April 30, 2025 • 17 mins
Team Reporter Casey Phillips, Senior Writer/Editor and Staff Writer/Reporter Brianna Dix talk about all the latest Bucs news in this week's edition of Bucs Insider. The team discussed the Bucs’ reported UDFA, the NFC South’s draft classes and their overall thoughts on the 2025 NFL Draft.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome into Buccaneers Insider, coming to you from the Buck Studio,
presented by Ticketmaster Casey Phillips.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Here with Scott Smith and Bree Dix.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
We did a bit of a draft recap show on Monday,
right after the draft to talk about our draft picks,
but of course there's still plenty more to break down
about the draft here, So this is where we wanted
to talk about a few of our undrafted free agents
potentially that we've signed. That there has not been a
full list released yet for obvious reasons of not actually
having signed anybody until they get here, but we're able
to talk about a few reports that are out there,
(00:27):
and we also thought we'd talk about a little bit
of what the division did in the draft as well,
knowing these are people we're going to face. So let's
start with the undrafted free agent part. So tell me
for you, Scott, who is it that you kind of
wanted to highlight or discuss here of some of the
reports and rumors that are out there.
Speaker 3 (00:43):
And I want to highlight also that you're saying these
are reported. Yeah, like you said, the players don't actually
sign until they arrive here from Mini camp next week,
and things happen.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
Things can always change you.
Speaker 3 (00:54):
A guy could fail a physical or just simply change
his mind. So I think these reports are pretty accurate.
I mean, Jason Light's been on the radio in a
couple of places talking about these guys. I feel like
these are accurate. But let's call them accurate, but not
set in stone.
Speaker 4 (01:07):
Anything can happen.
Speaker 3 (01:08):
Yeah, I don't think he's talked about this guy. One
guy I want to bring up that's reported that the
Buccaneers are signing is Garrett Green. He's a wide receiver
by trade, and when I went to look for his bio,
I could not find anybody except a quarterback named Garrett.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
Green at West Virginia.
Speaker 4 (01:23):
That's who this is.
Speaker 3 (01:24):
Now, you know, I think the Raiders actually spent a
six round pick on a quarterback's changing receiver, and we
didn't want to let John Spytech have all the fun. Yeah,
so we found our own guy, Garrett Green West Virginia.
Mostly a quarterback, he played a little bit of receiver
in twenty twenty two, caught four passes. He ran a
four or five at the Pro Day, and had a
nice vertical leap at the Big twelve Pro Day. So
(01:46):
he's got some tools there, and of course if you
had that guy on your team, you'd always be good
for a gadget play because he's got a pretty strong arm. Yeah,
So it's just an interesting concept. I like to see
these where you know, a basketball player or a guy
switching positions or something. So it could be like a
Juliante One type of success story.
Speaker 4 (02:01):
You never know.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
Yeah, And I think one of the other reported undrafted
free agents that's out there that's probably gotten the most attention,
largely due to potentially a last name breed tell us
about who that is.
Speaker 5 (02:10):
Yes, so Shiloh Sanders, who he's miss timed due to
injury over the last three years. But he's kind of
that physical presence, plays with good awareness down in the box,
that physical, hard hitting safety. But also I think he's
the guy that could bring be a physical presence on
special teams coming in, so he can certainly add depth
(02:32):
in the secondary. We saw kind of the issues and
the laundry list of injuries that the Bucks went through
last season, but can kind of shore up and compete
for you know, strong safety position.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
Okay, interesting, and then I know we also have another
one that's gotten some big attention.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
Do you see what I did there, Sir Desmond Watson.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
First of all, I love the concept of if we
do in fact sign him, that we will have the
biggest and the smallest player in the NFL roster.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
That incredible, Love everything about that. And then yeah, look
at this photo.
Speaker 1 (03:04):
You put him next to Vitaveo insteadily Vita.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
Vea is the small one. I cannot imagine trying to
run on that.
Speaker 1 (03:12):
But even more importantly, I mean Pro Bowl Tug of
War team look out like we're gonna win.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
But I just think this is.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
So interesting and a cool, you know, kind of local
kid that's from the area as well. And I just
can't wait to see what he actually looks like out there.
And of course there's already some reports maybe he's slimmed
down a little bit, but still very large human And
I just love this idea of him and Vita in
there in the middle.
Speaker 3 (03:34):
And it's a human interest story too, because it's a
guy who's trying to play football and obviously he's had
some problem with the weight. He got to Florida a
three hundred and eighty pounds, and I think they thought
he was going to throughout his career, maybe work that
down a little bit, but went the other direction, and
so he was up to four sixty four by the
Pro day. And you know, that's not a weight that
anybody can a play football inner probably wants to live
(03:55):
their life, and so it does. It is great news
to hear I came from this high school coach. So
if that's an accurate port that since that Pro day
he's already lost twenty seven pounds, speaks to a guy,
you know, working to get himself a shape. Congratulations to him,
and also a guy that's serious about this. Yeah, because
I don't think anybody thinks he can play in the
NFL at four and sixty four fives, right, Yeah, So
the first thing for him and Jason ly was on
(04:17):
the radio saying, you know, training camp.
Speaker 4 (04:19):
Is off in the distance.
Speaker 3 (04:21):
We got OTAs, we got mini camp, and so you
know he's got work to do, but it sounds like
he's committed.
Speaker 1 (04:27):
Yeah, and look, I mean played at Florida. You know
he's ready for that training camp weather, which is true
a big deal. You know that it's not like we're
drafting him from up in Minnesota or something where you
wonder how he'll be able to handle. I mean, he's
played at Florida, so the man knows about the heat
and humidity.
Speaker 3 (04:41):
By the way, he's also very very strong. He did
thirty six bench press reps.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
I watched the video from that of him doing some
of the vertical jump though bit press and that that's a.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
Lot of reps's.
Speaker 3 (04:51):
That's more than anybody who did at the combine. I
don't think he was at the Combine. Minute the Florida
Pro Day, he did thirty six.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
That's a strong man, the strong man.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
So yeah, So those are just a few we wanted
to high some of the reports that are out there,
and we do not have a full or published list
because guys are not able to be here to sign yet.
So make sure you stay tuned for all of those
future ones to kind of get the full picture of
who these undrafted guys are, because man, it's just inevitable
that every year someone makes it, someone ends up being
an important part of the team. So as much as
the draft picks themselves get all the attention for good reason,
(05:19):
these are definitely potentially guys who could have.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
An impact on the field this year.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
So let's talk a bit about the NFC South Draft
recap here.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
It's always interesting to pay attention to these guys.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
You know you're going to face them a couple of
times this year to see who some of these impact.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
Players might be.
Speaker 1 (05:33):
So I know, Scott, tell me a little bit about
who you wanted to focus on and why.
Speaker 3 (05:37):
Well, I chose the Falcons because they had the smallest
draft class, so there's less.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
Let's work for you.
Speaker 4 (05:42):
No, I don't like.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
Why did I choose the same I know that's.
Speaker 4 (05:47):
A veteran right there, and look at all these picks
for the Saints.
Speaker 2 (05:52):
Was a choice on my part.
Speaker 3 (05:54):
I don't like this Falcons draft, Okay, because I.
Speaker 2 (05:59):
Like it right as a bus person. You don't like it?
Speaker 3 (06:01):
Okay, Yeah, now there is one exception. It's not the
thing you haven't already heard. I'm just going to agree
with pretty much everybody else, and that's how they necessarily
got to these picks. But Jalen Walker at fifteen, I
think in arger macras we had him going as high
as eighty. Thought he might go to the Panthers, which
wouldn't have allowed either. Just extremely extremely athletic guy. Maybe
not the prototypical size or arm length for an edge rusher,
(06:24):
but he's also an off ball linebacker, and I just
feel like he's a chess piece that Raheem Morris is
going to be able to move around and do great
things with. And I think he could be a really
good pass rusher despite maybe the lack of length in
the arms.
Speaker 4 (06:36):
You know, he had a seventy percent.
Speaker 3 (06:39):
Pass rush win rate last year when he was rushing
the passer, and so that's really good, you know. And
then they make the deal they trade for up from
forty six to twenty six to get James Pierce. They
also get a third, but they give up their first
round pick next year, and the.
Speaker 4 (06:55):
Wisdom of that move.
Speaker 3 (06:56):
We won't really know for sure a full picture until
we see how Falcons. You know, if they have a
poor year and that's a top ten pick, it might
not look real good. And I think there's two possibilities here.
They were at forty six they moved to twenty six.
Either they thought there was about to be a run
on edge rushers and he was their top guy and
they wanted to get there and they wanted to get
(07:17):
in front of that run. If that was their idea,
then they may have miscalculated because there were no other
edge rushers taken till forty four, which I think, let's
see it was as Araka went at forty four, TJ
Tua Maloa went at forty five, Nick Scarton went at
fifty one, Olafami Aleteho win at fifty two. Mike Green
(07:38):
it went at fifty nine. So there was run, but
it's right where they were. Yeah, so maybe they didn't
do this at all. Now the other possibly, of course,
I imagine what Atlanta would say is that no, this
guy was in a tier of his.
Speaker 4 (07:51):
Own he didn't care about.
Speaker 3 (07:54):
And again, James Pearce very very, very athletic. There are
some people that think he's got the highest ceiling of
all these ushers. I've seen that in some reports. But
there's others that think he's unpolished. He doesn't always have
a plan, you know. He he's he's explosive, he's big.
He hit a twenty three percent pass rush past rush
win rate, which was second in the FBS. But he
(08:16):
can be inconsistent with his pad levels, so he's probably
got things to clean up. But most coaches think we
can fix those kinds of things. So the Falcons had
the fewest sacks in the league over.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
The last ten years, and you can tell they were like,
let's change.
Speaker 4 (08:30):
Well they've been trying.
Speaker 3 (08:30):
Yeah, they've been this time they had full court press
on and then the other just I know, I've been
talking for a while. The only other thing I'll say, uh,
they drafted safeties in both the third and fourth round
in Xavier Watts and Billy Bowman. Those two guys combined
for twenty one interceptions over the last two years. They
needed playmaking like we do in the secondary, and they
found it with this safety duo. They still have Jesse Bates,
(08:51):
so maybe Billy Bowman has to start at nickel or
something like that. But this could be a really good
safety group. So again, not in love. I guess if
you're looking at from our perspective, maybe the training in
the first round pick won't work out.
Speaker 4 (09:03):
But these four players I like a lot.
Speaker 2 (09:04):
Interesting.
Speaker 1 (09:05):
Yeah all right, Sobrie, you have the Carolina Panthers. Tell
me what we think about their.
Speaker 2 (09:09):
Draft, and I'm kind of like Scott.
Speaker 5 (09:11):
I disappointingly very much liked their draft selections. Notably their
first round pick Tetoa McMillan, who was one of the
most productive receivers in the FBS, led them in receiving
ours first balance catches. One of the things I really
like about his skill set and gives me reason to
(09:32):
believe that he's going to have success, is that his
skill set is kind of reminiscent of Mike Evans. He
has kind of that long strided speed his basketball the
volleyball background shows up at the catch point. He has
good awareness along the boundary, is adepth on kind of
the hitches the go routes, and has kind of just
(09:52):
been one of the guys that was really durable and
consistent all throughout his collegiate career. So they get another
weapon for Bryce Young to kind of bolster up that
receiver group, and I think kind.
Speaker 2 (10:03):
Of along the lines with us.
Speaker 5 (10:04):
A lot of people predicted them to get a defensive
player in the first round. They go with who they
thought was the best player available in McMillan, who had
a lot of success, and then in the second round
they get Nick Scarerton, the edge from Texas A and
M who again led both a Big ten team and
an SEC team in sacks over the previous two seasons.
Speaker 2 (10:25):
But kind of power is the name of his game.
Speaker 5 (10:27):
He's gonna have to kind of diversify his rush plan
a little bit, but looks to power through blockers. Is
a guy that if a team uses a tight end
ship like, he's going to make them pay.
Speaker 2 (10:38):
So I think he's.
Speaker 5 (10:39):
A guy that's really gonna boost their pressure their pass rush.
And then in the fourth round they picked up running
back Trevor Etn out of Georgia. He's a guy that
can kind of pair with Cuba Hubbard with rigo' daddle
and is the guy that can kind of shake away
from defenders with kind of the phone booth contact balance,
has a little bit of winkle, can catch out of
(11:01):
the backfield. So I think he's going to kind of
be a versatile chess piece for them, and he's going
to kind of shore up their their one game there
in Carolina.
Speaker 1 (11:08):
Yeah, that's interesting. So yeah, I decided to go with
the Saints. Stupid move on about all eight picks totally. Yeah,
I'm really just gonna highlight the first two, but yeah,
eight picks total.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
They did not.
Speaker 1 (11:18):
Repeat a position, but they did repeat schools nine picks.
Nine picks even Man, you're right, So yeah, it was.
It was a wild draft class for them, an interesting thing. So, uh,
they kind of did, I guess of like offense early
and then just this big run of defense. So they
started out offensive tackle, then quarterback, then defensive tackle, safety, linebacker, corner,
(11:39):
yeah right, and then finished again with offense. So they
had offense at the top and bottom and then schmoosd
some defense in there in the middle. So round one
Calvin Banks, offensive tackle from Texas. So I think this
is a really interesting choice for their part. I mean,
over the past five years, no team has invested more
early picks on offensive linemen than the Saints. They always
do they always do, so, so he's now joining you know,
(12:01):
the number fourteen overall in twenty twenty four, the number
nineteen overall in twenty twenty two, twenty fourth overall in
twenty twenty. I mean, man, you got a list of
first round draft picks there at your offensive line, which
is really interesting. And he started all forty two games
of his college career at left tackle, very much at
cornerstone of this Texas offensive line that obviously went to
the College Playoff this last year and did a pretty
(12:22):
good job. So won a bunch of those trophies for
top offensive lineman.
Speaker 2 (12:26):
All that kind of thing. Allowed just one sack in
each of his last two seasons.
Speaker 1 (12:30):
So this is a guy that I think could definitely
make a difference for them in their offensive line. And
then it's unsurprising then that after that they took a
quarterback of Hey, let's let's find someone to protect whoever's
back there. Yeah, And of course that's the question, isn't
I can't wait to see what is going to happen
with this whole quarterback saga with the Saints of we
have no idea if Derek Carr is going to be
(12:51):
available or not to start the season at any point
in the season, what does that look like?
Speaker 2 (12:56):
And so then they took Tyler and shock suck shuck.
Speaker 1 (13:01):
I know, every time I hear it, I'm like, I
look at it and I hear it, like I just
it doesn't make sense to my right, I know, just
from a shuck. He is the highest drafted quarterback for
them since Archie Manning. Isn't that crazy in nineteen seventy one? Yeah, fifties,
that's wild to me.
Speaker 2 (13:18):
I thought that was so wild.
Speaker 1 (13:19):
So he's a guy that has, you know, good size
six f five, two hundred and twenty strong, accurate arm,
and I thought it was interesting.
Speaker 2 (13:26):
I saw people pointing out the fact that when you
look at which quarterbacks were.
Speaker 1 (13:30):
Available in this draft and why he was the one
maybe that they chose. I saw some people bringing up
that Kellen Moore, you know, is obviously the one who's
going to be working a lot with.
Speaker 4 (13:39):
Him head coach.
Speaker 1 (13:40):
And when you look at the fact of who has
Kellen Moore worked with in his career as a coach,
you have Dak Prescott, justin Herbert Jalen Hurts, bigger, pretty
good list, you know, A yeah, not a bad list,
bigger guys kind of the stronger arm that build a bit.
And so I thought that was interesting to think about
the fact that me that played into why they chose him. There,
(14:02):
this guy has such a wild story. I just I'm
going to be interested to just follow him again as
a human side if he's one of these people that
has played a thousand years of college football because of
COVID and injury and red shirting and all the things,
and yeah, he started, it's really interesting. He's Oregon, Texas
Tech and Louisville. He has made the rounds.
Speaker 4 (14:21):
He was in the same recruiting class as Trevor Lawrence.
Speaker 2 (14:24):
Yeah, that's wild to think about.
Speaker 4 (14:26):
He used to back up Justin Herbert.
Speaker 1 (14:29):
Yeah, so that was where he started, or then backing
him up going back to twenty eighteen and then twenty
twenty I feel like was gonna be kind of his year,
and then it was the COVID year that he all
seven games that they played, he did a great job,
over sixty percent completion percentage and ranked among the top
leaders in yards per attempt, for completion, passing efficiency, all
these things like this was going to be I feel like,
(14:50):
his sort of coming out party, and then COVID shortened it.
So then all three years after that he goes to
Texas Tech. All three years deals with injuries, and both
twenty one and twenty twenty three he only played four
games due to some injuries.
Speaker 2 (15:03):
So his last year.
Speaker 1 (15:05):
In Louisville was the only fully complete year for him
as a starter, and he did great, and he did
he did pretty well. So I think it's just going
to be an interesting thing to see what this looks like.
Speaker 2 (15:15):
Is it him, is it Derek Carr?
Speaker 1 (15:17):
Is it a mixture depending on you know, win cars
available or not.
Speaker 2 (15:21):
So I found that really interesting.
Speaker 1 (15:22):
But yeah, then they went on that kind of run
for a bit of defensive guys. And then one of those,
one of the round four picks, Quincy Riley, a cornerback
also out of Louisville, led all DB's in the class
with fifteen interceptions.
Speaker 4 (15:36):
So over how many years over.
Speaker 1 (15:39):
His collegiate level, that was the that was the lead
for football DB's. Yeah, so I thought that that was
an unfortunate thing to hear. Yes, Yes, I thought it
was an interesting draft class for sure.
Speaker 3 (15:49):
Yeah, Tyler Schuck is kind of fast too. He lose well,
he can make plays on the run, and he can
he can get first downs with his legs. He looked
really good at the combine in that regard. And one
thing you were mentioned all the first round picks that
the Saints have had on their offensive line in relatively
recent years. One of those I believe was Trevor Penning.
And what this drafting of Kelvin Banks allows them to
(16:10):
do is they can put Banks right in at left tackle. Yeah,
and I think maybe tealis Ifuaga, their first round pick
from last year, was a bit miscast as a left tackle.
Speaker 4 (16:18):
Now he goes over to right tackle.
Speaker 3 (16:20):
And you don't have Trevor Penning in the lineup at all,
which is I think a goal. I think they were
ready to move on from Trevor Penning. He just hasn't
worked out for them.
Speaker 1 (16:28):
Yeah, I think that's gonna be interesting. So I mean,
in your mind, as you hear kind of as we've
talked about all three of these, how much do you
feel like this looks like an improvement for all the teams?
Maybe the grade you'd kind of give some of this,
and the biggest things that stand out to about who we.
Speaker 3 (16:40):
Might face, Well, the Bucks. The Bucks did well too,
so I think everybody improved. I think the Falcons thing
is all going to hinge on the ceilings that Jalen
Walker and James Pierce reach and how much that first
round pick ends up hurting them. So there's still a
lot of variance in what can happen with them.
Speaker 4 (16:57):
I think the.
Speaker 3 (16:58):
Panthers are pretty st right forward. I mean Ted McMillan
exactly what they need. They got a couple of pass
rushers as well. You didn't even get to talk about
Princely Unman Milian. Yes, uh so everybody's loading up on
pass rushers. The Saints, those four guys on defense is
like one at every position. That they took in the middle,
and some of those guys could get to play pretty quickly,
(17:20):
and even ones like to Mario Davis as as an example,
and Tyrane Matthew fantastic, fantastic players shout their careers, but
they're getting up there and so they're making plans here
to to move on. So I think everybody did pretty well.
I still think, you know, biased, perhaps, I think the.
Speaker 2 (17:39):
Bucks ad a for sure.
Speaker 1 (17:40):
All right, well that's going to do it for us
on this edition of Bucks Insider. Thanks so much for
being with us, and we'll see you next time.
Welcome into Buccaneers Insider, coming to you from the Buck Studio,
presented by Ticketmaster Casey Phillips.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Here with Scott Smith and Bree Dix.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
We did a bit of a draft recap show on Monday,
right after the draft to talk about our draft picks,
but of course there's still plenty more to break down
about the draft here, So this is where we wanted
to talk about a few of our undrafted free agents
potentially that we've signed. That there has not been a
full list released yet for obvious reasons of not actually
having signed anybody until they get here, but we're able
to talk about a few reports that are out there,
(00:27):
and we also thought we'd talk about a little bit
of what the division did in the draft as well,
knowing these are people we're going to face. So let's
start with the undrafted free agent part. So tell me
for you, Scott, who is it that you kind of
wanted to highlight or discuss here of some of the
reports and rumors that are out there.
Speaker 3 (00:43):
And I want to highlight also that you're saying these
are reported. Yeah, like you said, the players don't actually
sign until they arrive here from Mini camp next week,
and things happen.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
Things can always change you.
Speaker 3 (00:54):
A guy could fail a physical or just simply change
his mind. So I think these reports are pretty accurate.
I mean, Jason Light's been on the radio in a
couple of places talking about these guys. I feel like
these are accurate. But let's call them accurate, but not
set in stone.
Speaker 4 (01:07):
Anything can happen.
Speaker 3 (01:08):
Yeah, I don't think he's talked about this guy. One
guy I want to bring up that's reported that the
Buccaneers are signing is Garrett Green. He's a wide receiver
by trade, and when I went to look for his bio,
I could not find anybody except a quarterback named Garrett.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
Green at West Virginia.
Speaker 4 (01:23):
That's who this is.
Speaker 3 (01:24):
Now, you know, I think the Raiders actually spent a
six round pick on a quarterback's changing receiver, and we
didn't want to let John Spytech have all the fun. Yeah,
so we found our own guy, Garrett Green West Virginia.
Mostly a quarterback, he played a little bit of receiver
in twenty twenty two, caught four passes. He ran a
four or five at the Pro Day, and had a
nice vertical leap at the Big twelve Pro Day. So
(01:46):
he's got some tools there, and of course if you
had that guy on your team, you'd always be good
for a gadget play because he's got a pretty strong arm. Yeah,
So it's just an interesting concept. I like to see
these where you know, a basketball player or a guy
switching positions or something. So it could be like a
Juliante One type of success story.
Speaker 4 (02:01):
You never know.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
Yeah, And I think one of the other reported undrafted
free agents that's out there that's probably gotten the most attention,
largely due to potentially a last name breed tell us
about who that is.
Speaker 5 (02:10):
Yes, so Shiloh Sanders, who he's miss timed due to
injury over the last three years. But he's kind of
that physical presence, plays with good awareness down in the box,
that physical, hard hitting safety. But also I think he's
the guy that could bring be a physical presence on
special teams coming in, so he can certainly add depth
(02:32):
in the secondary. We saw kind of the issues and
the laundry list of injuries that the Bucks went through
last season, but can kind of shore up and compete
for you know, strong safety position.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
Okay, interesting, and then I know we also have another
one that's gotten some big attention.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
Do you see what I did there, Sir Desmond Watson.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
First of all, I love the concept of if we
do in fact sign him, that we will have the
biggest and the smallest player in the NFL roster.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
That incredible, Love everything about that. And then yeah, look
at this photo.
Speaker 1 (03:04):
You put him next to Vitaveo insteadily Vita.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
Vea is the small one. I cannot imagine trying to
run on that.
Speaker 1 (03:12):
But even more importantly, I mean Pro Bowl Tug of
War team look out like we're gonna win.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
But I just think this is.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
So interesting and a cool, you know, kind of local
kid that's from the area as well. And I just
can't wait to see what he actually looks like out there.
And of course there's already some reports maybe he's slimmed
down a little bit, but still very large human And
I just love this idea of him and Vita in
there in the middle.
Speaker 3 (03:34):
And it's a human interest story too, because it's a
guy who's trying to play football and obviously he's had
some problem with the weight. He got to Florida a
three hundred and eighty pounds, and I think they thought
he was going to throughout his career, maybe work that
down a little bit, but went the other direction, and
so he was up to four sixty four by the
Pro day. And you know, that's not a weight that
anybody can a play football inner probably wants to live
(03:55):
their life, and so it does. It is great news
to hear I came from this high school coach. So
if that's an accurate port that since that Pro day
he's already lost twenty seven pounds, speaks to a guy,
you know, working to get himself a shape. Congratulations to him,
and also a guy that's serious about this. Yeah, because
I don't think anybody thinks he can play in the
NFL at four and sixty four fives, right, Yeah, So
the first thing for him and Jason ly was on
(04:17):
the radio saying, you know, training camp.
Speaker 4 (04:19):
Is off in the distance.
Speaker 3 (04:21):
We got OTAs, we got mini camp, and so you
know he's got work to do, but it sounds like
he's committed.
Speaker 1 (04:27):
Yeah, and look, I mean played at Florida. You know
he's ready for that training camp weather, which is true
a big deal. You know that it's not like we're
drafting him from up in Minnesota or something where you
wonder how he'll be able to handle. I mean, he's
played at Florida, so the man knows about the heat
and humidity.
Speaker 3 (04:41):
By the way, he's also very very strong. He did
thirty six bench press reps.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
I watched the video from that of him doing some
of the vertical jump though bit press and that that's a.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
Lot of reps's.
Speaker 3 (04:51):
That's more than anybody who did at the combine. I
don't think he was at the Combine. Minute the Florida
Pro Day, he did thirty six.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
That's a strong man, the strong man.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
So yeah, So those are just a few we wanted
to high some of the reports that are out there,
and we do not have a full or published list
because guys are not able to be here to sign yet.
So make sure you stay tuned for all of those
future ones to kind of get the full picture of
who these undrafted guys are, because man, it's just inevitable
that every year someone makes it, someone ends up being
an important part of the team. So as much as
the draft picks themselves get all the attention for good reason,
(05:19):
these are definitely potentially guys who could have.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
An impact on the field this year.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
So let's talk a bit about the NFC South Draft
recap here.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
It's always interesting to pay attention to these guys.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
You know you're going to face them a couple of
times this year to see who some of these impact.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
Players might be.
Speaker 1 (05:33):
So I know, Scott, tell me a little bit about
who you wanted to focus on and why.
Speaker 3 (05:37):
Well, I chose the Falcons because they had the smallest
draft class, so there's less.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
Let's work for you.
Speaker 4 (05:42):
No, I don't like.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
Why did I choose the same I know that's.
Speaker 4 (05:47):
A veteran right there, and look at all these picks
for the Saints.
Speaker 2 (05:52):
Was a choice on my part.
Speaker 3 (05:54):
I don't like this Falcons draft, Okay, because I.
Speaker 2 (05:59):
Like it right as a bus person. You don't like it?
Speaker 3 (06:01):
Okay, Yeah, now there is one exception. It's not the
thing you haven't already heard. I'm just going to agree
with pretty much everybody else, and that's how they necessarily
got to these picks. But Jalen Walker at fifteen, I
think in arger macras we had him going as high
as eighty. Thought he might go to the Panthers, which
wouldn't have allowed either. Just extremely extremely athletic guy. Maybe
not the prototypical size or arm length for an edge rusher,
(06:24):
but he's also an off ball linebacker, and I just
feel like he's a chess piece that Raheem Morris is
going to be able to move around and do great
things with. And I think he could be a really
good pass rusher despite maybe the lack of length in
the arms.
Speaker 4 (06:36):
You know, he had a seventy percent.
Speaker 3 (06:39):
Pass rush win rate last year when he was rushing
the passer, and so that's really good, you know. And
then they make the deal they trade for up from
forty six to twenty six to get James Pierce. They
also get a third, but they give up their first
round pick next year, and the.
Speaker 4 (06:55):
Wisdom of that move.
Speaker 3 (06:56):
We won't really know for sure a full picture until
we see how Falcons. You know, if they have a
poor year and that's a top ten pick, it might
not look real good. And I think there's two possibilities here.
They were at forty six they moved to twenty six.
Either they thought there was about to be a run
on edge rushers and he was their top guy and
they wanted to get there and they wanted to get
(07:17):
in front of that run. If that was their idea,
then they may have miscalculated because there were no other
edge rushers taken till forty four, which I think, let's
see it was as Araka went at forty four, TJ
Tua Maloa went at forty five, Nick Scarton went at
fifty one, Olafami Aleteho win at fifty two. Mike Green
(07:38):
it went at fifty nine. So there was run, but
it's right where they were. Yeah, so maybe they didn't
do this at all. Now the other possibly, of course,
I imagine what Atlanta would say is that no, this
guy was in a tier of his.
Speaker 4 (07:51):
Own he didn't care about.
Speaker 3 (07:54):
And again, James Pearce very very, very athletic. There are
some people that think he's got the highest ceiling of
all these ushers. I've seen that in some reports. But
there's others that think he's unpolished. He doesn't always have
a plan, you know. He he's he's explosive, he's big.
He hit a twenty three percent pass rush past rush
win rate, which was second in the FBS. But he
(08:16):
can be inconsistent with his pad levels, so he's probably
got things to clean up. But most coaches think we
can fix those kinds of things. So the Falcons had
the fewest sacks in the league over.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
The last ten years, and you can tell they were like,
let's change.
Speaker 4 (08:30):
Well they've been trying.
Speaker 3 (08:30):
Yeah, they've been this time they had full court press
on and then the other just I know, I've been
talking for a while. The only other thing I'll say, uh,
they drafted safeties in both the third and fourth round
in Xavier Watts and Billy Bowman. Those two guys combined
for twenty one interceptions over the last two years. They
needed playmaking like we do in the secondary, and they
found it with this safety duo. They still have Jesse Bates,
(08:51):
so maybe Billy Bowman has to start at nickel or
something like that. But this could be a really good
safety group. So again, not in love. I guess if
you're looking at from our perspective, maybe the training in
the first round pick won't work out.
Speaker 4 (09:03):
But these four players I like a lot.
Speaker 2 (09:04):
Interesting.
Speaker 1 (09:05):
Yeah all right, Sobrie, you have the Carolina Panthers. Tell
me what we think about their.
Speaker 2 (09:09):
Draft, and I'm kind of like Scott.
Speaker 5 (09:11):
I disappointingly very much liked their draft selections. Notably their
first round pick Tetoa McMillan, who was one of the
most productive receivers in the FBS, led them in receiving
ours first balance catches. One of the things I really
like about his skill set and gives me reason to
(09:32):
believe that he's going to have success, is that his
skill set is kind of reminiscent of Mike Evans. He
has kind of that long strided speed his basketball the
volleyball background shows up at the catch point. He has
good awareness along the boundary, is adepth on kind of
the hitches the go routes, and has kind of just
(09:52):
been one of the guys that was really durable and
consistent all throughout his collegiate career. So they get another
weapon for Bryce Young to kind of bolster up that
receiver group, and I think kind.
Speaker 2 (10:03):
Of along the lines with us.
Speaker 5 (10:04):
A lot of people predicted them to get a defensive
player in the first round. They go with who they
thought was the best player available in McMillan, who had
a lot of success, and then in the second round
they get Nick Scarerton, the edge from Texas A and
M who again led both a Big ten team and
an SEC team in sacks over the previous two seasons.
Speaker 2 (10:25):
But kind of power is the name of his game.
Speaker 5 (10:27):
He's gonna have to kind of diversify his rush plan
a little bit, but looks to power through blockers. Is
a guy that if a team uses a tight end
ship like, he's going to make them pay.
Speaker 2 (10:38):
So I think he's.
Speaker 5 (10:39):
A guy that's really gonna boost their pressure their pass rush.
And then in the fourth round they picked up running
back Trevor Etn out of Georgia. He's a guy that
can kind of pair with Cuba Hubbard with rigo' daddle
and is the guy that can kind of shake away
from defenders with kind of the phone booth contact balance,
has a little bit of winkle, can catch out of
(11:01):
the backfield. So I think he's going to kind of
be a versatile chess piece for them, and he's going
to kind of shore up their their one game there
in Carolina.
Speaker 1 (11:08):
Yeah, that's interesting. So yeah, I decided to go with
the Saints. Stupid move on about all eight picks totally. Yeah,
I'm really just gonna highlight the first two, but yeah,
eight picks total.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
They did not.
Speaker 1 (11:18):
Repeat a position, but they did repeat schools nine picks.
Nine picks even Man, you're right, So yeah, it was.
It was a wild draft class for them, an interesting thing. So, uh,
they kind of did, I guess of like offense early
and then just this big run of defense. So they
started out offensive tackle, then quarterback, then defensive tackle, safety, linebacker, corner,
(11:39):
yeah right, and then finished again with offense. So they
had offense at the top and bottom and then schmoosd
some defense in there in the middle. So round one
Calvin Banks, offensive tackle from Texas. So I think this
is a really interesting choice for their part. I mean,
over the past five years, no team has invested more
early picks on offensive linemen than the Saints. They always
do they always do, so, so he's now joining you know,
(12:01):
the number fourteen overall in twenty twenty four, the number
nineteen overall in twenty twenty two, twenty fourth overall in
twenty twenty. I mean, man, you got a list of
first round draft picks there at your offensive line, which
is really interesting. And he started all forty two games
of his college career at left tackle, very much at
cornerstone of this Texas offensive line that obviously went to
the College Playoff this last year and did a pretty
(12:22):
good job. So won a bunch of those trophies for
top offensive lineman.
Speaker 2 (12:26):
All that kind of thing. Allowed just one sack in
each of his last two seasons.
Speaker 1 (12:30):
So this is a guy that I think could definitely
make a difference for them in their offensive line. And
then it's unsurprising then that after that they took a
quarterback of Hey, let's let's find someone to protect whoever's
back there. Yeah, And of course that's the question, isn't
I can't wait to see what is going to happen
with this whole quarterback saga with the Saints of we
have no idea if Derek Carr is going to be
(12:51):
available or not to start the season at any point
in the season, what does that look like?
Speaker 2 (12:56):
And so then they took Tyler and shock suck shuck.
Speaker 1 (13:01):
I know, every time I hear it, I'm like, I
look at it and I hear it, like I just
it doesn't make sense to my right, I know, just
from a shuck. He is the highest drafted quarterback for
them since Archie Manning. Isn't that crazy in nineteen seventy one? Yeah, fifties,
that's wild to me.
Speaker 2 (13:18):
I thought that was so wild.
Speaker 1 (13:19):
So he's a guy that has, you know, good size
six f five, two hundred and twenty strong, accurate arm,
and I thought it was interesting.
Speaker 2 (13:26):
I saw people pointing out the fact that when you
look at which quarterbacks were.
Speaker 1 (13:30):
Available in this draft and why he was the one
maybe that they chose. I saw some people bringing up
that Kellen Moore, you know, is obviously the one who's
going to be working a lot with.
Speaker 4 (13:39):
Him head coach.
Speaker 1 (13:40):
And when you look at the fact of who has
Kellen Moore worked with in his career as a coach,
you have Dak Prescott, justin Herbert Jalen Hurts, bigger, pretty
good list, you know, A yeah, not a bad list,
bigger guys kind of the stronger arm that build a bit.
And so I thought that was interesting to think about
the fact that me that played into why they chose him. There,
(14:02):
this guy has such a wild story. I just I'm
going to be interested to just follow him again as
a human side if he's one of these people that
has played a thousand years of college football because of
COVID and injury and red shirting and all the things,
and yeah, he started, it's really interesting. He's Oregon, Texas
Tech and Louisville. He has made the rounds.
Speaker 4 (14:21):
He was in the same recruiting class as Trevor Lawrence.
Speaker 2 (14:24):
Yeah, that's wild to think about.
Speaker 4 (14:26):
He used to back up Justin Herbert.
Speaker 1 (14:29):
Yeah, so that was where he started, or then backing
him up going back to twenty eighteen and then twenty
twenty I feel like was gonna be kind of his year,
and then it was the COVID year that he all
seven games that they played, he did a great job,
over sixty percent completion percentage and ranked among the top
leaders in yards per attempt, for completion, passing efficiency, all
these things like this was going to be I feel like,
(14:50):
his sort of coming out party, and then COVID shortened it.
So then all three years after that he goes to
Texas Tech. All three years deals with injuries, and both
twenty one and twenty twenty three he only played four
games due to some injuries.
Speaker 2 (15:03):
So his last year.
Speaker 1 (15:05):
In Louisville was the only fully complete year for him
as a starter, and he did great, and he did
he did pretty well. So I think it's just going
to be an interesting thing to see what this looks like.
Speaker 2 (15:15):
Is it him, is it Derek Carr?
Speaker 1 (15:17):
Is it a mixture depending on you know, win cars
available or not.
Speaker 2 (15:21):
So I found that really interesting.
Speaker 1 (15:22):
But yeah, then they went on that kind of run
for a bit of defensive guys. And then one of those,
one of the round four picks, Quincy Riley, a cornerback
also out of Louisville, led all DB's in the class
with fifteen interceptions.
Speaker 4 (15:36):
So over how many years over.
Speaker 1 (15:39):
His collegiate level, that was the that was the lead
for football DB's. Yeah, so I thought that that was
an unfortunate thing to hear. Yes, Yes, I thought it
was an interesting draft class for sure.
Speaker 3 (15:49):
Yeah, Tyler Schuck is kind of fast too. He lose well,
he can make plays on the run, and he can
he can get first downs with his legs. He looked
really good at the combine in that regard. And one
thing you were mentioned all the first round picks that
the Saints have had on their offensive line in relatively
recent years. One of those I believe was Trevor Penning.
And what this drafting of Kelvin Banks allows them to
(16:10):
do is they can put Banks right in at left tackle. Yeah,
and I think maybe tealis Ifuaga, their first round pick
from last year, was a bit miscast as a left tackle.
Speaker 4 (16:18):
Now he goes over to right tackle.
Speaker 3 (16:20):
And you don't have Trevor Penning in the lineup at all,
which is I think a goal. I think they were
ready to move on from Trevor Penning. He just hasn't
worked out for them.
Speaker 1 (16:28):
Yeah, I think that's gonna be interesting. So I mean,
in your mind, as you hear kind of as we've
talked about all three of these, how much do you
feel like this looks like an improvement for all the teams?
Maybe the grade you'd kind of give some of this,
and the biggest things that stand out to about who we.
Speaker 3 (16:40):
Might face, Well, the Bucks. The Bucks did well too,
so I think everybody improved. I think the Falcons thing
is all going to hinge on the ceilings that Jalen
Walker and James Pierce reach and how much that first
round pick ends up hurting them. So there's still a
lot of variance in what can happen with them.
Speaker 4 (16:57):
I think the.
Speaker 3 (16:58):
Panthers are pretty st right forward. I mean Ted McMillan
exactly what they need. They got a couple of pass
rushers as well. You didn't even get to talk about
Princely Unman Milian. Yes, uh so everybody's loading up on
pass rushers. The Saints, those four guys on defense is
like one at every position. That they took in the middle,
and some of those guys could get to play pretty quickly,
(17:20):
and even ones like to Mario Davis as as an example,
and Tyrane Matthew fantastic, fantastic players shout their careers, but
they're getting up there and so they're making plans here
to to move on. So I think everybody did pretty well.
I still think, you know, biased, perhaps, I think the.
Speaker 2 (17:39):
Bucks ad a for sure.
Speaker 1 (17:40):
All right, well that's going to do it for us
on this edition of Bucks Insider. Thanks so much for
being with us, and we'll see you next time.
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