February 20, 2024 • 44 mins
Daniel Jeremiah and Lance Zierlein are back with a new episode of Move the Sticks. For the first half of the show, Daniel Jeremiah gives a breakdown of his full first round 2024 NFL Mock Draft 2.0 (1:56). Find out which quarterbacks will go in the first round, which position group is the deepest and if there are any surprise players that will sneak into the first round. For the rest of the show, the pair continue the Move the Sticks championship foundation series, as the guys look at every AFC North team and break down the team building blocks and championship foundations for each team in the division with help from the NFL Research team (25:55). Over the next few weeks, the crew will look at every team's foundational pieces in each division.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
And now move the sticks with Daniel, Jeremiah and Bucky Brooks.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
What's up, everybody. Welcome to move the sticks, DJ and
Lance with you today. Bucky is at the HBCU Combine,
so he will be back next week as we get
towards the combine in Indianapolis. Lance, how you doing, buddy,
I'm doing well.
Speaker 3 (00:21):
I'm doing well, looking forward to the combine.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
I feel like doesn't matter when we do shows together,
whether they're in the morning, the afternoon of the evening,
but I feel like I'm always accompanied by my little
cup of coffee. Here, it's the three of us. It's
like a three man team. Here, Me and my coffee
are line.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
You're now tweeting pictures out of your coffee. When did
you have a coffee drinker? I became a coffee drinker
when morning radio got the best of me about well,
I don't know, about fifteen years ago. I said, let
me try this coffee thing. And I'm seven days a
week now now it's a physical addiction.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
I turned to coffee maybe a decade ago. I turned
a drinking coffee a decade ago. Aim to being an
unhealthy uh consumer of coffee. When the combine list decided
to come out I don't know, maybe two weeks before
the combine, and I'm trying to jam all these guys
in and get all these guys watched.
Speaker 3 (01:14):
Can we get that out a little earlier?
Speaker 2 (01:16):
For goodness, gracious man, it's ridiculous. Uh So, anyways, I'm
humping it trying to trying to get that done. I
know I'm preaching to the choir on that one, but
let's let's jump in. We've got a lot of ground
we're going to cover to day. We've got a mock
draft just came out, my second one. We're gonna we're
gonna whip through that and see if you have any questions, comments, concerns,
and then we're going to continue our our building block series.
(01:37):
That was it was a big hit something that I'm
really fired up about, which is a kind of a
unique way to look at the championship foundation of these
teams in terms of kind of young, controllable star players
or who are their key players at the most important positions.
I'll explain that a little bit after we get through
this mock draft, but let's start things out here. First
(01:58):
of all, lance with this mock draft, I'm gonna rip
through the first ten picks, and then give me what
stands out to you the most here.
Speaker 3 (02:07):
You ready, Yeah, all right.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
I've got Caleb Williams, haven't changed there, going to the
Bears at number one. I've got Drake May going to
Washington at two. Decide to switch it up because I
don't want to do the same thing in every single
mock draft, even though in my heart of hearts, I
believe we're going to go quarterback, quarterback, quarterback, whether that's
with the trade or whether the Patriots stick and pick.
In this scenario, I said, hey, let's give him a
veteran and let's go Marvin Harrison Junior with a third pick.
(02:31):
The Cardinals come back with their choice of the next
two wideouts. They go Malik Neighbors, again, switching it up
for me a little bit. The Chargers, they are at five, again,
no trades, so they take Joe Alt. That decision would
come down to Alt versus a doonsday, I believe, So
I had them taking an offensive lineman for Jim Harbaugh's
first pick. Then you have Jaden Daniels falling to the
(02:54):
Giants at six, which more than likely the Giants, I
would think would join the Falcons as two teams that
would try and trade up if he started to drift. Seven,
I've got Fashanu Olufashana is the big tackle from Penn
State going to the Titans. JJ McCarthy A little bit
of a surprise there going to the Atlanta Falcons based
off just a lot of a buzz and chatter of
(03:14):
folks that are connected to those who interviewed for that job,
and there seemed to be a thought coming out of
those coaching interviews that from ownership at the very top,
they want a young quarterback. So that's where I put
JJ McCarthy. Nine. The Bears double up big Okaeleb Williams,
they come back with Roma doonsday to spice up a
pretty anemic offense. And then the Jets, Golly, I want
(03:36):
to give them somebody else. I game Fuaga last time.
I came back game tyle E c Fuaga again on
this one. I just I didn't know who else to
put there. So those are the top ten, all right.
Speaker 3 (03:46):
A couple of things to stand out to me.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
Number one, Joe Alt, has there ever been a better
fit for a coach than this tackle? I mean, if
you study offensive line and offensive line body types.
Speaker 3 (03:56):
The Notre Dame model.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
And the Michigan model are very similar, very similar looking
players for those two teams. When it comes to the
offensive line and Joe Alt, you could put him in
a Michigan uniform, you can. I mean, he looks like
a Notre Dame tackle to me, but I think you
can put him right there with what with what Jim
Harbaugh is gonna want to do, and it makes perfect sense.
(04:18):
Now would you play him on the right side or
would you play him on the left.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
Well, he's not going to replace Slater at left. Slater's
already been an All Pro when he's healthy. So the
challenge is you've got Pipkins, I believe has another year
of control. And Pipkins is a functional right tackle. He
might not be an elite player, but he's a functional starter.
So I know some pushback people will get, well, like, hey,
you've got two tackles. They're being you know, you got
a rookie, a first rounder, and then you are a
(04:42):
guy in a rookie deal who's a first round pick,
and then you've got somebody that you paid on a
second contract in Pipkins, And I'm like, look, je Ortiz
came from Baltimore. It is a best player available and
they prefer the premium positions. Jonathan Ogden played guard his
rookie year at six foot nine, so if they had
to maneuver around, if they wanted to keep Pipkins for
another year, they could play Altic guard for a year
(05:03):
before kicking him out to be the eventual right tackle.
But the goal would be you have Slater an alt
as your bookend tackles for the prime of Justin Herbert's career.
Speaker 1 (05:13):
Here's my other one for you, Daniels versus May. Obviously
this is the big batt on I think on tape.
I mean, you and I have watched all these guys
pretty extensively. I think, without question the better tape this
year's Jaden Daniels. How much are you going with May
based on your belief in traits eventually went out because
(05:34):
of May's arm town and his size versus you know,
the thin body structure of Jaden Daniels. How much of
this is just you feeling like he might be the
type of fit. Where are you and your May versus
Jaden Daniels Personal evaluations?
Speaker 2 (05:49):
Personal evaluations? It is very close, and to be totally honest,
with you, I go through and do this first round
of evaluations, as you do the same, you know, you
have the same challenge in front of you, which is
I got to get to three hundred and twenty guys.
So I've got my first layer on these guys, and
I'm looking forward to once we get done with the combine,
(06:11):
circling back and then digging into every single thing. I've
seen all of Caleb Williams tape. I'm done. I've already
kind of put him to bed. I'm done there, but
I want to go back in and watch more stuff throughout,
you know, the careers, not just this year with Jayden
Daniels as well as with Drake May. So it's close
for me. I still have May over him, and talking
to the guys I talked to around the league, I
(06:31):
get more feedback of Drake May over Jayden Daniels. And
that could just be the people that I'm talking to.
But when I'm doing these mock drafts, I tend to
do them more off of what I'm hearing than my own,
you know, personal belief.
Speaker 3 (06:42):
Okay, that's a good one.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
Last question I'd have for you on ten or last comment,
how hard was it for you to place Olu Fashanu
at seven? Is it because there's a lot of tackles
to choose from Fashan, who's got some up and down
tape at times. How difficult was that for you to
stick for Shana there at seven with the Titans? Did
you ever consider any position other than tackle for the Titans?
Speaker 2 (07:06):
I couldn't. And I'll give you the numbers. When you
look at it and you look at a team that's
twenty seventh in points per game, tied for twenty eighth,
and sacks allowed twenty eighth and third down, I'm like, okay,
you know, I like the defense take the ball away
a little bit more. They were thirty first in takeaways,
but the offensive line just slaps in the face as
an area that they have to address. So that's why
(07:28):
I was looking in that direction and Fashanu, look, I'm
trying to be careful on this one. It's a little bit.
I'm concerned with his evaluation in that you come into
the year with expectation and what you've seen of a
guy and what he's established himself, and I feel like
you can get in trouble by trying to find that
(07:49):
one thing and taking one small issue and extra playing
out into a huge issue because that's what we do.
We nitpick guys as they come back. Last year, I
thought he would have been a top ten pick. I
thought he would have been the best tackle in to drive.
This year, I don't think he played quite as well.
The Ohio State game is the one that everybody's going
to point to. But I'm like, Okay, am I just
crushing him because he got his eyes in the wrong
place in the Ohio State game and got dumped, and
(08:11):
am I disqualifying all the other stuff that I've seen
on him? So I'm trying to be careful on that
one on Fashanu to make sure that I'm not you know,
you're not overthinking that one. So that's why I had
him going.
Speaker 3 (08:23):
There makes some sense. Let's go through the next tip.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
YEP, eleven Minnesota. These are eleven and twelve are quarterback teams,
so I wouldn't rule that out. But I in this exercise,
I had Dallas Turner the edge rusher from Bama to
the Vikings back to back edge rusher's Jared Verse from
Florida State to the Broncos Terry and Arnold the corner
to the Raiders.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
J C.
Speaker 2 (08:44):
Latham tackle to the Saints because the penning pick has
not worked out the Colts. This is a special for you, Lance.
What do you know a trades corner in Nate Wiggins
going to your buddy Chris Ballard there with the Colts,
Byron Murphy to Theahawks. They have Leonard Williams a free agent.
There I go secondary with the Jags, Quinya and Mitchell,
(09:06):
who I love at seventeen the corner from Toledo. This
one was a fun one. This one maybe selfish. I
had Brock Bowers fall to the Cincinnati Bengals at eighteen.
I don't think it's super likely that that happens, but man,
I just I wanted to dream on that a little bit,
to see what he would look like surrounded by hopefully
T Higgins coming back on a franchise tag Jamar Chase
(09:26):
and Joe Burrow. That would be that'd be a fun one.
Jackson powers Johnson, the center from Oregon goes to the Rams,
and then the Steelers go Troy foul Tanu. I got
to get that right before the combine Washington tackle slash guard.
It can play pretty much anywhere for the Steelers.
Speaker 3 (09:42):
I think that's a great pick twenty with the Steelers.
Speaker 1 (09:45):
I'm gonna circle back, so I think the floor of
this draft is going to go. I mean if you
had a draft or just edge rushers, cornerbacks, wide receivers,
and quarterbacks, what would almost wipe out the entire first round. Yeah,
that's and it's just going to be how those picks flow.
So when are they're going to be runs? Is really
what it's what's going to determine, like the top fourteen picks,
(10:05):
because as you mentioned, all these teams have you know,
some teams like the Jets and Tennessee have definite tackle
needs offensive line needs, but you just never know what
the Giants you never know right now with the Vikings
at Denver Broncos.
Speaker 3 (10:19):
So you're right this really I think JJ McCarthy's going.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
To be one of those lynch pins where the draft
will pivot on where he is drafted. Potentially, this is
higher than you've had Latham and Wiggins I think in
your last draft.
Speaker 2 (10:33):
Correct me if I'm wrong, No, I uh yeah, I'll
be honestly. I haven't gone back and looked at one
point on in a minute, but no, in terms of
where I have them. It's about where I have Latham ranked.
I have to update my top fifty this weekend, but
he's in that range. I think he was seventeen somewhere
around there on my top fifty list on the first one,
so that's about where I have him. Wiggins is one
(10:55):
that look that if I was going to say, guys,
I'm coming down on, guys, I'm coming up on I
got the sense you always put this stuff out there,
then you get feedback from the league. And when you
look at at tes Walker, who I liked on tape,
who did not have a good Senior Bowl, did not
catch the ball well at all, he's probably the one
that's taken on the most water on my personal list,
(11:15):
And then you would look at at somebody like Wiggins,
who the more you hear about him, I didn't think
he was, you know, super aggressive and wanting to get
involved against the run. A lot of teams don't share
the same concerns that I've talked to. So I got
the sense that why I have him kind of more
in the back of one on my personal ranking on
my list, that he's going to, uh, he's going to
(11:37):
go higher than that. So those would be the two
that are probably saying one going up, one coming down.
Speaker 3 (11:42):
Yeah, Wiggins.
Speaker 1 (11:43):
I started with a six point seven, which is really
really high based on tape. Then digging around a little
bit more, I moved him down to a sixty four,
which is a natural progression for those who don't know,
we go six seven to six y five, boom or
bust six ' four And I've got and I stacked
my six fours with one more decimall you know.
Speaker 2 (11:59):
With He's a six y three for me. He's a
six to three for me. In my first list, he
was my thirtieth player.
Speaker 3 (12:05):
That means a good starter.
Speaker 2 (12:06):
It's a good player, yeah, yeah, yeah, and above average starter. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (12:10):
Give me a player a sixty three.
Speaker 1 (12:12):
Give me a player in the NFL cornerback who you
consider to be not necessarily a player comp for Wiggins,
But give people an idea of what a sixty three
looks like.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
Well, I would say, until you know, early on in
his career, and I think he's even gotten better than that.
What is my man? Why am I going to blank
on his name here? From now? This is the problem
lands I've got all these draft guys in my head,
and now you're gonna ask me about current NFL players, Well,
Jalen Johnson will be the one I was gonna say,
j Johnson is a sixty was a sixty three, sixty
(12:41):
four type player to me coming into the draft, and
I thought he's played like that, and he's advanced to
probably be a sixty four, maybe even a sixty seven
what he's become. But if you watched him early in
his career, that's to me, that's like a solid starter.
You're not looking to replace, just a steady, steady, good
football player.
Speaker 1 (12:57):
So I've got May just to have a conversation about
our grading scales.
Speaker 3 (13:03):
I've got Drake May as a sixty five.
Speaker 1 (13:05):
Why don't you tell people what sixty fives are at
least for what we do?
Speaker 2 (13:09):
Yeah, I gave him the same grade. So sixty five
is kind of a high ceiling, lower floor grade. There's
some variants there. There's some risk involved, but you're talking
about big, big upside. The sixty five grade is for
usually it's reserved people who need some development, so there's
still growth to take place there there, or there's a
risk involved with injury, there's a risk involved with character.
(13:32):
You know, he obviously doesn't fall into that category. He
is a kind of he's a D player, so there's
some development still to take place there. But a sixty
five player could turn into a sixty nine, like if
he realizes his potential.
Speaker 1 (13:43):
Yeah, sometimes you would much rather have a sixty four.
You draft a sixty four, and you'd even stack them there.
Speaker 3 (13:49):
Than sixty five.
Speaker 1 (13:50):
Yea, So people don't understand when they see my numbers
and a couple sixty fives I have for Olufushanu, Andrew
and Drake may.
Speaker 3 (13:58):
I like Brock Bowers of the Bengals. I love it.
Speaker 1 (14:01):
I just have such a hard time placing Brock Bowers
in the first mock draft because it's hard to place
tight ends in general, and then Brock, you know, is
going to test well, but he's going to be smaller.
Like just figure was it difficult for you to figure
out where you wanted to put Brock? Was he lingering
on your sheet about I still haven't put Bowers anywhere.
Speaker 2 (14:20):
So one of the things that's tricky about this that
it's it's hard to you can't explain it in a
mock draft. It's really difficult to even explain it in
a tweet. But when you talk to GMS and you
talk about people hear the phrase positional value, and we've
had the running back discussion and all that kind of stuff.
But there's the financial component that I don't think that
(14:41):
that people fully grasp and let me do my best
to try and explain it here. Just pull up if
you pull up the list and look at the franchise
tag numbers for the players at every position, if you
were to take a tight end in the top ten,
what you would pay him, even though it might you know,
you don't think it's a ton of money, but say
it's whatever it is seven eight million on an average
(15:02):
per year, and the tight end number is, say there's
twelve millions. Let's just use eight and twelve for just
kind of rough numbers. Here, you're getting a savings of
four million dollars off the premiere like top players at
their position at that position. So I'm already paying top
of the market price for my rookie tight end. I'm
not really getting that rookie contract benefit versus what I
(15:24):
could go out and get free agent tight ends for
on the market. Whereas if you look at the receiver
number and it's that number stays the same no matter
who you pick with the draft pick. So now we
take that same eight million, and now the receiver market
we get into the twenty millions. So now I'm The
surplus value I have there is enormous. You know, I
(15:44):
don't have to go out on the market and pay
top top dollar. I just put all that money back
in my coffers. So I think that's something that it's
kind of tricky to explain. No, but that's teams are
very aware of it.
Speaker 3 (15:56):
Yeah, I mean that's a great explanation. It's something people
need to be aware of.
Speaker 1 (15:59):
Is is getting It's like in baseball where you have
club control for a certain amount of time on great players,
and then you know you have to let we're dealing
with it here with the ashows you have to let
certain great players go because they get too expensive. That's
why sometime you'd rather have that quarterback on the fifth
year option. You'd rather have an opportunity, or not even quarterback.
It could be any position. If you think of player
(16:22):
is really good, you'd rather get the fifth year option
if you think they're going to be really good. So
you still have some club control and you have a
franchise tag potentially available.
Speaker 3 (16:30):
That's good.
Speaker 2 (16:31):
Let's go finish it up.
Speaker 3 (16:33):
Yeah, let's finish it up all right.
Speaker 2 (16:35):
Twenty one the Miami Dolphins THEA to Latu from Ed
Rusher from UCLA. And people will say, oh, why would
they do that? They've already got two. Now everybody wants three,
and you roll those guys through and then you can
withstand injury along the way, and keep in mind they're
going to lose in free agency. Gosh, why am I
going to blank on his name now? Again? The names
(16:56):
are gonna kill me with with veteran players from Iowa,
Van Ginkel, thank you. Yes, the machine's a little slow today.
Lance again, not a lot of sleep. I've had too
much coffee. I'm not sleeping. Ennis Reycustraw from Missouri. The
corner goes to the Eagles desperate need there. This one
was a fun one. Brian Thomas junior wide out from
(17:17):
LSU goes to the Texans and you imagine that trio
Tyler Geiton with the Cowboys. Now in terms of how
that all comes together, I honestly Terrence Steele had escaped
my mind when I put this in there, because I said, well,
you've got Tyler Smith can kick back out to tackle. Well,
if you've got Geyiton, You've got steel. You could still
leave Tyler Smith at guard if you wanted to. To me,
(17:39):
that's kind of a steeal versus versus him to see
who who plays where, But they definitely with the Tyron
Smith leaving need know alignment there. Cooper de Gene from
Iowa goes to the Packers corner, could play really any
of the five positions back there. Ad Ni Mitchell big
receiver to replace Mike Evans to the Bucks. Darius Robinson
(18:00):
heavy edge. He goes to the Cardinals from Missouri, Chop
Robinson from Penn State. EDG. Dresher goes to the Bills.
They've got a couple of free agents, including Floyd and Epanessa.
So he goes there as an a dresser. Zach Fraser
just feels like a lion. You get the wrestling background.
I figured Dan Campbell and him. I just you know,
they put on the little head gear and just kind
of spar maybe there ragnow staying there. I'm playing Zach
(18:24):
Fraser at guard and he is the eventual replacement. They
have both guards or free agents in Detroit. So Fraser's
he's six three three fourteen, He's he'll be fine. He
can play guard and then eventually kick over a Marius
Mims the tackle. Just take a good player to have
him fall to the Ravens. That's usually the exercise to
do in these mock drafts. Graham Barton the tackle from
(18:46):
Duke probably kicks inside. Could be a center there for
the forty nine ers. And then Troy Franklin, speedy wide
receiver from Oregon. He goes to the Chiefs to compliment
Rashid Rice.
Speaker 3 (18:57):
So there's not a world where your guy Zach Fraser
is gonna beat my guy Graham Barton to first off
the board. That's not going to happen. So we'll scratch
that out.
Speaker 2 (19:04):
We'll just possible it's still it's uh, I'm not rolling
that out.
Speaker 1 (19:08):
We'll just flip flop him. Adie Mitchell. Love that you
put Adi Mitchell. You know, I really thought about putting
Adie Mitchell on my first mock. He's gonna test well.
One of the things people need to keep in mind
is there's always frequently there's noticeable growth on tape from
year one to year two. I went to watch Mitchell
obviously when he was with Georgia, not as many snaps,
(19:30):
not as many catch attempts, a lot of them came
in that game against Georgia. But his aggressiveness level his
he still doesn't always dominate people with a size like
he needs to with ball skills, but in aggression. But
like that will take place as long as as soon
as he learns to carve out his space, you're not
gonna beat him on jump balls. He's going to be terrific.
(19:50):
I expect him to run well, I expect him to
jump well, and he's got when you when you look
at the athletic profile combined with the production this year,
combined with the tray though, these are the kind of
guys to shoot into the first round, like Darius Robinson
you put there. I put him in my first min
because I'm like, this feels like a guy who's gonna
go first round because the trades. I'd say, Adi Mitchell
(20:10):
is a guy who probably needs to start popping up
in more mock drafts in the first round.
Speaker 2 (20:14):
You know, it's interesting, you're always you're trying to study
these players and you're trying to learn as much about them.
I haven't even talked to him. I have not talked
to his coaches about him, but I know. I know
one thing. I know his favorite drink. What is it
a kool Aid? Kool Aid?
Speaker 3 (20:30):
It's kool Aid? Well, where where would you have gotten
that from? Dj?
Speaker 2 (20:33):
Uh? Yeah, you watch the Alabama tape.
Speaker 3 (20:36):
He consumed a lot of kool Aid that game.
Speaker 2 (20:38):
He did, he had his fill. He got a little full,
a little ting d.
Speaker 1 (20:43):
It's always good with and look listen, I thought there
were some games where ad kind of just coasted against Alabama.
Speaker 3 (20:49):
You got prime.
Speaker 2 (20:51):
That was the first tape I popped on, and I
was like, holy.
Speaker 3 (20:55):
Either a d Mitchell man he was on it.
Speaker 2 (20:58):
Either this ad Mitchell was really really good or this
kool Aid McKinstry is way overrated. But that was like
my first, my first exposure, that first tape that I
came out of it saying, Okay, I'm not okay, maybe
kool Aid mcentsry is not what he was made out
to be. But this ad Mitch was pretty good. But
that was the first one that I popped on.
Speaker 1 (21:14):
I think something that that scouts will tell you and
that you know you know this too. They talk about
grade the flashes because sometimes you got to figure out
when the flash becomes reality.
Speaker 3 (21:23):
You know, I'll never forget it was just the rookie
of the offensive rookie of the year, c J. Stroud.
His regular season game tape was it was solid.
Speaker 1 (21:30):
Nowhere near bright young, I thought in terms of consistency,
but it was solid.
Speaker 3 (21:33):
It was good.
Speaker 1 (21:34):
I still gave him a you know, I thought it
was more of a sixty four. But that Georgia game
was so exceptional and it was against the best competition.
The last game he ever played. He was moving around
the pocket and getting outside of the pocket. He showed
no issues with poise. He was so good that you
have to say, Man, if the Texans or if somebody
gets this version of c J. Stroud, look out and
(21:58):
guess what. That's who he was this So if the
Alabama version of Ady Mitchell is what we're going to
see in the pros, I mean, he's a top fourteen pick, honestly,
you know, from a value standpoint of what he could become.
Speaker 2 (22:12):
Can I give you one. I'll get on my high
horse here for just one second. Then we'll take a break.
But yeah, I feel like and I love the fact
that we have so many people that are invested and
involved in the draft process. It's great for all of
us I love that so many people have access to
video and people post things and have opinions. I would
(22:32):
not discourage that. I didn't encourage it. I hope more
people continue to do that. I would just say there's
one there's one like major tenet of scouting that you
learn and when you're in the building with teams, and
I was fortunate enough to be around some people that
were really, really sharp. It's that you get paid to
scout to find what these guys can do. Anybody can
(22:55):
sit there and tell you the ninety five things they
can't do and posting videos of he can't do this,
he can't do that, Like what can he do? Okay,
there's no perfect player, there's no such thing. So tell
me the things this guy can do, and then figure
out how that work, you know, how teams can feature
that and get that out of him and what he
can be. That's why I always want to watch. I
(23:16):
want to look at the boxer. I want to watch
your best game. I want to see your absolute best,
and then I want to see you know, I want
to see the point of attack stuff, to see all
all the good stuff that you do. I can go
back through and find and find the flaws and you
obviously you point those out. But more than anything else,
I think that it gets lost and people you go
through a discussion on a player, I'm like, I just
listened to that whole thing. You didn't tell me what
(23:36):
can this guy do? Nothing like everybody can do something like,
please tell me that, you know, just tell me what
this guy can do? Guys me a little bit crazy.
Speaker 1 (23:44):
As a story that I heard from a good friend
who was as general manager when he was a regional scout,
he said he got done reading the report on a player.
He's like, man, we're just a machine gun in these
guys today.
Speaker 3 (23:57):
He goes, well, tell me what he can do? What
is do best?
Speaker 1 (24:01):
And a guy thought and he goes, well he does
this and this, and like, well do you think he
can He said, okay, you killed him for this. Do
you think that with more coaching he can do that?
And the guy said yeah, I mean yeah, I guess
that can be coached. Up he goes okay. So and
then the guy the GM started focusing on what he
could do and he goes, so we run this kind
of defense, we do this, this is a dB And
(24:22):
he said, so what you're telling me is that this
guy's he good on special teams.
Speaker 3 (24:26):
Oh yeah, he's a gunner. He's like okay.
Speaker 1 (24:29):
So basically, what I'm hearing is a guy that we
need to be looking at the fifth or sixth round,
who could end up being a backup for us, who
could play core special teams for us. And this guy
who told me this said, this is a great learning
opportunity for me because I realized, I gotta go find
what they can do, because, as his general manager said,
these guys are going to end up playing a lot
of these guys you kill are going to end up playing.
(24:51):
They'll play, some of them will play better than you
think they are, and some of them will just be depth.
Speaker 3 (24:55):
So don't focus on what they can't do.
Speaker 1 (24:57):
And my dad always told me late round guys, undrafted
free agents, find something that is a big plus for them,
whether it's strength, and he's talking about offensive line. Do
they have great feet, do they have strength, are they
really smart? Go find one plus plus trait that they
have and then we'll try to work around That's.
Speaker 2 (25:16):
As one as one of my coaching buddies likes to
point out that we are of the same age, all
of the same age, So you appreciate this. He said,
we have to remind a lot of times. You got
to remind scouts in the room about the sewing principle.
And I said, what are you talking about? And he's like,
you know, the three amigos, what's the one thing you
can do? We can sew.
Speaker 3 (25:40):
You can always do something. Every player can do something.
Speaker 2 (25:44):
Yeah, what's the one thing they can do? All right,
let's take a quick break. We'll come back. We'll jump
into the building blocks for the AFC North with my
buddy Lance right after this. All right, Lance, let's jump
into this thing here. I am going to start with
the Baltimore Ravens and for those that don't know, here's
what we do. We'll give you a snapshot of their
(26:06):
free agents, cap space, all that kind of good stuff.
We'll talk about some of their building blocks, and then
we're going to do the best part of this exercise,
which is the championship foundation for these teams. And let
me explain that I put this in a tweet probably
six or seven years ago, and it's kind of created
a life of its own. But I was saying, man,
if you could condense these teams down, like to just say,
(26:27):
what do you need for a core championship foundation, and
obviously you build from that. From that core, what came
away with was the quarterback, three offensive playmakers. You need
three quality offensive alignment. You need two pass rushers, they
could be inside, outside, both, or you know wherever you
want to put them. And then three defensive playmakers at
the linebacker at secondary level of the defense. So that's
(26:50):
just kind of like that core group that you're looking for,
and then you can grade them out and we have
through that, Jack and our buddies with NFL research, they've
put this thing together other for us. So they've looked
at it from blue color being a blue chip player,
Green being a really good player, good starter, Yellow has
some type of concern, whether it's age, injury, contract, Pink
(27:13):
is an unproven young player. These might be a great player,
a really good young player, but still hasn't done enough
yet proving wise that they're still on the climb on
the ascent. So let's start with the Baltimore Ravens lance.
First of all, they are picking thirty in the first round.
Then they have their own picks in the second and
the third. No extras there projected cap space. They are
going to have five point one million in cap space.
(27:37):
Notable free agents. There's a couple here. Kevin Zeitler the guard,
Gus Edwards is the running back. Odell Beckham junior. Matta
bk is the big one, the d tackle. We'll see
if he gets tagged. Clowney Vanoy linebacker, Patrick Queen coming
off a great year, Geno Stone coming off a really
good year. The safety. So when we go through and
look at that lance, let's just jump to the to
(28:00):
the building blocks. You've got Lamar Jackson's twenty seven, Kyle
Hamilton's twenty three, ro Kwan Smith is twenty seven, Lenderbaum
the center's twenty four, Jay Flowers twenty three, o'dafe Oways
twenty five, Keith Mitchell the young running back who played
well as Ricky last year. He's twenty two. Isaiah Likely
is twenty four. So all those guys are under contract
(28:20):
through at least the twenty sixth season. So that's that
group there, and then when we get to the championship foundation,
this is how research has it here. They've got the quarterback, obviously,
Amar Jackson's a blue. Offensive playmakers. You've got Mark Andrews
a blue. Jay Flowers is a green might be hitded
towards a blue. And then the next spot you have
(28:42):
a combination of Keaton Mitchell or Isaiah Likely they're both pinks.
You know they're still young, unproven players. You've got Linderbaum
as a blue for the quality offensive line spots. Ronnie
Stanley's a Green, Morgan Moses is a yellow, a little
bit older pass rushers. You've got a blue with Mattabk.
You've got to pink with o way. We're projecting that
(29:03):
Matta b K will be back on the franchise tag
by the way. And the back end, it's really good
with Kyle Hamilton or rokwand Smiths as blues, and you
have Marlon Humphrey and Marcus Williams as green's. You would
have Patrick Queen as a blue there as well, but
obviously he is a free agent.
Speaker 1 (29:18):
Well, they're in phenomenal shape with the blue chippers. That's
rare to have six true blue Chippers, and I agree
with the designations of each of those guys. And then
Marlon Humphrey, Ronnie Stanley's a flowers. You're gonna probably tag
mattab week a. I mean, there's a reason they're in
such great shape from a projected cap space standpoint. If
(29:39):
you look at the free agents, you know, losing Stone
and Patrick Queen would hurt. I think they'll keep madawleek,
but this is not They're for notable free agents or
quality players. But it's nothing that's going to kill you.
And you have all three picks in the first three rounds,
so you've got your core, You'll have your drafted players.
You'll see if anyone can make their way in. Baltimore
(30:00):
is in really good shape. Even though they don't have
a lot of cap space, they're still in pretty good shape.
Speaker 3 (30:05):
They're still in really good shape.
Speaker 2 (30:06):
By yeah, I think the offensive line is probably where
they look to reinforce there, with Ronnie Stanley having some injuries,
Morgan Moses getting a little older, it seems to me
that would be the target there. As we finished them up,
their last five first round picks, Zay Flowers great pick,
Cayle Hamilton great pick, Linderbaum great pick, Bateman solid, and
(30:27):
then o Way solid.
Speaker 3 (30:30):
I'd say those are three big hits and then.
Speaker 2 (30:34):
Yeah, yeah, a couple okays. All right, let's move it
to the Cleveland Browns, coming off an eleven six year
again no first round pick, because of Deshaun Watson trade,
they are picking fifty four in the second round in
eighty five and the third. Cap wise, they are nineteen
million over, so nineteen point six over the projected cap.
(30:55):
Free agent wise, you got Zadarias Smith edge rush or
race Hurst at DT, Shelby Gerris a DT, Anthony Walker
the linebacker. They're building blocks again. These guys are all
under contract through at least twenty six. You've got Deshaun Watson,
who's twenty eight, Denzel Awards twenty seven, jok the linebacker's
twenty four. What a great young player. Delpit is twenty five.
(31:17):
The safety Dewan Jones, the rookie tackles twenty three. Jedrick
Wills is still only twenty five. The other tackle Jerome
Ford twenty four, Cedric Tillman's twenty four, receiver Martin Emerson
corners twenty three, Hickman's twenty two. The safety Greg Newsom
is twenty four. It's a lot of young players on
that defense when we go to let's go over to
(31:39):
their championship foundation here as I pull that up, interesting
group here, quarterback interesting Deshaun Watson is a yellow because
you've got the injuries there and the performance hasn't been great.
In Cleveland, two blues with playmakers with Amari Cooper and
in Djoku. Nick Schubb is of yellow. Those are the
(32:02):
sorry no, sorry, sorry sorry, you're right, you're right, I'm colorblind.
Amari Cooper and Djoku are both greens. I could make
a case for those days blue. Yeah, I can make
a strong case for blue there. Nick Chubb is yellow
because of the injury. In terms of finding the three
quality offensive lineman, they've got Conklin and Botonios as yellows.
(32:23):
I'm assuming for Age Wyatt Teller is a green. Jedrick Wills,
Dewan Jones. You've got injuries. I would imagine there is
why they're yellows. Miles Garrett for the pass rushers obvious blue.
Uh Okuranquo is a yellow. And the defensive playmakers, they've
got Denzel Ward and a Wusu Kormoa as greens. I
(32:45):
could make a case for some blue there, and then
defensive playmaker the third spot. They've got Delpitter or Newsome
as pinks. So that's what you look like. They're only
one blue, but I think you could make a case
for a couple more on there.
Speaker 1 (33:00):
I think the problem we have with this team is
that they're nineteen million. They're nineteen million over the cap,
and then you've got a quarterback and a running back
who should be Blues and watching and Chubb, but Watchington
hasn't played like it and doesn't have a great contract.
Speaker 3 (33:15):
And then Chubb it's just, you know, the injuries.
Speaker 1 (33:17):
He's a blue player who has to go into the
yellow pile because it's just, you know, you just are
not getting that same performance due to injury. And Jedrick
Wills has not progressed as much as I like. Now
I'll tell you this. I watched the Dwan Jones against
and I had questions about Dwan Jones coming out.
Speaker 3 (33:36):
I think I had a third round grade on him.
I watched him against Nick Bosa.
Speaker 1 (33:39):
If you haven't watched that DJ, you should really go
back and watch because it is he played great.
Speaker 2 (33:44):
When he was on the field. Yet you'll be impressive it.
Speaker 1 (33:46):
But and he learned as the season went on. He
started figuring out his length a little better. And I
was really as a guy who was very suspect about
his change the direction. I think he understands how to
play inside out, and I think Dwan Jones is going
to be a much like Orlando not Orlando Brown.
Speaker 2 (34:02):
But his son, Orlando Brown Jr.
Speaker 3 (34:06):
Yeah yeah, not Orlando Brown, Orlando Brown Jr. Obj as
I call him.
Speaker 1 (34:12):
I think Orlando Brown Junior is a great example of
oh oh, the teeth gnashing at the combine and all that.
He's a long player who plays more like his tape
and he's been a solid player.
Speaker 3 (34:23):
I think Dwan Jones is gonna end up being the same.
Speaker 1 (34:25):
But man, I I'm nervous for the Browns because there's
not a lot of You don't have a first round pick.
You got a quarterback on a so far a bad
contract who hasn't performed the way you think he should,
and you you don't have a first I mean, this
is this is gonna be tough to write the ship
unless guys, some of the young guys start playing. I
(34:45):
think Cedric Tillman can take another step forward, but you
really need Jedrick Wills to step up, and then I
think you're only gonna be as good as is your
running back is healthy.
Speaker 2 (34:58):
I think Unfortunately, Yeah, the good thing is they've got
a lot of good young players on that defense. There
and Jim Schwartz is a defensive courting. They're gonna be
good on that side of the ball for sure, and
we'll see what happens with them on the offensive side
of the ball if they get some of these guys
back healthy. Their last four first round picks Greg Newsom,
Jedrick Wills, Baker Mayfield, Denzel Ward, so they haven't had
(35:19):
a ton of those because of trades. Let's get to
the Pittsburgh Steelers. Pittsburgh Steelers, they are projected thirteen point
nine million over the cap. They are picking twenty fifty
one and eighty four, so no extra picks there in
the first three rounds, finishing ten and seven last year.
Let's look at their building. Black players that are under
contract control. Here, you've got Minka Fitzpatrick's twenty seven, Alex
(35:42):
Highsmith's twenty seven, George Pickens is twenty three. Piket, we'll
see what he does next year is twenty six. Brodick
Jones twenty three, coming off a solid rookie year. Joey
Porter another rookie twenty four, kean O Benton that's a
good rookie class twenty three, Friar Morose twenty five, najiheris six,
Jalen Warren twenty five, James Daniels guards twenty six, Dan
(36:03):
Moore tackle a little uneven played there, he's twenty five.
Darnel Washington the rookie man again, good rookie class twenty
three her big another one is twenty two. When we
go to the championship. Foundation for these guys, Kenny Pickett
is a pink. He is an unproven young player. George
Pickens is a green, so a good solid player. You've
(36:27):
got Deontay Johnson, and then you've got the two running backs,
Najie Harris and Jalen Warren. They all I would argue that.
Speaker 3 (36:33):
The combination of those two is almost.
Speaker 2 (36:34):
Green, could be green, I would. I would agree with
that with Naji in with Jalen Warren, I think that's
fair that they have the research has him as yellows here.
Maybe I'll love to have those updated. Broderick Jones the tackle,
he is a pink. You've got a green for Somalo,
he was a really solid player for them. Then you've
(36:56):
got some yellow there for Dan Moore and James Daniels.
On the defense to pass rushers, you get a blue
for TJ. Watt, a green for alex Heighsmith, a blue
for Minka Fitzpatrick, a pink for Joey Porter, and they
need another one. They didn't research, didn't even put in
a third one here and just says question mark here.
So finding another playmaker, either the linebacker or the secondary
would seem like an obvious direction that they could go
(37:17):
here in the draft.
Speaker 1 (37:19):
Well, okay, you're over the cap, so be it from
a from a free agency standpoint.
Speaker 3 (37:26):
For the Pittsburgh Steelers, it's not an issue for him.
Their issue.
Speaker 1 (37:31):
And there Look, it's notably as we've heard time and
time again, this is the youngest. This is one of
the youngest teams in Pro football. The problem you have
here is that you don't have the quarterback figured out yet.
You need I think Broderick Jones is going to be
just five, but you still need an offensive tackle and
you need to find a wide receiver. I love what
(37:52):
Joey Porter Jr. Did last year. I think that's had
in the right direction. I think Broderick Jones has definitely
had in the right direction. When you really take this
all in, you know, wouldn't shock me DJF They I
think short of the quarterback which is going to be
a concern. They could really tighten up some of these
areas with this year's draft. So I actually think the
Steelers are still in pretty good shape relative to their
(38:13):
age and the rookie contracts are.
Speaker 3 (38:14):
Going to be playing.
Speaker 2 (38:15):
I think I figured it out here on the running
backs being yellows. They're both up in twenty five, depending
on whether or not they exercise Yeah, so that falls
in the contract. So you know, we're talking about building blocks,
guys who are going to be here in are under
control for the foreseeable future. So I would imagine with
both those and we'll see what they do with the
fifth year option with Najie Harris. But that is why
(38:35):
I assume that they are listed as such when we
look at what they've done in the draft. Broderick Jones
solid player last year, Kenny Pickett vertic verdict. The jury
is still out on that one. Naji Harris has been solid, then,
Devin Bush no longer on the team, Trel Edmonds no
longer on the team. They have not had rookies signed
(38:57):
second contracts there very often in like the last ten
fifteen years, Like they haven't been a ton of them.
First round picks that have resigned, So that's something they've
got to they've got to get better at in terms
of hitting on their first round picks. All right, let's
get to the Cincinnati Bengals. The Bengals comparing them to
the other teams this division pretty interesting. They were picking
(39:18):
eighteen forty nine and eighty projected caps base fifty nine
point four million dollars to spend here for the Cincinnati Bengals,
But a big chunk of that's gonna get eaten up
by T Higgins on the tag more than likely. Tyler
Boyd's a free agent. Joanah Williams is a free agent.
DJ Reader is a free agent. In Chadobia Wuzier also
(39:38):
a free agent. Building block wise, age wise, Joe Burrows
twenty seven, Jamar Chase is twenty four, Cambritz twenty four,
Daxton Hill young safety is twenty three, DJ Turner's twenty three,
young corner Jordan Battles twenty three, Miles Murphy's twenty two.
The kicker Evan McPherson makes the list. He is twenty five.
When we go to the building blocks here the Championship Foundation,
(40:03):
we get Joe Burrows a blue, Jamar Chase is of blue.
T Higgins is a yellow on here because of the contract.
I would imagine the projected tag. You've got Joe Mixon
as a yellow. You've got all offensive lineman. You've got
three greens, Orlando Brown Junior, Alex Kappa, and Ted Carris
(40:23):
is great.
Speaker 3 (40:24):
Krris is a green. Wow, I mean what a just
kind of a guy.
Speaker 1 (40:30):
But this is what when you that's a great example
of these guys play.
Speaker 3 (40:33):
Tell me what, Mark Martin, what can they do? And
Ted Carris is a great example of that.
Speaker 2 (40:40):
Trey Hendrickson's a blue. They've got Hubbard and Hill as greens,
Logan Wilson and Jermaine Pratt that combos greens as well.
Then you've got the defensive playmakers the last two spots.
They've got just a bunch of names in here with
Cam Taylor, Britt, DJ Turner.
Speaker 3 (40:55):
Dax Hill, all.
Speaker 2 (40:57):
Young guys, all all pink, just kind of young, unproved players.
Speaker 3 (41:00):
Higgins a year blue for you.
Speaker 2 (41:02):
If he were to me, I think he's a I
think if he signs a multi year deal and it's
under control there, I think you're talking about a blue player.
I think he's a blue receiver.
Speaker 1 (41:12):
Two blue receivers a potential and your mock draft to
get your hands on a tremendous run after catch tight
end and Rock Bowers and then Joe Burrow.
Speaker 2 (41:22):
I mean, the thing is that offensive line doesn't need blues.
They if you can just build your offensive line with
some just all green across there, just all solid, good players.
You don't need any you know, Hall of Fame guys.
And they're just steady, solid group that that that collection
of talent on the outside. Burrow get the ball out
of there. So here's the question for DJ.
Speaker 1 (41:40):
DJ Readers had some injury issues over the last two
or three years, but he's really impact he plays.
Speaker 3 (41:45):
You're gonna pay DJ Reader? Are you're gonna let them walk?
Speaker 2 (41:48):
They got fifty nine million. It feels to me like
this is a sign your own, uh free agent year
here for the Cincinnati Bengals. But I think they can
accomplish a lot by signing their own guys. Look at
their last five first round picks, Lance H Miles, Murphy,
Daxton Hill, Jamar Chase, Joe Burrow, Jonah Williams. Amazing how
twenty twenty and twenty one shape their franchise. Joe Burrow
and Jamar Chase. That was that literally was their foundation
(42:12):
to already get to a Super Bowl.
Speaker 3 (42:15):
Yeah, I tell you what it was.
Speaker 1 (42:18):
Well, that's what happened is it's usually not building outside
like the Falcons have tried to build out right, And
usually you want to build the trenches and build your
way out and not build your way back inside. But
because Joe Burrow is so great at getting getting rid
of the football in general, it's worked out for them
to an extent. But we also have two years where
Joe Burrow had season any injuries out.
Speaker 2 (42:39):
Of no question which which, by the way, I gave
NFL research some crap on this one, because technically Burrow
should probably be a yellow yellow coming off the entry.
He's so you know, they know they're gonna we're gonna
tweet this out, and they didn't.
Speaker 3 (42:52):
Well, but Joe Burrow gets gets a blue.
Speaker 2 (42:55):
They did not want to smoke. They did not want
the Twitter smoke on that one. So they Yeah, they
kept doing a mock.
Speaker 1 (43:01):
Draft with with your blues and your yellows and your greens.
Speaker 2 (43:05):
Oh yeah, that's hilarious. All right, this has been a
fun one. I want to encourage everybody check out the
next episode. We've got coming your way this week, which
is gonna be my conference call on Thursday. We will
package a portion of that because it's a long one
and uh, and that'll be something you can listen to
where we have over one hundred media members on there
firing questions away. So a lot of draft talk on
that one, and uh, Lance and Bucky will kind of
(43:28):
pick it up next week from from the combine and
we'll have updates all throughout the week at the NFL
Scouting Combine.
Speaker 1 (43:35):
Oh forget, this is an NFL Plus. You and I
are breaking down the combine. Uh oh yeah, Combine's gonna
look like position by day by day.
Speaker 2 (43:42):
Yeah, no question. We've we already recorded those, so those
will be released on NFL Plus if you have the app,
check that out.
Speaker 1 (43:48):
Spoiler, I hate doing this, but we do have some
day three offensive line talk going on too.
Speaker 2 (43:53):
So oh yeah, yeah, we were preview and we're trying
to get you guys excited and Lance. Lance gave a
five in a dissertation on somebody and then close close
it out with I think this guy could go like
fifth sixth round. You know, we want people to watch
the combine. We would love for them to tune in.
This is not helping the cost here, but nonetheless check
(44:14):
out the videos. I think you'll enjoy that.
Speaker 3 (44:16):
Trying to keep it for the last day. DJ. That's all.
Speaker 2 (44:18):
There you go. I love it again in all sincerity.
Thanks again for popping on with me, man. It's always
great to chop it up. Lance does his work, does
his homework. Be sure to follow him and check him out.
All his stuff on NFL dot com and on social
media is outstanding. All right, that's it. That's it for today.
We'll see you next time right here on move the sticks.
And now move the sticks with Daniel, Jeremiah and Bucky Brooks.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
What's up, everybody. Welcome to move the sticks, DJ and
Lance with you today. Bucky is at the HBCU Combine,
so he will be back next week as we get
towards the combine in Indianapolis. Lance, how you doing, buddy,
I'm doing well.
Speaker 3 (00:21):
I'm doing well, looking forward to the combine.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
I feel like doesn't matter when we do shows together,
whether they're in the morning, the afternoon of the evening,
but I feel like I'm always accompanied by my little
cup of coffee. Here, it's the three of us. It's
like a three man team. Here, Me and my coffee
are line.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
You're now tweeting pictures out of your coffee. When did
you have a coffee drinker? I became a coffee drinker
when morning radio got the best of me about well,
I don't know, about fifteen years ago. I said, let
me try this coffee thing. And I'm seven days a
week now now it's a physical addiction.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
I turned to coffee maybe a decade ago. I turned
a drinking coffee a decade ago. Aim to being an
unhealthy uh consumer of coffee. When the combine list decided
to come out I don't know, maybe two weeks before
the combine, and I'm trying to jam all these guys
in and get all these guys watched.
Speaker 3 (01:14):
Can we get that out a little earlier?
Speaker 2 (01:16):
For goodness, gracious man, it's ridiculous. Uh So, anyways, I'm
humping it trying to trying to get that done. I
know I'm preaching to the choir on that one, but
let's let's jump in. We've got a lot of ground
we're going to cover to day. We've got a mock
draft just came out, my second one. We're gonna we're
gonna whip through that and see if you have any questions, comments, concerns,
and then we're going to continue our our building block series.
(01:37):
That was it was a big hit something that I'm
really fired up about, which is a kind of a
unique way to look at the championship foundation of these
teams in terms of kind of young, controllable star players
or who are their key players at the most important positions.
I'll explain that a little bit after we get through
this mock draft, but let's start things out here. First
(01:58):
of all, lance with this mock draft, I'm gonna rip
through the first ten picks, and then give me what
stands out to you the most here.
Speaker 3 (02:07):
You ready, Yeah, all right.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
I've got Caleb Williams, haven't changed there, going to the
Bears at number one. I've got Drake May going to
Washington at two. Decide to switch it up because I
don't want to do the same thing in every single
mock draft, even though in my heart of hearts, I
believe we're going to go quarterback, quarterback, quarterback, whether that's
with the trade or whether the Patriots stick and pick.
In this scenario, I said, hey, let's give him a
veteran and let's go Marvin Harrison Junior with a third pick.
(02:31):
The Cardinals come back with their choice of the next
two wideouts. They go Malik Neighbors, again, switching it up
for me a little bit. The Chargers, they are at five, again,
no trades, so they take Joe Alt. That decision would
come down to Alt versus a doonsday, I believe, So
I had them taking an offensive lineman for Jim Harbaugh's
first pick. Then you have Jaden Daniels falling to the
(02:54):
Giants at six, which more than likely the Giants, I
would think would join the Falcons as two teams that
would try and trade up if he started to drift. Seven,
I've got Fashanu Olufashana is the big tackle from Penn
State going to the Titans. JJ McCarthy A little bit
of a surprise there going to the Atlanta Falcons based
off just a lot of a buzz and chatter of
(03:14):
folks that are connected to those who interviewed for that job,
and there seemed to be a thought coming out of
those coaching interviews that from ownership at the very top,
they want a young quarterback. So that's where I put
JJ McCarthy. Nine. The Bears double up big Okaeleb Williams,
they come back with Roma doonsday to spice up a
pretty anemic offense. And then the Jets, Golly, I want
(03:36):
to give them somebody else. I game Fuaga last time.
I came back game tyle E c Fuaga again on
this one. I just I didn't know who else to
put there. So those are the top ten, all right.
Speaker 3 (03:46):
A couple of things to stand out to me.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
Number one, Joe Alt, has there ever been a better
fit for a coach than this tackle? I mean, if
you study offensive line and offensive line body types.
Speaker 3 (03:56):
The Notre Dame model.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
And the Michigan model are very similar, very similar looking
players for those two teams. When it comes to the
offensive line and Joe Alt, you could put him in
a Michigan uniform, you can. I mean, he looks like
a Notre Dame tackle to me, but I think you
can put him right there with what with what Jim
Harbaugh is gonna want to do, and it makes perfect sense.
(04:18):
Now would you play him on the right side or
would you play him on the left.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
Well, he's not going to replace Slater at left. Slater's
already been an All Pro when he's healthy. So the
challenge is you've got Pipkins, I believe has another year
of control. And Pipkins is a functional right tackle. He
might not be an elite player, but he's a functional starter.
So I know some pushback people will get, well, like, hey,
you've got two tackles. They're being you know, you got
a rookie, a first rounder, and then you are a
(04:42):
guy in a rookie deal who's a first round pick,
and then you've got somebody that you paid on a
second contract in Pipkins, And I'm like, look, je Ortiz
came from Baltimore. It is a best player available and
they prefer the premium positions. Jonathan Ogden played guard his
rookie year at six foot nine, so if they had
to maneuver around, if they wanted to keep Pipkins for
another year, they could play Altic guard for a year
(05:03):
before kicking him out to be the eventual right tackle.
But the goal would be you have Slater an alt
as your bookend tackles for the prime of Justin Herbert's career.
Speaker 1 (05:13):
Here's my other one for you, Daniels versus May. Obviously
this is the big batt on I think on tape.
I mean, you and I have watched all these guys
pretty extensively. I think, without question the better tape this
year's Jaden Daniels. How much are you going with May
based on your belief in traits eventually went out because
(05:34):
of May's arm town and his size versus you know,
the thin body structure of Jaden Daniels. How much of
this is just you feeling like he might be the
type of fit. Where are you and your May versus
Jaden Daniels Personal evaluations?
Speaker 2 (05:49):
Personal evaluations? It is very close, and to be totally honest,
with you, I go through and do this first round
of evaluations, as you do the same, you know, you
have the same challenge in front of you, which is
I got to get to three hundred and twenty guys.
So I've got my first layer on these guys, and
I'm looking forward to once we get done with the combine,
(06:11):
circling back and then digging into every single thing. I've
seen all of Caleb Williams tape. I'm done. I've already
kind of put him to bed. I'm done there, but
I want to go back in and watch more stuff throughout,
you know, the careers, not just this year with Jayden
Daniels as well as with Drake May. So it's close
for me. I still have May over him, and talking
to the guys I talked to around the league, I
(06:31):
get more feedback of Drake May over Jayden Daniels. And
that could just be the people that I'm talking to.
But when I'm doing these mock drafts, I tend to
do them more off of what I'm hearing than my own,
you know, personal belief.
Speaker 3 (06:42):
Okay, that's a good one.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
Last question I'd have for you on ten or last comment,
how hard was it for you to place Olu Fashanu
at seven? Is it because there's a lot of tackles
to choose from Fashan, who's got some up and down
tape at times. How difficult was that for you to
stick for Shana there at seven with the Titans? Did
you ever consider any position other than tackle for the Titans?
Speaker 2 (07:06):
I couldn't. And I'll give you the numbers. When you
look at it and you look at a team that's
twenty seventh in points per game, tied for twenty eighth,
and sacks allowed twenty eighth and third down, I'm like, okay,
you know, I like the defense take the ball away
a little bit more. They were thirty first in takeaways,
but the offensive line just slaps in the face as
an area that they have to address. So that's why
(07:28):
I was looking in that direction and Fashanu, look, I'm
trying to be careful on this one. It's a little bit.
I'm concerned with his evaluation in that you come into
the year with expectation and what you've seen of a
guy and what he's established himself, and I feel like
you can get in trouble by trying to find that
(07:49):
one thing and taking one small issue and extra playing
out into a huge issue because that's what we do.
We nitpick guys as they come back. Last year, I
thought he would have been a top ten pick. I
thought he would have been the best tackle in to drive.
This year, I don't think he played quite as well.
The Ohio State game is the one that everybody's going
to point to. But I'm like, Okay, am I just
crushing him because he got his eyes in the wrong
place in the Ohio State game and got dumped, and
(08:11):
am I disqualifying all the other stuff that I've seen
on him? So I'm trying to be careful on that
one on Fashanu to make sure that I'm not you know,
you're not overthinking that one. So that's why I had
him going.
Speaker 3 (08:23):
There makes some sense. Let's go through the next tip.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
YEP, eleven Minnesota. These are eleven and twelve are quarterback teams,
so I wouldn't rule that out. But I in this exercise,
I had Dallas Turner the edge rusher from Bama to
the Vikings back to back edge rusher's Jared Verse from
Florida State to the Broncos Terry and Arnold the corner
to the Raiders.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
J C.
Speaker 2 (08:44):
Latham tackle to the Saints because the penning pick has
not worked out the Colts. This is a special for you, Lance.
What do you know a trades corner in Nate Wiggins
going to your buddy Chris Ballard there with the Colts,
Byron Murphy to Theahawks. They have Leonard Williams a free agent.
There I go secondary with the Jags, Quinya and Mitchell,
(09:06):
who I love at seventeen the corner from Toledo. This
one was a fun one. This one maybe selfish. I
had Brock Bowers fall to the Cincinnati Bengals at eighteen.
I don't think it's super likely that that happens, but man,
I just I wanted to dream on that a little bit,
to see what he would look like surrounded by hopefully
T Higgins coming back on a franchise tag Jamar Chase
(09:26):
and Joe Burrow. That would be that'd be a fun one.
Jackson powers Johnson, the center from Oregon goes to the Rams,
and then the Steelers go Troy foul Tanu. I got
to get that right before the combine Washington tackle slash guard.
It can play pretty much anywhere for the Steelers.
Speaker 3 (09:42):
I think that's a great pick twenty with the Steelers.
Speaker 1 (09:45):
I'm gonna circle back, so I think the floor of
this draft is going to go. I mean if you
had a draft or just edge rushers, cornerbacks, wide receivers,
and quarterbacks, what would almost wipe out the entire first round. Yeah,
that's and it's just going to be how those picks flow.
So when are they're going to be runs? Is really
what it's what's going to determine, like the top fourteen picks,
(10:05):
because as you mentioned, all these teams have you know,
some teams like the Jets and Tennessee have definite tackle
needs offensive line needs, but you just never know what
the Giants you never know right now with the Vikings
at Denver Broncos.
Speaker 3 (10:19):
So you're right this really I think JJ McCarthy's going.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
To be one of those lynch pins where the draft
will pivot on where he is drafted. Potentially, this is
higher than you've had Latham and Wiggins I think in
your last draft.
Speaker 2 (10:33):
Correct me if I'm wrong, No, I uh yeah, I'll
be honestly. I haven't gone back and looked at one
point on in a minute, but no, in terms of
where I have them. It's about where I have Latham ranked.
I have to update my top fifty this weekend, but
he's in that range. I think he was seventeen somewhere
around there on my top fifty list on the first one,
so that's about where I have him. Wiggins is one
(10:55):
that look that if I was going to say, guys,
I'm coming down on, guys, I'm coming up on I
got the sense you always put this stuff out there,
then you get feedback from the league. And when you
look at at tes Walker, who I liked on tape,
who did not have a good Senior Bowl, did not
catch the ball well at all, he's probably the one
that's taken on the most water on my personal list,
(11:15):
And then you would look at at somebody like Wiggins,
who the more you hear about him, I didn't think
he was, you know, super aggressive and wanting to get
involved against the run. A lot of teams don't share
the same concerns that I've talked to. So I got
the sense that why I have him kind of more
in the back of one on my personal ranking on
my list, that he's going to, uh, he's going to
(11:37):
go higher than that. So those would be the two
that are probably saying one going up, one coming down.
Speaker 3 (11:42):
Yeah, Wiggins.
Speaker 1 (11:43):
I started with a six point seven, which is really
really high based on tape. Then digging around a little
bit more, I moved him down to a sixty four,
which is a natural progression for those who don't know,
we go six seven to six y five, boom or
bust six ' four And I've got and I stacked
my six fours with one more decimall you know.
Speaker 2 (11:59):
With He's a six y three for me. He's a
six to three for me. In my first list, he
was my thirtieth player.
Speaker 3 (12:05):
That means a good starter.
Speaker 2 (12:06):
It's a good player, yeah, yeah, yeah, and above average starter. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (12:10):
Give me a player a sixty three.
Speaker 1 (12:12):
Give me a player in the NFL cornerback who you
consider to be not necessarily a player comp for Wiggins,
But give people an idea of what a sixty three
looks like.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
Well, I would say, until you know, early on in
his career, and I think he's even gotten better than that.
What is my man? Why am I going to blank
on his name here? From now? This is the problem
lands I've got all these draft guys in my head,
and now you're gonna ask me about current NFL players, Well,
Jalen Johnson will be the one I was gonna say,
j Johnson is a sixty was a sixty three, sixty
(12:41):
four type player to me coming into the draft, and
I thought he's played like that, and he's advanced to
probably be a sixty four, maybe even a sixty seven
what he's become. But if you watched him early in
his career, that's to me, that's like a solid starter.
You're not looking to replace, just a steady, steady, good
football player.
Speaker 1 (12:57):
So I've got May just to have a conversation about
our grading scales.
Speaker 3 (13:03):
I've got Drake May as a sixty five.
Speaker 1 (13:05):
Why don't you tell people what sixty fives are at
least for what we do?
Speaker 2 (13:09):
Yeah, I gave him the same grade. So sixty five
is kind of a high ceiling, lower floor grade. There's
some variants there. There's some risk involved, but you're talking
about big, big upside. The sixty five grade is for
usually it's reserved people who need some development, so there's
still growth to take place there there, or there's a
risk involved with injury, there's a risk involved with character.
(13:32):
You know, he obviously doesn't fall into that category. He
is a kind of he's a D player, so there's
some development still to take place there. But a sixty
five player could turn into a sixty nine, like if
he realizes his potential.
Speaker 1 (13:43):
Yeah, sometimes you would much rather have a sixty four.
You draft a sixty four, and you'd even stack them there.
Speaker 3 (13:49):
Than sixty five.
Speaker 1 (13:50):
Yea, So people don't understand when they see my numbers
and a couple sixty fives I have for Olufushanu, Andrew
and Drake may.
Speaker 3 (13:58):
I like Brock Bowers of the Bengals. I love it.
Speaker 1 (14:01):
I just have such a hard time placing Brock Bowers
in the first mock draft because it's hard to place
tight ends in general, and then Brock, you know, is
going to test well, but he's going to be smaller.
Like just figure was it difficult for you to figure
out where you wanted to put Brock? Was he lingering
on your sheet about I still haven't put Bowers anywhere.
Speaker 2 (14:20):
So one of the things that's tricky about this that
it's it's hard to you can't explain it in a
mock draft. It's really difficult to even explain it in
a tweet. But when you talk to GMS and you
talk about people hear the phrase positional value, and we've
had the running back discussion and all that kind of stuff.
But there's the financial component that I don't think that
(14:41):
that people fully grasp and let me do my best
to try and explain it here. Just pull up if
you pull up the list and look at the franchise
tag numbers for the players at every position, if you
were to take a tight end in the top ten,
what you would pay him, even though it might you know,
you don't think it's a ton of money, but say
it's whatever it is seven eight million on an average
(15:02):
per year, and the tight end number is, say there's
twelve millions. Let's just use eight and twelve for just
kind of rough numbers. Here, you're getting a savings of
four million dollars off the premiere like top players at
their position at that position. So I'm already paying top
of the market price for my rookie tight end. I'm
not really getting that rookie contract benefit versus what I
(15:24):
could go out and get free agent tight ends for
on the market. Whereas if you look at the receiver
number and it's that number stays the same no matter
who you pick with the draft pick. So now we
take that same eight million, and now the receiver market
we get into the twenty millions. So now I'm The
surplus value I have there is enormous. You know, I
(15:44):
don't have to go out on the market and pay
top top dollar. I just put all that money back
in my coffers. So I think that's something that it's
kind of tricky to explain. No, but that's teams are
very aware of it.
Speaker 3 (15:56):
Yeah, I mean that's a great explanation. It's something people
need to be aware of.
Speaker 1 (15:59):
Is is getting It's like in baseball where you have
club control for a certain amount of time on great players,
and then you know you have to let we're dealing
with it here with the ashows you have to let
certain great players go because they get too expensive. That's
why sometime you'd rather have that quarterback on the fifth
year option. You'd rather have an opportunity, or not even quarterback.
It could be any position. If you think of player
(16:22):
is really good, you'd rather get the fifth year option
if you think they're going to be really good. So
you still have some club control and you have a
franchise tag potentially available.
Speaker 3 (16:30):
That's good.
Speaker 2 (16:31):
Let's go finish it up.
Speaker 3 (16:33):
Yeah, let's finish it up all right.
Speaker 2 (16:35):
Twenty one the Miami Dolphins THEA to Latu from Ed
Rusher from UCLA. And people will say, oh, why would
they do that? They've already got two. Now everybody wants three,
and you roll those guys through and then you can
withstand injury along the way, and keep in mind they're
going to lose in free agency. Gosh, why am I
going to blank on his name now? Again? The names
(16:56):
are gonna kill me with with veteran players from Iowa,
Van Ginkel, thank you. Yes, the machine's a little slow today.
Lance again, not a lot of sleep. I've had too
much coffee. I'm not sleeping. Ennis Reycustraw from Missouri. The
corner goes to the Eagles desperate need there. This one
was a fun one. Brian Thomas junior wide out from
(17:17):
LSU goes to the Texans and you imagine that trio
Tyler Geiton with the Cowboys. Now in terms of how
that all comes together, I honestly Terrence Steele had escaped
my mind when I put this in there, because I said, well,
you've got Tyler Smith can kick back out to tackle. Well,
if you've got Geyiton, You've got steel. You could still
leave Tyler Smith at guard if you wanted to. To me,
(17:39):
that's kind of a steeal versus versus him to see
who who plays where, But they definitely with the Tyron
Smith leaving need know alignment there. Cooper de Gene from
Iowa goes to the Packers corner, could play really any
of the five positions back there. Ad Ni Mitchell big
receiver to replace Mike Evans to the Bucks. Darius Robinson
(18:00):
heavy edge. He goes to the Cardinals from Missouri, Chop
Robinson from Penn State. EDG. Dresher goes to the Bills.
They've got a couple of free agents, including Floyd and Epanessa.
So he goes there as an a dresser. Zach Fraser
just feels like a lion. You get the wrestling background.
I figured Dan Campbell and him. I just you know,
they put on the little head gear and just kind
of spar maybe there ragnow staying there. I'm playing Zach
(18:24):
Fraser at guard and he is the eventual replacement. They
have both guards or free agents in Detroit. So Fraser's
he's six three three fourteen, He's he'll be fine. He
can play guard and then eventually kick over a Marius
Mims the tackle. Just take a good player to have
him fall to the Ravens. That's usually the exercise to
do in these mock drafts. Graham Barton the tackle from
(18:46):
Duke probably kicks inside. Could be a center there for
the forty nine ers. And then Troy Franklin, speedy wide
receiver from Oregon. He goes to the Chiefs to compliment
Rashid Rice.
Speaker 3 (18:57):
So there's not a world where your guy Zach Fraser
is gonna beat my guy Graham Barton to first off
the board. That's not going to happen. So we'll scratch
that out.
Speaker 2 (19:04):
We'll just possible it's still it's uh, I'm not rolling
that out.
Speaker 1 (19:08):
We'll just flip flop him. Adie Mitchell. Love that you
put Adi Mitchell. You know, I really thought about putting
Adie Mitchell on my first mock. He's gonna test well.
One of the things people need to keep in mind
is there's always frequently there's noticeable growth on tape from
year one to year two. I went to watch Mitchell
obviously when he was with Georgia, not as many snaps,
(19:30):
not as many catch attempts, a lot of them came
in that game against Georgia. But his aggressiveness level his
he still doesn't always dominate people with a size like
he needs to with ball skills, but in aggression. But
like that will take place as long as as soon
as he learns to carve out his space, you're not
gonna beat him on jump balls. He's going to be terrific.
(19:50):
I expect him to run well, I expect him to
jump well, and he's got when you when you look
at the athletic profile combined with the production this year,
combined with the tray though, these are the kind of
guys to shoot into the first round, like Darius Robinson
you put there. I put him in my first min
because I'm like, this feels like a guy who's gonna
go first round because the trades. I'd say, Adi Mitchell
(20:10):
is a guy who probably needs to start popping up
in more mock drafts in the first round.
Speaker 2 (20:14):
You know, it's interesting, you're always you're trying to study
these players and you're trying to learn as much about them.
I haven't even talked to him. I have not talked
to his coaches about him, but I know. I know
one thing. I know his favorite drink. What is it
a kool Aid? Kool Aid?
Speaker 3 (20:30):
It's kool Aid? Well, where where would you have gotten
that from? Dj?
Speaker 2 (20:33):
Uh? Yeah, you watch the Alabama tape.
Speaker 3 (20:36):
He consumed a lot of kool Aid that game.
Speaker 2 (20:38):
He did, he had his fill. He got a little full,
a little ting d.
Speaker 1 (20:43):
It's always good with and look listen, I thought there
were some games where ad kind of just coasted against Alabama.
Speaker 3 (20:49):
You got prime.
Speaker 2 (20:51):
That was the first tape I popped on, and I
was like, holy.
Speaker 3 (20:55):
Either a d Mitchell man he was on it.
Speaker 2 (20:58):
Either this ad Mitchell was really really good or this
kool Aid McKinstry is way overrated. But that was like
my first, my first exposure, that first tape that I
came out of it saying, Okay, I'm not okay, maybe
kool Aid mcentsry is not what he was made out
to be. But this ad Mitch was pretty good. But
that was the first one that I popped on.
Speaker 1 (21:14):
I think something that that scouts will tell you and
that you know you know this too. They talk about
grade the flashes because sometimes you got to figure out
when the flash becomes reality.
Speaker 3 (21:23):
You know, I'll never forget it was just the rookie
of the offensive rookie of the year, c J. Stroud.
His regular season game tape was it was solid.
Speaker 1 (21:30):
Nowhere near bright young, I thought in terms of consistency,
but it was solid.
Speaker 3 (21:33):
It was good.
Speaker 1 (21:34):
I still gave him a you know, I thought it
was more of a sixty four. But that Georgia game
was so exceptional and it was against the best competition.
The last game he ever played. He was moving around
the pocket and getting outside of the pocket. He showed
no issues with poise. He was so good that you
have to say, Man, if the Texans or if somebody
gets this version of c J. Stroud, look out and
(21:58):
guess what. That's who he was this So if the
Alabama version of Ady Mitchell is what we're going to
see in the pros, I mean, he's a top fourteen pick, honestly,
you know, from a value standpoint of what he could become.
Speaker 2 (22:12):
Can I give you one. I'll get on my high
horse here for just one second. Then we'll take a break.
But yeah, I feel like and I love the fact
that we have so many people that are invested and
involved in the draft process. It's great for all of
us I love that so many people have access to
video and people post things and have opinions. I would
(22:32):
not discourage that. I didn't encourage it. I hope more
people continue to do that. I would just say there's
one there's one like major tenet of scouting that you
learn and when you're in the building with teams, and
I was fortunate enough to be around some people that
were really, really sharp. It's that you get paid to
scout to find what these guys can do. Anybody can
(22:55):
sit there and tell you the ninety five things they
can't do and posting videos of he can't do this,
he can't do that, Like what can he do? Okay,
there's no perfect player, there's no such thing. So tell
me the things this guy can do, and then figure
out how that work, you know, how teams can feature
that and get that out of him and what he
can be. That's why I always want to watch. I
(23:16):
want to look at the boxer. I want to watch
your best game. I want to see your absolute best,
and then I want to see you know, I want
to see the point of attack stuff, to see all
all the good stuff that you do. I can go
back through and find and find the flaws and you
obviously you point those out. But more than anything else,
I think that it gets lost and people you go
through a discussion on a player, I'm like, I just
listened to that whole thing. You didn't tell me what
(23:36):
can this guy do? Nothing like everybody can do something like,
please tell me that, you know, just tell me what
this guy can do? Guys me a little bit crazy.
Speaker 1 (23:44):
As a story that I heard from a good friend
who was as general manager when he was a regional scout,
he said he got done reading the report on a player.
He's like, man, we're just a machine gun in these
guys today.
Speaker 3 (23:57):
He goes, well, tell me what he can do? What
is do best?
Speaker 1 (24:01):
And a guy thought and he goes, well he does
this and this, and like, well do you think he
can He said, okay, you killed him for this. Do
you think that with more coaching he can do that?
And the guy said yeah, I mean yeah, I guess
that can be coached. Up he goes okay. So and
then the guy the GM started focusing on what he
could do and he goes, so we run this kind
of defense, we do this, this is a dB And
(24:22):
he said, so what you're telling me is that this
guy's he good on special teams.
Speaker 3 (24:26):
Oh yeah, he's a gunner. He's like okay.
Speaker 1 (24:29):
So basically, what I'm hearing is a guy that we
need to be looking at the fifth or sixth round,
who could end up being a backup for us, who
could play core special teams for us. And this guy
who told me this said, this is a great learning
opportunity for me because I realized, I gotta go find
what they can do, because, as his general manager said,
these guys are going to end up playing a lot
of these guys you kill are going to end up playing.
(24:51):
They'll play, some of them will play better than you
think they are, and some of them will just be depth.
Speaker 3 (24:55):
So don't focus on what they can't do.
Speaker 1 (24:57):
And my dad always told me late round guys, undrafted
free agents, find something that is a big plus for them,
whether it's strength, and he's talking about offensive line. Do
they have great feet, do they have strength, are they
really smart? Go find one plus plus trait that they
have and then we'll try to work around That's.
Speaker 2 (25:16):
As one as one of my coaching buddies likes to
point out that we are of the same age, all
of the same age, So you appreciate this. He said,
we have to remind a lot of times. You got
to remind scouts in the room about the sewing principle.
And I said, what are you talking about? And he's like,
you know, the three amigos, what's the one thing you
can do? We can sew.
Speaker 3 (25:40):
You can always do something. Every player can do something.
Speaker 2 (25:44):
Yeah, what's the one thing they can do? All right,
let's take a quick break. We'll come back. We'll jump
into the building blocks for the AFC North with my
buddy Lance right after this. All right, Lance, let's jump
into this thing here. I am going to start with
the Baltimore Ravens and for those that don't know, here's
what we do. We'll give you a snapshot of their
(26:06):
free agents, cap space, all that kind of good stuff.
We'll talk about some of their building blocks, and then
we're going to do the best part of this exercise,
which is the championship foundation for these teams. And let
me explain that I put this in a tweet probably
six or seven years ago, and it's kind of created
a life of its own. But I was saying, man,
if you could condense these teams down, like to just say,
(26:27):
what do you need for a core championship foundation, and
obviously you build from that. From that core, what came
away with was the quarterback, three offensive playmakers. You need
three quality offensive alignment. You need two pass rushers, they
could be inside, outside, both, or you know wherever you
want to put them. And then three defensive playmakers at
the linebacker at secondary level of the defense. So that's
(26:50):
just kind of like that core group that you're looking for,
and then you can grade them out and we have
through that, Jack and our buddies with NFL research, they've
put this thing together other for us. So they've looked
at it from blue color being a blue chip player,
Green being a really good player, good starter, Yellow has
some type of concern, whether it's age, injury, contract, Pink
(27:13):
is an unproven young player. These might be a great player,
a really good young player, but still hasn't done enough
yet proving wise that they're still on the climb on
the ascent. So let's start with the Baltimore Ravens lance.
First of all, they are picking thirty in the first round.
Then they have their own picks in the second and
the third. No extras there projected cap space. They are
going to have five point one million in cap space.
(27:37):
Notable free agents. There's a couple here. Kevin Zeitler the guard,
Gus Edwards is the running back. Odell Beckham junior. Matta
bk is the big one, the d tackle. We'll see
if he gets tagged. Clowney Vanoy linebacker, Patrick Queen coming
off a great year, Geno Stone coming off a really
good year. The safety. So when we go through and
look at that lance, let's just jump to the to
(28:00):
the building blocks. You've got Lamar Jackson's twenty seven, Kyle
Hamilton's twenty three, ro Kwan Smith is twenty seven, Lenderbaum
the center's twenty four, Jay Flowers twenty three, o'dafe Oways
twenty five, Keith Mitchell the young running back who played
well as Ricky last year. He's twenty two. Isaiah Likely
is twenty four. So all those guys are under contract
(28:20):
through at least the twenty sixth season. So that's that
group there, and then when we get to the championship foundation,
this is how research has it here. They've got the quarterback, obviously,
Amar Jackson's a blue. Offensive playmakers. You've got Mark Andrews
a blue. Jay Flowers is a green might be hitded
towards a blue. And then the next spot you have
(28:42):
a combination of Keaton Mitchell or Isaiah Likely they're both pinks.
You know they're still young, unproven players. You've got Linderbaum
as a blue for the quality offensive line spots. Ronnie
Stanley's a Green, Morgan Moses is a yellow, a little
bit older pass rushers. You've got a blue with Mattabk.
You've got to pink with o way. We're projecting that
(29:03):
Matta b K will be back on the franchise tag
by the way. And the back end, it's really good
with Kyle Hamilton or rokwand Smiths as blues, and you
have Marlon Humphrey and Marcus Williams as green's. You would
have Patrick Queen as a blue there as well, but
obviously he is a free agent.
Speaker 1 (29:18):
Well, they're in phenomenal shape with the blue chippers. That's
rare to have six true blue Chippers, and I agree
with the designations of each of those guys. And then
Marlon Humphrey, Ronnie Stanley's a flowers. You're gonna probably tag
mattab week a. I mean, there's a reason they're in
such great shape from a projected cap space standpoint. If
(29:39):
you look at the free agents, you know, losing Stone
and Patrick Queen would hurt. I think they'll keep madawleek,
but this is not They're for notable free agents or
quality players. But it's nothing that's going to kill you.
And you have all three picks in the first three rounds,
so you've got your core, You'll have your drafted players.
You'll see if anyone can make their way in. Baltimore
(30:00):
is in really good shape. Even though they don't have
a lot of cap space, they're still in pretty good shape.
Speaker 3 (30:05):
They're still in really good shape.
Speaker 2 (30:06):
By yeah, I think the offensive line is probably where
they look to reinforce there, with Ronnie Stanley having some injuries,
Morgan Moses getting a little older, it seems to me
that would be the target there. As we finished them up,
their last five first round picks, Zay Flowers great pick,
Cayle Hamilton great pick, Linderbaum great pick, Bateman solid, and
(30:27):
then o Way solid.
Speaker 3 (30:30):
I'd say those are three big hits and then.
Speaker 2 (30:34):
Yeah, yeah, a couple okays. All right, let's move it
to the Cleveland Browns, coming off an eleven six year
again no first round pick, because of Deshaun Watson trade,
they are picking fifty four in the second round in
eighty five and the third. Cap wise, they are nineteen
million over, so nineteen point six over the projected cap.
(30:55):
Free agent wise, you got Zadarias Smith edge rush or
race Hurst at DT, Shelby Gerris a DT, Anthony Walker
the linebacker. They're building blocks again. These guys are all
under contract through at least twenty six. You've got Deshaun Watson,
who's twenty eight, Denzel Awards twenty seven, jok the linebacker's
twenty four. What a great young player. Delpit is twenty five.
(31:17):
The safety Dewan Jones, the rookie tackles twenty three. Jedrick
Wills is still only twenty five. The other tackle Jerome
Ford twenty four, Cedric Tillman's twenty four, receiver Martin Emerson
corners twenty three, Hickman's twenty two. The safety Greg Newsom
is twenty four. It's a lot of young players on
that defense when we go to let's go over to
(31:39):
their championship foundation here as I pull that up, interesting
group here, quarterback interesting Deshaun Watson is a yellow because
you've got the injuries there and the performance hasn't been great.
In Cleveland, two blues with playmakers with Amari Cooper and
in Djoku. Nick Schubb is of yellow. Those are the
(32:02):
sorry no, sorry, sorry sorry, you're right, you're right, I'm colorblind.
Amari Cooper and Djoku are both greens. I could make
a case for those days blue. Yeah, I can make
a strong case for blue there. Nick Chubb is yellow
because of the injury. In terms of finding the three
quality offensive lineman, they've got Conklin and Botonios as yellows.
(32:23):
I'm assuming for Age Wyatt Teller is a green. Jedrick Wills,
Dewan Jones. You've got injuries. I would imagine there is
why they're yellows. Miles Garrett for the pass rushers obvious blue.
Uh Okuranquo is a yellow. And the defensive playmakers, they've
got Denzel Ward and a Wusu Kormoa as greens. I
(32:45):
could make a case for some blue there, and then
defensive playmaker the third spot. They've got Delpitter or Newsome
as pinks. So that's what you look like. They're only
one blue, but I think you could make a case
for a couple more on there.
Speaker 1 (33:00):
I think the problem we have with this team is
that they're nineteen million. They're nineteen million over the cap,
and then you've got a quarterback and a running back
who should be Blues and watching and Chubb, but Watchington
hasn't played like it and doesn't have a great contract.
Speaker 3 (33:15):
And then Chubb it's just, you know, the injuries.
Speaker 1 (33:17):
He's a blue player who has to go into the
yellow pile because it's just, you know, you just are
not getting that same performance due to injury. And Jedrick
Wills has not progressed as much as I like. Now
I'll tell you this. I watched the Dwan Jones against
and I had questions about Dwan Jones coming out.
Speaker 3 (33:36):
I think I had a third round grade on him.
I watched him against Nick Bosa.
Speaker 1 (33:39):
If you haven't watched that DJ, you should really go
back and watch because it is he played great.
Speaker 2 (33:44):
When he was on the field. Yet you'll be impressive it.
Speaker 1 (33:46):
But and he learned as the season went on. He
started figuring out his length a little better. And I
was really as a guy who was very suspect about
his change the direction. I think he understands how to
play inside out, and I think Dwan Jones is going
to be a much like Orlando not Orlando Brown.
Speaker 2 (34:02):
But his son, Orlando Brown Jr.
Speaker 3 (34:06):
Yeah yeah, not Orlando Brown, Orlando Brown Jr. Obj as
I call him.
Speaker 1 (34:12):
I think Orlando Brown Junior is a great example of
oh oh, the teeth gnashing at the combine and all that.
He's a long player who plays more like his tape
and he's been a solid player.
Speaker 3 (34:23):
I think Dwan Jones is gonna end up being the same.
Speaker 1 (34:25):
But man, I I'm nervous for the Browns because there's
not a lot of You don't have a first round pick.
You got a quarterback on a so far a bad
contract who hasn't performed the way you think he should,
and you you don't have a first I mean, this
is this is gonna be tough to write the ship
unless guys, some of the young guys start playing. I
(34:45):
think Cedric Tillman can take another step forward, but you
really need Jedrick Wills to step up, and then I
think you're only gonna be as good as is your
running back is healthy.
Speaker 2 (34:58):
I think Unfortunately, Yeah, the good thing is they've got
a lot of good young players on that defense. There
and Jim Schwartz is a defensive courting. They're gonna be
good on that side of the ball for sure, and
we'll see what happens with them on the offensive side
of the ball if they get some of these guys
back healthy. Their last four first round picks Greg Newsom,
Jedrick Wills, Baker Mayfield, Denzel Ward, so they haven't had
(35:19):
a ton of those because of trades. Let's get to
the Pittsburgh Steelers. Pittsburgh Steelers, they are projected thirteen point
nine million over the cap. They are picking twenty fifty
one and eighty four, so no extra picks there in
the first three rounds, finishing ten and seven last year.
Let's look at their building. Black players that are under
contract control. Here, you've got Minka Fitzpatrick's twenty seven, Alex
(35:42):
Highsmith's twenty seven, George Pickens is twenty three. Piket, we'll
see what he does next year is twenty six. Brodick
Jones twenty three, coming off a solid rookie year. Joey
Porter another rookie twenty four, kean O Benton that's a
good rookie class twenty three, Friar Morose twenty five, najiheris six,
Jalen Warren twenty five, James Daniels guards twenty six, Dan
(36:03):
Moore tackle a little uneven played there, he's twenty five.
Darnel Washington the rookie man again, good rookie class twenty
three her big another one is twenty two. When we
go to the championship. Foundation for these guys, Kenny Pickett
is a pink. He is an unproven young player. George
Pickens is a green, so a good solid player. You've
(36:27):
got Deontay Johnson, and then you've got the two running backs,
Najie Harris and Jalen Warren. They all I would argue that.
Speaker 3 (36:33):
The combination of those two is almost.
Speaker 2 (36:34):
Green, could be green, I would. I would agree with
that with Naji in with Jalen Warren, I think that's
fair that they have the research has him as yellows here.
Maybe I'll love to have those updated. Broderick Jones the tackle,
he is a pink. You've got a green for Somalo,
he was a really solid player for them. Then you've
(36:56):
got some yellow there for Dan Moore and James Daniels.
On the defense to pass rushers, you get a blue
for TJ. Watt, a green for alex Heighsmith, a blue
for Minka Fitzpatrick, a pink for Joey Porter, and they
need another one. They didn't research, didn't even put in
a third one here and just says question mark here.
So finding another playmaker, either the linebacker or the secondary
would seem like an obvious direction that they could go
(37:17):
here in the draft.
Speaker 1 (37:19):
Well, okay, you're over the cap, so be it from
a from a free agency standpoint.
Speaker 3 (37:26):
For the Pittsburgh Steelers, it's not an issue for him.
Their issue.
Speaker 1 (37:31):
And there Look, it's notably as we've heard time and
time again, this is the youngest. This is one of
the youngest teams in Pro football. The problem you have
here is that you don't have the quarterback figured out yet.
You need I think Broderick Jones is going to be
just five, but you still need an offensive tackle and
you need to find a wide receiver. I love what
(37:52):
Joey Porter Jr. Did last year. I think that's had
in the right direction. I think Broderick Jones has definitely
had in the right direction. When you really take this
all in, you know, wouldn't shock me DJF They I
think short of the quarterback which is going to be
a concern. They could really tighten up some of these
areas with this year's draft. So I actually think the
Steelers are still in pretty good shape relative to their
(38:13):
age and the rookie contracts are.
Speaker 3 (38:14):
Going to be playing.
Speaker 2 (38:15):
I think I figured it out here on the running
backs being yellows. They're both up in twenty five, depending
on whether or not they exercise Yeah, so that falls
in the contract. So you know, we're talking about building blocks,
guys who are going to be here in are under
control for the foreseeable future. So I would imagine with
both those and we'll see what they do with the
fifth year option with Najie Harris. But that is why
(38:35):
I assume that they are listed as such when we
look at what they've done in the draft. Broderick Jones
solid player last year, Kenny Pickett vertic verdict. The jury
is still out on that one. Naji Harris has been solid, then,
Devin Bush no longer on the team, Trel Edmonds no
longer on the team. They have not had rookies signed
(38:57):
second contracts there very often in like the last ten
fifteen years, Like they haven't been a ton of them.
First round picks that have resigned, So that's something they've
got to they've got to get better at in terms
of hitting on their first round picks. All right, let's
get to the Cincinnati Bengals. The Bengals comparing them to
the other teams this division pretty interesting. They were picking
(39:18):
eighteen forty nine and eighty projected caps base fifty nine
point four million dollars to spend here for the Cincinnati Bengals,
But a big chunk of that's gonna get eaten up
by T Higgins on the tag more than likely. Tyler
Boyd's a free agent. Joanah Williams is a free agent.
DJ Reader is a free agent. In Chadobia Wuzier also
(39:38):
a free agent. Building block wise, age wise, Joe Burrows
twenty seven, Jamar Chase is twenty four, Cambritz twenty four,
Daxton Hill young safety is twenty three, DJ Turner's twenty three,
young corner Jordan Battles twenty three, Miles Murphy's twenty two.
The kicker Evan McPherson makes the list. He is twenty five.
When we go to the building blocks here the Championship Foundation,
(40:03):
we get Joe Burrows a blue, Jamar Chase is of blue.
T Higgins is a yellow on here because of the contract.
I would imagine the projected tag. You've got Joe Mixon
as a yellow. You've got all offensive lineman. You've got
three greens, Orlando Brown Junior, Alex Kappa, and Ted Carris
(40:23):
is great.
Speaker 3 (40:24):
Krris is a green. Wow, I mean what a just
kind of a guy.
Speaker 1 (40:30):
But this is what when you that's a great example
of these guys play.
Speaker 3 (40:33):
Tell me what, Mark Martin, what can they do? And
Ted Carris is a great example of that.
Speaker 2 (40:40):
Trey Hendrickson's a blue. They've got Hubbard and Hill as greens,
Logan Wilson and Jermaine Pratt that combos greens as well.
Then you've got the defensive playmakers the last two spots.
They've got just a bunch of names in here with
Cam Taylor, Britt, DJ Turner.
Speaker 3 (40:55):
Dax Hill, all.
Speaker 2 (40:57):
Young guys, all all pink, just kind of young, unproved players.
Speaker 3 (41:00):
Higgins a year blue for you.
Speaker 2 (41:02):
If he were to me, I think he's a I
think if he signs a multi year deal and it's
under control there, I think you're talking about a blue player.
I think he's a blue receiver.
Speaker 1 (41:12):
Two blue receivers a potential and your mock draft to
get your hands on a tremendous run after catch tight
end and Rock Bowers and then Joe Burrow.
Speaker 2 (41:22):
I mean, the thing is that offensive line doesn't need blues.
They if you can just build your offensive line with
some just all green across there, just all solid, good players.
You don't need any you know, Hall of Fame guys.
And they're just steady, solid group that that that collection
of talent on the outside. Burrow get the ball out
of there. So here's the question for DJ.
Speaker 1 (41:40):
DJ Readers had some injury issues over the last two
or three years, but he's really impact he plays.
Speaker 3 (41:45):
You're gonna pay DJ Reader? Are you're gonna let them walk?
Speaker 2 (41:48):
They got fifty nine million. It feels to me like
this is a sign your own, uh free agent year
here for the Cincinnati Bengals. But I think they can
accomplish a lot by signing their own guys. Look at
their last five first round picks, Lance H Miles, Murphy,
Daxton Hill, Jamar Chase, Joe Burrow, Jonah Williams. Amazing how
twenty twenty and twenty one shape their franchise. Joe Burrow
and Jamar Chase. That was that literally was their foundation
(42:12):
to already get to a Super Bowl.
Speaker 3 (42:15):
Yeah, I tell you what it was.
Speaker 1 (42:18):
Well, that's what happened is it's usually not building outside
like the Falcons have tried to build out right, And
usually you want to build the trenches and build your
way out and not build your way back inside. But
because Joe Burrow is so great at getting getting rid
of the football in general, it's worked out for them
to an extent. But we also have two years where
Joe Burrow had season any injuries out.
Speaker 2 (42:39):
Of no question which which, by the way, I gave
NFL research some crap on this one, because technically Burrow
should probably be a yellow yellow coming off the entry.
He's so you know, they know they're gonna we're gonna
tweet this out, and they didn't.
Speaker 3 (42:52):
Well, but Joe Burrow gets gets a blue.
Speaker 2 (42:55):
They did not want to smoke. They did not want
the Twitter smoke on that one. So they Yeah, they
kept doing a mock.
Speaker 1 (43:01):
Draft with with your blues and your yellows and your greens.
Speaker 2 (43:05):
Oh yeah, that's hilarious. All right, this has been a
fun one. I want to encourage everybody check out the
next episode. We've got coming your way this week, which
is gonna be my conference call on Thursday. We will
package a portion of that because it's a long one
and uh, and that'll be something you can listen to
where we have over one hundred media members on there
firing questions away. So a lot of draft talk on
that one, and uh, Lance and Bucky will kind of
(43:28):
pick it up next week from from the combine and
we'll have updates all throughout the week at the NFL
Scouting Combine.
Speaker 1 (43:35):
Oh forget, this is an NFL Plus. You and I
are breaking down the combine. Uh oh yeah, Combine's gonna
look like position by day by day.
Speaker 2 (43:42):
Yeah, no question. We've we already recorded those, so those
will be released on NFL Plus if you have the app,
check that out.
Speaker 1 (43:48):
Spoiler, I hate doing this, but we do have some
day three offensive line talk going on too.
Speaker 2 (43:53):
So oh yeah, yeah, we were preview and we're trying
to get you guys excited and Lance. Lance gave a
five in a dissertation on somebody and then close close
it out with I think this guy could go like
fifth sixth round. You know, we want people to watch
the combine. We would love for them to tune in.
This is not helping the cost here, but nonetheless check
(44:14):
out the videos. I think you'll enjoy that.
Speaker 3 (44:16):
Trying to keep it for the last day. DJ. That's all.
Speaker 2 (44:18):
There you go. I love it again in all sincerity.
Thanks again for popping on with me, man. It's always
great to chop it up. Lance does his work, does
his homework. Be sure to follow him and check him out.
All his stuff on NFL dot com and on social
media is outstanding. All right, that's it. That's it for today.
We'll see you next time right here on move the sticks.
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