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- [00:00]
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- [01:28]
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- [02:02]
Robert Mays
Welcome to the Athletic Football Show. I'm Robert Mays. Day three of the draft is in the books. We watched it from the studio today. Me, Dan Brugler, Derek Klass and Dave Hellman, we're going to chat a little bit about some of the more notable picks from day three today. Obviously Jermad Bacoi lasting to pick a 1 01, Garrett Nussmeier falling a little bit some of the slot and safety players that Dane liked a little bit more than the league seemed to when it comes to their draft slot. So just some notable picks from Day three Before digging into Dane's favorite picks from day three, we have about a half dozen of those. And then we zoomed out and looked at the draft classes overall. Probably hit about six to eight classes that Dane really enjoyed, just like the way that those teams attacked their picks. And then we spent a little bit of time talking about some classes that we found confusing, confounding, trying to find the right adjective to be a little bit nicer than we might have been on the show, but talked about probably 10 to a dozen draft classes overall. And then we're going to be doing a ton of draft talk on the show over the course of this entire week. Dane is going to power rank every single one of those classes that is going to be available on the Athletic if you want to go check that out tomorrow. So that's what we got today. Me, Dane, Derek, Dave, chatting about day three of the draft and some of our favorite hauls overall from the three days of the draft. So let's get to it right now. Welcome to the Athletic Football Show's live coverage of Day 3 of the 2026 NFL Draft. The 219th pick in the draft is now in courtesy of the New Orleans Saints. We'll be keeping an eye on the last round or so as it rolls by, mostly to make sure that no players come off the board that were not in Dane Brugler's the Beast.
- [03:50]
Dane Brugler
Yeah, that's it's always a little nerve wracking because there's a chance maybe someone sneaks in there. But I'm confident we're good.
- [03:57]
Robert Mays
So we'll talk a little bit about some of the drafts overall as this winds down. We'll talk about that at the end. Some of the drafts that we like the most, a few that found a little bit confounding. But Dave, let's start with the biggest news of today. Just some of the picks that we we found most notable guys that lasted longer than we thought, landing spots that we were most interested in. And I think that conversation has to start with Jermod McCoy going 1:01 to the Raiders. The idea that at the beginning of this process we thought that he could potentially be a top 10 pick and he lasts until the first pick of the fourth round. Obviously we know why that is, but one of the stories of draft weekend, the fact that he was still available as we got day three going here,
- [04:33]
Dave Hellman
it's a small consolation for a guy that we talked about as a top 10, top 15 prospect for a lot of this process. Until more details Started to come out about his health, but considering it was already a bummer of a weekend for him relative to some of the early expectation, I was happy he didn't have to wait long at all on Saturday morning at least. Cause I was, I had to stop for gas. I was 10 minutes late getting into, getting into the office. I missed the first two or three picks and he was already gone. Raiders made him the first pick of the day. So like I said, I think it's, it's, it's a silver lining compared to the size of the slide. But at least he wasn't sitting around for too much longer on Saturday.
- [05:13]
Derek Klass
And I'm glad he was like, the talent is just like you said, like Probably a top 78 player just based purely on the film and talent alone. And so for him to finally get drafted to come off the board early, it's like again, for this slide to be as bad as it was was surprising because I think we thought even coming into this weekend, okay, there were some rumbles going into the first round, like he's probably going to slip out. I think Dane did not have him in his final mock. So we knew first round was probably off the board.
- [05:35]
Robert Mays
We were having those Will Johnson conversations,
- [05:37]
Derek Klass
which was pick 48, 49. And once we got to there, it was like, okay, we assume he's going to come off the board. For him to fall another 50 picks, I think was. Was surprising. So for him to finally come off the board was, was nice.
- [05:48]
Dane Brugler
And from the Raiders perspective, it makes all the sense in the world at this point in the draft. It's worth the gamble. You know, they, I thought they did a great job with their first four picks in rounds one, two and three. And then you come back, they actually traded up to get that first pick in the fourth round to get Jermon McCoy. You know, you just, you feel great for him that the slide's over and now you just hope he's able to stay on the field. And because he's someone that the tape showed a, like we said, a top 15 player in this draft, somebody that has a long NFL career ahead of him. If he's healthy, the talent says he's an NFL player, hopefully the, the medicals just don't get in the way of that.
- [06:29]
Robert Mays
So with the first pick in the fourth round, at that point, it's worth it to take the swing. Let's talk about what resides on each side of this gamble. On the plus side, it is an all pro corner, right? It is like truly a special talent. At that position on the other side, what is like the worst case scenario here?
- [06:46]
Dane Brugler
He never plays.
- [06:47]
Robert Mays
He never plays. He just never plays.
- [06:49]
Dane Brugler
Never play. Yep. He has to get a procedure on the knee. He misses a year and it ends up being something he's not able to come back from. And I can't sit here and tell you the likelihood of that or that happening or not. That's not something I can even an educated guess. And I don't think even NFL teams have a good feeling for that, which is why he didn't go at 75 or 90. It's why he fell to the fourth round. That's obviously two very different outcomes here in this fork in the road, you just kind of hope for the best
- [07:20]
Robert Mays
and the timing of it doesn't seem accidental. The fact that the Raiders had all night to sit there and be like, okay, what are we going to do with this? Is this now worth it? Where if we can maneuver up to get him even if he never plays it down. There are plenty of fourth round picks that never contribute to your team that now those guys are going to make the team, obviously, but never become more than special teamers, never become more than a guy who's going to get a handful of snaps over the course of the year. And so you can live with the fact that a guy may never play as a fourth round pick, especially because obviously the upside is significantly higher than almost anyone else you're going to draft in the fourth round.
- [07:57]
Derek Klass
Yeah, totally. And especially like I think fifth round and beyond, you expect those guys probably more often than not to be cut or to be moved on from. Maybe you're trading those picks up to go do other stuff. And so the fourth round kind of is the range of like we're drafting backups, we're drafting dice rolls here. And obviously he's a different kind of dice roll. Cause it's health, not just like some sort of skill issue or something like that. But at that point in the draft, I don't see why you would do it. Even if it's a situation where he has like long term issues and cannot have a career into his, you know, age 29, age 30 season, if they get three, four solid years out of him before that starts to fall apart at the fourth round pick, you take that every single time that this is.
- [08:35]
Robert Mays
That's why this is a little bit different though than in some other considerations. Like we've talked about other guys where he's just a one contract player, right. Like he's not going to make it to a second contract because there's some sort of degenerative thing. This is a different sort of situation. Like it's not often like he may never play. It's, he'll only play for so long. And so the risk associated with this is a little bit different than some of the other health related discussions we have about players coming into the draft.
- [08:58]
Dane Brugler
Yeah, that's a fair way to frame it because it's, and that's what makes it so unique and why he did fall as far as he did. You just, you hope he's able to stay on the field and if he does, this will end up looking like a steal.
- [09:11]
Robert Mays
Speaking of falls coming into this draft, when we were talking about quarterbacks, I mean there were plenty of people, Derek among them, that thought that Garrett Nussmeier would be a worthwhile gamble for somebody on day two and could be the second best quarterback proposition of any of the quarterbacks in this draft after Fernando Mendoza. We're 221 picks into this thing and Garrett, Garrett Nussmeier, as far as I am aware, is still available.
- [09:34]
Dane Brugler
Right.
- [09:34]
Robert Mays
So as you're trying to parse why Garrett Nussmeyer is still available and why a guy like Kate Klubnick is going over him, what leads you to think this is what, why do you, why do you think we landed in this place with Nuss Meyer in this draft?
- [09:48]
Dane Brugler
I mean, I think part of it is the way things went this past year at lsu. Part of his injury related, both things we knew injuries that we knew and some that popped up during the process. And then also he just, I, I think some of the feedback that I've gotten from teams. Dave, I know you've heard similar. Just maybe he didn't handle some of the interviews the best that he could have. And I think part of it is a lack of accountability. It's still surprising that he's still on the board here as we start the seventh round. But that's the type of thing that Nussmeier, based purely on talent, is somebody that probably could start a game in the NFL and help you win. But he doesn't have those special traits in terms of size, in terms of so all those. And so you factor in the medicals and you factor in do we really fully trust him as a guy and all of a sudden here he is fallen.
- [10:44]
Dave Hellman
I think you made a great point when we talked about this, Dan. Cause we've been charting this all day. He is still on the board at pick 221. And I think it becomes a bit of a snowball effect because, like, first, let's, let's lay it out just off the bat, the stuff we knew coming in. I mean, he's just shy of six two. He's 200 three. He's an undersized guy. The arm is good, but not amazing. He barely had a season last year. The injury completely prevented him from putting anything on.
- [11:12]
Dane Brugler
Oblique injury?
- [11:13]
Derek Klass
Yeah, the.
- [11:14]
Dave Hellman
The oblique injury. Well, and to your point, it comes out a week ago that they discovered a. A cyst on his spine. I believe that, like, not seen as a major issue, but something he could potentially need to have surgery to have removed. So the most recent tape is not good. You have to go back to 2024 to find the good tape. He's an undersized prospect. He has a potential medical issue right now. And then you just alluded to it, asking around, trying to figure out why he might be sliding. Nothing, as far as I'm aware. That's like a super big red flag. But you just hear the, the interviews, the in person, the personality aspect of this didn't go quite as well as we would have preferred. And it's kind of surprising for a guy who wore number 18 for LSU in the final year of his career. That typically means you're like a senior leader on the team. Stayed at LSU for all of those years, was behind Jaden Daniels, coach's son.
- [12:07]
Robert Mays
Not even a coach's son.
- [12:08]
Dave Hellman
An NFL, NFL offensive coordinator son.
- [12:10]
Robert Mays
The idea that, like, these people that you're interviewing poorly in front of and not handling yourself well are people that, like, are a text away from your dad to let them know how that went. That part of it, to me is just like, that's so shocking to me, which I don't.
- [12:25]
Dave Hellman
I don't want to kill the guy too bad. I'd like. There are different levels of red, red flag. Right. Like, we're not talking about anything criminal or anything like that, as far as I'm aware of. Just that for all of the. With all the qualifiers we just laid out, like, for a guy who grew up around the NFL, did not ace that side of the draft process the way that you might have expected. So combine that with the injury, the lack of tape from the most recent year, the measurables, and the NFL clearly wasn't feeling it because seven quarterbacks have been drafted so far this weekend, and he is not one of them yet.
- [12:58]
Derek Klass
Dave, we were talking about it a little bit before we went live. It was around the Spencer Rattler range is when this Started to become surprising to me because Rattler was another player where if you just look at the talent you watched on a tape, it's like, that's a top 100 pick at quarterback every time. That's a dice roll you would want to make. He can start games in the NFL and he's. He. He played okay last year, but he fell a little bit further because I think there were just some questions about what is the maturity going to be like. And if you're drafting him to be your backup quarterback. We say it as a joke sometimes, but like, backup quarterback kind of needs to be a good hang. Like he needs to be a good guy in the room. And if that's going to be some sort of an issue with Nussmeier. Dave, all the other stuff that you laid out that we knew, like him being undersized, arm is good, not great, Obviously, tape in 2025 being issued, that's all stuff that makes sense to me why he would fall out of the top 100. It's all of the other potential stuff that I think is why we haven't seen his name for the next 125 picks after that.
- [13:49]
Dane Brugler
It's so key when coaches and GMs draft quarterbacks that in rounds three through seven, they have to be someone that you want in your quarterback room.
- [13:59]
Derek Klass
Yeah.
- [14:00]
Dane Brugler
That is going to help lift what's going on there. And that's why the Browns didn't care about drafting Dylan Gabriel in the 90s last year, because they love the person and how smart he is. And at. Okay, at the very least, we're getting someone that is going to be a. Someone that's going to help our quarterback room.
- [14:16]
Derek Klass
He's pushing everybody. Absolutely.
- [14:18]
Dane Brugler
And so maybe I'm not going to go as far as calling like an extra coach in the room, but somebody that along those lines is going to help point things out as you prepare for the next game and just have a good understanding of. Of game plans. So apparently that's just not the same type of feeling teams have with Nussmeier.
- [14:36]
Robert Mays
Were you surprised that the jets were as aggressive as they were to go get Kate Clubnik at the start of the fourth round?
- [14:41]
Dane Brugler
Once you get to when it comes to quarterbacks on day three, I think it's just. It's eye of the beholder. And so if the jets don't take Klubnik there, he could still be on the board in the mid fifth into the six. Who knows? You know, I think it just comes down to, hey, we like this guy. Enough. We don't really want to wait until next pick. We'll take him here. And so quarterbacks are just, they're unique like that.
- [15:02]
Robert Mays
What do you think his, his like ideal path forward as an NFL player?
- [15:05]
Dane Brugler
Club Kate Clubnik hopefully just find consistency. I mean, you watch that Clemson. We could say this about many Clemson players from last year's team, but Clubnick was at the center of that. Like he has a, a good enough arm. You know, you see him make some of those backside thr, you know, opposite hash throws. He can do it, he's a good enough athlete. But the timing and the efficiency, it just wasn't there. It wasn't on a level that you say, okay, that's, that'll translate. That's that it's clearly something he has to work on. So, but there's, there's, he's a good kid. Like, there's a lot to like about the intangible factor and just the raw tools. And so I, I think what happened at Clemson is not very encouraging. It's not something you put at the top of your resume, but there's enough there that obviously the jets feel optimistic about developing moving forward.
- [15:52]
Derek Klass
I didn't mind the pick, honestly, like in, in, in the fourth round. He's a guy to me that, I mean their backup I think currently was Brady Cook, which like I, I would expect him to be better than that. The things I did like about club, I think he's accurate. Like the arm doesn't really wow you, but I do think that he kind of layers balls really well and gives guys yak opportunities. And I think if he has to play any games this year, that that can be pretty nice for them. And so I think he could give you a little bit of that. And even as a decision maker, again, some teams like this, as a backup, he doesn't make to me a lot of decisions that are just like putting the ball in harm's way in an egregious way. Like that doesn't mean he's always like quick to get to his checkdowns and quick to make really high level decisions. But he did not feel to me like, oh my God, what are you doing man? Like he's. The coach is not going to be yelling at him for that reason, which I think sometimes is valuable when you're drafting a backup.
- [16:36]
Robert Mays
One of my favorite conversations we had today was just about the types of bets you're making on quarterbacks later in drafts. And I think my mind very quickly when we're talking about Drew Aller last night is like, well, if you're just taking a swing on a guy, like let me take a swing on the toolsy guy. And we were talking about the history of that and the history of that is not very kind. Like there just aren't that many of these toolsy quarterback prospects drafted late that end up becoming long term starters. The guys drafted in the fourth round that end up becoming long term starters or these breakthrough candidates in the NFL are the Kirk Cousins, Dak Prescott types that aren't necessarily those toolsy players. And so I think that was a little bit surprising to me, just kind of sitting back and thinking about it and being like, well but actually the toolsy guys aren't the ones that end up becoming the worthwhile bets as we get a little bit later into these
- [17:20]
Derek Klass
drafts because the guys who are toolsy and show just enough NFL ability, they end up going in the first round.
- [17:26]
Robert Mays
Yeah, yeah, exactly. I think that's part of it. I, I, I truly think that's part of it is like it become quarterback in that way becomes more like safety where like you can find a guy in the fourth round that can do it between the years, but if he's that talented, he's probably going to go a little bit higher if he's actually viable. And so that was just a fun kind of like oh yeah, I guess that is right when you look at recent quarterback history.
- [17:46]
Dave Hellman
And I think it's, I mean it's a rare set of circumstances that push a guy like Drew aller to the mid-70s. You know, like he gets hurt halfway through his final year. If he'd had an opportunity to put more on tape or if Penn State had had a better season and he's healthier, that much more opportunity to, for somebody to fall in love with those traits and take him higher.
- [18:05]
Dane Brugler
And we just had another quarterback drafted not named Garrett Nussmeier.
- [18:09]
Robert Mays
So which can you tell me what his name is?
- [18:12]
Dane Brugler
I can now it's funny if you ask like a just a general college football fan who the quarterback at Ruckers was last year, I don't know many that could. Ethan Kel Manus, Minnesota transfer who had a made a big jump between 04 and 05. Like the decision made you pull up
- [18:29]
Dave Hellman
your own beast page to get that pronunciation or you just got phonetic in there.
- [18:33]
Dane Brugler
That's one I practice for sure. Because that's like all the quarterbacks you need.
- [18:36]
Dave Hellman
That's why you're the best.
- [18:37]
Dane Brugler
You need to make sure you know that one. But he's Someone that wasn't a combine guy, wasn't somebody that, you know all star games in terms of like the top all star games, but had some, had some juice around the league from scouts that were like, there's something here. Six, two and a half, £216. There are moments on tape where you can definitely see it. And so the commander's drafting him here in the seventh. Not surprised now. A little surprised. He's going ahead of Nussmeier. What other quarterbacks are still still available? Obviously, Nuss, Meyer, Haynes, King. Yeah. Joey Aguilar, Sawyer Robertson. So again, when you talk about day three quarterbacks, it's just eye the beholder. And some teams are going to like one guy over another.
- [19:21]
Robert Mays
Let's talk about some of the DBs that fell further than you might have expected based on what your final board looked like. Dan, let's start with Jalen Kilgore, who was 88 on your final top 300. He goes 127 to the Buffalo Bills, which Derek is. We'll let you get to your jail. And Kilgore thoughts, but why in your mind is a guy that you felt pretty good about and Kilgore as a top 100 player fall a little bit further than you might have expected?
- [19:44]
Dane Brugler
Yeah. And. And Kilgore was a tough one for me because I didn't love the tape as much as others, but I liked the athlete a lot and that's why he earned a spot in my top 100. But I saw a player who was a nickel in college who I don't think is a nickel in the NFL. I think he needs to play further off the ball, use that range, be more of a safety. I do question the, the versatility. You know, I think recency bias with Nick Iman worry coming out of South Carolina just last year, like, I think that was something. Oh, this is the next even worry. I, I don't. I don't see that. But at the same time, he's over six one, he's 210 pounds, ran a four four zero in the 40. Like, there's a lot about this testing and the ATH and the athlete, and he had ball production in college, so for him to fall as far as he did was a little surprising.
- [20:29]
Robert Mays
What keeps him from being like a pure nickel in the NFL?
- [20:31]
Dane Brugler
In your mind, he's a good athlete, but in terms of functional athleticism, where, you know, I think he just, he doesn't have that efficiency with his footwork. He's too reactionary. And so Give I want him more in deep space where he can show off that, that closing burst and that speed where if you ask him to play tight man against a slot receiver or even a, a bigger tight end, I think those types of guys can create windows, create passing windows against him in coverage. So I think maybe. But again I don't, I didn't think that was enough to drop him as far as we he ended up going. So maybe there is more here. We just don't know yet.
- [21:09]
Dave Hellman
I've killed him for this a few times in the draft process. I, I like him as a player but Kilgore, sorry Jalen Kilgore, go watch him against your guy Concepcion. When A and M played South Carolina and you're like okay, I don't know if you want to be down here in the slot with these sorts of demons on a regular basis.
- [21:25]
Robert Mays
I mean I think Casey Concepcion is doing that to just about anybody.
- [21:29]
Dave Hellman
This whole draft is littered with people where it's like as long as you don't watch Texas A and M, he's a great player.
- [21:33]
Robert Mays
Are you bad or did you just play against Casey? And a question of the 2026 NFL
- [21:38]
Dane Brugler
Draft, Mansour Delane, Brandon C. Say there are more than a few in this draft.
- [21:42]
Derek Klass
I think that one's the case too where like that's the exact kind of player that is going to give him issues. Like even as someone who likes him, like he can be a little bit stiff in the hip sometimes and he'll guess sometimes based on formation alignment, all this other stuff and like every now and then that'll get him a good beat on the quarterback's eyes every now and then he's over leveraging himself to the wrong side of a receiver's route and then the guy's a little bit quicker and he's just kind of gone in away from him. I do like Kilgore though. Like I think the athlete is great. I, I do think that he can play the nickel for them. I don't know what they're going to do in terms of the. Because now they have potentially two very different bodies. Right. Where D. Alford.
- [22:17]
Robert Mays
Yeah.
- [22:17]
Derek Klass
Is the smaller, you know, under six foot, really more of a cover guy, not as much of a hitter. Kilgore is your 6 foot plus could be more of a run fitting style of nickel and so I wonder how that's going to play out or do they want to fill him in at safety because this is a team that still needs safety help. So I do wonder if That's a case where they're just like, well, we kind of do think he can do both. We're going to get into camp and see where he helps us a little bit more.
- [22:39]
Robert Mays
And again, Buffalo being that team right in the fifth round, we. We had this discussion earlier today and I think that there's a couple of just competing thoughts when it comes to Nichols and their value in this draft because Kilgore goes later than we might have expected. Keante Scott, who we'll talk about in a second, was 53rd on your board. He goes 116. And there's on one side of it, it's the NFL valuing Nichols and deploying Nichols in a way that it really never has. It's become its own position. We've seen how impactful the right ones can be, but at the same time, if you can only do that, I think that we've seen that the league is maybe a little bit more down on you because you don't have that sort of versatility. We saw multiple guys who might be nickel only or were nickel only in college or fall a little bit further than you might expect.
- [23:21]
Dane Brugler
Keante Scott couldn't start at Auburn last year in 2024, like there, he was not a full time player and they struggled to really use him. Now credit to Miami because they found the exact role for him and it gave them a run to help to give them a run to the national championship game. But to your point, as we go, as he transitions to the NFL, if you do worry about Keonte Scott in reverse and holding him in coverage from that alignment, that's. It's tough to take him at that high. So it. With. And this is something, it's not any surprise. Like we, we've talked about this anytime. We talked about Keonte Scott throughout the process. We also talked about he's not gonna be for everybody. It's gonna take the right fit where the team's gonna see him in that specific role with that vision. So I'm not totally shocked he fell. I'm shocked he fell as far as he did. I'm just not shocked that he fell.
- [24:14]
Dave Hellman
Yeah, but where he wound up is pretty perfect.
- [24:16]
Robert Mays
There's a chance he never has to go backwards while playing for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. That is on the table.
- [24:21]
Dave Hellman
The Bucks just have. I mean, they have so many young, versatile DBs now like they did Parish and Morrison last year. They've got Keonte Scott now.
- [24:32]
Dane Brugler
Tyke Smith.
- [24:33]
Dave Hellman
Tyke Smith is still a young player who I like a lot. I'M the athleticism back there is incredibly impressive. And yeah, I mean Todd Bowles is probably not going to ask him to. He's going to. He's going to ask him to live on in the, in the backfield a lot, if I had to guess.
- [24:48]
Robert Mays
Yeah.
- [24:48]
Dane Brugler
13 tackles for loss last year. Like you want him near the line of scrimmage.
- [24:52]
Robert Mays
We're looking at a team in the Bucks that blitzed on 37% of their third down plays last year. So if they just want to use him in a situational role early on, that is the team that could potentially do it. The last DB I wanted to talk about is Zeki wheatley, who fell to 151. He was 78 on your board.
- [25:07]
Dane Brugler
He.
- [25:07]
Robert Mays
He ends up going to the Panthers, who we talked about as a team that would. Could they go safety in the first round based on their depth chart. And so they get a guy who you like I think a lot more than the draft seem to.
- [25:19]
Dane Brugler
At 1:51, he's a tall, lean corner. He's over 6 3. I mean he's kind of like McNeil Warren in that respect. And Wheatley's a guy that he's, he's a missile. Like he will fly to the ball. Now his tackling accuracy is a little hit or miss and that is one of the reasons why I think he fell as far as he did that and he just didn't have a ton of ball production this year. You want to see more plays on the football. So I think that he was. I, like, I thought he'd be a nice fit for Dan Quinn. Like when you think about J. Ron Curse and the way that he used him like. So I thought it would take Jeremy
- [25:55]
Robert Mays
Chin like a bunch of those guys.
- [25:56]
Dane Brugler
Yeah. So it would take the right fit. But again, a guy that I'm not surprised fell a little bit because is more about fit than anything. Just surprised he fell as far as he did.
- [26:05]
Dave Hellman
I. I love the guy. I think, I mean I just think he's super rangy. I get it. The ball production's not awesome, but he gets to the football in a hurry. I think his instincts are usually good. And what I mean, so what he was. He was in the 70s for you, right?
- [26:20]
Dane Brugler
70, 78.
- [26:21]
Dave Hellman
Yeah. I mean to fall as far as he did. Even, even like, even if he fell a little bit, that. That was a pretty steep one in my opinion.
- [26:27]
Derek Klass
Yeah.
- [26:28]
Robert Mays
Let's get to some of your favorite picks from day 3D just in terms of value fit, you know, ones that you feel like Teams did really well with what they came away with. We already talked about Javon McCoy. Raiders think obviously that is a worthwhile gamble for Vegas and where they are and what potentially waits for them on the other side. If McCoy works out, who else in your mind, when you saw them, where they came off the board and where they went, were you a fan in day three?
- [26:52]
Dane Brugler
Elijah Surratt, wide receiver from Indiana going to Baltimore, it's kind of the opposite of Jacoby Lane, who the Ravens drafted on day two, where Seurat is more of the veteran presence and not going to separate all that much, but he's more of a pro receiver, pro ready. I think that anybody that watched Fernando Mendoza saw the chemistry those two guys had with back shoulders and all the timing and their routes. That's something that. And those guys haven't been playing very long, less than a year. So that's something that I think Surat will be able to quickly adapt with Lamar Jackson in that offense and just be someone that can be strong at the. At. At that. At the catch point. And I think even if you want him to be inside as a power nickel, he could do that. And so I think the different ways you can use him, I really, I mean, maybe, well, time will tell. Maybe Jacoby Lane will end up being the better receiver when we look back five years from now. But I think in year one, it's going to be Eliza Surratt as the more productive rookie receiver for Baltimore. Baltimore.
- [27:50]
Derek Klass
I'm just interested at them trying that because I think for. For years and at least for as long as I've been on this show, I have tried to get Lamar Jackson a ball winner and I was probably more Surpri, like more.
- [27:59]
Robert Mays
Who was the last one? Probably Miles Boykin. Right? It was like the last kind of back they made. Yeah.
- [28:03]
Derek Klass
Like, probably. Yeah. At least at that position. Obviously they've tried a couple of tight ends and stuff, but wide receiver, it's. It's been a while, I think, since they've tried. A guy of that body type obviously signed DeAndre Hopkins last year, but there was only so much left in the tank there. Even if I was excited about it, I think for as much as I've clamored for Lamar to have some sort of ball winner, and I do want to see it. It's also one of those situations where, because we've never really seen him with a guy like that and a guy who can dominate on back shoulders or just win 50, 50 balls down the field for a quarterback who pretty consistently Tends to almost intentionally, it feels like overthrow his deep balls. I genuinely don't know how good a jump ball guy is going to be for him. Like, I don't know how well he can make some of those throws. Just like line driving it on outside the numbers and obviously.
- [28:50]
Dave Hellman
So you got what you've always wanted and now you're not sure.
- [28:54]
Derek Klass
This is more like opt like, like curious optimism. Like, I think Lamar is good enough that he'll figure it out. I think both of these prospects are good enough that one of them is going to hit. But I genuinely like for as much as I've wanted it, now that it's
- [29:06]
Dave Hellman
here, like caught the car and you're like, you're just like, now what? Now what am I supposed to do?
- [29:10]
Derek Klass
But like actually picturing it on the field, I'm like struggling a little bit, like connecting A to B.
- [29:16]
Robert Mays
Looking back through the Ravens draft history, I'm pretty sure. Okay, so I think the only guy they've drafted over six one since 2018 is Miles Boykin, which is funny because I think he's the only 1 over
- [29:31]
Derek Klass
61 because before that it was all guys who were like 6:2 and ran a 4:4. They drafted that guy every year until that point.
- [29:39]
Robert Mays
So we get Marquis Brown, James Prochet, who was five' 11. Devin DuVernay who was an undersized returner. Rashad Bateman, who shrunk 3 inches in the draft process.
- [29:47]
Dave Hellman
I'm going to say, what's. What's the number on him?
- [29:49]
Robert Mays
Six one is.
- [29:51]
Dave Hellman
He's not like, small, sure.
- [29:52]
Robert Mays
But like we thought. Remember when we thought Rashad Bateman was like 63? Go back and look at like the Rashad Baitman rivals page from when he was in high school and he was like, listed at like 6:3. And then he got to the combine. Everyone's like, oh, well, guess not. So he was 6:1. And then you keep going. So Rashad Bateman, 6:1. Tyn Wallace was that same draft. Zay Flowers in 2023, Devontez Walker in 2024. I mean, that's. And then Lajante Wester, who is also 5 9. Those are the guys the Ravens have drafted at receiver other than Miles Boykin. Since 2020. Since 2019.
- [30:27]
Dave Hellman
A bit of a departure.
- [30:29]
Robert Mays
So. Which is interesting because it's not only the. A shift in what they're doing. And I keep coming back to this. It's like we have a new offense in. In Baltimore, right? There's just the new. New ideas, new value systems. Like, they. It's not necessarily surprising to see them seeking out a different sort of skill set, even if the front office in Baltimore is the same and has carried over.
- [30:50]
Derek Klass
Right?
- [30:50]
Verizon Announcer
Yeah.
- [30:51]
Derek Klass
And I do think that that's why it's interesting because I think there's a chance that for the first era of Lamar being there, the Greg Roman offense was weird. And I think a lot of their run game stuff was just more by formation and weird personnel stuff. And so I think blocking receivers was not as big a deal necessarily needing to be big there. And Lamar is good at like giving yak opportunities and finding guys who are good in space and all that stuff. And so it makes sense that they drafted so many of those guys. Now they're in an offense where it's like we. We can't live that way. Like, if that's all we got, we cannot live as an offense.
- [31:19]
Robert Mays
Well, they. A lot of the time the. The blocking receivers in that offense were tight ends, right?
- [31:24]
Derek Klass
Exactly. It's just like three of them on the field.
- [31:25]
Robert Mays
It's flex tight ends that end up.
- [31:29]
Derek Klass
Yes.
- [31:29]
Robert Mays
So now even if you're living in 12 personnel, and we saw that a little bit with the tight ends that they signed in free agency, like the fact that Durham Smythe is there now, we're going to. If you look at the numbers on it, even Mark Andrews, who was more. When Charlie Kohler was not healthy last year, the more like traditional tight end they had on the roster, he was only in line like 28% of the time or whatever it was like. I think the deployment and where those guys are lining up is just going to be different this year. And so if your guys who are in the slot or flex off the formation are now receivers, they may need to be different body types in order to hold up in the way that you want them to. So beyond the pass catching element of this, what you're asking of the receivers in this offense is just going to be different than what they've been asked in recent years when the tight ends kind of played that role.
- [32:12]
Dave Hellman
If I can be honest, the super tall receivers don't interest me nearly as much as the super short cornerback. Chandler Rivers landing in Baltimore is one of my favorite picks of the day.
- [32:22]
Dane Brugler
Good call.
- [32:22]
Robert Mays
Any others for you before we get to Danes any other day? Three picks that really stick out to you.
- [32:26]
Dave Hellman
Dane's the star of the show. I just. We were talking about the Ravens and I wanted to highlight Chandler Rivers because he's one of my favorites. That would definitely be one of them. Keonte Scott in Tampa Tampa. I'll, I'll look through my notes while Dane goes.
- [32:37]
Dane Brugler
Because Rivers. That's a good one. I mean, he's kind of the, in my opinion, the third round version of d' Angelo Pons.
- [32:43]
Dave Hellman
Yes.
- [32:44]
Dane Brugler
Like, you know, undersized, but.
- [32:45]
Dave Hellman
Well, he went in the fifth.
- [32:46]
Dane Brugler
Exactly.
- [32:47]
Dave Hellman
Yeah.
- [32:47]
Dane Brugler
He was a, I had him in the 80s. I think he was a late third rounder for me, so. I agree. Tremendous value. My next one, we'll, we'll stick with undersized corners. Keith Abney from Arizona State, who I thought was a top 75 player in this draft. He's a little bit undisciplined as a player. He's a little wild. There's some Terry and Arnold to his game. Just kind of. Yeah.
- [33:09]
Robert Mays
Fitting, right?
- [33:10]
Dane Brugler
Exactly.
- [33:11]
Robert Mays
They got a type out there.
- [33:12]
Dane Brugler
He ended up in Detroit in, in the four. Is it fifth, Right?
- [33:16]
Robert Mays
Yeah.
- [33:16]
Dane Brugler
Geez. I, to me, that's just value. I mean, when I'm reading his, my notes on him, the word love just popped up all over the place. It's like, okay, I love the ball production. I love the competitive fire. I love the read, react, burst. It's just, he's undersized and undisciplined, but he tested well. He was 4, 45 in the 46, 91 in the 3 cone. So it's not a testing thing. He's just under 5 10, so size isn't great, but it's not a disqualifier. Surprised he fell as far as he did.
- [33:48]
Robert Mays
Corner is a really interesting position for them because you look at it, they signed Roger McCreary to potentially play the nickel for them. He's on a very, very, very small one year deal. The safeties, we'll see what happens with Branch and Kirby Joseph. They signed Christian Izzy and Chuck Clark, I think kind of as backstops, but we've seen Brian Branch kind of move out of that nickel role and so it really. How they end up putting together that cornerback room like Abney, getting a chance to potentially play and maybe play inside if you think he can do that. Like there's just so much in flux there. I thought the corner might have even been a bigger priority for them coming into the weekend because there are so many questions about their secondary overall in Detroit.
- [34:24]
Dane Brugler
No doubt. I'm, I'm sorry, I'm distracted by Eli Heiden. Right.
- [34:27]
Dave Hellman
One of your, like going to be one of your favorite picks of the day, if I had to guess.
- [34:30]
Dane Brugler
I mean Navy, but he's a Pittsburgh kid.
- [34:32]
Dave Hellman
And didn't you call like three hours ago that he would probably be getting picked by the Pittsburgh Steelers.
- [34:37]
Dane Brugler
It just made too much sense. They invited him. NFL invited him to the draft knowing Pittsburgh was obviously his kind of his hometown. And I thought he could have come off the board as early as the fourth and here we are in the seventh. Just a awesome story for a moment for him.
- [34:54]
Robert Mays
Yeah, you can tell. Oh my gosh, that's really cool.
- [34:56]
Dane Brugler
Just to get drafted, period's awesome. But to be there in person in your hometown, like, that's, that's a dream come true.
- [35:03]
Dave Hellman
And as cool as it is, not a totally feel good story though. Like you've been on this guy ever. He's. He's a baller.
- [35:09]
Robert Mays
He's.
- [35:09]
Dane Brugler
He's the most prolific receiver pass catcher in Navy history. And I get that's maybe not a high bar considering it's an option offense, but they change their offense. But pace for partly in reason because of Heidenreich, because of how good he is as a pass catcher. Now he's a smaller guy. He's not somebody that has a huge catch radius, but he catches through contact. You don't see very many drops. He's listed as a running back, but really he's more of a, a slot receiver really. Like I don't think he's like, maybe he can be somewhat of a Danny Woodhead type, but he's not gonna be a true between a tackles runner. You want him motioned out, you want him running routes, you know, get him on a, on a linebacker, on a wheel route, you'll take that every time.
- [35:52]
Robert Mays
I'll tell you what, if there is an offense and a quarterback that's going to be willing to whip that shit at the running back over and over and over again, right now it is 20, 26. Aaron Rodgers and Kenny Gainwell placement.
- [36:01]
Dave Hellman
That's right.
- [36:02]
Robert Mays
So that, that is a, that is a fit for more than one reason, even if he's a Pittsburgh kid. The last thing I wanted to say about Keith Abney, one of my favorite notes in the entire obese this year is learning that a guy that you liked was also a competitive inline skater. Yeah, for like a good majority of his youth. That's like just walk me through what that even means. Like what, what does being a competitive inline skater even entail?
- [36:27]
Dane Brugler
Yeah, I think it was his grandmother when he was little would take him to the local skating park and he just tried it out one day when he was like five and then really enjoyed it. And so he got better and better and better and yeah, in the seventh grade, he won the national championship in the 300 meters in Omaha, Nebraska. Set a U.S. record. He was really focused on, hey, how far can I take this Junior Olympics and beyond. And then, you know, high school came, football started to take over, and then Covid really was the, the final step that pushed him towards football. But you can't tell me that some of that, you know, 10 years of your youth focused on inline skating. Some of that didn't translate over to being a corner in terms of balance, in terms of, you know, some of the twitch in your muscles and the way you move, your endurance. So I think that's, you know, we hear about wrestling with offensive lineman.
- [37:19]
Robert Mays
This has to be a first.
- [37:20]
Dane Brugler
Like it's.
- [37:20]
Robert Mays
For me, it's like one sport leading into another. This has to be a first for you.
- [37:24]
Dane Brugler
And that's, that's the best part of, you know, learning about these kids backgrounds and all their different journeys. That that's as unique as you're going to find.
- [37:30]
Robert Mays
Let's get to a couple more of these. Keyshawn Elliott going to the Bears was one of your favorite picks of the day, which. Tell me more about that. Just as much as you want, you invested.
- [37:41]
Dane Brugler
He was my 83rd player, I believe, coming out of Arizona State. He was actually at you really like
- [37:48]
Robert Mays
the Arizona State defense last year, huh? Right. How about a good time watching?
- [37:51]
Dane Brugler
I know State defense well, another former New Mexico State player. He was, he was at New Mexico State. He was the same recruiting class as Diego Pavia. You know, Eli Star wars was there obviously, but he was a high school quarterback. Got overlooked throughout the recruiting process. Goes to New Mexico State and became a linebacker full time and was really good. And so he transfers up to Arizona State and he was the, the captain of that defense. Basically they called themselves, themselves the Werewolves. And he was the leader of it, a really smart player. And again, we talked about it before the quarterback and that mirror image, like, I think that was a natural transition for him. Looks the part, moves well, sees things really well. Just all the intangible stuff's off the charts. I, I would have had no problem taking this guy in the top 100 picks. And so I think the Bears got excellent value on the day. On third, third day of the draft.
- [38:44]
Robert Mays
Here's the cope is that they took Xavon Thomas earlier.
- [38:48]
Dane Brugler
I wasn't going to say it, but
- [38:49]
Robert Mays
we're just going to flip them. We're just going to pretend Xavon Thomas went in the fifth round and we're just going to pretend Kelly went in the third round and we're just never going to think about it again.
- [38:55]
Dave Hellman
That's, that's, that's draft 1 01. Like, if you just, if you don't like a pick, just find a pick you do like and pretend it's the other way around. Like, oh, we got this guy in the third and this guy on the fifth. It's great.
- [39:04]
Robert Mays
A serious point, the Bears and linebacker death. Absolutely makes sense. You look at that room right now. No, Sewell's going. In the final year of his deal, they resigned DeMarco Jackson, who I thought acquitted himself very well last year given
- [39:16]
Derek Klass
like the emergency situation when that linebacker
- [39:19]
Robert Mays
room was just completely decimated. I thought some of the work that he did in coverage was really impressive. They signed him to a two year deal, but it's one that they can probably get out of. They can get out of after this year. And TJ Edwards took a step back last year. He was obviously banged up for a good majority of the season. But even after signing Devin Bush in free agency, watching them try to build up that linebacker depth in Chicago, not the least bit surprising.
- [39:40]
Derek Klass
It is interesting though, like, somebody in the room has to go, like, they just have too many of them because all the guys that you mentioned, they drafted Reuben Hippolyte last year. That's right. You're not going to carry six linebackers. Somebody's going to go, yeah, it's a good point.
- [39:52]
Dane Brugler
It might come down to who's better on special teams. And that's.
- [39:55]
Dave Hellman
You could carry six linebackers if you wanted to. Like, that's, that's.
- [39:58]
Derek Klass
I would do that. I don't know if every NFL team,
- [40:01]
Dave Hellman
somebody's just one of them's got to be a special teams demon.
- [40:03]
Robert Mays
But yeah, we're saving your best for last. Your favorite pick of day three was who?
- [40:09]
Dane Brugler
It's got to be Riley Nowakowski. Credit to the Steelers, they drafted a few of my guys, but Nowakowski, to me, he. If you're just gonna have a conversation about the most useful players in the draft. Nowakowski, absolutely. In there, the Indiana tight end who part H back, part fullback, part just whatever you want him to do. He's a former walk on at Wisconsin. They didn't know what to do with him. They knew they had something, but they didn't know what to do with him. They tried him at linebacker. They then moved to offense. He transfers to Indiana for his final year and they're like, okay, we can use you. We know exactly how to use you. And he was the whether it was an underneath route and Buil helped move the chains. They used him in goal line situations. He had a couple rushing touchdowns as a blocker. He will get after it. He will drive his legs, fit guys up and be just technically sound and also finish. And so special teams, the all the different ways you can use them on offense. To me, this is someone that's going to play 10 years in the league.
- [41:06]
Robert Mays
The It's a joke. It's Steelers tight ends at this point after the way the last two years have gone. But if you look at the room they actually did have need for tight end depth. John Smith is no longer there. Darnell Washington's going into the final year of his contract and so well he's
- [41:19]
Derek Klass
he like had a serious injury at the end of last year too, so we don't even know how much he's how healthy he's going to be going into this.
- [41:24]
Robert Mays
At first glance, it's one of those things. It's like, my God, the Steelers really need another tight end. Based on how the last couple years have gone, the answer is yes, the Steelers did need another tight end based on the current makeup of that roster.
- [41:32]
Dave Hellman
I'm so fascinated by the Steelers because like they are an example of how projecting into the future with the draft can go wrong. Because you we talked about it. You draft Roderick Jones and Troy Faltano back to back and you're like we're set here forever. For 10 years we're set. And that's just not the way it works in pro football. You draft Maxi and Achor this year to help address for that. But you look at it right now and you're like, man, they added a lot of beef to positions that are going to be up there on this line of scrimmage between iheanatur, Jennings, Dunker, obviously Riley Nowakowski today. I hope it I hope it works out as well as it looks like it could because that would make them a force.
- [42:11]
Dane Brugler
Then I'm interested to see how they use him. If they use him just like Indiana did or but cause like I said, I think he's just very useful. Someone asked me, I did a Reddit AMA last week and someone asked me for my favorite player in the draft and I came up with three names. I went with Chris Johnson, the corn from San Diego State, but the other two, d' Angelo Pons and Raleigh Nowakowski, the two Indiana guys. So I just good to see he was drafted to a to an offense where I think he can be used to his Full potential.
- [42:40]
Robert Mays
Speaking of Chris Johnson, we're going to go through some of your favorite classes in from this, from this weekend. Some classes that were maybe a little bit confusing. There's one class that can't fall into either one of those categories because the team made too many picks for you to actually have like one cohesive grade to put on it.
- [42:59]
Dane Brugler
It's a good way to put it.
- [42:59]
Robert Mays
So I'm just curious because we talked so much about it coming in, all of the picks that the Dolphins had and sometimes we do this, we're like, oh my God, they've accumulated so many picks. This is a foundational draft. And then we can go all day today without mentioning what they did. The Dolphins made 13 picks or set to make a 13th pick here in a second. What do you make of this massive Miami Dolphins draft that is one way or the other going to be pivotal in how this team rebuilds, resets and kind of moves forward from here.
- [43:27]
Dane Brugler
I mean you could play create a 33rd team with just this draft class. Like I. It's unbelievable how many guys there are here. And it's interesting that there's some swings in here, there's some steady Eddie, like good, let's just get it on the fairway type of picks. Like they were all kind of all over the place. I love, you know, we talked a lot about Chris Johnson and Kaden Proctor and you know, Jacob Rodriguez. That's I think an outstanding pick for them. Love, Will Kazmark. Kyle. Getting Kyle Lewis the pit linebacker slash safety in round four is tremendous value. I think that he is somewhat of a tweener where he's not somebody who is going to take on a block downhill as a traditional linebacker in reverse. It's hard to find tape because he just wasn't asked to be a man coverage guy at pit. So, you know, it's just a lot of, you know, drop and cover the curl and just, I mean he wasn't asked to actually, but now you watch a Senior bowl tape and he was doing it and he did it at a high level. We know he's a big time athlete. He's has a high, high intangibles which you like about him. So a little surprised he fell out of the top 100. But to get him at 138 was, was awesome. So yeah, they just went a lot of different directions. Three receivers, I think total. Yeah. Caleb Douglas from Texas Tech, Chris Bell, which you know, at 94, that's, that's the type of swing you want. And then a Comeback with Kevin Coleman Jr. In the fifth round. So they are totally reshaping how this roster is going to look.
- [44:54]
Dave Hellman
Bounce bouncing between the fairway shots and the ridiculous swings is. Robert, you made the point. Like, it shouldn't be all of one thing. Like, it's fine, like, throw some massive swings in there along with some safe picks, but it is. It's just funny to see from pick to pick how it can range between, you know, Kaden Proctor 1, and then Chris Johnson and Jacob Rodriguez back to back are like two of the picks that people feel the most consensusly safe about. And then it's like, all right, here comes Caleb Douglas, probably the guy that surprised Dane the most on day two of the draft. It was just that type of weekend.
- [45:28]
Dane Brugler
There's not a single defensive lineman in this class. Like, that's kind of crazy, given how
- [45:33]
Derek Klass
bad that room was going into it. That. That actually is pretty crazy that they
- [45:37]
Dane Brugler
didn't trade Trey Moore. Yeah, technically, they haven't listened. As a linebacker. Yeah, technically he's, I think, probably better as an edge guy. That's probably where we'll see him. And they still have one more pick that was coming up here in a few picks.
- [45:50]
Derek Klass
I'm curious what they think Kyle Lewis is like if he is a linebacker, like a running chase sort of guy in that system. Which that, to me, is not really like how Halfley's defense works. So I would kind of be confused about that. I wonder if they think he's more like Javon Bullard was last year.
- [46:04]
Robert Mays
Well, Bullard's a converted corner.
- [46:06]
Dane Brugler
Right, Right.
- [46:06]
Derek Klass
That's where it's confusing. Yes.
- [46:08]
Robert Mays
The last nickel player that we saw and even the other nickels that they tried to trot out, there were guys who were inside, outside players. They weren't like. It's just interesting. Right.
- [46:18]
Dane Brugler
I wonder if they even know. Like, I. It's. For some. When you have 13 picks, you can afford that. Okay. If he's still on the board at 1:38, just take him. He's a. He's a great kid. He's a good athlete. Great athlete. And I think there's something there. Let's just get him to training camp and figure it out. So if he's still there at that point. Yeah, why not take the swing?
- [46:37]
Derek Klass
And they do have three startable linebackers already, so it's not like they need him to go in and be a linebacker. They want him to just.
- [46:44]
Dave Hellman
Right now they do.
- [46:45]
Derek Klass
Well, yeah, until somebody trades for Jordan Brooks, which they should.
- [46:48]
Dave Hellman
I'm not letting go of that. I'm not letting go of that dream until we like get to training camp.
- [46:53]
Derek Klass
And they clearly have a bigger need in the secondary and so I wonder if that's that's where they want to do that.
- [46:58]
Robert Mays
Before we move on, let's take our first quick break.
- [47:04]
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- [48:30]
Robert Mays
Let's get to some of the classes that you felt the best about, Dan Just like how these teams attack the weekend. And let's start with the Cleveland Browns, which is a team that's come up a lot in really any recap show we've done over the last three days. What about the way the Browns attacked the 2026 draft? Really stuck out to you.
- [48:45]
Dane Brugler
Yeah, I think it starts with understanding the needs on the team and then finding value at those positions. Starting with Spencer Fano. In my opinion, the best offensive lineman in the draft. They see him as a as a left tackle and that's exactly what they needed. Worse comes to worst, they're going to find a spot for him on the offensive line if it doesn't work out at left tackle. But I think it could. He is a. The level of athlete that he is to me he's going to translate just fine. Casey Concepcion at 24 and then Denzel Boston at 39 getting two just different types of wide receivers back to back like that. Emmanuel McNeil Warren at 58, outstanding value. Austin Barber the tackle. He's going to be a swing guy right away, but someone that can step in and give you quality snapped. And then on day three they go Alabama, Alabama with Parker Brailsford and Justin Jefferson the center. Undersized center but the way he moves is really impressive. Justin Jefferson, another speed guy, doesn't always. I question some of the what he's seeing out there sometimes, but he gets there in a hurry.
- [49:50]
Dave Hellman
If he gets there too, it's gonna look violent also which I really enjoy.
- [49:53]
Dane Brugler
He doesn't hold back the Ohio kid. Joe. Joe Royer at tight end in the fifth round is a. I like that idea. And then Taylor Green at quarterback with just a freaky athlete who down the line might be a different position. But that that quarterback room is interesting now with Shador Sanders, Deshaun Watson, Dylan Gabriel still there and now Taylin Green. So they'll have some decisions to make there maybe I guess they could carry all four and you know Green did it last year. Yeah, that's true, they did. So it'll be interesting to see how that plays out.
- [50:26]
Robert Mays
I desperately need the Falcons to throw like a seventh round pick at the Browns for Dylan Gabriel. I desperately need to happen that, that would.
- [50:33]
Derek Klass
That would have to be the time a lefty room that has ever been
- [50:36]
Robert Mays
three left handed quarterbacks in the room together. I need it to happen.
- [50:39]
Dane Brugler
I mean it's not unrealistic when you know with Stefanski like it's not unrealistic at all.
- [50:43]
Derek Klass
They're almost a sense of like if you have a left handed quarterback and you have to bring the backup in, well now you're getting right handed spin. And receivers will complain about the way that the ball spins off the quarterback's hands. If they're all lefties up and down the depth chart.
- [50:56]
Robert Mays
I don't know. There's practical use of it and the novelty of it. Those two things coming together at the same time. I desperately need that. Get to the next one here. Dan, the New York Giants, one of the other classes that you liked from this weekend.
- [51:09]
Dane Brugler
Yeah, and I mean Derek mentioned this yesterday but when you have two top 10 picks like you better be one of the Top classes. And I think they, you know, mission accomplished. In my opinion, the best player in the draft, Arville Reese, you get him at 5, come back with Francis, Maui Noah at 10. You know, maybe you could argue they should have gone Caleb Downs there or not. But you're getting someone that's going to help the offensive line. You've already helped the offensive line. Now you help it even More then at 37 to come back with Colton Hood. So you're upgrading at corner and you're getting a good wide receiver in Malachi Fields at wide receiver. Day three, I think has been fine. Like, I really like Jack Kelly, the linebacker from byu. He also has one of the better backstories. He was a competitive BMX writer from the age of five all the way through high school. So he didn't really, really play football because everything was tied up in bmx. So he's someone in the six round. I, I like that at that point. So the Giants have to be mentioned in any conversation in terms of the best draft classes this year.
- [52:09]
Robert Mays
And looking at Malachi Fields, we had this conversation about the Ravens. When's the last time the Giants had a receiver like that? Because most of the guys they've sought out over the last like 5 to 10 years have either been Kenny Golladay signing free agency, but in terms of guys they've drafted, it's been all speed guys or undersized guys. Wando, Robinson, Kadarius, Tony, Darius Slayton, Jalen Hyatt.
- [52:33]
Dane Brugler
Yeah.
- [52:34]
Robert Mays
And so they, and then Isaiah Hodgins was on the team. Like the big bodied guys have not been guys that they drafted. And so it's been a while since they've sought out that skill set.
- [52:42]
Dane Brugler
The kid from Oregon State, what was his name? Gosh, I'm blinking. Yeah, yeah.
- [52:47]
Dave Hellman
How long ago?
- [52:48]
Dane Brugler
Within five years. But that's. Yeah. To your point that that's traditionally not the type of receiver they've gone after. But what we like about Fields is he's a bowl winner. Right. I mean he's someone that will balls up in the air. Okay, I'm gonna go get it. And so that's as you we talked about with the Saints and Tyler Schuck. You got to figure out what you have. Same thing with Jackson Dart. You, you have to give him a little more weapons, give him some help on the outside. Fields can be that guy.
- [53:13]
Robert Mays
I know you like their Giants draft as well, Derek.
- [53:15]
Derek Klass
I did. And again, they had a lot of premium picks. When you have two top 10 picks, it's easy, but it's a part of it is almost every pick they made is like that's kind of who I would have taken there anyway. Like that's part of why I like it. Obviously. Arvo Reese I think is kind of hard to argue. Francis MAU, you know, it's like I probably would have taken Caleb Downs, but I don't really think there's that, you know, a bad argument to make to go and draft a starting guard for you who to me was the best offensive lineman him or Fano, probably the best offensive lineman in the class overall. Colton Hood, like you look at some of the players that went after that handful that I like and that I would have liked his picks there too. But like I would take Colton Hood given the way that their secondary was and then Malachi Field just like to get a ball winner for Jackson Dart in a situation where like they've got speed and other stuff in that offense like Malik Neighbors can kind of do it all, but he is more of a guy that like you're winning with speed. Darius Slayton obviously a guy who wins down the field. And so for them to get a guy who can just on a third and eight or if he's scrambling outside of the pocket, whatever it's going to be, which Jackson Dart does do a lot for him to just have a 65 target that he can go and find. I like that bet a lot. And they drafted not, not a wide receiver but they signed Isaiah likely. Like they're just like they they did want to get a little bit bigger on offense.
- [54:23]
Dane Brugler
It felt like I was thinking of Isaiah Hodgins who you mentioned. Right. Yeah, that's. I hear I thought of Oregon State seeing him in that uniform.
- [54:31]
Robert Mays
So that's how our brains work. Yeah, it is that I in my mind it's like when did Isaiah Hodges sign like a weird free agent contract with the Giants and you see him in an Oregon State uniform.
- [54:39]
Dane Brugler
Exactly.
- [54:40]
Robert Mays
Let's take in New Jersey. The New York jets also had a draft that you really liked here as we wind down day three.
- [54:47]
Dane Brugler
Yeah, I can't say that maybe I would have like maybe drafted the same play. I, I still the Kenyan Sadiq one's still interesting to me. Like just how that exactly that's going to look. So I, I can't say that maybe I would have gone that way. And same thing with that number two with David Bailey, a player who I like and I think is going to be a good pro. But then Omar Cooper coming back to Indiana. Guys, omar Cooper at 30 and then D' Angelo Ponds at 50, like just love those two back to back. And I think even on day three, Daryl Jackson's the type of talent worth drafting Once we get to day three, just a unbelievable in terms of his size, how long he is.
- [55:26]
Robert Mays
Defensive tackle from Florida State.
- [55:27]
Dane Brugler
Right. And so I think he's someone that, okay, let's get our coaches with him and if we can just get him 15% better, he's someone that's going to give you really quality reps as a rotational defensive lineman.
- [55:39]
Dave Hellman
I, I knew you loved all the Hoosiers, but it's shining through when we're talking about succession.
- [55:45]
Dane Brugler
I mean there's a reason they won the national championship and it wasn't. We love Mendoza. It wasn't all Mendoza though. And I think that we're seeing that, we've talked about it, but we're seeing it on draft weekend with all the Indiana players getting drafted. It was more than just the quarterback doing his thing.
- [56:02]
Robert Mays
What do we make of of that? Like what do we make of the fact that how many of those guys were recruited to play at Indiana and how many of them were like JMU guys that came over?
- [56:10]
Dane Brugler
Omar Cooper is an Indianapolis kid, he's local so he count him. But you're right, most of them came from elsewhere. I mean Mendoza obviously was a cow. All the JMU guys, d' Angelo Pons, Elijah Surratt, quite a few of them. Pat Coogan came from Notre Dame. He was drafted today. Riley Nowakowski from Wisconsin.
- [56:32]
Dave Hellman
Fisher was jmu, wasn't he?
- [56:34]
Dane Brugler
Yes, he was and he was drafted. So Yep, that's a good one.
- [56:37]
Robert Mays
So that's a lot of like FBS programs but like the idea that so many like a good chunk of these guys came from JMU and or something picks you are really liking. There has to be some sort of like weird signal in that like it, that it seems incredibly strange that like that path forward and like what, whatever like magic fairy dust they had at Indiana to make these guys like real draftable players. I don't know what the conclusion there is, but there's something there that's worth exploring.
- [57:03]
Dane Brugler
Well, Kurt Signetti, Google him if we're
- [57:05]
Dave Hellman
being a little more cynical about it. Good shout by the way. Google them line. I mean like some of these guys are older players too and a lot of people noted that during Indiana's run of the title of like these are grown ass men.
- [57:17]
Dane Brugler
Yes.
- [57:18]
Dave Hellman
Playing college football. And that's. I think that's a reality that the, I mean the COVID year and the number of older players that we see, I mean we had a 25 year old first round draft pick. That's not to take any credit away from Indiana. They were an incredible football team. But I think that is a benefit is a lot like these are, these are mature, ready made football players.
- [57:37]
Robert Mays
That's also part of it. I'm sure that's part of it. My thought is just how many kids are there out there at places like JMU or schools like that that are those sorts of recruits that if you put them with a Kurt Signetti and what would be waiting for them on the other side as potential NFL prospects, like the pool of available talent seems so much bigger thinking about like that development plan for these guys than you can even fathom.
- [58:02]
Dane Brugler
Well, it's a, it's a heck of a recruiting pitch if you're Signetti. I mean look, look what I did with these guys. And there were.
- [58:08]
Robert Mays
How many, what star recruits are these guys going to jmu?
- [58:11]
Dane Brugler
I mean, I mean a guy like Elijah Surratt started at St. Francis and they found him and you know, it's, there's some element of luck involved. Like you JMU had to have these other schools look at d' Angelo Pons and say you're too small. It's not like d' Angelo Pons chose JMU over Miami or some of these other schools. It took some luck for other schools to overlook them. I don't know if we'll ever see anything to this level again. This might have just been capture lightning in a bottle. Mendoza is a perfect example. If not for a last second offer from Cal, he's going to Yale. Who knows if he ever, you know, reaches his full potential as a quarterback and we're talking about him as a draftable player. I think talent shines through. And the old adage is if you're good enough, the NFL will find you. But it certainly helps when you have a team like a coach like Signetti who was able to get these guys together and then bring them, a lot of them to Indiana and then go on the run that they did that.
- [59:10]
Derek Klass
That's kind of what I'm thinking, Dane, where like the NFL will find you at some level. But let's say like Pond stays at jmu, maybe he's a fifth round pick because again, it's like lower competition. Then he's a small guy, maybe he doesn't play in as many big games, doesn't get to have all these Danes
- [59:25]
Dave Hellman
trying to really convince us that he's this great player. Instead of us being able to turn on the Oregon game. Oh, this guy kicks ass. Well, I think it's.
- [59:33]
Robert Mays
My question is, is it the fact that Kurt Signetti was like incredibly good at fighting, finding those maybe overlooked players who were NFL caliber guys or did he make them into being NFL caliber guys and which one of those it actually is? I think there's a really interesting answer there. It's impossible to know.
- [59:50]
Dane Brugler
Yeah. And the answer is probably in the middle where it's a little bit of both. And so it's that. And that's why I just, I'm not sure we'll ever see something quite like this again.
- [59:58]
Robert Mays
Next class that we want to talk about. We've been talking about it. It seems like every single, like every 20 minutes or so you say it or somebody else says like, man, the Raiders, like look at what the Raiders have done this weekend. And so we, we could not finish this conversation or get through this conversation without talking about Fernando Mendoza and everything else that the Raiders have done this weekend.
- [60:17]
Dane Brugler
Yeah, obviously we've laughed about it, you know, Mendoza and maybe not getting the airtime he deserved for being a number one overall pick just because we knew it was going to happen as another Indiana player has drafted Aiden Fisher linebacker. But I think that it just, it didn't stop with, with Mendoza. They come back in round two with trading suits. I get it, he's an older player, but the half glass full part of that is how experienced he is. And you feel like you have a really good idea of what you're getting from day one in round threes you come back with a, the, an edge rusher like Kieran Crawford who brings a lot of juice, can give you that speed. Trey Zun, a versatile offensive lineman, played mostly left tackle, but I think you project him at center, but he can also play guard. Gives you versatility across the line. We talked about Jermod McCoy, but then to come back with Mike Washington, obviously Ashton Denti's your running back one, but Mike Washington you add to the mix. And then I like Malik Benson that I think the biggest maybe criticism of the Raiders draft is where are the receivers? You know, where the, these guys that are going to help us on the outside, especially Malik Benson can only do so much. I mean he's a six round pick so he shouldn't be expected to really make that unit better than it is. But it's, it's something. And so I talk about Juice. Yeah. Oh, he has, he's a 43 guy. He'll. He'll help as A return man as well. So I get the criticism in terms of, hey, they're not finding. They didn't added any receivers in the top five rounds and what that means. We'll have to see how it plays out. Maybe they're not done, you know, adding some, some veterans or maybe there's a trade coming or, you know, who knows? We'll have to see how it plays out.
- [61:56]
Robert Mays
We're going to do a show later this week, me and Dave, I believe, just looking at the biggest holes that are still left, like the biggest questions that we still have after the draft. Draft is wrapped up and I would assume that we will discuss the Raiders pass catchers as part of that show. So we will hit a lot of that because that's to me as we're going through all this stuff and trying to. All these things moving parts and these picks flying off the board, trying to figure out what hasn't been addressed is not always the easiest thing to do. That is something we will be doing. As the dust settles here over the
- [62:23]
Dave Hellman
next couple days, I'm ready to do my wind horse fingers, you know, because there's, there's, there could be some stuff coming down the line, especially receiver.
- [62:30]
Robert Mays
I think this is a team that a. Juwan Jennings is Stefan Diggs. Like there are veteran receivers still available. It Stefan Diggs, it seems like his fate is to be like a raider for like a young quarterback right now. Like that is the part of his career that he is very much in.
- [62:45]
Derek Klass
He'd be a cardinal in 2027.
- [62:46]
Robert Mays
Exactly, exactly, exactly. We're going to do like fake like 2 year, $45 million deals. The full of fake money for Stefan Diggs in each of the next three offseasons. Two more teams you wanted to hit here, Dane, the first of which being the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. What did you like about the Bucks draft this weekend?
- [63:03]
Dane Brugler
Yeah, and we, we talked about, you know, Keonte Scott and to. To get a value like that on day three is awesome. But I mean my favorite thing, what they did is Bauer, sharp tight end from lsu, just a great player. No, actually Reuben Bain getting one last LSU thing.
- [63:24]
Derek Klass
God, that's good.
- [63:25]
Dane Brugler
Reuben Bane. I just talking to some of the members of the front office the last 24, 36 hours, they. They didn't think there was any shot of this. And so Jason Light is a happy man right now with how things played out. Come back in the second round. Get Josiah Trotter. You know, we talked, we hit on it yesterday. Just a hammer looking for a nail. Not someone you're necessarily going to trust in coverage. But when you think about this scheme and maybe the type of linebacker they were looking for, it makes more sense. Ted Hurst, the toolsy receiver in the third round and then they got some good depth on day three. I like Billy Shroud a lot in the fifth round, so I love what the Bucks did.
- [64:03]
Robert Mays
He's a guard from Notre Dame. Billy Shroud, Yes.
- [64:05]
Derek Klass
I love just the defensive approach in terms of energy.
- [64:08]
Robert Mays
Yeah, I'm shocked that you do.
- [64:11]
Derek Klass
This is a release the Hounds sort of defensive approach. Obviously Bane is just a, wants to cave in every guard's face mask that he can. Trotter, same thing I say.
- [64:21]
Dane Brugler
Demonte Capehart, defensive tackle from Clemson in the fifth, he's part of that too. I mean, okay, throw on the Georgia Tech tape against Rutledge and he more than held his own. He got, he got a few shots at Rutledge and so yeah, there's something there.
- [64:32]
Derek Klass
And it's not just that I love that or that it even fits the Todd Bulls defense, they just did not have that last year. They were one of the worst run, they were a way worse run defending team than both teams have ever really been. And also they just did not tackle really well like in kind of all three levels of the defense. And so for them to get a bunch of guys where maybe imperfect in other ways, but I'm certain that they can hit and tackle you, I, I It's a good approach.
- [64:55]
Robert Mays
Last one here. The Dallas Cowboys, one of your other favorite classes from the weekend. What about the Cowboys draft class this year stood out to you.
- [65:02]
Dane Brugler
And I think it's another situation where a team had multiple first round picks. So it's easy to look at those teams and say, okay, look at the talent they got. Starts with Caleb Downs, one of the best players in this draft. Then they come back with Malachi Lawrence, a player we knew they liked quite a bit. And the fit that he can be in that new scheme with Christian Parker. This is very much a Christian Parker type of draft.
- [65:23]
Dave Hellman
They gave him the reins, no doubt about it.
- [65:25]
Dane Brugler
They, they said, what's your wish list? And we're, we're going to go to the grocery store and we're going to get you all the ingredients for this amazing meal you're about to prepare for us. Jayshawn Barham to finish out in the third round sounds like he's gonna be playing off the ball more of an inside linebacker, which is going to be interesting because I think he was, I think that's where he struggled at Michigan. I think he's a, he's more of a C ball, get ball type of guy and he plays with a ton of just energy and fire and so reading things out from a stacked position. We'll see how that plays out. Devin Moore and Drew Shelton in the fourth round are interesting because they're talented guys. There's tools there to work with and so it's just I think you need to develop some things with both of them. They need to stay on the field, especially Devin Moore. He's been banged up quite a bit. Then LT Overton from Alabama, who we thought coming into the year could have been maybe a first round pick because the talent is there. He's a former five star guy and it's just the impact level never lived up to what the talent is, just not that yet the sum of his parts. So I but I think that you think of that scheme and his part of what it could be for Christian Parker. I think it makes sense.
- [66:35]
Robert Mays
Patriots just drafted a guy named Jam Miller.
- [66:38]
Dave Hellman
Good player. Yeah, fun player. Roll Tide. I believe I just said that, but I do.
- [66:42]
Dane Brugler
I was gonna say you did say that.
- [66:43]
Dave Hellman
I like.
- [66:44]
Robert Mays
That's a tough one. Clip that out, please.
- [66:45]
Dave Hellman
I like the player. I like the player.
- [66:47]
Robert Mays
Well, we'll, we'll roll that one back every once in a while when we're feeling spicy over here. Before we move on, let's take one more quick break.
- [66:57]
Dane Brugler
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- [67:57]
Robert Mays
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- [69:01]
Robert Mays
Let's get to the other side of this here. Just classes that even if, and I know you, you're not prone to doing this anyway. We're not going to be dumping on anybody here. But even if you aren't going to go to that level where we're crushing what a team did, just classes that were maybe a little bit confusing, a little bit confounding, ones that are maybe a little harder to parse than some of the others from this weekend. Let's start with the Jacksonville Jaguars Jags draft, just including some choices that maybe were a little bit surprising in real time. What do you make of the Jags draft class?
- [69:33]
Dane Brugler
Not having a top 50 pick? Obviously that's kind of mentioned it. With the team with multiple first round picks, it's a little easy to pick them out as your favorite. Where the Jags were the opposite. They didn't have a top 50 pick and that does make it a little bit tougher. But Nate bore Kircher to draft him where they did at 56 to kind of get that tight end run going was a little bit of a surprise. I'm very eager to see just how much they plan to feature him and I think he especially as a blocker, we think about what they want to be. They want to run the football, they want to be physical and that helps them do that. So it'll just be interesting how that plays out and that also talking about being physical, Emmanuel pregnant in the third round like that, that kind of fits exactly what they want to be. Regis, I think is a fine player in the third round. It's just, I don't think any, I don't think we're going to look back at this draft class and say this helped them get over the top. And maybe that's unfair to say because they didn't have a top 50 pick. So, you know, maybe we were going to look back at this class and say it was fine and that's how we should look at it because they had one pick in the top 80. So I just, I'm not going to kill the Jaguars at all. It's just not a class that I think you're getting overly excited about.
- [70:43]
Robert Mays
This is, we don't need to harp on this too much. I just think that it's a really interesting signal and a really interesting thing to point out that the team that got that extra first round pick last year is a team where we look at the haul that they just had and be like, man, this is look at all the players that the Browns had. And then we'd look at the Jags and it's like, ah, it's a little bit underwhelming what they came away with. And it's just even in a world where you are so, so excited about what Travis Hunter can be as you played this stuff out a year or two in advance, it like it's often beneficial to be the team that is accumulating some of these picks and having more bites at the app.
- [71:18]
Dane Brugler
It's risky.
- [71:19]
Robert Mays
It's there, it's, it usually does end up benefiting teams that are thinking this way when it comes to the draft being like, you know what, Travis Hunter might be really good. I'm going to go three spots down and get an extra first round pick next year.
- [71:32]
Derek Klass
And not to rehash the all the Hunter discourse an entire year later, but it's also one of those things too that if you're going to do that, if you're going to be really aggressive and go up and I get that he was a special prospect in some ways, but he was a little bit of an undersized cornerback and I think that he'll be great if you want to go up and do that. And it's like a Nick Bosa level pass rusher, totally get it. Or like a Joe Alt level tackle. I get it. They're just to do it for, for what he did and I still think that he'll be very good, to be clear. But it's just, it's back to what you're saying where, when then you give a team like Cleveland so many bites of the apple in the aggregate, there's a better chance that they're going to come out on top.
- [72:06]
Dave Hellman
Dane, I'm curious where they drafted Bo Kircher. You have to assume he's going to have a role as a rookie. I mean. Oh, yeah, that's terrible if he doesn't. But other than that. Is there a guy here, like, do you like is pregnant a guy who can compete for starting snaps right away? Like, if we're looking for better, he's 30 years old.
- [72:23]
Derek Klass
He better?
- [72:24]
Dane Brugler
Yeah, he better. No, and I think one of the knocks against pregnant was some of the interviews maybe didn't go great. I mean, because he's, he's big, he moves well. So I think that how big will the learning curve be? And so the coaches getting him over the finish line where he's able to really be someone you trust as a starter will be something important. And I think that's something to watch in Jag's training camp. Is pregnant, how many first team reps is he getting? How, how. Just what's the progression for him over the month of August and what does that look like through the preseason? So if you're looking for something in. In Jags preseason to look for, that'd be one of them.
- [73:05]
Robert Mays
And we talked about it when we were discussing just the makeup of their offensive line. Like that interior is just not full of people movers. I mean, they are getting by with that group. I mean, Robert Hainsey was an undersized center that the Bucks consciously replaced with a guy like Graham Barton. Makari is somebody that believe was an undrafted player. He was never going to be one of those guys. He was a utility lineman for his entire career in Baltimore where he's a problem solver. He's not somebody that you're plugging in. It's like this is an ass kicker. And so that's just what that group is like. That offensive line in Jacksonville was assembled last year to survive.
- [73:41]
Derek Klass
It was.
- [73:41]
Robert Mays
It was a group that was assembled to hit a certain floor for them to be functional. And I think in a lot of ways they probably accomplished that. But they don't have a lot of guys who are dictating the way games are going on the interior. And at his best, you hope that pregnant becomes that sort of player.
- [73:56]
Derek Klass
Right? Cause when you think about. And there were spurts where the Jags run game was good, but all of their best plays, if you picture them in their mind, were like three motions here, they're doing stuff here. It's a crazy perimeter run. That's like a one off thing that they saw in film that week. Like it was not, hey, we just hit outside zone and it was clean and we got him. Like it just, it wasn't a whole lot of that.
- [74:16]
Dane Brugler
And Bor Kircher will be a big part of that physicality. We're talking about with what they want to be on the offensive line. Now it's interesting in the fifth they come back with Tanner Kozio, the tight end who's the opposite. He's not going to give you much as a blocker at all, but as a pass catcher, he's the most productive pass catcher at tight end that we hadn't college football the last two years. So just interesting there. And even in the late rounds I think they did some, some good things with Josh Cameron, the wide receiver from Baylor, Zach Durfee, who prospect X pretty sure just reading that that report. So they did some good things.
- [74:53]
Robert Mays
On day three, the Los Angeles Rams for some of us had a confounding draft. I don't may, Dave may feel a little bit differently, but I think some others in this room are if not confused then have their eye on how this draft is going to work out for the Rams.
- [75:11]
Dane Brugler
I mean obviously we talked a lot about Ty Simpson and just it's, I think it to the point where it's less about him as a player and more about is this the window now that hey, we should have been, you know, getting more talent to help push our chips in.
- [75:29]
Robert Mays
I also think it's worth talking about Ty Simpson as a player more than we have.
- [75:33]
Dave Hellman
Sure.
- [75:33]
Derek Klass
I think with quarterbacks we're scared to say this was an overdraft, this was a bad pick based on quality of player. If a team had taken a player that was 60th on the consensus board and was an edge and took him at 13 overall, we'd all be like, you can't do that. But, but there's, there's the element of being wrong on a quarterback that is scary. I also you and obviously the upside of it is incredible.
- [75:54]
Robert Mays
We touched on this a little bit on Thursday when he got drafted and we were talking about Brock Purdy and the Brock Purdy path. And I think a lot of people have compared him to Brock Purdy in the process and like if he's there, Brock Purdy, that's great and you mentioned this in real time. But I think it's worth digging into some of the layers of this. Brock Purdy was the last pick in the draft and Ty Simpson, the idea that well, Ty Simpson didn't play well in the back half of last season. Well, he was hurt. Well, he's small. And so that is a risk you run with quarterbacks that are small is that they can get hurt. And so I think so much has been discussed about when you pull the trigger on something like this and it, you know, how long is he going to sit and everything else. But him being the 13th overall pick isn't only surprising because the Rams did it as an all in team. It's surprising because a lot of people didn't think he was worth the 13th overall pick because of who he is as a player.
- [76:42]
Derek Klass
And that's the thing, even going outside of the film, because there are some stuff on film that you could see that that could convince you he could be good. I still see some path for him to get to like Baker Mayfield level quality of quarterback where he can do enough for you. You construct an offense and you can be a pretty good like top five, top 10 offense. But an old undersized quarterback who did not play more than 15 starts like that just doesn't go in the first round. Like it just never happens. And so even if you're just using the purely like objective measures that we have for these guys, you just never see a team make a bet like this.
- [77:15]
Dane Brugler
Well, the other part of this is I don't like I've heard, oh, he can go, he can go sit. And I don't think he needs to sit. I think he needs to play. I think that's that tangible experience on the field. That's something that I think he needs. And especially after what happened last year at Alabama where he got off that hot start, then adversity hit and he had trouble when it was all on him to get himself out of it. And so that's the type of things ideally you want worked out at the college level before you get to the NFL. So if Stafford plays, oh, Garrett Nussmeier off the board, okay, big, big difference between pick 13 and pick 249 here, these two quarterbacks for two guys that
- [77:57]
Dave Hellman
were lumped pretty close together by always.
- [78:00]
Derek Klass
Yeah, always like, oh, who's 2 and 3 after Mendoza?
- [78:03]
Dane Brugler
That's interesting, but with if it's to say Matthew Stafford plays two more seasons in the NFL with the Rams, we're going on one season as a starter for Ty Simpson in six years before we're going to see him again. And that's just, that's, that's tough. And that's not to say there's a lot About Ty Simpson. I, like, I went to bat for Ty Simpson quite a bit over during the season and at different parts of the process. It's just, it's a big, big bet to make by the Rams and Dane
- [78:34]
Derek Klass
to the point of. About him potentially sitting. And I want to ask you this. I would say most people thought Ty Simpson's biggest issue on film, even people that liked him, was that when he gets a little bit crowded in the pocket, the accuracy drain is just. It goes away.
- [78:47]
Robert Mays
Like, because he doesn't have a really good arm.
- [78:48]
Derek Klass
He just doesn't have a great arm. And you can see like he's kind of fading away. Doesn't always know how to do that. That to me, kind of to your point, seems like an issue you can only solve with light.
- [78:56]
Dane Brugler
Exactly.
- [78:57]
Derek Klass
That is not a mental issue that you solve in, you know, working with on the chalk.
- [79:00]
Robert Mays
Really good point.
- [79:01]
Dane Brugler
When the bullets are flying, you know, I just. Sometimes you short circuit and it's like, okay, guy in my face. Oh, I'm gonna dump it out here. And meanwhile, you're not accounting for the other defender. So it's just I, that, that's. I think it's easy to say, oh, he's gonna sit and learn, but for some of these guys, they need to be on the field and need to work out some of the kinks out there in live action. And that's why we've seen traditionally one year starters in college usually don't work once you get to the NFL because it's just, it's not a developmental league. So, yeah, I'm hopeful that Ty Sims, he went to a good spot in terms of the coaching staff in that respect, the offensive ecosystem. But I still would have liked to see him in a spot where we'd see him on the field sooner than who knows when.
- [79:46]
Dave Hellman
I think it just comes down to, and I agree with y' all that I think he was overdrafted, even if I like him a lot more than all of you. But what's it worth to you to have this in your back pocket if you're the Rams and not be worried about Stafford's future and what pick you will hold the next time you need a quarterback and what all of that looks like. And if Sean McVeigh and Les need like him enough to think that he can develop into something, and obviously you, you're never completely set. Like, there are other things they could have done with this pick, but if you're in a good enough spot that you don't have a blinking red Light there. What's that worth to you to just have a potential answer to the question one to two years ahead of time. And I would like to think even if you couldn't have gotten ty@pick61, I've said this before, maybe you could package some picks and move up higher into the second round for Ty Simpson. But we see year after year, NFL teams don't view it that way. Like a lot. Like, if you feel convicted about a guy, especially at a valuable position, teams just take the guy and. And I don't think we will ever all the way agree with that strategy most of the time. But it never stops teams from drafting a guy like this in a slot, even if. If very few people agree that they should have done it.
- [81:00]
Robert Mays
Even the I'm not gonna even call it messaging, I think even the response when they've been asked about it. The Rams guys at the podium over the last couple days, they've gone back over and over and over again to what he was asked in that offense at Alabama is some of the stuff he will be asked here. And that, that stuff where. Cause I think if you're trying to spin it where if he benefits from sitting, what are the benefits from sitting? I think there is a little bit of a rewiring the way that he sees the game and the offense within the game and the position within that
- [81:26]
Derek Klass
office or mechanically like Jordan Lovell's like this company.
- [81:29]
Robert Mays
Sure, exactly. Exactly. But it's just like with Ty Simpson, it's like, all right, well, if you're going to sit, we can kind of teach you how you should be seeing the game through the lens of this offense and the benefits that might be waiting. Well, that's already the stuff that they think he does well.
- [81:41]
Dane Brugler
Yeah. And so we know he can sit.
- [81:43]
Robert Mays
But I think that if I'm playing devil's advocate, I've gone back to this anecdote a lot when talking to Sam Darnold about his time in San Francisco. And Sam Darnold, I think similar sort of deal where his biggest issue is what happens when it all starts caving in. But his biggest jump as a player in the NFL didn't come after he got experience. It came after he sat and got to understand how he should be thinking about playing the position within an offense like that.
- [82:09]
Dave Hellman
So you're coming around a little bit.
- [82:11]
Derek Klass
But he did have a lot of experience.
- [82:13]
Robert Mays
He played a lot.
- [82:14]
Dave Hellman
He played a ton of football in
- [82:15]
Derek Klass
college and in the NFL. He played a lot of football.
- [82:18]
Robert Mays
But his biggest improvement as a player came after an extended period of sitting. And so if you're trying to play devil's advocate a little bit, I, I've said this the whole time.
- [82:26]
Dave Hellman
No, you're right.
- [82:26]
Robert Mays
I get division for like why they think he is the right answer here. I just think that the needle they're trying to thread is much thinner than you want it to be. Even. It's. To me it's even different than the Jordan Love thing because again, what's waiting for you on the other side of Jordan Love cleaning that up because of how talented Jordan Love is to me is just very different than what's waiting for you on the other side upside wise with a player like Ty Simpson.
- [82:54]
Dave Hellman
But that's the classic case though of yes, Brock Purdy was the last pick in the draft. Where would he be drafted if you could do it all over again? Even if he wouldn't be one one, he would go a hell of a lot higher than Mr. Irrelevant.
- [83:05]
Derek Klass
I see. I think I'm done doing this with the draft. Cause the point of the draft is we don't know. And so you take players with profiles that are a little bit scarier just go later.
- [83:14]
Dave Hellman
But like even. And you're right, obviously, I mean, yes, that's the whole. It's. The whole thing is a crapshoot and that's why the speculation is as intense as it is. But even if Brock Purdy is an unimpressive physical specimen, what he can do for you and what he's capable of is worth taking far higher than it would have been. And so like if you believe in a guy like that, I still think it's worth drafting highly even if he's just not an alien sort of talent like a Jordan Love.
- [83:44]
Robert Mays
This is different to me than the Makai Lemon I'm on Ross St. Brown thing because I think that the needle we're threading with Brock Purdy is significantly smaller than it is with a player like I'm on Ross St. Brown and I think that's what we're talking about,
- [83:55]
Dave Hellman
quarterbacks in general, right?
- [83:56]
Derek Klass
Yeah.
- [83:56]
Robert Mays
I just think that the Brock Purdy thing is almost like we're going to be making. We're going to make mistakes because we think we can find the next Brock Purdy and I wonder if Ty Simpson is the first one of those mistakes. We're still watching the draft here. The 251st pick Dane just came off the board and it is the Philadelphia Eagles going back to the well or seventh round picks from the international pathway program.
- [84:16]
Dane Brugler
They've had some Success in the past. And this is your Bernard from Nigeria who just 21 years old and some of the freakiest numbers that you will see. 6, 4 and 5, 8. 306 pounds and he ran a 4, 6, 6, jumped 39, had 10, 10.
- [84:33]
Derek Klass
306 pounds.
- [84:34]
Dane Brugler
306.
- [84:35]
Dave Hellman
This is the action figure we were talk.
- [84:38]
Dane Brugler
And look how he's wearing it. Like it's not. It's all muscle. It's. It's just unbelievable the way he's built. He's 35 and three quarter inch or three. Yeah. Three quarter inch arms. Eleven inch.
- [84:51]
Robert Mays
Say he's 35.
- [84:53]
Dane Brugler
Twenty. He's 21 years old. He's young. He's a young player.
- [84:57]
Dave Hellman
Shout out FA Obata being there for him too. National pathways.
- [85:02]
Dane Brugler
Yeah. The Mississippi State tight end. Right. And so this is. We thought this would happen at some point in the seventh round. Like take, take a chance on this guy. It's very raw. Talking to some scouts that were at his workout. Like he is very, very raw as a football player. This is an athlete, you know, a ball of clay that you hopefully can mold into something.
- [85:22]
Dave Hellman
Can I just say, like sometimes I get a little self conscious. Like the jokes we make about teams and their preferences and the stuff that they like to do. Maybe it becomes a little too much of a meme. But time after time teams show us the stuff that they like to do and the stuff that they're willing to do. Like this is such an Eagles decision. The Ravens have made several very Ravens decisions in this draft. This is how those things become memes.
- [85:47]
Robert Mays
The Eagles are explicit about it. Yeah, there's no like reading into it with the Eagles. Howie has said over and over and over again we want players, especially in this range of the draft that are unusual. That's what he says. And he. That it's the word that they use like when they're trying to find picks late in the draft. You're Jordan Mylatas. Jason Kelsey is a player like this. What is unique and unusual about you?
- [86:11]
Dave Hellman
Miles Gary.
- [86:13]
Derek Klass
I mean it's.
- [86:14]
Dave Hellman
I get it.
- [86:14]
Derek Klass
The same. And he's 30 pounds heavy.
- [86:17]
Dane Brugler
I get it.
- [86:17]
Robert Mays
It's. It's crazy.
- [86:18]
Dave Hellman
Not doing my guy any favors.
- [86:19]
Dane Brugler
I don't think people realize like there's a PPI exemption for the practice squad for these guys. Like so they can't get no downside. Yes. The NFL is trying to grow the game. If you watch the draft and you saw all the different international, you know, fans that, that we've seen, like they want to grow the game and A guy like this, this is, this is why the International Pathway program exists, to find these talents and get them to the league, get them with NFL coaching and see if they could be something.
- [86:48]
Dave Hellman
I, I brought up FA Obata on purpose. I mean, he showed up in Dallas's like off season roster. When I worked there, he was an IPP guy. They had a roster exemption for years, I don't think. No, he never appeared in a game for the Dallas Cowboys. But he hung out there for two or three years and went on to play for Carolina. He played for Buffalo. He played for Washington. Fifteen career sacks, 80 career games and made a hell of a lot of money playing pro football. And he showed up.
- [87:17]
Robert Mays
I loved watching him. I loved watching ffl. Bottom.
- [87:20]
Dave Hellman
He showed up in Dallas's like off season program and it was like, okay, who's this GU guy and how much football is.
- [87:26]
Dane Brugler
I remember that.
- [87:26]
Derek Klass
Yeah.
- [87:27]
Dave Hellman
Wild.
- [87:27]
Dane Brugler
That's probably 10 years ago.
- [87:28]
Dave Hellman
It was 20, 15, 16 for sure.
- [87:30]
Robert Mays
So Howie on Friday night, when asked about Markel Bell, says, Markel Bell was a passion player for us throughout the process. Unusual size, unusual length or defined. The Eagles want unusual players.
- [87:43]
Dane Brugler
87 inch wingspan, 36 inch arms. Yeah. There were a few teams that were like that with Markel Bell and that's why the Eagles had to take. He took. They took him in the 60s. Yeah. So I mean that a little bit earlier than we thought. But that's what you have to do with these unusual players.
- [87:58]
Robert Mays
Let's get through a couple more unusual draft classes here. We've talked about it a lot. We don't have to harp on it. But Derek, I think that we're all still a little bit confounded by the way the Arizona Cardinals attack the first couple days of the draft.
- [88:09]
Derek Klass
Yeah. And like it's not even just the Jeremiah Love thing, which we've, we've hashed over.
- [88:14]
Robert Mays
We don't. I don't, I don't.
- [88:16]
Derek Klass
You don't have to do that. A lot of it is. Is the Carson Beck of it all. It's kind of just like a. Why are we burning a pick on a quarterback that again, like I, I think if he starts 60 games over the course of his NFL career as a backup and spot starter, I'm not going to be surprised. But like I just. That to me feels 60 is a lot. Jacoby Brissette has started at least I would, I would imagine 60.
- [88:40]
Robert Mays
That's kind of a weird one though.
- [88:41]
Dave Hellman
Jimmy garoppolo only started 64 games, which blew.
- [88:44]
Derek Klass
Okay, so let's say 30. That actually does blow my mind. I guess he was banged up a number of times, right?
- [88:48]
Robert Mays
Like, shot when he first was a
- [88:49]
Dave Hellman
backup in New England for a few years.
- [88:52]
Derek Klass
I still say 30, like two NFL seasons worth of games. But that, to me feels like, again, the ceiling for him over the course of his entire career. And so I just don't understand why they're drafting that where this was the top. This was the first pick of the third round. Like, there were a lot of good players that went after this. I mean, Malachi Fields, who we talked about, was, I think, the 10th pick in this round. There were a lot of good guys in this range that it just felt me, to me, a little bit weird that they didn't want to attack almost anywhere else on the roster.
- [89:17]
Robert Mays
We talked about it a lot, and I don't think we have to belabor the point, but I think there's a lot of the Cardinals feeling an obligation to gesture at the idea of finding a quarterback in this draft because they felt like they had to. And I just. I hate that. Like, it. It's. There are years we talked about it when we were discussing some heinous quarterback seasons earlier today when we're all just sitting around. If you have to, like, roll with Cody Kessler all season in an active tank job that's hard to sell. That's hard to sell. You would hope that the combination of Jacoby Brissette and Gardiner Minshew can get you through to the finish line at the end of an NFL season where you don't have to spend the 65th overall pick on a quarterback that you clearly don't like that much anyway.
- [89:58]
Derek Klass
And I think what's frustrating is, like, you can get me there on the rest of how they approach or at least the players. Like, again, Jeremiah Love, I wouldn't have taken him, but, like, he will be a good player. Chase Besantes, I liked a lot in the second round. Caleb Proctor has, like, an explosive, like, let's get after him sort of defensive tackle. Like, it. Reggie Virgil was my, like, day three receiver in this class. Like, there's a lot about this that makes a lot of sense to me. The Beck thing just sticks out as this, like, weird sore thumb.
- [90:23]
Robert Mays
A draft that you wanted to talk about. Dave, that again, not in a negative way, but just in one. You were like, this is interesting. At the very least, was the Minnesota Vikings.
- [90:33]
Dave Hellman
Yeah, I, I don't. I don't want to frame it as confounding because I, I don't dislike it and I Want to make that very clear. I'm just fascinated. And it starts, I mean, I guess going into the draft, we could have guessed that, right?
- [90:46]
Robert Mays
Sure.
- [90:46]
Dave Hellman
This is a team without a general manager. They're. Rob Brzezinski is the interim. And so it's always interesting to think, like, who's. Who's got their hand on the helm here and who's putting their thumb on the scale and driving the decision making. And it kicked off with a bang. When you take a guy like Caleb Banks, who, he's one of my favorite players in this draft class if he's
- [91:08]
Robert Mays
healthy and being a Ty Simpson, Caleb Banks guy has just been a monstrous weekend for Dave Hellman.
- [91:13]
Dave Hellman
It's very validating as long. I mean, we'll, we'll see how it ages. It's validating right now. Who knows what it'll look like in a year. But it's, it's a fun pick. It has, I mean, it, it is a swing for the fences. And I think on Thursday we billed it as, you know, in a draft where the star power was lacking. Kayla Banks has that type of talent. Like he ha. He is that sort of prospect if he's healthy. So I'm fascinated by that. Then you get Jake Golday, who I said was one of my favorite picks of day two, mainly because of who he's going to be playing for. Like, Brian Flores is just a guy that can do a lot of stuff with him. I would imagine he's going to have a pass rush role. Like, he's just going to do a lot of varied stuff. And that goes hand in hand with, by the way, trading away one of your best defensive players in Jonathan Granard, who is an Eagle now, and add it to Dominique Orange as well. Like, they remade their defensive tackle room in the span of about 26 hours. Throw that in there with Jacoby Thomas, who is another one of my favorite players. They took a fullback in this draft. They took an FCS player in this draft. So a lot of swings, a lot of unusual decisions, we'll call it. But some of them have tremendous amounts of upside. I don't, I don't dislike it, but I just look at it and I'm like, I can't wait to see how this ages.
- [92:32]
Robert Mays
I was going to say there are teams that have general managers that we don't really talk about as general managers. Right. Like, the Bengals are like this. Like, Duke Tobin is a name that, like, a general NFL fan wouldn't know. Will McClay is the DE facto general manager for The Dallas Cowboys. But when we talk about the Cowboys drafting quality, Will McClay's name would never come up with someone who's a casual fan of the NFL. Is there a benefit to just not having a general manager like would Would ducking the heat of the picks and being able to avoid it actually benefit teams in the process? Because the buck doesn't stop with anyone
- [93:06]
Derek Klass
via falls into the ether kind of.
- [93:08]
Dane Brugler
Well, I mean, Will McLay is. I mean, obviously he's very well compensated, but he's had opportunities and he's fine.
- [93:15]
Dave Hellman
He's got the best job in America.
- [93:17]
Dane Brugler
Right. He's shielded from much of the criticism with the Jones family, but he is, you know, the, the wizard behind the. The curtain pulling the strings for a lot of these guys. I just wanted to mention Dion Burks, the last player from my top 100 just drafted the Colts. The Colts.
- [93:34]
Robert Mays
I wanted to bring up the Colts before we got out of here because they didn't have a first round pick. But everything else they've done, you seem to be a very big fan of.
- [93:41]
Dane Brugler
I mean to get C.J. allen at 53, that's the. The tone setting linebacker. They were looking for AJ Hulsey also on day two. And then they come back on day three. Jalen Farmer, guard from Kentucky who very well could have gone day two. Bryce Betcher from the linebacker from Oregon. What was the quote, Dave, that he had?
- [93:58]
Dave Hellman
There's no feeling like inflicting pain on someone legally.
- [94:02]
Dane Brugler
Legally.
- [94:02]
Dave Hellman
Something I'm paraphrasing, but.
- [94:04]
Dane Brugler
Right. So I mean that. That sums him up. George Gums from Florida. I think the Edge group really thinned out on day three, but he was one of the few that is really intriguing. Kaden Curry from Ohio State. He's a local kid in Indiana, so that's a good fit for him. Then Seth McGowan, the running back. But then Dion Burks, who's my 99th player to get him at this point in the draft in the seventh round. Love what the Colts did considering they didn't have a top 50 pick.
- [94:28]
Robert Mays
You look at the needs the Colts had coming into the draft and I think edge still, you know, like edge.
- [94:34]
Dane Brugler
Sure.
- [94:34]
Robert Mays
A little bit earlier in an ideal world, I think you addressed that. There's a reason they were in the Trey Hendrickson market. Right. Like one more guy to give some pop to that pass rush group. They signed Arden Key in free agency. But like that's the one area that I think that of the roster that desperately needed addressing or like seriously needed addressing, that they didn't spent a lot of capital on everything else. They needed two linebackers, they got two linebackers. They needed a safety desperately. They got a safety. It was probably time to start refilling that interior and just general offensive line depth with some of those mid round picks that they've done so well with over the last couple years. Enter Jalen Farmer. And they did need one more pass catcher after. You know, when you look at them trading away Michael, Michael Pittman, and if Deon Burks can come in and be your fourth receiver this year, potentially those are all the areas you would have liked to have seen addressed essentially with the Colts. And they did it all without a first round pick.
- [95:26]
Dave Hellman
I don't want to speak too soon, but Kenny Moore's still on the roster too, which he requested a trade. Obviously that could still happen.
- [95:33]
Robert Mays
He's done that plenty of times. This isn't his first go around.
- [95:37]
Dave Hellman
He made it through the tra. He made it through the draft, which is a prime time to be doing stuff like that. And he's still on the team. So it is like the Colts are one of those teams where I was like, how much can they really change my opinion of them without a first round pick? And I'm looking over it right now and I'm like, Ballard, you got me. I'm in.
- [95:55]
Dane Brugler
Berks is 4, 3, 0 speed. Like, I think that's just something you want to add to, to the, to the offense, to the mix, even if he's more of a gadget guy.
- [96:03]
Dave Hellman
And I, I, I like Burks and like, I mean, clearly the league didn't completely agree with me. I think he could be more than that. I don't know. Like, the lack of production to me doesn't, no, it doesn't mean that he's like, couldn't be more than that.
- [96:16]
Dane Brugler
That had a lot to do with Oklahoma's scheme and a quarterback than, than anything else. But again, I think have a guy with speed. That's something you can use.
- [96:24]
Dave Hellman
He is a much more solid player than his height and weight suggests. Yeah, you use the phrase like, rocked up. Like, I don't think he's a slight 5, 10, 180.
- [96:34]
Dane Brugler
He's short, not small.
- [96:35]
Robert Mays
Yeah, we have two more picks here. I kind of want to just hang out until the end so we can get Dane's reaction to make sure that all the players that went off the board were in the Beast.
- [96:44]
Dane Brugler
I'm trying to sit still and I can't.
- [96:46]
Robert Mays
Was it Bernard and the Beast?
- [96:47]
Dane Brugler
Yeah, yeah, yeah. He was one of the Last ones. Hey, if there's your guy.
- [96:51]
Dave Hellman
Hey, where we're picking all my favorite guys here.
- [96:53]
Dane Brugler
We gotta find out how many tight ends.
- [96:55]
Robert Mays
Tight end from Utah going to the Broncos here at 256.
- [96:58]
Derek Klass
They're like, Stay up at the podium. It's the Broncos again. So they're going to have to.
- [97:02]
Dane Brugler
Mr. The draft every year is because we have to wait 20 minutes for them to talk about Mr. Irrelevant before we find out who it is.
- [97:10]
Derek Klass
That's right. I forgot that aspect of it.
- [97:12]
Dave Hellman
It's so strange to me. And like Brock Purdy is, is the, he's, he's the poster boy now. But even. Who's the kicker? Dane, who's the kicker? That was Mr.
- [97:22]
Dane Brugler
Irrelevant, the South Carolina kicker.
- [97:25]
Dave Hellman
Suck up, right? Yes, Ryan, suck up. Good players can be Mr. Irrelevant, but I don't know, it's.
- [97:32]
Dane Brugler
We're.
- [97:32]
Robert Mays
Dan.
- [97:32]
Dave Hellman
It feels like we're dancing on a guy's grave here. We're just like making a big deal and calling it Mr. Irrelevant.
- [97:37]
Derek Klass
It's like a funny bit that has jumped a shark a little bit that it's such a, like an event within the event going.
- [97:44]
Dave Hellman
Okay. Before we move on to Mr. Irrelevant, though, I like Dallin Bentley a lot. He is a really good receiver. I think he is a better blocker than he gets credit for. But like you talk about being validated by somebody's decision. Sean Payton likes this guy. I'm in. Sean Payton loves way too many tight ends. So if he loves my tight end, that's okay.
- [98:04]
Dane Brugler
He has probably the funniest. I shouldn't say funniest, but most ironic, like pre college career, he was like a small guy in high school, like just didn't have height, didn't have size. And he hits this growth spurt before his senior year. Finally he's going to get on the field, be this contributor as a pass catcher. And the first game of the year, he catches a pass down the field like 40 yards and breaks his leg. And so his huddle page is the funniest thing ever because it's one play. That's it. It's one play. He played one play on varsity and so, you know, he, he did the, the religious mission and then came back and went to juco. He was able to work his way up. But yeah, just he's an older player.
- [98:49]
Dave Hellman
To your point, he's another super duper senior. He's 25.
- [98:52]
Derek Klass
Yeah.
- [98:52]
Dane Brugler
So an older player. But the season he put together this past year for Utah earned him a draft pick and that's Pretty cool.
- [98:58]
Robert Mays
Maybe one of the least surprising bits of the weekend. I'm looking at the Bears draft class, all their picks. Every single guy has a relative athletic score of at least 9.63 or 9.51. The guy that doesn't is the dude who ran 4:2.
- [99:14]
Dane Brugler
How about that?
- [99:14]
Derek Klass
Well, it's probably because he's small. Yeah.
- [99:16]
Robert Mays
Yeah, that's it. That's the only reason. So. Right. Ryan Poles likes his athletes.
- [99:20]
Dane Brugler
That's interesting because it's been all over
- [99:22]
Robert Mays
the place in terms of the veracity of that approach.
- [99:24]
Dane Brugler
But when Xavian Thomas didn't do like any of the. He didn't do shuttles, he didn't do the three cone. It was just speed.
- [99:31]
Robert Mays
Yeah.
- [99:31]
Dane Brugler
I mean that's, that's what he is.
- [99:32]
Robert Mays
So he's the only guy that's under a 9.51 ever. Everyone else is at least 9.51. They, they went out and drafted some athletes.
- [99:40]
Derek Klass
Just.
- [99:40]
Robert Mays
Xavier tested that well, huh?
- [99:42]
Dave Hellman
Oh, no.
- [99:43]
Dane Brugler
He's a 267. Like he's a. He's a good sized player. And it's just short arms, like unusually short arms.
- [99:51]
Robert Mays
That was first percentile arm length. Yeah, first percentile rare 30 and a half inch arms, but yeah. 94 percentile broad. 94 percentile vert.
- [99:59]
Derek Klass
Wow.
- [100:00]
Robert Mays
At 267.
- [100:02]
Dane Brugler
My God.
- [100:03]
Derek Klass
Yeah.
- [100:03]
Dave Hellman
Go spend some, spend some time watching Sam Roush when you get a free minute.
- [100:07]
Robert Mays
Was Red Murdoch in the bc?
- [100:09]
Dane Brugler
Yes, absolutely. He was.
- [100:11]
Dave Hellman
Not only did, not only was he in the Beast, we talked about him on building the Beast, like, I don't know, within the last two or three weeks.
- [100:17]
Dane Brugler
Dan, he, he was my highest graded player still available. The only player left in my top one 50.
- [100:22]
Dave Hellman
So first Buffalo player drafted since Malcolm KZ, I believe that sounds right.
- [100:27]
Dane Brugler
Yeah. Yep. Sean Dulac was an undrafted guy for the Rams last year at linebacker and I just. The 17 force fumbles in three years, it just, it's, it sounds made up. It's max record. That's just the crazier thing.
- [100:40]
Robert Mays
He'.
- [100:40]
Dane Brugler
It was an FBS record and he broke another Buffalo players who had, who held the record before him. Like, what are the odds of that? All right, I can breathe easy.
- [100:48]
Robert Mays
Congratulations, buddy.
- [100:49]
Dane Brugler
You did it. A couple of close calls there, but every player drafted all 257 in the
- [100:54]
Dave Hellman
beast, who scared you the most? The Patriots corner.
- [100:56]
Dane Brugler
They went early. Yeah. With the Wake Forest kid. Seattle here at the one of the final picks, Michael Dansby from Arizona. There were four Arizona DBs drafted over the last three days.
- [101:06]
Derek Klass
Isn't there a team that took like your 82nd receiver or something like that too?
- [101:09]
Dane Brugler
CJ Williams from Stanford? Yeah, the, the Jag did that.
- [101:12]
Dave Hellman
So I would have thought the Arizona, Arizona State game was like for a playoff spot.
- [101:17]
Dane Brugler
Right.
- [101:17]
Dave Hellman
All the players that they got there, them, Clemson and Auburn, like just a lot of players for teams that weren't all that good.
- [101:25]
Robert Mays
Congratulations, my friend.
- [101:26]
Dane Brugler
Thank you.
- [101:27]
Robert Mays
One more year in the books.
- [101:28]
Dane Brugler
That feels good. I can rest easy now.
- [101:31]
Robert Mays
Nobody does it like you. The what you put in and just everything that you pour into this process and what comes out on the end of it is unlike anything else in the industry. Sincerely appreciate you spending all of your non existent extra time doing Building the Beast all season, joining us throughout the draft process. It's fantastic to do it with you. I always have a great time. And if people have not gone back and watched the streams that we've done for the first two days of the draft, you can truly go back on YouTube right now and look at Dane's analysis for every single one of the picks in the top 100. If you are interested in doing that is available on the athletic football show YouTube channel and you're done for the next like 10, like for the rest of the year, huh?
- [102:11]
Dane Brugler
Yeah. Right, that's it. Pack it in until next April. No, this, this is cool. Thank you guys for letting me be a part of it. You know, have this space where we can talk about these players in real time. That, that's the most fun. So thanks to Dave for doing Building the Beast with me all year. I think that was. It's fun taking people behind the scenes of, you know, just the process throughout the year and like how things evolve. And so I think that, I think fans really enjoyed that part of it.
- [102:41]
Dave Hellman
Listen, I'll give you a little bit of time to catch your breath, but I'm already excited to start putting like a top 50 together for 2027.
- [102:49]
Robert Mays
Well, I was joking.
- [102:50]
Verizon Announcer
You.
- [102:50]
Dane Brugler
You're.
- [102:50]
Robert Mays
You have a story coming out tomorrow, right?
- [102:52]
Dane Brugler
Yeah, I mean, well, as soon as we're done, I'm gonna go back and work and I'm gonna power rank my top 32 classes and then the next day the 2027 mock draft comes out. And so. So yeah, it does. Scouting doesn't, doesn't stop. It's a full year round thing.
- [103:07]
Robert Mays
We have a show every day this week. So we're in the same boat. We're going to be doing tons of kind of day after. And as the dust settles, draft coverage, me and Dave Dave alluded to it, I think earlier on this show or maybe yesterday. The next show that we're going to have that's coming out tomorrow, we're going to talk about the messages the team sent based on the drafts they had. I love doing that every year. I just think that coming into the draft they're lying. Like they're, they're, they are just lying to you at every single possible turn. It's impossible for them to lie to you anymore. Like the intentions, the values, the priorities are on full display with what the teams did over the last three days. So that's what we're going to be digging into. We're going to have Fran Duffy on this week to do a little bit of a post draft, post mortem draft, post mortem. I can't believe we didn't have him on in the lead up to the draft. I was like horribly embarrassed about it. And so it was one of my priorities this week was just me and Fran. As again, as the dust settled. We're just going to do a show about now that we've slept on some of this, what are some things that maybe we look at a little bit differently now that we've had some time to sit with it. And then like I said earlier, when we're talking a little bit about the biggest questions we still have as the draft after the draft, like what needs are still on the board? What, what needs to be filled? These prior, these free agents that are still available, where might they be headed because of how the draft shook out? So a lot of stuff coming your guys way on the Athletic Football show this week. And obviously Dane will have multiple things written about this year's draft and the first look at next year's draft. So be on the lookout for that. For now. That is all we got. Sincerely appreciate you guys listening. And to everyone who stopped by over the course of the weekend, one of my favorite weekends of the year. Easily my favorite weekend on the athletic football show YouTube channel. So for everybody that tuned in, thank you for your time. We will be back here tomorrow chatting a little bit more about the draft. For now, that's all we got. Appreciate you listening. We'll talk to you very 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.
- [105:07]
Dane Brugler
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Robert Mays
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Robert Mays
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Robert Mays
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