Buffalo Bills draft Maxwell Hairston, CB Kentucky | C1 BUF & DC - Disguised Coverage

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's thirty eight.

Speaker 2 (00:00):
All Bills can win.

Speaker 3 (00:01):
In here, Wake puts it down, the kick is on the.

Speaker 4 (00:04):
Way, and his dock and the bill good one?

Speaker 2 (00:07):
How the hell that one.

Speaker 4 (00:11):
Home?

Speaker 1 (00:11):
How one?

Speaker 4 (00:13):
They were a party one, not party way?

Speaker 3 (00:16):
Incredible?

Speaker 5 (00:17):
Why not combat by my bell?

Speaker 4 (00:19):
Jacksonville's perfect record on the line right here, quick.

Speaker 5 (00:30):
Kicking, look excited. Touchdown Kyle Williams touchdound.

Speaker 4 (00:46):
Amazing, unbelievable. They puttied william who's has to full back
and he scores a touchdown. It's wealthier to face tackle.

Speaker 2 (01:17):
Good evening and welcome to the cover one Buffalo and
Disguised Coverage Instant Reaction show. You are joining Anthony Porhaska
night because the Buffalo Bills have selected Kentucky cornerback Maxwell Harrison. Anthony,
what do you think?

Speaker 3 (01:37):
One?

Speaker 1 (01:38):
I was happy that they made a pick because they
didn't when we did this last year, and you and
I talked earlier tonight.

Speaker 3 (01:44):
I was like, if they don't make a pick, we're
still doing it right, And.

Speaker 2 (01:48):
I promised I wouldn't. I wouldn't, you know, throw a
hissy fit and get frustrated, and you.

Speaker 1 (01:53):
Were not pleased, So I We're gonna do the show.
And it got closer, and we were just talking offline
right now. They were winding the clock a little and
it was like, are they going to trade out?

Speaker 3 (02:03):
And then they picked Maxwell Harriston. So I guess some
of the off the field things cleared. But you know,
I'm overall.

Speaker 1 (02:10):
Pretty happy, and I think a lot of fans are
will be as well. People wanted juice in the secondary,
they wanted athleticism, speed, explosure at that corner spot.

Speaker 3 (02:18):
You have it in Maxwell Hairston. So I'm feeling good
right now.

Speaker 2 (02:21):
Yeah. As the great Eleanor Roosevelt said, America is all
about speed, hot, nasty, badass speed.

Speaker 3 (02:29):
She was a big She was a big cornerback evaluator too.
That was her like go to things. She coached it
at Ohio State.

Speaker 2 (02:38):
I believe under, I believe so yeah, I believe so.
Already getting a quote from Maxwell Harriston here. His quote
to the Buffalo media was, they're getting someone who is
going to give Josh Allen the ball back. Love that confidence.
But as you said, this is a guy that is
maybe a bit of a departure from stereotypical Bill's picks

(03:03):
at corner instead of a guy that was kind of
a mediocre athlete, but a great tackler and really you know,
strong zone skills. You're getting a guy who is virtually
played everything on the outside, maybe has some questions in
his tackling of physicality, but you know, I'm only half
joking about the Onono Roosevelt, which is of course not her,

(03:23):
it's from Talladega Knights. But the you know athletic profile
here is elite speed. This is a guy that when
I was able to make it out to the combine,
I watched almost one hundred guys run their forties and
I got to see them all, like from twenty five
feet away. And when I tell you, Maxwell Harrison had
the easiest speed I've ever seen, Like he got up

(03:46):
to top speed so fast. It was ridiculous how fast
he got moving so fine size. He does have a
bit of a slight frame, but you know, five to
eleven and a quarter one hundred and eighty three pounds,
perfectly reasonable, arm length, thirty nine and a half foot,
you know, thirty nine and a half inch vertical ten

(04:07):
foot nine inch broad jump. But the forty time is
what shows. And I think you know from you know,
guys like you who had a chance to watch much
more than me, but a lot of guys I've seen
and read preparing for things. I think it does show
on film and you see the recovery speed. You see
him being able to allow him to be patient, you know,

(04:30):
in kind of some of the releases, and to wait
to flip his hips because he knows he has that
catch up speed. And I think that's really really nice.
And I was talking pre show that, you know, I
watched enough Crossers in the AFC Championship game and guys
just you know, miserably failing to keep up as they

(04:50):
ran mesh over and over and over again. I like
it that we have a guy who can go stride
for stride with any receiver in the NFL.

Speaker 3 (04:59):
Yeah, And I think, you know, I mentioned in the
lead in you talked about it here.

Speaker 1 (05:02):
I think that's that's the selling point when you're talking
Maxwell Harriston, right. You know, I just realized too, you know,
would really help if I put my mic in front
of my face.

Speaker 2 (05:12):
All the way.

Speaker 3 (05:13):
I'm all, it's so late, I'm all over the place
on apartment.

Speaker 1 (05:16):
But you you look at the testing metrics right off
the bed, eighty eight percent out on the broad eighty
seven percent town the vert ninety nine percent out for
the forty eighty six percent out for the ten yard.
And then you watch him on the tape and you
see it reflected, and you watch him drive, you watch
him close. You'll watch him get fooled on a route.

(05:38):
There's one I posted on Twitter earlier against I think
it's actually against Isaiah Bond when they play Texas and
he thinks Bond, you know, he's I believe he's cover
three and he thinks Bond is gonna, you know.

Speaker 3 (05:50):
Run vertical up the sidelines.

Speaker 1 (05:51):
So he opens up towards the sideline, Bond puts his
foot in the ground and runs the post and Harriston's
completely fooled and he just seamlessly.

Speaker 3 (06:00):
Turns around.

Speaker 1 (06:01):
He speed turns, he runs him down tracks, the ball
jumps up one hand smacks and you're like, oh, well,
that's nice like that.

Speaker 2 (06:10):
And then against Isaiah Bond, so against also one of
the fastest receivers in the in the draft guests and.

Speaker 1 (06:16):
He's got some reps in that game where you know,
he goes against Matthew Golden, gets beat, some wins some
but you again, you're you have that athletic profile that
shows up on the testing, but it plays on the tape.
You see the twitch, you see the burst, both in
terms of long speed and in the short area. He
can close down on a route very quickly. He will jump,
he will attack. So it's it's a nice bit of

(06:38):
juice to a grouping that you know, Christian Benford is
the one and is a very strong corner, but isn't
the twitchiest or the most athletic. And then you look
at the rest of the secondary and cool Bishop has
some athleticism. We see if he can play faster to
kind of match with that athleticism. But Taylor Rapp isn't
the most athletic guy. Tarren Johnson all pro Nickel not
the twitchiest or the you know, guy with the most juice.

(07:01):
Hairston is a nice fit to that grouping. And then
you add in some of what he can do in
man coverage and is in addition to his ability to
collect in space and zone properly.

Speaker 3 (07:12):
It's a nice fit. And I didn't think the I
really thought it was like we were talking offline. I
thought it was gonna be Will Johnson.

Speaker 1 (07:19):
Yeah, I'm just man, it just seems like such a
Bill's pick. But yeah, this isn't this is a nice
little drop in the bucket for this cornerback grouping in
this defense.

Speaker 2 (07:26):
Yeah, very clearly the medicals were too much of a
red flag, says have Will Johnson, passed on by so
many cornerback needy teams. But you know, with Harston, I
think you're seeing a guy that across the board was
ranked in this area. On the high end. You had
guys like Matt Miller and ESPN having him eighteenth overall,
Dan Bugler had him thirty fifth. I think everybody had

(07:47):
him in this range as a late first early second
round pick. So certainly reasonable value from that standpoint, And
I like the idea that there's you know a lot
of the different checkboxes that we've seen historically from Bill's
early run picks. You're seeing a guy who's a true junior.
He's twenty one years old, but played you know, all

(08:11):
three years in college, specifically mostly a sophomore and junior year.
His first full time year starting his sophomore year, led
the SEC in interceptions five interceptions. So it has production
at the highest level of college football, you know, playing
against very very high end receivers from that space, So
you know, overall, you know, out there producing at a

(08:33):
high level and seeing that kind of speed show up
really really, you know, helps I don't. I think it's
maybe overstated that there's some huge shift coming for the
Bill's secondary in ski men defense, but I think it
is key to know that having that tool in your
tool belt is still nice. So even though every defense

(08:58):
in the NFL runs more zone than man, like, there's
no defense in the NFL that runs more man than
his own, but you also don't want to literally not
be able to run man defense, or to be able
to press or be able to to you know, be
really aggressive with a cover zero blitz and have a
guy that you're worried can't catch up if they go

(09:19):
over the top. And now you have a guy that
can do that. Brandon Bean did say in his pressure
that they did have a first round grade on Harrison.
Then that's obviously not not a lone. ESPN again has
him as their eighteenth overall player and had him as
a ninety grade, so I know that's not universal. There
are plenty of guys who had him as the early
second I think I've seen him anywhere down as low
as forty, But I think the overall on the consensus

(09:43):
big board. I think, let me see where they had
him over First of all, I like, well, I like
that one because it takes one hundred and ninety one
big boards, fourteen hundred first round picks, fifteen hundred team
based mox. It just it aggregates a lot of that information,
so you get a lot of the noise out of
the way. They had him as thirty fourth, so I

(10:05):
think that's a really good way. They had him projected
going twenty third to the packers, but they had him
as the fourth corner. I saw a lot of places
he was pretty consistently the fourth corner behind the first
one in that next tier after Hunter, Johnson and Baron.
Obviously we saw Johnson didn't go and that was purely
because of the medicals. But Maxwell Harriston again, I think

(10:26):
this is a really nice value spot to be able
to get a guy like that and to you know,
fill a need where now I was, I was literally
like depressed with the fifth defensive tackle went off the
board before the bills and just a large human that
I wanted.

Speaker 3 (10:45):
Baron or Harmon's gonna fall. I was sitting there just
thinking it, and then they both went so close to
one another, and I was like, the dream is dead.

Speaker 2 (10:51):
I hate it. And then even beyond that, like, you know,
I didn't want a safety, but I could have talked
myself into Malachi Starks and Tyler Williams went I.

Speaker 1 (10:59):
Would have gladly taken Star Sort and Ti Leak was
my defensive tackle three, so I would have taken a heartbeat.

Speaker 2 (11:05):
So as that stretch was going, it became very very
clear They're like, all right, well this is trade down
a corner. And then it simply became like, okay, So
do they prefer the versatility and the physicality for an
Amos or a Rebel? Do they prefer the speed for Harriston?
Are they comfortable with the medicals for a Johnson? And
just you know, not knowing where those things fell. I'm

(11:28):
pretty happy honestly with Harrison. So I you know, I'm
I'm not used to this. I've been kind of almost
disappointed in so many of the picks early that you know,
I've come around in the coming days after I read
about a player or learn more about him, or like
all right, I get why we were on this guy.
This is probably the most like immediately positive I've been

(11:53):
on a Bill's first round pick and a little bit,
Yeah that's fair.

Speaker 3 (11:56):
I well, let's see. Well, so Keyana Coleman was technically
like the first pick last year.

Speaker 1 (12:01):
I was Coleman was my wide receiver nine last year,
and I liked him as a prospect, but I thought
he had such a wide very like variance of outcomes
as a pro player, Like the example I always give, like,
if you told me at the end of key On
Coleman's rookie contract he's a high end wide receiver two

(12:21):
or a low tier one, I believe it. If you
told me he was out of the league, I believe
it if you told me he ends up being that
guy where he's always signing one year deals because different
teams keep thinking like, oh I can be the one
to finally.

Speaker 3 (12:33):
Tap into him, I'd buy it. So I was like, okay,
like I can get into this pick, but I did
have trepidation with it.

Speaker 2 (12:40):
I do.

Speaker 1 (12:40):
I think Harriston is is I don't want to say
a slam dunk, but for what I was looking for
out of the corner grouping, and I think most folks
know and I'm not alone in this now, as the
draft process has gone on. I love Trey Amos. I
would have taken Trems Trey Amos. Here Amos was my
CB four, Revel was my CB five, Harriston was my CB.
But they were in a very similar tier with one another.

(13:04):
But I just wanted somebody who and this is part
of why I was hesitant with Johnson aside from the injuries.
I wanted someone who could get into receivers kitchen and
play press. I wanted fluidity. I wanted good transitions. I
wanted that ability to play press man. And like you said,
like they're not going to become a huge man coverage
team overnight or a huge huge press man team overnight,

(13:27):
which is fine because Harriston still functions well in zone.
Like I mentioned, that ability to collect routes in zone
off of the route distribution, his good spatial awareness, he
can fall off of coverage and bait quarterbacks, and then
he's quick to recognize.

Speaker 3 (13:44):
Receivers on their breaks.

Speaker 1 (13:45):
And then because he has that explosion, he's got a
really nice quick trigger and he can click and close
and drive, whether he's, you know, kind of it sit
still in off coverage or if he's in the middle
of his pedal, he could put that foot in the
ground and drive. So you've got that zone capability, but
you've got the tools and the athleticism and the juice
and the willingness to still be able to play man

(14:08):
in general, but also be able to play pressman. And
I think that is that's such an important thing, because
what they did with Kyrie Elam was they just skewed
it so far towards the traits and it was like, well,
let's get the guy with the length and the size
and the frame who can play man, and we'll coach
him up with the zone. They just they just pushed
the sliders too far towards the traits. And with Harston,

(14:30):
you've got the traits again. Not the biggest guy in
the world, thirty second percent out for arm length, eight
percentile for weight, but that was when he was measured
at a eighty three. I believe he's gonna end up
playing somewhere around one ninety potentially. I've seen different weights
for him. And then he's also five eleven in a quarter,
so he's smaller than Elam was, but he's got better

(14:51):
zone awareness, better zone functionality and capability right now as
a player like today. But then again he's also got
those physical tools and traits that allows him to play man,
that allows you to do those different things like you said,
like if you want to get into somebody on a
third and whatever or a high level situation, or if
you play the Eagles.

Speaker 2 (15:12):
Cool.

Speaker 1 (15:12):
Now you've got a dude who can go up against
DeVonta Smith and you put Christian Benford on AJ Brown
and you let the two bullies play bully ball, and
you let the two speedy shifty guys be speedy shifty
guys and you go from there.

Speaker 2 (15:24):
I like that.

Speaker 3 (15:25):
And what's interesting about this pick too, And you mentioned it.
We've talked about it a little.

Speaker 1 (15:29):
The tackling, it's not it's actually similar, not the saying,
but kind of like two sides of or two sides
at the same coin, do different whatever that everybody.

Speaker 2 (15:39):
You know what?

Speaker 3 (15:39):
You know what I'm trying to get at. Thank you,
appreciate you, you got it? What are right here?

Speaker 1 (15:44):
He's it's similar to kind of what a Sante Samuel
is as a tackler, where they're willing like it. They're
not failing at the tackle point because they don't want
to tackle or they don't want to be involved in
that it's just like Hairston again, is I think.

Speaker 2 (15:58):
Dane praised that Dane Brugler for is it as he
will throw his body at the ball carrier instead of wrapping,
So like that's not like him shining away from context.
It's just maybe not the best technique in what he does.
So that's actually something where I would feel worse about
it if it was he won't do it and he
shies away from contact. Him throwing his body at ball

(16:19):
carriers gives me more confidence that that's the thing that
that you know McDermott and you know that staff has
shown the ability to coach up and to be able
to lean technique into I feel better about it that way.

Speaker 1 (16:32):
And that's and that was part of the reason why
Sante Samuel was one of my corner targets and free
agency because the want to, when the willingness was there,
he just needed to be coached up with some angles
and some form and with Harston, you know, to to
Dane's analysis there at his point, I think part of
the reason he throws his bodies because he is more
of a slighter frame kind of guy, Like he's not

(16:53):
a guy where okay, if he sticks or his arm
or shoulder out. Guys are going to go down because
he's one hundred and eighty three pounds, like he's not
even if.

Speaker 2 (17:00):
He gets himself up to one ninety ninety five, he's
never going to be thick like. He's always going to
be a lean framed guy. So he's always going to
be smaller, and he's always going to depend on his
speed like that that's going to be his calling card,
is his you know obviously not just speed but like
special speed.

Speaker 1 (17:15):
Yes, And you watch him, I believe it's a game
against Texas, you'll watch him come up as a force
player guy. Running backs will cut inside him, he kind
of reaches for an arm, they run through the arm
tackle or his angle isn't great or his decision isn't great.
But then in that same game, he's also forcing a
fumble because he's throwing his body at the running back
and his helmet gets on the ball and the ball
comes loose. He's also got the ability too, like if

(17:36):
you're talking just like from a receiver standpoint, he'll come
up and he'll tackle a receiver right. The willingness and
the want to is there, but it's angles decision making
in terms of run support as far as both a
fit and a force player, and then also some from
a frame perspective. But because the willingness is there and
how the Bills coach that position, I do think he'll

(17:58):
improve as a tackler. The frame stuff is never going
to go away, to your point, even if he bulks
up to like one to ninety, he's still going to
be more of a slender type of guy, So that'll
be an issue from time to time. But I don't
think it's anything to kind of look at and be like, oh,
this is always going to be just a huge vulnerability.
I don't think it's ever going to be a strength.

(18:18):
But his willingness and what he offers in coverage, I
think mitigates.

Speaker 2 (18:22):
It to a degree. When your cornerback partners Christian Benford
and Taron Johnson, that's much more palatable to be able
to do. So a couple of things. Sharing some other
feedback here, Greg Cosell shared that he heard from an
NFL source this week who thought Maxwell Harrison's cornerback tape
at Kentucky was better than Colorado's Travis Hunter. It's a

(18:43):
little excessive, but I love to hear it very here
our guy, Demant Talbot over at Draft Diamonds saying, I
will say about the Bills first round pick, I trust
their area scout Pete Harris. He's the one who found
Christian Benford. Harris knows football and if the Bills had
a first round great on Harrison Couz, Harris loved him.
I have to trust Pete. That guy's legit so like

(19:05):
that that perspective Chris Trapasso. The Bills get man coverage
cornerback they needed. He's very fast and feisty, plays bigger
than his size could add weight, solid length, electric twitchiness,
plus ball skills up and down as a tackler. But
the Buffalo finally gets a cornerback with major traits. And
then I saw another one where his favorite player is
Jalen Ramsey and that they also they both play with

(19:28):
that same kind of bravado and confidence, which I love
to see in a corner where so much of it
you need, that kind of goldfish mentality where you have
to forget when you get, you know, be and come
right back the next play. He also had a fantastic
suit like his jacket was gorgeous. He had like a
silver Paisley jacket. That was fantastic. So the confidence showed

(19:53):
in his fit tonight. He looked excellent. He did.

Speaker 3 (19:56):
He seemed and super pumped to be drafted. He was
one of those guys.

Speaker 2 (20:01):
He had been out all ready to see us a
couple of times and came to rudin ray Davis. There's
a couple of pictures of them together at the stadium
coming out in ray Davis right before the pick. If
you saw, like a minute or two before the pick,
he had an all eyes like the six sets of
eyes emoji which live on the show. We didn't connect
in the moment, but then immediately we're like, oh, that's
why ray Davis did that. So, you know, lots of guys.

(20:26):
Eric Turner, you may know him, may be familiar with
his work.

Speaker 3 (20:29):
I'm not sure I've dabbled with his work before.

Speaker 2 (20:32):
So he had just put out his thin frame cornerback
was zoned for a skill set of flashes of the
footwork and trace to succeed in man coverage projects best
in a zone match or offman scheme with upside if
he develops physically and becomes consistent techler versus the run.
You know, obviously seeing some of those capabilities and strengths there.
I think you're going to see that consistently, that he's

(20:53):
a guy that you know we have to coach up
the physicality, but the speed and you know ail the
vertical speed quarterback manipulation where he can play around and
almost bait a quarterback because when you have that kind
of first step quickness to react, you can almost bait
quarterbacks on some of those moves. I saw a couple
of people talk about maybe a little grabby, maybe over

(21:17):
confident in that, so you could get a little bit
on the double moves where he thinks he's baiting the quarterback,
but they're actually baiting him on the double move. So
we could see some things there. But again, some of
the catchup speed allows you to be a little bit
more aggressive in that space. One of the negatives some
people had was that he had no versatility to play
on the slot, But we needed him for the outside,

(21:37):
so that's not really a big negative for us. We
needed an outside corner, so some of those things I
think are mitigated a little bit. And I think I
saw he missed a couple games due to a shoulder injury,
but I know Kyle Trimble had said he didn't see
any long term issues from that. He came back and
played really well in the snaps when he came back

(21:59):
later on. Some of his best games were in his
return from there. So a guy that easily could have
shut it down Kentucky didn't have a ton going on
late in the season to come back and play for it,
but he came back and played, including late game against
Texas in Louisville where he came back. And I think
that that snap you talked about against AAA Bond was
after his return from injury, so in a spot where

(22:21):
he easily could have shut it down and said he
was just focusing on the draft, and instead came back
and played. So I respect that.

Speaker 1 (22:26):
Yeah, I think that's one of the things that was
nice to see, and also not the any fault of
his own, but it was kind of like annoying when
doing his evaluation because there wasn't a ton of twenty
twenty four tape because of the injury he played. To
pull up my notes here, I played the first four
games of the year, got hurt in that fourth game
in Week four, and then didn't play again until week twelve.

(22:48):
But you know you have the tape there from Texas
from Louisville against Georgia, even against South Carolina, and then
then his evaluation went back. Watched a bunch of twenty
twenty three tape was playing again, the mesag a.

Speaker 2 (22:58):
Ton of the production with the fives and yeah, and he.

Speaker 3 (23:02):
Was even he had a different number. I'm glad he
switched to one. Thirty one just was not.

Speaker 1 (23:07):
I don't know if it was his frame or the
font on the jerseys, but like the thirty one pissed
me off in twenty twenty three, such a stupid thing
to be annoyed at.

Speaker 3 (23:15):
But it like annoyed me watching it.

Speaker 1 (23:18):
But what was nice to see was it wasn't like
a completely different player, like all of a sudden he
had this huge glow up or he was one of
those guys where it was like, man, forget the twenty
twenty four tape.

Speaker 3 (23:28):
The twenty twenty three tape is so great.

Speaker 1 (23:29):
I hate that, Like that's what That's how everybody tried
to sell me on kyri Elam and I wasn't buying it.
I don't want to play that game again. And so
you saw positive flashes that you saw in twenty twenty
three you saw again in twenty twenty four, and you
saw that capability in again both zone but also the
functionality in MAN, and that athletic profile physically but also

(23:51):
from a traits perspective but also from a skill set
perspective translates to Man. You also get that ability and zone.
You haven't skewed your sliders one way or the other.
It just it just fits with what they want without
having to.

Speaker 3 (24:05):
You don't have to.

Speaker 1 (24:06):
It's a good way to put it, like, you don't
have to rob Peter to pay Paul like they did
with Tyer Reeland previously, or even Will Johnson to a
degree who I do like, I mean, injury concerns are
legitimate concerns at this point. He fell out of the
first round most likely because of them, and I do
think there are concerns from a athletic profile standpoint, which
is part of why he didn't test. But one of
my concerns with Johnson was, you know, not a ton

(24:29):
of foot speed, not a ton of long speed or
recovery speed. And he's a really good off coverage zone
corner who wins with like anticipation and IQ and the
ability to diagnose.

Speaker 3 (24:40):
But that's a hard way to live. To always have
to be.

Speaker 1 (24:43):
On From a mental standpoint, I wanted somebody who could
do a little bit of the zone and a little
bit of the man, and Harriston is that guy for that.
And it's just I just hope he can clean up,
clean up some of the over aggressiveness on some of
his jumps and brakes, and don't don't get fooled on routes,
don't get beat by you know, double moves, eliminate some
of the grabbiness, fix some of your angles and decisions

(25:05):
when it comes to tackling, and.

Speaker 3 (25:07):
Maybe add on like five to seven pounds and we
should be in good shape.

Speaker 2 (25:10):
Brandon Bean had a really good comment in his reactions here, saying, yes,
he could be a bit bigger and more physical, but
if he had that going for him, he would have
been a top five pick. That's fair. Like the reason
he's available at thirty is that he didn't check every
single box. But if he had all those things, if
he was bigger and more physical, he would have been
a slam dunk. It's the first corner.

Speaker 1 (25:31):
That's similar kind of what I like Alfred Collins, the
defensive tackle from Texas, and I just keep saying, like
if he was just average as a pass rusher, he'd
be a first round block, like easy, because of how
good he is as a run defender. So if he
had this other thing in a little bit, he'd be complete.
He wouldn't even be a shot for the Bills. Say
that's a fair point, and again that speaks to his
coverage capability and the coverage versatility and the tools and

(25:53):
the traits like it just that stuff plays like people
like eleanor Roosevelt, like dudes that are fast.

Speaker 2 (26:00):
A couple of people here saying Ken Coleman and Max
Harriston alone make the Bill's locker room one of the
funniest and most positive vibes in the whole NFL. Everybody
was talking about. His seat in the draft room was
the closest to the stage, and he was like super
pumped and excited and dapping up every single guy as
they got picked, Like who's this guy in the blue jacket?
Like it's just crazy positive energy and vibes. So I

(26:22):
like that as a overall, you know, kind of the
kind of guy that we're bringing in there seems to
have a lot of positive energy and play with a
lot of confidence.

Speaker 3 (26:32):
Yeah, which is nice.

Speaker 1 (26:33):
To see, you know, especially with the on field stuff
that like may have kind of lingered. I think that
that was part of for me, like why I had him.
If we're just talking from a pure tape perspective, like
you could make the case that he could.

Speaker 3 (26:45):
Have been like corner four for me.

Speaker 1 (26:47):
I think he's corner four for some people, like like
you mentioned, like he's got good tape and good traits.
For me, it was like all kind of the off
the field stuff, and so it's nice to kind of
see these again. And it's not necessarily ticket it one
way or the other, but kind of the initial return
on investment with the attitude and the positivity things and
that type of deal, and it kind of makes you

(27:08):
feel like, Okay, maybe maybe the smoke was just smoke,
or maybe accusations were just accusations, and maybe there wasn't
you know, too much to it, which again I know
a lot of people separate that.

Speaker 3 (27:17):
For me, it's it's harder. So I think it's nice
to see some kind of off the field stuff being reflected.

Speaker 2 (27:23):
Harrison said tonight that he weighs one ninety two today.

Speaker 3 (27:26):
Oh yeah, but I wanted someone to follow and be like,
are you going to play at that.

Speaker 1 (27:29):
Yeah, it's not what you're playing at because I wanted
to want to be like, well, once July comes around,
I'll be back to one eighty three.

Speaker 2 (27:35):
Yeah, And he said he could still bust out the
four point two eight at one two.

Speaker 3 (27:39):
Well, that's a good thing. Even even if it made
him slower, he'd still be like in the mid four threes, which.

Speaker 2 (27:44):
Is he's still be by far our fastest guy, by
far fastest.

Speaker 1 (27:48):
Like, yeah, it's not like, oh, well man, yeah, he
puts it on, He's gonna be in the four fives again.

Speaker 3 (27:52):
That's that's fun.

Speaker 1 (27:53):
It's also I like this pick from a a conversation
standpoint in terms of the direction for their corner grouping,
Like we've had Trey, which was who was very technically sound,
and a lot of their corners have operated in that
realm right like the Levi Wallaces and the Dane Jackson's
where they were more heady than they were athletic, they

(28:16):
were more responsible than they were aggressive, or like Juice Filed,
and then recently it's been kind of bigger, longer physical
corners like Russell Douglas and Christian Benford and the only
time they went for more like Tracy or athletic in
the profile was Kyrie Elam and that's when the one
time they waded into those waters and it did not

(28:37):
work so good.

Speaker 3 (28:38):
So I'm excited. I love it.

Speaker 2 (28:42):
Real analytics that does the like game speed scores in
those different pieces, they just reinforced that it was not
just track speed and this showed up on film. So
they had him their IgA score, which is their end
game athleticism score. They had him in the ninety seven percentile.
They had his max speed in game at twenty one

(29:04):
and a half miles per hour, which is ninety fourth percentile.
So this wasn't just track speed. This is a guy
who showed it consistently on film in the game. So
that's the group that takes for anybody who's in aware.
They do the artificial intelligence tracking watching all the guys
on film and then apply that to their actual athleticism

(29:24):
and then rank that for all the other players. So
just scored very very well in all his athleticism scores
there against ninety seventh percentile on their overall in game
athleticism score. So again, I yeah, that makes me really
happy because sometimes you do see those rass scores that
are very much like track athlete driven and the fact

(29:45):
that that directly correlates to on field athleticism and in
game athleticism is a big, big, big boost.

Speaker 1 (29:52):
For me, especially now where so many guys like literally
train for the combine and the testing like they do
for like they train for the forty, they tra for
their ten yard splits, they trained for the shuttle on
the three cones.

Speaker 3 (30:03):
So it's not like you're not like gaming the system,
but it's it's it's.

Speaker 1 (30:08):
Gotten a little bit, i think, further away from being
almost like a true measurement of someone's actual ability. And
to your point, yeah, you see it. Go look at
that clip where he runs down Isaiah Bah. He gets
turned inside out and runs him down. You see the
closing speed and then then you see the explosion at
the end because not only does he close, he locates
the football, goes up high points and just to Kimba

(30:29):
mctumbo one hand swats it out of the air like
that right there is just we we haven't seen that
in the Bills corner room really ever, because we haven't
because they haven't drafted that and the one guy they
did couldn't get on the field.

Speaker 2 (30:42):
So anybody who hasn't seen yet, go find the video
where Dean Dawkins was on Live with the DraftKings guys.
As it was going he his he was calling for
Max Max Hurston during that pick and as he did it,
he screamed, celebrated and jumped in his pool live ony air. Okay,
fun video at the end.

Speaker 3 (31:00):
I love what you can tell that.

Speaker 1 (31:01):
You could tell me that, and there's not one part
of me that was like that doesn't sound real, Like
all that was like that all tracks for Yes, I
buy that story.

Speaker 3 (31:09):
I buy the whole.

Speaker 2 (31:11):
Interview here from Maxwell Harrison's beforehand saying I have great
in sixts play cornerback. I trust what I see that
comes from my preparation and homework. When I see something,
I'm not afraid to trigger and trust my instincts. Again,
I like that as well. I think that's a lot
of fun.

Speaker 1 (31:24):
Yeah, and that's why he's allowed he or not allowed,
but he is able to make those plays on the ball,
in zone and in man. But it's also part of
what gets Hm in trouble sometimes because he trust himself
and he's like, oh here I go, and it's like, oh, oh,
something else is coming.

Speaker 3 (31:37):
Let me recover.

Speaker 1 (31:37):
But then he does have the feet and the athleticism
the jews to recover and then make a play from
that perspective, So how.

Speaker 2 (31:45):
About some final thoughts here on where this leaves us again.
I wanted a large human, but I'll get over it.
We got a fast human. We got the fastest human
in the entire draft, so I gotta be happy. We
got a super tradsy at a big needs spot. I
was adamant we needed this first pick to be detackle
or corner just because of the game theory of how

(32:06):
many other options are. I would have gotten over it
if we got to Matthew Golden or Malachi Starks or
even the g hot Campbell, if we got like an
amazing player, I would have gotten over it and I
would have dealt with it. But everything is easier now
because the rest of the picks we checked off one
of the major boxes. So now tomorrow all we need
is one of the two picks to be a d

(32:27):
tackle and then I don't care if the other one
is an edge or a safety or a wide receiver
or whatever it is. Where's your head on addressing one
of those spots? How much of a priority that was
for you, and where do you want them to prioritiest tomorrow.

Speaker 3 (32:41):
I'm in a very similar headspace.

Speaker 1 (32:43):
The only way I would have been happy with Edge
in round one is if mikel Williams from Georgia fell,
and I would have completely had no problem taking him.

Speaker 2 (32:51):
Sure.

Speaker 1 (32:51):
Also if the off the field stuff checked out for
Mike Green, I would have been happy with Mike Green
as well.

Speaker 3 (32:57):
Those were both. Both of these dudes were in my
second two for Edge behind Abdul.

Speaker 2 (33:01):
Carter and Green did not get taken today, right, he.

Speaker 3 (33:04):
Did not, so I guess there's a little more fire
to that smoke.

Speaker 1 (33:07):
I mean, well, he also had multiple accusations for the
same thing, once in at the end of high school
and then once again in college, so that's not a
great look.

Speaker 3 (33:14):
But I again similar boat. That's you know, my my
dream pick in round one was Trey Amos.

Speaker 1 (33:21):
If not I wanted Derek Carmon, I didn't think Harmon
was going to be there, so I was like, Okay,
give me Tyleek Williams or give me Trey Amos, Like
one of those two guys addressed the major need, like
you said. So now as we go into day two,
had picked fifty six and pick sixty two, And for
those who don't know, Greg and I will be recapping
those picks again live tomorrow night like we are tonight.

Speaker 3 (33:40):
I think you look at defensive tackle probably at.

Speaker 2 (33:44):
Fifty six Sanders. Yeah, you're you're looking at more of
a Darius Alexander, more.

Speaker 1 (33:50):
Of a siloed type of guy. Alexander is probably going
to represent the best of both worlds in terms of
pass rush plus run defense ability.

Speaker 2 (33:59):
Well, you get the more ones to guys like an
Alfred Collins or Josh Farmer or an Ormar Norman lot
where they're just going to do the one thing, but
they do the one thing pretty well, yes, which is Alexander.
Maybe Sanders. Sanders is probably more of.

Speaker 4 (34:11):
Just the.

Speaker 1 (34:13):
Fun He's got good tape. If the Bills needed a
three tech, I would go more for Sanders. What's nice
about Alexander is Alexander can play one in the Bills scheme.
Like he's not the biggest guy Sender can play like
all four spots.

Speaker 3 (34:29):
You can also drop into coverage and intercept the quarterback
and take it for a pick six in a bowl game.

Speaker 1 (34:35):
Yeah, he like he's not prototypical for a one tech,
but Daikon Jones plays one between three hundred and seven
and three hundred and ten pounds, So Alexander being a
three zero five isn't crazy. And with his length and
size and ability to anchor and limit displacement against double
teams and also drop the knee and split them, he
can work there. Ogan Jobe can work there a little bit. Again,
I think both guys are more ideally suited for three techs,

(34:57):
but they can moonlight enough as a one that you're
okay there, And then with Alexander, with what he brings
as a pass rusher, then you're kind of sitting pretty there.
If you lean more towards the run defense piece, that's
where I think you're looking towards Alfred Collins.

Speaker 3 (35:10):
Who doesn't offer much as a pass rusher.

Speaker 1 (35:13):
He's more of a length and compression guy and could
to compromise it a little bit. But I mean as
a run defender, he's like a nine out of ten,
just a pure ask.

Speaker 2 (35:21):
I'll even find give me a double dip, like give
me a Alexander or a Sanders or a Norman lot
tomorrow and then early on day three with that one
on nine or one thirty two, Give me a JJ pegis,
give me Jamari Caldwell, maybe Collins falls like, I'm fine
taking two of them. Give me two d tackles. Heck,
if we did it at fifty six and sixty two,
if we just took two right there, and you give

(35:41):
me Darius Alexander and Alfred Collins, okay man.

Speaker 1 (35:45):
And that's also not like out of the realm of
possibility with you got to win Joe be suspended for
these six games and then he's on a one year
so you're gonna need defensive tackle again next year.

Speaker 3 (35:55):
And what is doing to Mark.

Speaker 2 (35:56):
Ones, also on the last year of his deal and
is not even a roster Locke if we're being honest,
like he was the guy who checked the most boxes
of a possible post you in first move. So that
would be if we took two defensive tackles, that would
set off alarm bells for me of like, oh are
we where's that going?

Speaker 3 (36:15):
With yeah, it would either be like, oh, is Daikwon
going somewhere?

Speaker 1 (36:18):
Or is it like, man, are they completely out on
Dwayne Carter and thinking he's like not salvageable and so
they're replacing that. So yeah, I think defensive tackle biggest
priority right now in a perfect world, I'm looking at
defensive tackle on edge, Like if you could give me Alfred.

Speaker 3 (36:33):
Collins and JT.

Speaker 1 (36:34):
TwUI Moloau or Alfred Collins and Olafemi Ola day Hoo.
I think that's a little rich for Ola Dayhoe at
sixty two, but you don't have a third round pick,
and he's going to be.

Speaker 3 (36:43):
There in the fourth.

Speaker 2 (36:44):
I didn't want Landa Jackson at thirty, but I'd be
happy at fifty six.

Speaker 3 (36:47):
Yeah, I don't love him, but I'm okay with him
in the second round.

Speaker 2 (36:51):
Just start same idea, like he's got some of that
compression and some of the again not ideal there. And heck,
we still have guys like Mike Green and Ozuraku haven't
even picked yet. Yeah, that's right. Yeah, So there's there's
a lot of options out there. We had Branden Swinson
in for a visit. I've seen some connections with that
princey woman Malon, so I do think there's a lot
of even Scorton, there's a lot of guys I could

(37:13):
see at that sixty two pick. Also Xavier Watch and
that's the.

Speaker 3 (37:18):
Other like fun thing.

Speaker 2 (37:20):
Worry didn't go in my head?

Speaker 4 (37:22):
Is there?

Speaker 3 (37:23):
I think I'm and Worry is a lie. But that's
a conversation for another time.

Speaker 2 (37:27):
How about so another guy who is maybe more of
the physical freak project part but with more production along
with it. Kevin Winston Junior.

Speaker 3 (37:35):
Oh yeah, from Penn State.

Speaker 1 (37:37):
Didn't play a ton in twenty twenty four some but
just a heat seeking missile on his twenty twenty three
tape just.

Speaker 3 (37:42):
Running through dudes.

Speaker 1 (37:44):
Safety is like the wild card fun pick, like we
mentioned it, like Malchi Starks would have been there at
thirty would that have influenced the Bills a little bit?

Speaker 2 (37:53):
So it's really just those three. And I'll even throw
im and Worry out of there because I agree. I've
had enough people tell me they're not sure if he
actually plays football, but it's like, hey, if you could
get a Winston junior or a Watts, that's to me like, oh,
could they push for playing time or let you play
Taylor rapid dime linebacker or let you mess around. I

(38:15):
loved when we threw in that three two six stuff
last year with three three linemen, two linebackers, three corners,
three safeties. I like that. Once you get past there
and if it's just a dude Derek Forrest can be,
or just a dude like upside athlete, like I don't
need a fifth round safety or just somebody to throw
a dart at because I think dark forest is that

(38:35):
dark sir. But if you have a guy early on,
they could push. I'm fine with that. So that's one
where like either I wanted earlier, I don't care. Then
later on we'll see some linebackers, We'll see you know,
some guards. I think that's a sneaky one where yes,
maybe they invest in the future David Edwards replacement. I
know when I was at the combine, I talked to
Brandon Thorne and his like sneaky draft and developed guy

(38:57):
was doing Fairchild. He said that he said he saw
a lot of like He's like, I don't know how
what the likelihood is, but if he hits, that's why
tell her. So you know, when a guy like Brandon
Thorn says that, I was like okay and wrote that
down real quick.

Speaker 3 (39:12):
That Mark Cuban get from Shark Tank, where like, okay.

Speaker 2 (39:15):
Yeah, Brandon Thorn says, doing first art, Okay, you know,
see I like that. I think d tackle on edge
is the by far the most likely combo tomorrow. In
with the guys that are there where you're talking, there's
five six guys at detackle, there's another six or seven
guys at edge. Just let me have two of those
guys make it to us, give me, you know, uh Derris,

(39:37):
Alexander and old Asia and and we'll roll with it
from there and see what we'll get.

Speaker 3 (39:42):
That's exactly it.

Speaker 1 (39:43):
I'm looking at DT and EDGE, and I wonder if
does somebody fun creep in at safety?

Speaker 4 (39:49):
Is it?

Speaker 3 (39:49):
Exavier Watts?

Speaker 4 (39:50):
Is it?

Speaker 1 (39:50):
And now I'm in a similar point to with safety,
like unless I'm getting Wats from Makuba, I'm kind of
just like I'm good on safety right now. Like I wanted,
I would have taken and starts at thirty gladly, like
I would have had no problems with it.

Speaker 3 (40:03):
But yeah, defensive tackle Edge.

Speaker 1 (40:06):
We'll see if they maybe trade down or do they
do they try to acquire a third. We'll see if
they trade.

Speaker 2 (40:10):
I would prefer that they I won't hate it if
they move up for a Detack or a d end
they'd like and move up from fifty six and use
one of the picks. I love the idea of moving
up from one on nine and getting back into the
late third, use those fifth and sixth to get us
up to eighty eight ninety two something like that to
get up there. So I'd love to have three picks tomorrow.

(40:31):
But we'll see where that where that goes as it happens,
and you find the thoughts on Harriston before we close
out here.

Speaker 3 (40:35):
No, just I like the athleticism. I like the juice.

Speaker 1 (40:38):
You got somebody who's own capable but also a man
coverage capable, and that's a fun thing. Considering how they
built this corner room throughout the McDermott and Brandon Bean
tenure and what the room currently looks like now with
JaMarcus Ingram and Dane Jackson and Trey White and Christian Benford.
It's it's a nice drop in the bucket and into
that room. And he's got fun tape. Eric and I

(41:01):
will be doing a film room tomorrow, well technically today
because it's Friday, twelve thirty am right now, later today,
Maxwell Harrison, that'll be dropping And yeah, I think Bill's
fans have a lot to be excited about.

Speaker 2 (41:14):
Love it. Yeah, I think obviously we know anytime you're
at the thirtieth pick, you're getting an imperfect prospect. You're
never going to get every box checked. So if we're
going to take a combination where we're already an imperfect prospect,
I love the idea that we're getting upside in the
areas we need and that the weaknesses are areas that
we have a track record of really developing and coaching.

(41:35):
So if you're going to take those risks, I like that.
We have youth athleticism, but with production. This is not
a projection. This is not some you know guy who's
never shown the capability of putting it on film. We
have genuine production at the highest level in the SEC

(41:56):
against stud you know NFL wide receivers with leading the
SEC and interceptions, showing the in game athleticism. He's not
a track star that's just you know, learning how to
run the forwardy with precision, but can't show it on
the field like a John Ross or someone like that.
This is someone who's shown it with production on the field,
and that combination gives me a lot of hope and excitement.

(42:19):
We also have a guy with now our cornerback room
now has an incredible amount of depth and floor where
you're talking about Christian Benford, Maxwell Harrison, Tredevius White, and
Dane Jackson. Now that I love Trey White as cornerback three,
I love Dane Jackson as cornerback four. Having that kind
of depth is now fantastic, and that you're not worried
about JaMarcus Ingram and kyer Elm playing snaps in the

(42:41):
playoffs and things like that, where you're now much more
confident in that, Hey, your break glass in case of
emergency is previous NFL starters and guys who can really
produce and show. So I like that combination. I'm excited
about it. We got the fastest guy in the draft,
so I'll take that hot, nasty speed. That's fun with
We've the Bills have always been like the gritty, good

(43:04):
football players who are athletes. I like it that we
got the fastest guy in the draft. That's fun. We
don't normally do that. That's fun.

Speaker 3 (43:10):
No, that's been the thing for years.

Speaker 1 (43:11):
Like it's always like, man, they play with such good
technique and man they're so smart, and it's like I
would like that, but also could I get some juice
to athleticism sometime, Like just want a little sexiness just
a little bit, and to your point, like the floor
and in that court, what happened.

Speaker 2 (43:26):
I literally just remembered I have video of my phone
of me filming Max Harrison running his forty from like
twenty five feet away. I'm gonna go find that post it.

Speaker 3 (43:36):
Yeah, that'll that'll be some good content. And yeah, it's
nice to have the depth in the room.

Speaker 1 (43:39):
And you know, for if and I'm not saying this
isn't if I just don't know what he is or
who he is as a person, if he's willing to
put the work in. From a mental side, it's nice
having Trey White and Dan Jackson in that room, guys
who have been in.

Speaker 3 (43:53):
The system and who know what to do and have
won in the system.

Speaker 1 (43:57):
And especially for a guy like Dan Jackson who doesn't
have all the tools and the tool belt, but was
able to find some semblance of success because of what
he probably plays in between the ears from responsibility standpoints.
So if you can take some of the headiness of
Dane and Trey White and the responsibility and put it
into Hairston's fastest guy in the draft type of body,
that's a fun thing to consider.

Speaker 2 (44:18):
Just retweeted the tweet to find yourself A hype man
like Max Harriston love to see the genuine joy for
all and it's just showing him dapping up every single
guys they're getting picked and being super excited for everybody.
So I just love that energy.

Speaker 3 (44:30):
Yeah, it's a good time.

Speaker 2 (44:31):
It's good time, all right, man, Thank you. As always
is a ton of fun. Come and check us out tomorrow.
Make sure you watch the film Room with Anthony and
Eric's gonna be fantastic. Jump on with us again tomorrow night.
We'll be jumping on after the bill's pick after day
two on behalf of Anthony Borhaska. I'm Greg Thomps that
you have been watching cover one Buffalo in this guy's
coverage and we are out

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Buffalo Bills draft Maxwell Hairston, CB Kentucky | C1 BUF & DC

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Buffalo Bills draft Maxwell Hairston, CB Kentucky | C1 BUF & DC