December 9, 2025 • 40 mins
Join Gregg Rosenthal and Daniel Jeremiah as they break down a full position-by-position check-in on this year’s rookie class! Who’s surpassing expectations, and who’s struggling to find their footing? We take a deep dive into the biggest risers, the biggest disappointments, and how this class is shaping up as we look ahead to a potentially weaker-than-expected 2026 rookie class and free-agency pool. From breakout stars to surprising letdowns, this episode breaks down everything you need to know about the NFL’s newest class.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Welcome to Forties and free Agents. I am Greg Rosenthal.
I am joined by the best draft analyst in the business.
But that's not all he does. I saw him on
Monday night walking out of the drunkest NFL game of
the season, Chargers Eagles. He's already been taping podcasts Move
the Sticks today, and now he's here for the only
job that really means anything to him, Forties and Free Agents,
(00:25):
where we talk a little free agency and we talk
some rookie class in this show.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Every time that music hits Forties and free Agents, the
hair on my arm stands up a little bit. Greg.
It's just it's hard to describe. I'll put it that way.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
You don't have to wait as long this time around,
or I guess we got one month to go. So
if you've been listening, we're checking in during the season.
On today's show, we're going to do some rookie class
check in who's been getting better throughout the course of
the season. I might hit some guys who maybe have
been disappointing in terms of the rookie class. And then
when we reconvene and you hear that song again, DJ
(00:58):
after the end of the regular season, and we'll be
going weekly through the draft talking about the twenty twenty
six draft. I'm going to start building my big board.
I'm going to get inspired by you. Get my free
agency board, get all the positions ready. But that's for
next time. For this time, we're going to do one
last look back at this rookie class because one thing
I love about it, it's a lot of times by
(01:19):
this point in the season, you know, this week fifteen,
like they look like different players than they were in
Week six. So we'll go through each position. Why don't
we start at quarterback and we're just going to kind
of pick out a guy that we think is getting
better as the season goes on. I might throw out
some guys a little disappointing. Why don't you get us going?
Speaker 2 (01:35):
Sure? I mean, I'm actually gonna start with Tyler Shuck
because nobody talks about him. It's the Saints. They're not
really haven't been really a watchable product, but they've got
a couple wins as of late. And Tyler Schuck used
the phrase like, who are the guys that are getting better?
Who's a sending? And it's a I can't underscore it's
it's just a massive development if he is able to
(01:57):
prove over these last few games and continue doing what
he's doing, making some plays with his legs, showing the
athleticism still inconsistent, you know, with some of the decision making,
some of the accuracy can kind of ebb and flow
a little bit. But you've got the size, you've got
the athleticism. He's got a big arm. Sounds like by
all accounts, you know good, you know good in the room,
smart leadership, all the intangible stuff is there, and you're
(02:17):
seeing the performance tick up. If that takes them out
of the quarterback market, it really frees this team up.
It solves a lot of issues for them, and they're
going to have they'll have then eventually, once they get
the cap all lined up, they're going to have some
money to be able to fortify a very cheap quarterback
and they're going to have draft capital to be able
to help him instead of replace him. That would be
(02:38):
a massive development for this program.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
Month is a long time in the NFL, But if
he continues to play just how he's playing, I'd be
stunned if they drafted a quarterback in Yeah, I'm with him.
It's a huge development. I didn't expect it. I had.
I had my doubts coming into this season. His athleticism
really shows up where he is making second reaction plays.
They had some design runs for him last week where
(03:02):
he is making that Bucks defense look slow. I think
the decision making has been good. That was the thing
I was worried about. He was also the guy I
was going to talk about in terms of improving. I
thought he might struggle against pressure. It has been perfect.
He holds onto the ball and takes some sacks, but
for the most part, I don't think any issues he
had maybe trying to avoid hits and everything in college,
(03:23):
I haven't really seen that so far. As in the pros,
I think he's looked good.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
Yeah, he's played better than what the box scores indicate too.
You know, it's not going to wow you with where
he is on the stat sheet, but he's played well
and he's making some plays in that. All you want
to see on young quarterbacks is that you're trending upward.
And I'll give you one more name here quickly, because
I know everybody's going to be curious about it. Sugar
Sanders done a nice job since he's got the reins
there was a pretty large gap between the Browns rookie
(03:49):
quarterbacks on my list. I'll go back through and pull
it up if I went by a position. Shador was
my second quarterback. He was my twentieth overall player, and
Dylan Gabriel was my ninth quarterback, my one hundred and
forty eighth overall player. So it's a pretty significant gap
coming through the draft process, and we all need to
(04:10):
rehash how we ended up where we ended up. But
I think he's clearly shown that he is he's more
likely try and push the ball down the field. I know,
the chunk of salt, not the grain of salt that
people want to say. The Raiders and the Titans, you know,
put it in perspective here. But some good things that
I've seen in those games a very he's a very
skilled thrower. When he has a little bit of room
(04:30):
and a little bit of space, he just throws a real,
pretty catchable ball, and he's pushing the ball down the field,
which I like seeing. There's still other stuff that continue
to grow. We'll see as they come down the home stretch,
they'll play some better quality of competition if he can
keep it up. But this is along the same lines
of Shuck. Why I want to mention Shaduor is that
if this takes them out of the quarterback business and
(04:52):
all the draft capital that they accumulated from Jacksonville, like
the and you look at just if they can duplicate
eighty percent twenty percent of this next rookie class what
they've got out of this class, because I'm going to
talk about a whole lot of Browns as we go
through this episode. If they can have three quarters of
the success in this next draft, we're gonna be talking
about them like we're talking about New England of two
(05:13):
year process and they could totally flip this thing.
Speaker 1 (05:16):
That would be bold for Shador to take them out
of the quarterback market. Now, the next four games will
tell us a lot. I haven't gotten to that Titans
Brown's tape yet. I want I'm going to. Yeah, I
had to get in the traffic early to get to
Sofi for that game. I brought my son and everything.
But he's made pro throws and I think there's been
a big difference between him and Gabriel. If I was
(05:38):
going to put put a folloer since we last, I
think Gabriel just kind of proved just where he is. Yeah,
and when he played, I just think he showed he
could be a long term backup for them. Not terrible
out of a third round pick. And it doesn't seem
that crazy for Shoudar to be a bridge type of
quarterback to just give him another year to see when
(05:58):
you think about how a lot of teams and evaluators
like yourself, maybe it was just the evaluators that saw
him closer to the Tyler Shuck range. Okay, maybe that's
a guy you give a chance on. He has looked
like a pro so far. And yeah, that's a weird
dynamic in that room if they went back to it
for another year. But that's a story for another day.
All right, let's go to the running back throughout mind. First,
(06:21):
how about last week? And again, you got to be
careful coming off these Raiders games. It's like it's like
playing you know, rower division school in college or something.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
But R J.
Speaker 1 (06:31):
Harvey good receiver, shorthanded, and I think he showed in
that game he can handle the inside runs. Overall, I
think he's been solid, but he's just passing the eye
test the last week or two where he's just running
with a little more confidence. Maybe the game is slowing
down from and I'm seeing some of that juice that
I remember had you had Brian Baldinger excited in the
(06:52):
draft process where it's starting to pop on tape, and
he really looks like a guy that you can help
build a running game around. Going into the playof.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
Yeah, I pulled back up my notes pre draft, a
mix of Tarik Cohen and Freeman, thinking about remember how
good will old player Freeman was. Runs low to the ground, burst,
breakaway speed. They used him in some wild guys, got
great vision. You hit him on a wheel for a touchdown,
He's just got the speed shows up. He's just a
little small and pass pro and he was someone I thought,
definitely you want to get him out as opposed to
(07:22):
keep him in, which is fine, and Sean Payton's very
comfortable doing that, getting him out and let him make
plays out in space. But a perfect a perfect player,
fit for how they use him and what they do
there as well. DeVante Freeman, by the way, he's such
an underrated player for those few years. He was really good.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
He was great. I love a guy who just runs
hard every single snap, and he was that guy. Unfortunately,
as a Patriots fan. I do remember his maybe most
famous play as a pro was in pass protection against
Dante High Tower and it turned around the greatest company
in history.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
Kind of a big game. Can I give you mine
two guys, because there are four names that I wrote
down that I've I think that have trend it up
been you know if starting with the obvious ones, with
Trevon Henderson being on that list, then had Woody Marx
who's done some really good things and loved the way
he caught the ball coming out of college, and he's
run the ball well there with Houston, but the two
(08:16):
to me that it would be up towards the top,
I would say Judkins number two and Kyle Manungai number
one in terms of guys, were just ascending as they
go to the year, and it shouldn't be a surprise
if I was going to say the you know, the
through line with those two guys is power. And as
you get later on in the season and defenses get
tired and the weather changes, like to me, that's where
you start to see some of these power guys really
(08:38):
start to take over. And Judkins, I mean, shoot, just
throw him in the wildcat once again. Inside the ten
yard line, he's going to be able to muscle his
way into the end zone.
Speaker 1 (08:46):
He's proven that he's just got to remember the play
calls to.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
Pitch the ball. That's all not the best play call,
but we probably need to pitch it.
Speaker 1 (08:54):
He's awesome. I would take him over Gent. I don't
think that's overreacting. If you had to reach back.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
Is incomplete. I mean I've seen them twice. I've seen
genty twice and Greg, I mean they're awful.
Speaker 1 (09:09):
Awful, they really are, so I hear you, and that's
why I completely complete. Yeah, but I feel like if
he was Jean Robinson or Sakuon, I would just see.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
Those guys though a little more. We said. He'd never
said he was those guys.
Speaker 1 (09:24):
That's fair. I just love what I see out of
Junkins and uh, that's just my take. So he was
my guy that I think he's good. He's going to
be a good pro ashing Genty have a good career.
But just in terms of a guy, maybe is it
that next level ability time?
Speaker 2 (09:40):
It was the wrong time to pick the running back.
Fair and that's that's the way we shake this. If
you've listened to our our forties and free agents pre
draft stuff. We've had this running back discussion, and it's
we keep asking the wrong questions. Do you take a
running back in the top ten? No, it's when is
the right time with where you are and your bill
to take a running back. That's the question, and that
was not the right time for their roster.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
Was great point. I love Woody Marks too. Tougher than
I expected, and like DeVonta Freeman, I mean he runs hard.
I just love that the energy that he brings every
week really fun.
Speaker 2 (10:11):
Let me find my Let me find my Woody Marks
notes here real quick, because I was curious to go
back and look at that wood he marks. Okay, he
was five ten one two oh seven. He ran four
or five four. Excellent pass catcher. He's a patient runner,
has those quick, little choppy steps. He's elusive in space.
He can jump through low tackles. He had a and
(10:33):
I use this word because I'm a fan of the movie.
He had a plethora of one handed catches. Uh efe,
do you even know what a plethora? Uh? Free amigos.
If you haven't seen it, go watch It's a great movie.
Speaker 1 (10:45):
That's incredible. They were they were playing it in the
theater over at the Ara here in Santa Monica. Well, yeah,
it's like it's like one of those theaters that plays
a whole movies. A lot of the times you go,
I would have liked to. I was like, I would
go see that in the theater, but it was seven
third on the male.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
How can you tell I'll leave it? Uh?
Speaker 1 (11:05):
Yeah? And what he marks. They're trusted him to take
some of those carries with Nick Chubb and when he's
banged up, like the run into the line. I like it.
All right, give me your wide receiver that you see rising.
Speaker 2 (11:15):
Yeah, so we go through the wide receivers. It's funny.
You're gonna laugh at this. I have all my positions
and I have all my notes here, and okay, I
didn't put a wide receiver down.
Speaker 1 (11:24):
I mean I can start you out because I got
a few that I really like your wide receiver and
this is where I like this exercise. Yeah, Luther Burden
and Jayden Higgins are two guys who to start the season,
you're learning the playbook. You got veterans in front of
you just weren't a big part of the mix. And
as the season goes along, you're starting to see all
(11:46):
the reasons you and other draft analysts have them ranked highly,
and Burden especially, I find it interesting that he's kind
of taking DJ morris production now, and I think he's
going to take DJ Moore's role period next year. I
sort of don't expect DJ Moore to be on that team,
But there was a play last week where he's just
the outside receiver and he has a comeback and it's
(12:08):
one of the best timing throws I've seen Caleb make
all year, twenty yards down the field. And Burden's doing
a little bit of everything. Four five, six targets and
catches each week. Good player, and it just shows you him.
Between him and Loveland, we could talk about him too,
like it's a complicated offense and sometimes it's that second
half of the rookie year you got to watch because
Burden's really been coming out.
Speaker 2 (12:29):
Yeah, I'm a fan of his game, and I'll pull
up my notes on him before I get to the
next guy that we're going to talk about here. But
Burden six foot, two hundred and six pounds. He ran
four four to one. I compared him to Stefan Diggs
coming out quick athletics slot a lot of quick hitter.
He's got strong hands, excellent body control, he shows real
(12:50):
burst after the catch. He can make you miss, and
did not play with a good quarterback. There were a
lot of bad balls. So yeah, I'm not taking a
shot at Caleb here, but Caleb's not going to be
pinpoint accurate. So having somebody who's comfortable catching ball is
away from your frame, off your frame, low balls, high
balls like that's a that's a good thing to have
somebody who's a little bit experienced that and the weather
you're going to play as they played in Green Bay
(13:10):
and they're going to be in Chicago, like, you've got
to be able to adjust, and he's really really good
at that. So I'm excited about him. The one I
was going to mention is I haven't seen him in person.
I can't remember if we talked about on the last
version of this thing, but you mere Dka just in
terms of the return skills, and now you're seeing more
as a receiver throughout this year, showing you some promise.
I always think about these young teams of who's going
(13:32):
to be a part of the nucleus going forward, and
I think he's proven to be a playmaker and can
be a big asset the cam or going off into
the future.
Speaker 1 (13:39):
Yeah, I totally am with you on that they found
something and he he might just make an All Pro
team this year as a returner, which is a great,
great thing.
Speaker 2 (13:48):
Back by the way, I know, I know, you know
we're talking about some of the disappointing things. We haven't
really jumped into that yet, but I will be honest.
I mean, and the timing for some of these players,
it takes longer than this is not a death sentence
by any stretch, but man, I expected a heck of
a lot more out of Golden than what he's given.
Speaker 1 (14:08):
Yeah, he was a tough one because he's not even
getting on the field that much.
Speaker 2 (14:12):
And it's not like they're scrubs that are playing it.
I mean, they have a deep room, they have a
good room. But I thought he had a chance to
emerge as the best of their guys and he's not
getting anything.
Speaker 1 (14:22):
I would never call two way star bow melt In
the scrub, but I found it interesting last week that
bow Meltin played ahead of him. He got more snaps
ahead of him, So they don't think Golden's ready and
he's always they always were just missing those big plays
to him earlier in the season. And I mentioned Jadan
Higgins quickly. He's just been a great third down target
(14:43):
for CJ. Stroud and Davis Mills. He's really come up.
If you look at some of the biggest catches of
the season, a lot of them have been Jayden Higgins
in terms of declining just since when we last talked. Look,
Abuka is still in the mix for Rookie of the Year,
but it just hasn't been efficient him and Baker. They
have thirty five targets over the last month Here at
(15:04):
DJ he has fourteen catches on those thirty five targets
for one hundred and twenty nine yards. Doing a little math,
that is under four yards per attempt when you're throwing
to Abuka. There's been about a drop a week. It
has just been misconnections. It's obviously not on him exclusively.
Mike Evans hasn't been there. He was coming off an injury,
but it just has slowed down in terms of how
(15:26):
great he was in the first half of the season.
Speaker 2 (15:28):
Yeah, no, I think that's I think that's fair. I
still I am a buyer of his going forward into
the future. These so I don't try to put it
on me and what I'm saying. But Higgins thing is
that my favorite part about him is going back through
his stuff is my comp was Nico Collins, so it
was his teammate and can accelerate, go get the ball
(15:49):
fifty to fifty wins? He went on verticals. There's a
lot of passing reference penalties that he's able to draw.
He's got stop and start quicks for a big guy,
which is impressive. And I made this. I tried to
make this stick, but then I realized that people I'm
probably a combination of me being old and then also uh,
people just not really respecting what were the Twin Towers
(16:12):
and Ralph Samson in a cam Olage one. I tried
to get that like Twin Towers two point zero. I
couldn't get it the stick, but with him, and that's.
Speaker 1 (16:19):
That's before that's before your time. I know how old
you are despite wearing yours in the Master's hat here
that was the Yeah, but you were like five years.
Speaker 2 (16:27):
Old or seventy seven, that's like eighty. I'm like ten
years old. That's like primo, like NBA fan.
Speaker 1 (16:35):
Me, okay, I I was in Doctor J my I
go back.
Speaker 2 (16:39):
To the San Diego Clippers. Greg, my brother was the
ball boy for the San Diego Clippers.
Speaker 1 (16:45):
I mean, maybe you just love ball more than me.
And we're grinding Tapa eight years old. You are two
years older, so that makes difference. But I feel like
Ralph Samson was just like a little bit before my time,
before I really knew, well.
Speaker 2 (16:55):
Those were you know what those were? For me? Those
were those were VHS taped games. We would go to church.
The game would be in the morning, like finals, I remember,
like Celtic's Rockets, and it was make sure that the
VCR is set to record no TVO back, then record
it so then we come back from church, we could
actually watch the game and fast forward through the through
(17:16):
the commercials. So that and by the way, one quick story,
because I know you're clamoring for a uh a stendi
a Clipper story. My brother was the ball boy, my
dad was the chaplain. Wow, our seats were right behind
the hoop there, so it might we were like six
eight rows back and they were just because of them
both working there and playing the Celtics. I'm a little
(17:40):
tiny kid and Clippers are at the free throw line
and as you can imagine the Celtics fans travel well
as they you know, as they do, and so then
it was, but it was kind of quiet Clippers at
the free throw line, and I stand up because I'm
just saying what I'd heard in the stands, and I
just yelled at the top of my lungs as like
a seven year old Celtics suck. And my dad's the
(18:02):
chaplain of the team, looks over at his little kid.
It's like, what is going on here? No, no, I
don't even know what that means. As that kid, I
just was repeating what I had heard in the in
the stands.
Speaker 1 (18:13):
That is incredible. And that story on the review of
that type of stories, why the bosses are like we
need forties and free agents. Even during the NFL season, after.
Speaker 2 (18:26):
The games were over, Bill Walton would soak his feet
because he had bad feet, would soak him in ice
tub and me and his kids, they would lower the
hoop down and we would play. Those kids turned out
to be like Luke Walton and his brother and all
that stuff when I was just a little guy.
Speaker 1 (18:43):
And who knows. Yeah, those San Diego Clippers teams and
they they're probably they're better than this Clippers team at
the very least.
Speaker 2 (18:50):
Yeah, I stopped watching the NBA a while ago. Again,
that's why my references like the twin Towers are all
very dated.
Speaker 1 (18:55):
But I think, yeah, I think more Tim Duncan and
David Robinson. They were kind of like a twin tower,
So I don't know if they had that negation. All right,
let's wrap up these skill positions. Awesome tight end class.
You you talked up this tight end class going into it,
and so you got to feel good about where they're at.
(19:15):
Who stands out to you from that pig.
Speaker 2 (19:18):
I'm gonna pull back up my list here, So the
way I had these guys, I had Tyler Warren, Colston Lovelin,
Mason Taylor, Elijah Royo, Harold Fann and Terence Ferguson, Gunner
Helm Gavin, Bartholomew Ronde, Gadstan like that's. And then Jackson
Hall is just down below that, who's done a really
nice job as a blocker like that's. This class has
been outstanding for me. The ones I've seen kind of
(19:41):
a send. I mean, Harold Fan and JR. Spent Since
you've seen Shooter get in there, it's a favorite target
and I love how they're used him. He's like an
old school Frank Whychek, like true h back where you'll
see him in some fullback. He's in the wing, he's
winning down the field on corner routes, like he's using
a variety of ways, but he's like it not like
a hand in the ground, traditional white tight end. He's
(20:03):
like an old school h back. And I don't know,
I just I always liked, I always appreciated guys like
Frank Whitechek. I was like, that's just he he like
plays his own positions, Like there's not many of those
guys that played that spot and have that role, which
he does.
Speaker 1 (20:15):
Yeah, that's kind of like Hawes, who you mentioned, Jackson Hawes,
who's like a sixth offensive lineman. But every once in
a while they'll they'll throw it to him and he's
out there. Been awesome fan and I had written down
he is not that far behind now the production in
terms of yardage of Tyler Warren and Tyler Warren's having
one of the best tight end rookie seasons we've seen.
(20:36):
Fannon is fourth in Fantasy points if you're into that thing.
Since since week ten he was my guy too. And
you can see him he can change direction. They had
him like on a on a fade last week in
the red zone. They have him on like a wheel
route out of the backfield, like you mentioned. Just really versatile.
But you could you could choose any of those guys,
including Loveland, who there love a lot on his plate.
Speaker 2 (20:57):
Right. One of them a game, I mean, just that's
one was at Cincinnati right where you call it the
one down the scene, bounces off the tackle late in
the game and takes it in. So he's been a
field stretcher, get big time, big playmaker, and you can
see that. That's Caleb's trust and confidence in him is
just continues to grow. That's gonna be. That's it's my
favorite offense right now. I try and watch the Bears
(21:18):
every week, and I know people are people lose their
minds on both sides of Caleb. I'm excited, you know
what I see and kind of where it's headed and
where it's going. But just to like, in terms of
watching like a pleasure watch for me, even if there's
some misfires here and there, it's fun to watch that.
All those young guys. Man.
Speaker 1 (21:35):
Yeah, the run game, the path game, it's all been good,
and so that's why it's hard to have a disappointment
at tight end. Maybe the disappointment is teams are letting
these guys fall in the draft too far. I mean,
if you look how valuable some of these second round
guys in this class are, maybe they're falling too far.
I guess Terrence Ferguson and Arroyo they're they're having the
more usual trajectory where they're trying to get into the mix,
(21:57):
but they have.
Speaker 2 (21:57):
Veterans a lot of mouths in front of those offense.
Speaker 1 (22:00):
Yes, Terrence Ferguson is a big, impressive athlete and has
had a few really nice catches, but right now they
have veterans in front of him. Why don't we take
a quick break and then we'll come back on the
other side. We'll do all the linemen and the defensive
players on forties and free agents back on forties and
(22:27):
free agents, looking at the development of this rookie class.
I know Daniel Jeremiah just loves to geek out talking
about offensive lineman who has caught your eye in a
draft where a lot of guys got taken high. I
guess that's every class lately, but especially this class.
Speaker 2 (22:46):
Well, to me, I'm going to go right to the
top of the interior offensive line list. For me in
the draft, it was Tyler Booker was my number one
guy at seventeen. Gray Zabel was my number two guy
at twenty six, and I think both guys if you're
going to say, who are the cleanest, safest players in
the draft, even though greys Abel wasn't coming from a
you know, traditional powerhouse power forlo program at North Dakota State,
(23:08):
those guys, to me, I thought were the safest, highest
floor players. And not only have they you know, their
bad moments been few and far between, but they're actually
playing at a really really high consistent level for both
their teams and two of the better offenses really when
you get what they're able to do.
Speaker 1 (23:23):
Yeah, and versatile at guard too. You said you're watching
the Bears every week. I'm going to put you on
the spot. Yeah, I see Trapilo who if you just
look at the numbers, I can't say I'm you know,
breaking down his film. He's only had three starts, which
really didn't happen until injuries, but he's only given up
seven pressures in those three starts against good pass rush teams.
(23:46):
No quarterback hits in, no sacks in those games. So
I don't know if you've seen anything out of him,
but they got to be happy since he came into
the lineup.
Speaker 2 (23:53):
I'm going to pull up my notes on I want
to see what pick was he here? He was late
second was a fifty six, fifty sixth overall, so he
was fifty six overall, so he was my He was
my seventy second player. He was my sixth offensive tackle.
I compared him to having Stein though right tackle, lockout, control,
(24:16):
stays attached balance, He's effective in combos, he can recover.
I wrote, function over fashion, not always the prettiest, but
gets the job done by the way having Stein having Stein,
I say it wrong every time. What do we got Rob?
Speaker 1 (24:30):
I think it's stein Steen.
Speaker 2 (24:33):
I don't know. I think I should have remembered.
Speaker 1 (24:36):
Fifteen years with this team and been playing forever. I shouldn't.
Speaker 2 (24:39):
But that was my comparison to him, and that's someone
who just gets the job done. And Chapillo has done that.
He's in a nice job.
Speaker 1 (24:45):
I also give a shout out to Kevin Banks. I
know the Saints fans are very happy with them. He
is out there on an island, just quietly getting the
job done and left tackle for them each and every week.
If I was looking for a guy who's been struggling,
it's not new but Jonah savanea for Miami has had
his struggles this year. I don't think it's really turned
around during the season. So that that was a high
(25:06):
pick that they hoped to get me.
Speaker 2 (25:07):
Yeah, pull up my notes on him. He was my
fifty is a forty seventh player.
Speaker 1 (25:15):
He went a little higher than that. The rumors were
that the Patriots were eyeing him for the pick that
went that ended up being Trevon Henderson. That the Miami
traded up in front of New England because they thought
New England was going to take him. We'll see if that.
I mean, there's no way to know if that's true.
Speaker 2 (25:30):
Right tackle wide bass clamps his hands, he's stiff, pull
can't adjust, he can wash DT's down line of scrimmage.
Not a lot of Polish strong hands. Doesn't roll his hips.
So I thought he was a little bit stiff and
just a little little raw there. So it sounds like
that's I haven't studied him, so I'll take your word
on it.
Speaker 1 (25:48):
And he's playing inside and you just see a lot
of a lot of blown blocks. So that running game
is is fun to watch. Let's flip it while we're
on the Dolphins. I'm going to go off the board.
I'm throwing my my defensive lineman picks right at you,
and it's this guy, Jordan Phillips for the Dolphins. He's
showing up fifth round pick. One of those drafts where
(26:11):
the guy you took later is out playing your first
round pick in Kenneth Grant and he's just a guy
that pops. It's not a good defensive line class. That
was my takeaway going through this exercise trying to pick someone. Overall,
it hasn't been great, but he looks like a guy
who's going to contribute to the Dolphins down line.
Speaker 2 (26:30):
Jordan Phillips, you know who My comparison was for him,
hardgrave body type wise, kind of remind me a hardgrave,
wide four point stance, a little laid off the ball.
He's violent, club swim, He's got some real shock in
his hands, pure bowl, not a lot of polish. But
you'll see him like Forkliff guys like just a real
strong power player, a good player.
Speaker 1 (26:51):
So maybe that's why he's popped enough for me to
just write him down a few times. It's just like
he looks stronger than the pro competition, which is impressive
to do, you know, as a rookie.
Speaker 2 (27:02):
All that's good stuff to me. The name that I
wanted to highlight was Josias Stewart, which is another draft,
a coup for the Rams and less sneed. He's got
a thirteen point four percent pressure percentage, which is extremely high.
And I was thinking about what's the through line with
all these successful defensive linemen that the Rams have, and
(27:23):
you know, you talk about all different shapes and sizes.
You can even look at some of this the speed
and can be a little bit. I mean, they want
guys who are explosive, but speed can be a little
bit up and down, a little different there. All of
their players will play with tremendous leverage and whether or
not they're shorter, or whether or not they can really
roll their hips and bend like they they are going
to challenge your breaks. I call them like it's like
(27:43):
an Amco pass rush. They are going to test the
breaks of every single offensive lineman. They're going to leverage
them and they're going to go through them, and Josiah
Stewart was penalized a little bit because he was undersized.
If I remember correctly, he did not or he ran
poorly at his at his pro day, he was in
my top fifty at one point in time. Let me
see where he ended up on mine because I had
(28:05):
dropped him through the process. I think there might have
been some medical stuff as well, but he ended up
one eleven on my list at one point time. Again,
he was like forty nine to fifty range, undersize both
of lightning. He plays balls to the wall, has a
shake bowl dip rip, he plays much bigger than he
is at the point of attack. He at tax blocks,
he plays with big energy. So again that's always a lesson.
(28:29):
This happens every year, and you tell yourself, don't do it.
Trust trust what you saw on you know, first look,
first glance, don't let the fog of confusion. And Phil
Savage just to always say that about the spring, it's
like the fog of confusion. Just put your grades and
cement after the season's over. But man, the guy I
dropped him fifty slots and clearly he should not have
been dropped that far.
Speaker 1 (28:48):
Well, you know, Phil Savage didn't have to come up
with weekly rankings with your your editor, Ali Bonte down
your throat. He's like, we got to move him around
a little bit and cement, what are we doing here, Dan.
Speaker 2 (29:02):
Park content machine. We're just trying to keep that thing running. Man.
Speaker 1 (29:05):
A couple disappointing defensive playing and by the way, the
Falcons edges have both played pretty well.
Speaker 2 (29:10):
Piers fourteen point pressure rate, which is very good.
Speaker 1 (29:14):
And I think Jalen Walker looks like he's going to good.
The problem is that the coach might not be there
next year. It's going to be a different scheme, and
that's that's always the risk with these teams that are
changing coaches. Abdull Carter, I wouldn't say he's been bad,
but he hasn't been consistent. And when you get suspended
or at least benched twice in the span of three weeks,
(29:35):
that's not great. And Mike Green for the Ravens man,
they could have really used him. It's a lot to
ask in a rookie edge rusher, second round pick to
just pop right off the bat, but they could have
really used him and hasn't been great, hasn't been making
a huge impact. I think he was the guy that
was at fault for that Jalen Warren touchdown that long
play last week. And so those are a couple guys
higher that haven't really done too much.
Speaker 2 (29:57):
Yeah, Abdul Carter's pressure percentage better than his production. He's
got a twelve point eight percent pressure percentage, which is solid.
Only one and a half sacks. But where you're picked,
and as somebody who is as talented as anybody in
the entire draft class, you expected a lot more production,
even in a crowded room, even in a team that's
not playing with the lead very often. He should be
more impactful than he's been. And the one thing I
would say about this kind of collection of guys I
(30:20):
think on the whole, I would say maybe a little
underwhelming in terms of the number of guys that were
picked high, and the production is not necessarily matched that
at this point in time. But of all the positions,
defensive linemen can take a minute and some of the
best defensive linemen in the league go look at their
first second year statue won't be blown away, and you
see guys get better and better. It's a major adjustment
(30:42):
at that position in the NFL.
Speaker 1 (30:44):
Yeah, especially on the interior that can be true, but
really everywhere. I mean, that's that's true of the linebackers.
At least that's what you know, we think. But we
might have a Rookie of the Year.
Speaker 2 (30:55):
I kind of expect that I wrote one name Dallas
once a one man, it's Carson Seweesssinger, and that's and
then there's a golf and then there's everybody else. And
I could come up and I could talk about Teddy
Buchanan and talk about some of these other guys. But
I'm like, it's almost as a disservice to Sweationnger to
not just constantly give him his flowers every time we
do one of these episodes, because he's not just the
(31:16):
best rookie linebacker, he's playing like one of the best
linebackers in the NFL.
Speaker 1 (31:21):
What a great pick and what a great story he is,
and what a great evaluation not just by the Browns,
but but yourself and a lot of people who had
had him so high with such a small sample size
and not like a traditional five star background or anything.
But he's the man. It's reminded me of I feel
like back in the day. Every year it was a
(31:41):
linebacker like him popping up, but would win Defensive Rookie
of the Year is like Patrick Willis or gerro Mayo Jackson, right,
well Jackson. The Patriots actually had another one, who am
I forgetting? That wasn't Mayo, but either way it was.
It was someone every year and like, Okay, I'm going
to watch that guy for seven eight years, and I
feel like we haven't. Darius Leonard was another one, changed
(32:03):
his name to shak and I think Schwessinger is one
of those dudes. We're just going to be watching him
for a decade.
Speaker 2 (32:08):
Yeah, he's a fun player, he's a great player. Let's
get to the secondary. Greg, I'm gonna I'm gonna give
you two and I grouped him together. Now I want
to say this. Will Johnson's coming off the worst game
ahead of the whole year. The Rams target him. I
think even from a statistical standpoint, I don't think he'd
given up a first down catch and like the previous
handful of games, four or five games, and gave up
(32:29):
five in this game, including two touchdowns. It was his
worst game of the year. Prior to that, he's played
pretty good. He's he's been a really solid player. So
I wanted to group him Will Johnson with Nick Amm
and Warri, who were two guys that were fallers in
the draft who were viewed as first round picks through
the vast majority of the entire process. If I was
going to pull up war I had them rated. Let
(32:49):
me see where I had them in that last one here,
So safety wise, Emon Worri, let's start there. Emon Worre
was my fifteenth overall play and he fell to the
second round, and then we go to the corners. Will
Johnson was my sixteenth player, so I had him at
fifteen and sixteen for various reasons. One with you know,
(33:10):
injuries was a part of it. With Will Johnson, people
worried about I believe it was this knee if I
can remember correctly, didn't run, so there's some questions about
his speed. But he's played well for Arizona Cardinals. Seem
that's had a rough year, so I think that's been great.
And then even warr it's been fun Like there's some
you'll see a little blood on his hands every week
where he might you know, get beaten coverage here there,
(33:31):
but he's been dynamic near the line of scrimmage. He
makes splash plays and he can tell he's going to
be really really good. So both those guys first round
players didn't go in the first round.
Speaker 1 (33:40):
So I like the big pat on the back that
that was for yourself of highly he ranked them. Yeah, No,
I just like I was right, gms don't know what
they're doing.
Speaker 2 (33:48):
No, you want to know what's you want to know
what's this is the this that's not the pat. This
is the the pat on the back is. I didn't
have either one of them in my final mock draft.
That's the two different jobs. Greg. It's the what I
see of him. But then also so they're not going
to go in the first round because usually we only
get one safety. There's usually not a room for a
lot of safeties in there. So even Wai's going to
get punished. And then with Will Johnson with some medical
(34:09):
could fall.
Speaker 1 (34:09):
Out for a couple of nights every year. You you
are the pre eminent insider. Forget Ian Rappaport. He tries
to get in on doing stuff during the draft. You
know what, you know what's going on.
Speaker 2 (34:20):
But yeah, that's why I get anywhere from four to
six of those thirty two picks right in a mock draft.
Speaker 1 (34:26):
You're not above yourself very back, I hear a.
Speaker 2 (34:28):
Great is that? What's a great percentage? That would be? Well? Now,
but I know it used to be an academic school.
So can you do the math on that or no?
Speaker 1 (34:36):
I mean we've we've long been a football school. I
was the two Lane King, an announcer for Sean King.
Let's go everyone honking about Oh two lane doesn't deserve
to be in there compared to these big teams. Hey,
how about not like lou how about about taking accountability?
(34:56):
All these adults who oh take accountability leadership in the
second something doesn't go against that goes against them and
it totally arbitrary, like opinion process where you lost your
biggest games of this season. Do they take any responsibility
for that at all? Like a quarterback would like they
would want a leader to No, they just whine and
cry and that's loser behavior too. Lane would never.
Speaker 2 (35:17):
Does Mewelde Moore lead you guys out of the tunnel
in this playoff game? Who's gonna? I hope? So?
Speaker 1 (35:22):
I hope.
Speaker 2 (35:22):
So any secondary players you want to out there? Do
you want to contribute to this podcast at all? Are
you good? I?
Speaker 1 (35:28):
Well, I didn't get to you know, bag on the
Bengals linebackers. By the way they were down. That has
an experiment gone horribly wrong. And yes, I do have
a couple guys in the secondary. I'm going deeper, not
not the obvious guys like you. How about Noel Williams
of the Chiefs.
Speaker 2 (35:43):
Otherwise no, no.
Speaker 1 (35:45):
No, n o h L. I think they found another one.
They just find these guys no one's heard of, and
then they're out there and you're like, oh, that guy's
a pretty good player.
Speaker 2 (35:53):
What pick was? He tell me?
Speaker 1 (35:55):
I don't know, do some homework on this thing at all.
I think it was like a fourth rounder was.
Speaker 2 (36:02):
Can we pull that up?
Speaker 1 (36:03):
Let me see eighty fifth overall? Okay, it was a
little higher than I expect.
Speaker 2 (36:06):
He did eighty fifth over and you're saying he's playing well, yeah,
would you say he's playing like maybe the my fifty
fourth overall player. He's playing that well? I mean good,
and it's gracious. I mean I put out a list
greg six three, one, nine, four five flat seven picks,
got three picks against Auburn, had a pick six against
cam Ward Press. Feisty, a little quicker than fast and undercut,
(36:30):
has got great ball skills. He's my fifty fourth player.
You get you act like you just found him on
the moon.
Speaker 1 (36:35):
Just saying he's playing well. If you can get a
guy who's contributing right off the bat, looking good in
the third round the Chiefs, they've had their problems this year,
but that's been good. And then I'm going to go
really deep here. Safety for the Titans, Kevin Winston. I
just noticed they're using him as a blitzer. He's making
some plays in front of the.
Speaker 2 (36:52):
Thirtiest safeties you'll ever. I saw him in person again
this year. You know, I saw him this year. I
haven't had done him in the draft, but I'm like,
he is That's what you want your safety to look like.
When he gets off the bus.
Speaker 1 (37:02):
They might have found someone. He he looks like a player.
He's what pick I'll check, well, at least probably what
third round wherever you have him? U S great podcast.
Speaker 2 (37:16):
Yeah, No, I want to know what it is.
Speaker 1 (37:17):
What he was. He was drafted in the third round,
eighty second, eighty he put.
Speaker 2 (37:25):
It in there, eighty second pick. Okay, Kevin Winston, he
was my third safety, was my fifty ninth overall player.
Speaker 1 (37:32):
Another w common w D games.
Speaker 2 (37:35):
He only played two games, but he's six oh one
four six one and a half two hundred and fifteen pounds.
He ran four or five to one in his pro
day and he is only two games. Aggressive versus the run,
quick reads, he was beat by fannin and coverage. Hey,
we've already established fan a good player, has man skills,
excellent to the alley in twenty three and twenty three,
played really really well. But he is He's a talented player.
Speaker 1 (37:56):
Big, physical, good looking.
Speaker 2 (37:59):
I think a little like any of who's working harder
on this podcast than you are.
Speaker 1 (38:02):
By the way, any a little Kenny Baccaro, right, like,
how about that he's not bringing that com to the
table like that. I like Kenny bacarl That was forties
and free agents. In terms of the offseason, the next
time we talked to you, DJ, you have a lot
of work in the meantime. You might have a playoff
run to be announcing for the Chargers. In fact, you
better or else it'd be a disappointing end to the season.
Speaker 2 (38:25):
Definitely, one maybe two more wins. I think one more
probably does it, but two would would pretty much lock
him in it.
Speaker 1 (38:32):
I think. I think they'll get there too, and during
that playoff run, we will already be talking. So we
got forties and free agents coming out weekly, starting to
look ahead to the twenty twenty six NFL Draft, and
even more important, the twenty twenty six free agent crop.
I'm doing my homework on it. That happens faster. We
(38:52):
don't have to draw it out for four months, and
we do it in like three days in March.
Speaker 2 (38:56):
I don't want to. I don't want to ran in
your parade here, but and talking to teams, there's not
an underwhelming free agent class, man.
Speaker 1 (39:05):
I hear that every year.
Speaker 2 (39:07):
And it's what's your list? How many undred, one hundred
and one?
Speaker 1 (39:10):
Because we work one one slot harder than the rest.
Speaker 2 (39:12):
M'd be Greg's top thirty free agents this year.
Speaker 1 (39:16):
You always there's always players out there. There's always a
Dante Jackson. People weren't talking about that one DJ And.
Speaker 2 (39:23):
This is going to be a scrollless article. You do
not need to scroll. You can get all those names
in one view on it.
Speaker 1 (39:29):
Oh, don't hurt the brand. We're going to be talking
about this on the show too. There's always players out there.
But you're right, I think teams because of the salary
cap going up and up and up in the way
they do the accounting, good players rarely get loose. But
there's some of the.
Speaker 2 (39:43):
Fastest five minutes in podcasts sports. As we preview the
twenty twenty six NFL free agency with Greg rosmenthal.
Speaker 1 (39:50):
Alec Pierce signs a five year, two hundred and fifty
million dollar contract.
Speaker 2 (39:54):
As he by the way, I'll tell you right now,
you can't have you cannot have Jalen Phillips high enough
on your list. There you go.
Speaker 1 (40:02):
Okay, that's a.
Speaker 2 (40:03):
Person really, really good.
Speaker 1 (40:05):
We'll see if I take that into advisement in January
when we will be back after week eighteen. Until then,
uh yeah, just check out Move the sticks And I
thought daily you see you later. I gotta gotta gotta
get the pop before we go
Welcome to Forties and free Agents. I am Greg Rosenthal.
I am joined by the best draft analyst in the business.
But that's not all he does. I saw him on
Monday night walking out of the drunkest NFL game of
the season, Chargers Eagles. He's already been taping podcasts Move
the Sticks today, and now he's here for the only
job that really means anything to him, Forties and Free Agents,
(00:25):
where we talk a little free agency and we talk
some rookie class in this show.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Every time that music hits Forties and free Agents, the
hair on my arm stands up a little bit. Greg.
It's just it's hard to describe. I'll put it that way.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
You don't have to wait as long this time around,
or I guess we got one month to go. So
if you've been listening, we're checking in during the season.
On today's show, we're going to do some rookie class
check in who's been getting better throughout the course of
the season. I might hit some guys who maybe have
been disappointing in terms of the rookie class. And then
when we reconvene and you hear that song again, DJ
(00:58):
after the end of the regular season, and we'll be
going weekly through the draft talking about the twenty twenty
six draft. I'm going to start building my big board.
I'm going to get inspired by you. Get my free
agency board, get all the positions ready. But that's for
next time. For this time, we're going to do one
last look back at this rookie class because one thing
I love about it, it's a lot of times by
(01:19):
this point in the season, you know, this week fifteen,
like they look like different players than they were in
Week six. So we'll go through each position. Why don't
we start at quarterback and we're just going to kind
of pick out a guy that we think is getting
better as the season goes on. I might throw out
some guys a little disappointing. Why don't you get us going?
Speaker 2 (01:35):
Sure? I mean, I'm actually gonna start with Tyler Shuck
because nobody talks about him. It's the Saints. They're not
really haven't been really a watchable product, but they've got
a couple wins as of late. And Tyler Schuck used
the phrase like, who are the guys that are getting better?
Who's a sending? And it's a I can't underscore it's
it's just a massive development if he is able to
(01:57):
prove over these last few games and continue doing what
he's doing, making some plays with his legs, showing the
athleticism still inconsistent, you know, with some of the decision making,
some of the accuracy can kind of ebb and flow
a little bit. But you've got the size, you've got
the athleticism. He's got a big arm. Sounds like by
all accounts, you know good, you know good in the room,
smart leadership, all the intangible stuff is there, and you're
(02:17):
seeing the performance tick up. If that takes them out
of the quarterback market, it really frees this team up.
It solves a lot of issues for them, and they're
going to have they'll have then eventually, once they get
the cap all lined up, they're going to have some
money to be able to fortify a very cheap quarterback
and they're going to have draft capital to be able
to help him instead of replace him. That would be
(02:38):
a massive development for this program.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
Month is a long time in the NFL, But if
he continues to play just how he's playing, I'd be
stunned if they drafted a quarterback in Yeah, I'm with him.
It's a huge development. I didn't expect it. I had.
I had my doubts coming into this season. His athleticism
really shows up where he is making second reaction plays.
They had some design runs for him last week where
(03:02):
he is making that Bucks defense look slow. I think
the decision making has been good. That was the thing
I was worried about. He was also the guy I
was going to talk about in terms of improving. I
thought he might struggle against pressure. It has been perfect.
He holds onto the ball and takes some sacks, but
for the most part, I don't think any issues he
had maybe trying to avoid hits and everything in college,
(03:23):
I haven't really seen that so far. As in the pros,
I think he's looked good.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
Yeah, he's played better than what the box scores indicate too.
You know, it's not going to wow you with where
he is on the stat sheet, but he's played well
and he's making some plays in that. All you want
to see on young quarterbacks is that you're trending upward.
And I'll give you one more name here quickly, because
I know everybody's going to be curious about it. Sugar
Sanders done a nice job since he's got the reins
there was a pretty large gap between the Browns rookie
(03:49):
quarterbacks on my list. I'll go back through and pull
it up if I went by a position. Shador was
my second quarterback. He was my twentieth overall player, and
Dylan Gabriel was my ninth quarterback, my one hundred and
forty eighth overall player. So it's a pretty significant gap
coming through the draft process, and we all need to
(04:10):
rehash how we ended up where we ended up. But
I think he's clearly shown that he is he's more
likely try and push the ball down the field. I know,
the chunk of salt, not the grain of salt that
people want to say. The Raiders and the Titans, you know,
put it in perspective here. But some good things that
I've seen in those games a very he's a very
skilled thrower. When he has a little bit of room
(04:30):
and a little bit of space, he just throws a real,
pretty catchable ball, and he's pushing the ball down the field,
which I like seeing. There's still other stuff that continue
to grow. We'll see as they come down the home stretch,
they'll play some better quality of competition if he can
keep it up. But this is along the same lines
of Shuck. Why I want to mention Shaduor is that
if this takes them out of the quarterback business and
(04:52):
all the draft capital that they accumulated from Jacksonville, like
the and you look at just if they can duplicate
eighty percent twenty percent of this next rookie class what
they've got out of this class, because I'm going to
talk about a whole lot of Browns as we go
through this episode. If they can have three quarters of
the success in this next draft, we're gonna be talking
about them like we're talking about New England of two
(05:13):
year process and they could totally flip this thing.
Speaker 1 (05:16):
That would be bold for Shador to take them out
of the quarterback market. Now, the next four games will
tell us a lot. I haven't gotten to that Titans
Brown's tape yet. I want I'm going to. Yeah, I
had to get in the traffic early to get to
Sofi for that game. I brought my son and everything.
But he's made pro throws and I think there's been
a big difference between him and Gabriel. If I was
(05:38):
going to put put a folloer since we last, I
think Gabriel just kind of proved just where he is. Yeah,
and when he played, I just think he showed he
could be a long term backup for them. Not terrible
out of a third round pick. And it doesn't seem
that crazy for Shoudar to be a bridge type of
quarterback to just give him another year to see when
(05:58):
you think about how a lot of teams and evaluators
like yourself, maybe it was just the evaluators that saw
him closer to the Tyler Shuck range. Okay, maybe that's
a guy you give a chance on. He has looked
like a pro so far. And yeah, that's a weird
dynamic in that room if they went back to it
for another year. But that's a story for another day.
All right, let's go to the running back throughout mind. First,
(06:21):
how about last week? And again, you got to be
careful coming off these Raiders games. It's like it's like
playing you know, rower division school in college or something.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
But R J.
Speaker 1 (06:31):
Harvey good receiver, shorthanded, and I think he showed in
that game he can handle the inside runs. Overall, I
think he's been solid, but he's just passing the eye
test the last week or two where he's just running
with a little more confidence. Maybe the game is slowing
down from and I'm seeing some of that juice that
I remember had you had Brian Baldinger excited in the
(06:52):
draft process where it's starting to pop on tape, and
he really looks like a guy that you can help
build a running game around. Going into the playof.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
Yeah, I pulled back up my notes pre draft, a
mix of Tarik Cohen and Freeman, thinking about remember how
good will old player Freeman was. Runs low to the ground, burst,
breakaway speed. They used him in some wild guys, got
great vision. You hit him on a wheel for a touchdown,
He's just got the speed shows up. He's just a
little small and pass pro and he was someone I thought,
definitely you want to get him out as opposed to
(07:22):
keep him in, which is fine, and Sean Payton's very
comfortable doing that, getting him out and let him make
plays out in space. But a perfect a perfect player,
fit for how they use him and what they do
there as well. DeVante Freeman, by the way, he's such
an underrated player for those few years. He was really good.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
He was great. I love a guy who just runs
hard every single snap, and he was that guy. Unfortunately,
as a Patriots fan. I do remember his maybe most
famous play as a pro was in pass protection against
Dante High Tower and it turned around the greatest company
in history.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
Kind of a big game. Can I give you mine
two guys, because there are four names that I wrote
down that I've I think that have trend it up
been you know if starting with the obvious ones, with
Trevon Henderson being on that list, then had Woody Marx
who's done some really good things and loved the way
he caught the ball coming out of college, and he's
run the ball well there with Houston, but the two
(08:16):
to me that it would be up towards the top,
I would say Judkins number two and Kyle Manungai number
one in terms of guys, were just ascending as they
go to the year, and it shouldn't be a surprise
if I was going to say the you know, the
through line with those two guys is power. And as
you get later on in the season and defenses get
tired and the weather changes, like to me, that's where
you start to see some of these power guys really
(08:38):
start to take over. And Judkins, I mean, shoot, just
throw him in the wildcat once again. Inside the ten
yard line, he's going to be able to muscle his
way into the end zone.
Speaker 1 (08:46):
He's proven that he's just got to remember the play
calls to.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
Pitch the ball. That's all not the best play call,
but we probably need to pitch it.
Speaker 1 (08:54):
He's awesome. I would take him over Gent. I don't
think that's overreacting. If you had to reach back.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
Is incomplete. I mean I've seen them twice. I've seen
genty twice and Greg, I mean they're awful.
Speaker 1 (09:09):
Awful, they really are, so I hear you, and that's
why I completely complete. Yeah, but I feel like if
he was Jean Robinson or Sakuon, I would just see.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
Those guys though a little more. We said. He'd never
said he was those guys.
Speaker 1 (09:24):
That's fair. I just love what I see out of
Junkins and uh, that's just my take. So he was
my guy that I think he's good. He's going to
be a good pro ashing Genty have a good career.
But just in terms of a guy, maybe is it
that next level ability time?
Speaker 2 (09:40):
It was the wrong time to pick the running back.
Fair and that's that's the way we shake this. If
you've listened to our our forties and free agents pre
draft stuff. We've had this running back discussion, and it's
we keep asking the wrong questions. Do you take a
running back in the top ten? No, it's when is
the right time with where you are and your bill
to take a running back. That's the question, and that
was not the right time for their roster.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
Was great point. I love Woody Marks too. Tougher than
I expected, and like DeVonta Freeman, I mean he runs hard.
I just love that the energy that he brings every
week really fun.
Speaker 2 (10:11):
Let me find my Let me find my Woody Marks
notes here real quick, because I was curious to go
back and look at that wood he marks. Okay, he
was five ten one two oh seven. He ran four
or five four. Excellent pass catcher. He's a patient runner,
has those quick, little choppy steps. He's elusive in space.
He can jump through low tackles. He had a and
(10:33):
I use this word because I'm a fan of the movie.
He had a plethora of one handed catches. Uh efe,
do you even know what a plethora? Uh? Free amigos.
If you haven't seen it, go watch It's a great movie.
Speaker 1 (10:45):
That's incredible. They were they were playing it in the
theater over at the Ara here in Santa Monica. Well, yeah,
it's like it's like one of those theaters that plays
a whole movies. A lot of the times you go,
I would have liked to. I was like, I would
go see that in the theater, but it was seven
third on the male.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
How can you tell I'll leave it? Uh?
Speaker 1 (11:05):
Yeah? And what he marks. They're trusted him to take
some of those carries with Nick Chubb and when he's
banged up, like the run into the line. I like it.
All right, give me your wide receiver that you see rising.
Speaker 2 (11:15):
Yeah, so we go through the wide receivers. It's funny.
You're gonna laugh at this. I have all my positions
and I have all my notes here, and okay, I
didn't put a wide receiver down.
Speaker 1 (11:24):
I mean I can start you out because I got
a few that I really like your wide receiver and
this is where I like this exercise. Yeah, Luther Burden
and Jayden Higgins are two guys who to start the season,
you're learning the playbook. You got veterans in front of
you just weren't a big part of the mix. And
as the season goes along, you're starting to see all
(11:46):
the reasons you and other draft analysts have them ranked highly,
and Burden especially, I find it interesting that he's kind
of taking DJ morris production now, and I think he's
going to take DJ Moore's role period next year. I
sort of don't expect DJ Moore to be on that team,
But there was a play last week where he's just
the outside receiver and he has a comeback and it's
(12:08):
one of the best timing throws I've seen Caleb make
all year, twenty yards down the field. And Burden's doing
a little bit of everything. Four five, six targets and
catches each week. Good player, and it just shows you him.
Between him and Loveland, we could talk about him too,
like it's a complicated offense and sometimes it's that second
half of the rookie year you got to watch because
Burden's really been coming out.
Speaker 2 (12:29):
Yeah, I'm a fan of his game, and I'll pull
up my notes on him before I get to the
next guy that we're going to talk about here. But
Burden six foot, two hundred and six pounds. He ran
four four to one. I compared him to Stefan Diggs
coming out quick athletics slot a lot of quick hitter.
He's got strong hands, excellent body control, he shows real
(12:50):
burst after the catch. He can make you miss, and
did not play with a good quarterback. There were a
lot of bad balls. So yeah, I'm not taking a
shot at Caleb here, but Caleb's not going to be
pinpoint accurate. So having somebody who's comfortable catching ball is
away from your frame, off your frame, low balls, high
balls like that's a that's a good thing to have
somebody who's a little bit experienced that and the weather
you're going to play as they played in Green Bay
(13:10):
and they're going to be in Chicago, like, you've got
to be able to adjust, and he's really really good
at that. So I'm excited about him. The one I
was going to mention is I haven't seen him in person.
I can't remember if we talked about on the last
version of this thing, but you mere Dka just in
terms of the return skills, and now you're seeing more
as a receiver throughout this year, showing you some promise.
I always think about these young teams of who's going
(13:32):
to be a part of the nucleus going forward, and
I think he's proven to be a playmaker and can
be a big asset the cam or going off into
the future.
Speaker 1 (13:39):
Yeah, I totally am with you on that they found
something and he he might just make an All Pro
team this year as a returner, which is a great,
great thing.
Speaker 2 (13:48):
Back by the way, I know, I know, you know
we're talking about some of the disappointing things. We haven't
really jumped into that yet, but I will be honest.
I mean, and the timing for some of these players,
it takes longer than this is not a death sentence
by any stretch, but man, I expected a heck of
a lot more out of Golden than what he's given.
Speaker 1 (14:08):
Yeah, he was a tough one because he's not even
getting on the field that much.
Speaker 2 (14:12):
And it's not like they're scrubs that are playing it.
I mean, they have a deep room, they have a
good room. But I thought he had a chance to
emerge as the best of their guys and he's not
getting anything.
Speaker 1 (14:22):
I would never call two way star bow melt In
the scrub, but I found it interesting last week that
bow Meltin played ahead of him. He got more snaps
ahead of him, So they don't think Golden's ready and
he's always they always were just missing those big plays
to him earlier in the season. And I mentioned Jadan
Higgins quickly. He's just been a great third down target
(14:43):
for CJ. Stroud and Davis Mills. He's really come up.
If you look at some of the biggest catches of
the season, a lot of them have been Jayden Higgins
in terms of declining just since when we last talked. Look,
Abuka is still in the mix for Rookie of the Year,
but it just hasn't been efficient him and Baker. They
have thirty five targets over the last month Here at
(15:04):
DJ he has fourteen catches on those thirty five targets
for one hundred and twenty nine yards. Doing a little math,
that is under four yards per attempt when you're throwing
to Abuka. There's been about a drop a week. It
has just been misconnections. It's obviously not on him exclusively.
Mike Evans hasn't been there. He was coming off an injury,
but it just has slowed down in terms of how
(15:26):
great he was in the first half of the season.
Speaker 2 (15:28):
Yeah, no, I think that's I think that's fair. I
still I am a buyer of his going forward into
the future. These so I don't try to put it
on me and what I'm saying. But Higgins thing is
that my favorite part about him is going back through
his stuff is my comp was Nico Collins, so it
was his teammate and can accelerate, go get the ball
(15:49):
fifty to fifty wins? He went on verticals. There's a
lot of passing reference penalties that he's able to draw.
He's got stop and start quicks for a big guy,
which is impressive. And I made this. I tried to
make this stick, but then I realized that people I'm
probably a combination of me being old and then also uh,
people just not really respecting what were the Twin Towers
(16:12):
and Ralph Samson in a cam Olage one. I tried
to get that like Twin Towers two point zero. I
couldn't get it the stick, but with him, and that's.
Speaker 1 (16:19):
That's before that's before your time. I know how old
you are despite wearing yours in the Master's hat here
that was the Yeah, but you were like five years.
Speaker 2 (16:27):
Old or seventy seven, that's like eighty. I'm like ten
years old. That's like primo, like NBA fan.
Speaker 1 (16:35):
Me, okay, I I was in Doctor J my I
go back.
Speaker 2 (16:39):
To the San Diego Clippers. Greg, my brother was the
ball boy for the San Diego Clippers.
Speaker 1 (16:45):
I mean, maybe you just love ball more than me.
And we're grinding Tapa eight years old. You are two
years older, so that makes difference. But I feel like
Ralph Samson was just like a little bit before my time,
before I really knew, well.
Speaker 2 (16:55):
Those were you know what those were? For me? Those
were those were VHS taped games. We would go to church.
The game would be in the morning, like finals, I remember,
like Celtic's Rockets, and it was make sure that the
VCR is set to record no TVO back, then record
it so then we come back from church, we could
actually watch the game and fast forward through the through
(17:16):
the commercials. So that and by the way, one quick story,
because I know you're clamoring for a uh a stendi
a Clipper story. My brother was the ball boy, my
dad was the chaplain. Wow, our seats were right behind
the hoop there, so it might we were like six
eight rows back and they were just because of them
both working there and playing the Celtics. I'm a little
(17:40):
tiny kid and Clippers are at the free throw line
and as you can imagine the Celtics fans travel well
as they you know, as they do, and so then
it was, but it was kind of quiet Clippers at
the free throw line, and I stand up because I'm
just saying what I'd heard in the stands, and I
just yelled at the top of my lungs as like
a seven year old Celtics suck. And my dad's the
(18:02):
chaplain of the team, looks over at his little kid.
It's like, what is going on here? No, no, I
don't even know what that means. As that kid, I
just was repeating what I had heard in the in
the stands.
Speaker 1 (18:13):
That is incredible. And that story on the review of
that type of stories, why the bosses are like we
need forties and free agents. Even during the NFL season, after.
Speaker 2 (18:26):
The games were over, Bill Walton would soak his feet
because he had bad feet, would soak him in ice
tub and me and his kids, they would lower the
hoop down and we would play. Those kids turned out
to be like Luke Walton and his brother and all
that stuff when I was just a little guy.
Speaker 1 (18:43):
And who knows. Yeah, those San Diego Clippers teams and
they they're probably they're better than this Clippers team at
the very least.
Speaker 2 (18:50):
Yeah, I stopped watching the NBA a while ago. Again,
that's why my references like the twin Towers are all
very dated.
Speaker 1 (18:55):
But I think, yeah, I think more Tim Duncan and
David Robinson. They were kind of like a twin tower,
So I don't know if they had that negation. All right,
let's wrap up these skill positions. Awesome tight end class.
You you talked up this tight end class going into it,
and so you got to feel good about where they're at.
(19:15):
Who stands out to you from that pig.
Speaker 2 (19:18):
I'm gonna pull back up my list here, So the
way I had these guys, I had Tyler Warren, Colston Lovelin,
Mason Taylor, Elijah Royo, Harold Fann and Terence Ferguson, Gunner
Helm Gavin, Bartholomew Ronde, Gadstan like that's. And then Jackson
Hall is just down below that, who's done a really
nice job as a blocker like that's. This class has
been outstanding for me. The ones I've seen kind of
(19:41):
a send. I mean, Harold Fan and JR. Spent Since
you've seen Shooter get in there, it's a favorite target
and I love how they're used him. He's like an
old school Frank Whychek, like true h back where you'll
see him in some fullback. He's in the wing, he's
winning down the field on corner routes, like he's using
a variety of ways, but he's like it not like
a hand in the ground, traditional white tight end. He's
(20:03):
like an old school h back. And I don't know,
I just I always liked, I always appreciated guys like
Frank Whitechek. I was like, that's just he he like
plays his own positions, Like there's not many of those
guys that played that spot and have that role, which
he does.
Speaker 1 (20:15):
Yeah, that's kind of like Hawes, who you mentioned, Jackson Hawes,
who's like a sixth offensive lineman. But every once in
a while they'll they'll throw it to him and he's
out there. Been awesome fan and I had written down
he is not that far behind now the production in
terms of yardage of Tyler Warren and Tyler Warren's having
one of the best tight end rookie seasons we've seen.
(20:36):
Fannon is fourth in Fantasy points if you're into that thing.
Since since week ten he was my guy too. And
you can see him he can change direction. They had
him like on a on a fade last week in
the red zone. They have him on like a wheel
route out of the backfield, like you mentioned. Just really versatile.
But you could you could choose any of those guys,
including Loveland, who there love a lot on his plate.
Speaker 2 (20:57):
Right. One of them a game, I mean, just that's
one was at Cincinnati right where you call it the
one down the scene, bounces off the tackle late in
the game and takes it in. So he's been a
field stretcher, get big time, big playmaker, and you can
see that. That's Caleb's trust and confidence in him is
just continues to grow. That's gonna be. That's it's my
favorite offense right now. I try and watch the Bears
(21:18):
every week, and I know people are people lose their
minds on both sides of Caleb. I'm excited, you know
what I see and kind of where it's headed and
where it's going. But just to like, in terms of
watching like a pleasure watch for me, even if there's
some misfires here and there, it's fun to watch that.
All those young guys. Man.
Speaker 1 (21:35):
Yeah, the run game, the path game, it's all been good,
and so that's why it's hard to have a disappointment
at tight end. Maybe the disappointment is teams are letting
these guys fall in the draft too far. I mean,
if you look how valuable some of these second round
guys in this class are, maybe they're falling too far.
I guess Terrence Ferguson and Arroyo they're they're having the
more usual trajectory where they're trying to get into the mix,
(21:57):
but they have.
Speaker 2 (21:57):
Veterans a lot of mouths in front of those offense.
Speaker 1 (22:00):
Yes, Terrence Ferguson is a big, impressive athlete and has
had a few really nice catches, but right now they
have veterans in front of him. Why don't we take
a quick break and then we'll come back on the
other side. We'll do all the linemen and the defensive
players on forties and free agents back on forties and
(22:27):
free agents, looking at the development of this rookie class.
I know Daniel Jeremiah just loves to geek out talking
about offensive lineman who has caught your eye in a
draft where a lot of guys got taken high. I
guess that's every class lately, but especially this class.
Speaker 2 (22:46):
Well, to me, I'm going to go right to the
top of the interior offensive line list. For me in
the draft, it was Tyler Booker was my number one
guy at seventeen. Gray Zabel was my number two guy
at twenty six, and I think both guys if you're
going to say, who are the cleanest, safest players in
the draft, even though greys Abel wasn't coming from a
you know, traditional powerhouse power forlo program at North Dakota State,
(23:08):
those guys, to me, I thought were the safest, highest
floor players. And not only have they you know, their
bad moments been few and far between, but they're actually
playing at a really really high consistent level for both
their teams and two of the better offenses really when
you get what they're able to do.
Speaker 1 (23:23):
Yeah, and versatile at guard too. You said you're watching
the Bears every week. I'm going to put you on
the spot. Yeah, I see Trapilo who if you just
look at the numbers, I can't say I'm you know,
breaking down his film. He's only had three starts, which
really didn't happen until injuries, but he's only given up
seven pressures in those three starts against good pass rush teams.
(23:46):
No quarterback hits in, no sacks in those games. So
I don't know if you've seen anything out of him,
but they got to be happy since he came into
the lineup.
Speaker 2 (23:53):
I'm going to pull up my notes on I want
to see what pick was he here? He was late
second was a fifty six, fifty sixth overall, so he
was fifty six overall, so he was my He was
my seventy second player. He was my sixth offensive tackle.
I compared him to having Stein though right tackle, lockout, control,
(24:16):
stays attached balance, He's effective in combos, he can recover.
I wrote, function over fashion, not always the prettiest, but
gets the job done by the way having Stein having Stein,
I say it wrong every time. What do we got Rob?
Speaker 1 (24:30):
I think it's stein Steen.
Speaker 2 (24:33):
I don't know. I think I should have remembered.
Speaker 1 (24:36):
Fifteen years with this team and been playing forever. I shouldn't.
Speaker 2 (24:39):
But that was my comparison to him, and that's someone
who just gets the job done. And Chapillo has done that.
He's in a nice job.
Speaker 1 (24:45):
I also give a shout out to Kevin Banks. I
know the Saints fans are very happy with them. He
is out there on an island, just quietly getting the
job done and left tackle for them each and every week.
If I was looking for a guy who's been struggling,
it's not new but Jonah savanea for Miami has had
his struggles this year. I don't think it's really turned
around during the season. So that that was a high
(25:06):
pick that they hoped to get me.
Speaker 2 (25:07):
Yeah, pull up my notes on him. He was my
fifty is a forty seventh player.
Speaker 1 (25:15):
He went a little higher than that. The rumors were
that the Patriots were eyeing him for the pick that
went that ended up being Trevon Henderson. That the Miami
traded up in front of New England because they thought
New England was going to take him. We'll see if that.
I mean, there's no way to know if that's true.
Speaker 2 (25:30):
Right tackle wide bass clamps his hands, he's stiff, pull
can't adjust, he can wash DT's down line of scrimmage.
Not a lot of Polish strong hands. Doesn't roll his hips.
So I thought he was a little bit stiff and
just a little little raw there. So it sounds like
that's I haven't studied him, so I'll take your word
on it.
Speaker 1 (25:48):
And he's playing inside and you just see a lot
of a lot of blown blocks. So that running game
is is fun to watch. Let's flip it while we're
on the Dolphins. I'm going to go off the board.
I'm throwing my my defensive lineman picks right at you,
and it's this guy, Jordan Phillips for the Dolphins. He's
showing up fifth round pick. One of those drafts where
(26:11):
the guy you took later is out playing your first
round pick in Kenneth Grant and he's just a guy
that pops. It's not a good defensive line class. That
was my takeaway going through this exercise trying to pick someone. Overall,
it hasn't been great, but he looks like a guy
who's going to contribute to the Dolphins down line.
Speaker 2 (26:30):
Jordan Phillips, you know who My comparison was for him,
hardgrave body type wise, kind of remind me a hardgrave,
wide four point stance, a little laid off the ball.
He's violent, club swim, He's got some real shock in
his hands, pure bowl, not a lot of polish. But
you'll see him like Forkliff guys like just a real
strong power player, a good player.
Speaker 1 (26:51):
So maybe that's why he's popped enough for me to
just write him down a few times. It's just like
he looks stronger than the pro competition, which is impressive
to do, you know, as a rookie.
Speaker 2 (27:02):
All that's good stuff to me. The name that I
wanted to highlight was Josias Stewart, which is another draft,
a coup for the Rams and less sneed. He's got
a thirteen point four percent pressure percentage, which is extremely high.
And I was thinking about what's the through line with
all these successful defensive linemen that the Rams have, and
(27:23):
you know, you talk about all different shapes and sizes.
You can even look at some of this the speed
and can be a little bit. I mean, they want
guys who are explosive, but speed can be a little
bit up and down, a little different there. All of
their players will play with tremendous leverage and whether or
not they're shorter, or whether or not they can really
roll their hips and bend like they they are going
to challenge your breaks. I call them like it's like
(27:43):
an Amco pass rush. They are going to test the
breaks of every single offensive lineman. They're going to leverage
them and they're going to go through them, and Josiah
Stewart was penalized a little bit because he was undersized.
If I remember correctly, he did not or he ran
poorly at his at his pro day, he was in
my top fifty at one point in time. Let me
see where he ended up on mine because I had
(28:05):
dropped him through the process. I think there might have
been some medical stuff as well, but he ended up
one eleven on my list at one point time. Again,
he was like forty nine to fifty range, undersize both
of lightning. He plays balls to the wall, has a
shake bowl dip rip, he plays much bigger than he
is at the point of attack. He at tax blocks,
he plays with big energy. So again that's always a lesson.
(28:29):
This happens every year, and you tell yourself, don't do it.
Trust trust what you saw on you know, first look,
first glance, don't let the fog of confusion. And Phil
Savage just to always say that about the spring, it's
like the fog of confusion. Just put your grades and
cement after the season's over. But man, the guy I
dropped him fifty slots and clearly he should not have
been dropped that far.
Speaker 1 (28:48):
Well, you know, Phil Savage didn't have to come up
with weekly rankings with your your editor, Ali Bonte down
your throat. He's like, we got to move him around
a little bit and cement, what are we doing here, Dan.
Speaker 2 (29:02):
Park content machine. We're just trying to keep that thing running. Man.
Speaker 1 (29:05):
A couple disappointing defensive playing and by the way, the
Falcons edges have both played pretty well.
Speaker 2 (29:10):
Piers fourteen point pressure rate, which is very good.
Speaker 1 (29:14):
And I think Jalen Walker looks like he's going to good.
The problem is that the coach might not be there
next year. It's going to be a different scheme, and
that's that's always the risk with these teams that are
changing coaches. Abdull Carter, I wouldn't say he's been bad,
but he hasn't been consistent. And when you get suspended
or at least benched twice in the span of three weeks,
(29:35):
that's not great. And Mike Green for the Ravens man,
they could have really used him. It's a lot to
ask in a rookie edge rusher, second round pick to
just pop right off the bat, but they could have
really used him and hasn't been great, hasn't been making
a huge impact. I think he was the guy that
was at fault for that Jalen Warren touchdown that long
play last week. And so those are a couple guys
higher that haven't really done too much.
Speaker 2 (29:57):
Yeah, Abdul Carter's pressure percentage better than his production. He's
got a twelve point eight percent pressure percentage, which is solid.
Only one and a half sacks. But where you're picked,
and as somebody who is as talented as anybody in
the entire draft class, you expected a lot more production,
even in a crowded room, even in a team that's
not playing with the lead very often. He should be
more impactful than he's been. And the one thing I
would say about this kind of collection of guys I
(30:20):
think on the whole, I would say maybe a little
underwhelming in terms of the number of guys that were
picked high, and the production is not necessarily matched that
at this point in time. But of all the positions,
defensive linemen can take a minute and some of the
best defensive linemen in the league go look at their
first second year statue won't be blown away, and you
see guys get better and better. It's a major adjustment
(30:42):
at that position in the NFL.
Speaker 1 (30:44):
Yeah, especially on the interior that can be true, but
really everywhere. I mean, that's that's true of the linebackers.
At least that's what you know, we think. But we
might have a Rookie of the Year.
Speaker 2 (30:55):
I kind of expect that I wrote one name Dallas
once a one man, it's Carson Seweesssinger, and that's and
then there's a golf and then there's everybody else. And
I could come up and I could talk about Teddy
Buchanan and talk about some of these other guys. But
I'm like, it's almost as a disservice to Sweationnger to
not just constantly give him his flowers every time we
do one of these episodes, because he's not just the
(31:16):
best rookie linebacker, he's playing like one of the best
linebackers in the NFL.
Speaker 1 (31:21):
What a great pick and what a great story he is,
and what a great evaluation not just by the Browns,
but but yourself and a lot of people who had
had him so high with such a small sample size
and not like a traditional five star background or anything.
But he's the man. It's reminded me of I feel
like back in the day. Every year it was a
(31:41):
linebacker like him popping up, but would win Defensive Rookie
of the Year is like Patrick Willis or gerro Mayo Jackson, right,
well Jackson. The Patriots actually had another one, who am
I forgetting? That wasn't Mayo, but either way it was.
It was someone every year and like, Okay, I'm going
to watch that guy for seven eight years, and I
feel like we haven't. Darius Leonard was another one, changed
(32:03):
his name to shak and I think Schwessinger is one
of those dudes. We're just going to be watching him
for a decade.
Speaker 2 (32:08):
Yeah, he's a fun player, he's a great player. Let's
get to the secondary. Greg, I'm gonna I'm gonna give
you two and I grouped him together. Now I want
to say this. Will Johnson's coming off the worst game
ahead of the whole year. The Rams target him. I
think even from a statistical standpoint, I don't think he'd
given up a first down catch and like the previous
handful of games, four or five games, and gave up
(32:29):
five in this game, including two touchdowns. It was his
worst game of the year. Prior to that, he's played
pretty good. He's he's been a really solid player. So
I wanted to group him Will Johnson with Nick Amm
and Warri, who were two guys that were fallers in
the draft who were viewed as first round picks through
the vast majority of the entire process. If I was
going to pull up war I had them rated. Let
(32:49):
me see where I had them in that last one here,
So safety wise, Emon Worri, let's start there. Emon Worre
was my fifteenth overall play and he fell to the
second round, and then we go to the corners. Will
Johnson was my sixteenth player, so I had him at
fifteen and sixteen for various reasons. One with you know,
(33:10):
injuries was a part of it. With Will Johnson, people
worried about I believe it was this knee if I
can remember correctly, didn't run, so there's some questions about
his speed. But he's played well for Arizona Cardinals. Seem
that's had a rough year, so I think that's been great.
And then even warr it's been fun Like there's some
you'll see a little blood on his hands every week
where he might you know, get beaten coverage here there,
(33:31):
but he's been dynamic near the line of scrimmage. He
makes splash plays and he can tell he's going to
be really really good. So both those guys first round
players didn't go in the first round.
Speaker 1 (33:40):
So I like the big pat on the back that
that was for yourself of highly he ranked them. Yeah, No,
I just like I was right, gms don't know what
they're doing.
Speaker 2 (33:48):
No, you want to know what's you want to know
what's this is the this that's not the pat. This
is the the pat on the back is. I didn't
have either one of them in my final mock draft.
That's the two different jobs. Greg. It's the what I
see of him. But then also so they're not going
to go in the first round because usually we only
get one safety. There's usually not a room for a
lot of safeties in there. So even Wai's going to
get punished. And then with Will Johnson with some medical
(34:09):
could fall.
Speaker 1 (34:09):
Out for a couple of nights every year. You you
are the pre eminent insider. Forget Ian Rappaport. He tries
to get in on doing stuff during the draft. You
know what, you know what's going on.
Speaker 2 (34:20):
But yeah, that's why I get anywhere from four to
six of those thirty two picks right in a mock draft.
Speaker 1 (34:26):
You're not above yourself very back, I hear a.
Speaker 2 (34:28):
Great is that? What's a great percentage? That would be? Well? Now,
but I know it used to be an academic school.
So can you do the math on that or no?
Speaker 1 (34:36):
I mean we've we've long been a football school. I
was the two Lane King, an announcer for Sean King.
Let's go everyone honking about Oh two lane doesn't deserve
to be in there compared to these big teams. Hey,
how about not like lou how about about taking accountability?
(34:56):
All these adults who oh take accountability leadership in the
second something doesn't go against that goes against them and
it totally arbitrary, like opinion process where you lost your
biggest games of this season. Do they take any responsibility
for that at all? Like a quarterback would like they
would want a leader to No, they just whine and
cry and that's loser behavior too. Lane would never.
Speaker 2 (35:17):
Does Mewelde Moore lead you guys out of the tunnel
in this playoff game? Who's gonna? I hope? So?
Speaker 1 (35:22):
I hope.
Speaker 2 (35:22):
So any secondary players you want to out there? Do
you want to contribute to this podcast at all? Are
you good? I?
Speaker 1 (35:28):
Well, I didn't get to you know, bag on the
Bengals linebackers. By the way they were down. That has
an experiment gone horribly wrong. And yes, I do have
a couple guys in the secondary. I'm going deeper, not
not the obvious guys like you. How about Noel Williams
of the Chiefs.
Speaker 2 (35:43):
Otherwise no, no.
Speaker 1 (35:45):
No, n o h L. I think they found another one.
They just find these guys no one's heard of, and
then they're out there and you're like, oh, that guy's
a pretty good player.
Speaker 2 (35:53):
What pick was? He tell me?
Speaker 1 (35:55):
I don't know, do some homework on this thing at all.
I think it was like a fourth rounder was.
Speaker 2 (36:02):
Can we pull that up?
Speaker 1 (36:03):
Let me see eighty fifth overall? Okay, it was a
little higher than I expect.
Speaker 2 (36:06):
He did eighty fifth over and you're saying he's playing well, yeah,
would you say he's playing like maybe the my fifty
fourth overall player. He's playing that well? I mean good,
and it's gracious. I mean I put out a list
greg six three, one, nine, four five flat seven picks,
got three picks against Auburn, had a pick six against
cam Ward Press. Feisty, a little quicker than fast and undercut,
(36:30):
has got great ball skills. He's my fifty fourth player.
You get you act like you just found him on
the moon.
Speaker 1 (36:35):
Just saying he's playing well. If you can get a
guy who's contributing right off the bat, looking good in
the third round the Chiefs, they've had their problems this year,
but that's been good. And then I'm going to go
really deep here. Safety for the Titans, Kevin Winston. I
just noticed they're using him as a blitzer. He's making
some plays in front of the.
Speaker 2 (36:52):
Thirtiest safeties you'll ever. I saw him in person again
this year. You know, I saw him this year. I
haven't had done him in the draft, but I'm like,
he is That's what you want your safety to look like.
When he gets off the bus.
Speaker 1 (37:02):
They might have found someone. He he looks like a player.
He's what pick I'll check, well, at least probably what
third round wherever you have him? U S great podcast.
Speaker 2 (37:16):
Yeah, No, I want to know what it is.
Speaker 1 (37:17):
What he was. He was drafted in the third round,
eighty second, eighty he put.
Speaker 2 (37:25):
It in there, eighty second pick. Okay, Kevin Winston, he
was my third safety, was my fifty ninth overall player.
Speaker 1 (37:32):
Another w common w D games.
Speaker 2 (37:35):
He only played two games, but he's six oh one
four six one and a half two hundred and fifteen pounds.
He ran four or five to one in his pro
day and he is only two games. Aggressive versus the run,
quick reads, he was beat by fannin and coverage. Hey,
we've already established fan a good player, has man skills,
excellent to the alley in twenty three and twenty three,
played really really well. But he is He's a talented player.
Speaker 1 (37:56):
Big, physical, good looking.
Speaker 2 (37:59):
I think a little like any of who's working harder
on this podcast than you are.
Speaker 1 (38:02):
By the way, any a little Kenny Baccaro, right, like,
how about that he's not bringing that com to the
table like that. I like Kenny bacarl That was forties
and free agents. In terms of the offseason, the next
time we talked to you, DJ, you have a lot
of work in the meantime. You might have a playoff
run to be announcing for the Chargers. In fact, you
better or else it'd be a disappointing end to the season.
Speaker 2 (38:25):
Definitely, one maybe two more wins. I think one more
probably does it, but two would would pretty much lock
him in it.
Speaker 1 (38:32):
I think. I think they'll get there too, and during
that playoff run, we will already be talking. So we
got forties and free agents coming out weekly, starting to
look ahead to the twenty twenty six NFL Draft, and
even more important, the twenty twenty six free agent crop.
I'm doing my homework on it. That happens faster. We
(38:52):
don't have to draw it out for four months, and
we do it in like three days in March.
Speaker 2 (38:56):
I don't want to. I don't want to ran in
your parade here, but and talking to teams, there's not
an underwhelming free agent class, man.
Speaker 1 (39:05):
I hear that every year.
Speaker 2 (39:07):
And it's what's your list? How many undred, one hundred
and one?
Speaker 1 (39:10):
Because we work one one slot harder than the rest.
Speaker 2 (39:12):
M'd be Greg's top thirty free agents this year.
Speaker 1 (39:16):
You always there's always players out there. There's always a
Dante Jackson. People weren't talking about that one DJ And.
Speaker 2 (39:23):
This is going to be a scrollless article. You do
not need to scroll. You can get all those names
in one view on it.
Speaker 1 (39:29):
Oh, don't hurt the brand. We're going to be talking
about this on the show too. There's always players out there.
But you're right, I think teams because of the salary
cap going up and up and up in the way
they do the accounting, good players rarely get loose. But
there's some of the.
Speaker 2 (39:43):
Fastest five minutes in podcasts sports. As we preview the
twenty twenty six NFL free agency with Greg rosmenthal.
Speaker 1 (39:50):
Alec Pierce signs a five year, two hundred and fifty
million dollar contract.
Speaker 2 (39:54):
As he by the way, I'll tell you right now,
you can't have you cannot have Jalen Phillips high enough
on your list. There you go.
Speaker 1 (40:02):
Okay, that's a.
Speaker 2 (40:03):
Person really, really good.
Speaker 1 (40:05):
We'll see if I take that into advisement in January
when we will be back after week eighteen. Until then,
uh yeah, just check out Move the sticks And I
thought daily you see you later. I gotta gotta gotta
get the pop before we go
Host
Gregg Rosenthal
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