December 30, 2025 • 28 mins
Daniel Jeremiah and Lance Zierlein spotlight Vikings DC Brian Flores as Coordinator of the Week (3:14) before diving deep into the Texans’ defensive dominance this season and how it could propel them toward a deep Super Bowl run (7:36). They wrap up the show by looking ahead to the 2026 NFL Draft, with analysis of the top prospects they’ve reviewed thus far and which position groups are deeper than others (16:30).
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
And now Move the Sticks with Daniel Jeremiah and Bucky Brooks.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
What's up everybody. Welcome to move the sticks, DJ, and
my buddy Lance is with us today. Lance. How you doing, Poe.
Speaker 3 (00:13):
I'm doing well, doing well.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Thanks for thanks for jumping in here. Bucky, A little
flight trouble. Yeah, you're like Matt Damon, like the Jimmy
Kimmel Show, just sitting back there in the green room
and then just hoping he's going to get called out
to that stage. It's not like you have anything else
going on, Lance, and like you're doing a radio show
or trying to watch five thousand guys and get all
the profiles done for the draft.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
No, well, I take the radio the after Christmas. We
take that week off. So I came in here at
seven thirty this morning. I'm watching LSU defensive ends and
NC State defensive ends, Texas A and m defensive tackles.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
So nice.
Speaker 3 (00:48):
Yeah, it's that time.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
I got to get about five done a day, so
it's a it's a little bit of a heavy workload,
but I'm still finding enough time. I don't know about you,
but I'm just not watching as many bowl games. I mean,
the playoffs yeah, collegeball playoff. I'm locked in the NFL
regular season playoffs. I'm locked in. I'm sad. My dad
came up as a college football coach. His very first
year of college football was a Cotton Bowl against Notre
(01:10):
Dame and the famous you know, chicken soup game for
Joe Montana and uh, you know we we were a
Cotton Bowl family for the Southwest Conference days.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
I remember seeing Byron Leftwich at.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
The where they carried him.
Speaker 3 (01:23):
Yeah, yeah, the City Bowl.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
But it's unfortunately, you know, with the way the college
football playoffs have expanded, I just I just don't and
with all the opt outs we see in college football
and the transfers, it just I just don't really focus
on bowl games anymore.
Speaker 3 (01:41):
Not really.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
Yeah, I get it to me, I almost. I know
the it's kind of a nice payoff. I have seen
some of the social media videos of some of the kids,
like they're at amusement parks and they're still getting to
do some cool stuff and get the little bowl gifts.
So I think it still can be a fun experience
for the kids that go do it, But in terms
of interest in the stadium that there's hardly anybody a
(02:02):
lot of these games. I don't. I can't imagine there's
a great interest in terms of watching it. It's not great.
But I was going to say, I almost like the
idea of, Hey, the end of the regular season is
the end of that twenty twenty five class. So this
the bowl games if you are going to be if
you're a senior, you can't, you can't play. It's going
to just force everybody, which a lot of it is. Anyways,
(02:23):
if you're a draftball type kid, they're not playing in
these bowl games. But let's make this a freshman, sophomore,
junior game. And it's basically just it's spring practice. It's
a it's a glorified it's the first spring practice for
the twenty twenty six seasons. It's basically it's not a.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
Bad idea, And I know people look at at that.
There's a lot of people who still look at it
that way. I do think the number of teams are
going to opt out. I think it's going to continue
to increase teams who you know, may not want you
to see those players, the same way that the springball
is starting to away.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
Yeah they don't, they don't play spring games.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
Yeah, yeah, you're you're you're what you're suggesting is actually
the nightmare for Matt Ruhle and everyone else who's complained
about spring games, because now you're putting all of them
on display, the freshmen and sophomores.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
Yeah, maybe it would work for the fans. I don't
know necessarily the programs would be in favor of it.
All right, Lance, it's time for Hot or Not, brought
to you by with Sabi Hot Cloud Storage. We do
this each and every week. It's our coordinator of the week,
and this week it's Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores, coming
off a dominant performance they had against the Detroit Lions.
Man the Lions, what a disappointment, only ten points in
(03:29):
this game. They are not going to the postseason. But
a couple of keynotes here on Flora's Vikings six takeaways
in that game. They're number one on the season and
pressure percentage at forty four point two. They're number three
and third down conversion rate at thirty six point two,
fewest tds allowed, the number three passing defense, number five
overall total defense, and tenth and scoring defense. So once
(03:52):
again he's been known has a reputation, you know, with
all the blitzing and all the exotics. One of the
best defensive minds football had a stint as the head
coach in Miami, which was brief. Didn't really get a
fair shake there in my opinion. But someone who's had
success everywhere else along the way, including with a little
background on the scouting side with the Patriots from four
(04:14):
to seven, I think he's going to have a very
good opportunity to get a head coaching job. I know
Kevin O'Connell came out and said the other day they
would love to keep him and make it hard for
him to leave. But if he gets a head coaching opportunity,
I gotta imagine he's gone.
Speaker 3 (04:28):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
He's really good. I mean, he really puts offensive lines
in conflict. If you have any weaknesses in terms of
your protections, he exploits them. He's very specific in how
he exploits and who he exploits.
Speaker 3 (04:44):
And I'm really a big fan.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
I mean that's a team that you know, Minnesota's had
their own ups and downs offensively at the quarterback.
Speaker 3 (04:52):
Position, you had Max Brosber just not really.
Speaker 1 (04:54):
Ready to lead a team to win, and yet there
they were getting to win because the defense was that
good was that? So a lot of respect for Brian
Floor is a defensive coordinator.
Speaker 3 (05:04):
I thought he did a pretty good job as head coach.
It really wasn't his coaching.
Speaker 1 (05:07):
It was the personality conflict with the GM and potentially
the quarterback. Obviously the quarterback, you know, the word was
he really wanted Deshaun Watson and and it just there
was a clash between he and Tua and I just
don't think he ever bought into Tua. And that's tough
as a head coach. You don't want that to be
You certainly don't want it public. You don't want the
quarterback not to know you're not his camp. But Brian
(05:29):
Floor is also a really competitive guy who I think
he knows what he wants at all the positions, what
it takes to win. And I don't think he's ever
going to back off of being a guy who tells
you what he thinks.
Speaker 3 (05:41):
And he's I mean, he's a New England guy. That's
kind of what they do.
Speaker 1 (05:45):
So but the talent, the ability as a head coach,
it's completely there.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
What about you know, opportunities for him when you look
at some of the head coaching openings, obviously there's a
history there with the Giants, you know which from that
last hiring cycle. To me, you've got the you've got
the call the Patriots West, but you've got Tom Brady
out there in Vegas. We'll see what happens with Pete
Carroll if he survives this year. There's a lot of
rumors that could be a one and done, but I
(06:13):
think he's going to get interviews. And I was making
this point the other day. I think there's when you
look at the candidates for this next coaching cycle, dominantly
on the defensive side of the ball. All the top candidates.
There aren't a lot of offensive guys that I get
a sense teams are super excited about.
Speaker 1 (06:28):
Now. Those guys have been snapped up over the last
couple of years, so it is going to be defensive
oriented and we'll see which jobs come up. But I
think Raiders and Flores will be a great mix. I
really do with with some of the rush that.
Speaker 3 (06:38):
They already have there.
Speaker 1 (06:39):
Maybe he's a guy that can get Max Crosby. You know,
Max just wants to win. Maybe those two would would
would gel effectively because you don't want to lose a
Max Crosby. If you're out there with the Raiders. You
don't want that to become any more contentious than it
just recently became.
Speaker 3 (06:53):
But you know, they're not going to win until they
get the quarterback position fixed. But finding the right guy
culturally probably matters.
Speaker 1 (07:01):
But I think that's still you know, there's certain teams
that are culture that the culture needs to be created.
There's other teams where you just got to get the
roster right. And I think the Raiders probably have a
combination of both. But the roster, I mean, it just
needs a lot of work this offseason.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
Yeah, we'll see what what other gigs end up opening
up to. We'll find out, gosh, a week from now,
we'll know what openings are out there. That was this
week's Hot or Not segment, brought to you by with
Sabbi Hot cloud storage, store more and do more with
your data. Try them for free at withsaby dot com. Lance,
I want to hit you on the Texans. You're there,
You're around that team, You're in that city. I made
(07:37):
the case studying them last week getting ready for that game.
I thought it was the most violent football team I've
seen in a long time. I mean just all levels
and even from You know, you've got the Warriors that
everybody knows about on the edge with with Hunter and
will Anderson. I don't. And you know everybody knows about Stingling.
I think most people know how good last year is.
And you've seen Bullock and Petrie. To me, the thing
(07:58):
that I did not realizeuntil I really dug in and
study and was how could they're playing off the ball
at the linebacker position with a Zizel Shaier and with
Henry to to Oh the way he's playing as well.
Speaker 1 (08:08):
Yeah, I'll share sometimes get hung up on blocks a
little bit when he sits back, and I made some
little things that he's kind of taken care of as
the season's gone on. But he's extraordinarily violent and the
head coach brought him in for a reason. Demiko had
him in San Francisco Tone Center, so we talk about culture.
Demiko wanted will Anderson badly, badly, so much so that.
Speaker 3 (08:30):
When they made the decision as an organization to draft C. J.
Speaker 1 (08:33):
Stroud number two, they had already dialed into the fact
they were going to trade their future, you know, their
other first round, picking a future first rounder because they
had to have Will Anderson and he is the culture
there on the defensive side of the ball. But you
tie him up with Jalen Petrie, who I knew you
were a big fan of coming out. Jalen Petrie is
(08:54):
the same kind of downhill monster. I mean, he hits
anything that moves to toe. Has been way better than
I had projected him coming out of college. I thought
he'd be a good backup who could slide in, but
he's He's become better than that Bulleck is. You know,
they got takeaway fiends on the back end. And then
you mentioned the violence in the front seven. My goodness.
(09:16):
So swarm is something Demko Ryan's brought to that.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
Explain that.
Speaker 3 (09:21):
So there's an anacronym that goes with it, but basically
it is a rally.
Speaker 1 (09:25):
It's literally everyone rallies to the ball at all times,
and you get there with bad intentions and there is
never a play where you should not be running full
speed to the football wherever you are on the field.
Speaker 3 (09:39):
Swarm.
Speaker 1 (09:39):
So it's a swarm mentality, and he considers it a
mentality of wiring where everything is about rally to the ball,
rally to the ball, swarm the football. But it also
includes being extremely physical every second of the snap, and
so when you talk about it being a violent team,
it's really extraordinary to see them hit every week, hit
(09:59):
everything all over the field. It's very reminiscent of those
early Ravens teams from the two thousands where just everybody
on that front seven was just laying people out.
Speaker 3 (10:10):
And that's how the Texans play. Now. You know, Hunter
is more of a little bit more of a finesse guy.
Speaker 1 (10:16):
Will Anderson is a two way fit rusher and really
good against the run as well. Their defensive tackles are
really more upfield tackles, but.
Speaker 2 (10:26):
Toky guys freaking strong as an ox.
Speaker 1 (10:29):
Now, let me tell you, he is playing really good football.
And that's another one that's that's that's played beyond expectations
when he got here. You know about you know, you
know about Sheldon Rankins and Mario Edwards and these guys
get up the field, but they've been very good at
swarming to the football too. So it's hard getting yards
after contact against the Texans because you got a secondary
tackler right there on top of you if you break
(10:50):
one tackle there on top of you after that. So
when you tie that with the takeaway unit, that they
have that also will hit you in the secondary.
Speaker 3 (10:58):
So you got.
Speaker 1 (10:59):
Rush, you got physicality against the run and after the
catch and after contact, and then you got guys taking
it away on the back end. It's why they have
such an elite defense, and frankly, that may be the
only reason they're in the playoffs is that elite defense,
because the offense is just below par.
Speaker 2 (11:15):
Yeah, and swarm. Gavin put it in the chat here
a special work ethic and relentless mindset. So there you go.
Speaker 3 (11:21):
There's what.
Speaker 1 (11:22):
Yeah, the problem I have with it, I don't like
mentioning that because it's really swarm.
Speaker 2 (11:26):
Yeah, I'm looking at that. Yeah, the e it's like
you're trying to make work ethic one word, it's not
two words. Yeah, But I get the intention of it,
and that's the way they play. And you know, I
went and pulled up my toe toe notes. So he
was coming out six zho oneh two twenty seven. He
ran four six to two. Linebacker, can shoot gaps, can
(11:47):
punch off blocks, as a firm tackler. Didn't think he
was an explosive striker, but very fluid and coverage, excellent
range and FBI and he's obviously the way he was
striking people the other day. He's been an explosive striker,
which is also on par with Kylen Bullock, who's another
one who could run all day long, had ball skills.
But Man notoriously got run over several times when he
(12:07):
was at USC And he's flying around smacking everybody, and
it reminds me of when I was in Baltimore. We
had that culture there where you could take a guy
who was maybe not quite as physical and you put
him in that environment with all those lions in that cage,
and you'd be surprised. You get some physicality at some
of these guys.
Speaker 3 (12:23):
Yeah, that's and that's really for me. DJ.
Speaker 1 (12:25):
It's hard for me to unlock on my end without
knowing the players, without knowing you know, there's limitations when
we do evaluations for draft prospects. When you just watch tape.
You don't know the players, you don't know how they're
you don't know if it's in them or not. Because
some guys have it, you know, some guys make business decisions.
I was talking to a defensive back, you know, a
wide receiver coach this year about one of his draft
(12:47):
prospects pretty highly rated prospect, and he said, you know,
he was a great blocker in twenty four, just kind
of took it off in twenty five, was just.
Speaker 3 (12:54):
Worried about getting rolled up on.
Speaker 1 (12:55):
And you know, he said, but the dog mentality is
in there in twenty four. You just have to really
focus on twenty four. You know, sometime without that knowledge,
it's hard to project who's going to take that next step.
But there's no question that if you've got it in you,
it will, it can come out. If that's the team
expectation on the defensive side, there's other guys.
Speaker 3 (13:17):
And you sent a note to me yesterday that the first.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
Of all, first of all, pause, pause, I just sent
you a text. Is that the receiver, because that's correct?
Is there really.
Speaker 3 (13:30):
That's him? Good? Good, longer in twenty four?
Speaker 2 (13:33):
Yeah, not about that life this year kind.
Speaker 1 (13:35):
Of yeah, but the players his a receiver. Coach just said,
just scratch what you saw in twenty five. He had
people on his ears telling hey, don't get hurt, you know,
and that you know, especially now with the NIL and
with agents being involved so early, there's going to be
some of that as well.
Speaker 3 (13:50):
Where guys, you know, it's just the way it is
where guys will I didn't.
Speaker 2 (13:55):
Mean to interrupt you there, Lance, but I just finished
watching that player that the day, and the way you
described him, I'm like, I think I know who he's
talking about.
Speaker 3 (14:03):
That's exactly that's exactly who it is.
Speaker 1 (14:06):
You also sent me a note yesterday about a player
and we were talking about tackling CJ.
Speaker 2 (14:12):
Henderson moving put it out there.
Speaker 1 (14:13):
Yeah, well there you go. You know, there's two things.
If you're not a good tackler in college, you're probably not.
It's one thing to unleash more aggression, and you can't
get more aggressive and phil as a tackler, that's one
thing to me.
Speaker 2 (14:26):
It's a willingness, though the willingness doesn't change, super willing
and like Kaylen Bullock, great example, he put his face
in there against Taj Spears I believe was ta J Spears.
He just ran him over, but he wasn't scared.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
He was.
Speaker 2 (14:40):
He went in there and put his face in the
fan and lost the fight. But there's other guys. CJ.
Henderson was kind of more willing to hang on blocks
and didn't really want to get involved much with that, and.
Speaker 1 (14:49):
He early on tape, like you can see who wants
to get off the block. Like this kid Chris Johnson
from San Diego State cool, does he want to come
hit you?
Speaker 3 (14:59):
I mean he really wait till you get a peek
at him.
Speaker 2 (15:01):
Yeah, I'm looking forward to it.
Speaker 3 (15:02):
You're gonna really, You're gonna really love him.
Speaker 1 (15:04):
Reminds me a little bit of Byron Murphy and Trent
McDuffie in terms of the way he plays, but that
same type of can't wait to get downhill and get
my nose bloody mentality. It's kind of rare with cornerbacks.
But you know, there's there's two areas where we talk
about willing. It's cornerbacks tackling, and it's also running backs
and pass pro.
Speaker 3 (15:23):
Are you willing? If you're willing, then you can coach.
Speaker 2 (15:26):
Up the rest of that.
Speaker 3 (15:28):
Yeah, you can work with the rest of that.
Speaker 1 (15:29):
But I think the real concern moving forward for Texans
fans is something that comes up on the radio all
the time with me, is the lingering or the lurking
contract extension for a guy like CJ. Stroud, And we
always ask a question, are you winning because of a guy?
Speaker 3 (15:42):
Are you winning with the guy? Are you winning in
spite of a guy?
Speaker 1 (15:46):
And right now, there's a lot of concerns about if
the Texans are winning in spite of CJ. I mean,
you can say you're winning with him occasionally winning in
spite of him because the defense is so great, but
he's going to be on pace to make you know,
in two years probably make about sixty million of years.
Speaker 3 (16:00):
What that number is going to end up?
Speaker 1 (16:02):
And you know, do you want to pay a guy
who's see a guy sixty million a year who is
kind of win with occasionally went in spite of that's
that's a tough call. Well, it's actually become an easy
call in the NFL, but not a not a not
a smart when.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
It seems Yeah, we'll see, that's gonna be a big
decision for them coming up. Let's take quick break and
we'll jump back in on kind of a thirty thousand
foot view of the twenty six draft right after this.
All right, Lance, So where I am in the process
right now. I've done a decent amount of the top
(16:38):
O lineman, I've done a decent amount of the top
D lineman, and then I've been working through receivers. So
that's kind of where I where I am early on
in the process. Here, so I can verify offensive line.
Defensive line seems like there's good depth. I don't know
there's premier premier guys there, but a lot of depth.
Receiver position again have remo PMO guys, but a lot
(16:58):
of depth. I've been able to by that with what
I've seen as far and then and the positions I
haven't done yet. Teams seem to think like there's you know,
there's a lot of starting corners in this draft. That's
kind of the that's kind of the highlight for for
where things are at this point in time and where
I am in the process.
Speaker 1 (17:14):
What do you think, Yeah, I start, So I try
to start writing guys in late October to early November.
But to do that, you know, I need to have
seen them play good competition, and so I usually will
start with the old line. D line are kind of
like you I start trenches. Then I'll conversely, I'll use
running backs. Linebackers because they're kind of a mirror. Quarterbacks
(17:35):
are last for me. I don't get to quarterbacks until
I get all the tape. And right now I'm holding
off on Indiana players. I'm holding off on I'm watching.
I've watched and written the Miami guys. But there are
just certain house states. There's certain teams that I'm holding
off on because they're gonna get They're gonna get some
good games under their belts that I want to see
(17:55):
on tape. I think it's a deep there's some depth
to the offensive line group. It's not a great high end.
I don't think there's gonna be a lot of sixty
sevens at all.
Speaker 2 (18:05):
And up I haven't given out. I haven't. I have
not given out one defensive line sixty fours as high
as I've gone on upgradings.
Speaker 3 (18:12):
Same as me and I do think defensive line. I think.
Speaker 1 (18:15):
I think there's a pretty deep pass rush. I actually
like some of the edge guys. I'm a big fan
of David Bailey out of Texas Tech. I think fulk
out of Auburn has a lot of upside waiting to
be on lot kind of rare size and link. But
you know, talking to a talking to a friend of
mine who has Auburn, he said, you know, he's smooth muscled.
Speaker 3 (18:38):
He hasn't even really developed his body yet.
Speaker 1 (18:41):
He's two hundred and eighty five pounds and hasn't even
developed yet physically.
Speaker 2 (18:46):
Physically him on the first run through here. But I mean, yeah, conjection,
he's one of those.
Speaker 1 (18:52):
And I'm willing to take certain guys with traits. And
it's probably my background, you know, learning under Chris Ballor,
but there's certain traits that I will guys I will
push up a little bit, especially if you're a rusher.
And I heard it, and I heard he's wired great,
you know, tremendously competitive, great, high character player. So you
know some some things like that as well. I like
(19:13):
Bain ruined Bain. He's just he's gonna have sub thirty
one inch arms, which is historically and talking to one team,
they said they ran a historical they ran a historical
index of his size profile and it doesn't work at
the edge, only works at three technique and he never
want to play three technique, so you know, you have
(19:33):
to work with that.
Speaker 3 (19:34):
But he has elite power and I think a key Messidor.
I don't know if you've seen him from my.
Speaker 2 (19:39):
Know on the streets for him. I haven't done him yet,
but I have done go. You know, I know the
arm length thing, and I was told on that that
that's some young scouts to measuring in the spring from
this last cycle that a lot of Scouts are skeptical
about because a lot of these guys have short arms
and there's a lot of people not buying that. Let's
wait till they get to this. I got cha.
Speaker 3 (19:59):
That's good intel, that's good knowledge to keep an eye
on it.
Speaker 2 (20:01):
Don't kill a kid for arm length at this point
in time would be my take. But Ruben Bain, to me,
he just plays so dang hard. And you know, I
think that some of the names you hear talking to
other people, like, okay, is this is Melvin Ingram type.
He's got that kind of body and power. Brandon Graham
kind of plays that way. Brandon Graham's longer on the
edge than he is. But to me, my thing is,
(20:23):
I don't know if he wants to or not. By'ma
tell him, Hey, we get in the sub, you are
rushing over a guard and you're gonna make a lot
of money and you're gonna help us win a lot
of games. So I think that's where he's gonna have
his bread butter.
Speaker 3 (20:36):
But I think he's Milton Williams.
Speaker 2 (20:37):
You know.
Speaker 3 (20:37):
He reminds me of Milton Williams coming out, and I
do think.
Speaker 2 (20:41):
I don't think he's gonna run quite like Uncle Mill.
Speaker 3 (20:43):
Milton was a freaky test. But I do think that
he is. He's a sub rusher.
Speaker 1 (20:49):
He's gonna be a based down It's gonna be a
base end that drops down. I think he can play
standing or sitting. I mean, he can play up or down.
That's not a problem for him.
Speaker 2 (20:56):
But the kidded A and M's fun player. He's a
good player. Cash is how I gave him a sixty four.
So I was. I was a fan of his.
Speaker 1 (21:03):
Game against the run. I'm early in watching him. His
rush is much better than his run. But that's where
you get paid. That's where you evaluate. Frankly, your eval
your evaluation as a rusher and as a as an
offensive tackle is how you handle it.
Speaker 2 (21:18):
I kind of like guys that have jumped up to
you know, we've seen a pretty good track record of
those guys who've jumped up a level, you know, from
a from a lesser conference and taken on the challenge
of going to a bigger spot and played well. By
the way, Keldric Falk had two more sex than you
did this year.
Speaker 3 (21:33):
The uh uh I actually had a couple that were
just clean up sacks.
Speaker 2 (21:39):
So yeah, but uh, it's gonna be fun jumping into
these guys. And we'll spend a lot of time as
we go forward going through position by position. We can
jump into the offensive line class we were talking about.
I will say this receiver group, Tate and and Lemon
for me, are more daddies who are ready to rock
(21:59):
and roll and coming and make an immediate impact and
play with There's just a there's a there's a warrior
mentality the way they both play. The toughness, it has
been kind of the secret ingredient. If you look at
the list of the top receivers you're in and you're
out in the NFL, you will see different sizes, you
will see different speeds, but almost to a man, if
you go back to the reports, you'll find toughness is
(22:21):
a key part of what they are.
Speaker 3 (22:23):
Digging in on Casey concepts, you're going to see the
same thing.
Speaker 2 (22:26):
Yeah, I've done him. I did him the other day.
He just drops. He just got a ton of drops,
got double digit drop right the last two years. But
he's explosive, explosive, and they love how tough he is.
And Jeremy Bernard is another one who's really good with
the ball in his hands and tough at Alabama. So
I know you're familiar with the lemon.
Speaker 3 (22:44):
I have not written lemon yet.
Speaker 2 (22:45):
Oh yeah, I mean the lemon is from the tree, right,
He's from the the Alms St. Brown, the JSN. Like
he's kind of in that lineage of receiver. My thing
that I wrote about him was just just just deploy
him like the Patriots the Lloyd Julian Edelman and watched
this guy catch a hundred plus balls every single year,
Like that's that's what he is. He's a tough, strong
(23:05):
slot receiver who's not afraid to work in the middle
of the fields, who's excellent after the catch, who's got strong,
strong hands to attack the ball and winning traffic. He
is a good player, man.
Speaker 3 (23:16):
That's a secret.
Speaker 1 (23:17):
I mean, ever since Cooper Cup, it seems like finding
and Cooper's more than Edelman, who wasn't as down you know,
didn't work it down the field as much, but obviously
was Tom's one of his pets.
Speaker 2 (23:29):
He had two drops the whole season, and the two
drops when you this is why you got to trust
but verify on the numbers, because I'm like I watched
all of his targets, and I don't remember writing anything
down on drop. So I went back, I'm like, what
are the drops? I looked at the videos. One it's
a toe tap on the sideline. It's a toe tap
on the sideline where he didn't he wasn't able to
complete it. And then the other one was it's literally
(23:49):
the ball gets as soon as it gets to his hand,
it immediately gets pumped out from behind. It's like kind
of punched out. There's not one play on there with
a concentration drop or a ball clanging off his body.
Speaker 3 (23:59):
Not one. There's really subjective.
Speaker 1 (24:01):
I think PFF does a great job of working hard
and tracking this data, and it's very helpful in terms
of tying it with tape and shortcutting on our process.
Speaker 3 (24:10):
But pressures, I mean there are some pressures pressures on there. Yeah,
I mean, you know, pressures are so subjective. Some of
the drops have become really subjective. So yeah, that's why
you have to go watch it.
Speaker 1 (24:22):
You know, you can see a player may have nine
sacks and you go watch and you say, well, two
of these would have been NFL sacks. The rest of
them are extended pockets and clean up sacks against players
who are not very good.
Speaker 3 (24:32):
So you got to, like you said, you got to verify.
Speaker 2 (24:33):
But this is my new thing. This is my new
thing this year. By the way, in terms of comps,
I'm going to start using more of the family comps.
So in other words, like this player, it's a one
v one comp No, no, to me, this is the family
of quarterbacks. I started doing that a little bit when
we were talking about Okay, No, I think it's it's
(24:55):
a collective. It's a collective. So when you look at
like rock Purty Rock per is in the tree, it's
the Joe Burrow tree. It traces all the way back
through like Joe Montana. Like that's like, there's that style
of quarterback doesn't necessarily have the huge, huge arm, but
is winning from the shoulders.
Speaker 3 (25:13):
Up style of quarterback.
Speaker 1 (25:14):
You don't mean really directly tied to offensive skiing or coach.
Speaker 2 (25:18):
No, no, I'm saying this is a brand. This is
a brand. Like it's like if you can get a
Nike shoe. There's a lot of different kinds of Nike shoes,
but this is the Nike shoe. This is the this
is the kind. So that's like the when you're talking
about Lemon like, that's okay, Well that's in that he's
in the wing, in that family asn Abuca, Like, those
guys are kind of all in that same similar body type,
(25:41):
play style, mentality, Like that's that group of guy.
Speaker 3 (25:44):
Mm hmm. So that's what David Bailey for me was
in the type.
Speaker 2 (25:49):
Yeah, there you go. Yeah, but I think under the
kind of other guys who play that that style that way,
speed based, you know, juicy edge rushers. So yeah, it's
a it's a fun way to look at it. Denzel Boston,
by the way, from Washington is in the Courtland Sutton
wing of the Big Michael Wilson. Michael Wilson is like
(26:10):
a somewhat of a member of that wing as well.
So we kind of just we categorize those guys and families.
That's what we're doing this year.
Speaker 3 (26:17):
I like that. I'll got to see if Dan Parr
will let me do that.
Speaker 2 (26:20):
Let me put about No chance, that's too much he won't.
Dan's not going for that. But it's going to make
a great graphic for me on draft day.
Speaker 3 (26:26):
So congratulations on you.
Speaker 2 (26:28):
Always selfish, always selfish over here man, just selfish. Hey, Lance,
I appreciate you. Chipping in and filling in today. Man,
it was fun to kind of just put our toe,
dip our toe a little bit in the draft waters
a little bit. We're going to be there. Before you
know it, Senior Bowl is going to be here. I'm excited.
I'm trying to I'm kind of in the same boat
you are. Words and if I can, you know, it's
it's like the move the six moniker, right, Let's just
(26:50):
get first down, three four, five guys every day, keep
them moving every day, every now and you're gonna have
a day. You can get a little bit more than that.
But I just got to keep keep working on them.
Speaker 1 (26:57):
You see that little I've got it says twenty seven
point seven percent. That's where I am on my write ups.
I'm twenty seven point seven percent through. So I've got
it on my whiteboard in the background. I shade my
little it's just a.
Speaker 2 (27:12):
Yeah, you need to do like the thermometer graft or
whatever we're do.
Speaker 3 (27:17):
Know what I'm going to do, Yeah, let me know
what I get it.
Speaker 1 (27:19):
So yeah, so I'm just right now, I'm only writing
Senior Bowl and some shrine players that have some grades
on them.
Speaker 3 (27:26):
That's what I'm.
Speaker 1 (27:26):
Focusing on and now you you make my job harder
because you unveil the first mock draft.
Speaker 2 (27:32):
I can't wait.
Speaker 3 (27:34):
I have all those players all written up and done.
Speaker 1 (27:36):
So the tackle out of Miami, I've been sitting there
with eighty percent of his notes done, just sitting and waiting.
Speaker 3 (27:43):
I guess that's got to get done now.
Speaker 2 (27:44):
Yeah, I've got him.
Speaker 3 (27:45):
He's got to.
Speaker 1 (27:46):
Get done because he's obviously going to be in your
first round, so I got to get those written up next.
So we still you still won't have that unleashed until
after the official everyone's officially in or official.
Speaker 2 (27:57):
Yeah, once that once that official date takes place, that's
usually the week of the Senior Bowl is when that
first one will come out. So a lot of guys
to watch between now and then. But looking forward, like
you said, these but playoff games will help to good competition.
All right, Lant's get back to work. I appreciate it,
appreciate shipping in there. He goes lands there line being
(28:18):
a real gentleman to jump on with us today. I
want to encourage you guys. Check out tomorrow's episode. We'll
have Chris Peterson from the Washington Boise State head coach,
we'll have him on to talk about the college football playoffs.
Before that conversation, we'll see you next time right here
on move sticks.
And now Move the Sticks with Daniel Jeremiah and Bucky Brooks.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
What's up everybody. Welcome to move the sticks, DJ, and
my buddy Lance is with us today. Lance. How you doing, Poe.
Speaker 3 (00:13):
I'm doing well, doing well.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Thanks for thanks for jumping in here. Bucky, A little
flight trouble. Yeah, you're like Matt Damon, like the Jimmy
Kimmel Show, just sitting back there in the green room
and then just hoping he's going to get called out
to that stage. It's not like you have anything else
going on, Lance, and like you're doing a radio show
or trying to watch five thousand guys and get all
the profiles done for the draft.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
No, well, I take the radio the after Christmas. We
take that week off. So I came in here at
seven thirty this morning. I'm watching LSU defensive ends and
NC State defensive ends, Texas A and m defensive tackles.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
So nice.
Speaker 3 (00:48):
Yeah, it's that time.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
I got to get about five done a day, so
it's a it's a little bit of a heavy workload,
but I'm still finding enough time. I don't know about you,
but I'm just not watching as many bowl games. I mean,
the playoffs yeah, collegeball playoff. I'm locked in the NFL
regular season playoffs. I'm locked in. I'm sad. My dad
came up as a college football coach. His very first
year of college football was a Cotton Bowl against Notre
(01:10):
Dame and the famous you know, chicken soup game for
Joe Montana and uh, you know we we were a
Cotton Bowl family for the Southwest Conference days.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
I remember seeing Byron Leftwich at.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
The where they carried him.
Speaker 3 (01:23):
Yeah, yeah, the City Bowl.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
But it's unfortunately, you know, with the way the college
football playoffs have expanded, I just I just don't and
with all the opt outs we see in college football
and the transfers, it just I just don't really focus
on bowl games anymore.
Speaker 3 (01:41):
Not really.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
Yeah, I get it to me, I almost. I know
the it's kind of a nice payoff. I have seen
some of the social media videos of some of the kids,
like they're at amusement parks and they're still getting to
do some cool stuff and get the little bowl gifts.
So I think it still can be a fun experience
for the kids that go do it, But in terms
of interest in the stadium that there's hardly anybody a
(02:02):
lot of these games. I don't. I can't imagine there's
a great interest in terms of watching it. It's not great.
But I was going to say, I almost like the
idea of, Hey, the end of the regular season is
the end of that twenty twenty five class. So this
the bowl games if you are going to be if
you're a senior, you can't, you can't play. It's going
to just force everybody, which a lot of it is. Anyways,
(02:23):
if you're a draftball type kid, they're not playing in
these bowl games. But let's make this a freshman, sophomore,
junior game. And it's basically just it's spring practice. It's
a it's a glorified it's the first spring practice for
the twenty twenty six seasons. It's basically it's not a.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
Bad idea, And I know people look at at that.
There's a lot of people who still look at it
that way. I do think the number of teams are
going to opt out. I think it's going to continue
to increase teams who you know, may not want you
to see those players, the same way that the springball
is starting to away.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
Yeah they don't, they don't play spring games.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
Yeah, yeah, you're you're you're what you're suggesting is actually
the nightmare for Matt Ruhle and everyone else who's complained
about spring games, because now you're putting all of them
on display, the freshmen and sophomores.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
Yeah, maybe it would work for the fans. I don't
know necessarily the programs would be in favor of it.
All right, Lance, it's time for Hot or Not, brought
to you by with Sabi Hot Cloud Storage. We do
this each and every week. It's our coordinator of the week,
and this week it's Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores, coming
off a dominant performance they had against the Detroit Lions.
Man the Lions, what a disappointment, only ten points in
(03:29):
this game. They are not going to the postseason. But
a couple of keynotes here on Flora's Vikings six takeaways
in that game. They're number one on the season and
pressure percentage at forty four point two. They're number three
and third down conversion rate at thirty six point two,
fewest tds allowed, the number three passing defense, number five
overall total defense, and tenth and scoring defense. So once
(03:52):
again he's been known has a reputation, you know, with
all the blitzing and all the exotics. One of the
best defensive minds football had a stint as the head
coach in Miami, which was brief. Didn't really get a
fair shake there in my opinion. But someone who's had
success everywhere else along the way, including with a little
background on the scouting side with the Patriots from four
(04:14):
to seven, I think he's going to have a very
good opportunity to get a head coaching job. I know
Kevin O'Connell came out and said the other day they
would love to keep him and make it hard for
him to leave. But if he gets a head coaching opportunity,
I gotta imagine he's gone.
Speaker 3 (04:28):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
He's really good. I mean, he really puts offensive lines
in conflict. If you have any weaknesses in terms of
your protections, he exploits them. He's very specific in how
he exploits and who he exploits.
Speaker 3 (04:44):
And I'm really a big fan.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
I mean that's a team that you know, Minnesota's had
their own ups and downs offensively at the quarterback.
Speaker 3 (04:52):
Position, you had Max Brosber just not really.
Speaker 1 (04:54):
Ready to lead a team to win, and yet there
they were getting to win because the defense was that
good was that? So a lot of respect for Brian
Floor is a defensive coordinator.
Speaker 3 (05:04):
I thought he did a pretty good job as head coach.
It really wasn't his coaching.
Speaker 1 (05:07):
It was the personality conflict with the GM and potentially
the quarterback. Obviously the quarterback, you know, the word was
he really wanted Deshaun Watson and and it just there
was a clash between he and Tua and I just
don't think he ever bought into Tua. And that's tough
as a head coach. You don't want that to be
You certainly don't want it public. You don't want the
quarterback not to know you're not his camp. But Brian
(05:29):
Floor is also a really competitive guy who I think
he knows what he wants at all the positions, what
it takes to win. And I don't think he's ever
going to back off of being a guy who tells
you what he thinks.
Speaker 3 (05:41):
And he's I mean, he's a New England guy. That's
kind of what they do.
Speaker 1 (05:45):
So but the talent, the ability as a head coach,
it's completely there.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
What about you know, opportunities for him when you look
at some of the head coaching openings, obviously there's a
history there with the Giants, you know which from that
last hiring cycle. To me, you've got the you've got
the call the Patriots West, but you've got Tom Brady
out there in Vegas. We'll see what happens with Pete
Carroll if he survives this year. There's a lot of
rumors that could be a one and done, but I
(06:13):
think he's going to get interviews. And I was making
this point the other day. I think there's when you
look at the candidates for this next coaching cycle, dominantly
on the defensive side of the ball. All the top candidates.
There aren't a lot of offensive guys that I get
a sense teams are super excited about.
Speaker 1 (06:28):
Now. Those guys have been snapped up over the last
couple of years, so it is going to be defensive
oriented and we'll see which jobs come up. But I
think Raiders and Flores will be a great mix. I
really do with with some of the rush that.
Speaker 3 (06:38):
They already have there.
Speaker 1 (06:39):
Maybe he's a guy that can get Max Crosby. You know,
Max just wants to win. Maybe those two would would
would gel effectively because you don't want to lose a
Max Crosby. If you're out there with the Raiders. You
don't want that to become any more contentious than it
just recently became.
Speaker 3 (06:53):
But you know, they're not going to win until they
get the quarterback position fixed. But finding the right guy
culturally probably matters.
Speaker 1 (07:01):
But I think that's still you know, there's certain teams
that are culture that the culture needs to be created.
There's other teams where you just got to get the
roster right. And I think the Raiders probably have a
combination of both. But the roster, I mean, it just
needs a lot of work this offseason.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
Yeah, we'll see what what other gigs end up opening
up to. We'll find out, gosh, a week from now,
we'll know what openings are out there. That was this
week's Hot or Not segment, brought to you by with
Sabbi Hot cloud storage, store more and do more with
your data. Try them for free at withsaby dot com. Lance,
I want to hit you on the Texans. You're there,
You're around that team, You're in that city. I made
(07:37):
the case studying them last week getting ready for that game.
I thought it was the most violent football team I've
seen in a long time. I mean just all levels
and even from You know, you've got the Warriors that
everybody knows about on the edge with with Hunter and
will Anderson. I don't. And you know everybody knows about Stingling.
I think most people know how good last year is.
And you've seen Bullock and Petrie. To me, the thing
(07:58):
that I did not realizeuntil I really dug in and
study and was how could they're playing off the ball
at the linebacker position with a Zizel Shaier and with
Henry to to Oh the way he's playing as well.
Speaker 1 (08:08):
Yeah, I'll share sometimes get hung up on blocks a
little bit when he sits back, and I made some
little things that he's kind of taken care of as
the season's gone on. But he's extraordinarily violent and the
head coach brought him in for a reason. Demiko had
him in San Francisco Tone Center, so we talk about culture.
Demiko wanted will Anderson badly, badly, so much so that.
Speaker 3 (08:30):
When they made the decision as an organization to draft C. J.
Speaker 1 (08:33):
Stroud number two, they had already dialed into the fact
they were going to trade their future, you know, their
other first round, picking a future first rounder because they
had to have Will Anderson and he is the culture
there on the defensive side of the ball. But you
tie him up with Jalen Petrie, who I knew you
were a big fan of coming out. Jalen Petrie is
(08:54):
the same kind of downhill monster. I mean, he hits
anything that moves to toe. Has been way better than
I had projected him coming out of college. I thought
he'd be a good backup who could slide in, but
he's He's become better than that Bulleck is. You know,
they got takeaway fiends on the back end. And then
you mentioned the violence in the front seven. My goodness.
(09:16):
So swarm is something Demko Ryan's brought to that.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
Explain that.
Speaker 3 (09:21):
So there's an anacronym that goes with it, but basically
it is a rally.
Speaker 1 (09:25):
It's literally everyone rallies to the ball at all times,
and you get there with bad intentions and there is
never a play where you should not be running full
speed to the football wherever you are on the field.
Speaker 3 (09:39):
Swarm.
Speaker 1 (09:39):
So it's a swarm mentality, and he considers it a
mentality of wiring where everything is about rally to the ball,
rally to the ball, swarm the football. But it also
includes being extremely physical every second of the snap, and
so when you talk about it being a violent team,
it's really extraordinary to see them hit every week, hit
(09:59):
everything all over the field. It's very reminiscent of those
early Ravens teams from the two thousands where just everybody
on that front seven was just laying people out.
Speaker 3 (10:10):
And that's how the Texans play. Now. You know, Hunter
is more of a little bit more of a finesse guy.
Speaker 1 (10:16):
Will Anderson is a two way fit rusher and really
good against the run as well. Their defensive tackles are
really more upfield tackles, but.
Speaker 2 (10:26):
Toky guys freaking strong as an ox.
Speaker 1 (10:29):
Now, let me tell you, he is playing really good football.
And that's another one that's that's that's played beyond expectations
when he got here. You know about you know, you
know about Sheldon Rankins and Mario Edwards and these guys
get up the field, but they've been very good at
swarming to the football too. So it's hard getting yards
after contact against the Texans because you got a secondary
tackler right there on top of you if you break
(10:50):
one tackle there on top of you after that. So
when you tie that with the takeaway unit, that they
have that also will hit you in the secondary.
Speaker 3 (10:58):
So you got.
Speaker 1 (10:59):
Rush, you got physicality against the run and after the
catch and after contact, and then you got guys taking
it away on the back end. It's why they have
such an elite defense, and frankly, that may be the
only reason they're in the playoffs is that elite defense,
because the offense is just below par.
Speaker 2 (11:15):
Yeah, and swarm. Gavin put it in the chat here
a special work ethic and relentless mindset. So there you go.
Speaker 3 (11:21):
There's what.
Speaker 1 (11:22):
Yeah, the problem I have with it, I don't like
mentioning that because it's really swarm.
Speaker 2 (11:26):
Yeah, I'm looking at that. Yeah, the e it's like
you're trying to make work ethic one word, it's not
two words. Yeah, But I get the intention of it,
and that's the way they play. And you know, I
went and pulled up my toe toe notes. So he
was coming out six zho oneh two twenty seven. He
ran four six to two. Linebacker, can shoot gaps, can
(11:47):
punch off blocks, as a firm tackler. Didn't think he
was an explosive striker, but very fluid and coverage, excellent
range and FBI and he's obviously the way he was
striking people the other day. He's been an explosive striker,
which is also on par with Kylen Bullock, who's another
one who could run all day long, had ball skills.
But Man notoriously got run over several times when he
(12:07):
was at USC And he's flying around smacking everybody, and
it reminds me of when I was in Baltimore. We
had that culture there where you could take a guy
who was maybe not quite as physical and you put
him in that environment with all those lions in that cage,
and you'd be surprised. You get some physicality at some
of these guys.
Speaker 3 (12:23):
Yeah, that's and that's really for me. DJ.
Speaker 1 (12:25):
It's hard for me to unlock on my end without
knowing the players, without knowing you know, there's limitations when
we do evaluations for draft prospects. When you just watch tape.
You don't know the players, you don't know how they're
you don't know if it's in them or not. Because
some guys have it, you know, some guys make business decisions.
I was talking to a defensive back, you know, a
wide receiver coach this year about one of his draft
(12:47):
prospects pretty highly rated prospect, and he said, you know,
he was a great blocker in twenty four, just kind
of took it off in twenty five, was just.
Speaker 3 (12:54):
Worried about getting rolled up on.
Speaker 1 (12:55):
And you know, he said, but the dog mentality is
in there in twenty four. You just have to really
focus on twenty four. You know, sometime without that knowledge,
it's hard to project who's going to take that next step.
But there's no question that if you've got it in you,
it will, it can come out. If that's the team
expectation on the defensive side, there's other guys.
Speaker 3 (13:17):
And you sent a note to me yesterday that the first.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
Of all, first of all, pause, pause, I just sent
you a text. Is that the receiver, because that's correct?
Is there really.
Speaker 3 (13:30):
That's him? Good? Good, longer in twenty four?
Speaker 2 (13:33):
Yeah, not about that life this year kind.
Speaker 1 (13:35):
Of yeah, but the players his a receiver. Coach just said,
just scratch what you saw in twenty five. He had
people on his ears telling hey, don't get hurt, you know,
and that you know, especially now with the NIL and
with agents being involved so early, there's going to be
some of that as well.
Speaker 3 (13:50):
Where guys, you know, it's just the way it is
where guys will I didn't.
Speaker 2 (13:55):
Mean to interrupt you there, Lance, but I just finished
watching that player that the day, and the way you
described him, I'm like, I think I know who he's
talking about.
Speaker 3 (14:03):
That's exactly that's exactly who it is.
Speaker 1 (14:06):
You also sent me a note yesterday about a player
and we were talking about tackling CJ.
Speaker 2 (14:12):
Henderson moving put it out there.
Speaker 1 (14:13):
Yeah, well there you go. You know, there's two things.
If you're not a good tackler in college, you're probably not.
It's one thing to unleash more aggression, and you can't
get more aggressive and phil as a tackler, that's one
thing to me.
Speaker 2 (14:26):
It's a willingness, though the willingness doesn't change, super willing
and like Kaylen Bullock, great example, he put his face
in there against Taj Spears I believe was ta J Spears.
He just ran him over, but he wasn't scared.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
He was.
Speaker 2 (14:40):
He went in there and put his face in the
fan and lost the fight. But there's other guys. CJ.
Henderson was kind of more willing to hang on blocks
and didn't really want to get involved much with that, and.
Speaker 1 (14:49):
He early on tape, like you can see who wants
to get off the block. Like this kid Chris Johnson
from San Diego State cool, does he want to come
hit you?
Speaker 3 (14:59):
I mean he really wait till you get a peek
at him.
Speaker 2 (15:01):
Yeah, I'm looking forward to it.
Speaker 3 (15:02):
You're gonna really, You're gonna really love him.
Speaker 1 (15:04):
Reminds me a little bit of Byron Murphy and Trent
McDuffie in terms of the way he plays, but that
same type of can't wait to get downhill and get
my nose bloody mentality. It's kind of rare with cornerbacks.
But you know, there's there's two areas where we talk
about willing. It's cornerbacks tackling, and it's also running backs
and pass pro.
Speaker 3 (15:23):
Are you willing? If you're willing, then you can coach.
Speaker 2 (15:26):
Up the rest of that.
Speaker 3 (15:28):
Yeah, you can work with the rest of that.
Speaker 1 (15:29):
But I think the real concern moving forward for Texans
fans is something that comes up on the radio all
the time with me, is the lingering or the lurking
contract extension for a guy like CJ. Stroud, And we
always ask a question, are you winning because of a guy?
Speaker 3 (15:42):
Are you winning with the guy? Are you winning in
spite of a guy?
Speaker 1 (15:46):
And right now, there's a lot of concerns about if
the Texans are winning in spite of CJ. I mean,
you can say you're winning with him occasionally winning in
spite of him because the defense is so great, but
he's going to be on pace to make you know,
in two years probably make about sixty million of years.
Speaker 3 (16:00):
What that number is going to end up?
Speaker 1 (16:02):
And you know, do you want to pay a guy
who's see a guy sixty million a year who is
kind of win with occasionally went in spite of that's
that's a tough call. Well, it's actually become an easy
call in the NFL, but not a not a not
a smart when.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
It seems Yeah, we'll see, that's gonna be a big
decision for them coming up. Let's take quick break and
we'll jump back in on kind of a thirty thousand
foot view of the twenty six draft right after this.
All right, Lance, So where I am in the process
right now. I've done a decent amount of the top
(16:38):
O lineman, I've done a decent amount of the top
D lineman, and then I've been working through receivers. So
that's kind of where I where I am early on
in the process. Here, so I can verify offensive line.
Defensive line seems like there's good depth. I don't know
there's premier premier guys there, but a lot of depth.
Receiver position again have remo PMO guys, but a lot
(16:58):
of depth. I've been able to by that with what
I've seen as far and then and the positions I
haven't done yet. Teams seem to think like there's you know,
there's a lot of starting corners in this draft. That's
kind of the that's kind of the highlight for for
where things are at this point in time and where
I am in the process.
Speaker 1 (17:14):
What do you think, Yeah, I start, So I try
to start writing guys in late October to early November.
But to do that, you know, I need to have
seen them play good competition, and so I usually will
start with the old line. D line are kind of
like you I start trenches. Then I'll conversely, I'll use
running backs. Linebackers because they're kind of a mirror. Quarterbacks
(17:35):
are last for me. I don't get to quarterbacks until
I get all the tape. And right now I'm holding
off on Indiana players. I'm holding off on I'm watching.
I've watched and written the Miami guys. But there are
just certain house states. There's certain teams that I'm holding
off on because they're gonna get They're gonna get some
good games under their belts that I want to see
(17:55):
on tape. I think it's a deep there's some depth
to the offensive line group. It's not a great high end.
I don't think there's gonna be a lot of sixty
sevens at all.
Speaker 2 (18:05):
And up I haven't given out. I haven't. I have
not given out one defensive line sixty fours as high
as I've gone on upgradings.
Speaker 3 (18:12):
Same as me and I do think defensive line. I think.
Speaker 1 (18:15):
I think there's a pretty deep pass rush. I actually
like some of the edge guys. I'm a big fan
of David Bailey out of Texas Tech. I think fulk
out of Auburn has a lot of upside waiting to
be on lot kind of rare size and link. But
you know, talking to a talking to a friend of
mine who has Auburn, he said, you know, he's smooth muscled.
Speaker 3 (18:38):
He hasn't even really developed his body yet.
Speaker 1 (18:41):
He's two hundred and eighty five pounds and hasn't even
developed yet physically.
Speaker 2 (18:46):
Physically him on the first run through here. But I mean, yeah, conjection,
he's one of those.
Speaker 1 (18:52):
And I'm willing to take certain guys with traits. And
it's probably my background, you know, learning under Chris Ballor,
but there's certain traits that I will guys I will
push up a little bit, especially if you're a rusher.
And I heard it, and I heard he's wired great,
you know, tremendously competitive, great, high character player. So you
know some some things like that as well. I like
(19:13):
Bain ruined Bain. He's just he's gonna have sub thirty
one inch arms, which is historically and talking to one team,
they said they ran a historical they ran a historical
index of his size profile and it doesn't work at
the edge, only works at three technique and he never
want to play three technique, so you know, you have
(19:33):
to work with that.
Speaker 3 (19:34):
But he has elite power and I think a key Messidor.
I don't know if you've seen him from my.
Speaker 2 (19:39):
Know on the streets for him. I haven't done him yet,
but I have done go. You know, I know the
arm length thing, and I was told on that that
that's some young scouts to measuring in the spring from
this last cycle that a lot of Scouts are skeptical
about because a lot of these guys have short arms
and there's a lot of people not buying that. Let's
wait till they get to this. I got cha.
Speaker 3 (19:59):
That's good intel, that's good knowledge to keep an eye
on it.
Speaker 2 (20:01):
Don't kill a kid for arm length at this point
in time would be my take. But Ruben Bain, to me,
he just plays so dang hard. And you know, I
think that some of the names you hear talking to
other people, like, okay, is this is Melvin Ingram type.
He's got that kind of body and power. Brandon Graham
kind of plays that way. Brandon Graham's longer on the
edge than he is. But to me, my thing is,
(20:23):
I don't know if he wants to or not. By'ma
tell him, Hey, we get in the sub, you are
rushing over a guard and you're gonna make a lot
of money and you're gonna help us win a lot
of games. So I think that's where he's gonna have
his bread butter.
Speaker 3 (20:36):
But I think he's Milton Williams.
Speaker 2 (20:37):
You know.
Speaker 3 (20:37):
He reminds me of Milton Williams coming out, and I
do think.
Speaker 2 (20:41):
I don't think he's gonna run quite like Uncle Mill.
Speaker 3 (20:43):
Milton was a freaky test. But I do think that
he is. He's a sub rusher.
Speaker 1 (20:49):
He's gonna be a based down It's gonna be a
base end that drops down. I think he can play
standing or sitting. I mean, he can play up or down.
That's not a problem for him.
Speaker 2 (20:56):
But the kidded A and M's fun player. He's a
good player. Cash is how I gave him a sixty four.
So I was. I was a fan of his.
Speaker 1 (21:03):
Game against the run. I'm early in watching him. His
rush is much better than his run. But that's where
you get paid. That's where you evaluate. Frankly, your eval
your evaluation as a rusher and as a as an
offensive tackle is how you handle it.
Speaker 2 (21:18):
I kind of like guys that have jumped up to
you know, we've seen a pretty good track record of
those guys who've jumped up a level, you know, from
a from a lesser conference and taken on the challenge
of going to a bigger spot and played well. By
the way, Keldric Falk had two more sex than you
did this year.
Speaker 3 (21:33):
The uh uh I actually had a couple that were
just clean up sacks.
Speaker 2 (21:39):
So yeah, but uh, it's gonna be fun jumping into
these guys. And we'll spend a lot of time as
we go forward going through position by position. We can
jump into the offensive line class we were talking about.
I will say this receiver group, Tate and and Lemon
for me, are more daddies who are ready to rock
(21:59):
and roll and coming and make an immediate impact and
play with There's just a there's a there's a warrior
mentality the way they both play. The toughness, it has
been kind of the secret ingredient. If you look at
the list of the top receivers you're in and you're
out in the NFL, you will see different sizes, you
will see different speeds, but almost to a man, if
you go back to the reports, you'll find toughness is
(22:21):
a key part of what they are.
Speaker 3 (22:23):
Digging in on Casey concepts, you're going to see the
same thing.
Speaker 2 (22:26):
Yeah, I've done him. I did him the other day.
He just drops. He just got a ton of drops,
got double digit drop right the last two years. But
he's explosive, explosive, and they love how tough he is.
And Jeremy Bernard is another one who's really good with
the ball in his hands and tough at Alabama. So
I know you're familiar with the lemon.
Speaker 3 (22:44):
I have not written lemon yet.
Speaker 2 (22:45):
Oh yeah, I mean the lemon is from the tree, right,
He's from the the Alms St. Brown, the JSN. Like
he's kind of in that lineage of receiver. My thing
that I wrote about him was just just just deploy
him like the Patriots the Lloyd Julian Edelman and watched
this guy catch a hundred plus balls every single year,
Like that's that's what he is. He's a tough, strong
(23:05):
slot receiver who's not afraid to work in the middle
of the fields, who's excellent after the catch, who's got strong,
strong hands to attack the ball and winning traffic. He
is a good player, man.
Speaker 3 (23:16):
That's a secret.
Speaker 1 (23:17):
I mean, ever since Cooper Cup, it seems like finding
and Cooper's more than Edelman, who wasn't as down you know,
didn't work it down the field as much, but obviously
was Tom's one of his pets.
Speaker 2 (23:29):
He had two drops the whole season, and the two
drops when you this is why you got to trust
but verify on the numbers, because I'm like I watched
all of his targets, and I don't remember writing anything
down on drop. So I went back, I'm like, what
are the drops? I looked at the videos. One it's
a toe tap on the sideline. It's a toe tap
on the sideline where he didn't he wasn't able to
complete it. And then the other one was it's literally
(23:49):
the ball gets as soon as it gets to his hand,
it immediately gets pumped out from behind. It's like kind
of punched out. There's not one play on there with
a concentration drop or a ball clanging off his body.
Speaker 3 (23:59):
Not one. There's really subjective.
Speaker 1 (24:01):
I think PFF does a great job of working hard
and tracking this data, and it's very helpful in terms
of tying it with tape and shortcutting on our process.
Speaker 3 (24:10):
But pressures, I mean there are some pressures pressures on there. Yeah,
I mean, you know, pressures are so subjective. Some of
the drops have become really subjective. So yeah, that's why
you have to go watch it.
Speaker 1 (24:22):
You know, you can see a player may have nine
sacks and you go watch and you say, well, two
of these would have been NFL sacks. The rest of
them are extended pockets and clean up sacks against players
who are not very good.
Speaker 3 (24:32):
So you got to, like you said, you got to verify.
Speaker 2 (24:33):
But this is my new thing. This is my new
thing this year. By the way, in terms of comps,
I'm going to start using more of the family comps.
So in other words, like this player, it's a one
v one comp No, no, to me, this is the family
of quarterbacks. I started doing that a little bit when
we were talking about Okay, No, I think it's it's
(24:55):
a collective. It's a collective. So when you look at
like rock Purty Rock per is in the tree, it's
the Joe Burrow tree. It traces all the way back
through like Joe Montana. Like that's like, there's that style
of quarterback doesn't necessarily have the huge, huge arm, but
is winning from the shoulders.
Speaker 3 (25:13):
Up style of quarterback.
Speaker 1 (25:14):
You don't mean really directly tied to offensive skiing or coach.
Speaker 2 (25:18):
No, no, I'm saying this is a brand. This is
a brand. Like it's like if you can get a
Nike shoe. There's a lot of different kinds of Nike shoes,
but this is the Nike shoe. This is the this
is the kind. So that's like the when you're talking
about Lemon like, that's okay, Well that's in that he's
in the wing, in that family asn Abuca, Like, those
guys are kind of all in that same similar body type,
(25:41):
play style, mentality, Like that's that group of guy.
Speaker 3 (25:44):
Mm hmm. So that's what David Bailey for me was
in the type.
Speaker 2 (25:49):
Yeah, there you go. Yeah, but I think under the
kind of other guys who play that that style that way,
speed based, you know, juicy edge rushers. So yeah, it's
a it's a fun way to look at it. Denzel Boston,
by the way, from Washington is in the Courtland Sutton
wing of the Big Michael Wilson. Michael Wilson is like
(26:10):
a somewhat of a member of that wing as well.
So we kind of just we categorize those guys and families.
That's what we're doing this year.
Speaker 3 (26:17):
I like that. I'll got to see if Dan Parr
will let me do that.
Speaker 2 (26:20):
Let me put about No chance, that's too much he won't.
Dan's not going for that. But it's going to make
a great graphic for me on draft day.
Speaker 3 (26:26):
So congratulations on you.
Speaker 2 (26:28):
Always selfish, always selfish over here man, just selfish. Hey, Lance,
I appreciate you. Chipping in and filling in today. Man,
it was fun to kind of just put our toe,
dip our toe a little bit in the draft waters
a little bit. We're going to be there. Before you
know it, Senior Bowl is going to be here. I'm excited.
I'm trying to I'm kind of in the same boat
you are. Words and if I can, you know, it's
it's like the move the six moniker, right, Let's just
(26:50):
get first down, three four, five guys every day, keep
them moving every day, every now and you're gonna have
a day. You can get a little bit more than that.
But I just got to keep keep working on them.
Speaker 1 (26:57):
You see that little I've got it says twenty seven
point seven percent. That's where I am on my write ups.
I'm twenty seven point seven percent through. So I've got
it on my whiteboard in the background. I shade my
little it's just a.
Speaker 2 (27:12):
Yeah, you need to do like the thermometer graft or
whatever we're do.
Speaker 3 (27:17):
Know what I'm going to do, Yeah, let me know
what I get it.
Speaker 1 (27:19):
So yeah, so I'm just right now, I'm only writing
Senior Bowl and some shrine players that have some grades
on them.
Speaker 3 (27:26):
That's what I'm.
Speaker 1 (27:26):
Focusing on and now you you make my job harder
because you unveil the first mock draft.
Speaker 2 (27:32):
I can't wait.
Speaker 3 (27:34):
I have all those players all written up and done.
Speaker 1 (27:36):
So the tackle out of Miami, I've been sitting there
with eighty percent of his notes done, just sitting and waiting.
Speaker 3 (27:43):
I guess that's got to get done now.
Speaker 2 (27:44):
Yeah, I've got him.
Speaker 3 (27:45):
He's got to.
Speaker 1 (27:46):
Get done because he's obviously going to be in your
first round, so I got to get those written up next.
So we still you still won't have that unleashed until
after the official everyone's officially in or official.
Speaker 2 (27:57):
Yeah, once that once that official date takes place, that's
usually the week of the Senior Bowl is when that
first one will come out. So a lot of guys
to watch between now and then. But looking forward, like
you said, these but playoff games will help to good competition.
All right, Lant's get back to work. I appreciate it,
appreciate shipping in there. He goes lands there line being
(28:18):
a real gentleman to jump on with us today. I
want to encourage you guys. Check out tomorrow's episode. We'll
have Chris Peterson from the Washington Boise State head coach,
we'll have him on to talk about the college football playoffs.
Before that conversation, we'll see you next time right here
on move sticks.
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