one. You gotta
(03:33):
have the ability. But I've seen many executives sometimes make
decisions because they didn't want to deal with potential headache
somebody that could have the ear of folks, somebody that
could have the kind of influence in Cashet that could
disrupt whatever their vision was for their franchise. That brings
me to Dion Sanders. Did that play in? Did his presence,
(03:57):
his aura, his cachet, and the fact that he's a
relatively loquacious to the visual what he needs to be
and he will speak up for himself, his son, etc.
Did that play any role in your mind at all
in the possibility of Shadu falling out of.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
The first round? Oh? Probably did? I mean again, I
don't want to blame Deiana, That's not what we're doing.
But I think when a team is drafting Shadoor, it
recognizes what would come along with that, and you'd have
a very famous, very accomplished father that would come along.
And we wrote this in our ESPN Draft Intel column
(04:35):
that ran on ESPN Plus last week. I said, short
of Mike Tomlin, there aren't many coaches around the league
that might be comfortable drafting Shador and knowing that if
and when their seat gets warm, people in that city
could be calling for his job and calling for Shador's
dad to replace him. Like that definitely could happen in time.
(04:59):
I don't think Mike tom We care about that, but
I think there might be other coaches who would. And
beyond that, I just feel like, for whatever reason, Chador
didn't have the best interview process. There are some teams
that did like him, there were more that didn't for
whatever reason. It's strange to me because again, he does
(05:20):
have the support and when you watch him, you see
how talented he is. And the bottom line, stephen A,
is the facts speak for themselves. Every team had a
chance to pick him in Round one, nobody did. We're
back at it again Friday night. More teams will have
another chance to draft him. And so that's the great
(05:43):
part about the NFL Draft. You gotta put your cards
on the table and you see where teams stand on
certain individuals. And right now you're seeing where teams stand
on Shador Sanders.
Speaker 1 (05:53):
His collegiate teammate didn't have that problem, Travis Hunter, Jacksonville
Jaguars moving up to the number two and making a
deal with the Cleveland Browns that ultimately landed them Travis Hunter.
You broke that story. Can you talk about that Travis
Hunter and what they told you or why they told
you they liked this kid so much?
Speaker 2 (06:14):
Oddly enough, I think we could first lean into what
the general manager of the Cleveland brown said about him,
despite the fact that he traded away the draft. He
called Travis Hunter a unicorn. He compared him to show, hey,
o'tany wow, a two way player. And I think those
are some of the things that the Jacksonville Jaguars were
drawn to. In the end. They saw what they felt
(06:36):
was like the best player in this draft. They saw
somebody that they thought could come in and play wide
receiver at a high level for them. They're gonna onboard
him as a wide receiver. They're gonna have him play defense.
I think they're gonna do everything they can to get
the value out of the number two pick in this draft.
And they felt like they were getting a star player,
(06:59):
a dynamic presence, a great personality. You saw him last
night dancing on the stage once he was selected. They
loved everything about him so much so that they were
willing to give up their second round draft pick today
and their first round draft pick next year, which is
quite a lot. But Jacksonville would tell you, hey, there's
(07:20):
no price that's too great for a star that has
been compared to Shoho Tying, and that's why they paid
up and they're gonna play him on both sides of
the football.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
How would have Jacksonville Jaguass feeling about Trevor Lawres right now?
They're fifty five million dollar quarterback.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
Well, Steve and I what I would tell you is
they have a new head coach and Liam Cone who
they brought in to elevate Trevor Lawrence. They have a
new general manager, James Gladstone, the youngest general manager who
pulled off that trade on Thursday night. That's a huge
swing to take. Think about that, the first trade of
draft picks in the twenty twenty five NFL draft pumps
from the youngest GM in the league and somebody who's
(07:56):
making his first draft day trade, and that was a doozy.
There aren't too much people that start that big. But
he comes from the Rams. Don't think he cares about
taking big swings, not as concerned about keeping the draft picks,
and I think that they feel like he can help
elevate Trevor Lawrence. And so that's the idea and the
thinking gear. They're giving Trevor Lawrence a restart, a reboot,
(08:17):
with a new head coach who has worked in elevating
the playoff quarterbacks. They're giving him a new GM who
obviously thinks differently and aggressively than a lot of other gms,
and they're hoping that between the new head coach, the
new GM, new assistant coaches, and the changing culture that
Trevor Lawrence can turn out to be the quarterback that
(08:37):
many thought the Jaguars were getting when they selected him
with the number one overall deck.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
That would be crazy. The new GM is thirty four
years old, so it's going to be really interesting to
see how that works out for them. Switching to the
Cleveland Browns, they're on the other side of this deal,
they passed up on a Travis Hunter to make this deal,
move down the fifth in the draft, ultimately got a
first round pick for next year, sort of recouping some
of the losses that they have to you know, they
(09:02):
have to suffer from the Deshaun Watson trade. What did
you say, Adam Scheffer?
Speaker 2 (09:06):
How is it that?
Speaker 1 (09:07):
How you would break it down?
Speaker 2 (09:08):
Well, Steve, and they have not had a top fifty
pick in the the three previous drafts. So when they
selected Mason Graham from my University of Michigan and Thursday
Nights first round, that was the first time in four
years that they've had a top fifty pick. And they're
making up for it now because now going into tonight's draft,
they have two of the top four selections in the
(09:30):
second round, picks thirty three and thirty six, and they
already have the Jacksonville Jaguars first round draft pick in
twenty twenty six, So they're on the board with two
first round picks next year. And that's why I know
a lot of people are saying, what are back tonight
for the Browns. They might go that route, they could, certainly,
(09:52):
but they also could opt to pick two really strong
players and say we're punting on quarterback in what we
consider to be a week quarterback draft class. And we
will revisit this topic a year from now when we
have double once. That is an option going into the
draft tonight, and we'll see how the Browns react to it.
Speaker 1 (10:13):
What's the NFL feeling about the draft that the Giants
had last night Carter and then obviously moving up to
Draft Dark, How are people feeling about the Giants right now?
Speaker 2 (10:21):
Well, I think most talent evaluators felt there were two
blue chip prospects in this draft, Dravits Hunter and Abdula Carter.
Jacksonville got one. The New York Giants got the other,
an Abdula Carter, who has been compared to Michael Parsons,
who wore number eleven at Penn State. Plays like him,
looks like him, and if MICHAEH Parsons a version of
that showed up on the Giants roster, that would be great.
(10:43):
Jackson Dart the quarterback. They move up, and Steven Aams
is telling you, I think that they jumped in front
of the Browns. The Browns were happy to sit and wait,
and they jumped in front of the Saints, who definitely
wanted Jackson Dark. The Saints Warren scheduled to pick again
to number forty. Saints warn't willing tell you was their
number nine overall selection on Jackson Dart, but clearly there
(11:04):
was something of an arms race to try to get
the Jackson Dart and the Giants won that. And the
great part about that is that they did it without
having to give up a first round draft pick next year.
So if Jackson Dark comes in this year and they
feel like he's a total bust, which isn't going to
be the case, they could always use their first round
pick on a quarterback next year if that's what they want.
That's not their plan, trust me. But all they had
(11:27):
to do is trade. I believe it was a couple
of third round picks to move up to that spot,
whereas the Atlanta Falcons, one slot in front of them,
wound up trading a first round draft pick for next
year to go get draft James Pearce, a defensive lineman.
Giants didn't have to give up the future one the
Falcons did, the Giants didn't, and the Giants moved up
(11:49):
for a quarterback and the Falcons a pass rusher. So again,
what they gave up in return they felt was more
than worth it to get the quarterback that let a
few teams wanted. Here, there's a.
Speaker 1 (12:02):
Couple of minutes left with you, Adam Schefter. Very few
things surprised you, one can imagine, because you're the ultimate
inside and you know what the hell is going on
better than anybody in the National Football League. Anything shocky
last night.
Speaker 2 (12:14):
Well, that trade that came down was such a huge trade.
It was one of the biggest on the clock trades
that we've seen in NFL history. There have been only
two teams that had top five picks traded. One was
the Minnesota Vikings and Atlanta Falcons in the eighties when
the Vikings traded their pick to go get Chris Dolman
and the Falcons got Bill free Look. And the other
time it happened was when the Chicago Bears traded up
(12:36):
with the forty nine ers to go get Mitch Trubisky,
famously in a draft where they drafted Mitch Trubisky ahead
of Patrick Mahomes. That was the size and scope of
this trade last night, and it was a trade that
I think you look at and you say, both teams
win here because the Jaguars get a certifiable star in
Travis Hunter, and the Browns come away with so much
draft equity for a team that hasn't had any draft
(12:59):
equity in recent years, and a chance to remake their roster.
I was surprised that we saw two teams last night
that we're willing to part ways with their first round
draft pick in the twenty twenty six NFL Draft. For
the record, if I ever were part of a front office,
and I never will be, but if I ever were,
I would never trade a future one unless I was
(13:22):
some super Bowl champion in some great position, I would
hold onto those picks like my life depended on it.
And we saw the Falcons, who haven't won a playoff
game in any recent season, trade their one next year,
and we saw the Jaguars, who haven't had recent playoff success,
trade their one next year. We'll just wait to see
how that works out for the Cleveland Browns and La
(13:42):
Rams who hold those future picks in twenty twenty six.
Speaker 1 (13:45):
Speaking to the end of the NFL analysts and knowing
the game the way that you do, who's the biggest
winner of Round one thus fall in you estimation. Is
it simply Jacksonville and ter Avasento as this somebody else?
Speaker 2 (13:54):
Well, Steven, I it doesn't really matter what I say
as the winner right now, because we could go into
any year and annoyed some winner, and then all of
a sudden some player turns into some star that we
never saw coming. It's a fun exercise. I mean, it's
always gonna be about quarterbacks. So really, if cam Wore
turns out to be a star, then the Titans won
the draft. If he doesn't, then they failed. If Jackson
(14:16):
Dart turns out to be the quarterback, then the Giants
get eight plus. If they don't, no one's keeping their jobs.
So I mean it's great to me. It's like giving
a student a grade on the first day of school
before they completed their first homework assignmon return paper. It
doesn't mean anything like I gotta take some tests before
we're giving him a grade.
Speaker 1 (14:33):
Totally fair, Shador Sanders, Cleveland or New Orlean's gonna pick
him up in the second round of the estimation. You
think that's you think that's likely.
Speaker 2 (14:41):
Not expecting New Orleans. And I don't feel overly confident
on Cleveland. But I don't know that for sure, we'd
have to see again. You get to certain spots in
the draft where if Shador is the best player on
your board, even if you didn't think you were gonna
take him, you go ahead and pick him. I stephen A,
I just got a feeling, like I said to you,
(15:01):
I'm not going to be surprised if he winds up
on a team that we just never connected to him, whoever.
That is, unless and this is hard to imagine, unless
he falls to number eighty three and the Pittsburgh Steelers
is a third round.
Speaker 1 (15:15):
Last question. I love that I saw asking Gent just
running back extraordinary out of Boise State, landing with the Raiders.
One of the things that I love about what I
saw this week as they were talking about him, you
brought up Saquon bark People brought up Saquon Barkley. I remember,
I brought up Derek Henry. I remember a few years ago,
back to twenty twenty three, to be exact, where you
had Austin Ecklin, these guys rallying the running backs to
(15:37):
sort of make a case because they were being devalue
just by their birth certificate.
Speaker 2 (15:40):
The loan.
Speaker 1 (15:41):
You collected enough dust or excuse me, we ain't giving
you a long term contract. We don't know if you'll
be able to last. And you heard guys like Mel
Kape Jr. And others never draft a running back in
the first round, et cetera, et cetera. To see him
go in the first round, it's like hope that running
backs and being more appreciated. With what Sakwon Balky did
for the Eagles last year, with what Henry did for
the Ravens last year, you just sort of find yourself
(16:01):
hoping that the running backs there's going to be an
elevated level of appreciation for them. What do you think
about that? Is that possible?
Speaker 2 (16:08):
Well? I think it's interesting that there was an elevated
level of appreciation. We saw the Eagles reward Saquon Berkley
and redo his contrary after one year, the Ravens have
talked to Derrick Henry about a new deal. We're here
in Green Bay where Josh Jacobs came to Green Bay
and had a huge impact on the Packers roster, and
we are heading into rounds two and three in a
(16:29):
draft where the strongest position in this draft was running back,
and we're going to see a slew of running backs
taken tonight and on Saturday they can come in and
make a difference for teams. But you're going to get
a bunch of running backs tonight that teams are counting on.
This was considered the big press count or the big
(16:49):
draft for these running backs. Again people texting me a
press councter. Sorry, big draft of running backs and that's
the strength of this draft. Steven A, the.
Speaker 1 (16:58):
Best in the business, The one and only Adam Schefter
live from the NFL Draft. Man, thank you so much
for taking time out of your busy schedule. I know
how busy you are.
Speaker 2 (17:04):
I really appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (17:05):
Man, Thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (17:07):
I appreciate you, steven A. Thank you for having me
all the US.
Speaker 1 (17:09):
Talk to you soon. Well, only Adam Schefter. There's nobody
better when it comes to the NFL. Nobody better
Host
Stephen A. Smith
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