March 6, 2024 • 40 mins
Daniel Jeremiah and Bucky Brooks are back with a new episode of Move the Sticks. To start off the show, the guys discuss marrying free agency and the draft when it comes to team building (1:14). Next, the crew look at each defensive position group from the combine and break down the players who stood out (8:47). For the rest of the show, the duo look at every AFC South team and break down the team building blocks and championship foundations for each team in the division with help from the NFL Research team (26:25).
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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?
Speaker 1 (00:07):
Welcome to move the sticks DJ, Bucky back with you
as we continue to kind of recap what we saw
in Indie as well as handle some other business. Buck,
what's going on, man, No.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Not too much.
Speaker 3 (00:17):
I mean, it's exactly what you're talking about. As we're
nearing free agency frenzy. You're trying to kind of put
together like how things teams are thinking when it comes
to weigh West available in free agency versus West available
in the draft and now should help us kind of
crystallize what is gonna take place, particularly when we started
doing these mock drafts.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
Yeah, no doubt were. Later on this episode we will
do the AFC South, which I think finishes up the
AFC for all the building blocks, you know, kind of
looking at the key players for them to build with
going forward.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
So that'll wrap up the AFC.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
Next week, I believe on our Monday episode we're just
gonna jet through the whole NFC, so the building blocks
for all the NFC teams. Wanted to get that done
as a free agency launches, just kind of so we
can have a clear before and after picture after free
agency to see what kind of changes got made there.
So be on the lookout for that next week. We're
going to go through the defense today what we saw
(01:13):
at the combine. But you led me somewhere where I
wanted to go because you talked about marrying the draft
and free agency, and I was talking to somebody. We're
talking all the positions, and you know, within a personnel executive,
we're talking about the running backs, and he's like, look,
I always you know, he kind of was with us
in terms of like I want young backs, like you
don't want veteran packs. But he said, this year is
(01:35):
such a unique year. He was like, there's five He said,
I might go through five veterans free agents this year
before I would get to the first draftable running back. Like, like,
free agency in the running back class is actually pretty
loaded of guys if you can get them on like
two year neils. You know, Josh Jacobs, you know Derrick
Henry on a two year deal. You know, I think
(01:55):
that like Antonio Gibson, You've got Pollard. There's a ton
of them. So he was like, the free agency is
a better way to go this year than drafting these
running backs, they're better football players. I thought that was
kind of interesting.
Speaker 3 (02:07):
The conversation actually makes sense DJ when you look at
the veterans that are on the market, take on Barkley,
Josh Jacobs, Tony Pollard. They're really good running backs that
have been feature backs in this league, but they're not
quite too old that you can't envision them being a
feature back for another year or two. And because there's
so many guys that are hitting the market at the
(02:27):
same time, I don't think you really have to worry
about the costs kind of rising up if anything is
going to depress the value of the running backs on
the market, because you can bid against Hey, if you
don't take it, I'm giving this money to the first
guy that says yes, and so you can wait. But
we know the money's not going to go up for
the veteran running back. To me, it's kind of a
(02:48):
win win for teams. You get a really good player
and then you can draft a player at a later
round and really take care of the position without really
kind of messing up your pocketbook.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
Yeah, it feels this is like a you know, veteran
running backs once you get to the second contract. To me,
I think you just go in two years at a time.
You know, hey, sign you up for two years, and
we'll just keep going these little one and two year deals.
I don't want to go beyond that because when you
fall off, it happens fast, and I don't want to
be stuck holding the bag here. So two years to
me is reasonable, and I think that's what those teams should,
(03:21):
those players and those teams should be trying to get done.
And look, you dress it up, you can dress it
up as a four or five year deal, but there's
going to be an out after year two, would be
my guest with a lot of these veteran running backs.
But I think it's again is another example of how
you got to stack your board and understand what free
agency looks like, and then what the draft looks like
in forms you know the direction you go in free agency.
(03:42):
So I think that's just something to keep an eye
on here with these running backs. Any other any other
connections you think from this draft class? Free agency?
Speaker 2 (03:49):
Oh? Look, I think free agency at wide receiver.
Speaker 3 (03:53):
I think when you look at the market, like now
that we've seen the franchise tech applied and we see
that Michael Pittman is no longer on the market. Mike
Evan and signed the deal. Look, teams are going to
look at Calvin Ridleys at the top of the board.
Gabe Davis is one of the guys that to be
up there. And now the decision that you're weighing is
do I want to pay the veteran over twenty million
(04:14):
dollars or do I want to roll the dice on
overge draft pick. And that is going to have some
sway in terms of how much money these veterans get.
But yeah, I absolutely believe that when we're doing the
juggling act between free agency and the draft, because there's
so many really good wide receivers in this class, I
think you will see the free agent value kind of
(04:36):
shrink for some of the wide receivers that we're expecting
to get like a hefty pay day. I don't know
if those paydays are going to be out there, and
I think a lot of people will say, yeah, we'll
bypass that to go back and see if.
Speaker 2 (04:47):
We can develop a young quarterback.
Speaker 3 (04:48):
And I think we will see more teams opt to
kind of cycle through young wide receivers in the next
few years because now the prospect of paying a wide
receiver thirty million dollars quarterback money is going to teams
to say that we can save some of this money
for some of these other marquee positions, because right now,
the one thing we know every year college is producing
(05:08):
a ton of pass catches that can play right away.
Speaker 1 (05:11):
Yeah, I think you know T Higgins another one, right
he got tagged real early on in the process. So
I think on the whiteouts you talked about the cost,
I think it makes sense. Two things. Number one, Okay,
I'm I'm gonna resign my own guys. You know you're
gonna pay a lot of money. I'm gonna do it
on everything I know about a guy, right so I'm
taking I'm not gonna take a twenty two to twenty
four million dollar risk with a free agent from another
(05:32):
team and wonder how he learns my system and how
he fits in with my quarterback. But if I've got
you know, Michael Pittman, or I've got T Higgins, you
know I'm going Okay, I know what he is, I
know how my quarterback feels about him. Like I'd be
more comfortable scratching that check versus going out and paying
big money to a free agent to come in when
I could just draft a guy like I. To me,
(05:53):
if you're going to get a guy that's unknown, so
to speak, within your building, I think I would rather
roll the dice and take one in the second round.
There's going to be a ton of good players here.
It costs you nothing versus going out and spend a
top top dollar on somebody else's player that you're not
familiar with.
Speaker 2 (06:08):
Buck. It makes total sense to me, DJ.
Speaker 3 (06:11):
It makes a lot of sense to look at it,
and a lot of it depends on how comfortable are
you with developing young receivers.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
Do you have a wide receiver coach?
Speaker 3 (06:20):
Do you have a system that is easy to digest
for young players to kind of have success right away
if you feel good about those factors, Yeah, the young
receivers the way to go because you talk about it.
I mean, just look at what the Green Bay Packers
have been able to do with all their young chief receivers.
They don't have a lot of money allocated to the
wide receiver room. They now can write a big, big
(06:40):
check to Jordan Love and not have to worry about it,
kind of tipping the skills on their team when it
comes to how they allocate the rest of the cash
for the defense and those things. At some point they're
gonna have to pay one of those receivers, you know,
maybe two. But right now, for the next three years,
they got a bunch of young, cheap playmakers that are
going to be able to get it done, and it
(07:01):
allows you a lot of flexibility to build up other
parts of your team.
Speaker 1 (07:06):
Are you as surprised as I was with the Christian
Wilkins news, Like, I know that they're over the cap,
and I know they have to do some roster management.
I know they have to pay Tua, I get all
those things, but like, what's harder to find than a
defensive tackle that can rush the quarterback and it is
a dominant player. Like, to me, that's one of the
hardest things to find.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
I was shocked.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
I talked to a GM last week. We're talking about
the free agent market, and he's like, yeah, you know,
we were hopeful that maybe one of these DT's would get,
you know, get to the market. Now Chris Jones hasn't
you know, hasn't been tagged. Technically he could get to
the market, but all the expectation is that the Chiefs
are going to clear the decks in order so they
can get that deal done before we get the free agency.
(07:48):
But the Christian Wilkins thing shocked me. Man, and I
think the market for him he is going to break
the bank because so many teams have money and it's
hard to find one of those.
Speaker 3 (07:57):
Now, the thing that is the thing that surprises me
about him hitting the market, No, it's not the thing
that's surprising. But if I'm a team, like, the only
thing I would I would have to put a phone
call in, like why are they letting him out? What
is it that we don't know? You know, like what
is the surprise at the bottom of the cracker jack
(08:17):
box here? We gonna get that is going to get it,
because otherwise it doesn't make sense based on his performance
between the lines. It doesn't make sense that you would
let a guy who has played at a high level
inside as an inside pass rusher get on the market.
I would have to put in a phone call just
to see is there something behind the scenes that we
don't know, because it certainly doesn't make sense for a young, athletic,
(08:39):
productive playmaker like him to hit the market.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
Yeah, no, I don't understand it. So I know one thing,
he is going to get paid handsomely out there on
the free market. Let's go through the combine here, Buck,
different positions, guys stood out. Let's start the corner position.
Where look Quenya Mitchell. I just updated my top fifty
list that should be out tomorrow, moved him up a
(09:02):
few spots. He's my thirteenth overall player out of Toledo.
But you can make a case I still have Terry
Arnold is my number one corner. He's number two for me.
I have no fault with anybody who says after quenyaon Mitchell,
watching him at the Senior Bowl, watching him work out,
he ran four to three three at one hundred and
ninety five pounds, Buck, I mean, I have no problem
with somebody saying he's a top corner the draft.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
I could.
Speaker 1 (09:23):
I couldn't fight you on that.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
Look.
Speaker 3 (09:25):
It's hard to dispute it. When you go back and
you look at the way that he played it Toledo.
You look at a consistent production and performance that he
just played during his time there. You watch how he
competed at a high level at the Senior Bowl. He
eliminated any doubts you had you were any doubts that
you were concerned about when it came to his level
of competition and how you are fair against the best
of the best. He took that away. He then goes
(09:45):
to the combine knocks it out the box with the
testing heightweight, speed, check check check check. You didn't see
the movement, skills and all the other stuff. There's not
a lot that you can poke holes at.
Speaker 2 (09:55):
Now.
Speaker 3 (09:55):
It's just a matter are you willing to pull the trigger?
Are you willing to pull the trigger on a guy
from to when we are so I would say obsessed
or we really focus on brand names. I mean, look,
he he's about as good as they come at corner.
We've seen it in a bunch of different ways, and
so yeah, I can understand why you would be compelled
to put him at the top of the chart.
Speaker 1 (10:16):
Yeah, well he had he had a phenomenal workout. Look,
Nate Wiggins ran four to eight, but it was one
hundred and seventy three pounds. Man. So it's like, as
excited as you get about the four to eight, which
we all knew he was going to fly, one hundred
and seventy three pounds was bizarre, right, you know? He
was supposed to be one eighty five, one eighty eight.
He shows up at one seventy three, which was which
was a little bit odd there.
Speaker 2 (10:35):
Yeah, sometimes sometimes think on that I was.
Speaker 3 (10:38):
I was like sometimes like if he's leaning into the
track background a lot of times what you do is
you a cut weight so you can run fast?
Speaker 2 (10:44):
Right, you're lighter and you're faster.
Speaker 3 (10:46):
I think the bigger thing, And this is why it's
important for scouts on school calls. Remember how we used
to go to the strength coach and just add, hey,
what's a good weight on him? Because I want to
know what's what's his regular season weight? Because then I
would be able to have an understanding of, Hey, did
he cut weight to run fast or is this what
he always has been and this is where he's going
kind of when he shows up to mini camp, he's
gonna be one hundred and seventy five pounds because what
(11:08):
happened to him at the workout is what your fearful
love happening to him.
Speaker 2 (11:12):
Yeah, in the league, he's not gonna be able to finish.
He's gonna be heard.
Speaker 3 (11:15):
So I would give him a check for running fast,
But then the questions would be Is it gonna be
a concern going forward with his durability and his toughness
when it comes to tackling.
Speaker 1 (11:26):
M hm, yeah, no, that was that was kind of
the concern. That was the question mark on him. I'll
give you a couple other ones here. I'll just go
through a list of a few guys I thought were interesting.
I mentioned this a second ago. Rey Straw ran four
five one, one hundred and eighty three pounds, which he
was a little bit bigger, which she was a little
bit faster. But the tape is really good. I still
think he's kind of late one, maybe early two in
(11:47):
that range. Kamari lastyear didn't run the forty, but had
a phenomenal field workout. A couple other guys that I
want to highlight here, Max Melton from Rutgers is kind
of acing every test. Buck ran four three nine. He
can play inside, can play outside. Another one to me
that really helped himself Mikey Sammers still from Michigan, who
the question was the size of speed one hundred and
(12:08):
eighty two pounds at five zho ninety three but ran
four four seven. I think it was big for him
to get in the four fource.
Speaker 2 (12:14):
Yeah, really big for him.
Speaker 3 (12:16):
Those two last guys that you talked about. The Rutgers kid.
What you like about him is you talk about checking
the boxes along the process. Also, like the fact that
he was coached by Greg Ciano. We can say a
lot of things about Greg Ciano. Greg Ciano coach DB's
at the NFL level, so he knows how to develop
defensive backs. We've seen a number of Rutgers players come
into this league and have success, So I feel really
good about what he's been able.
Speaker 2 (12:37):
To put on display.
Speaker 3 (12:38):
And I would you know, you talk about standing on
the table form, I'll standing on table form when it
comes to Santa Silt.
Speaker 2 (12:44):
You talk about.
Speaker 3 (12:46):
Small in terms of five to nine, but the speed
is everything, because man, if he was small and then
he had a four or five time, it just makes
it hard to sell in the building. But because he's
a true nickel corner, because we have on like game tape,
the way they were able to utilize him in a
variet different ways and how I mean, I think you
can make the argument that he might have been the
leader in the back end in terms of like how
(13:06):
he got it done when they needed to make place
all that other stuff. Yeah, I feel great about those
two guys, and part of the process when it comes
to the combine is being able to just continue to
check the boxes and make sure that what I saw
on tape is believable.
Speaker 2 (13:23):
With each of.
Speaker 3 (13:23):
Those guys and some of the other ones that you've mentioned,
you feel great about the overall evaluation because the consistency
has been there when it comes to their performance and
their athletic potential and trades.
Speaker 1 (13:35):
So production six picks for Samer still, leadership, all the
stuff you hear is off the charts. This one was
interesting me. Eighteen Michigan players there, right, So I talked
to a team that asked every Michigan player who was
the leader of the team, and he said it wasn't unanimous,
but it was close to unanimous that it was Mikey Samers.
Still like offense, defense didn't matter. They all pointed to him.
(13:56):
So I'm like, you add that stuff up together and
it's like, I know he's a little bit small, I
know where he plays. I've seen him play in that role.
I've seen him as a blitzer. I've seen him tackle,
I've seen him take the ball away. He's a good
football player, man, So I was tempted. I was tempted
to put him at fifty on my list, and I
was like, Okay, now he's a traditional third round pick.
Like that's what that profile says. This is a third
(14:16):
round guy. But when you add it all up, if somebody,
if somebody took him, took him with a forty fifth
pick with that, I mean, wouldn't surprise me.
Speaker 3 (14:23):
No, not in the role because that nickel position is
the twelfth starter. You're counting on a starting quarterback. I'm
a starting player and that nickel position. You talked about
the leadership ability. I actually like hearing that because there's
a lot of communication that takes place. Playing in the slot,
your half linebacker, half defensive back. You're asked to do
a lot of different things, whether it's blitzing, whether it's
(14:46):
being a solid edge setter in the run game, all of.
Speaker 2 (14:50):
That other stuff.
Speaker 3 (14:51):
I like the high IQ, I like the instincts, but
the leadership ability is another feather in this cap.
Speaker 2 (14:56):
When it comes to the evaluation safeties.
Speaker 1 (15:00):
I'll give you a couple of names here. Interesting one
to me, I thought it helped himself a ton with Javon
Bullard from Georgia. He was five ten, four hundred ninety
eight pounds ran four four seven one. Who again talking
to teams to interview stuff. He crushed Cam Kitchens. I
wish you would have ran faster. He ran a four
to six five. It's very very similar to JayR. Brown
and his situation come out of Penn State last year.
(15:21):
They ran a similar time. Jay R. Brown ended up
going a little bit later than we would have thought
and he ended up playing really good football for the
forty nine ers last year. Newman did not run from Minnesota.
Most teams view him as the top guy. But you
know there is you know, speed, athleticism concern there the
two I'll give you three names real quick, or actually
(15:42):
i'll give you four names that I thought really really
helped themselves in the safety pile. And again these guys
are all clumped together. But Cole Bishop from Utah ran
four four five. I didn't know he had that in him.
Oh yeah, Kaylen Bullock ran high four fours from sc
That's not a surprise. Dominique Hampton's a personal favorite of
mine from Washington. Like third round type. He's two hundred
and fifteen pounds, ran four or five to one, and
(16:02):
then the other Georgia's safety Tykey Smith. He ran four
four six two hundred two pounds, so well, I don't
think there's a top. I don't think there's a first
round safety in the bunch. I'm not so sure we
even see one in the top of the second round.
But I think there's that that clump of guys that
we just went through right there, five to six seven guys.
I think, you know, I think we see a run
on those probably the latter part of Day two. So
(16:23):
you're talking about that third round, I think you're going
to see all these safeties go added.
Speaker 3 (16:27):
Part of it will be special teams value if they're
talking about making the changes to the kickoff rule, kickoff
return rule, where that's more in play. Now we bring
those things up in the evaluation before it had to
become a man. You need to be able to play
and play well at your position. I think now you
have a little more flexibility in being able to do it.
Speaker 2 (16:48):
DJ.
Speaker 3 (16:49):
The funny thing about the safeties this year and in
previous years, the ball production just a number of interceptions
that we're seeing from the safety class in general, you
just feel better about it. There were years, man, we
would get guys who have one or two interceptions for
their career. Now we're seeing guys. You talk about Nuban
at the top of the boyd, he has thirteen interceptions.
(17:11):
Bullock Havin, I think he has nine seven. I think
he has seven interceptions. During the time at USC, you're
seeing more guys get their hands on the football. And
in a league that where turnovers are really coveted and
they're the biggest determining fact in who wins and loses games,
you guys have to be able to have the ball
skills in the range to turn it over. I mean,
(17:31):
it looks necessary. You gotta tackle, but you gotta be
able to take the ball.
Speaker 1 (17:34):
Away, no doubt. Let's get to the linebackers here. Travin
Wallace from Kentucky at two hundred and thirty seven pounds
running four to five one was huge. Cedric Gray from
North Carolina and four six four which is still a
solid time taller linebacker six to one and change six
one and a half. There a couple other ones I'll
(17:55):
highlight for you here real quick. Olo Fashio from Washington.
He's interesting six to four to two thirty six, ran
four five six really productive.
Speaker 2 (18:07):
Man.
Speaker 1 (18:07):
I watched one of the Oregon games and he just
ran over Uh, he ran over Bucky Irving got a
sack in that game. He's like a third round, third,
third round type dude. And the other one that I
liked that I'm trying to I've got some teams that
have come around on him because they weren't they weren't
necessarily feeling this guy early on, and I'm like, dude.
Speaker 2 (18:22):
What am I missing?
Speaker 1 (18:23):
This guy's twitched up an explosive like I don't know,
but uh, Jordan McGee goes out there from Temple and uh,
he's little undersize, two hundred and twenty eight pounds, but
he's six oh one to three, six one and three eights.
He ran four five five and he's a little bit
tight but buck but super super twitchy and make some plays.
So again, as we're going through the defensive position, safeties, linebackers,
(18:44):
like those guys, don't you know that list of guys
I just mentioned don't blow you away? That's that middle
tier at the top. Edrin Cooper's still to me is
the top guy. He ran four to five to one
at two hundred and thirty pounds. Peyton Wilson was awesome
from NC State he had four four three he was flying.
Speaker 2 (19:02):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (19:02):
And then Junior Colson from Michigan wight in but didn't run.
So whatever order you want to have, Peyton Wilson or
Edgering Cooper, I think I'm cool with. I had a
Cooper Wilson just you know, factored in the injury spuntry,
But I think those feel like the top three guys
to me.
Speaker 2 (19:19):
Yeah, it's ah.
Speaker 3 (19:20):
The Peyton Wilson thing when when you look at the production,
I mean you just see it. Man, his status, he
just it falls off the page. Just so much stuff
that he has and sacks and tackles, lost interceptions, force, fomos,
all those things.
Speaker 2 (19:32):
You see a guy that plays hard, he's always around
the ball. Uh. For him to test like he tested,
that was remarkable.
Speaker 3 (19:39):
The thing that stood out to me DJ was, Uh,
when you guys were showing him running around and then
they popped into a high school wrestling tape, Oh yeah.
Speaker 2 (19:47):
Hey bad man.
Speaker 3 (19:48):
That made it looked I put a little gold start
And my thing I was like, oh, this dude is
really about it. He helped himself. The medical would be everything.
But DJ, when I look at him, I'm like, man,
you just think about the linebackers that have played in
this league. Again, I know we had him. Come on,
I'm not saying he's in the same category, but I just.
Speaker 1 (20:03):
Likes Luke Keikley and he looks like Luke Keigley. There's
no way to avoid it. Man. I don't like compared
guys to Hall of famers, but I'm like, that's his guy.
I mean, Luke Luke has met with him. Luke texted me,
he texted me during the common Who's happy for the kid.
He really likes him. He's got a chance to meet
him and get to know him a little bit.
Speaker 3 (20:19):
But DJ, you had you had those vibes right, Like, yeah,
I mean the way he just he's serious, but he
can turned it, turned that thing on, and uh, the
athleticine is really comes down to the medical. Cooper is
also fine. Talk about sideline, the sideline player. All that
other stuff checks out rangy, But yeah, but the guy
I think that made the most noise. I think Peyton
Wilson made the most noise because I don't know if
(20:40):
anybody expected him to test like he tested.
Speaker 2 (20:43):
Man.
Speaker 1 (20:43):
I mean, he's almost six four, two hundred and thirty
three pounds, ran four to four three. I have him
as my fortieth player. I moved him up a little bit,
but I mean, you tell me right now that he's
got a clean bill of health, and you tell me
he went with the twenty first pick. I get it.
I get it. He plays like that. So that's the
linebacker group. We go to the DTS buck Byron Murphy not.
(21:05):
You know, we told everybody when they were they listened
to us, he was going to roll. He ran four
eight seven at two hundred and ninety seven pounds. You know,
he's just six foot six oh four, six foot and
a half. They're not the biggest guy in the world,
but super, super, twitched up and explosive. Johnny Newton did
not run from Illinois fist, continued his assault on the
(21:26):
off season. He was two hundred and ninety two pounds,
ran four to seven eight. And then I'll tell you
a couple other guys that tested really well. You got
Makai Wingo from LSU, who's you know, two hundred and
eighty four pounds undersize, ran four eight five. Chris Jenkins,
we knew was going to roll. He ran four nine
to one, you know, or Row Row Row ran four
(21:46):
eight to nine from Clemson. He's one of those guys
I've got kind of highlighted that I got to go
back and do more on. I didn't love him as
a player, but man, he's six four two ninety four
and four eight nine, so more work to do on him.
The one that I did add from the group to
the top fifty that wasn't the only new name that
I have in the top fifty was Mason Smith from LSU.
Just because you're watching, all these guys are all six
foot six one, six one six y two, and all
(22:08):
of a sudden, now you got this six foot five
three pound dude comes up there. You know, I'm like, Okay,
he's different than everybody else, and that's like big time
recruit coming out of high school, big freshman year, then
got hurt his knee. Wasn't the same guy. But I'm like, man,
if you're a defensive line coach, you know you've been
around those guys like this is the kind of guy
they want to work with.
Speaker 3 (22:28):
Absolutely the kind of guy they want to work with. Man,
you talk about big physical uh long as as the
physical dimensions that you want to work with, and you
talk about being a big time recruit, that talent is there,
now can you cultivate it? Can you get it out
of him? But you certainly intrigue by just just what
he brings to the table as.
Speaker 1 (22:46):
An athlete, and no doubt. And then edge Rusher's here
real quick. Tallas Turner in a four four six a
little bit shorter than I thought at six h two six,
but two forty seven with it with freaky length, like
freaky freaky length and wingspan. Jared Verse super explosive, ran
a four to five eighth. Leatu Latu did everything he
(23:07):
needed to do at two hundred and fifty nine pounds,
ran four to sixty four. Chop Robinson put on a
show as we said he would. He ran four to
four eight at two hundred and fifty four pounds. Darius
Robinson was ran four nine to five at two eighty five.
And then I had Marshaun o'nealand in my top fifty
he ran a four to seven five at two sixty
seven with like thirty four inch arms. So he's, uh,
he's a good looking kid as well.
Speaker 3 (23:30):
Yeah, DJ, you know what so interesting about these adgereshers,
like we talked about, they're not being a mouse. Garrett
in the group. But there's just a lot of guys
that have intriguing attributes. We talked about the top three,
and those top three, I think it comes down to,
like what you really want, what do you want to
play with? How how are you kind of stacking your defense?
(23:50):
But they're some interesting guys like in the later ranks,
like we talked about at the Espress Rine game, Muhammad
Kamara from Colorado State. Yeah, dude, he's interesting man, whichie
you know DJ Shack Production had thirteen sacks, was co
defensive Player of the Year in the Mountain West. First
step first step quickness you saw at the East West Riane.
Speaker 1 (24:10):
Game seven buck in seven.
Speaker 2 (24:13):
Yeah, and then you see him put it up.
Speaker 3 (24:15):
Uh, he's a guy that's that's adventures and we see
in it and I think I'm learning my lesson from
watching Byron Young from the La Rams kind of popping.
You see him on tape and see the first step quickness,
but you're like, man, what does he fit? I think
Kamar can have similar success around in the same round
value in terms of being a third round pick that
can come and make plays.
Speaker 1 (24:35):
Yep, I like it. And then a couple other interesting guys,
Gabe Murphy. We talked about him before you saw him
at the East West Shrine Game. He ran a four
to six eight at two hundred and forty seven pounds.
He had eight sacks last year. I liked him. Xavier Thomas,
who's been at Clemson for one hundred years, it seems like,
but was a big time recruit. He ran a four
to six two at two hundred and forty four pounds
(24:55):
six oh two two. An interesting, interesting player. And I
thought the guy who, you know, one of the more
interesting things that I saw from this group was Brailn Trice.
Weighing at two forty five, he must have cut close
to twenty pounds and ran a four to seven to two.
So four seven two is a solid time. I just
thought it was interesting to me that he he cut
(25:16):
like that, and uh, and obviously knew the question was
the athleticism, and so he said, screw it, I'm just
gonna shave this weight and get out there and run
the best I can possibly run.
Speaker 2 (25:25):
Yeah, I mean, look that's what that's that's what people do.
Speaker 3 (25:28):
It is interesting, like twenty pounds is a significant cut,
and so what you have to do is you have
to treat it as such when you look at that time,
you got to put almost an asteris buy it because
it's certainly not his playing weight. It's not what he
played it during the course of the year. So how
much does it really matter? I don't know, Like we
see people kind of do things like that during this
time of year to make sure and he probably won't
(25:49):
weigh again, you know, it may not run again or
be it his pro day, he'll be ten pounds heavier.
Speaker 2 (25:53):
But if Tim Mar that shows me the guy cares.
Speaker 1 (25:56):
That shows me he cares because he knew what the
questions were and so he's like, that's why I'm run
as fast as I can possibly run. So good for
him doing that. All right, we're gonna take a quick break.
That is a wrap on the combine recap here Again,
if you missed the offense, we did that on the
previous episode. You can go check that one out. But
we are going to jump into I believe it is
the AFC South if I'm not mistaken. We're going to
(26:18):
look at their championship foundational pieces. We'll do that right
after this. All right, Buck, let's let's continue on this series.
We've been doing this on the building blocks, the foundational
pieces here for every single team in the NFL. This
is going to finish up the AFC. As we go
to the South and we start with the Houston Texans,
(26:39):
this is a team in terms of a Soury Caps situation,
very very appealing. They have seventy million dollars worth of space,
that's fourth most in the NFL. They are armed with
the twenty third pick, the fifty ninth pick in the
eighty sixth pick, that's where they're going to be in
this draft. They've got some notable free agents though. You've
got Jonathan Greener, Devin Singletary, Noah Brown, which fant Stephen
(27:01):
Wilson or Stephen Nelson I should say little Corner, mighty mouse.
You've got Sheldon Rankins of DT and Blake Cashman the linebacker.
As we go through and look at their kind of
key pieces, will go uh. I mean, it's hard as
a rookie to get a blue, but they got a
blue with c J.
Speaker 2 (27:18):
Stroud at quarterbacks.
Speaker 1 (27:20):
So blue chip player c J. Stroud, he's a blue.
Speaker 2 (27:23):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (27:23):
Your three, your three offensive playmakers again, we got to
fill all these different spots. So for their offensive playmakers,
Nico Collins is a green, maybe headed towards the blue
the way he played. Take Dell's a yellow because of
the you know, coming off of the injury, but is
really a green when he's healthy. Dalton Schultz they just resigned,
He's a green. Laramie Tunsall for their three offensive lineman, Tunsel.
Speaker 2 (27:44):
Is a blue.
Speaker 1 (27:45):
You get a yellow for Titus Howard slash Shack Mason.
There you get a pink, which is a you know,
unproven younger player, but Kenyon Green and Juice Scruggs would
compete for that spot. And then the pass rushers you
get two. Uh, they've got a green, and Will Anderson
Junior a green and Elie Collins again, if they were
to re sign Greenard, he'd be in that mix. And
(28:07):
then the defensive playmakers at the linebacker slash secondary position,
you get three spots. Petriza Green Singletary is a I
would argue he's better than a yellow here. We should
get that one switched. He should be a green at least,
and then defensive playmakers. The last one. Christian Harris would
be a pink here, but he's on his way to
being a green, if not at green already as well.
Speaker 3 (28:30):
Yeah, good, good, young squat. The number one thing that
they have is they got a blue chip quarterback in CJ. Stroup,
and that makes it a lot easier to build a
team around, to build a team up because you have someone,
a franchise player that you can build around. Nico Collins,
you talked about being able to be a guy that
could push for being a blue We saw Tangeddal, and
Tangdale prought to his injuryies playing like at a blue
level for this team, Larry Man Tonsel being there and
(28:53):
so DJ just from an offensive standpoint, there should be
a lot of optimism.
Speaker 2 (28:57):
Around what this team could be with CJ.
Speaker 3 (29:00):
Drout at the helm, and then with Dimiko Ryan's background
and what he's been able to do quickly with this defense.
They play hard, they get after it, they got a
ton of money that they can throw at people. This
team is going to be there. They're built to be
around for the long haul. A lot of its just
tied to the development of CJ. Stroud, But this team
has a lot of intriguing young pieces, and I don't
(29:21):
know if anybody thought that we would be talking about
them so glowingly after what they look like like before
last season.
Speaker 1 (29:30):
Well, I just did a Ron Burgundy because you got
misspelled words in here, and I just read them right out.
I'm like, the heck is Derek Singletary. I'm like, Derek Stingly.
It's so no Bill. They got to come on, man,
they got to fix that here. Derek's Singletary Junior. I'm like,
who the heck is Derek Singletary Junior. I'm like, oh,
(29:50):
Stingley nice anyway, So don't clip off that part please
and send that out so I can hear from everybody
about what moron I am. But they've got a chance
to have a bunch of blue dudes in this group
because they've got a bunch of greens that are going
to graduate to blues here very quickly. You look at
their last five first round picks Stroud will Anderson home run,
(30:10):
home run, Stingley Junior home run, Kenyon Green, and Titus Howard.
Solid solid players can be solid starters for them. So
they're in good shape there in Houston. Let's get to Jacksonville.
Jacksonville finish nine to eight last year. They are picking
seventeen and forty eight, and they're projected to have a
third round compick as well. Salary cap wise, they have
twenty four point six million, which is seventeenth most in
(30:33):
terms of space. You've got Calvin Ridley as the primary
free agent there. They just released Darius Williams. They just
released Rayshawn Jenkins as well. So when you go and
look at their foundational pieces, a lot of green here. Buck,
So we need some greens to move up. But you've
got Trevor Lawrence as a green. You've got etn as
a green. Evan Ingram is a green. Christian Kirk is
(30:56):
a yellow. I'm guessing that is I'd have to get
the explanation on that. Why he's not a maybe maybe maybe.
Speaker 3 (31:02):
Maybe because of injury, maybe just because the injury because
you've missed the last part of the year.
Speaker 2 (31:05):
But he should be a green for sure.
Speaker 1 (31:07):
Yes, uh, Brand Sheriff's a yellow. Cam Robinson's a yellow.
Anton Harrison is a is a pink. Is an unproven
young player, Josh Allen, don't we have to doesn't he
have to be a blue? Buck the league in sacks,
you's got to be a blue, should be a blue,
so he should be a blue. Trayvon Walker is listed
as a green. A Lua Khan is a green. Devin
(31:28):
Lloyd's a green, and then the last defensive playmaker spot
Tyson Campbell or Andre Cisco, your choice would be a yellow.
So it's just a team you know extremely well, Buck,
What do you think?
Speaker 3 (31:39):
I think it's a very accurate depiction of what the
team is. I think the team is is right at
that line. Would have to make a decision. Are they
gonna be good? They're gonna be great. You have a
lot of good players. Trevor Lawrence is a good player,
hasn't consistently played at a level where you could call
him a blue. Travis Etienne is a good player, but
hasn't played.
Speaker 2 (31:55):
At a blue yelll yet blue level yet.
Speaker 3 (31:57):
I would say the best offensive players they have right
now Evan Ingram and Christian Kirk, even though they wouldn't
grate out his blues for this team, they play at
the blue level.
Speaker 2 (32:05):
Because the way that it's built.
Speaker 3 (32:07):
Worried about the offensive line. Brenton Sheriff has man struggled
the last couple of years. Injuries, age and those things.
You wonder what he's going to be able to do
for them. And then Cam Robinson has been good, been injured,
dealt with suspensions and so that's an issue. Defensively, You're
looking for one of these guys outside of Josh Allen
to emerge as a blue player. You're hoping that Trayvon
Walker can be that blue player. You take someone number
(32:28):
one overall, that's the expectation. So if they get Josh
Allen and Trayvon Walker to play at a blue level,
then they feel good. But the big issue for them
is going to be in the back end. Who is
going to be the star corner or safety that helps
this team defend the elite offenses in the league. Tyson
Campbell has been up and down. Andre Cisco has also
(32:49):
been up and down. The hope is that in a
new scheme that these players were finally maximize and reach
their potential.
Speaker 1 (32:54):
That's good stuff. Again, nobody knows this team better than Bucky.
You go back to the last five first round picks
to Harrison Tackles, It played better than I thought he would. Honestly,
I probably undergraded him a little bit. Trayvon Walker, Devin Lloyd,
Trevor Lawrence Travis, etm. So that's kind of the foundation
again for these guys going forward. Get to the Colts
team that was nine to eight last year, they picked fifteen,
(33:16):
forty six and eighty two. They have forty nine point
three million dollars in cap space. That's eighth most free
agent wise. You've got Kenny Moore as a free agent.
That's their biggest one there. They just announced that they
had tagged Michael Pittman Junior, so he's in the fold.
Here we look at their key foundational pieces. Here again,
(33:38):
you get a quarterback, three offensive playmakers, three quality Ozero line,
two pass rushers, and three defensive playmakers. So the quarterback
Anthony Richardson is a he is a pink. Is an
unproven young player. Jonathan Taylor is a blue. He's a
blue chipper. Michael Pittman Junior is a green, which is
a really good player. Josh Bowns slash Alec Pierce. They
(33:58):
fall in the pink category. You've got Quenton Nelson as
a green. You've got Bernard Ryman as a green. Ryan Kelly,
I'm guessing probably for you know, age maybe agent injury
as a center as yellow. Quity pays a green. Now
DeForest Buckner, I would argue could still be a blue.
(34:19):
He's listed as a green. Here. Zaire Franklin for the
playmakers in EJ. Speeder, Yellows and Juju Brent Slash Jalen
Jones are pinks.
Speaker 2 (34:29):
Yeah, this is an interesting team, right.
Speaker 3 (34:30):
It's an interesting team because DJ they played really well
on the Shane psych in his first season. This is
a team that I think like their effort and their toughness,
maybe mass some of their physical deficiencies. But the team
is intriguing because of what we've talked about on the
podcast previously, how Chris Ballard and staff they decided to
go after all guys with the prototypical traits. Right, so
(34:52):
what you have is a team of dynamic and explosive athletes.
A lot of the guys that you name, they are
those prototypical guys that you look for at the position.
You think about Quentin Nelson, you think about Quitty pay
and his athleticism, You think about the Forest buck they're
and its height, weight speed, his size, and all of
the other guys that kind of manet from top to bottom.
(35:14):
They are an interesting team because they're kind of going,
i'll say, against the trend. But what they're doing is
they're supplying the coaching staff with a bunch of great
athletes and asking the coaching staff he turn these athletes
into productive players.
Speaker 2 (35:28):
They've had success, it would be I'm curious to see.
Speaker 3 (35:31):
What this next class, what they add on top of
what they already have. Do they stay down the same
course and how quickly can those first and second year
players develop? Because the foundation is there for this team
to make a jump. It's just a matter of can
the development happen quick enough for this team to play
at a playoff level?
Speaker 1 (35:49):
No doubt. Their last first round picks here with Chris Ballard,
Anthony Richardson, Quity Pay, Quentin Nelson, and Malie Cooker was
his first one up. By the way, Malie Cookers ended
up being a solid player for the Cowboys. So even
that I've thought that I was one I had a
big grade on him. I needed him to do something,
So I'm glad. I'm glad he's found a little something
(36:09):
there with the Cowboys.
Speaker 2 (36:11):
All right.
Speaker 1 (36:12):
Tennessee Titans, last team in the division. They are coming
off a six and eleven year. They have picks seven
and thirty eight, so that's where they are in this draft.
They have seventy five point eight million Holy moly in
cap space, that is the third most, so they're in
a pretty good shape there, you've got some free agents Tannehill,
(36:32):
Derrick Henry, Denico Autry is a good player. Aziz Al
Shier linebacker. So they've got some free agents out there.
When you look at building blocks for them offensively, the
quarterback spot, Will Levis is pink, unproven, Taj Spears for
the playmaker pink, unproven. DeAndre Hopkins I'm guessing for Age
(36:52):
is a yellow. And then you have Traylon Burke Slash
a Conquo. Those are both pinks. So you don't have
any blues there. Offensive line wise, those three spots. Scronsky's
a pink. You've got Raiding's and Dillard or yellows, and
then you've got Petite or Jalen Dunkle Duncan as pinks.
So that offensively buck that is not good. Defensively, Jeffrey
(37:16):
Simmons absolutely a blue. Harold Landry is a green. And
then the playmakers in the back end where there's a
lot of work that needs to be done. Here, you've
got Gibbons, McCrary and Hooker. You've got two pinks in
a green there.
Speaker 3 (37:28):
Yeah, team not good, not good, Yeah, team squarely under construction.
They're trying to rebuild it ran Carthon as his work
cut out for him. They believe they have a young
quarterback in Will Levis. They want to kind of build
the team around what he is able to do. But
this is a team that is in the middle of
a flip, you know, a fixer upper, and so the
(37:48):
draft will be a big part of the equation when
it comes to getting this team to catch up with
the division.
Speaker 2 (37:54):
Righters, they have to knock it out the box.
Speaker 3 (37:56):
They got to make sure that they hit on their
first two to three rounds and make sure that those
guys become foundational pieces because right now you just have
a lot of question marks. You got players in those slots,
but they's a lot of questions. They got to turn
some of these pinks into eventual greens and blues. For
this team to get back to the top of the AFC.
Speaker 1 (38:13):
They need some they need some difference makers, man, Like
they don't have enough premier players like they you know,
you talk about build out your depth, and you're like,
they need impact guys. So you know, they've got a
bunch of money to spend. They need to go out
and at least get one of them, you know, one
or two of them. In free agency, not not plugging,
you know, not plug into the lineup type guys, but
actual impact players. So that's on the to do list
(38:35):
there for ran Our buddy Ryan Carthon's got some work
to do here to get these guys up and running.
Their last five first round picks. You've got Scronsky trailing,
Burk's Caleb Farley, Issaiah Wilson, Jeffrey Simmons. Hit the home
run with Jeffrey Simmons in twenty nineteen, but they need
they need more guys like him in this roster. If
they're gonna they're gonna really try and catch up in
a division with Houston, who's on the They're just on
(38:56):
the diving board. Man, they're just getting ready to bounce
and even go even higher. You know, they're all going
to get better. You see Jacksonville, you know the talent
on that roster. Indy's got a bunch of you know,
athletic freaks and you know, get a chance keep their
quarterback healthy. We'll see what they can do. But man,
they got a lot of work to do here in
Tennessee this offseason.
Speaker 2 (39:14):
Yeah, a lot of work to do.
Speaker 3 (39:15):
And I mean all these teams like there's not a
clear cut front runner, but I will say the Houston
Texas a well positioned to kind of put a vice
grip on this division with this quarterback and with the
young players that they have on defense. The other team's
really got to get ready for the textan because they're
gonna be there for a minute, no doubt.
Speaker 1 (39:33):
All right, Buck, this has been a fun episode. We
jammed a lot in here, but it's always great to
catch up, man, anything else you want to throw in
here before we get out.
Speaker 2 (39:41):
Now, that's always fun, man.
Speaker 3 (39:42):
Like coming out of the combine and getting ready for
free agency, we can begin to already see how these
teams are about the pop.
Speaker 1 (39:49):
I would ask a favor of you if you haven't already, man,
we'd love a five star rating and a review if
you can. Wherever you're listening to us. Just helps get
the word out. This is the best time of year
for us in this On this podcast, we get a
lot of great feedback, a lot of texts from buddies
in the league. I got a lot of feedback when
we were Indianapolis from folks both on the media side
as well as a team side. So this is our
favorite time of the year. I hope you guys can
(40:11):
feel that and sense that. But we'd love it if
you do us a solid, give us a little rating
and review. We do appreciate it. All right, that's it.
We'll see you next time right here on moving sticks.
And now move the sticks with Daniel Jeremiah and Bucky Brooks.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
What's up, everybody?
Speaker 1 (00:07):
Welcome to move the sticks DJ, Bucky back with you
as we continue to kind of recap what we saw
in Indie as well as handle some other business. Buck,
what's going on, man, No.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Not too much.
Speaker 3 (00:17):
I mean, it's exactly what you're talking about. As we're
nearing free agency frenzy. You're trying to kind of put
together like how things teams are thinking when it comes
to weigh West available in free agency versus West available
in the draft and now should help us kind of
crystallize what is gonna take place, particularly when we started
doing these mock drafts.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
Yeah, no doubt were. Later on this episode we will
do the AFC South, which I think finishes up the
AFC for all the building blocks, you know, kind of
looking at the key players for them to build with
going forward.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
So that'll wrap up the AFC.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
Next week, I believe on our Monday episode we're just
gonna jet through the whole NFC, so the building blocks
for all the NFC teams. Wanted to get that done
as a free agency launches, just kind of so we
can have a clear before and after picture after free
agency to see what kind of changes got made there.
So be on the lookout for that next week. We're
going to go through the defense today what we saw
(01:13):
at the combine. But you led me somewhere where I
wanted to go because you talked about marrying the draft
and free agency, and I was talking to somebody. We're
talking all the positions, and you know, within a personnel executive,
we're talking about the running backs, and he's like, look,
I always you know, he kind of was with us
in terms of like I want young backs, like you
don't want veteran packs. But he said, this year is
(01:35):
such a unique year. He was like, there's five He said,
I might go through five veterans free agents this year
before I would get to the first draftable running back. Like, like,
free agency in the running back class is actually pretty
loaded of guys if you can get them on like
two year neils. You know, Josh Jacobs, you know Derrick
Henry on a two year deal. You know, I think
(01:55):
that like Antonio Gibson, You've got Pollard. There's a ton
of them. So he was like, the free agency is
a better way to go this year than drafting these
running backs, they're better football players. I thought that was
kind of interesting.
Speaker 3 (02:07):
The conversation actually makes sense DJ when you look at
the veterans that are on the market, take on Barkley,
Josh Jacobs, Tony Pollard. They're really good running backs that
have been feature backs in this league, but they're not
quite too old that you can't envision them being a
feature back for another year or two. And because there's
so many guys that are hitting the market at the
(02:27):
same time, I don't think you really have to worry
about the costs kind of rising up if anything is
going to depress the value of the running backs on
the market, because you can bid against Hey, if you
don't take it, I'm giving this money to the first
guy that says yes, and so you can wait. But
we know the money's not going to go up for
the veteran running back. To me, it's kind of a
(02:48):
win win for teams. You get a really good player
and then you can draft a player at a later
round and really take care of the position without really
kind of messing up your pocketbook.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
Yeah, it feels this is like a you know, veteran
running backs once you get to the second contract. To me,
I think you just go in two years at a time.
You know, hey, sign you up for two years, and
we'll just keep going these little one and two year deals.
I don't want to go beyond that because when you
fall off, it happens fast, and I don't want to
be stuck holding the bag here. So two years to
me is reasonable, and I think that's what those teams should,
(03:21):
those players and those teams should be trying to get done.
And look, you dress it up, you can dress it
up as a four or five year deal, but there's
going to be an out after year two, would be
my guest with a lot of these veteran running backs.
But I think it's again is another example of how
you got to stack your board and understand what free
agency looks like, and then what the draft looks like
in forms you know the direction you go in free agency.
(03:42):
So I think that's just something to keep an eye
on here with these running backs. Any other any other
connections you think from this draft class? Free agency?
Speaker 2 (03:49):
Oh? Look, I think free agency at wide receiver.
Speaker 3 (03:53):
I think when you look at the market, like now
that we've seen the franchise tech applied and we see
that Michael Pittman is no longer on the market. Mike
Evan and signed the deal. Look, teams are going to
look at Calvin Ridleys at the top of the board.
Gabe Davis is one of the guys that to be
up there. And now the decision that you're weighing is
do I want to pay the veteran over twenty million
(04:14):
dollars or do I want to roll the dice on
overge draft pick. And that is going to have some
sway in terms of how much money these veterans get.
But yeah, I absolutely believe that when we're doing the
juggling act between free agency and the draft, because there's
so many really good wide receivers in this class, I
think you will see the free agent value kind of
(04:36):
shrink for some of the wide receivers that we're expecting
to get like a hefty pay day. I don't know
if those paydays are going to be out there, and
I think a lot of people will say, yeah, we'll
bypass that to go back and see if.
Speaker 2 (04:47):
We can develop a young quarterback.
Speaker 3 (04:48):
And I think we will see more teams opt to
kind of cycle through young wide receivers in the next
few years because now the prospect of paying a wide
receiver thirty million dollars quarterback money is going to teams
to say that we can save some of this money
for some of these other marquee positions, because right now,
the one thing we know every year college is producing
(05:08):
a ton of pass catches that can play right away.
Speaker 1 (05:11):
Yeah, I think you know T Higgins another one, right
he got tagged real early on in the process. So
I think on the whiteouts you talked about the cost,
I think it makes sense. Two things. Number one, Okay,
I'm I'm gonna resign my own guys. You know you're
gonna pay a lot of money. I'm gonna do it
on everything I know about a guy, right so I'm
taking I'm not gonna take a twenty two to twenty
four million dollar risk with a free agent from another
(05:32):
team and wonder how he learns my system and how
he fits in with my quarterback. But if I've got
you know, Michael Pittman, or I've got T Higgins, you
know I'm going Okay, I know what he is, I
know how my quarterback feels about him. Like I'd be
more comfortable scratching that check versus going out and paying
big money to a free agent to come in when
I could just draft a guy like I. To me,
(05:53):
if you're going to get a guy that's unknown, so
to speak, within your building, I think I would rather
roll the dice and take one in the second round.
There's going to be a ton of good players here.
It costs you nothing versus going out and spend a
top top dollar on somebody else's player that you're not
familiar with.
Speaker 2 (06:08):
Buck. It makes total sense to me, DJ.
Speaker 3 (06:11):
It makes a lot of sense to look at it,
and a lot of it depends on how comfortable are
you with developing young receivers.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
Do you have a wide receiver coach?
Speaker 3 (06:20):
Do you have a system that is easy to digest
for young players to kind of have success right away
if you feel good about those factors, Yeah, the young
receivers the way to go because you talk about it.
I mean, just look at what the Green Bay Packers
have been able to do with all their young chief receivers.
They don't have a lot of money allocated to the
wide receiver room. They now can write a big, big
(06:40):
check to Jordan Love and not have to worry about it,
kind of tipping the skills on their team when it
comes to how they allocate the rest of the cash
for the defense and those things. At some point they're
gonna have to pay one of those receivers, you know,
maybe two. But right now, for the next three years,
they got a bunch of young, cheap playmakers that are
going to be able to get it done, and it
(07:01):
allows you a lot of flexibility to build up other
parts of your team.
Speaker 1 (07:06):
Are you as surprised as I was with the Christian
Wilkins news, Like, I know that they're over the cap,
and I know they have to do some roster management.
I know they have to pay Tua, I get all
those things, but like, what's harder to find than a
defensive tackle that can rush the quarterback and it is
a dominant player. Like, to me, that's one of the
hardest things to find.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
I was shocked.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
I talked to a GM last week. We're talking about
the free agent market, and he's like, yeah, you know,
we were hopeful that maybe one of these DT's would get,
you know, get to the market. Now Chris Jones hasn't
you know, hasn't been tagged. Technically he could get to
the market, but all the expectation is that the Chiefs
are going to clear the decks in order so they
can get that deal done before we get the free agency.
(07:48):
But the Christian Wilkins thing shocked me. Man, and I
think the market for him he is going to break
the bank because so many teams have money and it's
hard to find one of those.
Speaker 3 (07:57):
Now, the thing that is the thing that surprises me
about him hitting the market, No, it's not the thing
that's surprising. But if I'm a team, like, the only
thing I would I would have to put a phone
call in, like why are they letting him out? What
is it that we don't know? You know, like what
is the surprise at the bottom of the cracker jack
(08:17):
box here? We gonna get that is going to get it,
because otherwise it doesn't make sense based on his performance
between the lines. It doesn't make sense that you would
let a guy who has played at a high level
inside as an inside pass rusher get on the market.
I would have to put in a phone call just
to see is there something behind the scenes that we
don't know, because it certainly doesn't make sense for a young, athletic,
(08:39):
productive playmaker like him to hit the market.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
Yeah, no, I don't understand it. So I know one thing,
he is going to get paid handsomely out there on
the free market. Let's go through the combine here, Buck,
different positions, guys stood out. Let's start the corner position.
Where look Quenya Mitchell. I just updated my top fifty
list that should be out tomorrow, moved him up a
(09:02):
few spots. He's my thirteenth overall player out of Toledo.
But you can make a case I still have Terry
Arnold is my number one corner. He's number two for me.
I have no fault with anybody who says after quenyaon Mitchell,
watching him at the Senior Bowl, watching him work out,
he ran four to three three at one hundred and
ninety five pounds, Buck, I mean, I have no problem
with somebody saying he's a top corner the draft.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
I could.
Speaker 1 (09:23):
I couldn't fight you on that.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
Look.
Speaker 3 (09:25):
It's hard to dispute it. When you go back and
you look at the way that he played it Toledo.
You look at a consistent production and performance that he
just played during his time there. You watch how he
competed at a high level at the Senior Bowl. He
eliminated any doubts you had you were any doubts that
you were concerned about when it came to his level
of competition and how you are fair against the best
of the best. He took that away. He then goes
(09:45):
to the combine knocks it out the box with the
testing heightweight, speed, check check check check. You didn't see
the movement, skills and all the other stuff. There's not
a lot that you can poke holes at.
Speaker 2 (09:55):
Now.
Speaker 3 (09:55):
It's just a matter are you willing to pull the trigger?
Are you willing to pull the trigger on a guy
from to when we are so I would say obsessed
or we really focus on brand names. I mean, look,
he he's about as good as they come at corner.
We've seen it in a bunch of different ways, and
so yeah, I can understand why you would be compelled
to put him at the top of the chart.
Speaker 1 (10:16):
Yeah, well he had he had a phenomenal workout. Look,
Nate Wiggins ran four to eight, but it was one
hundred and seventy three pounds. Man. So it's like, as
excited as you get about the four to eight, which
we all knew he was going to fly, one hundred
and seventy three pounds was bizarre, right, you know? He
was supposed to be one eighty five, one eighty eight.
He shows up at one seventy three, which was which
was a little bit odd there.
Speaker 2 (10:35):
Yeah, sometimes sometimes think on that I was.
Speaker 3 (10:38):
I was like sometimes like if he's leaning into the
track background a lot of times what you do is
you a cut weight so you can run fast?
Speaker 2 (10:44):
Right, you're lighter and you're faster.
Speaker 3 (10:46):
I think the bigger thing, And this is why it's
important for scouts on school calls. Remember how we used
to go to the strength coach and just add, hey,
what's a good weight on him? Because I want to
know what's what's his regular season weight? Because then I
would be able to have an understanding of, Hey, did
he cut weight to run fast or is this what
he always has been and this is where he's going
kind of when he shows up to mini camp, he's
gonna be one hundred and seventy five pounds because what
(11:08):
happened to him at the workout is what your fearful
love happening to him.
Speaker 2 (11:12):
Yeah, in the league, he's not gonna be able to finish.
He's gonna be heard.
Speaker 3 (11:15):
So I would give him a check for running fast,
But then the questions would be Is it gonna be
a concern going forward with his durability and his toughness
when it comes to tackling.
Speaker 1 (11:26):
M hm, yeah, no, that was that was kind of
the concern. That was the question mark on him. I'll
give you a couple other ones here. I'll just go
through a list of a few guys I thought were interesting.
I mentioned this a second ago. Rey Straw ran four
five one, one hundred and eighty three pounds, which he
was a little bit bigger, which she was a little
bit faster. But the tape is really good. I still
think he's kind of late one, maybe early two in
(11:47):
that range. Kamari lastyear didn't run the forty, but had
a phenomenal field workout. A couple other guys that I
want to highlight here, Max Melton from Rutgers is kind
of acing every test. Buck ran four three nine. He
can play inside, can play outside. Another one to me
that really helped himself Mikey Sammers still from Michigan, who
the question was the size of speed one hundred and
(12:08):
eighty two pounds at five zho ninety three but ran
four four seven. I think it was big for him
to get in the four fource.
Speaker 2 (12:14):
Yeah, really big for him.
Speaker 3 (12:16):
Those two last guys that you talked about. The Rutgers kid.
What you like about him is you talk about checking
the boxes along the process. Also, like the fact that
he was coached by Greg Ciano. We can say a
lot of things about Greg Ciano. Greg Ciano coach DB's
at the NFL level, so he knows how to develop
defensive backs. We've seen a number of Rutgers players come
into this league and have success, So I feel really
good about what he's been able.
Speaker 2 (12:37):
To put on display.
Speaker 3 (12:38):
And I would you know, you talk about standing on
the table form, I'll standing on table form when it
comes to Santa Silt.
Speaker 2 (12:44):
You talk about.
Speaker 3 (12:46):
Small in terms of five to nine, but the speed
is everything, because man, if he was small and then
he had a four or five time, it just makes
it hard to sell in the building. But because he's
a true nickel corner, because we have on like game tape,
the way they were able to utilize him in a
variet different ways and how I mean, I think you
can make the argument that he might have been the
leader in the back end in terms of like how
(13:06):
he got it done when they needed to make place
all that other stuff. Yeah, I feel great about those
two guys, and part of the process when it comes
to the combine is being able to just continue to
check the boxes and make sure that what I saw
on tape is believable.
Speaker 2 (13:23):
With each of.
Speaker 3 (13:23):
Those guys and some of the other ones that you've mentioned,
you feel great about the overall evaluation because the consistency
has been there when it comes to their performance and
their athletic potential and trades.
Speaker 1 (13:35):
So production six picks for Samer still, leadership, all the
stuff you hear is off the charts. This one was
interesting me. Eighteen Michigan players there, right, So I talked
to a team that asked every Michigan player who was
the leader of the team, and he said it wasn't unanimous,
but it was close to unanimous that it was Mikey Samers.
Still like offense, defense didn't matter. They all pointed to him.
(13:56):
So I'm like, you add that stuff up together and
it's like, I know he's a little bit small, I
know where he plays. I've seen him play in that role.
I've seen him as a blitzer. I've seen him tackle,
I've seen him take the ball away. He's a good
football player, man, So I was tempted. I was tempted
to put him at fifty on my list, and I
was like, Okay, now he's a traditional third round pick.
Like that's what that profile says. This is a third
(14:16):
round guy. But when you add it all up, if somebody,
if somebody took him, took him with a forty fifth
pick with that, I mean, wouldn't surprise me.
Speaker 3 (14:23):
No, not in the role because that nickel position is
the twelfth starter. You're counting on a starting quarterback. I'm
a starting player and that nickel position. You talked about
the leadership ability. I actually like hearing that because there's
a lot of communication that takes place. Playing in the slot,
your half linebacker, half defensive back. You're asked to do
a lot of different things, whether it's blitzing, whether it's
(14:46):
being a solid edge setter in the run game, all of.
Speaker 2 (14:50):
That other stuff.
Speaker 3 (14:51):
I like the high IQ, I like the instincts, but
the leadership ability is another feather in this cap.
Speaker 2 (14:56):
When it comes to the evaluation safeties.
Speaker 1 (15:00):
I'll give you a couple of names here. Interesting one
to me, I thought it helped himself a ton with Javon
Bullard from Georgia. He was five ten, four hundred ninety
eight pounds ran four four seven one. Who again talking
to teams to interview stuff. He crushed Cam Kitchens. I
wish you would have ran faster. He ran a four
to six five. It's very very similar to JayR. Brown
and his situation come out of Penn State last year.
(15:21):
They ran a similar time. Jay R. Brown ended up
going a little bit later than we would have thought
and he ended up playing really good football for the
forty nine ers last year. Newman did not run from Minnesota.
Most teams view him as the top guy. But you
know there is you know, speed, athleticism concern there the
two I'll give you three names real quick, or actually
(15:42):
i'll give you four names that I thought really really
helped themselves in the safety pile. And again these guys
are all clumped together. But Cole Bishop from Utah ran
four four five. I didn't know he had that in him.
Oh yeah, Kaylen Bullock ran high four fours from sc
That's not a surprise. Dominique Hampton's a personal favorite of
mine from Washington. Like third round type. He's two hundred
and fifteen pounds, ran four or five to one, and
(16:02):
then the other Georgia's safety Tykey Smith. He ran four
four six two hundred two pounds, so well, I don't
think there's a top. I don't think there's a first
round safety in the bunch. I'm not so sure we
even see one in the top of the second round.
But I think there's that that clump of guys that
we just went through right there, five to six seven guys.
I think, you know, I think we see a run
on those probably the latter part of Day two. So
(16:23):
you're talking about that third round, I think you're going
to see all these safeties go added.
Speaker 3 (16:27):
Part of it will be special teams value if they're
talking about making the changes to the kickoff rule, kickoff
return rule, where that's more in play. Now we bring
those things up in the evaluation before it had to
become a man. You need to be able to play
and play well at your position. I think now you
have a little more flexibility in being able to do it.
Speaker 2 (16:48):
DJ.
Speaker 3 (16:49):
The funny thing about the safeties this year and in
previous years, the ball production just a number of interceptions
that we're seeing from the safety class in general, you
just feel better about it. There were years, man, we
would get guys who have one or two interceptions for
their career. Now we're seeing guys. You talk about Nuban
at the top of the boyd, he has thirteen interceptions.
(17:11):
Bullock Havin, I think he has nine seven. I think
he has seven interceptions. During the time at USC, you're
seeing more guys get their hands on the football. And
in a league that where turnovers are really coveted and
they're the biggest determining fact in who wins and loses games,
you guys have to be able to have the ball
skills in the range to turn it over. I mean,
(17:31):
it looks necessary. You gotta tackle, but you gotta be
able to take the ball.
Speaker 1 (17:34):
Away, no doubt. Let's get to the linebackers here. Travin
Wallace from Kentucky at two hundred and thirty seven pounds
running four to five one was huge. Cedric Gray from
North Carolina and four six four which is still a
solid time taller linebacker six to one and change six
one and a half. There a couple other ones I'll
(17:55):
highlight for you here real quick. Olo Fashio from Washington.
He's interesting six to four to two thirty six, ran
four five six really productive.
Speaker 2 (18:07):
Man.
Speaker 1 (18:07):
I watched one of the Oregon games and he just
ran over Uh, he ran over Bucky Irving got a
sack in that game. He's like a third round, third,
third round type dude. And the other one that I
liked that I'm trying to I've got some teams that
have come around on him because they weren't they weren't
necessarily feeling this guy early on, and I'm like, dude.
Speaker 2 (18:22):
What am I missing?
Speaker 1 (18:23):
This guy's twitched up an explosive like I don't know,
but uh, Jordan McGee goes out there from Temple and uh,
he's little undersize, two hundred and twenty eight pounds, but
he's six oh one to three, six one and three eights.
He ran four five five and he's a little bit
tight but buck but super super twitchy and make some plays.
So again, as we're going through the defensive position, safeties, linebackers,
(18:44):
like those guys, don't you know that list of guys
I just mentioned don't blow you away? That's that middle
tier at the top. Edrin Cooper's still to me is
the top guy. He ran four to five to one
at two hundred and thirty pounds. Peyton Wilson was awesome
from NC State he had four four three he was flying.
Speaker 2 (19:02):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (19:02):
And then Junior Colson from Michigan wight in but didn't run.
So whatever order you want to have, Peyton Wilson or
Edgering Cooper, I think I'm cool with. I had a
Cooper Wilson just you know, factored in the injury spuntry,
But I think those feel like the top three guys
to me.
Speaker 2 (19:19):
Yeah, it's ah.
Speaker 3 (19:20):
The Peyton Wilson thing when when you look at the production,
I mean you just see it. Man, his status, he
just it falls off the page. Just so much stuff
that he has and sacks and tackles, lost interceptions, force, fomos,
all those things.
Speaker 2 (19:32):
You see a guy that plays hard, he's always around
the ball. Uh. For him to test like he tested,
that was remarkable.
Speaker 3 (19:39):
The thing that stood out to me DJ was, Uh,
when you guys were showing him running around and then
they popped into a high school wrestling tape, Oh yeah.
Speaker 2 (19:47):
Hey bad man.
Speaker 3 (19:48):
That made it looked I put a little gold start
And my thing I was like, oh, this dude is
really about it. He helped himself. The medical would be everything.
But DJ, when I look at him, I'm like, man,
you just think about the linebackers that have played in
this league. Again, I know we had him. Come on,
I'm not saying he's in the same category, but I just.
Speaker 1 (20:03):
Likes Luke Keikley and he looks like Luke Keigley. There's
no way to avoid it. Man. I don't like compared
guys to Hall of famers, but I'm like, that's his guy.
I mean, Luke Luke has met with him. Luke texted me,
he texted me during the common Who's happy for the kid.
He really likes him. He's got a chance to meet
him and get to know him a little bit.
Speaker 3 (20:19):
But DJ, you had you had those vibes right, Like, yeah,
I mean the way he just he's serious, but he
can turned it, turned that thing on, and uh, the
athleticine is really comes down to the medical. Cooper is
also fine. Talk about sideline, the sideline player. All that
other stuff checks out rangy, But yeah, but the guy
I think that made the most noise. I think Peyton
Wilson made the most noise because I don't know if
(20:40):
anybody expected him to test like he tested.
Speaker 2 (20:43):
Man.
Speaker 1 (20:43):
I mean, he's almost six four, two hundred and thirty
three pounds, ran four to four three. I have him
as my fortieth player. I moved him up a little bit,
but I mean, you tell me right now that he's
got a clean bill of health, and you tell me
he went with the twenty first pick. I get it.
I get it. He plays like that. So that's the
linebacker group. We go to the DTS buck Byron Murphy not.
(21:05):
You know, we told everybody when they were they listened
to us, he was going to roll. He ran four
eight seven at two hundred and ninety seven pounds. You know,
he's just six foot six oh four, six foot and
a half. They're not the biggest guy in the world,
but super, super, twitched up and explosive. Johnny Newton did
not run from Illinois fist, continued his assault on the
(21:26):
off season. He was two hundred and ninety two pounds,
ran four to seven eight. And then I'll tell you
a couple other guys that tested really well. You got
Makai Wingo from LSU, who's you know, two hundred and
eighty four pounds undersize, ran four eight five. Chris Jenkins,
we knew was going to roll. He ran four nine
to one, you know, or Row Row Row ran four
(21:46):
eight to nine from Clemson. He's one of those guys
I've got kind of highlighted that I got to go
back and do more on. I didn't love him as
a player, but man, he's six four two ninety four
and four eight nine, so more work to do on him.
The one that I did add from the group to
the top fifty that wasn't the only new name that
I have in the top fifty was Mason Smith from LSU.
Just because you're watching, all these guys are all six
foot six one, six one six y two, and all
(22:08):
of a sudden, now you got this six foot five
three pound dude comes up there. You know, I'm like, Okay,
he's different than everybody else, and that's like big time
recruit coming out of high school, big freshman year, then
got hurt his knee. Wasn't the same guy. But I'm like, man,
if you're a defensive line coach, you know you've been
around those guys like this is the kind of guy
they want to work with.
Speaker 3 (22:28):
Absolutely the kind of guy they want to work with. Man,
you talk about big physical uh long as as the
physical dimensions that you want to work with, and you
talk about being a big time recruit, that talent is there,
now can you cultivate it? Can you get it out
of him? But you certainly intrigue by just just what
he brings to the table as.
Speaker 1 (22:46):
An athlete, and no doubt. And then edge Rusher's here
real quick. Tallas Turner in a four four six a
little bit shorter than I thought at six h two six,
but two forty seven with it with freaky length, like
freaky freaky length and wingspan. Jared Verse super explosive, ran
a four to five eighth. Leatu Latu did everything he
(23:07):
needed to do at two hundred and fifty nine pounds,
ran four to sixty four. Chop Robinson put on a
show as we said he would. He ran four to
four eight at two hundred and fifty four pounds. Darius
Robinson was ran four nine to five at two eighty five.
And then I had Marshaun o'nealand in my top fifty
he ran a four to seven five at two sixty
seven with like thirty four inch arms. So he's, uh,
he's a good looking kid as well.
Speaker 3 (23:30):
Yeah, DJ, you know what so interesting about these adgereshers,
like we talked about, they're not being a mouse. Garrett
in the group. But there's just a lot of guys
that have intriguing attributes. We talked about the top three,
and those top three, I think it comes down to,
like what you really want, what do you want to
play with? How how are you kind of stacking your defense?
(23:50):
But they're some interesting guys like in the later ranks,
like we talked about at the Espress Rine game, Muhammad
Kamara from Colorado State. Yeah, dude, he's interesting man, whichie
you know DJ Shack Production had thirteen sacks, was co
defensive Player of the Year in the Mountain West. First
step first step quickness you saw at the East West Riane.
Speaker 1 (24:10):
Game seven buck in seven.
Speaker 2 (24:13):
Yeah, and then you see him put it up.
Speaker 3 (24:15):
Uh, he's a guy that's that's adventures and we see
in it and I think I'm learning my lesson from
watching Byron Young from the La Rams kind of popping.
You see him on tape and see the first step quickness,
but you're like, man, what does he fit? I think
Kamar can have similar success around in the same round
value in terms of being a third round pick that
can come and make plays.
Speaker 1 (24:35):
Yep, I like it. And then a couple other interesting guys,
Gabe Murphy. We talked about him before you saw him
at the East West Shrine Game. He ran a four
to six eight at two hundred and forty seven pounds.
He had eight sacks last year. I liked him. Xavier Thomas,
who's been at Clemson for one hundred years, it seems like,
but was a big time recruit. He ran a four
to six two at two hundred and forty four pounds
(24:55):
six oh two two. An interesting, interesting player. And I
thought the guy who, you know, one of the more
interesting things that I saw from this group was Brailn Trice.
Weighing at two forty five, he must have cut close
to twenty pounds and ran a four to seven to two.
So four seven two is a solid time. I just
thought it was interesting to me that he he cut
(25:16):
like that, and uh, and obviously knew the question was
the athleticism, and so he said, screw it, I'm just
gonna shave this weight and get out there and run
the best I can possibly run.
Speaker 2 (25:25):
Yeah, I mean, look that's what that's that's what people do.
Speaker 3 (25:28):
It is interesting, like twenty pounds is a significant cut,
and so what you have to do is you have
to treat it as such when you look at that time,
you got to put almost an asteris buy it because
it's certainly not his playing weight. It's not what he
played it during the course of the year. So how
much does it really matter? I don't know, Like we
see people kind of do things like that during this
time of year to make sure and he probably won't
(25:49):
weigh again, you know, it may not run again or
be it his pro day, he'll be ten pounds heavier.
Speaker 2 (25:53):
But if Tim Mar that shows me the guy cares.
Speaker 1 (25:56):
That shows me he cares because he knew what the
questions were and so he's like, that's why I'm run
as fast as I can possibly run. So good for
him doing that. All right, we're gonna take a quick break.
That is a wrap on the combine recap here Again,
if you missed the offense, we did that on the
previous episode. You can go check that one out. But
we are going to jump into I believe it is
the AFC South if I'm not mistaken. We're going to
(26:18):
look at their championship foundational pieces. We'll do that right
after this. All right, Buck, let's let's continue on this series.
We've been doing this on the building blocks, the foundational
pieces here for every single team in the NFL. This
is going to finish up the AFC. As we go
to the South and we start with the Houston Texans,
(26:39):
this is a team in terms of a Soury Caps situation,
very very appealing. They have seventy million dollars worth of space,
that's fourth most in the NFL. They are armed with
the twenty third pick, the fifty ninth pick in the
eighty sixth pick, that's where they're going to be in
this draft. They've got some notable free agents though. You've
got Jonathan Greener, Devin Singletary, Noah Brown, which fant Stephen
(27:01):
Wilson or Stephen Nelson I should say little Corner, mighty mouse.
You've got Sheldon Rankins of DT and Blake Cashman the linebacker.
As we go through and look at their kind of
key pieces, will go uh. I mean, it's hard as
a rookie to get a blue, but they got a
blue with c J.
Speaker 2 (27:18):
Stroud at quarterbacks.
Speaker 1 (27:20):
So blue chip player c J. Stroud, he's a blue.
Speaker 2 (27:23):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (27:23):
Your three, your three offensive playmakers again, we got to
fill all these different spots. So for their offensive playmakers,
Nico Collins is a green, maybe headed towards the blue
the way he played. Take Dell's a yellow because of
the you know, coming off of the injury, but is
really a green when he's healthy. Dalton Schultz they just resigned,
He's a green. Laramie Tunsall for their three offensive lineman, Tunsel.
Speaker 2 (27:44):
Is a blue.
Speaker 1 (27:45):
You get a yellow for Titus Howard slash Shack Mason.
There you get a pink, which is a you know,
unproven younger player, but Kenyon Green and Juice Scruggs would
compete for that spot. And then the pass rushers you
get two. Uh, they've got a green, and Will Anderson
Junior a green and Elie Collins again, if they were
to re sign Greenard, he'd be in that mix. And
(28:07):
then the defensive playmakers at the linebacker slash secondary position,
you get three spots. Petriza Green Singletary is a I
would argue he's better than a yellow here. We should
get that one switched. He should be a green at least,
and then defensive playmakers. The last one. Christian Harris would
be a pink here, but he's on his way to
being a green, if not at green already as well.
Speaker 3 (28:30):
Yeah, good, good, young squat. The number one thing that
they have is they got a blue chip quarterback in CJ. Stroup,
and that makes it a lot easier to build a
team around, to build a team up because you have someone,
a franchise player that you can build around. Nico Collins,
you talked about being able to be a guy that
could push for being a blue We saw Tangeddal, and
Tangdale prought to his injuryies playing like at a blue
level for this team, Larry Man Tonsel being there and
(28:53):
so DJ just from an offensive standpoint, there should be
a lot of optimism.
Speaker 2 (28:57):
Around what this team could be with CJ.
Speaker 3 (29:00):
Drout at the helm, and then with Dimiko Ryan's background
and what he's been able to do quickly with this defense.
They play hard, they get after it, they got a
ton of money that they can throw at people. This
team is going to be there. They're built to be
around for the long haul. A lot of its just
tied to the development of CJ. Stroud, But this team
has a lot of intriguing young pieces, and I don't
(29:21):
know if anybody thought that we would be talking about
them so glowingly after what they look like like before
last season.
Speaker 1 (29:30):
Well, I just did a Ron Burgundy because you got
misspelled words in here, and I just read them right out.
I'm like, the heck is Derek Singletary. I'm like, Derek Stingly.
It's so no Bill. They got to come on, man,
they got to fix that here. Derek's Singletary Junior. I'm like,
who the heck is Derek Singletary Junior. I'm like, oh,
(29:50):
Stingley nice anyway, So don't clip off that part please
and send that out so I can hear from everybody
about what moron I am. But they've got a chance
to have a bunch of blue dudes in this group
because they've got a bunch of greens that are going
to graduate to blues here very quickly. You look at
their last five first round picks Stroud will Anderson home run,
(30:10):
home run, Stingley Junior home run, Kenyon Green, and Titus Howard.
Solid solid players can be solid starters for them. So
they're in good shape there in Houston. Let's get to Jacksonville.
Jacksonville finish nine to eight last year. They are picking
seventeen and forty eight, and they're projected to have a
third round compick as well. Salary cap wise, they have
twenty four point six million, which is seventeenth most in
(30:33):
terms of space. You've got Calvin Ridley as the primary
free agent there. They just released Darius Williams. They just
released Rayshawn Jenkins as well. So when you go and
look at their foundational pieces, a lot of green here. Buck,
So we need some greens to move up. But you've
got Trevor Lawrence as a green. You've got etn as
a green. Evan Ingram is a green. Christian Kirk is
(30:56):
a yellow. I'm guessing that is I'd have to get
the explanation on that. Why he's not a maybe maybe maybe.
Speaker 3 (31:02):
Maybe because of injury, maybe just because the injury because
you've missed the last part of the year.
Speaker 2 (31:05):
But he should be a green for sure.
Speaker 1 (31:07):
Yes, uh, Brand Sheriff's a yellow. Cam Robinson's a yellow.
Anton Harrison is a is a pink. Is an unproven
young player, Josh Allen, don't we have to doesn't he
have to be a blue? Buck the league in sacks,
you's got to be a blue, should be a blue,
so he should be a blue. Trayvon Walker is listed
as a green. A Lua Khan is a green. Devin
(31:28):
Lloyd's a green, and then the last defensive playmaker spot
Tyson Campbell or Andre Cisco, your choice would be a yellow.
So it's just a team you know extremely well, Buck,
What do you think?
Speaker 3 (31:39):
I think it's a very accurate depiction of what the
team is. I think the team is is right at
that line. Would have to make a decision. Are they
gonna be good? They're gonna be great. You have a
lot of good players. Trevor Lawrence is a good player,
hasn't consistently played at a level where you could call
him a blue. Travis Etienne is a good player, but
hasn't played.
Speaker 2 (31:55):
At a blue yelll yet blue level yet.
Speaker 3 (31:57):
I would say the best offensive players they have right
now Evan Ingram and Christian Kirk, even though they wouldn't
grate out his blues for this team, they play at
the blue level.
Speaker 2 (32:05):
Because the way that it's built.
Speaker 3 (32:07):
Worried about the offensive line. Brenton Sheriff has man struggled
the last couple of years. Injuries, age and those things.
You wonder what he's going to be able to do
for them. And then Cam Robinson has been good, been injured,
dealt with suspensions and so that's an issue. Defensively, You're
looking for one of these guys outside of Josh Allen
to emerge as a blue player. You're hoping that Trayvon
Walker can be that blue player. You take someone number
(32:28):
one overall, that's the expectation. So if they get Josh
Allen and Trayvon Walker to play at a blue level,
then they feel good. But the big issue for them
is going to be in the back end. Who is
going to be the star corner or safety that helps
this team defend the elite offenses in the league. Tyson
Campbell has been up and down. Andre Cisco has also
(32:49):
been up and down. The hope is that in a
new scheme that these players were finally maximize and reach
their potential.
Speaker 1 (32:54):
That's good stuff. Again, nobody knows this team better than Bucky.
You go back to the last five first round picks
to Harrison Tackles, It played better than I thought he would. Honestly,
I probably undergraded him a little bit. Trayvon Walker, Devin Lloyd,
Trevor Lawrence Travis, etm. So that's kind of the foundation
again for these guys going forward. Get to the Colts
team that was nine to eight last year, they picked fifteen,
(33:16):
forty six and eighty two. They have forty nine point
three million dollars in cap space. That's eighth most free
agent wise. You've got Kenny Moore as a free agent.
That's their biggest one there. They just announced that they
had tagged Michael Pittman Junior, so he's in the fold.
Here we look at their key foundational pieces. Here again,
(33:38):
you get a quarterback, three offensive playmakers, three quality Ozero line,
two pass rushers, and three defensive playmakers. So the quarterback
Anthony Richardson is a he is a pink. Is an
unproven young player. Jonathan Taylor is a blue. He's a
blue chipper. Michael Pittman Junior is a green, which is
a really good player. Josh Bowns slash Alec Pierce. They
(33:58):
fall in the pink category. You've got Quenton Nelson as
a green. You've got Bernard Ryman as a green. Ryan Kelly,
I'm guessing probably for you know, age maybe agent injury
as a center as yellow. Quity pays a green. Now
DeForest Buckner, I would argue could still be a blue.
(34:19):
He's listed as a green. Here. Zaire Franklin for the
playmakers in EJ. Speeder, Yellows and Juju Brent Slash Jalen
Jones are pinks.
Speaker 2 (34:29):
Yeah, this is an interesting team, right.
Speaker 3 (34:30):
It's an interesting team because DJ they played really well
on the Shane psych in his first season. This is
a team that I think like their effort and their toughness,
maybe mass some of their physical deficiencies. But the team
is intriguing because of what we've talked about on the
podcast previously, how Chris Ballard and staff they decided to
go after all guys with the prototypical traits. Right, so
(34:52):
what you have is a team of dynamic and explosive athletes.
A lot of the guys that you name, they are
those prototypical guys that you look for at the position.
You think about Quentin Nelson, you think about Quitty pay
and his athleticism, You think about the Forest buck they're
and its height, weight speed, his size, and all of
the other guys that kind of manet from top to bottom.
(35:14):
They are an interesting team because they're kind of going,
i'll say, against the trend. But what they're doing is
they're supplying the coaching staff with a bunch of great
athletes and asking the coaching staff he turn these athletes
into productive players.
Speaker 2 (35:28):
They've had success, it would be I'm curious to see.
Speaker 3 (35:31):
What this next class, what they add on top of
what they already have. Do they stay down the same
course and how quickly can those first and second year
players develop? Because the foundation is there for this team
to make a jump. It's just a matter of can
the development happen quick enough for this team to play
at a playoff level?
Speaker 1 (35:49):
No doubt. Their last first round picks here with Chris Ballard,
Anthony Richardson, Quity Pay, Quentin Nelson, and Malie Cooker was
his first one up. By the way, Malie Cookers ended
up being a solid player for the Cowboys. So even
that I've thought that I was one I had a
big grade on him. I needed him to do something,
So I'm glad. I'm glad he's found a little something
(36:09):
there with the Cowboys.
Speaker 2 (36:11):
All right.
Speaker 1 (36:12):
Tennessee Titans, last team in the division. They are coming
off a six and eleven year. They have picks seven
and thirty eight, so that's where they are in this draft.
They have seventy five point eight million Holy moly in
cap space, that is the third most, so they're in
a pretty good shape there, you've got some free agents Tannehill,
(36:32):
Derrick Henry, Denico Autry is a good player. Aziz Al
Shier linebacker. So they've got some free agents out there.
When you look at building blocks for them offensively, the
quarterback spot, Will Levis is pink, unproven, Taj Spears for
the playmaker pink, unproven. DeAndre Hopkins I'm guessing for Age
(36:52):
is a yellow. And then you have Traylon Burke Slash
a Conquo. Those are both pinks. So you don't have
any blues there. Offensive line wise, those three spots. Scronsky's
a pink. You've got Raiding's and Dillard or yellows, and
then you've got Petite or Jalen Dunkle Duncan as pinks.
So that offensively buck that is not good. Defensively, Jeffrey
(37:16):
Simmons absolutely a blue. Harold Landry is a green. And
then the playmakers in the back end where there's a
lot of work that needs to be done. Here, you've
got Gibbons, McCrary and Hooker. You've got two pinks in
a green there.
Speaker 3 (37:28):
Yeah, team not good, not good, Yeah, team squarely under construction.
They're trying to rebuild it ran Carthon as his work
cut out for him. They believe they have a young
quarterback in Will Levis. They want to kind of build
the team around what he is able to do. But
this is a team that is in the middle of
a flip, you know, a fixer upper, and so the
(37:48):
draft will be a big part of the equation when
it comes to getting this team to catch up with
the division.
Speaker 2 (37:54):
Righters, they have to knock it out the box.
Speaker 3 (37:56):
They got to make sure that they hit on their
first two to three rounds and make sure that those
guys become foundational pieces because right now you just have
a lot of question marks. You got players in those slots,
but they's a lot of questions. They got to turn
some of these pinks into eventual greens and blues. For
this team to get back to the top of the AFC.
Speaker 1 (38:13):
They need some they need some difference makers, man, Like
they don't have enough premier players like they you know,
you talk about build out your depth, and you're like,
they need impact guys. So you know, they've got a
bunch of money to spend. They need to go out
and at least get one of them, you know, one
or two of them. In free agency, not not plugging,
you know, not plug into the lineup type guys, but
actual impact players. So that's on the to do list
(38:35):
there for ran Our buddy Ryan Carthon's got some work
to do here to get these guys up and running.
Their last five first round picks. You've got Scronsky trailing,
Burk's Caleb Farley, Issaiah Wilson, Jeffrey Simmons. Hit the home
run with Jeffrey Simmons in twenty nineteen, but they need
they need more guys like him in this roster. If
they're gonna they're gonna really try and catch up in
a division with Houston, who's on the They're just on
(38:56):
the diving board. Man, they're just getting ready to bounce
and even go even higher. You know, they're all going
to get better. You see Jacksonville, you know the talent
on that roster. Indy's got a bunch of you know,
athletic freaks and you know, get a chance keep their
quarterback healthy. We'll see what they can do. But man,
they got a lot of work to do here in
Tennessee this offseason.
Speaker 2 (39:14):
Yeah, a lot of work to do.
Speaker 3 (39:15):
And I mean all these teams like there's not a
clear cut front runner, but I will say the Houston
Texas a well positioned to kind of put a vice
grip on this division with this quarterback and with the
young players that they have on defense. The other team's
really got to get ready for the textan because they're
gonna be there for a minute, no doubt.
Speaker 1 (39:33):
All right, Buck, this has been a fun episode. We
jammed a lot in here, but it's always great to
catch up, man, anything else you want to throw in
here before we get out.
Speaker 2 (39:41):
Now, that's always fun, man.
Speaker 3 (39:42):
Like coming out of the combine and getting ready for
free agency, we can begin to already see how these
teams are about the pop.
Speaker 1 (39:49):
I would ask a favor of you if you haven't already, man,
we'd love a five star rating and a review if
you can. Wherever you're listening to us. Just helps get
the word out. This is the best time of year
for us in this On this podcast, we get a
lot of great feedback, a lot of texts from buddies
in the league. I got a lot of feedback when
we were Indianapolis from folks both on the media side
as well as a team side. So this is our
favorite time of the year. I hope you guys can
(40:11):
feel that and sense that. But we'd love it if
you do us a solid, give us a little rating
and review. We do appreciate it. All right, that's it.
We'll see you next time right here on moving sticks.
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