E.J. Snyder (3:53)

I think Surat is a very solid player right now and that is not backhanded praise. He he is a high floor guy. If we're talking about the wide receiver ranks and a lot of NFL GMs will be interested in high floor wide receivers because they're not going to miss per se. On Elijah Surratt, I see a lot of Michael Pittman Jr. In Eliza Sherrod, how he plays, you know, where he plays, how he got his production. I think again that is where he's probably starting off is the same place Pittman was coming into the league. And if you project Pittman out, you either, you know, depending on your perspective, get excited about that or say, hey, he is who he is. He's been that he's super reliable. I'm interested to see how his continue his career continues in Pittsburgh. But Seurat, I think is one of those guys that there are certain things that will get us excited about certain players. With quarterbacks, it's arm talent. With wide receivers, it's height, weight, speed or production, specifically touchdown production. And every year we see a guy that scored a bunch of touchdowns and everybody goes, he must be great. And I'm not saying he's not a very good football player, but I'm also not saying that that 15 touchdown number is representative of what I think he's going to do at the next level. Again, I think he's going to come in, he's going to play a wide receiver two role, I think from the jump and be pretty good at it again, somebody solid and reliable that you can count on. But if we're talking about 11 to 20, he is my one. Let's see, 17th guy. Wow.

Derrick Brown (5:20)

Okay. Yeah.

Seth Wilcock (5:21)

Okay. Derek, where are you at here on Elijah Sirat, who definitely got more, I think national praise this season working with Heisman Trophy winner Fernando Mendoza. But he was actually like a guy who I thought was in a lot of people's top five receiver rankings coming into the season as after having a race season with Curtis Rourke the year before as well.

Derrick Brown (5:39)

Yeah. So I've got him nestled inside of my top 10 wide receivers which shout out to the wide receiver prospect primer is live on fantasy pros.com right now and I, I agree with everything that EJ's laid out so far with Surat here. I, I think he is an extremely solid wide receiver and my question about Surat is what role does he play in the NFL? Is he going to be a possession perimeter wide receiver? If that's the case, then I could see him settling in as a really solid, dependable, possibly one of the best wide receiver threes in the NFL. When it's all said and done, if you were to tell me he goes into a power slot role which again this version of the NFL, we've talked about this on previous shows. More 12 more 13 more condensed formations, more 2 wide receiver sets. So what is that role worth right now in the NFL? If he goes into more of a power slot role where basically scheme can kind of help him or off coverage, then I'm more into Surat. My question and yes, did he go out and he run the four or five of the pro day and was that surprising?

E.J. Snyder (6:39)

Sure.

Derrick Brown (6:40)

But that that type of play speed you don't see specifically on his film show up all the time. So I will say like and again we've talked about in previous episodes, raw speed for wide receivers is classically overrated. A lot of these guys like give me the 4 or 5, the 46 guy that is route nuance that can get open, that understands leverage and all these types of things and has has the route running bells and whistles over the 4:3 guy that just runs in a straight line and can get pressed into oblivion. But with Surat, it is a question though because he's not an elite tackle breaker. He's not going to give you a crap ton rack yak, what have you. He's just a professional wide receiver where he's going to step into an NFL offense, he's going to get open, he's going to do the dirty work, he's going to catch basically any throw, anything thrown in his neighborhood. What is that worth and what type of role does that look like in the NFL? So it's like the high floor is definitively there. My question is the ceiling for him. So and what the role looks like. But EJ would you be more interested in Surat if we thought he was going to be not even a power slot like a 50, 50 outside inside type of wide receiver? Because at that if that's the case, I could see him being a chain mover and a guy where it's like the athleticism is a problem. But could he carve out like a diet Mountain Dew version of Keenan Allen type of career?

E.J. Snyder (8:02)

Yeah, I think it's a really interesting prospect and I love what you said about the transition to more two wide receiver sets. Is he going to be one of those two even if it's 50% of the time? Or is that power slot role that suits him going to be great but he's only going to be on the field 30% of the time because of the offense he's in. Again, very valuable when he's there, but just not there very much. So for you guys talking about fantasy value, that's a key question. Where does he land? And again, we don't get to, we don't get to say that pre draft we get to see that post and then you guys get to do all your summer content about who settled into great situations and where we're more excited about that or less excited about that. But the Versatility for Surat I think is good because he can win from both spots, possibly even better from the inside, but he's not bad outside at all. He had a ton of production out there, so he's got a ton of experience. It's just about the use and the role he settles into. And we should just say as a sort of umbrella blanket for all these guys that matters so much. We can talk about their skills, we can talk about their production in their system. In college, it all changes when they go to the NFL. Sometimes again for the better, sometimes for the worse. And we don't have the crystal ball that says we know which one that's going to be.

Seth Wilcock (9:13)

Absolutely. Derek. Diet Mountain Dew. I don't even think I've ever ran a Diet Dew. And I don't think it's really on the bingo card for me.

Derrick Brown (9:20)

It's out of the diet drinks. It's definitely not a top three. I. I'll just say that it's not.

Seth Wilcock (9:27)

Okay, but what's. What's the top three? Do you have a. What's the list here?

Derrick Brown (9:31)

Anything zero. Like a Coke Zero. My number 101 is. Is Dr. Pepper zero? It is legit. It is better than all the other diet stuff, but anything zero. So probably Dr. Pepper zero, Coke zero, and then Sprite would be the top three.

Seth Wilcock (9:48)

All right, well, Dr. Pepper, you heard it here first. If you need a college football sponsor, another one for next year, we got you over here, either on fantasy pros or betting pros. And next up, we have a player who was really the lifeblood of arguably the Sunbelt's worst team over the past two years, Georgia State's wide receiver, Ted Hurst. This was a guy who had to go through five different quarterbacks in the past two years, but still produced nearly 127 catches, 2,000 yards, 15 touchdowns across that span. Really lanky X receiver. He didn't make Bruce Feldman's freak list as well. Was on the Blinkov watch list that was named first team all Sun Belt for what that's worth as well. And then came in a lot bigger than I think we were expecting at the combine. At least what he's listed at 64206. So you love to see that. And actually pretty impressive. Showing it in the. In the 40 in the broad jump gave him a 9.92 relative athletic score. That's a razor coming from Math Bomb. 4th best in the class, 33rd best all time. So, Derek, how far has Hearst climbed up in your rankings and what were your takeaways from your film breakdown.

Derrick Brown (10:48)

He didn't have to climb far because I've been extremely high on him since I watched his film before Senior Bowl. Man, I love this kid. And people talk about small school and transition, and a lot of people struggle with this. My thing is the film shows, man. Like, the film tells you, like, can he run routes? Does he have the extra bells and whistles? Does he understand leverage and pacing? And can he play through contact? And, you know, these things allow players. And then you see him go to the Senior bowl and he's doing a lot of the same things that he did at freaking Georgia State. You see the play strength, you see the release package. And I think, again, do we have players that come out of small schools and are they more raw? Fine. You can use that moniker with a lot of different guys. I'm not using it with Ted Hurst. Like, I think that he's a very refined player considering especially the level of competition. And the thing with Hurst is just going through my prospect process. It used to be more like. And I'm not saying that I don't equate analytics, and I do. I heavily do. But over the last few years, I have moved to where I'm weighing a lot more film stuff into all of this than I did, say, three, four years ago. So analytically, Hearst wouldn't be a guy, like, if I were to, like, go back in the Wayback Machine, maybe somebody I'd be that high on. He is my wide receiver 8 of this class right now. I. I freaking love this kid. Like, I think he could go. I. I think because of the small school stuff, he's not going to go in the second round. But I think he's firmly entrenched in that round three conversation, and he should be. And he's getting a lot of buzz with top 30 visits. And the. The one thing that I love about him is the. The frame. You don't see players at his frame. And did he weigh in a little bit heavier than I thought, Especially because of the listed weight on websites? Yes. Do I think that's probably his playing weight? Probably not. Like, I think he's probably like a high 190s guy, but you don't see the frame. When you get these, like, 61621 90s guys, it's like, does the play strength show up? It shows up for days with Ted Hurst, man. Like, he plays bigger than his size in his routes at the catch point. I love his route running. Like, I'm gonna go with the Wayback Machine. Here, ej, my comp for him. For everybody that's not aware, pull up the Google, pull up the YouTube. Sydney rice.

E.J. Snyder (13:02)

Oh, okay.

Seth Wilcock (13:05)

That's some high praise. Okay, EJ, what are your thoughts here on Ted Hurst? I'm a big fan of the G5. I'm a ranker for the media pool, but Ted Hurst is someone who definitely kind of slipped under my radar with Georgia State just really being buried in those conference standings last two years.

E.J. Snyder (13:19)

Now, Ted Hurst, I think the conversation always starts with where he played. That's what you hear first is Georgia State. But one, one of the, I think the underrated things about the new landscape of college football with nil is how many guys were small school guys? How many guys on this list were small school guys? We just talked about it with Elijah Surat, I mean, James Madison. Not necessarily small. Small, but certainly not top of the college football rankings. And then again, they, these guys with all the flexibility that they have in college football now move up a division and you go, oh, still doing it. Or, you know, he couldn't handle the bump up. So when we see guys like this that stayed at a smaller school, I think it's an easier jump for a lot of people looking at him to say, hey, if he'd gone to, you know, a P5 school, we'd be talking about this guy as a, you know, almost guaranteed first round lock because of heightweight, speed, because of the film. And so I really like him as a player. And I realized I should have sort of clarified when I said Elijah Surratt was 17th. That's not 17th on my wide receiver rankings. I took you guys chunk of 11 to 20 and stacked them.

Seth Wilcock (14:23)

Okay?

E.J. Snyder (14:24)

So I didn't, I didn't play with the, the top 10. Those are off limits. So I just took this chunk of, you know, pre formatted 11 to 20 and said, where would I take them and where would I stack them? So for me, Hurst is at the top of my second tier. I have three tiers within this slice of 11 to 20. And he is my top player in my second tier because I believe like DBRO does in the film, right. I believe that there is more there than height, weight, speed. There is more than just him winning with athleticism, which is always what you wor about with a very tall, athletic wide receiver at a lower level of competition. Is he just mossing guys or does he have route nuance? He does. Does he have play strength? Yes. Does he understand leverage? Can he get better at it? Sure. But he already has a. What I would call a very solid base. And I'm not so worried again, not only because of the Senior bowl, but also because of all the things on film that when he makes that next jump to the NFL that he's going to be a fish out of water. I just don't see it. I'm he's a guy that I'm gonna bet on because of the size but also because of the film.

Seth Wilcock (15:26)

And I feel like when you're playing with just kind of a mismash of quarterbacks over the past few years, it really like speaks volumes. Like it wasn't like Alonzo Barnett III is thrown to him or someone like these are bottom of the level FBS quarterbacks that he's working with and was doing a great job. So love to hear that analysis there. Next up we have Bryce Lance out of North Dakota State. This is Trey, Lance's brother who posted back to back 1000 yard seasons in the FCS with 27 combined touchdowns in that span. Size checked out. The combine came in at 63204. The speed off the charts as well. 4.34 second 40 time that helped him to a 9.5. Raz, third best in this class, 20th best all time. EJ, what's your take on Lance and how does him playing at the FCS level as compared to the FBS level like with Ted Hurst, change your evaluation.

E.J. Snyder (16:12)

If it does, you have to consider it. But again you got to go to the film and look at how he won, right? Was it because of the players across from him being of a lesser competition? We always say future insurance salesman or was it because he has high level skills that are going to translate and I I fall in the latter camp? Absolutely. Bryce Lance, he is my second wide receiver in this group in my top tier, you know, could be the first pretty easily because he provides a scare for defenses that other wide receivers in this class just don't. Talking about 21.2 per catch, one of my favorite stats for all wide receivers is yards per Rouse run. His is absurd. It's 3.58. Wow, that's JS. That's approaching JSN Puka Nukua territory. Like that is top level stuff and you see it on film. 6.7 in terms of yards after catch per reception. Like you said, over a thousand yards. Also hell of a blocker at North Dakota State. Bryce Lance was perfectly positioned for North Dakota State shift to being a passing offense. They've traditionally been a running offense and even when like Christian Watson was there he Was their one guy. They throw the ball a lot more. That's why their quarterbacks getting a lot of look in this draft. And it's because of Bryce Lance, because he can get down the field. He is incredibly athletic, I'll say balletic, right. He reminds me of Gonzalez, the corner in New England who plays in a different way. When you watch him move around the sideline, the way he is able to control his body in the air around the end line and you see all those gifts, you see the speed on tape. There's some guys we're going to talk about on this list that ran really fast on the track. Didn't look that way all the time in pads. Bryce Lance like literally just running away from people. If you miss, he's gone. He is going to do that. And defenses have to play you differently. I mentioned Watson earlier in Green Bay. When Watson is on the field, the packers offense is different. Defenses have to play them differently. When he's not, they go, oh yeah, you got a whole bunch of number twos. We're just going to compress. We're not scared of you anymore. When Watson gets on the field, they go up better leave a guy back. Maybe, maybe two, maybe a guy and a half. And Bryce Lance brings that same level of oh yeah, you gonna. So while he's not necessarily going to be my wide receiver one or anything else, he is a guy that brings a very particular skill set. It's also well rounded. Wins in the middle of the field, wins at short and medium depths, takes short targets and turns them into long ones again, has a high floor as a blocker. This is a player I'm really, really excited about as he moves to the next level because I don't really care where he goes. We just talked about how scheme dependent it is. I think he's a bit scheme agnostic because he can kind of do a little bit of everything and certain things at a very high level that are rare.

Seth Wilcock (19:01)

Derek, this has to be music to your ears because you have a similar comp, if not the same comp. And I think at this point you're not only an nil booster for North Dakota State, but I think your kids have already committed as well. So what do you have here to add on Bryce Lance?

Derrick Brown (19:15)

Green and yellow, baby. We're bleeding it, we're wearing it. All the things. But seriously, man, it's just it. We just talked about Ted Hurst. Same things with Bryce Lance. The film tells all. Dude, like the film. I'm not worried about the transition from small school to the NFL. Like this guy's ridiculous, ridiculous athlete and I'm not helmet scouting. There's a lot of Christian Watson to his game. That's why Compton said he's Christian Watson 2.0. There are some differences. I thought Watson honestly was a little bit more of a refined player coming out as in terms of release package and a little bit more route nuance than than Lance. And that's not shading Lance at all. But I watched Christian Watson go to the freaking Senior bowl and nobody could cover this dude. Like he was just like a Greek God out there. Nobody could touch him, nobody could press him. He was just getting open on every single rep. But Lance, I am sky high on him, man. Like in this class, he's my wide receiver 9 you. He forms a wonderful tier in this class that I think is going to define this wide receiver draft class where Ted Hurst, Bryce Lance, these guys that are on that like round two, round three fringe. And because of how fast he ran and how well he tested, I think Bryce Lance could get make his way into the second round. I won't be shocked by that. But because the NFL like they double count speed every single year. So the guys that get into that 4, 3 range, whether it's right or wrong, they get bumped a little bit because that's what the NFL consortium does. They double count speed. It just happens, man. They can't stay away from it. That hot, nasty, dirty speed. The NFL loves it and Lance has it for days. But to EJ's point, he also adds route running ability. He also also adds the after catch ability. And the thing that I want to talk about specifically too is his hands are freaking fantastic. You don't see guys like Bryce Lance that have a 14.18 out in college and a 15.58 out in his final freaking season, walk away from College with a 3.8% drop rate. That doesn't happen. And this has to get brought up because it's not like he was force fed like underneath targets, screens, all this around the line of scrimmage stuff. We're talking about a guy, the degree of difficulty down the field is heavy. So the fact that he's walking away from college with that low of a drop rate is freaking fantastic, man. And it speaks to the fact of coming out of the small school, he is more refined than people would give him credit for as well as being a player that. Yes. Like whether you would Talk about the ADOT in 2025, 30% of his freaking target volume was 20 yards or more downfield. This guy wins at all three levels. I think he can be and grow into being a wide receiver one for an NFL offense. Do I think that he needs to do that coming from North Dakota State in year one? No, I want him to be a wide receiver two or three for an NFL offense. Learn the ropes, get the chops, have the growing pains and not be asked to carry an NFL offense. But if we flip over the cards in three years, could he be that guy? Absolutely. And it will not shock me at all. Ej, your thoughts? Do you think he has the wide receiver one upside?

E.J. Snyder (22:20)

Yeah, I do. And I think again, his in terms of the way his profile goes and it's for a different reason. And I'm not saying he is this guy, to be clear. But if we look at the pro progression of jsn, right? His first year, not a great offense, didn't get used to his potential. Everybody said, oh, JSN is just a slope. He has to be there, right? Yeah. Don't speak his name as a Chicago fan, I don't want any watering this chair. But no. And then second year, oh, he's starting to break out. Oh, look, he can play outside. All of us that scouted him at Ozda, we're like, yeah, we know, and he's going to be really good there. And we've been saying it for two years. And then obviously year three happens, gets the massive contract. You know, a key reason that the team that won the super bowl did, Bryce Lance, I think could have a similar trajectory, different player play is differently built, differently than jsn. He's not jsn. But I'm saying in terms of that first year, could be learning the ropes again. Like you said, could be a wide receiver, two wide receiver, three could play in the slot, could play outside, might play a little bit of both. Is a gadget player, right? They gave him tons of jet sweeps and handoffs because he's just fast. You get one block for this guy. If he can beat your safety, which he can because he breaks angles all the time, you're getting six out of it. So we might see kind of a scattered, inconsistent usage. And a lot of people will probably come back to podcasts like this and go, ha. See, you're wrong. He only had like 550 yards. And you're like, okay, cool, call me in two years, right? Oh, the next year, oh, he had like 900 yards. Oh, okay. Next year, oh, 1300 yards and just dominating and nobody can cover. Oh, okay. Nah, nobody will come back then. By the way, that just doesn't happen.

Derrick Brown (24:01)

No, they won't come back to that conversation. Nope, nope.

Seth Wilcock (24:04)

Never, Never do. And folks, we are of course going to get into more wide receiver talk here on today's podcast. But just a quick reminder that if you want true real word world discussion on the NFL, it's time to subscribe to the Tailgate on YouTube or follow the Tailgate podcast. Wherever you listen to podcasts, the Tailgate is not another fantasy channel. No, it goes beyond the box score to cover the NFL draft, the roster moves that actually move the needle both on offense and defense, and the big picture NFL stories that will define the league year. So come and talk and park it right here on the tailgate. For all the news takes and real world football talk, just search tailgate NFL on YouTube and and hit subscribe or find the Tailgate on your favorite podcasting platform.

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Conversations about volleyball go beyond the court. Today we have a little best friend compatibility test. Okay, and how long have we been best friends for? Since the day we met. As the League 1 volleyball season heads towards its final stretch, there's no better time to tune in. We really are like Yin and yang, vodka and tequila. You'll hear unfiltered analysis, behind the scenes stories and conversations with leaders making an impact across the sport. Today we have Logan Lednecki. I feel like our fan base in general is very connected.

Derrick Brown (25:44)

Just like a comforting feeling getting to play at home.

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Seth Wilcock (26:16)

Gentlemen, we only have one Big 12 wide receiver. We're featuring on today's show and it's the man who actually led the conference in receiving yards this past season with nearly 1200 is TCU's wide receiver Eric McAllister. Three star prospect was really in the midst of a breakout 2023 season with the Boise State Broncos. The totaled over 900 yards just about in nine games, then left the program midseason to enter the portal early. That move paid off though. He was a 2025 Third Team All American, First Team All Big 12 wide receiver and a Balintikov Award semifinalist. He checked into the combine at 63194 but was pretty poor in testing overall. Finished with a 5.86 raz DBRO. Does that diminish the overall impressive portfolio that we've seen McAllister build up over the past few seasons?

Derrick Brown (27:02)

No, I'm not worried about it. I think the film tells everything I need to know and then you know, the analytics just jump off the page man. And I think the merriment between analytics and the film, again going back to this, this is a player that we're I think it's real and I mean let's just start this conversation off proper man. Over the last three years he is ranked 26, 16th and 15th, so top 26 in every single freaking season amongst FBS wide receivers. At least 50 targets and yards per route run in 2025, fourth and missed tackles force per attempt. I'll give some context to that stat in a second though. 14th and fourth in Yak per reception over the last two years. So we're just checking boxes here man. Like and a lot of this stuff shows up on his film. He is a dangerous run after the catch threat and it's more build up speed than it is electric burst off of the line. And I think you see that kind of with because again getting into more of like the nuance of his prospect profile. Possibly broke his foot at his pro day where he ran a 4.56 40 Jones fracture. You want to go back to even before that in 2026 he had an knee scope in January. Before that he dealt with a hamstring injury in 2025. So there is some injury concerns and a lot of like recent stuff with all with you know and we haven't even gotten into the off the field Stuff. In 2024 he was arrested for aggravated assault, threatening somebody with a gun and stuff. So a lot of stuff even before we get to the analytics and the skill set to kind of sift through here. But dude the talent Is real for him. McAllister's film is fun, man. Like TCU just asked him to go be big and win on slants just religiously. And he did it and he did it and he did it and he did it. So like, and that. But that's not the only part of his game. Like, can he win on the. In breaking routes and the short area stuff? Yeah, he could do that because he did it religiously. But also the ball tracking, man, there is so much vertical stem route with the vertical route tree with him where he is tracking balls and one handed catches and contested stuff where he just makes it look freaking easy where you're like, oh, okay, I know tcu. I get it. I get the problems and the pitfalls and all the worries with the QJs of the past and Jaylen Ragers and. But Mallister. Yes, man, yes.

E.J. Snyder (29:26)

But I, okay, I'm gonna, I, this is where I'm gonna interject with Josh Dock, because this is a conversation that we get to have about guys we were super high on that didn't work out. And also later we'll have a conversation about guys that not very many people were super high on that did work out. And everybody in recency bias goes back and says, oh yeah, I was, you know, I was a huge Nico Collins guy. Oh yeah, show me that pre draft,

Derrick Brown (29:48)

please, Please pre draft. Post that profile.

E.J. Snyder (29:51)

I thought he was good, but, you know, did you think he was going to be Nico Collins? And the answer is no. The guy I thought was going to be who Nico Collins is Josh Dachshund. Like 108 receptions, 1300 yards, 14 touchdowns. This is his final season. 17 per reception, 4.08 yards per out run. That's like ridiculous.

Derrick Brown (30:16)

That's legend. That's like Devonta Smith mode.

E.J. Snyder (30:19)

Yeah, so. And again, you know, 108 targets, 78 catches. Like, this was an experienced guy with good physical profile. Statistically, he was off the charts. Film was good. Can't miss, right? We hear it all the time. Can't miss, missed. Like, did not pan out in the NFL. Whereas Nico, his last full season, 66 targets, only 37 catches, 729 yards, seven touchdowns, 19.7 PER was the big number. He was, when he caught it, it was down the sideline. That was great. Yards per outrun was good 2.31, but not anything that was making you think that's Nico Collins of the Houston Texans. And it's just one of those, like everybody will go back and say this guy was can't miss. And this guy was on very few people's radar. The pros again situation has so much to do with it. And if it weren't for the off the field stuff with McAllister, I would be saying irresponsible things about him. Like I'm still going to say same irresponsible things about him but like, and I'm talking about, yes, possibly broke his foot. You don't want to see that with a wide receiver. The off field stuff, again, can't speak to that. Don't have it directly, but it's definitely in the mix when you look at what he did. 119 targets, they threw the ball to him all the time to your point. Slants, yeah sure, one on slants for sure. But this guy is a backside dig merchant and we are going to go into the weeds a little bit on backside dig and why it's so important for McAllister because you talked about yards after the catch and a lot of people will say, oh, are they running away people from people. They're running through people. His ability to pull away from contact is uncanny. There's just not another word for it. He can pull through single tackles in a way that a lot of other players, running backs, tight ends, wide receivers, just can't. Just don't. And it's that reason for when we're talking about yards after the catch per reception. His is 7.9 of everybody else in this tier. We're talking about 4, 3.5.3, 5.3, 4.8, 4.8, 6.3 is pretty good. That's Nico's by the way. Right. But everybody else in this current 11 to 20 chunk that we're talking about, it's down there. His is almost 8. And the reason is again backside dig merchant, if he ends up, I put out a post not long ago that if he ends up in a Kyle Shanahan offense, Shanahan tree backside dig is a staple but it is also the last route that you go to in that progression here all the time. They're never going to make it to the backside dig. As a result, defenses are hard pressed to double cover that or even coverage and a half right cloud corner. They're not going to. They're going to single cover that route. If you single cover that route with McAllister and he pulls through the tackle, there's nobody there. And he's like a 4. I know he ran a 4, 5, 6 on film. He's a mid 4 4.

Derrick Brown (33:12)

Agreed.

E.J. Snyder (33:12)

Like he runs away from people. So if he Catches that route that nobody's looking at, that's the third one in the progression and pulls away. It's however many yards are left till the end zone, right? It's a 30 yard route, it's a 40 yard route, it's a 60 yard route. It's whatever it is. And he did it over and over and over again at tcu. And I know that sounds like an ultra finite point, but it is a route that is run in a lot of the NFL and he did it over. And this is again not like 37 catches for Nico. We're talking about 119 targets, 71 catches, well over 1100 yards. He did it over and over and over again. And then you're just like, man, this guy just. He's not unstoppable. But he pulls through that contact far more often than other guys in his position. And because of the route and the positioning on the field and the defensive alignment typically and sort of the defensive emphasis of de emphasizing that route, he's on an island more often than not. And if he beats that guy, he's gone. And I love that about his game. That's my favorite thing about McAllister.

Derrick Brown (34:15)

Is it borderline reckless, the fact that I have him as my wide receiver, 11 of this draft class. C.J.

E.J. Snyder (34:23)

on field, on tape.

Seth Wilcock (34:24)

No, I don't think it is.

E.J. Snyder (34:26)

And you know, can consensus. I still see him. Oh, he's 187. Like he's way down there. When I got to his film, which was late because trying to do these roughly in order same, I was like wait a minute. And then I went to the stats, right? I go to the film first and I go to the stats to try and, you know, clarify what I'm seeing. And I was like what? And so I watch more film and I'm looking for the loophole. I'm looking and the loophole for him is off the field because on the field there is not a way to keep him out of the top. I would say 15. And I know a lot of people are going to say that's terribly irresponsible. And again they're going to go back to TCU and everything else. And I get it. Like I was at Dachshund Stan. I loved him. He was way up high.

Derrick Brown (35:09)

I was a regular Stan. I get it.

E.J. Snyder (35:11)

Me too. And I'm going to go back to McAllister because I can see the projection. Is it going to happen? We don't know. We don't know if he's going to end up in a Shanahan offense. Is he going to keep his nose clean off the field? Is his foot going to heal the right way? We don't know. But from what we saw when he's healthy on the field, he is an absolute force in that particular role. And it. Those are skills that translate. Yeah.

Seth Wilcock (35:34)

Are we thinking likely day three pick here? Is that like just because the off fields. Okay. Yeah.

Derrick Brown (35:38)

I think at best you're looking at round four. But I mean, if he depending on everything. And I think the one damning thing too is the Jones fracture. Like that really is. Because again, it's like, what do you get out of him in his rookie season? What does that look like? Is it problematic healing? A lot of the guys, like don't come back like cleanly from those. So, you know, we've seen that time and time again, so I think that that really hurts him. So could he drop to the round five? Possible man. But again, this is a guy where I'm betting on talent because of talent wins out and in the health and all that kind of stuff. And you know, we don't know the all field stuff as far as, like, how is he interviewing with teams? What does that look like? What are those conversations like if we were, you know, fly on the wall in that room and all those go spectacularly. Then again, based off the film, the analytics and the talent, I'm in on McAllister. And the last point I'll make here too, is because he was otherworldly and missed tackles forced in 2025, the small bit of context, and this is not shading him, but giving context to this, he did have 27 missed tackles forced in 2025. Eleven of those came against freaking SMU and Iowa State, which couldn't tackle to save their freaking lives. So even if you take those away, and I'm not saying we take all this stuff away, I don't want to take like, I don't want to be that guy that says take the big plays away. And what does he do even if you take those away? 16 missed tackles. Force is still really freaking good. And if you wanted to give him like a smattering of two or three, he'd still be extremely high in this class. But just talking about context, like we're doing here, 11 and two games, is otherworldly and ridiculous. That's more of talking about those programs and the defenses he was facing than really his talent.

Seth Wilcock (37:15)

So, yeah, and I'm a big Josh Hoover guy. I've always believed in his talent. I will say though, McAllister I think is a big reason why he got that big nil offer to go to Bloomington and replace Fernando Mendoza. So someone we will certainly be talking about next year in our quarterback previews. Let's get on to a wide receiver that was at four separate schools in four years. He slot maven Kevin Coleman out of Missouri. He was recruited by Prime Time to play at Jackson State as a freshman, put up about 500 yards that season, then transfers to Louisville as a sophomore, then Mississippi state as a junior where he finished second in SEC in receptions with 74, fifth in receiving yards with 900 plus. Then goes to Mizzou this past season, works with Beau Pribiola where he again finished top five in the conference in receptions with 66. However, pretty poor combine form. Comes in at just 5:11.179 ran a 4.49 second 40 yard dash that gave him a 6.45. Raz based on that EJ, do you see Coleman as anything more than really like a replacement level inside receiver at the next level?

E.J. Snyder (38:18)

I really like him. I know that there's a lot of reasons to be cool about Kevin Coleman's overall draft prospect. For me that makes it exciting because I think he is going to get drafted on day three and I think he is going to outperform. Yes, he is going to overperform and it's again, I don't think that he deserves to be a day one or two wide receiver. He again is a guy whose tape I got to later on who has high profile teammates that I was watching first and whatever else you get down to his film, he's just a really good wide receiver. Is he the best athlete? No. Is he the biggest? Absolutely not. Is he very good at being a wide receiver? Is he very good at finding space, making the catch, being productive? Again, the numbers aren't going to blow you away either for his physical stats or his production stats. When you watch the film, I'm surprised that more people aren't talking about him. However, because of those limitations, even in this we're talking about this block of 11 to 20 again and where did I stack him? He's my second lowest wide receiver. But I like him. It's. It's not a you ended up here because you don't have any talent or I don't like you. It's that's still probably a lot higher than most people are talking about him. Again. If you look for Kevin Coleman on consensus boards, you're scrolling for a while. Yeah, he is down the list, right? I think to me that's cool. Keep sleeping. No problem. Somebody's going to get him for low draft capital. He is going to get drafted, he's going to end up in camp and they're going to be that guy that like, you know, and it's probably going to be QB2, quite frankly, who finds this guy and goes, man, he's open every time, like I throw it to him, he catches it every time. Might not be the biggest Yak guy. He might not moss anybody. He might not break that tackle like McAllister and go 60 yards. But every time I need eight yards, that guy is on time on the spot, makes the catch, I can just throw it in his direction and I feel pretty good about it. I can't say it about all the rest of these guys on my maybe, you know, scout team who are wide receivers five to maybe 10 in camp. Like he's going to rise during that period. That might only be to the level of wide receiver four or five on somebody's team if he makes the 53 might be practice squad his first year, but he's just going to be that guy that everybody loves throwing to because he does his job deeper.

Seth Wilcock (40:34)

What are your thoughts on Coleman?

Derrick Brown (40:35)

I echo a ton of what EJ just laid out here. You have not heard his name. KCJ has not been brought up in this draft process a whole lot. Like people have talked about a number of other freaking players. He's my wide receiver, 13 in this class. Man, I really, really, really like this kid. And for everything I look at the, the place that I wanted him to go now obviously they changed this up and, and Brian Dave all brought his boy with him. But I was like the Giants like yeah, why give Wando like my comp for him is, is 20, 25 Wandell Robinson. And I say that version of Wanda Robinson because the thing that, that I, I love about Kevin Coleman Jr's game, that yes he is a slot player but he adds a verticality element to his game with his route running and hap like not only how he's used, but he can win in that fashion that you don't see out of every slot wide receiver that's just not part and parcel of their toolbox. He can do that. So I was like, yeah, Giants let Wanda go. Just draft Kevin Coleman Jr. In round four, round five. And you're getting a similar like skill set out of a guy that can beat zone coverage. Also last two years, 17th and fifth in missed tackles for. So is he incredibly Athletic, like for the testing? No, but the film shows it, man. Like, he is way more athletic than the testing will give you. Like, I'm not worried about the speed. I'm not worried about he plays bigger than his size and that play strength shows up. Like, we're talking about a player that again, finishes College with a 53.7% contested catch rate. You don't see that out of slot wide receivers. You just don't. And so the ability to add verticality from the slot, the ability to beat zone coverage, I think he could be a starting slot in the NFL from day one. Now, is he probably going to get drafted and is that going to be the case? No. But a player that I believe has the talent, the route nuance and the skill set to climb up a depth chart and we were looking at going into 2027. Is he a starting wide receiver in the NFL? I think he absolutely could be. And I, again, I'm hoping the NFL surprises us and maybe he goes in round four and the draft capital is better than anybody is projecting out there because again, his name is not being talked about. He is not being discussed. I will not be shocked if the NFL is higher on him than any like the draft space outside of us. Any, you know, us guys talking about him here, where again, we see this every single year where guys get drafted and everybody kind of like does a head turn and they're like, whoa, really, like, he went here. I, I'm not saying that he gets in around two, round three, I, I don't think that that happens. But top of round four, I could see it, I really could. And I, and I think the film and the analytics kind of line up. Would you be surprised, ej, if he goes round four?

E.J. Snyder (43:27)

Not at all. And again, depending on the need and what a wide receiver room looks like that he's going into, if they have a ready made slot for him, I think, and no pun intended, ready made roster slot for a slot machine. You know, I think he could be tremendous and I, you know, I can see the Onedale comp pretty easily and it is a high volume, but I'm going to do a lot with those. I'm going to catch a high percentage of them and I'm going to pay off more of them than you think I should. Again, not everybody knows my name. Very few people know my name right now. But I'm going to change that through my play. Right.

Seth Wilcock (44:03)

All right, let's keep it moving here. Last episode we broke down Makai Lemon. Now we're Going to talk about his counterpart out there in Southern California. Jacoby Lanu has been a really, really steady producer in this Lincoln Riley offense the past two seasons. As a sophomore he had 12 receiving touchdowns which was top five nationally. And then as a junior comes back really dipped in the touchdown department. Down to four. But overall production jumped up to 49 catches, 745 yards. Really was a chain mover for Jade Maeva and this offense and also had a pretty strong showing out in Indy a couple weeks ago. Right. Checks in at 6 4, 200 pounds, runs a 4.47, second 40 grades out elite in the jumps as well. Overall he finished with a 9.39. Raz. So Derek, has Lane done enough for you to maybe secure a spot on day two?

Derrick Brown (44:48)

I don't think day two. I think he's probably like around four guy. Maybe he does and he surprises me. I like Lane a lot. He's my wide receiver, 15 of this class. I look at he's a very similar archetype for me and I'm curious where EJ comes down on this but like for me he's kind of like in that Kenny Golladay kind of phylum where tall lanky guy. Like really I don't see like elite separation skills from him but he can get downfield. It's more build up speed, good ball tracking, flashes, body control. My thing is I, I think hips are a little bit tight, like can't stop on a dime and stuff like that. So what is the NFL route tree that he's asked to do and how high end of a target earner is he at the NFL? But like Golladay is kind of like the fever. If everything works out, that's who he could be. So I like him. I don't love love him but I definitely think there's a lot of utility here and some of this comes down to what NFL offense he goes into and can he continue to hone some of like basically can he sink his hips better? Can he polish the footwork if the hips are going to can still be like a constraint. Can he get the footwork down to where you know you're asking him to run a more developed route tree in the sense of like comeback curls, high volume routes.

Seth Wilcock (46:02)

So ej, any thoughts on lane?

E.J. Snyder (46:05)

A lot of them. I really liked his work at the combine and when I'm on the field at the combine and I have my sheets, I make a C mark next to guys that do very well typically in the on field drills if they perform well, in the athletic testing, that's, that's less of a thing for me. Getting to watch the entire, pretty much the entire wide receiver class go back to back in the same drill, five seconds apart is incredibly valuable. You watch 15 guys do it in rapid fire and you go, oh, those three were different. Right lane got a bunch of marks for me. He was a C when I came home. One of my first watches to get into and say, hey, what's really here? Some of the notes I had on him light footed despite being long legged. He is not a high frequency guy. And I wrote smooth fast, not quick fast. He is not a guy with choppy steps that is going to break away from you to your point. DBRO with separation, but he can get vertical on folks because of his size and his speed component. Again, it's a buildup speed, but he runs the routes. He runs very well knowing who he is. He is not trying to be a choppy step break at the break at the top of the stem guy. That's not what he's doing. Can physically dominate at the catch point. He is a big wide receiver and he knows how to do it. If you look at the contested catch score, you say, okay, 43%. That's good. It's not great. But then you go to the film and so the ones he does make are like highlight reel stuff. It is high level catches through contact that a lot of people can't make. Does he make them all? No. But does he make a high percentage of those, the high difficulty ones he does. And that's one of the things that's most exciting. Watching his hands in the gauntlet drill, I was like, huh, okay. He's a very natural ball catcher. I love seeing that out of a wide receiver. Catches the ball away from his frame cleanly, which is really important because again, he's not going to get a ton of separation. He is going to have persistent defensive backs right there at the catch point. He better be able to do that and he can. So you know a fair amount of production from swings and screens, which I think is odd again given his sort of quickness profile. But still had 15.9 per catch. Again, think about that guy that had a ton of swings and screens, averaged 16 a catch and you're like, huh, okay, there's something there. I'm, I'm with Derek that like he's not gonna most likely be a day two guy. I wouldn't be surprised if he was. End of the third round compensatory pick. Somebody really likes that profile had great meetings with him maybe. And you know, does that. It's going to be one of those picks that you talked about that everybody goes, what? And I'm like, oh, you know, earlier than I thought. But not terribly surprising. Like, I can see the path to him doing that. He's already really good at what he does. Like you said, he's had a bunch of success throughout his college career in different times. Touchdowns can be fickle. It's kind of like interceptions for quarterbacks can go up and down. So that number doesn't really worry me. It's about, hey, who is this guy physically? Does he know that? Does he win with that? Does he work around those limitations? And I think Lane does a better job of that than a bunch of wide receivers in this class.

Derrick Brown (49:16)

To EJ's point too. I think that also kind of like looking at this wide receiver class in a totality. I think we're going to be very surprised on a lot of different ways where some wide receivers go both high and lower based off of how teams are projecting the roles and splitting hairs and looking at skill sets and fits within offenses and offensive schemes. So could a guy get bumped up a few different picks or go from round four to a comp pick in round three? Because a team is like, look, he's the top guy on our board. We got a lot of the guys, but we like him out of this tier more than the other guys because what we're going to ask him to do. Absolutely agree with that.

Seth Wilcock (49:56)

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Derrick Brown (51:06)

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Seth Wilcock (51:33)

Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia Gentlemen, Next up we have a player who probably hasn't been discussed in this class enough. That's UConn Skyler Bell. After three years at Wisconsin, the three star prospect returned home to Connecticut where he total over 2000 yards 18 touchdowns in two seasons for the Huskies and in 2025 specifically he was UConn's first ever consensus all American, which I found pretty hard to believe. I know you know they're not a story program but they've had real NFL caliber players on that roster over the years. Set program records in receptions with over 113 touchdowns. This season as well was a Balinticoff finalist as well. Bell add a brilliant combine out in Indy. In addition to that checked in at 511192 but ran a 4440 yard dash. Posted Elite scores in the jumps in the shuttle and the three cone. Overall it was good enough to score him a 9.83 raz six best in this class, 71st best all time. EJ, what did your film study tell you about Bell's game?

E.J. Snyder (52:30)

He is number one with a bullet in this list. I saw him in your 11 to 20 and I was like he's not going to be in my 11 to 20. He's going to be in my top 10 when I stop him up for sure. But of this list he is. He is number one again. The top tier is him and Bryce Lance. Then it breaks down again to Derek's point of a wide group of hey, this one could go first depending on situation or how he's like. But Skyler Bell is different than all of these guys in that he is ready made as an NFL wide receiver right now. And I didn't say slot and I didn't say outside. He can do both. He is versatile. He has a ton of chances, 141 targets this year. He was UConn's offense. Everybody knew that when the Huskies rolled in the ball was going to Skyler Bell. Still had that kind of production. I love it. His name was on every bulletin board every single week. We got to stop Skyler Bell. He's. He's the guy they feed right. Still couldn't do it. Like you said, over 100 catches, 1200 almost 1300 yards, 13 touchdowns, 3.13 yards per route run. That is a very solid number. You mentioned a lot of his combine statistics but the one you didn't mention, 10 inch hands like this guy has absolute mitts. He catches everything. Very I will just say professional grade in terms of routes, understanding leverage, setup, release hand usage, ability to float and find space in zone, ability to set up defensive backs early in routes to win later in routes or later in the game. Like all the little things, late hands on over the shoulder wide, you know, wide receiver catches where I don't want that defensive back getting his hand up there. So I'm going to wait, wait wait wait wait. Flash late hands again, 10 inch mitts, catch that thing, fall out of bounds, 30 yard gain, get up, do it again. And I think Skyler Bell is one of the most scheme agnostic players and I mean players, not wide receivers in this draft. I don't care where he goes. He is going to find the field, he is going to find production. He is going to be good period. He's one of the players I am most sure about in any position in this entire draft. He's easily top 10 in that category in this draft for me.

Seth Wilcock (54:47)

Derek, our boy Scott Bogman over on the Dynasty show. He's been pushing his Skyler Bell agenda all offseason long. You and I a little bit behind the eight ball here. What have you come to learn about him over the last couple weeks?

Derrick Brown (54:58)

So I agree with a lot what EJ said. I have him as a top 15 wide receiver in this class for me and and some of this goes back to the smattering of all 22 that I have access to. So the games that I was able to watch. EJ my biggest question about Scholar Bill's game because facing off coverage, the ability to produce yak, his ability versus zone setting up corners, I'm not going to push back against any of that. My one question about his games, about, about his game with the games that I had available to me and sampled, what do you think about him from the vertical route tree as far as like selling vertical push, the ability to stack corners and stuff like that? Because out of the games that I was able to get my hands on, I didn't see the vertical element. And again some of this is just like the games that you're able to watch and what do you see out of. Because you could see five, six games and I watched six or seven games on him. But it's like that might just not have been part of the game plan versus those defenses and off coverage and what have you. And there's very little like just teams in college that run a lot of press where most of these colleges are running corners three and five yards off the line of scrimmage. So if it looks like and what I saw from Bell was a lot of just easy production, running hitches and facing off coverage where it's like how does this translate? But so I mean I'm gonna ask you straight up, like what do you think about his ability to win vertically and stack corners and stuff? Because that's my biggest question about him as a player. If I were to have access to that and I could check those boxes, I would be even higher. Like I kind of look at him as in like. And this is not like damning or anything. I love this player. I liked him a lot coming out. But from the games that I sampled, very Jaden Reed esque of like a team could ask him to play inside, outside, he could beats on coverage. He could do a crap ton with the ball in his hands and make plays on his own. But can he be the guy that you put him on the perimeter and he has not only the release package but the ability to stack corners and stuff.

E.J. Snyder (57:03)

Yeah, I think it's a great question. And again I go back to his profile. He was a known. Known certainly by mid season.

Seth Wilcock (57:11)

Right.

E.J. Snyder (57:12)

Probably by a month into the season. Everybody knew that when Skyler Bell came to town. So why did defensive plan, why did they play him like that?

Derrick Brown (57:21)

Yep, you're right.

E.J. Snyder (57:22)

Because they're afraid of getting burned. Yeah, that's right. So they sit back and said, hey, you can death by a thousand paper cuts, go for it. Like we would rather take our chances with that than press you once or twice, have you whoop our corner. Who you know, again, depending on level of competition, might not be playing on Sundays and go for 60, right. And the player that I think of over and over again when I watch Skyler Bell's film is Tyler Lockett. And not pro Tyler Lockett, College Tyler Lockett. Because go back to what again, the recency bias. Right? When obviously we all know what he became. I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about when he was coming out. Look at what people said about Lockett and look at what he became.

Seth Wilcock (58:06)

Right?

E.J. Snyder (58:06)

They said a lot of the very similar things that you just said. They said a lot of very similar things that I just said. Oh, he wins underneath. He's very professional. He can play inside, he play outside, but I don't know. He's not really a speed guy. That's not part of his game. Russell Wilson starts throwing moon balls to him again. He's setting people up and winning down the field. You don't see it as much from Skyler Bell. Doesn't mean it's not in there. I have a full confidence because of how he approaches all of the rest of the game. Right? Because he, he finds a way to win in pretty much every situation. I'm trusting he's going to find a way to win in that situation because as you said, he's a good enough athlete for sure. And you just see him, basically you're going to give me that. I'll take it. Right? That's a very smart, productive wide receiver. Sometimes he breaks it. It's not the biggest yak guy ever, but he is going to get you that production. And if you are going to press him, he's going to learn how to beat that, go over the top until you won't. And then he's going to go right back to taking those seven catches in a row, you know, prior to 10 yards and just moving the sticks, keeping his offense on the field and breaking one of them because you miss a tackle and you know, you look up at the end of the game and you're like, man, he had eight catches for 111 yards, didn't score a touchdown, but like that he's going to do that. He has the capacity to do that every week. That's rare on this list. We're looking through this. That's a projection for a lot of guys. For Bell, it's a reality.

Derrick Brown (59:28)

Yep.

Seth Wilcock (59:28)

Okay, love the breakdown there, gentlemen. Let's go on to. Maybe one of the biggest mysteries of draft weekend, in my opinion will be how NFL evaluators value Notre Dame's wide receiver, Malachi Fields. This is another three star prospect who spent four seasons at UVA. Finished top 10 in the conference in the receiving yards two straight seasons before transferring to South Bend where worked with freshman sensation C.J. carr at quarterback field. Totaled over 600 receiving yards, five touchdowns for the Irish this past season at 64 to 18. He does have that prototypical X wide receiver size, but maybe just not the athleticism. He ran a 4.61 second 40 yard dash, finished with a 7.49. Raz Dbro where do you come down on Fields?

Derrick Brown (60:10)

I'm probably going to be below consensus. I mean I know that I'm below consensus on him. I've seen a lot of hype and stuff. More so like after coming out of Senior bowl and stuff he's my wide receiver, 16 in the process. I look at him in in a similar skill set, file him as somebody like a Jacoby Lane. From what they were asked to do and how they win, I just think Lane's better at it. Like I think his footwork is better, I think he's better off the line. I think Malachi Fields is more of a linear athlete to me. High cut, long striding, build up speed, more of a deep threat option. In the NFL how he wins is a lot of at the catch point that physicality and stuff. But I mean at times in his routes like I think like some of the footwork can be inefficient. I think he not going to say he struggles but I think like the change of direction stuff can look kind of clunky with him sometimes. So I think he's going to fit a certain and I wasn't surprised, I'll also go on record saying this, I wasn't surprised with the 40 time from him because I think that kind of shows up on film for him where and again like okay, is 46 speed like damning? No. But if you're looking at this archetype of wide receiver where I don't think he's going to be a high volume guy, I think he is going to run more of that linear route tree and they're going to either put him on goes or put him on crossers and stuff and just say look like, win with your size, win with leverage and be the guy at the catch point. So I like Fields and I like what he could bring to an NFL team. But if you were to tell me he's like a better version of Preston Williams, I actually wouldn't be surprised about that either.

Seth Wilcock (61:47)

EJ, where you on Fields? He's super interesting because like I love Jordan Faison he's one of my favorite players from Notre Dame and it also took a big injury to Jaden Greathouse to really open things up for Malachi Fields down the stretch. So with everything you saw at Notre Dame and then previously at Virginia, what's your evaluation?

E.J. Snyder (62:05)

It's he's more boom bust than a lot of players in this draft. The boom could be very good. I want to say that I've got him in the same tier as Hurst and Lane. I think he's a different player, but I think again, he's there because of potential. He's not there because, you know, the reason Skyler Bell is above him is because of proven production in multiple situations. Fields doesn't have that. I do think he's more explosive than Lane in the short area. Like, I think he gets up to that speed more quickly. Now Lane again has that. We talk about it slow building speed kind of same thing. I think Fields again in a straight line is more explosive. So he surprises guys and get on top of them, eat up that cushion and then he uses his size to win down the field. So there's a lot of potential there. And I think it's enticing to NFL teams to look at that as chunk plays. Everybody wants explosives and you look at this guy and say, hey, if we're getting plays out of him, they are going to be explosive plays. 17.5 per catch backs that up. Right? But again, in less ways, less routes, less lineups on the field. So the highs are pretty high, but it's much more narrow. And look, scalpels are not wide. You can have a very sharp point that pokes your opponent's balloon on defense and end up with six. And Malachi Fields could be a guy that does that. He's not going to do it all the time. He is not going to be that hyper productive number two or even sort of sacrificial X that is out there all the time and just kind of winning on little stuff to keep the chains moving and then adding those explosive plays. He's going to come in and do it, you know, one at a time or you know, once a half. And that's valuable in the NFL but not as valuable on balance as guys that are going to be with you down to down and are more versatile.

Seth Wilcock (63:57)

Okay, and next up we have a player who I would argue, and maybe I'm out on a limb here, I think if he wasn't banged up with that nagging hamstring injury could have potentially been a first round pick, a Clemson's Antonio Williams, 5' 11, 187 pounds. So he certainly profiles as a slot receiver, but he has that 4, 41 speed and was the type of player where you got the ball in his hands and good things happen. Cade klubnick had a 125.4 QB rating when targeting him in 2025. He had the true freshman breakout 56, 604 and 4, earning freshman all American honors and then carried that production really throughout his entire career. He eventually led the ACC in touchdowns as a junior with 11, finished third in receptions with 75 that season. And in addition to his elite route running, really a Swiss army knife type of player can get it done on the ground. Has been used in the return game as well. So ej, what is it about Williams game that you think is really keeping him down far in rankings and mock drafts?

E.J. Snyder (64:52)

This was a player I'm lower on

Derrick Brown (64:53)

then we didn't talk about it. So curious because I am too. I am too.

E.J. Snyder (65:00)

I look interesting to hear. A lot of people aren't. And there is some pedigree. There is some production for sure. You talk about early breakouts out and, and some of that. It's like draft status. It stays with you. If you have a good freshman sophomore campaign, people are still like, yeah, but do you remember what he did two years ago? I do, but NFL is not for long. It is a recency league. And when I watched Antonio Williams tape again, I go to the tape before production for this reason and certainly before I go back in years of production. Have I seen breakout freshman seasons? Yeah, man, I watched Jeremiah Smith. I'm like everybody else, but like, I try and stay away from that for the most part. And with Williams, I didn't have a lot of his backstory. I just went to this year's take because quite frankly, that's what you're getting when you're drafting him. Where is he right now as a player? And he didn't wow me. Like, I didn't hate him at all, but I would call him a very average, very draftable. I'm not talking about udfa. I hate him. Throw him out with the bathwater. That's. That's not the point here. When we're talking about, hey, how do you like him compared to all these other guys? He's good. And that's like saying he's fine. Right? He is productive. He can win in a lot of ways. He is a talented athlete. Absolutely. He's playing D1 ball at Clemson. Like, let's, let's not Kid ourselves. But when you're talking about going to that next level, and this is where you always run into it with college fans, they're like, but, but. But it's. No, you're talking about his production as a freshman in college. I'm talking about whether or not he's going to go beat NFL corners next week. Right. And it's not the same thing. It is a. It is a very narrow funnel. All these guys in college, very good. The best guy in the conference, like you said, freshman, all American, whatever. Like, everybody comes with accolades in the NFL. How does he stack up in this class compared to these wide receivers? And as I sort of put him in and start sliding in other slats above him, he's just one of those guys that kind of floats down. And I look and I go, man, that seems lower than it should be. Should I push him back up? And then I go back to the film and I go, eh, nah. Like, there's nothing there that's making me say, oh, I definitely underrated that I need to put him back up in my top 10, my top 15. He might not even be in my top 20. And I know a lot of people are going to be very surprised by that. But again, I think he's good. Could he be a professional NFL wide receiver with a decent career for a while? Wouldn't surprise me at all, given all his experience. But am I going out on a limb? Do I. Am I racing up to the podium to get Antonio Williams in the early rounds? Absolutely not. There are a lot of other prospects in this class that excite me more.

Seth Wilcock (67:36)

Dbro, I've been asking for weeks, have you got to Antonio Williams? Yeah, have you got to Antonio Williams yet? And the answer has been no. But I know now the answer is yes. But it sounds like you might be more in line with ej, that you're not super high on them.

Derrick Brown (67:47)

I am very much in line with ej. I was. And so getting into the nitty gritty, like, 5.8 yak per reception in college is not amazing. It's okay, but it's not wonderful. He's got 22 missed tackles forced over the last two years. Okay, that's. It's good. It's not amazing. And so the big things about Antonio Williams is. And I've heard a lot of people, like, there is a high for him and people are over the moon and you're riding on that bus, Seth. And I get it. For me, he's my wide receiver, 18 in this class. I put other Slot wide receivers and some other guys we're not even mentioning. Like I have Eric Rivers over him, I have Kevin Coleman Jr. Over him. I think the varied route tree and the way that they can be deployed is much better versus a player like Antonio Williams. And people are talking about him as oh, he could play outside and he can. He's not just a slot confined player. I take a lot of issue with that because I think he is a slot combined player and I do not think he can play outside. And I think the outside production from Clemson was honestly just very fraudulent. If you look at when he was a, an outside perimeter wide receiver and this is where you go back to the film and not just the okay, but, but the stat sheet says he was 50 or 60% outside and blah blah, blah. If you go back to 2024, weeks one through seven, sure, he was an out time outside wide receiver after week 8 in 2024, 93 or higher in the slot. Excuse me, he was a slot wide receiver.93 in the slot in 2025. So he was a slot wide receiver for most of his time in Clemson. And when they had him on the perimeter, if you go watch the film, this was Tennessee Volunteers type of perimeter wide receiver usage where I had a lot of issues with people calling Jalen Polk when he came out as a perimeter wide receiver because it was bunch formations, it was scheme stuff. Yes, he's lining up on the perimeter, but if you look at how that deployment is, he wasn't on the perimeter just asked to go route dudes up. He was on the perimeter and it was, they're running concepts of we're creating space for you or here's the free release and you're not getting pressed. So it's the same thing as a damn slot rep. So he's not a perimeter wide receiver and, and that's fine. But I want to be honest about the conversation that we're having and give context to the alignments and the usage. And so I think he's going to be a solid player. But I look at Antonio Williams skill set in the NFL and I just think it's not, not dime a dozen. But I feel like you can get this type of skill set from a lot of different players and in a lot of different fashions and where I don't see a lot of separating factors in his game. Can he play the outside? Can he add the verticality? Can he be a guy where you ask him to go play on the perimeter and he just. From the release package to the Physicality in his routes. Can he route dudes up? I. I just don't see that, man. So I've got him above Zach Branch because I think Zach Branch is just a script straight up, like Rondell Moore, replacement. We're doing the same thing we did in yesteryear, but I've got him in the same kind of phylum as, like, a guy we're going to talk about here shortly as, like a Brennan Thompson, like, where he's. He's going to play a specific role in an NFL team, and that's fine. But I don't see him being a player that out kicks his draft capital out kicks all this different type of stuff and becomes like, what? We're more than we're projecting. Like, I could see that for Schuyler Bell. I could definitively see that for Kevin Coleman Jr. But I don't see that with Antonio Williams. EJ, your thoughts on everything by entire. Just word vomit here.

E.J. Snyder (71:29)

This is one of my favorites. Okay, Seth, saddle up. Player X versus Antonio Williams. We're going to go average per reception, yak per reception, yards per outrun, and drops for the fun of it, even though drops are kind of noise. So really just focus on those first three player. We'll go player X first and then Williams. 11.1 and 11.1. So not much to compare there. 5.7 and 5.8. That's Yak per reception, yards per route run. 2.2, 3. Antonio Williams. 2.27. Drops. Two for player X, one for Antonio Williams. So again, 11, 1, 11, 1, 5, 7, 5, 8. 2.2, 3, 2.27. Two drops, one drop.

Seth Wilcock (72:12)

Is this an NFL player right now?

E.J. Snyder (72:15)

Nope, It's a player. It's a player in this draft class.

Seth Wilcock (72:19)

Who do you got?

E.J. Snyder (72:20)

You want me to narrow down? It's a player in this draft class. We've already talked about today.

Seth Wilcock (72:24)

Is it Kevin Coleman?

E.J. Snyder (72:25)

It is Kevin.

Seth Wilcock (72:26)

Okay. Okay.

E.J. Snyder (72:27)

So whenever anybody goes, how do you feel about Antonio Williams? They're like, I love him. And you go, great. How do you feel about Kevin Coleman? They're like, oh, I hate him. And you're like, why?

Derrick Brown (72:36)

Kevin Coleman played me.

E.J. Snyder (72:37)

Sec. Antonio Williams played in the acc. You're ranking those conferences. I'm gonna. And they came out with that's. That's verbatim production in some very important categories. And again, I. I think Kevin Coleman's gonna get drafted well after Antonio Williams. But I wouldn't be surprised if that gap is really small when we get down to draft day, because the NFL views Them very similarly and actually goes, one played in the sec, one played in the acc. If I need a tiebreaker, I'm going Kevin Coleman, right. Which would absolutely flabbergast a lot of people. Again, because of the name recognition of Williams and just how high people are on him generally and sort of the general anonymity of Coleman. But in, in those categories, those aren't cherry picked. Those are categories I use for every receiver on this list. I was looking at it, I was like, did I just copy and paste? Did I not put. And then I went back and I was like, nope, that's pretty much exactly the same. Very different perception of those two players.

Derrick Brown (73:35)

D.J. did you see a lot of the formational stuff when he was on the outside too?

E.J. Snyder (73:41)

I, I didn't see. Again, I'm just, I want to say this about Antonio Williams. I was whelmed. Not over or under again. There are a lot of guys that I, you know, go and I watch them and I'm, I'm kind of underwhelmed. Like he got oversold. Like, it wasn't that. It was, I was whelmed. He's like, yep, he's good at those things. Those things are great in college, they're okay in the NFL. He's a, you know, he's a good athlete, especially when healthy, I'll certainly give him that. But like, you know, he's a very good athlete. We've seen lots of good athletes that don't play well in the NFL. Like, I'm not saying he's going to not make it, but I'm also not standing here pounding the podium and saying, I got to have Antonio Williams, like you give him to me in the later round. Sure, I'll take him, I'll fill up my wide receiver room with him. But I'm not like thrilled about it. I'm just whelmed.

Seth Wilcock (74:31)

It's completely fair. And you know, I'm someone who plays a lot of college fancy football, so I'm on these guys pretty early in their career. And you know, the true freshman breakout was something that piqued my attention way back when. And you know, he's played with good receivers throughout his career too. The Bryant Wesco juniors, the TJ Moore's of the world. So that certainly has helped them as well. And like you said, acc, a little bit of a, a down ticket in the conference, difficulty compared to the Big Ten, compared to the sec. So right on there with you guys. Let's go and round it out though, with the man who's the fastest player at this year's combine, Derek mentioned in Mississippi State's A Brandon Thompson. This was a player who was primarily used as a gadget type of role in then a returner in his first three seasons all at Texas and then Oklahoma. And then he took over that slot role after Kevin Coleman went to Mizzou this past year where we had Thompson come into Mississippi State led the SEC in receiving yards with over a thousand on just 56 receptions as well. However, his size could limit him in the NFL. He's just 58164, so not a huge guy by any means. Derek, is there any way that Thompson can maybe overcome some of those physical limit abilities to produce at the next level?

Derrick Brown (75:38)

I think he's going to be a situational deep threat in the NFL. I don't, I, I think the size shows up too much on his film. Whereas the other guys, like there's a lot of guys in this class where I'm like, they play bigger than their size. I don't see that from Brendan Thompson. And actually like a guy we're not going to bring up on here, like I think Eric Rivers is what, what people want Brendan Thompson to be. Conversation.

Seth Wilcock (75:59)

I do love Eric Rivers.

Derrick Brown (76:01)

Conversation for another day. But like, yeah, you know, Brennan Thompson, I think he is who he is, man. The size shows up. I think he plays to his size. The elite speed is definitely there. Is he quick? Is he twitchy? Absolutely. All those different things. I just look at him as like a team drafts him. Round four, round five, they kind of know what they're getting is going to be a situational deep thread. He's going to play in the return game and stuff. And really more of a, a situational guy at the NFL level and a, and a player that could have more NFL utility than he will like in fantasy and stuff. Like I don't see him like becoming a high end target earner. It's, it's funny, like a guy we talked about before we turned the cameras on and stuff like that. I see him very similar to if KJ Hamler could have stayed healthy in the NFL.

Seth Wilcock (76:47)

Shout out Penn State. What do you think, ej?

E.J. Snyder (76:49)

I'll give you a different name to maybe frame the discussion differently because right off I don't disagree with most of the things at all. In fact, I think you're spot on. Rashid Shahid.

Seth Wilcock (77:01)

Oh, okay, okay, right.

E.J. Snyder (77:04)

Rashid Shahid. Undrafted famously and worked his way in again situationally. But that situation is very important to NFL teams. Doesn't mean he's going to get pushed up the board farther than you said. He's probably going to get drafted in that round and there is a lot of things that I don't love. The size is one of them. I think he plays up to his size, but his size is pretty small. I don't think he plays above it. Right. He, I think is more well rounded than people give him credit for because this happens with super fast guys. Whenever somebody's tabbed as possibly the fastest guy at the combine in a given year, everybody goes, well, he's a track guy. He must suck like it's it without fail, right. He's more than he is a good football wide receiver, but he does one thing and that is break your defense over the top and he will do it. He has that kind of speed you miss. He's gone. Like he might only do it once every three weeks, but he is going to do it. And he can do it in the return game and he can do it on offense. Does that make, make him a frontline player?

Derrick Brown (77:59)

No.

E.J. Snyder (77:59)

Does that make him worthy of a top? Probably fourth round, you know, four round pick, draft choice? Not really. Are you going to get versatility out of him? Is he going to play a very similar role to a guy that just got paid in Seattle and honestly wouldn't have been in the super bowl without him? Rashid Shahid, right. If you like Rashid Shahid and you don't like Brennan Thompson, I need to know why. Because again, especially coming out undrafted free agent for Rashid Shahid, very, I would say even a lower profile than Brandon Thompson, but now beloved in the NFL. Was traded for. Just got an extra contract. Now super bowl champ like the. They're all coming up roses for Rashid Jahid. Very good player for a long time, but played a very specific role which was I'll go over the top in New Orleans. You know, once every three weeks everybody will remember my name and then they'll forget about me. Right. It is a very specific role. I talked about scalpels earlier. He is a scalpel, but he is damn sharp.

Seth Wilcock (78:53)

Alan Hearns is kind of a guy who comes to mind too. D, bro. Like maybe the Rasheed Shahid before Rashid Shahid. Just from a fantasy standpoint where you'd go off every couple weeks and you never knew how to play him.

Derrick Brown (79:02)

Yeah, I mean I my big thing about, about and framing this conversation. I just need Andy Reid not to draft this guy in the second round of the NFL draft. I just somebody needs to keep Andy away from, from the card, the, the phone. All this Kind of of stuff because this feels like an Andy Reid player. It's like collect them all. Why not?

Seth Wilcock (79:22)

Yeah, I agree with you there, folks. That is going to do it for us though, on this episode of the Fancy Pros NFL Draft show. Ej, thank you so much for joining us. On your way out, I need two things from you. First, can you let us know how we can best find your work? And also I need that answer to your Puget Sound trivia question as well.

E.J. Snyder (79:41)

Oh, yeah. So you can find it at bootleg football on YouTube. We're also doing the blue chip committee this year with the NFL se guys, Trevor and Connor. Nice. That is on amazing between our channels. Yeah, that one's, that one's super fun. A little bit, a little bit longer form, you know, just things that we couldn't get into on our own shows. And we, we all love that. So if you love Deep Draft talk, go check out blue chip Mike Olafant.

Seth Wilcock (80:04)

Okay.

E.J. Snyder (80:04)

Was a running back at the University of Puget Sound. And he was traded from the Redskins to the Browns for one Ernest Biner.

Derrick Brown (80:13)

He polls, baby.

E.J. Snyder (80:14)

One of the, one of the most lopsided trades in NFL history. And I actually know Mike. I've met him again. I worked at the. Beautiful guy, still lives locally. Super nice guy. Not his fault. But was a extremely small school at that time. NAIA prospect. Wow. Who was drafted and then ended up, you know, being on the other side of a trade for a guy that didn't really, you know, didn't really win and ended up going on to great NFL success after the trade. And so Oliphant becomes one of those trivia answer questions.

Seth Wilcock (80:45)

Okay, well, if you ever get asked in a bar, you can, you can thank our friend E.J. snyder right here for that answer. And for us here at Fantasy Pros, please don't forget, smash that like, button on your way out. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe both to the Fantasy Pros Dynasty and the NFL Tailgate YouTube channels. We'd appreciate that. We'll be back next week with our boy Thor Nystrom. We're going to break down the incoming rookie tight end class. Also, be sure to check out all the great written content and our tool suite@fantasypros.com our recent FL mock drafts, all of Derek's primers. Derek, how many primers you got out there right now?

Derrick Brown (81:16)

Quarterback, running back and wide receiver are all live. Tight end will be going live next week and then all of them will be obviously that's all the skill position players. And then I'm still building. I'll have my top 100 so 100 skill players live before round one goes dang at the NFL draft.

Seth Wilcock (81:34)

Okay, all right, well we got all that and more over there, so make sure you take advantage of it. Thank you so much for watching. For E.J. snyder and downtown Derrick Brown, I'm Seth Wilcox. Take care y'. All. Thanks for listening to the Fantasy Pros Dynasty Football Podcast. If you love the show, the best free way to support us is by leaving a positive review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Follow us on x Instagram and TikTok at Fantasy Pros and subscribe to our YouTube channel at YouTube.com fantasypros.

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Since the day we met.

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