Recapping The Jets, Giants, & Bills Draft

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Episode Transcript

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Big, big, big week torecap and discuss so many different things,
but there's only one place, oneplace that we can ultimately start. Of
course, that's gonna be recapped Mondayby Lovak and Gas as well, but
I'm going to discuss it today.The NFL Draft comes to conclusion. Yesterday.

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We had all seven rounds, fullfull of surprises, great picks,
reaching picks, head scratching picks.And I'm gonna say this upfront. I
don't like to put grades on teamsand players and who did a great job,

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who did a terrible job. Theyget an A, they get an
F, they get this, theyget that, because ultimately, I'm reminded
by my good buddy, former numbertwo overall picks and one of the biggest
busts in NFL history. This iswhat I'm reminded. This is why I
don't I don't grade teams on adraft. You have to fully understand what

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this opportunity is, and I certainlydidn't make the most of it. It's
a funny story now at forty fivehosting the TV show because you have content,
but at the time it didn't,it didn't work in my benefit.
I would still go on and bethe second overall pick because I was just
simply that talented. But at theNFL level, everybody's talented. Everybody who

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gets to that point is talented.It's what you do with that talent,
what you have between the years,and what you do from Sunday the Sunday.
So ultimately, that's why I'm notgoing to put a grade on each
team and go through who gets anA, who gets an F, because
it's not necessarily about your talent.There's so many things that go into being

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a successful NFL play year. It'swhat's between the ears, what do you
do from Sunday to Sunday, whatdo you do when nobody's watching? And
ultimately, things that don't measure atan NFL Draft combine or a pro day,
but more in an interview setting isheart. Do you have the heart?

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Do you have the grind? Doyou have the grits? You know,
things that cannot be measured, thatdon't often show up on film when
you're doing film study, don't oftenshow up into combine or pro days.
That's a lot of what goes intoit because at this level, everybody's talented.
Everybody's talented, everybody's in the NFLfor a reason. So I'm not

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going to put a grade on thisteam or that team, but ultimately I'm
going to talk about something that stuckout to me based on where these players
were ranked and how ultimately I cansee them fitting in a grand scheme of
things, because so many things gointo being a successful NFL player. It's

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not just talent, it's what youdo when no one's looking. Because when
you take a look at these kidsin college, they have such structure.
In college, you're talking about classesat this time, scheduled practices, scheduled
weight room lifting, scheduled film study, this that and that that. It

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is more structured and more looked overat big universities such as Alabama and Georgia
or the rest of the SEC.You know, for the once again the
seventeenth straight year or something had themost NFL draft picks, or at least
tied for the most NFL draft picks. It's more structured in college than in

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the NFL because when you get theNFL, they don't care. They're not
going to call you on Monday,Hey, I know we don't have practice
today, but just checking in seeingif you're watching film study. They're not
going to do that. You don'thave that structure. You know, you
might hire a personal chef, youmight hire a personal trainer, but ultimately

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nobody's looking after your every move,more like college, where it's more structured.
So that's often what happens in theNFL is that once they're not looked
after as much, once they're consideredgrown adults and need to look after themselves,
a lot of it goes awry.So that's why I'm not grading these

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players, because it's more than justtalent. It's talent, it's Brits,
it's heart, it's who are youwhen nobody's looking. And one of the
most important things that does not getdiscussed enough is not necessarily how talented you
are, but how do you fitin a scheme of things. I'll go

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back to Sam Darnold. I lovedSam Darnold coming out of college, but
he got the shaft. He gotdrafted by the New York Jets. Ultimately
that wasn't ready to perform around aquarterback. They didn't have the weapons,
they didn't have the offensive line,they didn't have a good defense, but

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they went after the quarterback first.Now, so many successful teams often build
and then go get the quarterback.So it's not necessarily the talent, it's
the team. You go to thelanding spot. How do you fit in
a system. So that's why I'mnot going to grade these guys. So
I will go ahead and tell yousome teams that stuck out to me.

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And if you put your arms outand you flap them, that's gonna be
a little hint on what I'll discussnext segment on teams that stuck out to
me. But let's start off withthe local teams, you know, being
here in the Capitol region. Wegot the Jets, we got the Giants,
we got the Bills, So we'regoing to start off there. In
one of my teams that really reallygot on my page, got on my

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put on notice, is the NewYork Giants. I think the New York
Giants ultimately did a great job fillingneeds, getting top tier players according to
their rankings by all these experts.But do you take a look at their

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draft pick. They trade it upto get Deante Banks, the defensive back
from Maryland, a gritty guy whois great in man to man coverage,
really does a great job pressing offthe line, and you take a look
around the NFC East, let alonethe NFL. The NFC East is filled

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with playmakers. Whether you got ScaryTerry CD, Lamb, A. J.
Brown, Davant Smith, the NFCEast is filled with playmakers. Now,
not to say Dorry Jackson didn't doa bad job, but you know,
with injuries, you can never haveenough defensive backs. So I really

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liked their first round pick. Iliked their second round pick as well.
You know, they get the centerout of Minnesota. We all know that
they have their bookend tackles for thenext ten fifteen years, hopefully in Evan
Neil, who had an up anddown rookie year last year, but with
age, with playing comes experience andgetting better. And then obviously on the

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other side, Andrew Thomas is slowlyin quietly converting himself into one of the
best left tackles in a league wherethe Giants had a falter is the interior
line, especially at the center position. So going ahead and getting the you
know, depending on what draft boardyou looked at the number one center in

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the NFL draft, that's a winin my book. And then obviously one
of the weaknesses was not surrounding DanielJones with enough weapons to see what he
could become and how his growth couldbe exponentially better when he put a playmaker
at wide receiver. You know,they went out and they got Jalen Hyatt,

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a player that some thought could bepicked at the end of the first
round early second. They get himin the third round. You know,
the playmaker out of Tennessee at widereceiver. So now that wide receivers looks
a lot bigger. You know,you got your tight end that you traded
for from the Raiders. Now youbring in Jalen Hyatt, Sterling Shepherd's coming

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back if he could stay healthy.And then obviously you got your other guys
there that made a big impacts lastyear. Yeah, Jalen High that can
take the top off a defense,make some players miss. I love that
pick. You know, if you'regonna go put big money on Daniel Jones,
you need to surround him with talent. And although they only picked one

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wide receiver, they could have wentover multiple wide receivers because this was a
deep class. You know, maybeeven get another tight end in there.
Even though they have the kid fromNarraders and Daniel Bellinger, who I really
liked who's more of a blocking tightend than a receiving tight end. I
thought they could add and strengthening thatposition as well. And then their fifth

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round pick, Eric Gray, therunning back out of Oklahoma. I think
he's a nice change of back runningback compared to Saquon Barkley. What you
get with Saquon Barkley, Eric Grayis more of a power back. He
only has you know, roughly averagespeed, but he runs with power.
He's a one cut and go kindof guy. He's a hit the gap

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kind of guy. Follow your blocksand make p people come tackle you.
So I thought that was a greatpick as well. And then potential sleeper
of the draft is getting the defensiveback out of Old Dominion Trey Hawkins the
third. I thought that was awonderful pick as well, because if you
take a look at Trey Hawkins,he's got the playmaking ability. He's a

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press man corner who happens to runa sub four four forty. He's also
great at coming up and making thetackle. Now that's not to say that
he's ever going to be a starter, but he's definitely a great rotational piece,
especially for sixth round pick. Youknow, anytime you get past that

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fourth round, it's fifty fifty shot. These guys are going to be on
your team. They're not going tobe on your team. And you take
a look at the twenty twenty twoNFL season, a majority of your players
are from that fourth and seventh round. I saw a stat the other day
that's sixty four percent of an NFLroster was made up of fourth, the

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seventh round and undrafted players. Nowthat stat in the context doesn't show the
importance of hitting on your first,second, and third round picks, but
rather to fill out your roster,you need to be able to hit on
those later rounds, and I thinkthe Giants ultimately did a good job doing

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that with Eric Ray, the runningback out of Oklahoma who's a change of
pace back behind se Quon Barkley.Trey Hawkins the third, the defensive backout
of Old Dominion that can really playin man to man coverage. He can
press you off the line of scrimmage. Ultimately a depth type of player that
is going to see some playing timethis year. Now, next on my

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list, I'm gonna go with theBuffalo Bills because I loved their first round
pick of Dalton Kincaid, the Tennesseethe tight end from Utah, another huge
target for Josh Allen, And youtake a look at one of the things,
and it's so funny to say this, but the Bills struggled offensively when

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Stefan Diggs was blanketed. So ifStefan Diggs wasn't performing, Josh Allen really
struggled to get the ball out.And I know it's so funny to say
because during the regular season they hadone of the top offenses. But if
you were a Bills fan and youwatched them throughout the season, it was

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that question of Gabe Davis is thethird third stick guy, So you know,
on third down, who am Igoing to with the ball? Gabe
Davis, mister third down mister movedthe sticks. You know, Stefan Diggs
is my dude. When I needto complete a pass, I'm going to
Stefan Diggs. Then, obviously,Dawson Knox, I was hoping to see

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a little more from him last year. He had some great moments. Obviously
I look forward to him hopefully takingthe next step, remaining healthy and being
a big time player. But Ilove the addition of Dalton Kincaid who can
slide out like a wide receiver andrun wide receiver routes, can play in

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like a tight end that he is, and it creates he had another mismatch
for Josh Allen to go to abailout option. A guy that can go
up and get the fifty fifty balls, a guy that is going to be
tough in traffic and make sure thatif he's not catching it, nobody else
is. And I think it reallygives a number one security blanket for Josh

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Allen. And it's so funny tosay that they struggled on the offensive side
of the ball, but they reallydid. They were looking for that number
two, number three option. Youknow, if you stuff Gabe Davis,
if you stuff Stefan Diggs, whereare you going with the ball? I
think Dalton Kincaid is going to helpthat tremendously, especially playing more twelve personnel

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And for those of you that don'tknow, twelve personnel is dual tight ends.
So if you get Dalton Kincaid outthere with Dawson Knox, you know
that's great. Now you have alook of Gabe Davis, Stefan Diggs,
Dalton Kincaid, and you put onthe other side Dalson Knox, and then
at the running back position. Iexpect mister Cook to be the number one

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guy and really step up. Andspeaking of the running game stepping up,
I absolutely loved their second round pickof Osiris Torrance from Florida, the guard
out of Florida, because I'll behonest with you, I think he was
one of the best run blocking guardsin the SEC and in the NFL draft.

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So when you can add that toa team that's struggled running the game,
running the ball consistently, you know, when Josh Allen remains one of
your top runners, you need tobe able to add run blocking. Run
blocking was a need. Guard wasa need, and I think they did
a great job. He's should bea Day one starter. He's a great

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run blocker with some upside in apassing game. Doesn't get beat often,
not as fluent moving and sliding thefeet, but ultimately doesn't get beat much.
Big, powerful guard, and he'sgot that willingness to hitch you in
the mouth and the run game,you know, I can see mister Cook
going for many yards when you needthem. You know, those third and

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one situations, whether it's Cook orwhether it's Josh Allen. I can see
them lining up and making that pushtowards Osiris's way because he should be a
Day one starter and that's going tohelp the run game men. And then
the last pick I want to talkabout real quickly before we go to the
Jets, the third round pick DorianWilliams, that interior linebacker from Tulane,

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fills a hole left by Tremaine Edmonds. I don't know how he's going to
fit in a grand scheme of things, especially with your head coach Sean McDermott
stepping up and taking more of apresence on the defensive side of the ball
with Leslie Frazier stepping away. Sokind of interested to see the tweaks on
that side of the ball. They'vehad some struggles on the defensive side of

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the ball getting off the field onthird downs, and then Tremaine Edmonds leaves
them. I think this is agreat, great pick, but I don't
know how ultimately fits in with thetweaked defense by Sean McDermott. Now,
real quickly, I want to talkabout the New York Jets. I think

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the biggest thing that they did wasobviously the trade for Aaron Rodgers. Anytime
you can get a future Hall ofFamer for basically a twenty twenty three second
round pick and then a twenty twentyfour first round pick, I'm gonna say
twenty twenty four first round pick becauseit's a conditional second round pick that can
change into a first round pick ifhe plays sixty five percent of the snaps.

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What should be met, you know? Or if you want to look
at it a more different way,they traded Elijah Moore and a third round
pick to the Cleveland Browns for asecond round pick. So basically, if
you want to look at it asElijah Moore and a third and then a
conditional second round pick for Aaron Rodgers, you can look at it that way,

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you know. But anytime you cantrade for a future Hall of famer
and only give up a conditional secondround pick that's going to convert to a
first round pick and then additional secondround pick from an unhappy player that didn't
have much of a shot at havinga lot of playing time this year,
I think that's a win. Youknow, their first round pick, they

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go out and get the outside linebackerfrom Iowa State, Will McDonald. He's
going to be a Day one contributoron that rotation of an already great Jets
defense. So he's gonna have thatrotational piece with high upside. And then
second round pick, they picked thecenter, Joe Tipman out of Wisconsin.

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Let's be honest, Wisconsin churns outoffensive lineman like it's their job, so
you know you're gonna get a big, physical guy. You're gonna get a
physical guy at the center, andthat's one of the most important pieces on
the offensive line. We always talkabout left tackle guarding your blindside, but
just take a look at this SuperBowl last year. We had Jason Kelsey

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and then the young center for theKansas City Chiefs, Creed Humphrey. Just
to discuss a few but it's soimportant and so invaluable to have a good
center. Now, some people rankJoe Tipman slightly ahead of who the Giant's
got, some people ranked him slightlybehind him, but ultimately he wasn't one

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of the best centers available in theNFL draft. I think the Jets did
a great job because ultimately bringing ConnorMcGovern back to be the starting center,
he's going to have some push bythis kid, and I think this kid
could eventually be the starting center fromday one. And then my biggest takeaway

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is the Jets seem comfortable with aslimmer McKay Beckton in a old veteran Duyne
Brown at the tackle position, youknow, at the right tackle position.
They did ultimately take Carter Warren fromPittsburgh as reinforcement, but I think it's

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more a reinforcement than as starter attheir position because I feel that they are
comfortable with having McKay Beckton start atright tackle with Dwayne Brown as depth and
then reinforcement that could be a swingtackle on the left or right side.
Carter Warren from Pittsburgh