February 28, 2023 • 12 mins
John Schmeelk sits down with NFL Network's Daniel Jeremiah to discuss the Giants' biggest needs in free agency, building the offense and good fits in the 2023 NFL Draft. SUBSCRIBE NOW: Apple | Spotify | Google | Stitcher | iHeartRadio :00 - Building the offense 3:13 - Offensive players in the draft 8:10 - Defensive players in the draft 12:03 - NFL free agency
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's time to get inside the Giants Huddle on giants
dot Com. Here we go, Here we go on the
Giants Bubble. Let him in row, Let's go, part of
the Giants podcast Network. Welcome to another initiative, the Giants
Hutle Podcast, brought to you by PSCN Energy Efficiency for
game Time at anytime visit PSG dot com slash Giants
for Discounts were based on home energy assessments. Joining us
for NIFL network. The One and Only Daniel Jeremiah. Daniel,
(00:20):
what's going on, man? How are you? I'm doing great.
Great to see you. Yeah, absolutely, always good to talk
to you around this time of year. We usually talk
about the Giants picks in the top ten, but no
pick in the twenty. So we'll get to that. Second.
Let's do team building first. I know you love to
kind of figure out how you build successful teams in
the NFL. Giants big decisions in fre agency this year,
Daniel Jones, the big one. If you were Joe Shane
(00:41):
put his GM hat on, how would you like to
structure that in terms of setting up the Giants for
success long term? Well? I agree with Joe in terms
I think it's a it's a priority try and get
something done with Daniel. I think you feel a little
bit more comfortable on the shorter end in terms of
the length of the deal, just to give him more
time to camera prove himself. And he's coming off a
really solid year. You want to see is this, you know,
(01:01):
going to continue to trend in the right direction. So
I don't think it's a long term commitment. I think
you have the luxury of the franchise tag there as
as kind of your leverage point to see, Okay, where
are you comfortable and you know it's a two or
three year commitment at a number that you feel good about,
and if if you don't feel great about you know,
the number, or it gets pushed up too high, you
always have to fall back on that on that tag,
(01:23):
which then brings you to the next point of business,
which is then try and get something done with se Quon,
you know. And again I think that's another one where
because of the position you're talking about, hopefully you know
a two or a three year guarantee. Yeah, we know
when you evaluate quarterbacks how tough it is, right, And
I think we saw Daniel do a lot with not
a whole lot right, he was efficient, but still the
overall production numbers at least in the passing him. His
(01:45):
rushing game was fantastic. You know, it's not in that
elite category yet. So if you do go either a
one year tag or a short term deal, then does
it become mission one, two, and three to getting more
around them, to see what he can do with more.
They've got to get faster, you know, they've got to
get more weapons, and they've got to get guys that
can run and make plays down the field because you know,
(02:05):
when you have to play you know, station to station baseball,
so to speak, and you don't have people that scare
anybody else to open up the rest of the field,
it makes it really tough to play that position. So
I gave him a lot of credit for their ability
to move the football and score points as they have
because they just don't have any any speed. They need
some juice. Yeah, absolutely, undred percent. You mentioned Sa Kuan.
(02:26):
Let's hit him real quick. Then we'll get to the
draft here. What do you think the market's going to
be like for him? It's such a deep free agent
running back class. It's such a deep running back class
in the draft. Josh Jacobs, Miles Sanders, then you get
the Began Robinson and Jimmer Games. I mean, there's so
many good players out there. I mean, is it even
if they have to franchise Jones and he hits the market.
I sense the Giants might be able to get him on.
(02:47):
Maybe team friendly is a little strong, but on a
reasonable deal just based on the depth of the market. Right.
I agree with you. It's a really good draft group.
You mentioned all the names and free agency, it's just
it's the market's flooded. So I think that does help
you in terms of trying to get a long term
deal done there. And I think you can be patient
and you can set a firm price that you feel
good about, and you know, in worst case scenario, you
(03:10):
don't want to lose him. He's been a great player,
but you could replace him very cheaply. Yeah. All right,
So now let's get to the draft. Here. The Giants
are interesting. They picked Wanda Robinson in the second round
last year. I think it's safe to say he's a
slot only Yea, all right, He's fine, ninety slot only.
So then you look at the Giants here at twenty five,
let's put Quentin Johnson aside his obviously he's an outside guy.
Then you get to the Jackson Smith and Jigbez does
a Flowers, the Jordan Addison's I'll go to Josh Downs.
(03:32):
Even which one of these guys do you think is
most adept In has the most capabilities of moving outside
to compliment a guy like Robinson, even a guy like
Isaiah Hodgins. I like Addison, you know, I think Addison
could play outside. I think you play inside. You can
do whatever you want him to do. He's not the
biggest guy in the world, but he creates a ton
of separation. He's a polisher, route runner, He's got outstanding hands.
(03:52):
So to me, I think he's the most skilled of
these wideouts. And I think he'd be a great fit
with the you know, with Daniels, he's trying to continue
to grow and emerge and evolve as a player. I
think he'd be a good compliment to Wandale. So you know,
ideally you want to find another bigger body to put
out there at some point in time. But to me,
separation and speed and quickness has got to be the
top of the list. And how about Smith and Jigbo
(04:13):
Because obviously when he was with Ohio State. Last year
he was with Chris Olave Garrett Wilson. He was their
slot guy. How do you think he projects potentially to
being an outside receiver. I like him better in the slot.
I think that's his home. I think that's kind of
where he is. Is nothing to be ashamed of there.
I think he can be a high volume guy in there.
But in terms of you know, fitting, I think he's
more of a duplicate of what you have there and
(04:35):
maybe a better version. But with you, I think they
need to find someone in the outside they can go.
How about the concept if you don't like the wide
receivers that are left to twenty five? Addison's gone, Johnson's gone,
and you're kind of sitting there like, I don't love
these guys. I'd much prefer to wait, yeah, would you
consider going tight end in that spot? Consider? But then
I think, all right, yeah, yeah, these are really good players.
(04:55):
But du Kafkin Dabi want to play twelve personnel, right.
They both come from systems where they were eleven all day.
So how would you take that option into consideration? Well,
I still think you're looking for weapons. I think you
can be flexible and if you feel like this is
somebody that can get open and make plays um and
the value is there. There's just a better football player
than a wide out. I think you can you can
navigate around that. And you know some of these guys
(05:17):
like you take you take Dalton kin Cage. These guys
are big slots too. I mean like you can just
flex him out there and let him run wide receiver routes.
You see it with Kelsey, you know every week when
you watch the Chiefs how they use him. So I
think this year, because the receiver groups down, I think
the tight ends, You've got to think of tight ends,
and even I would throw into there some of these
backs that can really catch out of the backfield, like
(05:38):
Jamir Gibbs, Kenny McIntosh. You gotta look at weapons. You know,
we're just trying to add more firepower, more offensive weapons
this year and not get too hung up on receiver,
tight end or running back. Have you heard Kincaide's gonna
work out because I know he was. Yeah, he had
a little small fracture in his back, I believe. So
he's not gonna be able to do anything. I don't
know how much he'll be able to do even going
through the spring. But I think he's one of the
(05:59):
best players in the draft. If he's unbelievable on his
runing's unbelivable, unbelievable, he gets so much separation and then
after the catch, he's so competitive. So he's a great,
great talent, you know. I hopefully he comes to this
medical stuff. Okay, he's another one. He's a little bit older,
which we have a few of those guys in this draft,
so um, you know, hopefully he navigates through this process,
comes out with a clean bill of health. I think
it'll be a great pro all right. We talked about
(06:20):
weapons around Daniel. I think you want to protection around
him a little bit better too. Right, you have Andrew
Thomas on the left side. He's developed into an excellent player.
Evan Neil rough first year. But I think you hope
he improves. He's gonna be there print right, Absolutely, He's
gonna sit there. He's gonna be your guy. And I
think he has the tools obviously where you think he's
gonna succeed Inside do you think round one's a little
rich for that? Where do you think the sweet spot
is if you're trying to find a guard or a
(06:41):
center on this draft, well, I think there. I think
there's not many of them. I think there's a good
clump of four or five guys, and I think you're
gonna see one or two of them go late first round,
and you're gonna see the rest of him go early
in the second round, and I think there runs over.
So okay, you know, I almost feel like there's some
urgency there. If you want to take one of those guys,
maybe you trade back a little bit. Who the guys
you like there. So the handful of guys you're looking
(07:02):
at Osyrus Torrence from Florida, who's just a big, powerful guy.
Um a Vila, stevea Vila from TCU can really move.
You've got the two centers in Tipman from Wisconsin. You've
got John Michael Schmidts from Minnesota that group, and then
I would put Cody Mauk from from North Dakota State
who can play all five positions. I think all those
guys are gonna go. I'll be surprised if any of
those guys are around after the fortieth pick. Interesting, Wow,
(07:25):
they will go quick. Then. So as you move ahead
here in the Giants and you're trying to build out
this offense. You mentioned the weapons, you mentioned inside. What
are some of the things that you think Daniel needs
to do better to kind of take that next step
once he gets some more guys around him. Well, you know,
I think that be out of survival he's had. He's had,
(07:45):
He's had to get out of there earlier than maybe
he would like to. But I think it's just being
a little more comfortable to be able to sit and
hang in the pocket and be able to work deeper
through progressions and make some more plays there. But again,
I can't fault him because he just hasn't He hasn't
had guys that could cover, and then he's had some
some leaky protection, particularly off the right side. So um,
he's kind of has done what he's had to do.
(08:06):
I think once you get those other pieces in place,
then you can ask more of him in terms of that.
All right, let's jump to defense. If the Giants want
to kind of smooth that position out a little bit,
could be a huge cornerback first round six seven guys
maybe started this way. Who should the Giant fan? Who
should Giant fans not even consider that? Oh yeah, maybe
this guy will get the twenty five Who who's gone. Yeah,
I think that the three guys I think will be gone.
(08:27):
I think that the two big guys in Gonzalez and
Porter will be gone. I'm a Witherspoon fan from Illinois.
I love his game. He's gonna be gone. He had
that play early in the year when he read that
one those screencast and he came back and he's got
great ball skills too. So I think all three of
those guys are probably gone. You know the name that
I would keep an eye on that's that's kind of
emerging through this process is a good player. It's Deontay
(08:49):
Banks from Maryland's big, he can run. You know, Ringo
from George as a polarising player, but there's a lot
of ability there. Another heightweight, speed guy. Um, So those
are kind of the guys I think that'll be in
that that next wave of corners. Who are some of
the guys that you think fits the Wink scheme, even
if not early, maybe a little bit later. Long can
play press man and kind of deal with all his flitzing. Yeah,
(09:11):
I mean I would go back to Banks. I think
Banks kind of fits that long and physical and really
Ringo can do a lot of that stuff. Too. He's
a pure press man corner. So both those guys to
me make a ton of sense. Middle linebacker another spot
where the Giants they basically picked Draw Davis off the
lines practice squad. In week seventeen, he was starting the
playoff game for them, So I think it kind of
tells you where they're at in terms of middle linebacker, right,
(09:33):
Is there a middle linebacker that's gonna go in the
first round? Is Sander's gonna make it as trend Simpson's
gonna make it? Or you think that's a little bit
of a you know, I'm beginning to think that doesn't happen.
You know, one name to keep an eye on this
week is Jack Campbell from Iowa, who's gonna be big.
He's gonna run fast like big big like six four
and can run. So that's one to keep an eye on.
But I you know, I don't. I don't think it's
(09:54):
a great year for off the ball linebacker. It's just
some interesting names to me, Like a guy that's not
even here at the comm buying like Marte Mapoo is
a fun one who's kind of the modern day linebacker
where he's around two hundred and twenty pounds, but he's
six two and change, he's long, he can cover. Um. Like,
I'd rather take one of those guys, a guy like him,
in the third round than to spend a late first
(10:15):
round pick on some of these other ones. Linebacker uses
is interesting to me, Daniel, because yeah, like you said,
you want someone that can running, cover, carry a tight end.
But if you structure your defense properly and you just
want to blitz your guys, yeah, that kind of almost
makes it a little bit easier. Right where you're sending
the guy, you don't have to worry about the coverage aspect.
You're in third down, you put four safeties on the
field linebackers, right, So how do you view that position
(10:36):
kind of heading when it comes to building your roster
In the NFL, it's not one. I mean there are
exceptions you've seen. You know, the Ravens trade for for
roal Kalon Smith. They paid him. Fred Warners an exception. Warner.
You look at uh, you know, Darius Leonard, who what's
his he's his new name? I always forget if Oh, yeah,
Shack Leonard, Thank you, Shack Leonard. But there's a lot
(10:58):
of teams that just aren't going to do it. You know,
I call the Charger games and they went out in
draft Kaisier White in the fourth round. Plays really good
for him. Let him walk. They had replaced him with
Drew Tranquil, who they took in the fourth round. I'm
sure they'll probably let him walk this year. And these
guys are good football players, but you feel like you
can find them in the middle rounds. You know, the
Eagles got I thought was a fantastic player out of
Georgia last year in the in the third round. They
(11:20):
got Nakobe Dean in the third round. So I don't
think there's quite as quite the emphasis on off the
ball linebackers with most teams. I want to ask about
running back because I guess as an off chance seque
doesn't come back right. How deep are you looking? Here?
Are you looking for? You look at fourth round you
can get a guy that you feel pretty good about
playing at least half your snaps double digits. I mean,
I think there's double digit guys that can play that
(11:40):
have a chance to be starting running backs. So it's
a really deep group and you can find them all
throughout this draft. And again that's why it's it's gonna
be fascinating to see the marriage between free agency and
the draft and the impact that it has, and uh,
you know, you got to keep that in mind. And
no Giant fans. You appreciate sa Quan and how great
he is, and I'd want him back too. I would,
but for some reason it doesn't happen. It's the sky
(12:01):
is not falling. There are a lot of options. Final question,
what's the first big domino league wide that falls. Is
it Derek Carr? Is it Aaron Rodgers? It's something that
nobody's thinking about. I think I think Aaron Rodgers. I
think everything's been held up right now by Aaron Rodgers.
You know, once he decides whether or not he wants
to a play or be stay in Green Bay, then
I think soon thereafter the car decision gets made and
off we go. DJ get stuff moment. It's between your brother,
(12:24):
Danio Jeremiah NFL Network. Check out the coverage all week
long with the NFL Combine right here, and of course,
check him out on the Move the Sticks podcast. I'm John,
shall see you next time on The John's Little Podcast.
It's time to get inside the Giants Huddle on giants
dot Com. Here we go, Here we go on the
Giants Bubble. Let him in row, Let's go, part of
the Giants podcast Network. Welcome to another initiative, the Giants
Hutle Podcast, brought to you by PSCN Energy Efficiency for
game Time at anytime visit PSG dot com slash Giants
for Discounts were based on home energy assessments. Joining us
for NIFL network. The One and Only Daniel Jeremiah. Daniel,
(00:20):
what's going on, man? How are you? I'm doing great.
Great to see you. Yeah, absolutely, always good to talk
to you around this time of year. We usually talk
about the Giants picks in the top ten, but no
pick in the twenty. So we'll get to that. Second.
Let's do team building first. I know you love to
kind of figure out how you build successful teams in
the NFL. Giants big decisions in fre agency this year,
Daniel Jones, the big one. If you were Joe Shane
(00:41):
put his GM hat on, how would you like to
structure that in terms of setting up the Giants for
success long term? Well? I agree with Joe in terms
I think it's a it's a priority try and get
something done with Daniel. I think you feel a little
bit more comfortable on the shorter end in terms of
the length of the deal, just to give him more
time to camera prove himself. And he's coming off a
really solid year. You want to see is this, you know,
(01:01):
going to continue to trend in the right direction. So
I don't think it's a long term commitment. I think
you have the luxury of the franchise tag there as
as kind of your leverage point to see, Okay, where
are you comfortable and you know it's a two or
three year commitment at a number that you feel good about,
and if if you don't feel great about you know,
the number, or it gets pushed up too high, you
always have to fall back on that on that tag,
(01:23):
which then brings you to the next point of business,
which is then try and get something done with se Quon,
you know. And again I think that's another one where
because of the position you're talking about, hopefully you know
a two or a three year guarantee. Yeah, we know
when you evaluate quarterbacks how tough it is, right, And
I think we saw Daniel do a lot with not
a whole lot right, he was efficient, but still the
overall production numbers at least in the passing him. His
(01:45):
rushing game was fantastic. You know, it's not in that
elite category yet. So if you do go either a
one year tag or a short term deal, then does
it become mission one, two, and three to getting more
around them, to see what he can do with more.
They've got to get faster, you know, they've got to
get more weapons, and they've got to get guys that
can run and make plays down the field because you know,
(02:05):
when you have to play you know, station to station baseball,
so to speak, and you don't have people that scare
anybody else to open up the rest of the field,
it makes it really tough to play that position. So
I gave him a lot of credit for their ability
to move the football and score points as they have
because they just don't have any any speed. They need
some juice. Yeah, absolutely, undred percent. You mentioned Sa Kuan.
(02:26):
Let's hit him real quick. Then we'll get to the
draft here. What do you think the market's going to
be like for him? It's such a deep free agent
running back class. It's such a deep running back class
in the draft. Josh Jacobs, Miles Sanders, then you get
the Began Robinson and Jimmer Games. I mean, there's so
many good players out there. I mean, is it even
if they have to franchise Jones and he hits the market.
I sense the Giants might be able to get him on.
(02:47):
Maybe team friendly is a little strong, but on a
reasonable deal just based on the depth of the market. Right.
I agree with you. It's a really good draft group.
You mentioned all the names and free agency, it's just
it's the market's flooded. So I think that does help
you in terms of trying to get a long term
deal done there. And I think you can be patient
and you can set a firm price that you feel
good about, and you know, in worst case scenario, you
(03:10):
don't want to lose him. He's been a great player,
but you could replace him very cheaply. Yeah. All right,
So now let's get to the draft. Here. The Giants
are interesting. They picked Wanda Robinson in the second round
last year. I think it's safe to say he's a
slot only Yea, all right, He's fine, ninety slot only.
So then you look at the Giants here at twenty five,
let's put Quentin Johnson aside his obviously he's an outside guy.
Then you get to the Jackson Smith and Jigbez does
a Flowers, the Jordan Addison's I'll go to Josh Downs.
(03:32):
Even which one of these guys do you think is
most adept In has the most capabilities of moving outside
to compliment a guy like Robinson, even a guy like
Isaiah Hodgins. I like Addison, you know, I think Addison
could play outside. I think you play inside. You can
do whatever you want him to do. He's not the
biggest guy in the world, but he creates a ton
of separation. He's a polisher, route runner, He's got outstanding hands.
(03:52):
So to me, I think he's the most skilled of
these wideouts. And I think he'd be a great fit
with the you know, with Daniels, he's trying to continue
to grow and emerge and evolve as a player. I
think he'd be a good compliment to Wandale. So you know,
ideally you want to find another bigger body to put
out there at some point in time. But to me,
separation and speed and quickness has got to be the
top of the list. And how about Smith and Jigbo
(04:13):
Because obviously when he was with Ohio State. Last year
he was with Chris Olave Garrett Wilson. He was their
slot guy. How do you think he projects potentially to
being an outside receiver. I like him better in the slot.
I think that's his home. I think that's kind of
where he is. Is nothing to be ashamed of there.
I think he can be a high volume guy in there.
But in terms of you know, fitting, I think he's
more of a duplicate of what you have there and
(04:35):
maybe a better version. But with you, I think they
need to find someone in the outside they can go.
How about the concept if you don't like the wide
receivers that are left to twenty five? Addison's gone, Johnson's gone,
and you're kind of sitting there like, I don't love
these guys. I'd much prefer to wait, yeah, would you
consider going tight end in that spot? Consider? But then
I think, all right, yeah, yeah, these are really good players.
(04:55):
But du Kafkin Dabi want to play twelve personnel, right.
They both come from systems where they were eleven all day.
So how would you take that option into consideration? Well,
I still think you're looking for weapons. I think you
can be flexible and if you feel like this is
somebody that can get open and make plays um and
the value is there. There's just a better football player
than a wide out. I think you can you can
navigate around that. And you know some of these guys
(05:17):
like you take you take Dalton kin Cage. These guys
are big slots too. I mean like you can just
flex him out there and let him run wide receiver routes.
You see it with Kelsey, you know every week when
you watch the Chiefs how they use him. So I
think this year, because the receiver groups down, I think
the tight ends, You've got to think of tight ends,
and even I would throw into there some of these
backs that can really catch out of the backfield, like
(05:38):
Jamir Gibbs, Kenny McIntosh. You gotta look at weapons. You know,
we're just trying to add more firepower, more offensive weapons
this year and not get too hung up on receiver,
tight end or running back. Have you heard Kincaide's gonna
work out because I know he was. Yeah, he had
a little small fracture in his back, I believe. So
he's not gonna be able to do anything. I don't
know how much he'll be able to do even going
through the spring. But I think he's one of the
(05:59):
best players in the draft. If he's unbelievable on his
runing's unbelivable, unbelievable, he gets so much separation and then
after the catch, he's so competitive. So he's a great,
great talent, you know. I hopefully he comes to this
medical stuff. Okay, he's another one. He's a little bit older,
which we have a few of those guys in this draft,
so um, you know, hopefully he navigates through this process,
comes out with a clean bill of health. I think
it'll be a great pro all right. We talked about
(06:20):
weapons around Daniel. I think you want to protection around
him a little bit better too. Right, you have Andrew
Thomas on the left side. He's developed into an excellent player.
Evan Neil rough first year. But I think you hope
he improves. He's gonna be there print right, Absolutely, He's
gonna sit there. He's gonna be your guy. And I
think he has the tools obviously where you think he's
gonna succeed Inside do you think round one's a little
rich for that? Where do you think the sweet spot
is if you're trying to find a guard or a
(06:41):
center on this draft, well, I think there. I think
there's not many of them. I think there's a good
clump of four or five guys, and I think you're
gonna see one or two of them go late first round,
and you're gonna see the rest of him go early
in the second round, and I think there runs over.
So okay, you know, I almost feel like there's some
urgency there. If you want to take one of those guys,
maybe you trade back a little bit. Who the guys
you like there. So the handful of guys you're looking
(07:02):
at Osyrus Torrence from Florida, who's just a big, powerful guy.
Um a Vila, stevea Vila from TCU can really move.
You've got the two centers in Tipman from Wisconsin. You've
got John Michael Schmidts from Minnesota that group, and then
I would put Cody Mauk from from North Dakota State
who can play all five positions. I think all those
guys are gonna go. I'll be surprised if any of
those guys are around after the fortieth pick. Interesting, Wow,
(07:25):
they will go quick. Then. So as you move ahead
here in the Giants and you're trying to build out
this offense. You mentioned the weapons, you mentioned inside. What
are some of the things that you think Daniel needs
to do better to kind of take that next step
once he gets some more guys around him. Well, you know,
I think that be out of survival he's had. He's had,
(07:45):
He's had to get out of there earlier than maybe
he would like to. But I think it's just being
a little more comfortable to be able to sit and
hang in the pocket and be able to work deeper
through progressions and make some more plays there. But again,
I can't fault him because he just hasn't He hasn't
had guys that could cover, and then he's had some
some leaky protection, particularly off the right side. So um,
he's kind of has done what he's had to do.
(08:06):
I think once you get those other pieces in place,
then you can ask more of him in terms of that.
All right, let's jump to defense. If the Giants want
to kind of smooth that position out a little bit,
could be a huge cornerback first round six seven guys
maybe started this way. Who should the Giant fan? Who
should Giant fans not even consider that? Oh yeah, maybe
this guy will get the twenty five Who who's gone. Yeah,
I think that the three guys I think will be gone.
(08:27):
I think that the two big guys in Gonzalez and
Porter will be gone. I'm a Witherspoon fan from Illinois.
I love his game. He's gonna be gone. He had
that play early in the year when he read that
one those screencast and he came back and he's got
great ball skills too. So I think all three of
those guys are probably gone. You know the name that
I would keep an eye on that's that's kind of
emerging through this process is a good player. It's Deontay
(08:49):
Banks from Maryland's big, he can run. You know, Ringo
from George as a polarising player, but there's a lot
of ability there. Another heightweight, speed guy. Um, So those
are kind of the guys I think that'll be in
that that next wave of corners. Who are some of
the guys that you think fits the Wink scheme, even
if not early, maybe a little bit later. Long can
play press man and kind of deal with all his flitzing. Yeah,
(09:11):
I mean I would go back to Banks. I think
Banks kind of fits that long and physical and really
Ringo can do a lot of that stuff. Too. He's
a pure press man corner. So both those guys to
me make a ton of sense. Middle linebacker another spot
where the Giants they basically picked Draw Davis off the
lines practice squad. In week seventeen, he was starting the
playoff game for them, So I think it kind of
tells you where they're at in terms of middle linebacker, right,
(09:33):
Is there a middle linebacker that's gonna go in the
first round? Is Sander's gonna make it as trend Simpson's
gonna make it? Or you think that's a little bit
of a you know, I'm beginning to think that doesn't happen.
You know, one name to keep an eye on this
week is Jack Campbell from Iowa, who's gonna be big.
He's gonna run fast like big big like six four
and can run. So that's one to keep an eye on.
But I you know, I don't. I don't think it's
(09:54):
a great year for off the ball linebacker. It's just
some interesting names to me, Like a guy that's not
even here at the comm buying like Marte Mapoo is
a fun one who's kind of the modern day linebacker
where he's around two hundred and twenty pounds, but he's
six two and change, he's long, he can cover. Um. Like,
I'd rather take one of those guys, a guy like him,
in the third round than to spend a late first
(10:15):
round pick on some of these other ones. Linebacker uses
is interesting to me, Daniel, because yeah, like you said,
you want someone that can running, cover, carry a tight end.
But if you structure your defense properly and you just
want to blitz your guys, yeah, that kind of almost
makes it a little bit easier. Right where you're sending
the guy, you don't have to worry about the coverage aspect.
You're in third down, you put four safeties on the
field linebackers, right, So how do you view that position
(10:36):
kind of heading when it comes to building your roster
In the NFL, it's not one. I mean there are
exceptions you've seen. You know, the Ravens trade for for
roal Kalon Smith. They paid him. Fred Warners an exception. Warner.
You look at uh, you know, Darius Leonard, who what's
his he's his new name? I always forget if Oh, yeah,
Shack Leonard, Thank you, Shack Leonard. But there's a lot
(10:58):
of teams that just aren't going to do it. You know,
I call the Charger games and they went out in
draft Kaisier White in the fourth round. Plays really good
for him. Let him walk. They had replaced him with
Drew Tranquil, who they took in the fourth round. I'm
sure they'll probably let him walk this year. And these
guys are good football players, but you feel like you
can find them in the middle rounds. You know, the
Eagles got I thought was a fantastic player out of
Georgia last year in the in the third round. They
(11:20):
got Nakobe Dean in the third round. So I don't
think there's quite as quite the emphasis on off the
ball linebackers with most teams. I want to ask about
running back because I guess as an off chance seque
doesn't come back right. How deep are you looking? Here?
Are you looking for? You look at fourth round you
can get a guy that you feel pretty good about
playing at least half your snaps double digits. I mean,
I think there's double digit guys that can play that
(11:40):
have a chance to be starting running backs. So it's
a really deep group and you can find them all
throughout this draft. And again that's why it's it's gonna
be fascinating to see the marriage between free agency and
the draft and the impact that it has, and uh,
you know, you got to keep that in mind. And
no Giant fans. You appreciate sa Quan and how great
he is, and I'd want him back too. I would,
but for some reason it doesn't happen. It's the sky
(12:01):
is not falling. There are a lot of options. Final question,
what's the first big domino league wide that falls. Is
it Derek Carr? Is it Aaron Rodgers? It's something that
nobody's thinking about. I think I think Aaron Rodgers. I
think everything's been held up right now by Aaron Rodgers.
You know, once he decides whether or not he wants
to a play or be stay in Green Bay, then
I think soon thereafter the car decision gets made and
off we go. DJ get stuff moment. It's between your brother,
(12:24):
Danio Jeremiah NFL Network. Check out the coverage all week
long with the NFL Combine right here, and of course,
check him out on the Move the Sticks podcast. I'm John,
shall see you next time on The John's Little Podcast.
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