← The Athletic Football Show: A show about the NFL
The Athletic Football Show: A show about the NFL
Dart throws from the 2026 NFL Draft that will actually make a difference
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- [00:01]
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- [00:30]
Derek
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- [01:12]
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- [01:38]
Taft
Welcome to the Athletic Football Show. I am Dave Hellman and today we're talking dart throws. Specifically, late additions in the 2026 NFL Draft. I think we'll say day three. We might have snuck a couple day two draft prospects in here, but for the most part Derek Classen and I today are taking a look at sneaky draft additions that we were really excited about. It's easy to focus on the first round, the top 50 guys and forget about some of the late picks that are made during the NFL draft. But every season we find somebody finds a hidden gem, a surprising breakout player on day three of the draft. So Derek and I wanted to go through day three, refresh ourselves on who was taken and maybe find find some fits for late round draft picks. We're really excited to see in 2026. Really fun conversation with Derek and myself talking day three prospects. Let's get right to it. All right Derek. A really perfect show for late May and a really perfect show for the two of us because we're just going to talk about late draft picks that we can get ourselves really excited about. Like real off season sicko stuff. Trying to find Playing time for fifth and sixth round picks. What could be better?
- [03:01]
Derek
Well, and this is better than doing it because we do a little bit of this during the draft, right? And like during day three, right after. But a lot of that is usually like our favorite prospects, where did they land? Oh, that they're going to make it work by yada yada. This is a little bit more like, okay, who are actually the players that have some sort of path to go and play and also I think that they can make an impact. So it's like a little bit of a different exercise. I had a lot of fun trying to go through. Like where are the open spots for playing time and like who actually has an avenue to get onto the field early?
- [03:30]
Taft
I've said this before, but it's also just a useful exercise to go back and look at everybody's draft class because especially remember we were live reacting to day three and we're talking about why is Garrett Nussmeier falling and what's going on with this other guy. How do you feel about that pick? And eventually you just get to a point where you're tuning out the last 20 to 40 picks and you have no idea how everybody's class finalized. And so to go back through everything and be like, oh yeah, I love this guy and I love that he landed in a place with a thin depth chart. This is perfect. So really useful exercise. Just familiarizing yourself with a lot of draft classes in addition to looking for some, for some sleepers here. All right, I'm going to throw it to you to get this thing started. I've got. So. All right, I. Word of warning, I cheated a little bit. Like I'm definitely. I've got two or three situations where a team's collection of picks, like they had two or three guys that got me really excited. So all told, I've got as many as like 12 names worth going over. So I can, I can go as little or as much as you want. But I'll let you start this thing off.
- [04:38]
Derek
I mean, that's perfect. Cause I imagine we'll have one or two of these being overlapped. Anyway. I'm going to try to start with my guys where it does feel like there is a clear path to playing time. I'm going to start with Bryce Betcher, the Colts linebacker and.
- [04:53]
Taft
Okay, that's perfect. Like I was going to start with the Colts too, so. Oh, shocker. The Taft's hosts overlap a little bit. I'm so surprised. But all right, let's, let's start with the Colts, right?
- [05:05]
Derek
And, oh, shocker me starting with the linebacker. He will not be the only one, by the way. So obviously they draft CJ Allen. He's going to be their starting mic. I believe that that's kind of their plan. But this is a very thin linebacker group in Indianapolis right now. Their other primary linebackers, Akeem Davis Gaither, who is mostly there on. On the account of like, he is familiar with Luana Rumo, they were together in Cincinnati. And so there's a little bit of that there. And so just based on that, it seems like there is at least a path for Betture to potentially be that linebacker, too, if things go well for him in camp, if he plays well in the preseason. But even beyond that, he is obviously their third linebacker, and teams are playing a lot more base now than they used to. And so they're. There's a decent chance that even if he doesn't steal that number two job, he is still going to be the third linebacker on the field. He's going to be the first guy getting reps if somebody gets hurt or if somebody needs a little bit of a breather, all that stuff. And so it just feels like, you know, we talked about it before the draft, especially after round one. This is a Colts team that the middle of their defense, the spine linebackers and safeties, they needed so many and they went and in the second and third days of the draft, threw three picks at it. And so Bettcher is the guy. Obviously, Allen is the biggest ticket in that room. But I, I expect Betcher to play a decent amount this year.
- [06:18]
Taft
I don't want to give all my names away, but, I mean, you. You mentioned you've got another linebacker. I want to talk about at least one other linebacker, Betcher, and, and one other guy on my list just strike me as the quintessential. If this guy was slightly bigger, he would have never fallen as far as he did. Cause like you look at it, Bryce Betcher's six one and a quarter weighed 230 at his pro day. He's not, he's not a small guy, but by NFL linebacker standards, like, you'd prefer a little bit more size, a little bit more length, but the guy runs and hits everything. I mean, I think. I think he had 240 tackles over his final two seasons at Oregon. And you see him consistently flashing all over their tape. So he winds up going fairly late in this draft. He was, what, pick 1:35? I think he could have been a, a higher pick than that. If he were just a little more physically impressive.
- [07:11]
Derek
Agree. And also he's like, he's an interesting cat too because I, I know Dane had this. I believe in the beast that like he was like a big time baseball prospect for a while. And so this isn't even necessarily a guy who's been like all football all the time, which those types of guys, you wonder in the NFL it's like oh did they have even a little bit more untapped because they're finally like this is my career now, this is all that I have to do. And so I wonder about that with him. I also think that he's just like him and C.J. allen to me, I think in terms of like the pure sideline to sideline speed I don't think is great. But I do think both Bettra and Allen see the game very well. And so I think to have like a young duo like that where you're trying to, to get them in there together potentially at some point even if it's not this year for Bettra, I think down the line you hope that he could be one of your starters. I think that that's a really nice way to build the room.
- [07:59]
Taft
This is all from Dain's Beast, which is such a useful tool at this time of year. But Bryce Bettcher also played 500 plus special team snaps. He was a a core guy which linebackers have such a great body type because you can fill a variety of different roles whether it's running down on kick team, blocking on field goal team. So I would expect right away he's a guy that the Colts can plug onto their special teams units and get use out of him which just getting a guy into a game day jersey, if he is a a day three rookie, getting him onto the active game day roster is a big deal. Like if you've got an obvious path to special team snaps that's a great starting point and carve out a defensive role as you go.
- [08:41]
Derek
100 like they would obviously want more out of this pick but if he is just a primary special teamer for them and their linebacker three for the duration of his rookie contract for a fourth round pick that's a win every time. Like every single time.
- [08:52]
Taft
And like that's the baseline right. And if he can grow into being a guy you can count on on defense, so much the better. So I laughed. I, I was definitely going to highlight Bryce Bettcher but I just, I love like almost everything the Colts did on day three of the draft. I mean I Really? I love the Colts entire draft class and it reminds me of has, have you, have you ever had your dog like root through the garbage or go to the bathroom in the house and you're like furious at the dog and then he does something cute like five minutes later and you're like no, wait, no stop, stop that you're dog.
- [09:29]
Derek
I'm supposed to be upset here.
- [09:30]
Taft
I'm supposed to be upset with you. Like I want to be upset with the Colts because of the Daniel Jo situation and the corner that they've painted themselves into. And I really don't like a lot of the decisions they've made over the last year, year and a half. But I love this draft class. Like I can't stay mad and the fact that they had such a good draft class without a first round pick is really fun to me. I think betture's absolutely worth highlighting. We talked plenty about CJ Allen and AJ Halsey. I don't feel the need to do that here today. But specifically three picks they made on Saturday. They restocked their edge room and I love how they did it in as disparate a way as possible because with pick 1:58 in the fifth round they take George Gums Jr. Out of Florida and then with pick 2:14 in the sixth round they take Kaden Curry out of Ohio State. And you just couldn't ask for more different guys because Gums is almost six five, two, 45, big long athletic guy. He ran a seven second three cone and has almost 34 inch arms and he's just, he's all traits, he's all upside. I don't think he quite tapped into his repertoire during the course of his college career. By the way, was a wide receiver when he started his college career at Northern Illinois and is now an NFL defensive end. Just to give you an idea of the sort of archetype we're talking about here and then Kaden Curry had 11 sacks and 16 1/2 TFLs for Ohio State last year. He's one of their most underrated players but he's 62 with sub 31 inch arms. So he's the classic all production. Don't really feel good about any of the measurables and I just really love that Lou Anarumo was like let's do both. Let's get the upside guy and the high floor guy and just figure it out and see what they give us.
- [11:20]
Derek
And I like them constantly reloading here. Like I especially to actually approaching it this way as opposed to how they had for really the last like five or six years where think about how many first and like second sometimes third round picks they kept throwing at the edge room. And it just not a whole lot of those guys hitting there. And some of them have been okay. Like Quitty Pay was okay. Laatu Latu I think has been solid, but like JT2Amalo has not been like insane. Like a lot of these guys have probably not lived up to that top 50, top 60 billing. And so I kind of like that now. They were like, listen, we have other issues to solve on defense, but that's a room that you should always be trying to reload like at like tackle and edge. You should pretty much just always be willing to throw picks at. And so the fact that they looked at the fifth and like seventh rounds and we're just like, you know what it, throw some extra picks at it and see what happens. I like that.
- [12:06]
Taft
I think it's worth pointing out my expectations for a pair of late day three guys as rookies are not very high.
- [12:14]
Derek
Right.
- [12:14]
Taft
But to your point, this just isn't an edge room that has a lot of definitive roadblocks toward playing time. Like obviously Leo Tulatu is there and you hope he continue, continues to ascend and can be a foundational guy. But other than that, like you said, it's. It's a lot of draft picks that haven't panned out yet or just a lot of guys that they haven't invested a lot of playing time. So I'd be surprised if either one of these guys was a big piece of it as a rookie. But there's just not a lot there keeping them from advancing up the depth chart as they go. And if, if I'm wrong about that and one of them has a surprisingly great rookie season, that's a great problem to have. One more guy I wanted to mention from the Colts draft class, this is a few of these are just going to be guys I liked that landed places that work out. And Deion burks at pick 2:54 in the seventh round, I really liked him heading into the draft. I thought he would get drafted a lot higher than this. He's a smaller guy, which I assume is part of why he fell and obviously and also just didn't have a ton of college production. But even at like 5:10, 1, 80, he's, he is a sturdier player than you would guess. And he just has an insane amount of speed. Like he has real deal juice. Again, the Colts traded Michael Pittman Jr. I'm not expecting him to be a regular in the starting lineup right away, but I do think the, the receiver core is not thin. But there's just, with the departure of Pittman, there's just enough attrition there that I gotta believe Shane Steichen can find a use for a guy with speed like this, even if it's very, very sparingly to start.
- [13:48]
Derek
Yeah, it's not super thin. They have some guys who have been there for a while, like Ashton Doolin has been in the building, Anthony Gould has been in the building. But there, there's a lot of like real snaps to be lost with a guy like Pittman being out of the lineup. And I also think with Pittman being out of the lineup, I wonder how different the offense just looks. Like, do they want to get a little bit more spread because they just don't have size now. Like, does downs get a lot more snaps? Do they want to get a guy like Deon Burks on the field and just be a little bit more vertical, a little bit more spread that I'm curious about with their offense this year.
- [14:18]
Taft
That is a really good point. Like between Burks and downs, how tall is Ashton Doolin?
- [14:23]
Derek
Dulin's got decent size. He's like 6, 1 2, 15. But Anthony Gould is like one of Those, you know, 175 pound track star type of guys.
- [14:31]
Taft
Like all of a sudden, yeah, like you of the Colts as having all these towering guys and I mean Alec Pierce is still there. Obviously Tyler Warren is going to be a big part of how this looks, but yeah, all of a sudden a lot more smaller, faster body types in the receiver room. Juice is going to be a theme for a lot of the guys that I zeroed in on in this exercise and one that I wanted to highlight is for a team that I honestly have been worried didn't do enough on the offensive side of the ball. I've talked a lot about how defense heavy the Vikings draft class was at the top and not interested in talking about that right now. But one thing I was really intrigued by was a pick they made late on Saturday with pick 1 98, the Minnesota Vikings draft. Demon Clayborne, the running back out of Wake Forest. And again, just trying to read tea leaves. Obviously Aaron Jones and Jordan Mason are there, but for a team that didn't add much in the draft on the offensive side of the ball and really didn't add much in the way of speed and playmaking ability on offense, I mean, I know Juwan Jennings is a really, really receiver but not exactly a burner. I like the idea of adding a 43 running back to the equation in the Vikings offense.
- [15:42]
Derek
Yeah, they don't have a whole lot of 4, 3, 7 speed anywhere. I mean obviously Justin Jefferson is a fantastic athlete and like Addison is a nice athlete, but he's not like a super burner like that. Juwan Jennings again is more of a on third and seven he's going to get to the sticks, we're going to pin it on him. Like this really is a team that I think between it's funny now their, their backfield overall if you include the quarterback has so much more speed than it used to. Obviously bringing in Kyler Murray at quarterback and then potentially a guy like Clayborne at running back and like it's not even just that he's so different from Aaron Jones and Jordan Mason at this point. Especially Mason who is really kind of more just like a little bit of a thicker, just kind of like zone based mash type of running back. Neither of those guys are like so good that they are preventative of snapshot for anybody. Like there's a chance that if they think that they can just get Clayborne on the field, give them a little bit more juice that like by the end of the season he starts to become somebody who is not even just like kind of sprinkling into the rotation but really starting to steal snaps from a lot of these guys.
- [16:44]
Taft
He's 59188 and so I think that brings to mind a lot of the concerns you would guess a the vast majority of rookie running backs, particularly ones that don't get drafted highly pass protection is going to be an issue. And especially when you're 59188, I'd be curious to see what sort of situations the Vikings are willing to put him on the field in. And B there's just two established guys above him on the depth chart. So again I I don't want to get carried away here. I'm not if if you're a fantasy football guy, like I'm not trying to tell you he needs to be a big time pick in your dynasty league or anything but the speed is evident. But I do think that's worth noting when you're Again, this is an offense that doesn't have much in the way of field tilting speed. Another thing I wanted to bring up Derek I again this is exactly the type of thing you forget about when you're live reacting to day three of the draft the Vikings traded up to get Demond Claiborne they traded a future sixth round pick to move up around and take him where New England was picking. So does that mean everything? Not necessarily. But if you target a guy like that and you're willing to invest future capital, I got to imagine you have some kind of game plan. He was a college kick returner. He had 51 receptions as well. So maybe you have an idea for him as like a, a receiving back in, in passing situations. I don't know. But I got to imagine there's some sort of game plan here.
- [18:13]
Derek
You would. Cause that's the thing. Like most six round picks, I think teams probably expect like sixth and seventh round picks. You're cutting them anyway. But if you think about it in the sense of like he is two sixth round picks, like they, they invested enough that they were like, we have to get him. Maybe the coaches do everything that they can to make sure he can get a chance.
- [18:30]
Taft
All right, plenty more sneaky draft picks for Derek and I to get to. But first we're going to take a quick break.
- [18:35]
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- [20:22]
Taft
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- [22:33]
Derek
So I'm, I'm just going to go ahead and get all the linebackers out of the way. My theme Here, by the way, is like mostly not skill players. I have a lot of defense and I have one offensive lineman. But I.
- [22:44]
Taft
You understood the assignment. That's the whole point.
- [22:46]
Derek
We've got the perfect mix here. If you've got juice, I've got. I've got everything else here. So mine, obviously I mentioned Bryce Betcher first with the Indianapolis Colts, and I think this player I'm about to mention has a slightly tougher path to play time. But there, there is an opening. Caleb Elarms or for the Buffalo Bills, I do think has a chance to go and get onto the field because again, they have a situation where their linebacker too now is Dorian Williams, who has played decent in stretches as like a third linebacker as a. As a spot starter for the Bills. I think especially in 2024, he actually played pretty well. Last year was a little bit shakier. But he's at least a guy that has experience for them. So he will at least week one probably be their. Their starter. But again, I think that third linebacker spot is open Elam's or is. He's like a little bit stiff as a mover, but he's a guy who can clearly run and he can hit. And so I think him potentially being like their linebacker three in some of those looks if they want to do that. His competition for that is Joe Andreessen, who was an undrafted free agent for them a couple of years ago, who I think has been solid depth, but probably not the same level of athlete that I think Elam's or is. And so if that's the way that this new Bills defensive coaching staff wants to go, I think he's got an opening there. And so this is another situation where pretty clear path to some linebacker three snaps if the, if the new defensive staff really wants to use him and then the door is at least open for him to earn like a true starting spot next to Terrell Bernard.
- [24:11]
Taft
My first Note on Elarm's OR's film, my, my film notes from watching him two or three months ago, whenever it was, is just that his speed shows up very quickly on film. It's like the first thing that you notice about him. He's incredibly fast. I didn't think he was a super confident coverage player, but he had the speed to make up for it. And then when you talk about just getting downhill and sideline to sideline, he's got it in spades. I think it's funny because in a conference he was in the Big 12, he played for TCU and so he Shared a conference with Jacob Rodriguez, obviously a phenomenal player, but it was Caleb Elarm's or who led that conference in tackles last year. Like he was all over the place. I think he finished with something silly. Yeah, like 130 tackles and he played fewer games than Rodriguez too. So I mean the production is off the charts and I think a big part of that is his athleticism.
- [25:06]
Derek
Like he's just like you said, as soon as you flip on the film, that dude can just move. And he backed all of this up at the combine, by the way, like 95th percentile 40 yard dash with a 4, 4 7. He had a really nice vertical jump. His broad was good. And so he's not like the biggest guy he's measured in at 6 2, 2, 34 there. And so but that's not bad. That's like Azizal Shahir I think is almost the same exact size. He's like 230ish pounds and he's a little bit shorter. And so it's like, like there are clearly guys who can play at that, at that height. Like he's, he's not going to be an issue at that size. And so I think between having adequate size, the speed that he has you mentioned it like the reason he's not going to get immediate snaps probably is some of the coverage stuff I think is up and down. And then I do think because he is a stiffer player sometimes there are moments where he can't sift through trash the way that you want. But if he's just stepping downhill and hitting a guard, he is plenty, plenty, plenty equipped to do stuff like that. And so again, I think that he could be their linebacker three right away if that's what they want to do. And then we'll just see how Dorian Williams plays early in the year.
- [26:09]
Taft
Okay. So as long as we're talking about linebackers, let's, let's just. I'll do my, my other linebacker and I, I feel like we're about to fight. No, I just. Well, I'm just going to ask you right off the rip because I'm, I'm very confident you're going to not be nice. But what are your thoughts on Aiden Fisherman?
- [26:27]
Derek
I think he's fine actually. He, he's like, he actually.
- [26:30]
Taft
You don't mind that he's undersized and not crazy athletic? I'm shocked.
- [26:34]
Derek
No, for, I think, for, I think my, it depends on like what you're asking these guys to be, right? Like if, if you're in the second Round and, and you're a little bit stubbier and you're not the greatest athlete. I'm gonna have a little bit more questions but for like where he goes and for backup linebackers. I actually do think it is important for backup linebackers to just know where they're at and play off of their blocks well. And I actually do think that Aiden Fish pretty, pretty well.
- [26:58]
Taft
So Aiden Fiser, Bryce Betcher was drafted 135 which I mean 4th round pick is still a guy that. I think you should at least have an idea of how this guy could start for you if you draft him in the fourth round. Aiden Fiser is a guy where like if you just watch him at Indiana, he's all over the place. He's an incredibly smart player. He's an incredibly physical player. He works through the trash like a son of a gun. And if he was just a, I mean he's, he's sub 61. None of his workouts are particularly impressive. Like he's, he's just a classic, really, really good college football player. And you're like ah, if you were bigger, taller, faster, you would have been a third or fourth round pick and you just wind up falling where you do. Which I believe was in the seventh round. Yeah, he fell all the way to pick 2:43. Cause he's just not that physically impressive of a player. But Derek, he landed in Houston which it does not work for his prospects of playing defense quickly. The Texans are obviously loaded, but I just get excited when a team like Houston drafts a defender. I like where I'm just like, okay, if, if the Texans and their big bad defense see something in this guy, then I don't feel crazy for thinking he's a really good player.
- [28:12]
Derek
Well actually if there's anything I would fight you over and this is not even really a fight. I think they just did a really good job with this. I also like the other linebacker they drafted Wade Wood out of Clemson.
- [28:21]
Taft
Yeah, so that's my point is not only do they have, you know, Aziz and E.J. speed and Toa Toa, they also drafted a guy above Aiden Fisher in this draft. So I'm not under any illusions. I, I don't think he's going to get a lot of early playing time, but I still think it's a vote of confidence in his ability.
- [28:40]
Derek
It absolutely is in like Tolo. Toa's contract I believe is up after this year. I don't remember exactly what Aziz Al Shire's contract situation is, but I do
- [28:48]
Taft
Think that Aziz just got his extension so.
- [28:50]
Derek
That's right. He did for the long term, which he should be. He's a very good player. I actually side note, I've been doing like a just a little personal linebacker project of watching everybody and I'm currently on Aziz Al Shayer and it's been a long time.
- [29:02]
Taft
You don't say.
- [29:04]
Derek
Just, just you know, making sure, making my rounds on, on the linebackers this off season. But I also think it's interesting too in terms of like philosophical approach for this defense. Right. Like even when they were in, when Ryan's was in San Francisco, this was a team that constantly tried to reload at that position and they had got success out of a lot of those like mid and late round draft picks like, like Greenlaw and Aziz. Al Shayer were not high draft picks. Fred Warner was a third round pick. And so this is a defensive staff and defensive mind in Namiko Ryan's that I when he wants to take a guy day three, I trust that he's got a plan for one of those guys and that he, he's going to do a good job of making sure those guys can be up to speed.
- [29:42]
Taft
Henry Toa Toa is in the final year of his rookie deal, which it makes sense why the Texans would double up at the position there with two guys that could potentially grow into a larger role. Yeah, Wade Wood has a good shout as well. I, I think both of these guys will have opportunities down the line. Maybe not as rookies, but like I said, I just, I get excited when defensive minds that I think this highly of like the player that I like. All right, who's, who's your next guy?
- [30:09]
Derek
So speaking of that, we, we can actually stay in Houston and this one is less like I love this player and more I think situationally they're just going to have chances to get on the field. Kamari Ramsey the safety nickel.
- [30:25]
Taft
About Kamari Ramsey, I feel like he kind of FL under the radar in the pre draft process.
- [30:29]
Derek
He, he did and he's as a prospect. He was tough for me because he was one of those like do it all safeties where sometimes he's in the box, sometimes he's in the post, sometimes he's in the nickel and sometimes that's great if you're Caleb Downs and you're obviously incredible at all of them. Ramsey more just felt like he was like a band aid at a lot of those positions for usc and so I do wonder what his true NFL position is going to be. That being said I think the safety three spot in Houston is kind of up for grabs anyway. They drafted Jalen Reed in the sixth round last year. I think he was up and down when he had to play. MJ Stewart is a backup for them. I think he was up and down when he had to play last year. And then Jalen Petrie, God bless him, I think he's, he's one of my favorite players in the NFL, but because of the way he plays as a car crash merchant, he just misses time all of the like every year he misses three games, four games, five games, whatever it's going to be. And so Ramsey is probably the immediate back up for him there. And so again, this is not necessarily like, man, I love this player, but it's the combination of. You can see his utility over so many different roles. This team has holes to plug at a lot of those roles. Again with backup safety and potentially backup nickel. And then again, if Demiko Ryan drafts you, I'm just going to kind of immediately give the like, eh, maybe this guy's got a plan and likes and he's better than I believe he could be.
- [31:47]
Taft
Ramsey reminds me of another DB that we did talk a bit about heading into the draft, and we also talked about him during the draft because he fel. But it's very reminiscent of Jalen Kilgore with Buffalo. To me, where he, he was a safety in 2024. People were very high on him as a guy playing back away from the line of scrimmage. USC used him a lot as a nickel in 2025, the same way South Carolina did with Jalen Kilgore. And I watched his tape from 2025 and I was like, I love the athlete. I, I think he's a good football player. I'm not sure if this is what he should be doing all the time, but odds are an NFL team is going to have a different idea for him than just plugging him right in there and using him as a nickel almost all the time. And so yeah, like I, I like that line of logic where it's like, okay, the tape might not be amazing, but the, the caliber of athlete, I mean Ramsey is, he's six flat, a little over 200. He ran a four, four, seven. He's clearly a pretty good athlete. And yeah, D' Amico, Ryan's for sure, but Jim Leonard in Buffalo with Jalen Kilgore as well. I'm like, I trust that you have a vision for how you might be able to take advantage of a guy like this, even if watching him in 2025 didn't get me super excited, I'm
- [33:06]
Derek
glad you mentioned Kilgore because the only reason I didn't is because I think I've brought him up.
- [33:09]
Taft
You're just like, I do that on every other show. We don't have to do that right now.
- [33:13]
Derek
Yeah, exactly. And I will say to, to if Ramsey has to play the nickel here, I actually do think that, that the nickel position in the NFL is a little bit more run and hit and like run defense focused than it often is at the college game because of the hashes and the way that teams are playing and all that stuff. And so I actually do think if you ask Ramsey to be more of a Jalen Petrie style nickel in the NFL, I don't know. Again, I don't know if it's my favorite thing in the world, but he is more than athletic enough to do it. I think he's an energetic enough tackler. And again, if d' Ameco Ryan believes it, I'm at least willing to believe it as well.
- [33:48]
Taft
Regardless, it's such a good shout on your part. Basically. Basically you're like, the Texans play with so much reckless abandon that there's going to be opportunity for younger players. Jalen Petrie missed three games last year. He missed five games the year before that. So yeah, for the physicality that they play with, it is probably a pretty good bet that you're going to have to lean on some younger guys.
- [34:10]
Derek
Listen, smashing helmets every week. It you pay a tax, you pay a tax on it.
- [34:15]
Taft
Some of this, some of this stuff I think you could call wish casting, right? Where you're like, oh, there will be injuries and this guy might have a path to the playing field. Or maybe if they're really amazing, they'll be able to supplant a more established player in the lineup. Like some of this, I will admit is wishful thinking. My next guy, it, it's a lot less wishful thinking than some other places because as we have talked about the Raiders receiver core as it stands right now, we are recording this in mid May, so there's still plenty of time if, if they were going to do something. I guess we'll have to wait and see. I guess they could still potentially add a veteran. But as it stands right now, the Raiders have to have one of, if not the worst receiver core in the NFL in terms of proven production. Derek, were you aware even with the addition of Jalen Naylor in free agency, the Las Vegas Raiders have two receivers who have ever had 500 yards in the NFL and Naylor's not even one of them.
- [35:24]
Derek
Dude, that's tough when you put it that way.
- [35:26]
Taft
Trey Tucker had a, had a nice season last year. He went over 500 yards. And then the other one is Philip Dorsett who's been out of football for two years and is back on the Raiders roster as like, you know, he's trying to restart his career at the age of 33. Wow.
- [35:44]
Derek
I wasn't even looking down to the third line of the our lads depth chart. I was looking when you said that at the, the first six guys which is a bunch of rookies, it's a bunch of young guys. And I was like, there's no way Jack Besh had 500 yards last year. Who the hell else is it?
- [35:57]
Taft
So I mean Trey, Trey Tucker's had two nice seasons for them. He had 696 yards last year. And then obviously for the money they paid Jaylen Naylor, obviously you're hoping that he's going to continue to ascend and play a way bigger role. That still leaves a lot up in the air in the, on the Raiders depth chart when you're talking about proven receivers like Jack Besh, not writing him off, but we haven't seen it yet. You could say the same thing for Dante Thornton. Then you're talking about Derek Young coming over from Seattle and 33 year old Philip Dorsett. So I say all this to say why can't Malik Benson step up and carve out a really nice role for himself on a new offense with a rookie quarterback? He's got the speed to do it again. This is, this is a bet on juice. Malik Benson's a 437- Receiver out of Oregon. He was on a Big Ten team that played Fernando Mendoza multiple times last year. And really this is more about opportunity than anything. Like you combine that speed and the production that he had on a really good college team with a will. Will very nicely call it a thin receiver group. I don't know, I, I can talk myself into him doing something here, but I like this.
- [37:12]
Derek
Cause this is the perfect scenario where a mid round pick would actually do something. Because some of these other rooms that we've talked about, it's like, yeah, they could supplant the guy who's like a replacement level starter, but he's been there for four years and he's actually gotten serious playing time for this team. That's just not the case with the Raiders. Like the Raiders kind of, you know, they paid Jaylen Ehler a little bit, but he's never been in that building. I don't know if they know what they want to do with him. Tucker is obviously the only guy that feels like established in like a clearly useful NFL player. I think there's reason to be excited about Jack Besh. Who knows? I know they wanted to get Dante Thornton on the field last year, but that was a different coaching staff. Who knows what they're going to get this year. And so this really does feel like a room where Malik Benson as a young player is actually like on even playing field with other than Naylor, a lot of guys who were in their first and second year in the league.
- [38:00]
Taft
My favorite thing about Malik Benson is you don't really have to guess about what he's bringing to your team. He played outside 80% of the time in college and according to Dane, he ran a go route on 26% of his college routes. Like he's on the field to give you downfield speed. He's not a big guy. He's 6 flat, 195. I mean he's not small either. He's just not a super big player. But I think he plays with a surprising amount of physicality for that frame. Like he, he will go up and get the football downfield and obviously he's got the speed to stretch the field both vertically and horizontally. Oregon used him plenty as like a jet sweep gadget guy in addition to being the go ball guy. So he's got a very clearly defined role. You're not doing a lot of guesswork here. Just get out there. Even if you're just our favorite phrase, the sacrificial X. I mean there's a, there's a place for that as well. So I, I, I don't know. I could see this and, and I think now that I'm thinking about it even deeper, that skill set seems to fit well with Fernando Mendoza. Like when I think about Fernando, I think about his accuracy, the ability to put the ball wherever he wants it and, and Malik Benson will go up and make you right. I, I don't know. I think this could work.
- [39:16]
Derek
And even Kubiak, like the last two stops, he's been used to having guys who can stretch the field for him. Obviously he had Shaheed. They traded for him in Seattle, but when he was in New Orleans, they had him there. Chris Olave was a guy that, who could stretch the field. JSN has obviously become a guy who's, who's been able to do that obviously Benson is a little bit more limited in his ability to do that or at least ability to do other things beyond that. But I do think that this is a nice fit and again there's no clear guys who are stopping you from, from actually getting on the field. I like this one.
- [39:47]
Taft
Some of what we've said on this show has like I said, it's been wishful thinking. Malik Benson, if he were to have a good training camp, I could talk myself into him being the guy you know as well as I do. In mid August we're going to be like, like well the reports coming out of Vegas or that he's like Malik Benson's been running with the ones like three days in a row now. What's going on with the Raiders? Like I'm, I'm calling my shot. That, that at least feels plausible right
- [40:12]
Derek
now and I'll to stick with the Raiders really quickly. This was not even a player I had on my list but I think it does make sense. Mike Washington as the running back two here obviously Genti is. He's going to be the clear running back one he's going to get 380 touches. Somebody's got to be the backup running back and I don't think it's going to be Dylan lobby for a lot of these snaps. And so Mike Washington like will be a use and relevant player for this Raiders team.
- [40:36]
Taft
I totally forgot Roman Hemby wound up in Vegas as well. So after all of that trying to forecast Elijah Surat to the Raiders, Fernando Mendoza gets Roman Hemby. But I agree with you. I think the incredibly fast guy that they drafted is, is probably first up to get those snaps. All right, who's your next guy?
- [40:57]
Derek
Let's see where do we, where do we want to go from here? Okay, I've got one more defender left on the board and I'll go to him. Joshua Joseph's for the Washington commanders in terms of immediate like you know, playing with the ones starting path, he's not going to get there. But lucky for him this is a position where your number three, your number four, your number five guy, they get on the field a lot especially in a Dan Quinn defense where they are trying to go through waves of pass rushers. And so I think last year, If I'm reading NFL Pro correctly, even the fourth edge rusher for Washington last year had 124 pass rushing snaps. That was, that was Preston Smith. And so obviously I think you know Preston Smith at that point in his career a little bit down on the Downturn. It had been three years since he was like a really good player. Joseph is on the other end where he's. They just drafted this player to go be an impact player for them and so they've got away on the starting lineup. Dorrance Armstrong is a really good player for them and so there's not immediate path to like again playing with the ones. But I do think for a defense that is going to have room to have pass rushing snaps on third downs and stuff like that, I do think Joseph's as their 245 pound buddy, just pin your ears back and go get him type of pass rusher. I do like his ability to potentially have some impact as a rookie player.
- [42:14]
Taft
Man, real, real bendy and he's got an 84 inch wingspan like and you see it when you watch Tennessee like very fun player.
- [42:25]
Derek
He's. This was like perfect landing spot for him too because I think he was a player where when I watched him I was, it was like okay. The length and some of the athleticism in bend is like okay, I can get there on how this could be a useful player but he's a little bit undersized. You watch him against the run and it's just not a whole lot and I'm just like man, I don't know what to do with that. But again, in the fifth round as an off the bench pass rusher in a Dan Quinn defense, it's very easy to see how the utility is going to like immediately play here year.
- [42:54]
Taft
I know that we're trending toward the run and, and that stuff matters in the big scheme of football. But in the fifth round, miss me with that. Go, go get the quarterback, big fella. Like I'm drafting you for one very specific trait and if we can develop that, we'll worry about how useful you are on early downs later. Like that is absolutely worth the, the buy. You know I, I use the phrase lottery ticket all the time but it's so apropos. Like you're buying low and if, who cares if it doesn't hit but if it does then we're having a lot of fun.
- [43:28]
Derek
I think it's funny too because this really is like them tripling down on what the edge room looks like where it's like oh, Dafe owe not the best run defender. Man, he can get after the quarterback Dorance Armstrong kind of a specialist pass rusher. Caleb on Chase on. I think he gives you effort against the run, but he's a little bit undersized. He's a little bit more of a pass rusher and then Joshua Joseph's just 245 pounds. Get off the edge, get to the quarterback. They are like, like this is it. This is who we are.
- [43:52]
Taft
As someone who had a very up close view of the Dan Quinn Cowboys defenses, I'm having flashbacks a little bit.
- [43:59]
Derek
Yep.
- [43:59]
Taft
But it's really fun to watch when it works. Advantageous situations, if the offense gets back
- [44:06]
Derek
to rolling and they can actually like force teams into some shootouts and these pass rushers can get on the field. It I don't know if I buy the vision, but you can at least see the world, you know, and that's enough.
- [44:15]
Taft
I don't know if I buy the vision, but give a give a defense like that a lead and it is a lot of fun to watch. But you got to give that defense a lead first. All right, a few more names to get to, but first we'll take our last break. Self Directed Investing Trading Full Service Wealth Management Automated Investing Financial Planning Thematic Investing Retirement Planning.
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- [44:39]
Taft
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- [45:13]
Derek
own party continue to negate the effectiveness of clean energy.
- [45:17]
Taft
Listen to good things from Lemonada Media to learn what's at stake for job development, property rights, and the future of clean energy. Hi, this is Ben Green from the Athletic fc. The podcast you're about to listen to is brought to you by Hotels.com as a Hotels.com member, you save up to 20% on hundreds of thousands of hotels and earn rewards on every single stay. Which means the trips you're taking now now help pay for the ones you're already dreaming about. And unlike some other places, there are no blackout dates. So when you want to travel, your rewards are ready to go. So the next time you're planning a work trip or a getaway, make sure to book it@hotels.com and start earning rewards. Hotels.com it's all in the name. All right, Derek, I'm going to start our final packed with a really obvious one. Leave it to Taft to do the most obvious selection of all of these toward the end of the show. But we should at least talk about one quarterback. And for a variety of reasons. I love the swing on Taylor Green for Cleveland at pick 1 82. Not just because, I mean he's a crazy athletic guy. He ran a 43640, he jumped outta the gym. We know all the enticing stuff about Taylor Green, but if you're looking for a team where a 6th round picket quarterback might actually have a shot to do something, I'm not trying to be a jerk, but Cleveland makes a lot of sense to me. Desean Watson, we know what he looked like in 2024. Shedeur Sanders, I don't think you can just assume he's going to give you a full season of starting play right off the bat in year two under Todd Monken. And so it's, it's easy for me to imagine a situation where we're in like December and one of these guys is hurt and one of these guys hasn't played very well. And so you say, yeah, let's see what Taylor Green can do for a couple of weeks. And in that circumstance, in that context, I'd be excited to see it. I got to admit it.
- [47:19]
Derek
Love this because it's one of the, when you look at the quarterback room, it, it feels crowded based on like name power and draft capital. Right where it's like okay, desean Watson and all the money they're paying him and then them clearly trying to get whatever value they can out of that. Which is kind of ridiculous at this stage given what you said, how bad he had been the last couple times we saw him play Shur Sanders. I, that is just, I don't think he showed enough as a rookie that you would want to immediately give him stars without him improving and winning that competition. And then Dylan Gabriel, third round pick but like clearly a Stefanski sort of guy. And like I don't really expect Todd Monkin to walk in and be super excited about that. And so there's more of a path there for Taylor Green than it feels like. Like if you just look at the names.
- [48:01]
Taft
I said I wasn't trying to be a jerk and then I left Dylan
- [48:04]
Derek
Gabriel, the one who played the most.
- [48:07]
Taft
But okay, but number one, I think it's a great shout that Dylan Gabriel, what clearly looks like a Stefanski pick but also Dylan Gabriel is the anti traits quarterback whereas Taylor Green is the pure traits quarterback. And we should say go watch Arkansas. Like Taylor Green. He's a very enticing athlete. He makes some incredibly Fun plays. The consistency is all over the map and if, if he had a degree of consistency to go with all of this athleticism, he would have been drafted so much higher than he was. But again, for a team that's probably drafting a quarterback in 2027, if they get to the end of the year and the record's not very good, like, like, are you going to let Dylan Gabriel be in the way of letting this very Tracy high upside guy get a shot? Like, even if it doesn't look good, I, that, I, that doesn't hold water to me at all. I think if that is what winds up happening in Cleveland and you're just, you know, drawing out the string until we can draft a guy in 2027, you'd be crazy not to give this guy a little bit of run.
- [49:13]
Derek
And I also think like he's one of those guys where it clearly is an athleticism play and it's a. Traits play and it, he's a project and all that stuff and it, it's, I think he's less of like a mental project though. Like this was a, this was an offense at Arkansas that did ask him to kind of run a lot of five man concepts and there were a lot of guys out in the route and he was reading 1 to 2 to 3 to 4 to 5 and it wasn't perfect. But he has some sort of, you know, reps doing that, whereas a lot of guys coming out of the college game don't. He is more of a mechanical issue. Like, I just think that he gets so it feels like every limb is going in every sort of direction at the same time type of thrower sometimes. And I do think that when he, he has to step up in the pocket and get off of his platform a little bit, he's a little bit uncomfortable trying to make some of those throws when he's on the move, when he's sliding left, whatever it's going to be. But. So if you can convince yourself that Monkin and the quarterback coaching staff can just button him up a little bit mechanically. Okay. I don't know if he's going to like blow your socks off as a rookie, but he might give you better play, at least more interesting play than any of the other guys on the roster.
- [50:13]
Taft
In my notes for trying to talk myself into this, I wrote we trust and like Todd Monk and so give, give him training camp and a, and a season to work on. Taylor Green. Not trying to convince anybody that this will go well, but I'm just, I'm Imagining Derek Thursday, Week 15 preview we haven't talked about the Browns in a while, and all of a sudden we're throwing them onto Sicko Street. Cause we're like, hey, Taylor Green's gonna play. That's intriguing. That's different than what we've been watching for the last five weeks. That's kind of where my head is with this.
- [50:48]
Derek
I think that that's. We're probably fast tracking there. Unless he's just like, awful for whatever reason. We're fast tracking to at least a couple of tailing Green starts. And honestly, if you're Monking, you just came from a spot where you saw what the quarterback run game can do for you. You just had to install the bunch of this stuff into your playbook. He might be looking at this quarterback room and being like, well, Watson doesn't give me that. Sanders doesn't give me that. Dylan Gabriel definitely doesn't give me that. Taylor Green, though, I don't know.
- [51:13]
Taft
That's. I think it's worth saying one more time like Taylor Green is the guy that Monken was a part of identifying and bringing onto the team. And that stuff matters when you're considering the politics of deciding playing time. I will say I do like and trust Todd Monkin enough to be intrigued by what Shadur Sanders could look like in Year two, especially if some more of these draft picks hit and the Browns supporting cast looks a little bit better.
- [51:38]
Derek
But.
- [51:39]
Taft
But it's a long season is all I'm saying. And I won't be surprised if there's a stretch somewhere in the back half where this makes sense. All right, who's your next guy?
- [51:51]
Derek
Okay, I've got one. And this is a little bit of ridiculous framing kind of, but it is the reality of the NFL. The Denver Broncos drafted Cage Casey in the fourth round. Now, I know their offensive line line rocks. They are the best offensive line in the league. They were also the healthiest offensive line in the league last year. And the reality is that that is probably not going to hold. And so if I were to guess Cage Casey, a guy who played tackle in college, I think a lot of people expected that he's going to have guard versatility in the NFL if he needs to. I think it's very likely that he gets on the field this year and if he maintains like a good level of play and makes sure that Bonix is protected in the pocket and they can take some of the deep shots they want want and the run game can continue to be what it wants to be. I think that that's important for them because even if you look at the second level of this Denver Broncos offensive line, it's not a lot of guys who have like a ton of good NFL snaps behind them. You know, some teams have like good NFL depth behind their starters. That to me is not super the case in Denver outside of maybe the center position, but that's so much more specific than guard tackle flexibility that I don't really like. It doesn't really apply to Casey anyway. Way it just feels like again, this is like mean and not the way that you want to frame this. But the reality is more injuries will probably happen for Denver. This feels like a guy who can insulate them from worst case scenario.
- [53:12]
Taft
I think this is a really good shout. And I mean, to be fair, we already saw this come to light last year. It obviously didn't stop the Broncos from being the 1 seed in the playoffs, but Ben Powers missed half of last season and Luke Wattenberg was banged up as well. So we guessed that health regression might come for the Broncos on the offensive line. It did a little bit. Not enough to derail their season. But for a team that has so few obvious weaknesses, especially after the Jalen Waddle trade, I think this is a good shout that drafting a versatile player who could fill a few spots for you. I mean if, if you're a team with super bowl aspirations, which I think the Broncos are, this makes a hell of a lot of sense.
- [53:56]
Derek
And that's what it is. It's like this is, it's not even just that they have super bowl aspirations. It's like so much of their success last year, right, was that the offensive line was just incredible. Like it just let them do everything that they wanted to do on offense. And so just making sure that if Quinn Miners misses four games or Mike McGlinchey misses a handful of games, that they are rock solid without that. Because I think we've seen like think about, to me, the difference between the 2024 Bucks and the 2025 Bucks. Obviously there's some changes at play caller and there's a couple of different reasons they had injuries at W receiver as well. But the 2024 bucks like mostly had their guys and those guys mostly kicked a lot of ass in 2025. It felt like every Bucks offensive lineman missed a bunch of time for a bunch of different reasons and they just didn't have the same depth that you would have wanted to kind of prevent them from. From some of those downfalls.
- [54:46]
Taft
A big question here is, and I mean he played tackle in college. He projects as an interior offensive lineman in the NFL. My only question is if he were to need to play tackle for a game or two or three in the regular season, could he do that? Like could. Does he have enough wherewithal and know how to get by or is that just a non starter? I don't know the answer to that question. I'm genuinely curious to see what it would look like.
- [55:14]
Derek
I don't know either. But I at least like the idea of again. Cause sometimes there are these guys where we all expect them to be guards in the NFL, but you draft them in part for like emergency scenarios. Can he give me two starts here and it's not going to kill us And I do think that he could do that.
- [55:28]
Taft
This is not fair at all. I'm not comparing anyone to Zach Martin, who's one of the best football players I've ever spent time around and is going to be a Hall of Famer. But he was an all American tackle. He immediately transitioned to guard and it was like, okay, his NFL future is at guard. And then over the course of his career there were a couple times where necessity pushed him out to tackle and it was like, I don't know man, he looks pretty good here too. It's fine. I again, one of the best players of the last decade. Certainly not comparing them, but I'm always curious to see because if you play tackle at a high level in college, again like the, the know how, the understanding of angles, I got to assume that can help you even if you don't have the physical traits to do it for at a high level for a sustained amount of time. I don't know if that applies to Cage Casey.
- [56:20]
Derek
Yeah, I don't know either. And the last thing I'll say, obviously this pick wasn't just for this year. Ben Powers, he. He is in the final year of his deal. So I'm. I'm assuming they are hoping that he can battle for, for potential reps there in the future.
- [56:32]
Taft
I really love that we were just two ships passing in the night on this show. We were just circling similar teams for different reasons. Cause I also wanted to highlight the Broncos. This is my last one. Yours is better because I think Cage Casey has a very obvious path to the playing field. I don't know about Justin Jolie and Dallin Bentley, but I really love the Sean Payton of it all. Where the Broncos made six of their picks on day three and of those picks they spent two of them on tight ends to fill out their Tight end depth chart because Sean Payton just cannot get enough of some tight ends and the Broncos extended Adam Troutman. So he's going to be there for the foreseeable future. But I believe Evan Ingram and Nate Adkins are both on the final year of their deal. So you bring in Justin Jolie and Dallin Bentley, both different sorts of skill sets, I would say. Like, I think Jolie is, he's. He's a good, capable, willing blocker, but I think you're drafting him more for athleticism and ability to extend plays down the field, get yak after the catch and be sort of a receiving tight end. I think Bentley, the idea would be he could be a more balanced guy. He's a better receiver right now than a, a blocker, but he's just, he's a bigger body type than Justin Jolie. But this just feels like a play by Sean Payton to fill out the depth chart. But also get ready for next year when these guys can hopefully step into bigger roles.
- [58:06]
Derek
And honestly, even though those other guys are there, like Atkins and, and Evan Ingram. Evan Ingram is coming up on 32 and played about 30% less snaps last year than he had at any point in his career. And that was not an injury thing like he was. He suited up for just about every game for the Broncos last year. And so I think they had obviously made the acquisition of him last year thinking that he would still have a little bit more juice and he had moments, but I don't think was like some superstar. So them going and drafting Jolie, who I think is like in that similar mold, makes a lot of sense to me. And then Adkins, I actually really like Nate Adkins, but he is a very specific, like weirdly sized, kind of put him at H. He's going to block for you and not do a whole lot as a receiving tight end anyway. So if they are looking for a little bit more pass catching stuff, Atkins really is not preventing them. He's a little bit more of like a short yardage, clear like 22 personnel set sort of. Sort of player.
- [59:02]
Taft
I wound up loving these guys, both of these rookies a lot when I studied the tight ends. Jolie is like, he's a good athlete. He's not like an explosive playmaker or at least he didn't have a lot of explosive plays in college is what I should say. But he is a good athlete. He's a contested catch beast. Like he's going to catch stuff over the middle of the field. He'll fight off contact to make Catches and then Bentley wound up being one of my favorite guys to watch. What a it. I'm fascinated to see where this goes. Cause Derek, he caught three passes his entire college career year. He's 25, by the way. So like he's been out of high school for a minute.
- [59:41]
Derek
He caught three passes, three passes up
- [59:44]
Taft
until, well, up until 2025. And then in 2025 he caught 50 balls for 700 yards and six touchdowns. Didn't have a single drop on the season. He was just a steady Eddie presence in Utah's offense, made a lot of fun plays down the field. And I'm like, okay, is your, is your arrow shooting up or was this just the craziest aberration ever and you're going to come back down to earth a little bit? I don't know the answer, but go, go watch D. Bentley for Utah. It's very fun. I'm, I'm excited to see what he can do from here.
- [60:18]
Derek
You, you've sold me that, that one is interesting. I didn't get that far with the tight ends, but I'm, I, I might go take a peek.
- [60:23]
Taft
I think he's, I think he's a really good player. I. Not a, not a like perfect blocker by any stretch, but Dane and I differed on this. Like I, I think he's a pretty good Dane. Thinks he needs to be more consistent. I liked what I saw. I'll, I'll probably defer toward the draft expert, but I don't know. I like the guy. I like both of these tight ends and I'm going to be, I'm going to be excited if Sean Payton finds a way to use them quicker than expected. Do you have, do you have anyone else?
- [60:51]
Derek
I'll throw one more out there really quickly. We can actually stay at tight ends, obviously. The Jaguars got a lot of talk for drafting their first tight end, Nate Berkshire in the second round. They also drafted Tanner Koziol in the fifth round. And the only reason I think it's, it's interesting is Koziol was like a highly productive pass catching tight end. He was a guy who played a lot of slot at Houston. He's. You can even tell the way that he's built. Like if you look at, if you just look at the dimensions on mock draftable or whatever, he doesn't have like some sort of weird build one way or the other. But when you just look at him, he, he looks more like a big wide receiver than he does a tight end. And so I do think that that's interesting where, where this is a team that is clearly trying to invest at the tight end position, but he's a guy who feels a little bit more like a flex player. And so this is one where I'm not actually sure what the immediate impact is, but for a team that seems to want to put more big bodies on the field and clearly has a plan drafting two tight ends, I at least want to know what it looks like when they put these guys on the field.
- [61:53]
Taft
You just made me wonder. I was looking this up while you were talking. I feel, I think four different teams doubled up at tight end, which makes sense when you consider how many came out in this draft. But the Jags drafted two, the Ravens drafted two. The Broncos drafted two. The Browns drafted two. Yeah, it's a, it's a good, it was a good year to need a tight end, and quite a few teams that had a big need were like, let's, let's just get to what's wrong
- [62:17]
Derek
with that and like, clearly different. Like, obviously Borkature is a guy who is think a little bit bigger, a little bit more. People think he's more of a true wide tight end and Kozio is kind of the, I don't know, he's a big pass catcher. Let's see if he can block a little bit.
- [62:32]
Taft
I love the renaissance that tight end is having. That's. That, that'll. That'll be my new pet. Cause as we get to training camp, 2026 is which of the second, third and fourth tight ends are making an impression at their respective practices. Can't wait for that. But until then, that's all we've got. Thanks for watching some dart throws with Derek and I as we went through day three of the NFL draft. We will be back next week. Time until then. Appreciate y'.
- [62:58]
Sponsor/Ad Reader
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- [62:58]
Taft
We'll talk to you soon. Thanks for tuning in. Make sure to hit that subscribe or Follow button so you never miss an episode. If you enjoyed what you heard, please, like, comment and leave a rating. We'll see you next time. Security program on spreadsheets, new regulations piling up and audit dread. It's time for Van. Vanta automates security and compliance, brings evidence into one place and cuts audit prep by 82%. Less manual work, clearer visibility, faster deals, zero chaos. Call it compliance. Or call it compliance. Get it? Join the 15,000 companies using Vanta to prove trust. Go to vanta.com calm
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Derek
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