Giants Huddle | Ryan Wilson

On this episode of the Giants Huddle podcast, John Schmeelk chats with Ryan Wilson from CBS Sports about the entire Giants draft class, his breakdown of each prospect, and his big picture thoughts on the draft.

:00 - Abdul Carter

10:10 - Jaxson Dart

28:31 - Darius Alexander

31:22 - Cam Skattebo

34:47 - Marcus Mbow

36:26 - Thomas Fidone II

39:35 - Korie Black

40:33 - NFL Draft overview

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's time to get inside the Giants hut. Let's go,
Let's go, Giants, get out on the Giants bubbling, give
me some job.

Speaker 2 (00:07):
Part of the Giants Podcast Network.

Speaker 1 (00:09):
Let's roll.

Speaker 3 (00:10):
Welcome to another edition of the Giants Little Podcast, brought
to you by Citizens, the official.

Speaker 2 (00:14):
Bank of the New York Football Giants. I am John Schmelck.

Speaker 3 (00:17):
We usually have this gentleman staring at you from across
the zoom no other reasons on before the draft, we
decided to save his expertise to break down what the
Giants actually did rather than trying to predict what they
were going to do. And that is Ryan Wilson from
CBS Sports. Ryan, good to talk to you, my friend. Uh,
you're still conscious a couple of days after the draft,
so I guess that's a win.

Speaker 1 (00:35):
Right, absolutely a win. It's funny. I was thinking about this,
like we saw each other at the Senior Bowl when
they were doing the six Am interviews, saw the combine.
So that Senior Bowl conversation we had feels like three
years ago. That's how sort of slow time flies flies,
time goes sort of the pre draft process. But it's great, man,

(00:56):
Like I love it, Like you know, I talked to
my buddies who have real jobs, and you know, they
make a lot more money than me, but they are
always saying, hey, what's going on in your life? So
I appreciate what I do and it's okay to be
tired for a couple of days. John, I think we
get a little break here, and just so you know,
the boss is won my twenty twenty six months draft.
Tomorrow is recording this, so not a lot of rest.
I'll take a nap after this and get back to it.

Speaker 3 (01:17):
I second all of your sentiments, Tony Pauline, and I
you know, you know, Tony obviously been doing the draft
a long time.

Speaker 2 (01:24):
We're doing our draft season.

Speaker 3 (01:25):
I think we're recording it mid next week with our
twenty twenty six watch list. So are we heard the
same exact situation that it never ends? Then?

Speaker 2 (01:34):
MINDI caamp comes.

Speaker 3 (01:35):
You know, you have a rookie camp, then you got
OTAs for me at least mandatory mini camp, and then
you finally get that like middle of June to middle
of July area where you can actually like not be
killing yourself. And I look forward to that time very much.
So all right, so let's get to it. You put
out the draft grades, which are always one hundred percent
correct when we look back at them three years from now.

(01:55):
They're never wrong, they're always right. You were a big
fan of what the Giants did. You had them ranked
seven overall. They were in your category of the drafts
I loved. Why don't we just go top down first
before we kind of go want prospect one by one?

Speaker 2 (02:11):
Why did you love overall what the Giants did?

Speaker 3 (02:14):
Well?

Speaker 1 (02:14):
You can't mess up with Duel Carter, right, And you
might say that's not necessarily a need, but if you're
thinking shorter long term, and we'll see what the implications
are for the front office of the coaching staff. But
in terms of okay, we don't need quoteations marks nets
rusher because we have Brian Burns, we have cave on Timboeau,
we have Dexter Lawrence. All right, well, let's just put
Abdul Carter on the other side of those guys, the

(02:34):
edge rushers, and let's see what happens. Because whether we
get the quarterback situation right now in terms of the
free agency signed or in the future with Jackson Dart,
the defense is going to do a lot of the
heavy lifting early on and that's the best friend of
any quarterback, no matter the age. So this was a
no brainer. Now there have been a situation, I'll ask
you this, John, if, for example, the jacksonvill Jaguars one

(02:55):
to trade up to three, would you have entertained or
would you have liked the team to have entertain the
idea of trading down to five.

Speaker 3 (03:01):
If they would have offered the package that the Browns offered.
I think that they offered the Browns maybe, but I
do think there was a significant drop off from the
Hunter Carter category to the next group.

Speaker 2 (03:13):
Of players, at least in my opinion. And that's a
fair point.

Speaker 1 (03:15):
Now, you don't you really don't need Maston Graham next
to Dexter Lawrence if that's the math we're doing. But
I had no issue with that Jackson Dart, he was
the second round pick for me. But if the Giants
liked him, and look, man, as we said before I
came on air, no one knows, like we don't know,
like we can pontificate for months about we believe this,
and we believe that no one knows. So if they're
all in on Jackson Dart, Joe Shane and Brian Dabole,

(03:38):
go go get him, and I don't think the price
was prohibitive. Darius Alexander. I had a late first round
grade on him. I know he's twenty five years old.
That dude can ball, and that's where you get the
guy to line up next to sexy Dexi and you're
good to go. Marcus Bo developmental player, probably kicks inside
the guard. Thomas Faddon. I had a late day too,
early day three grade on him. I think he had
some injury concerns, but I was pleasantly surprised when I

(03:59):
got to watching him just before the Senior Bowl and
Corey Black. He was literally the last guy I watched
probably a week and a half, two weeks ago, long
physical corner. I thought he was an early day three guy,
midday three guys. They got him in round seven, so
they get value and all the picks based on the
Ryan Wilson big board outside of Abdul Carter, who we
all knew was going third, and you get your quarterback,

(04:19):
and this quarterback, unlike other quarterbacks that were drafted, does
not have to play right away for his bad as
things where quarterback wise for the Giants last year. As
a Steelers fan, I can tell you Russ Wilson is
a five hundred quarterback, and I would imagine Giants would
embrace the idea of five hundred right now. James Smithson
is the guy that you bring in probably for no
more than ten quarters of a time, but he's the
guy that can come in and sling it. So I

(04:41):
think there's a lot of reasons for optimism, and it's
just a matter of ken Brian Dable recapture the magic
he had with Josh Allen, and people forget when there
was no one on this roster first year. I think
twenty twenty two was his first year. Dale Jones looked
like a different player and then they start puting player
around him and things, but sideways, I don't have an
exclamation for it, but Brian Dable got the most out
of Dale Jones year together as well.

Speaker 3 (05:01):
Absolutely, I think you hit on all of the touch
points there, Ryan. So let's let's now take it from
the top and roll down and get specific on these players.
I've tried to explain as best I can exactly how
good of a prospect to ab Dual Carter is. I
don't think you know, giant fans you know quite grasp that,
like I had people, legitimately, multiple people legitimately compare him

(05:23):
to my face, and they were being absolutely serious and
not being hyperbolic. To von Miller, like, that's how good
his pass rush tape is as a guy. And what
impressed me the most he's been doing this for one
year as a pure edge rusher.

Speaker 2 (05:35):
Right.

Speaker 3 (05:36):
I went down my checklist of notes and I got
through four or five games. I had like six or
seven different advanced pass rush moves written down. Well, he's
been able to do after just doing this for a year.
I mean, he might still have room to grow. It's
honestly a scary proposition.

Speaker 1 (05:54):
He absolutely does have room to grow. And the other
thing is, I remember, as I was revisiting my notes,
the first thing I wrote down upon my first Feelidon
was he moves differently than everyone else on the field.
And to your point, it's a year one situation. We
talked him to the combine and sometimes you talk to
guys you're like, yeah, I don't know, Like I don't
know if he has it in him. This guy's intense

(06:16):
and the other thing, and I don't know if you
guys come to this part of the conversation with Abdul Carter,
he looks just like Chop Robinson, like to the point
that he said that Chop Robinson's family members extended family
members of games would get him confused with the Robinson
like if you put their face side backside, it's pretty funny.

Speaker 2 (06:31):
I didn't know that that's funny.

Speaker 1 (06:33):
And that was one of the few times he smiled
in our interview because he was so locked in, and
it was before he had found out, or maybe he
had found out and no one else knew about it publicly.
About the foot injury, I'm not worried about that. The
other thing I'm not worried about is that he bawled out.
I think it was a notre name game at the
end there with that shoulder injury. So what is he
like at one hundred percent, He's going against dudes that
are gonna get be playing in the league. So I

(06:54):
don't have any issue with that. And you know, as
my buddy Rix Spilman used to say all the time,
you can have enough, never have enough edge rushers, you
can never have enough cornerbacks, and never have enough offensive tackles.
So keep checking those boxes until you get it right.
And I will just reiterate what I said, it makes
life easy for whatever this offense ends up looking like
in four or five months.

Speaker 3 (07:14):
It's funny you mentioned his personality as attitude. I interacted
with him probably for about like ninety seconds when he
was at the Giants facility last Friday, just walking around,
and the same.

Speaker 2 (07:25):
Thing that struck you and what you just told me
struck me.

Speaker 3 (07:28):
There's like an intensity about him at all times and
you can just tell when he gets on the field
that flip switches, that is going to be a nasty
son of a gun. And that's what you want out
of a guy that's gonna set the tone for you
as an edge player.

Speaker 1 (07:45):
I couldn't agree more like I. You know, I spent
a lot of time in this draft run up to
the draft repeating this process, mostly for myself, but also
I say it out loud. It's like, don't overthink it,
Like you don't have to reinvent the wheel man. Just
get that guy out there, give him thirty snaps a
game as a suitch pass rusher, get things going. And
then you explained to me how it's not good news
for Cavon and Brian and Dexter in the middle and

(08:07):
now Darius Alexander This this defense could be legit. The
only knocking the Scattery report is that he he thought
he's gonna roll in here and get LT's number.

Speaker 3 (08:18):
Hey, as he said on social media, all he can
do is say no, and that's fine.

Speaker 1 (08:25):
And he's right, that's right. All they could do is
say no.

Speaker 3 (08:28):
So I guess one debate Giant fans've had is how
they're going to get him on the field. And you
mentioned using me as a as a DPR. Doesign need
a pass rusher. I do wonder if some of his
past play as an off ball linebacker will give you
some flexibility to get him on the field with Burns
and Thibodeaux, even if it's just on you know, pass
rush downs as like a joker rusher right is standing up,

(08:48):
you know, the use make thousands Micah Parsons like that
a lot. I think that is gonna give them a
little bit more flexibility to make sure you're getting him
on the field for you know, sixty seventy percent of
the snaps even with those other two guys in.

Speaker 1 (08:58):
This situation right now, I haven't even really thought about that,
but that's a good point because he provides the versatility
that Mike Green or James Pierce Jr. Doesn't Because they're
strictly edge rushers. The other thing is, I mean, if
you want to use him, and this would be wild
and unfair almost on some level, in the way that
they use Frankie Luvu in Caroline in Washington like just
and he's undrafted by the way, Frankie Loeub is one

(09:20):
of my favorite players, and I think Jalen Walker has
a chance to be an upgraded version of that. But
if you want to move him around and like you said,
line him up in the A gap standing up, you
could have him just line up an off ball linebacker
and then do something insane like you have to count
for this guy who moves like an off ball linebacker
with the strength and power of that von Miller that
you're talking about. With that sort of juice, it's gonna

(09:40):
be fun. Like there were questions about Kavelon coming out
in terms of how high should he go? Is he
sometimes who plays off at Oregon, whatever, I don't think
they're gonna be. There's gonna be any sort of learning
curve or much of one for Abduel. It just feels
like he's ready made in much the same way. And
this is not fair, but if you were number eleven,
I'm gonna you can't not see it. Say way, Michael
Parsons came in and went from off ball, never having

(10:03):
played edge. At least we've seen a dual play edge
for a season and just dominating from day one. I
think that's I don't want to say that's the ceiling,
because it's not the seeing. It's probably the floor. But
I think if you get sixty five or seventy percent
of what Michael Parsons gives you in year one or
year two, that's a great start to Abdul Carter's career.

Speaker 3 (10:20):
I'm with you, all right, let's jump to Jackson Dart
and I think the best way to start this. And
we have fans call our show that we're not Jackson
Dark guys. They were sure we're saying there's guys or
you know, they were Tyler Schuck guy or a Jalen
Milroe guy.

Speaker 2 (10:32):
Here's the bottom line.

Speaker 3 (10:33):
We've all been right about quarterbacks and our individual assessment,
and lord knows who's all been wrong about some quarterbacks
and our individual assessments. Quarterbacks, especially Ryan, as you know,
are one of the toughest positions to scout. And for
people like me and you who may might interview these
guys at senior ball or something like that, we're not
in the thirty meetings. We're not in the private workouts,
getting the board work done with them, seeing how they
think about the game and all that stuff. It's very

(10:54):
difficult for us to get a full evaluation of these quarterbacks.
So to your point, I think the important thing with
the dark thing to me is that the process seemed
to be good.

Speaker 2 (11:03):
Right.

Speaker 3 (11:03):
They went through all the guys, they did their work.
Once they found the guy they wanted target, they moved
up to get them. They didn't move up to fifteen
to get him, they didn't move up to twelve to
get them. They moved up nine spots to twenty five.
And they give up a pick at the very end
of the third round this year on ninety nine, a
third round pick the year after, And if you look
at for example, the Falcons moved up for the pick

(11:24):
right after that, picked twenty six, they had to give
up next year's one. So I think, regardless of and
we will tell you about the player in a second,
regardless of what you think about Dart, the process to
find him was it seems to me.

Speaker 1 (11:37):
Sound absolutely and QB three and it being Tyler Shuck
to pick forty and there's a huge gap for me
between not a huge gap, but there's a gap between
Jackson and Tyler Shuck. But that's the conversation for another time.
So just a little fun fact here, pick ninety nine
and it being Charles Grant the long left tacklight of
way Mary. I just missed that because I'm a way
Mary grad and I got to stand up for my
guys there and a future third. So right, that's and

(12:00):
I'll give you another story that I always come back
to as a Steelers fan. They went up in twenty
nineteen from twenty to ten to get Devin Bush, a
freaking linebacker, and they gave up two seconds. So you know,
do the math. It makes sense and it's not even
close to being cost prohibitives.

Speaker 3 (12:17):
And ironically, by the way, the Giants also were trying
to trade up to get Devin Bush that year and
they were unable to do that, and unfortunately they had
to settle for Dexter Lawrence, which I'm sure they still
regret today, which.

Speaker 1 (12:28):
Was their second first round pick in that draft.

Speaker 2 (12:30):
Right, that is correct. Daniel Jones was the first line.

Speaker 1 (12:32):
That's right. We were just talking about this. I can't
believe I buried the leader. I forgot it was Daniel Jones.
Howd up get in here? If you're lined up here,
you gotta go over the middle with at the score great?
How do we make that happen?

Speaker 3 (12:43):
I don't know, but Citizen does makes sense of your
money with citizens Official Bank of ELI Manning.

Speaker 1 (12:51):
Yeah, so again reiterating what we were talking about. No
one knows, Like, you don't know how locked in these
kids are to play football or whatever. You don't know
any of that stuff. So Jackson Dart I liked. I
thought he got better each year. There are I do
always have questions about the and I know Lane Kiffin
is an offensive mastermind, but I do have questions about
the players, both quarterbacks and wide receivers transitioning from college

(13:12):
in the NFL because historically it hasn't been a good
track record. Mat Corel had off field issues. Jonathan Mingo
was the second round pick of Carolina and he was
overdrafted in my opinion. He's since been traded the wide
receiver out of old Mess, So we'll see. I think
Jackson Dart has a chance to overcome that. He obviously
played at USC prior, so he's been some other places.
I think he's a good athlete. I think his arms

(13:33):
better than I thought it was once I saw it
in person. He's a smart kid. His teammates love him.
Every one of those teammates that I talked to could
not talk him up enough. And that team last year
had a ton of guys that transferred in for one
year because of the Shrine Bowl. I talked to a
lot of the defensive guys moments there. I was like, man,
I'm looking at your rosher, how are you guys not undefeated?
And they'd sort of laughed, But the issue was, you know,
you're in there one year sort of for higher roles.

(13:57):
But to a point to a person, they said, yeah,
Jackson me over the summer, made sure I was locked in,
make sure I had everything I needed. And those things
translate too when you talk about, well do you want
Jackson Dart or should R Sanders? For example, I had
should rank number two as my number two quarterback. Jackson
was third. But I think I think Mike Jones wrote
about this in The Athletic yesterday, and I don't I
want to give him credit, but I think the best

(14:17):
way to encapsulate Shadoor is that he treated the pre
draft visits like recruiting visits as opposed to job interviews,
and that if you don't think that matters, just see
how the draft unfolded. He went one forty four. If
I told you before the draft he was going to
go sixty four, you would have asked, what in the
world went wrong? And I think that's that's where you
focus in on. If you're built like Josh Allen, who

(14:38):
Josh Allen things, you can probably act however you want.
If you're physically limited compared to other quarterbacks, you got
to be on your p's and q's. And Jackson was
on that. So I love if Brian Dable's in on
him and he thinks that he can help prolong his
career in New York. I want to see how this
works out. I'll ask you this, though, John, I'm of
the opinion not under no circumstance. I said this last year.
I didn't Thinkdrake ma should play all he was really good,

(15:00):
but I wouldn't roll Jackson out there until some time
between Halloween and Thanksgiving.

Speaker 3 (15:07):
Honestly, we talked on our show and I said I
wouldn't do it before Thanksgiving, and I'm with you. I
think sometime late November early December would be the earliest.
I want to put him out there. To your point
with the offense, and look, ween, we had Bill polly
On on Bill Pollion on our show two weeks ago,
and I asked him the question, Mike, all right, Bill,
if you're the Giants, you're evaluating these second round quarterbacks,

(15:28):
are you aiming for like a Jaylen Milroe that has
a longer, you know, progression trail in front of him,
but he maybe he's you know, he's the lottery ticket,
he is the upside or they aimed for a guy
And I just shook as the example that you think
might be able to come in and play more right away,
and he goes, John, there's no rookie quarterback that can
come in and is ready to play right away.

Speaker 2 (15:46):
There's no rookie quarterback that's ready to play right away.

Speaker 3 (15:48):
You might play one right away, doesn't mean they're ready
to play right away. So I think that's the one
thing we all have to keep in mind. And I'm
with you with that offense. And again this isn't a
criticism of Charlie Weis Junior and Lie Kiffin. They've put
together an offense that's extremely effective in college football to
win football games. Like they're really good coaches, and Jackson
did a really good job of executing that offense. But

(16:11):
what's the process now of taking what he was able
to do there into an NFL style system? And I
think that remains to be seen in terms of what
that's going to look like. And I think that's what
the quarterback developmental process is now. Now, we could both
be surprised, and you know, Jackson Dart turns out to
be this football genius. He figures out at all this
NFL stuff in a few months and he's ready to

(16:31):
go in October first or September first. Now, I think,
based on what we've all seen in our experience, that's
probably not the likeliest of scenarios. And I think it
was pretty telling that when everyone's all excited the draft rooms,
high five in everyone's pumped up, fans are going nuts.
One of the first things they said on Thursday night
when Joe Shane and Brian Dabile sat down at the
press conference, Russell Wilson's the starting quarterback we won.

Speaker 2 (16:53):
It was one of the first things out of their mouth.

Speaker 3 (16:55):
So they talked about putting a developmental plan together for him,
one that goes into the regular season.

Speaker 2 (17:01):
So Ryan, I think.

Speaker 3 (17:01):
They are going to be very patient, and I think
that's why they made the move they did in for agency, frankly,
with bringing in both Wilson and Winston, is that they
knew once you got past cam Ward, and I think
by that point they probably get a pretty good feeling
they were not going to be able to get cam
Ward that no matter who they drafted in this class,
there was going to be a developmental cycle because it's
not last year's draft class, and whomever they drafted when

(17:24):
they drafted them, which is either going to be a
thirty four or trade up, it was going to take
some time to get these guys ready to get on
the field.

Speaker 1 (17:31):
Have you heard and I haven't been massed around because
I've been so exhausted. Were they worried about any Clearly
they were. Do you know of any of the teams
between twenty five and thirty four that were sniffing around Jackson?

Speaker 2 (17:41):
I don't.

Speaker 3 (17:42):
I heard rumors that the Rams would be considering that,
but but but I reached again. I reached out to
Jordan Rodrieg, who does a great job covering the Rams
for the athletics. She does a fantastic job, and she
told me that the Rams were not in on a
quarterback there. Okay, so I don't think that was a team.
I think there was some concern that, a the Browns
are picking right in front of them at thirty three,

(18:03):
so I think that was obviously a worry. I don't
know what they thought of Jackson Dart. We know what
they thought of the other quarterbacks obviously, but they didn't
select them. We don't know what they thought of Jackson Dart,
So I think there were concerns there. I think I
don't know how much they knew, but I know it. It
kind of got leaked out that the Saints were a
shook team, that that was the guy they were after.
But you know, there's always a mystery team with quarterbacks too,

(18:25):
like the Jets, the Raiders, you know, all those teams
I think were possibilities to move up. I'm not sure
if there was a team sitting there ready to pick
between twenty five and thirty four that they were worried about.
But I think they were worried that another team might
do something to move ahead of them to get the
quarterback they want.

Speaker 1 (18:41):
Sure, No, I get it, and I'm fine with the
with the price they paid. One last thing on Jackson,
Darta want to ask you, where are you on the
clear frames in the first round living room situation?

Speaker 3 (18:53):
Oh? Man, look, I know what that means. I'm a
Northeast guy. Man, you know that I'm a Northeast guy.
So I think everyone is a little bit of different style.

Speaker 1 (19:07):
You know that. You know, it's funny in Jackson's defense,
in twenty nineteen, that's how old they have had some
clear frames. When I first started covering the draft re
seats and my dad said, you look like an idiot.
Please never wear those things to get on television.

Speaker 3 (19:19):
Now right now, right now, I'm more in contacts because
right now, all of the tree pollen on the planet
Earth or oh oh gosh are putting a frontal assault
on my sinuses. So I am like, I am like
you can probably see the little bags just it's bad.
So the contacts actually they like create like a barrier
between the pollen and my eyeballs. Right, So I'm a

(19:40):
glasses guy. I am not necessarily a clear frame glasses guy.
But look, I think Jackson has a much better chance
of pulling that off than I do.

Speaker 1 (19:48):
Yeah, us combined, he's best, Yeah for sure. But I
like to ask people that just to just to get
their opinions because I was the original clear frames guy
and it went over poorly for me. It'll go over
a little better for him.

Speaker 2 (19:58):
Now.

Speaker 3 (19:59):
Look, Jackson also even though he's from you know, he's
he's from Utah, looks like he just rolls off the
beach when he rolls in here.

Speaker 2 (20:05):
Man, he's got the ten. Looks like he just got
off the surfboard.

Speaker 1 (20:08):
Man.

Speaker 2 (20:08):
He is that he has a big time West Coast
vibe going.

Speaker 1 (20:11):
He looks like a starting quarterback in the NFL.

Speaker 3 (20:15):
And by the way, and when I sat there, and
I'm sure you the chance to talk to him, uh too,
at the at the combine, right, he just he has
a very good manner about him. We talked about adul
Carter's intensity. Jackson Dart bleeds leadership when you talk to.

Speaker 1 (20:29):
Him, and that's such a huge part of it. Also
a huge Star Wars guy. If that gets you going,
if that's you know, one of your.

Speaker 3 (20:34):
Follow check so is Abdul Carter. Both of them are,
believe it or not.

Speaker 1 (20:39):
Interesting. I knew that one of the backstories that I
heard that Abdul was a big Eagles fan growing up
and he took his dad, I believe, to the Super
Bowl this year and that was a big deal for him.
So family guys, Star Wars guys, they're checking boxes in
New York.

Speaker 3 (20:52):
Yeah, so the funny So so here's the funny thing.
So Abdul Carter and we did a little thing on
social with this. So I guess when he put in
the Notre Dame game, right, he had the EyeBlack and
he wrote Darth Vader on the EyeBlack. I think he
spent a lot of time in like the hyperballic Barrick
chamber trying to get the shoulder ready, and he thought
of like Darth Vader getting you know, dumped in the
big back to tank with you know, to try to
heal all the burns and all that stuff. And then

(21:13):
apparently Dart the reason he has the EyeBlack like this
is partly because of the Anakin Skywalker scar right he
had in the movie. So have you have Anakin and
you got Vader on the same team.

Speaker 1 (21:23):
Now, it's funny you talk about the social media stuff,
because that's little people behind the curtain. That's a pace
of bills a lot of times when we go go
places like the Combine, So we had to have I
don't remember it. You can probably find it on our socials,
as the kids say. But Anakin blind ranked his five
favorite Star Wars characters, and the guy who made the
list is like an Authorities not a Star Wars guy.
I said, hold on, give me that list. So I

(21:44):
had I had to do some some deep dives on
some name. He knew all the names, so yeah, I mean,
and I just called him Anakin. Jackson's got that unlock too.

Speaker 3 (21:51):
Tell you what he has an Anakin Skywalker field though,
to him, I'm with you, but look to me. I
think the reason I I have optimism about Dart that
a Brian Davile believes in him and he puts these
guys through like a hell of a quarterback test when
they come in here. And if he can pass that
thing mentally, maybe he can figure things out.

Speaker 2 (22:09):
But he doesn't have one tool. Ryan.

Speaker 3 (22:11):
That makes me worry, right, like everything is average to
above average. You know, I don't know if he has
any a plus like Josh Allen level tools where he's
got this cannon or he's running a four to four,
but every tool is not going to hold him back,
Like there's no throw he can't make. Does he have
a cannon? But he can make every throw. He can run,

(22:32):
he runs over people, He plays with the right attitude,
his pot like the one thing with him and shore
should or when he gets pressured he would kind of
go backwards, right Jackson Dart stets up through the pocket.
So I feel like there isn't one trait that you
look at where you're like, oh, I'm really worried about that.
Everything I think is has the potential to be NFL
level or better.

Speaker 1 (22:52):
Yeah, And in fact, the only real concern I have
and I would like to see him do a better
job of getting through his reads. You see glimpses of
it where does get to a second or third read
and other times you don't. But you know, if Brian
Dabole is okay with it, I'm okay with it, and
we'll see how. But and your point's an important one
because there are the physical limitations where the concerns with
Shad do or putting aside for the moment. The interviews

(23:14):
are what may have happened had or had not happened
to those interviews cam Ward, there were no The concerns
with cam Ward is that he plays like Caleb and
Jayden last year come out of college. There's too much
here of ball and if you can get that out
of him, and it may take a while, we'll find out.
And took Caleb three quarters of the season, took Jayden
two minutes, then you're gonna be cooking with something. But
I think Jackson is above the line in every single category.

(23:36):
I just want to see him do a better job
of getting through his reads. But he knows what he's
looking at. It appears when he steps up to the
line of scrimmage, and that's a huge step in the
right direction.

Speaker 3 (23:45):
And when he knows what he's seeing and knows where
he wants to go, he can throw at anticipation, right
like you see it on the plays where it goes
the way it's supposed to. He will throw with anticipation.
And again, I think that goes back to the offense.

Speaker 2 (23:56):
Right.

Speaker 3 (23:57):
I think even if you go back to Caleb Williams's
offense two years ago, right, there's so many designer plays
where it's like, all right, you're getting the ball to
this guy and if that doesn't work, then you're gonna
kind of just run or do what you.

Speaker 2 (24:09):
Got to do.

Speaker 3 (24:10):
Like you said, you see this flashes of some full
field stuff, but once there. Kurt Water said to me
last year, I was talking about Jena Daniels actually, and
I said to him, Kurt, you know, I don't think
Jena Daniel stows over the middle of off that.

Speaker 2 (24:20):
I think that that that's a worry for me.

Speaker 3 (24:22):
He goes, John, don't knock a quarterback for not doing
something if you don't know if the coaching staff is
asking him to do that.

Speaker 1 (24:30):
That's great advice.

Speaker 3 (24:30):
And I said, Kurt, you know what, that's a really
good point. And I think about that with Dart sometimes
with the way the offense is designed. Yeah, maybe we
didn't see that a lot, but were they asking him
to do that a lot. So that's something that I
kind of going back to why it's so hard to
do quarterback evaluations without knowing what the coaches are feeding
these guys.

Speaker 2 (24:49):
It's hard to really get a true evaluation of the tape.

Speaker 1 (24:52):
Yeah, and Rick used to talk about this as well
when I would say to him, how do you figure
out if a guy in any position can do X,
Y and Z, And he says a lot of times
you don't see it on tape. You have to go
to the pro days, to go to the private workouts
and ask him to do those things. Now, how much
can you simulate in a private workout throwing over the middle?
You can, I mean you or I could throw over
the middle with no one in our face. But right
you have to sort of figure it out. You have
to try to project what that looks like. And for

(25:13):
all the knocks on Brian Dable that people have, he's
been really good at developing quarterbacks. And again I'll just
go back to the Daniel Jones. I didn't know it
was gonna be a Brian Dable apologist on the podcast,
But go back to Brian jo Brian Daniel Jones, excuse me,
twenty twenty two. He was a completely different player. And
that's just reality of it. Things didn't work after that,
one last thing, I'll say, And someone made this point

(25:33):
again I can't remember who because I'm old, but it
was so spot on. So the Colts took Riley Leonard
and Riley Leonard is a perfect encapsulation of both Anthony
Richardson and Danel Jones. I was like, that is that
makes the that is the perfect draft pick to bring
into that QB room.

Speaker 3 (25:49):
Yeah, you know what, You'll have to design your offense
one way for those three guys, man, and all three
guys could do all the things you want the offense
to do. There was absolutely no question about that. And
again and then last thing on darn I think there's
been a great back and forth. I think it's talking
to the college coaches too. Right, if you have a
good relationship with these college coaches, and Brian Dable's gonna

(26:10):
have that at Ole Miss. You know, Charlie Weiss Senior
was one of his coaching mentors. His son's the offensive
courd heator. So that's a really easy that's a really
easy conversation conversation there. Brian Dable coach with Joe Judge
in New England, he's on that staff, and Mark with
Jackson Dart over the course of the year, and I'm
sure he knows Lane from his time in college football too.
So if you have good relationships with these college coaches,

(26:32):
they will tell you how well the quarterback. All right,
do you think he can do this? You might not
have asked him, but can he do this? If we
asked him exactly, you're gonna get those honest answers that
me and you.

Speaker 2 (26:44):
We're not getting those answers from anybody of course.

Speaker 1 (26:46):
No, right, No, that's exactly right. And that's an important point.
And again not to bring this back to Shador, but
there may have been some disconnect between getting all the
information you wanted as a coaching staff or an organization
and not being able to get it because of whatever reason.
The one last thing I'll go to is I remember
being at the Shrine Bowl downstairs to the team hotel,

(27:06):
and it was clearly obvious how much the giants were
interested in the door because Brian da Bole and I
don't know if it's Joe Shame but or some other
folks talking to him in the middle of the hallway
in front of everybody in Jesus, and that was a long, animated,
laughing type of conversation. And I just wonder the disconnect
between that moment in late January and where we were

(27:29):
last week and sort of what happened. But that it
just goes to show you it's a long process and
it's a job interview, and you got to treat it
as such. And you know, I think obviously Jackson Darted
a good job with that. Abdul Carter did a good
job with that, and we'll see how it works out
in three or four years.

Speaker 2 (27:45):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (27:45):
The way I put it the other day one of
our shows is that if you like wriggle a personally,
you mean you applying for a job, like you send
your resume in right, that's the game film. That's the
equivalent for a football player of their stats, their production,
and their game film. That's the resume. Well, guess what,
you still have to go in and do the job interview.
You have to match the team's culture, you have to

(28:06):
be a personality they want in your building. And that's
what the draft process is from January to April, and
the resume is the basis of everything. You're never gonna
hire anyone with a bad resume. But just because a
guy's a good resume doesn't mean he's a fit for
you once you go through the rest of that interview process.

Speaker 1 (28:22):
So unless you graduate number one in Harvard Law School
and they definitely need a big time lawyer, you can
act anybody you want, but anyone else from any other school.
Everyone has to say resume. You got to be able
to differentiate yourself. This is this concludes the how to
parent your kids segment?

Speaker 3 (28:41):
Absolutely right. All right, let's get to Darius Alexander. So
the Giants was very important to them to hold on
to pick sixty five because, as both of us know, Ryan,
that was right in the meat of this draft where
you're gonna get some good players. And I'm with you.
I had a second round grade on Darius Alexander. I
think he was the fortieth something player on my board,
and I I had no anticipation that a guy that

(29:02):
can rush the passer at three hundred plus pounds with
thirty four in darms at defensive tackle, which is becoming,
as you all know, a premium position in this league
was going to be on the board at sixty five.
I don't care if he's twenty five years old. That
dude kill people at the Senior Bowl. He's going to
be a good NFL player.

Speaker 1 (29:18):
Yeah, four nine to five forty almost eighty three inch wingspan.
My conference was Christian Barmore, and he might be more
explosive than Christian Barmore and he might say, well, he
just dominated non power for schools. Well, to your point,
Johnny went to the Senior Bowl and looked like he
was the first kid off the bus at Alabama or
Georgia with the way he played. And then we talked
to him. Awesome kid number one, and think this through

(29:39):
what is worth. No one knows more NFL like history
than this guy. Like we played another social game where
we showed him old school Is that true? We showed
him old school defensive linemen and linebackers going back forty years.
He crushed every single one. And you know, most of
the kids came through, like Dylan Gabriel.

Speaker 2 (29:55):
Was really good.

Speaker 1 (29:56):
No surprise there. It was probably fifty percent hit rate
for most of these guy because they're you know, twenty two,
they're not paying attention. This guy is locked in with
the history of football. He's locked in with football. He's
he was a great dude in terms of iron actions
with him, and then he played out of his mind
at physical Specimen. There's the I can't remember the team though.
He had his insane pick six last fall where he

(30:17):
hurtled some guy near the sidelines I believe, and then
outrun everyone to the end zone. And then the way
he plays like this, I'm with you. I thought he
had a chance to go twenty five picks higher.

Speaker 3 (30:29):
Yeah, look, good player. And again I know people are
afraid of his age. He's also raising his like six
year old son, so he's super mature, right, And and look,
these guys don't grow on trees that are that big
and that athletic and can play three technique and you
know you, I mean, look what old that gives you.
It just got the Cowboys this past year. Right, similar

(30:50):
type of player in terms of an upfield pass rusher,
he just got twenty something million dollars. I mean, these
guys are just as valuable as edge rusher is in
today's NFL.

Speaker 1 (30:58):
And at twenty five years old, you can still got
a second contract, can be dominant throughout that second contract.
Cam Hayward's still playing in his mid thirties. It's not
like he's a wide receiver or a cornerback that at
thirty three you got to put him out the pasture.
I think he's got a lot of good football ahead
of him. And by the way, he's a year younger
than Tyler Shuck. So let's calm down with the age.
If you want to know how to manage two minutes

(31:19):
of crunch time football, I'm your Matt.

Speaker 3 (31:21):
But if you're wondering about a long term financial plan,
you should talk to Citizens.

Speaker 1 (31:25):
Hey, I can also talk long care. I'd like to
learn about a Mollia routine.

Speaker 2 (31:28):
Yes, I knew I could help make sense of your
money with Citizens.

Speaker 3 (31:33):
Jihns little podcast is brought to you by Citizens official
bank of the Giants, and gave they celebrations to your
everyday financial needs. Big move Fans can get the most
out of every moment with Citizens. Learn more at Citizens
bank dot com slash Giants. All right, then the Giants
lost pick ninety nine. They're compicking the third round, so
they get the round number four and here comes good
old cam Scataboo. Baby Giant. Fan's gonna love this guy, Ryan.

(31:56):
I like them more than others. I think the little
blurb you had in your draft age was that with
the way he plays, he might only last three or
four years, but it's gonna be a fun three or
four years.

Speaker 1 (32:05):
It's gonna be awesome. Yeah, he is probably on physical tools,
like his vertical was insane, but his time was He's
a four six y five guy, that's about who you
thought he was gonna be. He's not five to ten.
I think his vertical is like north of thirty five.
I'll have to look it up in a second, but
if you just saw the measurables and maybe saw a
snaper or two, you would probably say late day three,

(32:27):
maybe PDA. I had him as like a fourth rounder.
He ends up going in the third round or fourth.
They got him in the third, right at the bottom of
the third, top of the fourth's got of the fourth. Okay,
So that's exactly where had him going. And that's all
because of the way he approaches the game. And he
is without question the Telvis person in college football. Last season,
I tucked his teammates Samaro Simmons, who who played safety

(32:50):
for some state last year, and I said, what did
you think when he when he puked in that game
against I think it's a Texas game. At the end,
there he goes, oh, I knew things were about to
get real, and they did. He somehow got better after
puke and his brain's out on the sideline and he
went for plus one hundred I think. And we know
his versatility. He can throw the ball he punted the
ball a handful of times in twenty twenty three fairs
on the State, Like, he can literally do everything, and

(33:12):
his playing style does not lend us up to a
long career. But you know you're going to get the
most out of this kid, and he's gonna be a
fun sort of balancing act with what you get from
Tyrone Tracy. They're gonna be two completely different type runners,
but both are going to be exciting and complete and
completely different ways.

Speaker 3 (33:29):
Yeah, I'm with you, and I think the thing that
I like is that Ryan. Both guys can do everything.
They could both catch cam Scattabo is a you wouldn't
think if you just watched him run, you would think
the guy couldn't catch a cold.

Speaker 2 (33:42):
But he's a really good receiver.

Speaker 1 (33:44):
Yep.

Speaker 3 (33:44):
So you could play either guy on third down, you
can play either guy on early downs.

Speaker 2 (33:48):
It's a nice little pairing back there. I'm excited about it.

Speaker 1 (33:51):
Yeah, thirty five er steps is just one drop. Last season,
I was wrong. He had eight punts in twenty twenty three,
which makes him even more awesome. Loven SAPs accord back
last season twenty snaps in the slot, played out wide
sometimes twenty four times, so he is his versatility. He
may not look like he's versatile, but he's gonna be
one of the most versatile players on the team. And

(34:12):
I don't know if anyone has better contact balance and
yards after contact than Cam Scataboo, because you may be genty,
maybe gent maybe gent, And that's only because people can't
get their hands on them, like people get their hands
on the Scataboo, and he's just dragging guys down the field.
So I love this pick. This is right around the
range I thought he got the board and it again,
it helps your offense. It doesn't necessitate a need to

(34:34):
throw the ball anymore. In fact, it makes you have
to throw it less, and then you have the defensive
guys you drafted. This feels like a draft where the
team had a plan in place and they're nailing the plan.

Speaker 2 (34:44):
Yeah, and it lean into the strength of the draft, right.

Speaker 3 (34:47):
And this is what I tried to tell fans going
into this, Like you knew running back was gonna be deep.
You might not need a running back, but you should
pick one in this draft because the one you didn't
getting around four this draft might going around to in
another one. And I didn't think it was a great
off defensive line draft, though you could find guards. I
was surprised Marcus bo was sitting there in round five.
You know, you watch his feet move, and he looks

(35:08):
like a guy that can be a He wants me
a Zach Tom a little bit from the Packers right,
played tackle in college a little bit. Not the longest guy,
but he moves really well. You know, people think when
he came out, people thought Tom was going to move inside.

Speaker 2 (35:20):
Right. People say the same thing about Marcus bow and
I think, just his feet.

Speaker 3 (35:25):
If you can get his hand usage a little bit
better and his strength a little bit better, this guy
has the feet to be a starting offensive lineman in
the NFL.

Speaker 1 (35:32):
It's funny, said, I'm looking at my notes here. I
had him as an early day three guy. He's a
project with high upside. Needs to add muscle and strength.
He's all over the place technically, but insane athleticism, shoty
footworking technique.

Speaker 2 (35:44):
So right, you have the.

Speaker 1 (35:47):
Mold of the guy you want. Athletically, No, it's just
a matter of getting him up to speed to do
the things technically that he can do to be successful.
Thirty two inch arms probably means he's kicking inside full time,
and that's okay.

Speaker 2 (35:56):
Well, I should.

Speaker 3 (35:57):
Note the combine there were thirty two and a half,
so there were probably in reality around thirty three the
way that we measured at the cop Pine.

Speaker 1 (36:05):
That's true because one of my favorite players, Arman Membu,
went from thirty from six to three and changed to
six spwoards pro day, so everyone grew from the combine
to the pro Day. He did play right guard in
twenty twenty two, right tackle the last two seasons for Purdue,
so he does have that because a lot of times
when you have these conversations like these kids have never
played a different position. Oh, just move him inside. Yeah,

(36:26):
well you can say that, but at least bo has
the experience of playing inside previously. And if you can
get him right technically in round five this, I mean,
that's great value.

Speaker 3 (36:36):
All right, Let's go to the next guy, Thomas Faedoni
at in Nebraska. I had a fourth round grade on him,
you know, going in, I looked at his numbers, I
saw the two knee surgeries, and I thought I'd find
this plotting dude that you know plays in Nebraska, and
then I put the tape on him, like dude, this
guy could move like he comes in and out of
his brakes. Well, he can run the scene. I think

(36:56):
he's got almost thirty four inch arms. This guy has
the potential. And I know he was playing in an
offense Nebraska where they weren't spreading it at and going
the huddle and throwing in a million times. I think
he's His production in the NFL could be better than
it was in college is based on his physical traits.

Speaker 1 (37:11):
Yep. And I think the's two knee surgeries were the
reason he fell. I had him low day too early
day three. He did have thirty four inch arms. I
didn't know that. That's crazy. Four to seven and he
plays that fast. I said, he's a really good athlete.
Long strider, he gets on linebacker's toes and a hurry.
He gets out of breaks with urgency, big catch radius.
Only had one drop on fifty one targets. He can
make contested catches, absorbed hits, and get yards after the catch,
plays a good contact, balance his base, and runs some

(37:33):
arm tackles, so all the things you want. Even though
he's two forty three, I thought he played bigger than that,
good ten pounds heavier than that's the way I thought
he played. He's a high jump guy in high school
six y three, which was ninety second percentile among high
school kids going into college.

Speaker 2 (37:47):
He ran the two.

Speaker 1 (37:47):
Hundred meters, so as he sort of reinforced the long
strider note there earlier. Yeah, no one was talking about him,
in part because to your point, he played in Nebraska,
and Nebraska was sort of up and down and mostly
down down the stretch. But he was a a pleasant surprise.
He was at the Senior Bowl. He's a lot of
fun to watch because I had no expectations going in. Yeah,
he felt like to me watching Isaac Taslaw for the

(38:08):
first time at Arkansas, going oh my god, why is
no one talking about this kid. I saw Brad Holmes
say today they give up two third round picks to
go get him in round three, the Arkansas slot receiver.
He said he was his favorite wide receiver in the
draft class, which made me feel good because I was
driving to Isaac taslatchering, Yeah.

Speaker 2 (38:23):
You know, it's funny. I liked him too.

Speaker 3 (38:25):
I still think that was a little bit of a
steep price, very steep, but.

Speaker 1 (38:30):
You think it would have been interesting if Ben Johnson's
still been there. You just think that they had this
thing figured out with Goff and amen Ra. We'll find out,
but that was a steep price, Like that was almost
a steepid price, is what the Giants paid? It felt
like right to go it was it was almost the.

Speaker 2 (38:45):
Same, which is crazy.

Speaker 3 (38:46):
Yeah, one more thing on Fidoni. I talked to his
tight ends coach yesterday. That's gonna Aaron on gihns little
podcast I think beginning of next week. Marcus Sadersfield and
he was a former He was with Matt Rule in Carolina,
so he coached in the NFL, right, and they basically
want a pro style system there. So I kind of
drive into him like like what the developmental curve is

(39:08):
for FDNI. He goes, look, he's gonna understand NFL terminology.
He's in an NFL huddle. He'd used him as a
y inline blocker, like he ran an NFL offense in college,
so he should be able to figure things out despite
the fact that he was a seventh rounder. That's the
guy that should figure out the NFL pretty quick.

Speaker 1 (39:24):
Right, Yeah, that's a steal in the seventh round, and
again it's probably almost certainly injury related and this tiding
class was pretty deep as well. Yeah, but I had him,
like I said, late day two, early day three. So
again it's all about value and just strictly based on
my my draft board, the Giants got some of the
best value of any any teams picking.

Speaker 3 (39:46):
And then finally, if you get a corner in the
seventh round that that that's six feet toll and runs
like a four three five, that that's just worth a
roll of the dice.

Speaker 2 (39:53):
Right, yep, six at.

Speaker 1 (39:55):
One ninety two four three five geezo pizza. It wasn't
invited to All Star games, I don't think certainly wasn't
butt into the combine, so he was a late watch
for me. Played mostly outside, had three interceptions, dropped two more,
had thirteen PPUs, so on paper he looks great. He
ran the four hundred hurdles. It was a long jump

(40:15):
guy all high levels coming out of high school. I said,
he's at his best playing off and coming downhill. Can
play man, But I liked him more on his zone
and reactions scheme. Big physical and looks apart little sip
sometimes out of his break, and like every cornerback in
college football, it feels like he plays outside or inside
for the matter. Just incredibly handsy and that's just something
you gotta work on. But again, seventh rounder, with the

(40:37):
way he looks here getting off the bus and he
has pretty good tape, what's the downside to take him? All? Right?

Speaker 3 (40:44):
Ryan, we touched on with the Giants, did two big
picture questions. One, where do you see the Giants roster
right now? It seems like they've added a lot on defense.
Javon Howard in the offseason, Paulson Adebo in the off season,
the additions to the defensive line in the draft, to
Decks and Burns, it seems like talent wise on defense,
they've gone to the point now where they should be
able to hang in the NFC East.

Speaker 1 (41:05):
Oh my gosh, this defense has come a long way.
It feels like right like it's hard to I love
Tyler Nuban last year coming out. I'll ask you this.
I know there have been some up and downs. I
wasn't watching closely. Where are we on tay Banks at
this point?

Speaker 3 (41:20):
I think you're still hoping that this is the year
that he puts it together. He was better his rookie
year than he was his second year. He was with
think Martindale his first year played a lot more pressman
was more zone and off stuff last year, which is
something that he didn't do as much of in college, Ryan,
as you know, so I think this is a big
year for him. I think they really the thing about
Tay Banks. He doesn't let guys get open, but even

(41:43):
though he has them covered well, he doesn't do a
good job of giving his head around and play. He
doesn't play the ball particularly well, so a lot of
times guys will make catches even though he's in a
pretty good position, or he'll commit a defensive pass interference penalty.
So those are the two things that he really needs
to work on. His technique. It is able to locate
the ball and play the ball in the air. If
he figures that out, Guys don't run past him like

(42:04):
he's too good of an athlete for that. So if
you can figure that part out, he can I still
think be a pretty good corner.

Speaker 1 (42:09):
Yeah, and that's the first place my eyes one. He's
a former first round pick who, as you pointed out,
and I remember him playing well as rookie season, but
I lost track of him after that. My only other
question is are we are we good with the tight
end room after my league neighbors.

Speaker 2 (42:22):
Wide receiver room.

Speaker 1 (42:23):
You mean yeah, sorry, White wide receiver room.

Speaker 2 (42:25):
Yeah. Look, they just resigned Darius Layton.

Speaker 3 (42:28):
I think they like him as kind of a stretch
the field, vertical guy opposite in Malik to kind of,
you know, keep the safeties honest. And then this is
the final year of ron Though Robinson's rookie contract, so
I think it's a big year for him. They went
out and you know, there were reports out there of
some of the guys they target as a udfa's as
a report that Daikon Felton might be one of those
guys who's kind of that bigger, taller, big bodied receiver,

(42:50):
which is something that's absent from the room right now
except for Bryce Ford Wheaton, who's a guy that was
an undrafted guy a couple years ago.

Speaker 2 (42:55):
That you're familiar with.

Speaker 3 (42:57):
I think they would have been very open to drafting
a wide receiver in this draft if they hadn't traded
that third round pick in the deal to move up
for Dart. It would not have shocked me if that
pick would have been a wide receiver. But I think
that's the sacrifice they made to kind of go get
the quarterback.

Speaker 1 (43:11):
Yeah, I mean like, on paper, this feels like the
over under. I would set it at eight and a half.
I don't know what Vegas is over unders for this team.
And then it's a matter of does Russ get you
another win and a half? Like how far down that
road can you get?

Speaker 2 (43:25):
What?

Speaker 1 (43:25):
What were the Giants record last year obviously wasn't great, the.

Speaker 2 (43:27):
Pick three wins not the very bad three. So eight
and a half.

Speaker 1 (43:30):
Feels like huge progress. And maybe I'm over overstating it,
but on paper and given the direction that this team
could potentially go, this is a good football team. Every
team has holes, even well, the Eagles don't have holes,
The Chiefs wy don't have holes up for their draft,
but there's a reason those two teams played in the
Super Bowl. But everybody else has gotten better, except for
maybe the Bengals. I don't know what they're doing in

(43:50):
the draft, but the question is how much better have
you gotten? And this I would be interested. See, I'm
sure the over runder is probably closer to six and
a half or seven. I would say it at eight
and a half. Have because I saw what Rust did
last year in Pittsburgh and that team offensively was on
the struggle bus the year before. He wasn't was he perfect?

Speaker 3 (44:09):
No?

Speaker 1 (44:09):
Was he great? At times? Yeah, there were flashes of
Russ doing the things that we saw him do. But
he needs a run game and he needs a defense,
and that's exactly what the Giants have. They had bolstered
those units certainly coming out of draft weekend.

Speaker 3 (44:23):
Yeah, last thing I'll saying the Giants this year, Ryan,
when you get a second, I'll give you the teams they,
according to winning percentage last year, have the toughest schedule
in the National Football League.

Speaker 2 (44:32):
Ohoy, And you probably sit.

Speaker 3 (44:34):
There and you're like, how does the fourth place team
in the division have the toughest schedule in the National
Football League? Well, when you had to play the Cowboys, Eagles,
and Commanders six times, and then they played the AFC
West and they played the NFC North.

Speaker 1 (44:48):
Okay, yeah, six and a half was closer to the reality.

Speaker 3 (44:50):
So their home schedule very quickly, Ryan, I'll give it
to you.

Speaker 2 (44:54):
Please try not to fall out of your chair.

Speaker 3 (44:56):
So you have the three NFC East teams, right, Dallas,
Philly and Washington, Green Bay, Minnesota, Kansas City, the forty
nine Ers and the Chargers.

Speaker 1 (45:07):
All right here before you go on, let me it's
hard to find a win. Okay. I wish you wouldn't
have told me that I was so high if they
went in to have games Joe Shane and Brian Dables
to get a lifetime contracts.

Speaker 2 (45:20):
It is. It is just a really tough schedule.

Speaker 3 (45:22):
Now on the road, you have some easier games, you
have the Raiders, the Saints, the Patriots, but you also
have to go to Detroit, to Denver and to Chicago.

Speaker 2 (45:31):
So no, it is.

Speaker 3 (45:33):
It is a very very difficult schedule. So Russell Wilson's
got to play well at the start of the year,
and you hope the schedule makers maybe give him a
couple of those easier games to start the year to
try to get off to a dec.

Speaker 1 (45:44):
I can't believe there are two other teams the worst
schedules than that.

Speaker 3 (45:47):
No, no, no, no, no, no, there is it. They
have the worst. They are they have the wors of
thirty two. Yes, oh my gosh, they're thirty two of
thirty two.

Speaker 1 (45:53):
It is all right, That's what I would if I'm
the front office coaches STAF That's what I lead. The
conversation with John marraw with, well, listen, by the way,
we're getting the quarterback. But you have to understand some things.
This schedule is brutal.

Speaker 2 (46:04):
Holy Moses, no, it is a tough schedule.

Speaker 3 (46:07):
All right, Before I say give by, Ryan, I respect
your your takes on the drafts so much. Give me
some of your big picture takeaway from the draft, some
of your favorite classes, maybe something you didn't like. Just
just give me, like your your top line summary of
everything you've been saying on CBS in the past three days.

Speaker 1 (46:21):
All right, now to Rep. Salt in New And I
guess I thought the Eagles absolutely crushed it. I mean
to get Jahid Campbell at thirty one, trade up for
a fifth round pick. He's going to be Day one starter,
and he's gonna be He is going to be awesome
next to Zach Bond and in that big Fangio defense.
Andrew Mcooba their second round pick. I had a second
round grande in him. He's one eighty five ish, but
he plays like he's two ten.

Speaker 2 (46:41):
And he's a missile. He's a missiles.

Speaker 1 (46:42):
He's a missile. He is so smart. The common Cord pick.
I'm a Syracuse guy, so I they'll develop him and
how he will flip him for a third round pick,
No doubt about it.

Speaker 3 (46:50):
By the way, I thought the Commanders and the Cowboys
both had good drafts too, which I was not thrilled about.

Speaker 1 (46:55):
Yeah, the Commander's only had what five picks here, But
Josh Connelly Jr. He might even slip inside and starting
guard early on because Sam Cosby got heard. Terry Amos
is the is the repudiation of the Emmanuel Forbes pick
from a few years ago before Adam Peters got there.
He is long, he's physical. Your guy, Jackson Dart told
me he was the best cornerback he faced in the SEC.

(47:15):
Who's the other team in the Dallas Oh let's see that?
Oh yeah the Cowboys. Oh my gosh. The Tyler Booker
pick lay up as a Rocky at forty four feels
like a steal. SUV and Revel in the third round.
The ACL injury feels like a steal because they had
a first runing RD on him. Jayden Blue is super
juiced up. I love that pick as well, and I
like to fiel MafA at a Clemson as sort of
a bruising running back. My number one best draft according

(47:40):
to the seventy five hundred words I wrote was to
Buffalo Bills, and I wonder Maxwell, Harrison, TJ. Sanders Land
and Jackson. They went and Dean Walker might have been
my favorite pick of the draft class. In the fourth round,
they went defensive defense the first four picks, first five picks,
excuse me, and their first offensive pick was the best
blocking tight end. So they told Josh Allen, look, you
got a handle to lay offense. We're gonna get this

(48:01):
defense right. And I wonder John if this is finally
the draft that gets them over the hump against Kansas
City because the other team is the Raves. Raves had
a great draft too, and if they were able to
get that, you know, get the you know the term
I'm going to use to to sort of break the curse,
if you will, of the Kansas City Chiefs over both
those teams. The Chiefs crush their draft as well, but

(48:22):
I the way the Bills and the Ravens approaches saying
I have nothing but admiration and respect for what they're
able to do.

Speaker 2 (48:30):
And you hit it.

Speaker 3 (48:30):
I think my favorite draft. And I thought the Giants
had a great draft. The teams you mentioned I thought
did really well.

Speaker 2 (48:34):
Too.

Speaker 3 (48:34):
I think the Patriots had a nice little draft. The
Chiefs man, like, what an unbelievable draft by them. I
thought they were just phenomenal. I thought they did a
great job. Brashard Smith in the seventh round. That guy's
gonna be getting half their carries at running back by
mid season.

Speaker 1 (48:51):
I think I ate late too great on him.

Speaker 3 (48:53):
I was so I Loveshard Smith. I thought he was fantastic.
You know, I'm I'm right up their full class now.
But my goodness, like they just did such a nice job.

Speaker 2 (49:05):
Simmons.

Speaker 3 (49:06):
I think is gonna be the best left tackle in
this class once he gets healthy. Olma Norman Lot put
him next to Chris Jones on passing downs. Good luck
guards and centers around the league. Ashton Jelot's a good
defensive end. Noel Williams is a big tall I mean,
could you have a better corner to play in Steve
Spagnolo's like bump and run system.

Speaker 1 (49:25):
It's perfect. I think he is going to be what
they were hoping Josh Williams was going to be out
of Favle State.

Speaker 2 (49:29):
Absolutely.

Speaker 3 (49:29):
Jeffrey Bossa is a smart athletic linebacker former safety. Right
if remember right and and Jalen Royals. I had a
third round grane on and all the people had second
round grades on him.

Speaker 1 (49:39):
But yeah, I have come on like he's.

Speaker 2 (49:41):
A good player. They they have guys up and down
that draft that are just phenomenal.

Speaker 1 (49:45):
He is rashid Rice two point zero with I would
hope he doesn't drive one hundred and fifty miles an hour.
I think that's the difference because that's what's part of
what she's issue. But Jalen Royals, they use him a
lot at Utah State, like Western Kentucky's Malackki correlate a
lot of to the line of scrimmer stuff. But he
can push the ball down the field, he can stack dbs,
and it just feels like he is gonna eat in

(50:05):
that offense withshar Smith. Like if you told me Jalen
Royals and Breshard Smith were the two most productive rookie
wide receiver slash running backs in this class, I would
believe you, and I would I would bet the odds
be like minus five hundred. Like, I don't even know
who else is going to compete in that offense as
rookies to put up those sorts of numbers that I
expect those guys will.

Speaker 3 (50:23):
I'm with you, all right, final question, and I appreciate
the timeline. This has been fun going back to the
fifth chat, this has been great. Give me something you
didn't like about the draft. I know you mentioned the
Bengals before anyone else that that kind of had you
scratch in your head when all was said and done, so.

Speaker 1 (50:36):
The Bengals traded. Oh no, it's the Bengals. I'll get
to said the shamar Sewart. Thing is that gonna be
Miles Murphy two point zero athletically, he's insane. They drafted
two off all linebackers. Okay, we'll see. Todge Brooks is
Dylan Fairchild. I like to pick him third round, the guard.
He's probably gonna Startday one. I like Todge Brooks to
run back in the sixth round.

Speaker 3 (50:57):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (50:57):
The other one was the Browns. I love what they
did at the top, trading down get the first round pick,
getting Mason Graham. The picks they acquired from Jacksonville turned
into two running backs, Quenchewn Junkins and Dylan Sampson, who
I like.

Speaker 3 (51:09):
By the way, I think that's actually a really good pairing.
I think they're good players.

Speaker 1 (51:13):
They are good players and they need running back. Nick
Chubb I almost certainly won't return. I wasn't as high
on Dylan Sampson as some other people were, Quinchewn Jenkins.
I like Trey Henderson better, but whatever you can take
him here. I love the Carson Sweestnger pick. I love
the Harrold fanin Pick.

Speaker 2 (51:25):
I was just.

Speaker 1 (51:25):
Confused by taking a quarterback in Dylan Gabriel the third
and then two picks later or two rounds later, taking Shador.
I didn't love Dylan Gabriel as a third rounder. I
love his attitude, like I would run through a wall
for that guy after we had a chance to talk
to him.

Speaker 3 (51:37):
That guy is going to be a backup quarterback in
the league for fifteen years.

Speaker 1 (51:40):
It feels like it. I have questions about his ability
to process quickly, but he has a better arm in
the Shadoor, which is crazy thing to say out loud,
but I think it's true. I just want to know
what the plan is a quarterback with Kenny Picka, Joe Laco.
I think Deshaun watches he's not going to come back.
But now you have four guys, I would imagine you
try to trade one of those guys. One of those
guy is gonna get released. Who's it gonna be. There's

(52:02):
no Isster Sanders is going to make his way to
the practice squad, so on and so forth. I think
this is the best case scenario for she Dor to
get sort of have this happen now it's opposed to
two years from now, and maybe he can reset his
mindset in terms of how he's gonna approach this. And
I feel bad for Deylan Gabriel, like, Dylan Gabriel is
a big winner at the end of the day too,
and then you know, twenty four hours later he's like, man,

(52:23):
this sucks for me because now I'm not going to
be the heir apparent as a backup. I'm gonna have
to earn it. But that's okay. His whole life has
been trying to earn things.

Speaker 3 (52:30):
Yeah, dude, I think both of us have a pretty
good feel for Dylan Gabriel on his personality. I guarantee
you he is just working his butt off already getting
ready for that competition to win that job.

Speaker 1 (52:38):
It's not the first time that he's had to had
to prove himself and he's probably doing it and that
might win that white mini man. He drives around like
he's like he's a soccer mom. I love it.

Speaker 3 (52:47):
I love it too, all right, U Ryan, tell the
folks when they can find all your great work.

Speaker 1 (52:51):
Yeah, So do a trap podcast all year round with
the first pick. Did it with our buddy Rix Bielm
until he made his way to the New York Jets.
And now we have a lucky to have ran kart On,
the former Titians center manager, who is awesome. That's a
ton of knowledge. He was in the front offices of
every single team you can think of, from Atlanta to
the Rams to the forty nine ers and of course
the Titans for the last seventeen years. So he's been

(53:13):
a great addition. And we'll be going strong all summer long, John,
until it's time for college football and to start talking
about these rookies again. So I suppose there's some wrestling
there somewhere. I just don't know where it is.

Speaker 3 (53:24):
Ryan Wilson joining us in the Giants Little Podcast in
the Hackensack and Marine Held Podcast udio. Keep getting better.
For Ryan, I'm John Shmall. Thanks for joining us on
the Giants Little Podcast. Brought to you by Citizens the
official bank of the giants,