March 2, 2023 • 26 mins
It's episode one of NFL Draft Preview Presented by Verizon. Host Ethan Greenberg and The Athletic’s Dane Brugler are live from the 2023 NFL Combine with Dane and they start by talking about the strengths and weaknesses of the 2023 NFL Draft class (1:58). Next the guys discuss the top storylines surrounding the Combine (10:08), the players with the most to prove in Indianapolis (12:45) and what kind of testing numbers we will see this week (17:10). Lastly, they discuss Dane's latest mock draft that has the Jets selecting Alabama safety Brian Branch (21:20).
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
Welcome to a new season of NFL Draft Preview, presented
by Verizon, Ethan Greenberg and Dane Googler in the Flesh.
This might be like the first podcast in the last
three years that we've done in person. Yeah, you know,
I mean we every every combine, we catch up every
you know, usually to Senior Bowl. But yeah, I feel
like most of the time I'm looking at you in
a box, so it's good to see him first. Yeah,
(00:27):
it's nice to see you in person as well. You're
battling through this week. Yeah, I am. You know, when
you have four younger kids and this time of year,
it's always tough. But a lot of talking this week,
but we'll power work through. We'll make it happen. You know.
That's your diet this week. Cough drops and some more water.
Probably not Probably better than I know, I said this
to you yesterday. Yeah, better than a lot of the
(00:48):
media members here throughout the week. Probably healthier yeah, probably, Yeah,
but uh, you know, it's you got to find that
secret sauce and hopefully it works out. But Dane's not
a tea guy. We learned that this morning. I'm not
you know, I It's well documented. I have the diet
of an eight year old, and so mountain dew diet,
mountain dew. Yes, yes, yes, yes, But you know what,
(01:11):
it's sometimes desperate times call for desperate measures. You gotta
do what you gotta do. And this is an important
week we got we have a lot to talk about that.
We do have a lot to talk about, so we're
gonna preview the combine. But first I just wanted to
kind of set up the Jets draft and the overall
setup of the draft, because this is the first year
in three drafts the Jets don't have two first round picks,
(01:31):
and so they have the thirteenth pick in the first round.
And we'll talk about a lot of the guys that
have been mocked to the Jets because I think as
of now you're kind of the outlier. And we'll get
to that in a little bit. But the Jets don't
have a ton of capital like they have in the past.
But also they had a very good draft last year,
i'd say the least. Let's just start with the general picture.
(01:54):
What do you think are the strengths and weaknesses of
this overall twenty twenty three draft class. Yeah, and I
think it's a draft where the intrigue. I mean, it's
always the quarterbacks, right with the intrigue starts, and very
much so with this class. You've got four quarterbacks at
the top. Where you talk go team to team, you're
gonna get a different order one through four, how they
(02:15):
see them coming off the board, how they're graded beauties
in the eye of the beholder. I feel like we
talked about that every year, but it's it's so true
in a quarterback class like this, where you've got guys
that have each one has flaws, but each one's very
good in their own right, and so each team's gonna
look at it a little bit differently with their scheme,
with their culture, and so it starts with the quarterbacks.
(02:36):
That's where that's where it all starts. And if you're
the Jets, I mean, you're sitting there at thirteen. We
don't think the Jets are gonna draft the quarterback probably,
you know, we feel pretty good they're going to add
a veteran at some point in that direction. All right,
So you know, if you're the Jets, you're you're thinking
there's probably four quarterbacks you're gonna come off the board
in front of you. Good chance knocks another good player
down to you. In terms of the non quarterbacks, I
(02:59):
think it there's two guys at the top, Will Anderson,
jay Lec Carter. After that, that's when there's a lot
of debate who's in that second tier, how many are
in that second tier, and what's the gap between that
first tier and second tier. And I think there's a
pretty decent gap between that first tier and second tier.
There's some good players in that second tier. I love
Christian Gonzale as a corner of Oregon. Tyree Wilson from
(03:22):
Texas Tech has a lot of ability. Brian Branch from
Alabama's one of my favorite players in this draft. But overall,
you know, I think it's it's a draft with not
a ton of blue Chippers. But I think when you
go to certain positions, the depth is really there. First round,
second round, third round, edge rusher, tight end. So for
certain positions, it's a really deep group. Okay, So, going
(03:42):
off of what you've just said, if you're the Jets
at thirteen, based on what you just said, it seems
like I know this is early considering this is March
first when we're recording this, and the draft isn't for
essentially two months. If you're at they're at thirteen, and
you have a cluster and you know that there's good death.
This might be one of the drafts where you elect
(04:02):
to trade back or be pretty open to it. And
we've seen Joe Douglas do that in the past, right,
And you're always looking to trade back. You're always hoping
to have those options. You know, you want your phone
to ring. So when it comes to your pick, if
the guy you want is there, you take them. If
you know you're kind of split, you're not you like
the guys available, maybe don't love them, you have hopefully
(04:23):
have that option where if you want to move back,
you can do that. And because I think this is
a draft where a second round, third round, there's there's
plenty of depth. That's some some key positions, and you know,
I keep mentioning Ed Rusher, that's it's just such a
deep group. This year. You go into the second round,
third round, and there's some good names there that you
feel it can help your team. What does a second
(04:43):
round or third round pass rusher look like in the NFL, Well,
you know there's something something wrong with them. Obviously they
didn't go first round, Whether they're a little undersized, or
maybe they didn't have the testing numbers. Uh, maybe they're
more traits than production in college, so they don't have
they didn't have double digit sacks. But you know what,
you know, Daniel Hunter classic example of a guy who
(05:05):
had the traits, didn't have the production. So you know,
I think that's where scouting comes in and you have
to identify those guys and say, okay, you know what
we Uh, you know, got a big augilary from LSU.
A guy who's a little bit undersider exactly a giant's
pass rusher. Uh, has a lot of ability, but maybe
a little undersize. Maybe you know, might not go first round,
but in the second round he's sitting there. I'd love
(05:28):
the value at that point. Does he also have is
it was it a z's augilary that was shorter with
long arms? Yeah? Right? Does his brother also have long arms?
It will find it officially here this week. Uh, you know,
at the combine. But you know, yeah, he is a
little bit undersized, but he's you could tell he watches
as an older brother. You know, you could tell he's
he's really in tune with how to win, you know,
(05:49):
even though he is a little bit smaller, using that
to his advantage, So using his pad level, using that leverage,
and you know, just throwing an LSU tape and he
is fun to watch. He's a guy you wind up
and just let him rush. Speaking of brothers, Nate Herbig
Jets guard. Yeah, his brother Nick Herbig was just talking
over there, and he was talking about how much he
learned from actually Nate and Lane Johnson watching those guys
(06:12):
work out together in the off season. He worked out
with them, Yeah, yeah, and he said that offensive lineman
having a different mentality really work out with a chip
on their shoulder, which you could definitely see that in
the way that Nate Herbig plays the game. But before
we get to the Combine preview, I just want to
ask you a couple a couple of fun questions that
set up the twenty twenty three draft. The first one
(06:32):
is what's your favorite player name that you've come across
so far? Oh? Man, um, player name? Um? Shoot, that's
a good one. I'm really putting you on the spot. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
I'm trying to think here. Um. You know, there's there's
a lot of classics, you know, like Lucas van Ness.
Just it sounds like a Bond villain. You know. It's like,
that's a good one. Uh. You know there's some you know,
(06:56):
more catchy names later on the draft, but you know
the more notable ones. Yeah, like Lucas VanNess is great.
Um gosh, I'll keep thinking about. Okay, yeah, you can
come back to us. The other one is you're so
great at finding people's backstories. Is there a backstory that
stands out to you at this point in the draft?
Because the one that I keep coming back to whenever
(07:19):
I see Jalen Watson the Chiefs Corner, I always think about, Yeah,
it didn't qualify to what he went to Juco, didn'
qualify to go to USC, worked out of Wendy's, ended
up at Washington State, and he ended up having a
very successful rookie year in Kansas City. So that's the
one that stands out to me. It's just an awesome
story that stuck with me. Is there one that comes
(07:40):
to mind for you at this point? There's always and
there's there's so many and they're all they'll all be
in the draft guide, you know. It's there's a lot
of fun ones. Are yat and the Beast right now
and it's an ongoing. You just gave me like anxiety
saying it's already March. Uh, but you know it's it's
work on it every day and you know, we'll see
where we are with the in the death settles and
the you know, first week in April. But uh, my
(08:03):
favorite is probably Tyson Agent, the quarterback from Shepherd D
two quarterback who's here already. His I mean he's a Shepherd.
I mean he grew up in the panhandle of West Virginia.
You know, a born raised a good player. I mean
he he entered the transfer portal, um he won the
Harlan Hill, the D two. Hisman basically as a junior,
entered the transfer portal. Maryland watered him, Northwestern wanted him,
(08:26):
West Virginia wanted him. Uh. He decided to stay put
and you know, had a really good career. He's the
all NCAA all time leader in passing yards. So you know,
fun story. But the best part about it is his dad.
His dad is a professional arm wrestler. He has won
twenty eight world championships. Left handed and right handed and
ambidextrous arm wrestler. He's naturally left handed or no, he's
(08:50):
right handed, but then he realized, hey, there's a market
here for left handers, so I'm gonna do left handed two. Um.
I've spent some time with him. He is a fun
fun uh, really fun. I did a story on Tyson
back in December, and I talked to his dad for
about an hour about it, and man, he's just a
really fun guy. He's uh, he's someone that you will
(09:13):
just say, the Jets draft to Tyson in the seventh round.
You would hear from Travis his dad. Uh, he is
a fun guy to talk to. Um. And it's just
a fun story because he is literally a world champion
when he won twenty eight world championships. Uh. He's very
open about it. He's like, no, that's that's how I
make my living. He's you know, Uh, Tyson knew is
gonna be a good Christmas or not based on how
I won that year. Uh. So it's just uh, it's
(09:35):
a really fun story. Oh yeah, and I'd be an
awful arm wrestler. Well, and I asked, Tyson, did you
ever wrestling your dad? And he's like, nah, it's whack.
So he's it doesn't run, but you know what, Sean
Larmes running the family because he's a pretty good quarterback. Yeah,
well that's a that's a great story. Yeah. Yeah, I'm
excited to see what else comes out as you start
to dig up on these players. But we are at
(09:55):
the combine, so I do think it's fitting that we
talk about the combine. And there's a couple of things
that people should know about as they tune into the
coverage and just see what happens on social media whatnot.
The top storyline it has to be the weight of
Bryce Young, the Alabama quarterback. I'm sure it is, but
you know what, I don't I don't really care that much.
He's small, Like you know, yeah, he's small quarterback. If
(10:19):
he's one hundred and ninety five pounds or two oh
one doesn't really matter that much. You know, he is
a small quarterback. Um, yeah, I know. He's been trying
to put on the weight for here at the combine.
If he is over twinter pounds, that's great, But his
playing weight is in the low one nineties. Are you
where do you stand? If I set the over under
at the way and at one ninety nine point five.
(10:42):
My guess, uh, you know, going into this was he's
gonna be five ten and a half one hundred and
ninety eight pounds. Okay, so you know I think he'll
be drinking a lot of water that morning. Um, you
know it's he's not worth he's not throwing here, which
I think. You know, he's been trying to focus on
adding weight, and I have I have a sneaky suspicion
(11:03):
at the pro day when he's gonna throw, he won't
weigh in. Um, you knows best, you can right lose
whatever way to make you which is kind of silly.
Look again, we know he's small. That's you know, it's
not like, uh, it's gonna it's gonna change anybody's mind
if he comes in at two o two compared to
one ninety two. Um, he's just wall quarterback. And that's
(11:24):
that's the biggest thing. Because if you if you were
six three two twenty, he'd be the slam duck number
one overall pick. We wouldn't be a discussion, it wouldn't,
you know. But the fact that he is a complete
outlier size wise, that makes it interesting. The last twenty
five years, there have been three hundred and one quarterbacks drafted.
Only two were below six foot and below two hundred pounds.
(11:44):
Neither of those guys were drafts the top one hundred,
So this is a complete outlier size wise, and it's
kind of a testament to how good he is as
a quarterback that we're still talking about him as a
strong candidate to be that number one overall pick. But
you do think that is maybe now actionally the top storeline,
maybe not? Probably right? Yeah, I think that's fair. I mean,
that's a lot of people are gonna be interested to
(12:06):
see what he comes in at height wise. You know,
is he over five ten weight wise? Does he get
over two hundred pounds? Yes, it's we just haven't seen
a quarterback like this in recent memory. I mean, you
have to people get so tied up with, you know, comparisons,
and it's just hard to find a true comparison for
him because we haven't had a guy like this, uh
you know, this size, be this talented and so you
(12:28):
know you're here all the time, we've we've never seen
a quarterback succeed in the NFL this size. Well, I
would my argument to that is we've never seen a
quarterback with his level of talent this size either. So
you know, I don't think we've really seen a player
like brace Young at the NFL level before. Okay, so
I was going to ask you the player with the
most to prove, but I want to add a qualifier
that it can't be a quarterback because the quarterbacks, I
(12:52):
think you were talking about it a little bit before,
if you're following the draft or you're just starting to
to your point, seems like the or is in the
eye of the beholder. One from four. So with guys
like Will Levis out of Kentucky and Anthony Richardson like
they might put on a show, they might, they might
not based on they looking shorts and a T shirt.
But if I were to throw in the qualifier of
(13:14):
a non quarterback with the most to prove, who do
you think that is? Well, because you did bring up
those two names, I do want to mention with Anthony Richardson,
how just you know he's gonna while during the workouts,
but how important the interview process is for a guy
like that, who he has under four hundred past attempts
in college. You know he's a redshirt sophomore, still very young,
so that interview process is going to be huge for
(13:35):
teams just to understand where he is in his development,
What does he know? What doesn't he know? And you know,
because that's all gonna factor in into how early we
can get him on the field, because I think this
is a player that needs these reps. You know, I don't.
I don't know that you're gonna draft Anthy Richardson and
then send him for two years. You know, let's not
he You want him on the field to get better.
And because the biggest issue with him is just the
(13:56):
consistency factory, especially with his accuracy, you want him getting
consist reps with number with your number one offense out there.
So the interview process for Anthony Richardson's gonna be huge. Um.
In terms of the non quarterbacks, you know who has
the most to gain, Jackson Smith and Jigba the Ohio
state wide receiver who you know, was so productive a year.
Agoes a sophomore, actually had better production than Garrett Wilson
(14:20):
or Crystal Lave for the buck Eyes miss basically this
entire year with the hamstring injury. And so I don't
even know. He's probably not gonna be able to work
out this week. I don't know, but it's just it's
gonna be a big week for him. Hopefully we do
get to see him do some stuff. Um, but this
entire process for Smith and Jigba is gonna be a
really important Yeah, don't He's not an elite athlete. That's
not what makes him a productive receiver. But he just
(14:43):
you know, he can't test like a bad athlete. And
I kind of wonder if this is gonna be like
I remember last year with Drake London, who you know,
we're waiting all draft process. What's it gonna run, what's
the what's the testing gonna be? Never never end up testing? Yeah,
and his pro day he caught, caught passes and things
like that, but never ended up running forty And you
know what worked out. Okay, he was still the first
receiver drafted with Smith and Jigbo. We'll see if he
(15:04):
follows the same thing where you know, we never actually
see him run a forty or anything like that. But
all I know is he's a really good route runner,
really good ball skills. You're gonna plug him in the
slot and he's going to be a really productive, high
volume target very early in his career. I think when
you read the tea leaves of what happened to Smith
and Jigba this season. I think if you're just looking
(15:25):
at you like that's a little fishy, like a hamstring
injury shouldn't necessarily prevent somebody from playing all season. But
then yet again, Drake London's a great point. Even I'm
thinking about Nick Bosa his last year, but it was
different because, yeah, the circumstances were much different. Also, I
think people thought, okay, that was a season ending injury.
Nick Bosa's an extremely talented player and he's just gonna
(15:47):
get ready for the draft. Well, and you talk to
people that have had like really bad hamstring injuries, it's
one of those things that if you come back a
day too early and it just reaggravates it and you're
out another couple of weeks. You know, it's just one
of those injuries that it's tough to know when you're
good to go, and the moment you think maybe you are,
then that's when you injured even a little bit more
(16:07):
and you just prolong how long you're gonna be out.
And I think that's that was the case with miss
and Jigbo, who tried to come back a couple of
times throughout the course of the season. Um, you know,
I mean, Ohio State was a national title contender up
until the end, so I have no doubt that he
wanted to be out there, wanted to play. I mean,
he's really close with c J. Stroud and a lot
of those guys. So, um, you know, it's a shame.
(16:27):
Uh just you know, we were robbed of seeing that
offense at full strength. Even without full strength, they came
within a missfield goal of beating Georgia and uh likely
going on to win a national title against TCUUM. So
you know, it's it's a shame we couldn't see him
out there because he's a really good player. But you know,
I don't you know, when his name started popping up
in top ten on box drafts, I don't think that
(16:48):
was ever really realistic. I don't think he's viewed that way.
But he's still a potential first round pick and getting
out there being able to catch passes kind of reminds
scouts that, hey, I'm still still a really good player.
You know that's going to be important for him throughout
this process. Combine week, you always see some freaky numbers. Yeah,
can you give us some players who you think will
just be a top of the like the freakiest numbers.
(17:12):
We're definitely gonna have some, that's for sure. You know,
Devin A. Chain, the running back from Texas A and M,
was also a track athlete at A and M. And
he's not a track guy playing football. He was football
through and through. H led the SEC in all purpose
yards this year. You know, he's just a really good player. Uh.
This earlier this year in March, he ran twenty point
(17:34):
twenty in the two hundred meters, which just for context,
to qualify for the Olympics, you have to be twenty
point two four, So he was under what you have
to do for qualified for Olympics. So an amazing speed
athlete and it translates to the field because he controls
his gear so well. I'm eager to see how much
he weighs in at he's listed at win eighty five.
We don't see a lot of running backs under one
(17:56):
ninety have you know, productive NFL careers know you could
over win ninety, you can, you can work with that.
You know, we've seen guys drafted in the first round
under two hundred pounds in that position, whether it's Chris
Johnson or U. C. J. Spiller. Job at best we've
seen it before, but for Ris Johnson as in like
speedy Chris Johns. Yes, because as you said this, Chris
(18:16):
Johnson and C. J. Spiller both were Jets at one
point they were. Yeah, that's exactly right, but both under
twitter pounds, both speed guys. And I think Chin could
be that um after h Chan. You know, I think
a lot of these pass rushers are gonna test really well,
you know, like not quite Travon Walker, but like Lucas
van Ness from Iowa to seventy five might getting the
four fives and the forty really freaky athlete. Um. I'm
(18:39):
a big fan of Christian Gonzalez, the Oregon Corner. Fascinating background.
His dad is a semi professional basketball player six nine
from Colombia. Um, you know his older sister. Both older
sisters are accupless track athletes. His older sister, Melissa, who
is married to David Blow, the NFL quarterback, she was
in the picks for Colombia in Tokyo. And so it's
(19:04):
it's one of those things that he has. He got
some of those bloodlines too, some of those genes, and
I think he's gonna put on a show. He's six two, right,
around two hundred pounds, gonna run in the four three.
He's gonna jump really well. So Christian Gonzala is one
of those corners. Kiley Ringo another one from Georgia six
two to fifteen cut up. Speed's gonna be outstanding. He's
gonna test off the charts. So plenty of big testers
(19:27):
here this year. If I had to ask you right
now to crown the fastest forty, which I think you
did correctly last year, who was the last year? You know?
I really wish you didn't ask me. I got to
look it up. Yeah, I'm trying to think who was
the fastest for you last year? We had we did,
We did have a few this year. I do think
a chain has a good chance. I think that having
(19:49):
that track background is so so important because you you
understand how to get down to the stands. You had
to explode with your technique. You understand how to just
the mechanics of how to get the best time, and
so h he has. I think he's at least one
of the top three favorites to run the fastest for you.
I think Christian Gonzalez is in there. Um Kili Ringo,
(20:10):
who I mentioned also in there. But if I had
a bet, I'm probably going with h Kaylon Barnes, Yeah, Baylor. Yeah,
that's right. I'm pretty sure you hit that on the
head yep. Because Taekwon Thornton was also in the running.
He was the third fastest behind Tariq Willin. Obviously Tariq
Willin had a fantastic he did, but I'm pretty sure
you hit that on the head last year. Yeah. I
(20:30):
mentioned it a ton last year at the Combine was
how Baylor is bringing a track team did Annapolis? How
you know with with Thornton and Barns and uh yeah,
they That goes back to uh just how they recruited
and Matt Rule. He was like for athletes and you know,
a couple of years later it manifested itself here at
the Combine. Okay, So I was, You've given us some
players that you're intrigued to see how they perform, you know,
(20:53):
how they weigh in and stuff like that. One thing
I just want to ask you, well, I want to
ask you two things before we wrap up Episode one
of NFL Draft Preview presented by Verizon. The first one
is a lot of people right now in the mock
draft circuld have the Jets take and the tackle, whether
that's Proderick Jones, whether that's Paris Johnson. And we'll talk
about those guys at a future date. But you went
in a different direction with Brian Branch, just simply put why, well,
(21:18):
what's the safety h really you know, the including nickel
back in that mix. What what's that depth chart look
like next year for the for the Jets? You know,
it's it's a little unsettled right now. So I think
that you look at a guy like Brian Branch, who is,
in my opinion, clearly the top safety this year. Um, now,
every team's going to look at him a little bit differently.
Is he Kenny? Is he a true safety? Is he
(21:40):
strictly a nickel? I'm of the belief he could play
anywhere you want in the secondary, you want to play
on the perimeter as a corner, he could do that.
There's nothing in his tape that says he can't do that. Um.
You know, he plays that Minca Fitzpatrick star role and
that Alabama defense, and in a lot of ways, he's
very similar to Mica Fitzpatrick. M not not as big,
and I think that's the big concern with him. Uh
(22:00):
is he You know, a lot of ten years ago,
if you're under twitter pounds, a lot of teams aren't
drafting you at safety. You have to be at least
over twitter pounds in today's NFL. With the way that
Brian Branch can match up and be that type of weapon, Um,
I think that's incredibly valuable because you can he can
line up, you line him up in the slot, he
can face tight ends, he can play the post, you
(22:21):
can play him man the man. You can do so
many things with Brian Branch that that separates him from
more traditional safeties, uh, that that we see. So this
is not a great safety group. Um, you know, I don't.
If I had a guess, I would say Brian Branch
is the only true safety that's gonna go in the
top fifty. Maybe another one sneaks in there. Um Antonio
(22:41):
Johnson from Texas A and M even though he's even
he's more of a nickel as well. But uh, you know,
I think that with Branch, you're just getting a versatile
guy that can fill a lot of hats, uh and
just do a lot of things for you. And he's
just he's a smart player, he's athletic, he's tough. Um,
you know, like I said, he's a smaller guy, but
you never watch his tape and say, oh, you know,
like it's I wish you were bigger because he's he's
(23:03):
not missing tackles, he's showing up. I mean, he's he's
doing a lot of things that you want out of
your safety in your nickel The star defense or the
star role in the Alabama defense. Is that just basically
what you said in terms of a versatile piece. You
line them up wherever and he does anything and everything.
I mean it's basically you're in nickel. You're you're you're
playing a nickel corner role but also serving as a
(23:26):
safety who can play in the box depending on how
you know, what's the personnel grouping on offense. Um, you know,
basically so you don't have to you know, you don't
have to come off the field. You know, it's it's
their nickel package is their base package at Alabama, and
that Star is a an integral part of what they do. So, um,
being able to match up with whatever, whether it's speed
(23:48):
in the backfield, size in the slot, whatever it is,
whatever offenses are gonna throw at you. Brian Branch gives
you that versatility to match up. So one final question
for you, And admittedly I will preface this by saying
it is a selfish question to me, but it is
also because I've not been able to ask this question
in many, many years. Okay, Syracuse has three players at
the combine who yeah, yeah, okay, yeah, you ever heard
(24:09):
of him? Have you ever heard of him? Um? They're
known for basketball except for this here. So there's three players.
Matt berg Ron, who is at the Senior Bowl, Garrett
Wilson not Garrett Wilson, Garrett Williams. Williams, Garret Wilson's a
jet I'm getting my team's mixed up here. And lastly,
Sean Tucker. Yeah, how would you power rank them as prospects? Uh? Well,
(24:31):
clearly burg Ron is the top of the group. I
think he has a chance to be a top two
round player. Did a nice job for them at left tackle. Um,
his best fit might be inside a guard, as a
zone guard. That might be where he is base. He's
so good as a run blocker, Um, Syracuse player, so good.
Love that as a run blocker. Now pass protection, that's
where it falls apart a little bit. And that's why
we're talking about him as a second or third round pick,
(24:53):
but as a run blocker, he's really really talented. With
the acl injury for Williams, uh, that kind of clouds
it a little bit. Um In terms of if he
were healthy, I would say clearly Garrett Williams next at
the corner and then Shan Tucker. But because of the aclum,
this is a big week for him. You know, not
gonna work out, But what's the injury? Look like our
(25:15):
teams okay with it? Um, you know, just the rehab
everything like that. So this is a big week for
Garrett Williams. And then with with Shaun Tucker, he should
show up well, pretty pretty well here. He's a track guy,
so you know testing he has a really good sixty
meter time that translates really well the forty yeard dash.
So Sean Tucker should do I have a really good
week here. I'm not as high on Shaun Tucker as
(25:36):
a lot of people. Um, you know, it's a really
deep running back group this year. Uh B. Sean Robinson's
gonna be a first round pick. Jamir Gibbs fell Obamas
in my opinions, the first round pick, and then you've
got a clump of ten to twelve fifteen running backs
in that second the fifth round range. Tucker's in there somewhere.
I think he's probably more in that fourth and fifth
round range. But he's a good player. I really like
(25:58):
him in the screen game. I'll take it. And Shan
Tucker was a great player for Syracuser. He was at
the end of the day. It makes me happy. It
makes me happy here and you talk about it makes
me happy that we're able to do the first episode
of NFL Draft Preview presented by Verizon in person. Thanks
for powering through. And then you know, I guess next
week I'll see him back in the box. Yeah, well,
we'll plenty to recap. Instead of talking about who's going
(26:20):
to run the fastest time, we'll talk about who actually did,
and we'll talk about you being two for two in
the last two years. That's it. It's so yeah, officially
I'm going with a chin. Yeah, we'll see how that
works out. Okay, all right, Dane, appreciate the ton, Thank you.
Thanks man.
Welcome to a new season of NFL Draft Preview, presented
by Verizon, Ethan Greenberg and Dane Googler in the Flesh.
This might be like the first podcast in the last
three years that we've done in person. Yeah, you know,
I mean we every every combine, we catch up every
you know, usually to Senior Bowl. But yeah, I feel
like most of the time I'm looking at you in
a box, so it's good to see him first. Yeah,
(00:27):
it's nice to see you in person as well. You're
battling through this week. Yeah, I am. You know, when
you have four younger kids and this time of year,
it's always tough. But a lot of talking this week,
but we'll power work through. We'll make it happen. You know.
That's your diet this week. Cough drops and some more water.
Probably not Probably better than I know, I said this
to you yesterday. Yeah, better than a lot of the
(00:48):
media members here throughout the week. Probably healthier yeah, probably, Yeah,
but uh, you know, it's you got to find that
secret sauce and hopefully it works out. But Dane's not
a tea guy. We learned that this morning. I'm not
you know, I It's well documented. I have the diet
of an eight year old, and so mountain dew diet,
mountain dew. Yes, yes, yes, yes, But you know what,
(01:11):
it's sometimes desperate times call for desperate measures. You gotta
do what you gotta do. And this is an important
week we got we have a lot to talk about that.
We do have a lot to talk about, so we're
gonna preview the combine. But first I just wanted to
kind of set up the Jets draft and the overall
setup of the draft, because this is the first year
in three drafts the Jets don't have two first round picks,
(01:31):
and so they have the thirteenth pick in the first round.
And we'll talk about a lot of the guys that
have been mocked to the Jets because I think as
of now you're kind of the outlier. And we'll get
to that in a little bit. But the Jets don't
have a ton of capital like they have in the past.
But also they had a very good draft last year,
i'd say the least. Let's just start with the general picture.
(01:54):
What do you think are the strengths and weaknesses of
this overall twenty twenty three draft class. Yeah, and I
think it's a draft where the intrigue. I mean, it's
always the quarterbacks, right with the intrigue starts, and very
much so with this class. You've got four quarterbacks at
the top. Where you talk go team to team, you're
gonna get a different order one through four, how they
(02:15):
see them coming off the board, how they're graded beauties
in the eye of the beholder. I feel like we
talked about that every year, but it's it's so true
in a quarterback class like this, where you've got guys
that have each one has flaws, but each one's very
good in their own right, and so each team's gonna
look at it a little bit differently with their scheme,
with their culture, and so it starts with the quarterbacks.
(02:36):
That's where that's where it all starts. And if you're
the Jets, I mean, you're sitting there at thirteen. We
don't think the Jets are gonna draft the quarterback probably,
you know, we feel pretty good they're going to add
a veteran at some point in that direction. All right,
So you know, if you're the Jets, you're you're thinking
there's probably four quarterbacks you're gonna come off the board
in front of you. Good chance knocks another good player
down to you. In terms of the non quarterbacks, I
(02:59):
think it there's two guys at the top, Will Anderson,
jay Lec Carter. After that, that's when there's a lot
of debate who's in that second tier, how many are
in that second tier, and what's the gap between that
first tier and second tier. And I think there's a
pretty decent gap between that first tier and second tier.
There's some good players in that second tier. I love
Christian Gonzale as a corner of Oregon. Tyree Wilson from
(03:22):
Texas Tech has a lot of ability. Brian Branch from
Alabama's one of my favorite players in this draft. But overall,
you know, I think it's it's a draft with not
a ton of blue Chippers. But I think when you
go to certain positions, the depth is really there. First round,
second round, third round, edge rusher, tight end. So for
certain positions, it's a really deep group. Okay, So, going
(03:42):
off of what you've just said, if you're the Jets
at thirteen, based on what you just said, it seems
like I know this is early considering this is March
first when we're recording this, and the draft isn't for
essentially two months. If you're at they're at thirteen, and
you have a cluster and you know that there's good death.
This might be one of the drafts where you elect
(04:02):
to trade back or be pretty open to it. And
we've seen Joe Douglas do that in the past, right,
And you're always looking to trade back. You're always hoping
to have those options. You know, you want your phone
to ring. So when it comes to your pick, if
the guy you want is there, you take them. If
you know you're kind of split, you're not you like
the guys available, maybe don't love them, you have hopefully
(04:23):
have that option where if you want to move back,
you can do that. And because I think this is
a draft where a second round, third round, there's there's
plenty of depth. That's some some key positions, and you know,
I keep mentioning Ed Rusher, that's it's just such a
deep group. This year. You go into the second round,
third round, and there's some good names there that you
feel it can help your team. What does a second
(04:43):
round or third round pass rusher look like in the NFL, Well,
you know there's something something wrong with them. Obviously they
didn't go first round, Whether they're a little undersized, or
maybe they didn't have the testing numbers. Uh, maybe they're
more traits than production in college, so they don't have
they didn't have double digit sacks. But you know what,
you know, Daniel Hunter classic example of a guy who
(05:05):
had the traits, didn't have the production. So you know,
I think that's where scouting comes in and you have
to identify those guys and say, okay, you know what
we Uh, you know, got a big augilary from LSU.
A guy who's a little bit undersider exactly a giant's
pass rusher. Uh, has a lot of ability, but maybe
a little undersize. Maybe you know, might not go first round,
but in the second round he's sitting there. I'd love
(05:28):
the value at that point. Does he also have is
it was it a z's augilary that was shorter with
long arms? Yeah? Right? Does his brother also have long arms?
It will find it officially here this week. Uh, you know,
at the combine. But you know, yeah, he is a
little bit undersized, but he's you could tell he watches
as an older brother. You know, you could tell he's
he's really in tune with how to win, you know,
(05:49):
even though he is a little bit smaller, using that
to his advantage, So using his pad level, using that leverage,
and you know, just throwing an LSU tape and he
is fun to watch. He's a guy you wind up
and just let him rush. Speaking of brothers, Nate Herbig
Jets guard. Yeah, his brother Nick Herbig was just talking
over there, and he was talking about how much he
learned from actually Nate and Lane Johnson watching those guys
(06:12):
work out together in the off season. He worked out
with them, Yeah, yeah, and he said that offensive lineman
having a different mentality really work out with a chip
on their shoulder, which you could definitely see that in
the way that Nate Herbig plays the game. But before
we get to the Combine preview, I just want to
ask you a couple a couple of fun questions that
set up the twenty twenty three draft. The first one
(06:32):
is what's your favorite player name that you've come across
so far? Oh? Man, um, player name? Um? Shoot, that's
a good one. I'm really putting you on the spot. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
I'm trying to think here. Um. You know, there's there's
a lot of classics, you know, like Lucas van Ness.
Just it sounds like a Bond villain. You know. It's like,
that's a good one. Uh. You know there's some you know,
(06:56):
more catchy names later on the draft, but you know
the more notable ones. Yeah, like Lucas VanNess is great.
Um gosh, I'll keep thinking about. Okay, yeah, you can
come back to us. The other one is you're so
great at finding people's backstories. Is there a backstory that
stands out to you at this point in the draft?
Because the one that I keep coming back to whenever
(07:19):
I see Jalen Watson the Chiefs Corner, I always think about, Yeah,
it didn't qualify to what he went to Juco, didn'
qualify to go to USC, worked out of Wendy's, ended
up at Washington State, and he ended up having a
very successful rookie year in Kansas City. So that's the
one that stands out to me. It's just an awesome
story that stuck with me. Is there one that comes
(07:40):
to mind for you at this point? There's always and
there's there's so many and they're all they'll all be
in the draft guide, you know. It's there's a lot
of fun ones. Are yat and the Beast right now
and it's an ongoing. You just gave me like anxiety
saying it's already March. Uh, but you know it's it's
work on it every day and you know, we'll see
where we are with the in the death settles and
the you know, first week in April. But uh, my
(08:03):
favorite is probably Tyson Agent, the quarterback from Shepherd D
two quarterback who's here already. His I mean he's a Shepherd.
I mean he grew up in the panhandle of West Virginia.
You know, a born raised a good player. I mean
he he entered the transfer portal, um he won the
Harlan Hill, the D two. Hisman basically as a junior,
entered the transfer portal. Maryland watered him, Northwestern wanted him,
(08:26):
West Virginia wanted him. Uh. He decided to stay put
and you know, had a really good career. He's the
all NCAA all time leader in passing yards. So you know,
fun story. But the best part about it is his dad.
His dad is a professional arm wrestler. He has won
twenty eight world championships. Left handed and right handed and
ambidextrous arm wrestler. He's naturally left handed or no, he's
(08:50):
right handed, but then he realized, hey, there's a market
here for left handers, so I'm gonna do left handed two. Um.
I've spent some time with him. He is a fun
fun uh, really fun. I did a story on Tyson
back in December, and I talked to his dad for
about an hour about it, and man, he's just a
really fun guy. He's uh, he's someone that you will
(09:13):
just say, the Jets draft to Tyson in the seventh round.
You would hear from Travis his dad. Uh, he is
a fun guy to talk to. Um. And it's just
a fun story because he is literally a world champion
when he won twenty eight world championships. Uh. He's very
open about it. He's like, no, that's that's how I
make my living. He's you know, Uh, Tyson knew is
gonna be a good Christmas or not based on how
I won that year. Uh. So it's just uh, it's
(09:35):
a really fun story. Oh yeah, and I'd be an
awful arm wrestler. Well, and I asked, Tyson, did you
ever wrestling your dad? And he's like, nah, it's whack.
So he's it doesn't run, but you know what, Sean
Larmes running the family because he's a pretty good quarterback. Yeah,
well that's a that's a great story. Yeah. Yeah, I'm
excited to see what else comes out as you start
to dig up on these players. But we are at
(09:55):
the combine, so I do think it's fitting that we
talk about the combine. And there's a couple of things
that people should know about as they tune into the
coverage and just see what happens on social media whatnot.
The top storyline it has to be the weight of
Bryce Young, the Alabama quarterback. I'm sure it is, but
you know what, I don't I don't really care that much.
He's small, Like you know, yeah, he's small quarterback. If
(10:19):
he's one hundred and ninety five pounds or two oh
one doesn't really matter that much. You know, he is
a small quarterback. Um, yeah, I know. He's been trying
to put on the weight for here at the combine.
If he is over twinter pounds, that's great, But his
playing weight is in the low one nineties. Are you
where do you stand? If I set the over under
at the way and at one ninety nine point five.
(10:42):
My guess, uh, you know, going into this was he's
gonna be five ten and a half one hundred and
ninety eight pounds. Okay, so you know I think he'll
be drinking a lot of water that morning. Um, you
know it's he's not worth he's not throwing here, which
I think. You know, he's been trying to focus on
adding weight, and I have I have a sneaky suspicion
(11:03):
at the pro day when he's gonna throw, he won't
weigh in. Um, you knows best, you can right lose
whatever way to make you which is kind of silly.
Look again, we know he's small. That's you know, it's
not like, uh, it's gonna it's gonna change anybody's mind
if he comes in at two o two compared to
one ninety two. Um, he's just wall quarterback. And that's
(11:24):
that's the biggest thing. Because if you if you were
six three two twenty, he'd be the slam duck number
one overall pick. We wouldn't be a discussion, it wouldn't,
you know. But the fact that he is a complete
outlier size wise, that makes it interesting. The last twenty
five years, there have been three hundred and one quarterbacks drafted.
Only two were below six foot and below two hundred pounds.
(11:44):
Neither of those guys were drafts the top one hundred,
So this is a complete outlier size wise, and it's
kind of a testament to how good he is as
a quarterback that we're still talking about him as a
strong candidate to be that number one overall pick. But
you do think that is maybe now actionally the top storeline,
maybe not? Probably right? Yeah, I think that's fair. I mean,
that's a lot of people are gonna be interested to
(12:06):
see what he comes in at height wise. You know,
is he over five ten weight wise? Does he get
over two hundred pounds? Yes, it's we just haven't seen
a quarterback like this in recent memory. I mean, you
have to people get so tied up with, you know, comparisons,
and it's just hard to find a true comparison for
him because we haven't had a guy like this, uh
you know, this size, be this talented and so you
(12:28):
know you're here all the time, we've we've never seen
a quarterback succeed in the NFL this size. Well, I
would my argument to that is we've never seen a
quarterback with his level of talent this size either. So
you know, I don't think we've really seen a player
like brace Young at the NFL level before. Okay, so
I was going to ask you the player with the
most to prove, but I want to add a qualifier
that it can't be a quarterback because the quarterbacks, I
(12:52):
think you were talking about it a little bit before,
if you're following the draft or you're just starting to
to your point, seems like the or is in the
eye of the beholder. One from four. So with guys
like Will Levis out of Kentucky and Anthony Richardson like
they might put on a show, they might, they might
not based on they looking shorts and a T shirt.
But if I were to throw in the qualifier of
(13:14):
a non quarterback with the most to prove, who do
you think that is? Well, because you did bring up
those two names, I do want to mention with Anthony Richardson,
how just you know he's gonna while during the workouts,
but how important the interview process is for a guy
like that, who he has under four hundred past attempts
in college. You know he's a redshirt sophomore, still very young,
so that interview process is going to be huge for
(13:35):
teams just to understand where he is in his development,
What does he know? What doesn't he know? And you know,
because that's all gonna factor in into how early we
can get him on the field, because I think this
is a player that needs these reps. You know, I don't.
I don't know that you're gonna draft Anthy Richardson and
then send him for two years. You know, let's not
he You want him on the field to get better.
And because the biggest issue with him is just the
(13:56):
consistency factory, especially with his accuracy, you want him getting
consist reps with number with your number one offense out there.
So the interview process for Anthony Richardson's gonna be huge. Um.
In terms of the non quarterbacks, you know who has
the most to gain, Jackson Smith and Jigba the Ohio
state wide receiver who you know, was so productive a year.
Agoes a sophomore, actually had better production than Garrett Wilson
(14:20):
or Crystal Lave for the buck Eyes miss basically this
entire year with the hamstring injury. And so I don't
even know. He's probably not gonna be able to work
out this week. I don't know, but it's just it's
gonna be a big week for him. Hopefully we do
get to see him do some stuff. Um, but this
entire process for Smith and Jigba is gonna be a
really important Yeah, don't He's not an elite athlete. That's
not what makes him a productive receiver. But he just
(14:43):
you know, he can't test like a bad athlete. And
I kind of wonder if this is gonna be like
I remember last year with Drake London, who you know,
we're waiting all draft process. What's it gonna run, what's
the what's the testing gonna be? Never never end up testing? Yeah,
and his pro day he caught, caught passes and things
like that, but never ended up running forty And you
know what worked out. Okay, he was still the first
receiver drafted with Smith and Jigbo. We'll see if he
(15:04):
follows the same thing where you know, we never actually
see him run a forty or anything like that. But
all I know is he's a really good route runner,
really good ball skills. You're gonna plug him in the
slot and he's going to be a really productive, high
volume target very early in his career. I think when
you read the tea leaves of what happened to Smith
and Jigba this season. I think if you're just looking
(15:25):
at you like that's a little fishy, like a hamstring
injury shouldn't necessarily prevent somebody from playing all season. But
then yet again, Drake London's a great point. Even I'm
thinking about Nick Bosa his last year, but it was
different because, yeah, the circumstances were much different. Also, I
think people thought, okay, that was a season ending injury.
Nick Bosa's an extremely talented player and he's just gonna
(15:47):
get ready for the draft. Well, and you talk to
people that have had like really bad hamstring injuries, it's
one of those things that if you come back a
day too early and it just reaggravates it and you're
out another couple of weeks. You know, it's just one
of those injuries that it's tough to know when you're
good to go, and the moment you think maybe you are,
then that's when you injured even a little bit more
(16:07):
and you just prolong how long you're gonna be out.
And I think that's that was the case with miss
and Jigbo, who tried to come back a couple of
times throughout the course of the season. Um, you know,
I mean, Ohio State was a national title contender up
until the end, so I have no doubt that he
wanted to be out there, wanted to play. I mean,
he's really close with c J. Stroud and a lot
of those guys. So, um, you know, it's a shame.
(16:27):
Uh just you know, we were robbed of seeing that
offense at full strength. Even without full strength, they came
within a missfield goal of beating Georgia and uh likely
going on to win a national title against TCUUM. So
you know, it's it's a shame we couldn't see him
out there because he's a really good player. But you know,
I don't you know, when his name started popping up
in top ten on box drafts, I don't think that
(16:48):
was ever really realistic. I don't think he's viewed that way.
But he's still a potential first round pick and getting
out there being able to catch passes kind of reminds
scouts that, hey, I'm still still a really good player.
You know that's going to be important for him throughout
this process. Combine week, you always see some freaky numbers. Yeah,
can you give us some players who you think will
just be a top of the like the freakiest numbers.
(17:12):
We're definitely gonna have some, that's for sure. You know,
Devin A. Chain, the running back from Texas A and M,
was also a track athlete at A and M. And
he's not a track guy playing football. He was football
through and through. H led the SEC in all purpose
yards this year. You know, he's just a really good player. Uh.
This earlier this year in March, he ran twenty point
(17:34):
twenty in the two hundred meters, which just for context,
to qualify for the Olympics, you have to be twenty
point two four, So he was under what you have
to do for qualified for Olympics. So an amazing speed
athlete and it translates to the field because he controls
his gear so well. I'm eager to see how much
he weighs in at he's listed at win eighty five.
We don't see a lot of running backs under one
(17:56):
ninety have you know, productive NFL careers know you could
over win ninety, you can, you can work with that.
You know, we've seen guys drafted in the first round
under two hundred pounds in that position, whether it's Chris
Johnson or U. C. J. Spiller. Job at best we've
seen it before, but for Ris Johnson as in like
speedy Chris Johns. Yes, because as you said this, Chris
(18:16):
Johnson and C. J. Spiller both were Jets at one
point they were. Yeah, that's exactly right, but both under
twitter pounds, both speed guys. And I think Chin could
be that um after h Chan. You know, I think
a lot of these pass rushers are gonna test really well,
you know, like not quite Travon Walker, but like Lucas
van Ness from Iowa to seventy five might getting the
four fives and the forty really freaky athlete. Um. I'm
(18:39):
a big fan of Christian Gonzalez, the Oregon Corner. Fascinating background.
His dad is a semi professional basketball player six nine
from Colombia. Um, you know his older sister. Both older
sisters are accupless track athletes. His older sister, Melissa, who
is married to David Blow, the NFL quarterback, she was
in the picks for Colombia in Tokyo. And so it's
(19:04):
it's one of those things that he has. He got
some of those bloodlines too, some of those genes, and
I think he's gonna put on a show. He's six two, right,
around two hundred pounds, gonna run in the four three.
He's gonna jump really well. So Christian Gonzala is one
of those corners. Kiley Ringo another one from Georgia six
two to fifteen cut up. Speed's gonna be outstanding. He's
gonna test off the charts. So plenty of big testers
(19:27):
here this year. If I had to ask you right
now to crown the fastest forty, which I think you
did correctly last year, who was the last year? You know?
I really wish you didn't ask me. I got to
look it up. Yeah, I'm trying to think who was
the fastest for you last year? We had we did,
We did have a few this year. I do think
a chain has a good chance. I think that having
(19:49):
that track background is so so important because you you
understand how to get down to the stands. You had
to explode with your technique. You understand how to just
the mechanics of how to get the best time, and
so h he has. I think he's at least one
of the top three favorites to run the fastest for you.
I think Christian Gonzalez is in there. Um Kili Ringo,
(20:10):
who I mentioned also in there. But if I had
a bet, I'm probably going with h Kaylon Barnes, Yeah, Baylor. Yeah,
that's right. I'm pretty sure you hit that on the
head yep. Because Taekwon Thornton was also in the running.
He was the third fastest behind Tariq Willin. Obviously Tariq
Willin had a fantastic he did, but I'm pretty sure
you hit that on the head last year. Yeah. I
(20:30):
mentioned it a ton last year at the Combine was
how Baylor is bringing a track team did Annapolis? How
you know with with Thornton and Barns and uh yeah,
they That goes back to uh just how they recruited
and Matt Rule. He was like for athletes and you know,
a couple of years later it manifested itself here at
the Combine. Okay, So I was, You've given us some
players that you're intrigued to see how they perform, you know,
(20:53):
how they weigh in and stuff like that. One thing
I just want to ask you, well, I want to
ask you two things before we wrap up Episode one
of NFL Draft Preview presented by Verizon. The first one
is a lot of people right now in the mock
draft circuld have the Jets take and the tackle, whether
that's Proderick Jones, whether that's Paris Johnson. And we'll talk
about those guys at a future date. But you went
in a different direction with Brian Branch, just simply put why, well,
(21:18):
what's the safety h really you know, the including nickel
back in that mix. What what's that depth chart look
like next year for the for the Jets? You know,
it's it's a little unsettled right now. So I think
that you look at a guy like Brian Branch, who is,
in my opinion, clearly the top safety this year. Um, now,
every team's going to look at him a little bit differently.
Is he Kenny? Is he a true safety? Is he
(21:40):
strictly a nickel? I'm of the belief he could play
anywhere you want in the secondary, you want to play
on the perimeter as a corner, he could do that.
There's nothing in his tape that says he can't do that. Um.
You know, he plays that Minca Fitzpatrick star role and
that Alabama defense, and in a lot of ways, he's
very similar to Mica Fitzpatrick. M not not as big,
and I think that's the big concern with him. Uh
(22:00):
is he You know, a lot of ten years ago,
if you're under twitter pounds, a lot of teams aren't
drafting you at safety. You have to be at least
over twitter pounds in today's NFL. With the way that
Brian Branch can match up and be that type of weapon, Um,
I think that's incredibly valuable because you can he can
line up, you line him up in the slot, he
can face tight ends, he can play the post, you
(22:21):
can play him man the man. You can do so
many things with Brian Branch that that separates him from
more traditional safeties, uh, that that we see. So this
is not a great safety group. Um, you know, I don't.
If I had a guess, I would say Brian Branch
is the only true safety that's gonna go in the
top fifty. Maybe another one sneaks in there. Um Antonio
(22:41):
Johnson from Texas A and M even though he's even
he's more of a nickel as well. But uh, you know,
I think that with Branch, you're just getting a versatile
guy that can fill a lot of hats, uh and
just do a lot of things for you. And he's
just he's a smart player, he's athletic, he's tough. Um,
you know, like I said, he's a smaller guy, but
you never watch his tape and say, oh, you know,
like it's I wish you were bigger because he's he's
(23:03):
not missing tackles, he's showing up. I mean, he's he's
doing a lot of things that you want out of
your safety in your nickel The star defense or the
star role in the Alabama defense. Is that just basically
what you said in terms of a versatile piece. You
line them up wherever and he does anything and everything.
I mean it's basically you're in nickel. You're you're you're
playing a nickel corner role but also serving as a
(23:26):
safety who can play in the box depending on how
you know, what's the personnel grouping on offense. Um, you know,
basically so you don't have to you know, you don't
have to come off the field. You know, it's it's
their nickel package is their base package at Alabama, and
that Star is a an integral part of what they do. So, um,
being able to match up with whatever, whether it's speed
(23:48):
in the backfield, size in the slot, whatever it is,
whatever offenses are gonna throw at you. Brian Branch gives
you that versatility to match up. So one final question
for you, And admittedly I will preface this by saying
it is a selfish question to me, but it is
also because I've not been able to ask this question
in many, many years. Okay, Syracuse has three players at
the combine who yeah, yeah, okay, yeah, you ever heard
(24:09):
of him? Have you ever heard of him? Um? They're
known for basketball except for this here. So there's three players.
Matt berg Ron, who is at the Senior Bowl, Garrett
Wilson not Garrett Wilson, Garrett Williams. Williams, Garret Wilson's a
jet I'm getting my team's mixed up here. And lastly,
Sean Tucker. Yeah, how would you power rank them as prospects? Uh? Well,
(24:31):
clearly burg Ron is the top of the group. I
think he has a chance to be a top two
round player. Did a nice job for them at left tackle. Um,
his best fit might be inside a guard, as a
zone guard. That might be where he is base. He's
so good as a run blocker, Um, Syracuse player, so good.
Love that as a run blocker. Now pass protection, that's
where it falls apart a little bit. And that's why
we're talking about him as a second or third round pick,
(24:53):
but as a run blocker, he's really really talented. With
the acl injury for Williams, uh, that kind of clouds
it a little bit. Um In terms of if he
were healthy, I would say clearly Garrett Williams next at
the corner and then Shan Tucker. But because of the aclum,
this is a big week for him. You know, not
gonna work out, But what's the injury? Look like our
(25:15):
teams okay with it? Um, you know, just the rehab
everything like that. So this is a big week for
Garrett Williams. And then with with Shaun Tucker, he should
show up well, pretty pretty well here. He's a track guy,
so you know testing he has a really good sixty
meter time that translates really well the forty yeard dash.
So Sean Tucker should do I have a really good
week here. I'm not as high on Shaun Tucker as
(25:36):
a lot of people. Um, you know, it's a really
deep running back group this year. Uh B. Sean Robinson's
gonna be a first round pick. Jamir Gibbs fell Obamas
in my opinions, the first round pick, and then you've
got a clump of ten to twelve fifteen running backs
in that second the fifth round range. Tucker's in there somewhere.
I think he's probably more in that fourth and fifth
round range. But he's a good player. I really like
(25:58):
him in the screen game. I'll take it. And Shan
Tucker was a great player for Syracuser. He was at
the end of the day. It makes me happy. It
makes me happy here and you talk about it makes
me happy that we're able to do the first episode
of NFL Draft Preview presented by Verizon in person. Thanks
for powering through. And then you know, I guess next
week I'll see him back in the box. Yeah, well,
we'll plenty to recap. Instead of talking about who's going
(26:20):
to run the fastest time, we'll talk about who actually did,
and we'll talk about you being two for two in
the last two years. That's it. It's so yeah, officially
I'm going with a chin. Yeah, we'll see how that
works out. Okay, all right, Dane, appreciate the ton, Thank you.
Thanks man.
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