← The Athletic Football Show: A show about the NFL
The Athletic Football Show: A show about the NFL
On the Clock: Why picks 13-18 are a run on pass-catchers, and the guys who try to stop them
01:03:20
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- [00:00]
Robert Mays
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Robert Mays
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Lance Zirline
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Lance Zirline
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Robert Mays
Are you a groupie on this tour?
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- [01:08]
Robert Mays
welcome to the Athletic Football Show. I'm Robert Mays. Our on the clock series rolls on. Today. We're doing picks 13 through 18 with our friend Lance Zurline from NFL Media and NFL.com just so if you have never watched these or not familiar with the exercise, just laying out what this exercise is and how it ends up playing out. I give the guest three options for whichever team is on the clock with that pick. They make the selection they would make if they were the ones sitting in that chair. The goal of this is just to have one big mock draft for the first round by the time we get to the end of it. I gave Lance the players that have already been drafted early in our conversation. So just be on the lookout for that. That'll coming here in about 30 to 45 seconds. So let's get to this conversation with Lance Zurline about picks 13 through 18 in the first round right now. Joining us now to dig into the middle meaty part of the first round of the 2026 NFL Draft it is our buddy from NFL Media and NFL.com Lance Zirline. Lance, how you doing man?
- [02:27]
Lance Zirline
I'm doing good, Robert. How are we doing?
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Robert Mays
I'm doing great. I'm very excited to dig into this group of teams. It's there are there are a lot of wrinkles here. We have some teams that are picking higher than they typically would, right. Teams like Baltimore, Detroit that you normally expect to be picking in the mid to late 20s or picking in the middle of the first round. The Rams are picking at 13 because they have the Falcons pick. The jets are picking at 16 because they have the. The Colts pick. And we already have them with Reuben Bane as part of this exerc. And so you and I were starting to talk before we started recording and it really is a unique stretch of teams in this draft for a bunch of different reasons, right?
- [03:03]
Lance Zirline
Yeah, it is. And you know, I always look at drafts like how clean is a draft? Right. And so for me, one of the easiest ways. Well, the first thing you look at is how deep is a draft with. With top end talent. And if it's not real deep like this year, and especially not at the quarterback position, you expect fewer trades. Like, I just, I don't. I think there will be some trade because there are so few blue chip caliber players. So there's going to be a couple teams who may say, look, we got to get our hands on this type of player, especially at that position. But it's just, it's just turning into a strange draft. And then when I look at picks 13 through 18 in terms of, you know, there's some wide receiver need there. But for. I'm not sure, once you get past Makai Lemon, who we'll talk about in a second, just kind of a heads up on where one of my picks is going. Once you get past that, it gets really tricky because Jordan Tyson's not going to run a 40. He's not going to, you know, he's had ongoing hamstring issues. Where does Omar Cooper go? KC Concepcion is not the biggest guy. He's had some drop issues during college. So that's a priority position. Quarterback's priority position. We won't. I can. Spoiler alert. Not going to be in this group for me. My stretch that I'm going to go through. And defensive tackles, which is always one of those, you know, picks where, you know, if you have them, they go kind of quick if they're pretty good. But I don't think it matches up with the teams that really have big immediate defensive tackle needs. I don't think the board matches up that way. So you could see some trade backs. I think you're able to have a lot of teams who really want to trade back to get their hands on a pick that may be more value appropriate, especially if they can add a draft pick. So I think that the trade backs, as this is with every draft, the trade backs outnumber the trade up, you know, the people who want to trade back versus trade up. But I think this year, especially in this range that we're looking at, I could see, you know, the Ravens moving backwards. I could see Tampa moving backwards. I could see the jets moving forwards from 16 since they have so much, you know, they have so much capital to work with. So really intriguing group that I have here.
- [05:15]
Robert Mays
It's funny, in your latest mock draft, you had the Ravens moving back and I think Carolina came up to get Akeem Mezador as part of that exercise, which does make sense and we'll talk about that. And I think that the way that our first round has fallen, he becomes an interesting name for, I think Tampa in particular. And we can dig into that when we hit it. But then with the way that I laid it out, I also, one of the things I wanted to talk about was if there was a team with certain guys off the board for the Bucks, if they were willing to move back. So the fact that you think they are a candidate to do that, I think is really interesting. So let's, let's start just by setting the table for the players that have already been drafted. If people have not listened to the first two versions of this show. So the goal here is essentially to get a first round mock draft comprised of the selections from five different people. Like that's what we're doing here. And so here are the players that have been drafted so far over the first two episodes. Fernando Mendoza to the Raiders, Reuben Bain to the jets, which will matter today because we're talking about the jets again. Sunny Styles to the Cardinals, Arvell Reese to the Titans. Francis Maui Noah to the New York Giants. Carnell Tate to the Browns. Jeremiah Love to Washington, David Bailey to the Saint, Caleb Downs to the Chiefs. Mansour Delane to the Bengals, Spencer Fano to the Dolphins, and then Dylan Thienaman to the Cowboys. When I sent you those before we started recording any that you found particularly surprising or that jumped out to you in any specific way.
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Lance Zirline
Yeah, I think Bane too. I just don't see it happening. I think Bane it too. This is, you gotta understand now, Darren Mujee is a, is a, is a general manager who really looks at historical norms and looks at traits. And so as soon as you, you have a general manager that cares about historical norms, you can throw, you can throw Bain and Cassius Howe out because at the edge position because they simply fall, especially a top five or six pick. It just falls so far out of the norm for a player with, with historically short arms. And, and I understand that people get tired of the discussion, but in NFL circles it's a very real discussion. And it's, and it considered a given that guys with longer arms, either on the defensive line or offensive line, if you have a substantial disadvantage at that particular with that trait, it's really difficult. As you know, Robert, my dad coached for years on the offensive line in college and of course in the pros. And we talked about arm length multiple times. And he said the people who think it's not a big deal don't coach against NFL pass rushers. They don't have to coach against NFL pass rushers because if they did, they wouldn't say that it's not a big deal to have a shorter armed offensive tackle because all it does is it and the same thing for defensive end. It just creates a smaller margin for error. Like you have to be elite with your hand timing. And now with all that said, I think Reuben Bang, kind of the way that he plays reminds me of when Mike Tyson used to get inside, use head movement to get inside of the jab. And so all of a sudden his lack of length wasn't as big a deal. I think the explosiveness off the ball and his strength to collapse, you know, punches just with pure hand fighting and power and brute force, I think that makes his lack of length when he's playing forward explosively, I think it makes it less of an issue. I think the further you get him away from the line of scrimmage, actually the worse it is for him because it gives offensive lineman a chance to really, you know, get there, get their, get their paws on him. But the tighter he plays in the line, you know, especially if he's right up on top of, you know, in a very tight defensive end alignment, maybe not a, not a, not a, not a 5 tech, but if he's just off that, I think he'll get an offensive lineman before they can really get their hands on him. But Darren Mujee specifically, I don't see him, you know, I don't see him drafting Ruben Bain. That one was kind of surprise. Dan, a minute 12 was a surprise for me as well. But if Caleb Downs is off the board and they want to get a, you know, a sheriff on the back end, it made some sense. It certainly made sense from a needs standpoint. I just, that was just a little high. I was a little bit surprised that he went that high. But I don't hate the pick by any stretch of the imagination.
- [09:39]
Robert Mays
So to explain the Bain thing a little bit and to kind of get into what we're doing, this is what you would do based on the options I give you at these picks. And so for Trevor picking at number two, and he just loves Reuben Bain and he's like, if I was, if I were the jets, if I was in that chair, that's what I would do. And so that leads us into this stretch of the draft and the selections we're going to talk about here and the options that we're going to talk about. So let's start with the Los Angeles Rams at 13. The three options that I'm giving you for the Rams at 13 start with drafting Makai Lemon. One, two, drafting Jordan Tyson. I just think it's an interesting contrast between, like styles of receivers and which one you might like. Tyson, I think you had the Rams picking in the latest mock draft that you did. And so I wanted to talk about.
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Lance Zirline
Lemon was off the board though.
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Robert Mays
Lemon was off the board. And so I, I want to just present both of those options to you so we could talk about what teams are going to be weighing if they want to draft a receiver. And both of those guys are available. And then the third one I had, I had draft Kaden Proctor. This is more so just offensive tackle, right? Because I do think if you're stacking up needs long term need at right tackle for the Rams is absolutely something to think about. You know, McLendon played there last year after having Stein was hurt, but he's in the final year of his contract. And so this is not a lot of team. This is not a team with a lot of scream claiming immediate needs. But I absolutely think you could talk yourself into them drafting a tackle in the first round, even if it's not going to help them immediately. So Those are the three options for the Rams here at 13. Option one, draft Makai Lemon. Option two. Draft Jordan Tyson. Option three. Three, draft Kaden Proctor. What are you doing if you are making this pick for the Rams?
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Lance Zirline
I like that you threw Proctor in there because you're thinking like a team would and you always have to look at next year's contract. And I think, I don't think enough people look at the factor of no one likes to have a blank spot on a roster and then have to go into free agency and draft because then you're a sitting duck. No one likes that. So I absolutely could see Proctor with that Said I'm taking Makai limit. I don't trust Jordan Tyson's hamstring right now. Makai Lemon, to me, this makes a lot of sense. He can, he can operate from the slot. You can keep your other. You can keep Puka. Well, I think he's interchangeable. But here's my concern. The one that makes obvious that we all talk about is that devonte Adams has one year left on a contract. Okay, well, it makes sense that you draft him to bolster your firepower for an aging quarterback. Because your window's open, you're trying to win a championship, you got to have firepower. We saw it in the, you know, we saw it in the postseason in that incredible game between Rams, the Seahawks. I like the firepower angle for the aging quarterback. I also like the angle for replacing Devonte Adams after 2026. We now have to at least consider, like, maybe this is partly some insurance for PUK and Akua. Also, you know, it's something we haven't really talked about. Puka is an incredible player. You know, anytime you start having off the field stuff, anytime a player gets into second year, second contract territory, there can be some changes in personality. There's always a question that's asked by NFL executives, what will a player do with more money, more time on his hands and more access? And a lot of times that sometimes for some guys, it shows up right away in the first contract. For some guys, it's not until they get in the second contract. Albert Hainsworth, as I'm sure you will remember, some guys just, just aren't built for the second contract. So I'm not saying that's Puka who's got it, you know, coming up. But I am saying that Makai Lemon makes maybe even more sense than before with the Rams. Air 13.
- [13:23]
Robert Mays
It's a contingency plan for this year, it's a contingency plan for next year, and it's a schematic fit. Like you think about the kind of, the relative limitations or concerns, however you want to frame it about Makai Lemon. A lot of them go away in that Rams offense with the way that they play. I just think that he fits so well with who they want to be and the way that they operate. And this is a team that even with their transition away from being an 11 person personnel as much as they have been in recent years, it's still at like a 56% clip. They're still playing with three wide receivers more often than not. And so you still need a third guy you feel good about. So the McLemon, if he fell to 13, even independent of this exercise, I always felt like he would have been a potential option for the Rams. And that's before you even consider. They've tried to draft an offensive playmaker every year for the last like three years. They just haven't been able to trade up into the range to get one. And so now they're finally able to get one just with the way the draft falls to them.
- [14:18]
Lance Zirline
Yeah, they're going to know him. And he's one of those guys, you just drop him in on that Rams island, you say go scavenge for touches and he'll do it like you, you know, there's not going to be. He already runs routes well. He's ultra competitive. For me, it's really one of those things that from a RAM standpoint where they have so many competitive players at different positions, he's got that same kind of mindset where I just think if you, you plug him in right away, he's a really going to be. He's going to be a really dangerous player who's going to get matched on third corner a lot of time and man to man. So it's just a big advantage to me having a guy like Makai Lemon out there. And like you said, even if you're only in 11 personnel, 56, 57% of the time as a rookie, that's okay. And we're talking about from a contingency plan, he's, you know, wide receiver too, in 2027. So I'm not, I'm not sweating it. Plus, you also maybe feel like you, you know, can attack certain defenses more aggressively with your 11 now that you have a player like that on the field, so.
- [15:21]
Robert Mays
Absolutely.
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Lance Zirline
I just think it makes sense.
- [15:24]
Robert Mays
Trouble figuring out a third position to even throw out for the Rams. Like, I think pass rush depth on the edge is something to think about. Byron Young's a free agent after this year. It does seem like they're interested in paying him and that is probably something that's going to happen. You know, that market right now for that, like kind of number two. I would, I don't even think you'd have to say 1B. I think it's like truly number two guys is now sitting there at like 27ish million dollars a year. It's crazy, but that's what Trayvon Walker just got paid. I assume Byron Young would probably be in like a slightly similar range, so maybe there's a thought of. Is that a little bit rich, but the way he played last year. And again, based on everything I had heard about their appetite for paying, it seems like that's going to happen. So they address corner, they signed, they re brought back their safety and free agency. They are probably going to bring back Byron Young on a new deal. The offensive line outside of tackles, pretty set. We just talked about receiver. Like it was hard for me to come up with another first round worthy position to really think about for the Rams. As you've done this exercise and done other mocks, is there any other spot you've thought about?
- [16:27]
Lance Zirline
No. And. And you're bringing up one of the, the most difficult things about mock drafts is more and more of these general managers are getting much better being smart and free agency, drafting a year in advance. And so what we have is you don't have clear and obvious holes like Mach 1 and Mach 2. Look, I don't want to do mock drafts pre free agency. They're a waste of time. Except other than the thought process because then they just blow up after free agency. But it is amazing after free agency how difficult it became for some of these teams who really did an outstanding job of taking immediate priority focus off of positions. And what that does is it allows like on draft day, people can't just jump over you to get a player that you clearly have to have. So. And the Rams are one of those teams. They've done a great job. I do think an interesting position, it wouldn't be drafted here. But a need that they may see as a need, believe it or not, is running back. And Corum's fine. I love Kyron Williams, what he does, but a guy with a little bit more juice at running back, you know, if they were to fall back to 23, I could, I could. You know, somebody said we want to move up and we're going to move up from, from 23 to, you know, or 26 to, to 13. I could see Jadarian Price being on the board for them. Maybe a surprise because then you, you buy him and we Price isn't going to be in this exercise for me, I would assume in these, in this spot. But I'm a big believer that if you get a really good running back with six years, which is essentially what you're doing with running backs now, you get the five year option and the fifth year option and then you get a potential franchise tag. You got the options to get a running back for four years or six years. Who, who likes giving second contracts to running backs? Like I don't know anybody who does because they usually are a problem by the sixth or seventh year that they're playing. So I would rather have a running back, a really good one. If I'm really in on a guy, I'd rather have him for what I consider a six year contract in the first round. So I think Price could be a sneaky guy if they were to go way back in the draft. Certainly not at this spot. But it is too hard to find a clear need and I'm not taking Ty Simpson there. So it's, it's tough. I've gone running back. I think I've gone running a wide receiver every single time in all of my.
- [18:47]
Robert Mays
I think that makes the most sense. Yeah, I mean, again, I think you could, you could make an argument that tackle actually might be a better way to think about this because you could. I think finding tackles of quality tackles and is just more difficult to do. And the fact that they're picking higher in the first round than they normally are. Is this their best chance to find a tackle for 20, 27, 2028? But I don't know. Would we be surprised if this team wasn't thinking that way with no nearing the end? Like, I think they're trying to do everything they can within reason. I think drafting a receiver here, you're also giving yourself opportunities in the future and planning for the future, but you're also helping to maximize the roster. Right now you're getting your take and eating it too.
- [19:31]
Lance Zirline
You're thinking like a roster builder. And that's, that's what I like about talking football with you is because you're thinking like a roster builder who's used to operating in the free agency slash, especially draft space. The supply side on offensive line is dead by the time you get to the third round, it's dead. It's very difficult. It's like the quarterbacks. I mean, it's very difficult to find really good tackles outside of the first couple rounds. It happens. You still can. But premium players, you know, it just, it falls off such a cliff from tier one to tier two and then down to tier three and then it's wham. Tier four goes way down. And so when you think like that, and that's kind of how I think is why would you not take a premium position and go, if you have the proper grade on it, why would you not look at a tackle? Because I know I can find wide receivers. Like if we're just doing an exercise of wide receiver versus tackle, I know I can find A wide receiver in the second, third, fourth round tackle, that's not a given by any stretch. And we never know how weak or strong a tackle draft is going to be. Lately it hasn't been. Last year, it wasn't very strong. This year, I don't think it's particularly strong. So that's why when you get your chance, sometimes you just got to, you know, you just got to take your shot on that position.
- [20:49]
Robert Mays
Let's get to The Ravens at 14, who are another just kind of interesting team because a lot of the big, pressing needs they had going into free agency, they were really aggressive in filling that. Like edge rusher was the number one thing for the Ravens. If you looked at the roster before free agency started, now they still have Trey Hendrickson or now they have Trey Henderson. We can talk about whether it's still worth addressing, but whether it's addressing at 14, whether it's worth addressing at 14, I think has shifted since the Hendrickson signing. So the options I'm going to give you for Baltimore here, option one, draft Vanguard Yoane from Penn State, which I think is pretty clear when it comes to need. You had them taking iwane with the 19th pick when they traded back in the latest mock that you did. So that's option one here. Option two. This one I was more excited about when I started thinking about it is draft Kenyon Siddiq. If you look at Baltimore right now, after losing Isaiah likely, they have Mark Andrews, and then they signed Durham Smyth in free agency. And Durham Smythe was the third tight end for the Bears last year when Declan Doyle was there. And so that second tight end spot for Baltimore is maybe a little bit more of a need than we typically think about with this team, because it always seems like they've got two of those. Those guys in the hopper. The third position here was a little bit.
- [22:00]
Lance Zirline
I'm all, no, I gotta. I gotta hear third option. I gotta hear third option.
- [22:04]
Robert Mays
The third one's here was tougher for me because I wasn't sure which position made the most sense. I threw out Jordan Tyson, and I also think corner is maybe more of a consideration than you might think. Marlon Humphrey's in the final year of his deal. He had a down year last year. And so to me, receiver, corner were the other two spots I was thinking about. But so let's go with Ioana, Kenyon Siddiq, Jordan Tyson as your three options.
- [22:27]
Lance Zirline
As you see, I'll bring it right there. It's Kenyon Sadiq. Well, my handwriting is. Is scout Scribble, I was thinking, right, the same along with you. So I went. And before I did this, I want to look at Declan Doyle. I wanted to see how often Chicago ran 12 personnel and they ran 32% of the time in that neighborhood, which was fifth in the league in Chicago. You take a lot of where you were and you bring it to where you go and look tight. A great tight end. As you know, Robert, when you talk about, let's talk about Antonio Gates, let's talk about Tony Gonzalez, we can look at Rob Gronkowski, you can look at Kelsey, they became more than tight ends. They became primary pass catchers. And once you have somebody who's Trey McBride, once you have a high volume tight end, you no longer have a tight end. You have a big slot, basically, who can align it different. You can align connected or in the slot. And so, yeah, I would agree with you when you said Tyson, could they use a pass catcher. Yeah, well, that also happens to be Kenyon Sadiq. And so as I'm going through this and putting my own down here, I think Kenyon Siddiq makes a lot of sense for them. Number one, when it was likely and Andrews, there was a time where that was a great combination for Lamar Jackson. He really locked in on those guys. I don't think Lamar loves throwing outside the numbers. I can tell you defensive coordinators from, from some teams I've talked to, they want to push him outside the numbers. So if that's the case and you want to play to his strengths, I think having a player who can play from the slot or play in line and 12 personnel with Kenyon Siddiq really opens up the throws that Lamar likes better that he's better at. He gives you a mismatch nightmare because you can line him up in the slot. Good luck putting a linebacker on him if that's what you choose to do. If you choose to try to put a nickel on him, then you can run at a team from that 12 personnel, because you're in 12. But really you can go 11 anytime you want with Kenyan Sadiq. And you have a huge advantage because you have two tight ends on the field. So if you try to go with your with a sub package, they're just going to run the ball at you. They're just going to run the ball at you and mismatch you. So I think he's a great mismatch from a schematic standpoint. I think he's a mismatch from an on field, you know, coverage standpoint. And then I also think it allows Lamar Jackson to get to throws maybe that he's more comfortable comfortable with. So I love the City pick.
- [24:55]
Robert Mays
I also think if you look at. I'm totally with you on what Declan Doyle is going to bring over. I think with some guys, when. With some offensive coordinators, when they come from a certain system, it's like, well, how much is he really going to bring? How much is it going to look like what they did before? I think he wants to do a lot of the things that the Bears did last year, right. And I think about the ways that the Bears use Colson level and they're different players, right? Kenyan Tadik is much shorter than Colson Loveland. I think long term he's going to have less viability as an inline blocker than somebody like Colson Loveland. But as a rookie, I think the Bears were very smart in some of the ways they deployed Colson Loveland as a blocker. It's a lot of slicing across the formation. It's a lot of getting him on the move. And so a lot of those ideas, especially early in his career, are the ways where I think Kenyon Siddiq is going to be able to hold up a little bit more as a blocker just because he is a little bit of a shorter guy. So I just think that that's so much of the ways that. The ways the Lions use Sam Laporta early in his career applying to the way the Bears use Colson Loveland, potentially applying to the way a Declan Doyle could use a Kenyan Sadiq within this offense. And so I, I actually really do like the idea of him getting there, becoming their number two tight end in a world where, as of right now, they don't really have that guy. I don't think Durham Smythe really counts for that.
- [26:06]
Lance Zirline
No, it doesn't count. I mean, they, they have a lack of tight ends on the roster, period. And Mark Andrews, you know, he had the horrific drop a couple years ago. He bounced back last year. He's under contract. They're not getting out of the contract after 26. Really? Or 27. I mean, they can take a. I think it's a 2 or $3 million haircut if they try to get out before 27, but I think he'll stay there. I mean, Lamar works well with him, and I just think the 12 makes a lot of sense. More and more teams are going to it. But that's the other thing is you are getting such a. There's such a gap between tight end one and tight end two in this draft. For me you were drafting. You're getting a premium cut at a position that is going to, it's not a bad tight end draft. I'm just saying you have a unique, unique player or potential, potentially a unique player. And Kenyon Siddiq, and I liken him to Trey McBride. I just think that you can end up seeing him at some point, you know, in the neighborhood of 80 to 90 targets, depending on, you know, in the future, depending on how Declan Doyle operates. And, you know, and I don't know what the quarterback situation will look like, I guess Lamar Jackson forever until he can not go. But I could see Kenyan Sadiq being a high target tight end like a primary target like Travis Kelce was.
- [27:29]
Robert Mays
All right, let's take our first quick break here and then come back and chat a little bit about the Tampa bay bucks.
- [27:34]
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- [30:17]
Lance Zirline
if
- [30:18]
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- [30:51]
Robert Mays
All right, so in the latest mock that you did, you had Carolina coming up to 14 and drafting Akeem Mezador right ahead of the Buccaneers. And when I'm looking at the Bucks like pass rusher is to me with blinking lights like the number one thing that I'd be worried about. And so my first option I'm giving you here for Tampa with that with them on the clock at 15 is a drafting Akeem Ezor from Miami. Option two was going to be drafting Kenyon Siddiq if he were available, because I do think that tight end is still potentially a consideration for the Bucks. They've got players there, but having like a true number two behind a Kate Otten who they just brought back, would that be something they would think about? After pass rusher, I think it was hard for me to come up with a spot for the bucks at 15 because you look at some of the other things they need. They need off ball linebacker help. That's probably not going to be happening in 15. They probably need interior offensive line and cornerback depth. That's probably not going to be happening at 15. And so with Sadiq not available, I didn't really have a good third option. Is there somebody else for the bucks here you would want me to give you other than Mazador or another pass rusher?
- [32:00]
Lance Zirline
Yeah, I think Venga Yoani for me. And here's why. And here's why. If you look at how, if you look at how Jason Light drafts Tristan Worse was a first round pick. Graham Barton was the first round pick. Cody Mock was a second round pick. Luke Gaeta Key was the second round pick. Like he just put such a high emphasis on offensive line and in the first round and he has a tendency to, he looks for good football players. And so the needs, it's less about priority of need and more about grouping maybe four needs together and looking for the best possible player. Look, I like Mazidor a lot. I think Mezador would fit there with Todd Bowles. I think Todd Bowles would love Mezador. I love the fact that you can also rush him inside. I would personally love to put Mazador there, but I think, I think I'm going to put Venga Yoani there. And it gets back to the history of how they envision the offensive line. Jason Light is willing to spend the draft capital to build the fronts and I just think he'll view him as just a rock solid player. There's, I just don't know how they view a 25 year old pass rusher. I think most general managers are not going to sweat it. I think fans make too big a deal about it sometimes. They're not worried about, you know, the idea of a ten year starter. I always hear this phrase, tenure. Ten year starter is a three year, three contracts. Like that's three contracts in most cases. So that's really hard to get to. Most general managers will tell you I'm just trying to get, I just want to, I still want to be here in three years. So they're not really looking, they're not really looking at is this guy going to get a second contract? That's not how they, they look. Can this guy. Now coaches who are trying to cover their ass or gm' they want to know, can this guy play right away? That's a question they will ask, but they're not asking. You know, they want to know, can he play right away and can he play well enough to help me save my job or to help us win a lot of games? And for me, Mazidor is that kind of player. I think you can get behind Hakeem Mazidor, but I do think that when it comes to risk reward, you know Maezador's best. He was best this year. You could make an argument. I don't think it's a valid argument. You could argue, well maybe Bain. The attention on Bain helped Masador. I would argue that Maezador did his own work on tape and I like him a lot. But Yoani lost weight from last year to this year. He got quicker, he got even better. I don't think weight is going to be a consistent problem for him. I think he just altered his body type last year and I think that he would really fortify that offensive line to where that is a big strength moving forward for the Bucks. So I'm going to go with the safer, maybe a little bit safer pick here in Yoadi in what is a much deeper but it happens to be two positions, Robert, where interior, offensive line and Edge are both two of the top. I think they're both two of the top position groups in this year's draft. So either direction they go in, I think they're going to have a chance to fill the other need later in the day.
- [35:12]
Robert Mays
Right now if you look at the Bucs offensive line, Ben Bredesen is under contract through next season, but they can easily move on from him after this year. I think it's only $3 million in dead money if they were to move on. And then Cody Mock is out for. I mean he had a season ending knee injury last year. It was early in the season so I wonder when he'll be back and ready to play. But those are the two kind of considerations for them at guard. Here's my only pushback to this. I do think that if you look at the way the Bucks have operated in recent years, that is what they've done. Where I think they've done such a good job of having these multi year plans at some of these positions that they've been able to take guys that haven't needed to contribute right away because the rest of the roster has been strong enough like Ben. Benjamin Morrison last year in the second round is a perfect example of this. You already have McCollum and Mel Dean and so you can bring Morrison on along. When you watch Dean walk in free agency, he can step in and be a starter. But right now I think that the need at pass rusher and how scary it is right now, does that shift the thinking a little bit where this is the type of year based on how thin they are there, where they no longer have the luxury of saying we're just going to take the better player because the need on the edge is so strong compared to others they might have had in years past?
- [36:29]
Lance Zirline
Yeah, no, they swung and missed on edge, but you can't stop swinging. If that's the case, I can tell you who I put down because in the exercise I thought I was going to come up with these and I actually that's my fault.
- [36:39]
Robert Mays
I didn't communicate that to you properly. No, no, no.
- [36:41]
Lance Zirline
I actually like this. I like this concept to where I actually like it just fine. I'll tell you who I had down and then I was told by somebody with Tampa, not the team, but somebody who covers Tampa. This guy might not be a GR. Might not fit the position, may not fit a first round model for them is I had McCoy from Jermod McCoy at corner because look, Benjamin Morrison was hurt his last year at Notre Dame. He was hurt last year. He didn't play particularly well when he played Zion McCol got a new deal but he didn't play great last year. I mean, if I'm making the pick, personally I. But. But I'm not sure they would do it. But maybe I, maybe maybe we. I just change up here and just tell you who I had down was Jermad McCoy because I think Jamad McCoy, for me personally, I don't trust the corners they have there right now. And I'm going to take a guy with upside at a position where frankly I think Morrison is just. Is just too big a red flag right now with his injury. I would personally go more McCoy. I was just told Tampa really doesn't love to and that's why I kind of got away from McCoy is that Tampa might not view corner there because they usually like to do it in rounds two or three.
- [37:51]
Robert Mays
Gotcha. Okay.
- [37:52]
Lance Zirline
And I think you want to put me down for the future for the next guest. You can put it Yoani or you can put it McCoy. But I mean if I'm drafting, I personally would go McCoy even if they don't value cornerback there.
- [38:04]
Robert Mays
Well, let's go with the options that we had. So let's say you want a. Is. Is the. Is the Bucks pick there. We're going to talk about drop Jamaic McCoy in a second because I do think he was one of the three options I was going to give you for the jets here at 16. So let's get to the jets at 16. Let's start with just the receiver need that the jets have. I think even with Garrett Wilson on the roster, it's still something they probably need to address at some point. Makai Lemon is off the board. So option number one here for the jets is draft Jordan Tyson out of Arizona State. That's your first option for the jets here. Option number two is draft J. McCoy. They probably need multiple corners. They probably need a nickel corner. They still need another outside corner. And so corner is a pretty big need for the Jets. I think right now if you look at the roster, the third option here, and this is mostly because I wanted to have the conversation about this, is drafting Ty Simpson with the 16th overall pick. That's probably a little bit rich, but I did want to have the discussion of like, like whether teams should be at least considering him at some point in the first round. So just for a little bit of context, the jets drafted Ruben Bane second overall earlier in this exercise. So they have addressed the edge rusher part of this draft with drafting Reuben Bain. So there's. Those are your three options. Draft Jordan Tyson. Draft J. McCoy. Draft Ty Simpson. What are you doing if you're the jets.
- [39:25]
Lance Zirline
Based on those options? I mean, my guess is the jets would want to come away with the wide receiver if they were. If. And they're the ones who are going to pick it. But I'd probably go McCoy because I just, I'm looking at, you know, I'm looking at Brandon Stevens. I think he's fine. They just added Nayshaun Wright. So I think they like Azuri A. Thomas. Let me think about this because they brought right over. He's not bad, you know. Right. As well.
- [39:53]
Robert Mays
It's a three and a half million dollar deal for one year for Naysha.
- [39:57]
Lance Zirline
That's nothing. That's nothing. You could still see competition there, but man, the wide receiver group is so weak here with them. A.D. mitchell, Isaiah Williams. I'm going to do it. I'm going to go Jordan Tyson and, and I just, I have to, I once again, I don't love, I don't love the hamstring issues with him, but I like the talent a lot and I just, I think they're going to have to come away with somebody who can play right away for them this year.
- [40:31]
Robert Mays
Yeah, I just, you look at it, I mean, it's a bleak situation. I mean even if you still have like a candle lit for A.D. mitchell, which part of me does, as somebody who refuses to stop believing in A.D. mitchell. But I think if you're being realistic here, that probably is like the biggest single need they have on the entire roster is like one more workable receiver. And even if you've got some reservations about Tyson at 16, I think based on the rest of this draft and where the jets roster currently stands, I wouldn't have a huge problem with them taking a swing on him here.
- [41:02]
Lance Zirline
No. And I think Omar Cooper could be in play here also. It'd be early, but I think Cooper could be in play because he's, he's. He's big, strong, he's got good speed, he could play inside, outside. So I wouldn't, you know, I wouldn't take him off the board. If you're just considering where to go. If you guys are all doing your own MOG drafts, I think Omar Cooper could, man, play there at 16, but Jordan Tyson is more polished. I think he's more game ready to come in and potentially get targets as a wide receiver. One, it's just you, you got to really be okay with that hamstring. Get to Ty Simpson. So I think you have to have done some scouting of the quarterback class next year. And I know most teams will tell you that's foolish to get too deep into it and to make decisions based on the next year's quarterback class and this year's. I don't know if we've ever seen an example of why that's so foolhardy. Because if you'd put all your chips on the 26th draft and you said, oh, man, we got Lenore Sellers, we've got Arch Manning, we've got Carson back, we've got Garrett Nussmeier, like, we are loaded at quarterback. We're not loaded at quarterback. As a matter of fact, the guy who hadn't even made a. You know, we got Ty Simpson, who we're talking about right now, is maybe the only other second round, the only second, second quarterback in the first round. I think Simpson has a chance to be a good quarterback, but to me, you gotta really put him with a good organization that has a great plan for him. Because here's your problem. If you're the jets and you play him right away and you're in New York media with New York fans, and he doesn't play well and he's, let's face it, he doesn't have a great running back, a wide receiver crew, since we haven't taken a wide receiver yet. Now, if you don't play him, which would be preferable. You still have to remember this will now be the fourth time in five years where he doesn't really play football. So how is he going to learn without reps? If you do play him, is that going to be a fan base and a media hub that is going to be patient with him? Because I do think they have undue, they maybe create undue pressure or create more pressure on ownership, the building than maybe some other fan base slash media combinations would. So you have to be like, you have to be a certain type of player first of all to fit into New York. I think Jackson Dart happens to be that guy. I think he's got that personality where he's going to be fine. Ty Simpson's got one year under his belt, man. I think all the things you look at on tape where you say I like this, but these are areas that are concerns. It would have been no big deal had he gone back to school. We'd have just been like, man, I like Ty Simpson a lot. He's going to be my, you know, I like him to be the favorite to win the Heisman Trophy. Once you enter the draft, we get our draft microscope on you and we're breaking all that stuff down because a lot of times you don't grow on the fly as quickly. You know, there's no guarantee that you're going to get better in college. You usually get better in pros. There's no guarantee that these quarterbacks get better because if they haven't learned already, I think it's why so few one year starters get better in the pro level because they step into a game that they haven't had enough reps to be ready for the changing pictures, post snap of defenses, the speed of the defenses and. And then it's hard to improve and learn on the fly because organizations just don't have the same patience with you. I mean, ask J.J. mcCarthy. That guy's had one year and it looks like there potentially is a chance they're moving on from him after what amounts to one year since he didn't play his rookie year.
- [44:38]
Robert Mays
I think even beyond the Ty Simpson element of this, I wanted it as a way to talk about the jets quarterback plans overall because exactly what you're saying, are they better off? Just saying, you know what, we feel better about the 2027 class. We have three first round picks next year. I'm sure as an organization it's difficult to walk into a season with Geno Smith and no real future plans. At the position. But for them specifically and the way this draft class fell and the way that things are setting up next year, I think it's probably just better for them to punt on it in this draft overall and just say, you know what, we're going to take our lumps. This is in the best interest of the multi year plan for what we're trying to put together here.
- [45:15]
Lance Zirline
100%. While you don't like to necessarily forward cast that position, I think you're forced to this year. Arch Manning should be better next year. Lenore Sellers should be better. Dante Moore is going to be better with another year of college football under his belt. Now had he come out, he might have been the pick at number two with the jets. But I think once you have three first round picks, you got so much ammunition. Any quarterback is going to be your quarterback. If you want it to be like three first rounders should give you the ammunition to get your choice of maybe number one and potentially the second quarterback. So I'm complete with it. I'm completely with you. Why even throw any draft capital at Ty Simpson, who's going to require probably top 40 capital? Why do that? Why not hang on to everybody? Let's, let's surround the future quarterback with as many good players as we possibly can from this year's draft capital. That's the way I look at it.
- [46:18]
Robert Mays
Let's take one more quick break and then come back and chat a little bit about the Lions at 17.
- [46:29]
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- [47:05]
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- [48:08]
Robert Mays
All right, the Lions for me and we'll talk through all the options. I started with what I think is probably the most glaring knee just because it's such a, it's such a new feeling about this team. Option number one was draft Kaden Proctor if he's available, which he is available as part of this exercise. So that's option one. Draft the offensive tackle, the big boy offensive tackle from Alabama. Option two was draft Keldrick Falk from Auburn. Because I do think the edge is still a need for the Lions. And if you look at the body types they have sought out consistently at that spot opposite Aiden Hutchinson, they've gone for those longer players over the last few years and Brad Holmes's tenure. That's what Falk is bringing to the table. Option three, he's back again is draft Jermod McCoy if he is available. Because I do think the corner for this team maybe is more of a consideration than it might seem at first glance. Let's see what happens with Terry and Arnold. They don't believe he was involved in, you know, the robbery and everything else that's been happening with him recently. Dan Campbell said that at the owner's meetings. But we'll see what happens with that. DJ Reed's gonna be 31 next year. He's got an interesting deal. It's like a $13 million option bonus in 2027 and so feels like that's something where could they move on after this season with him? And then they're they signed Roger McCreary to be their nickel this year. He's on a minimum deal this season. It's like $1.4 million. And so I, I think corner might be a bigger consideration for the Lions than we might typically think based on how aggressive they've been adding bodies to it over the last couple years. So those are the three options for Detroit Draft Kaden Proctor, Draft Kendrick Falk, draft Jermaine McCoy. What are you doing if you're the Lions?
- [49:48]
Lance Zirline
I'm drafting Kaden Proctor. Proctor gives you a chance to, you know, you really can decide whether or not you want to move Panay Sewell over to the left side and let Proctor go to the right side. If you think there's a physical advantage there. Some teams don't look at it that way. They just say, look, you got to have a good. Why not keep Proctor on the left side where he's used to playing and keep Sewell on the right side where he's used to playing. My guess is the Lions would do that. My guess is the Lions would keep Proctor left and move Sewell to the right. But based on those options, to me, Proctor makes the most sense. He's physical. He's a really good run blocker. I think his whole key is going to be keeping his weight down into the low 350s. And Duke Mannyweather from Oline Masterminds over there has done a really good job of reshaping his body and getting his weight down and doing. He does a great job. Every draft with all those guys at making sure their body types are like that. He works with them in the off season. I think it's just a matter of he played, he played in the high 360s this year during the season. I mean, some coaching staff said he had to lose weight in season and he did lose weight in season. He was too heavy and people beat him inside. And I, I still have some concerns. I want to, I want to ask you this. You're a football guy. This is a problem that I have with the NFL. I think the NFL loves to say, well, let's, let's put him at, let's put him at tackle. Tackle is the most valuable position. And then if he fails, we move him to guard. If he fail, he'll fail inside. And usually by the time you fail, you're, you're like Evan Neal, you know, right? Your, your confidence is, is shot. The fans hate you, the media writing negative articles about you. People in your own building don't have confidence on you coaching staff for sure. You may be on a second coaching staff by this point.
- [51:36]
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- [51:37]
Lance Zirline
I always find it amazing that I feel like I know for a fact that Kaden Proctor would mash people into the ground at guard and become a Pro bowl guard for sure. And he also has pass pro stuff as a tackle and some of his issues with being able to redirect against inside moves that goes away in smaller spaces. He becomes a really plus plus pass protector as a guard. You stick him a tackle, put him on an island you go watch that. For example, that, that Florida State game was a disaster in the first. In the first game. I think some of his same issues are going to follow him. Pass protection wise at tackle. But if you put him at guard, I think they blow people off the ball and just beat them up. But NFL teams just don't think like that. Now, I'm going to continue to write this up. Well, you can always move him inside the guard he wears. Chance to be a Pro bowl guard. I've written that about J.C. latham. I've written it about, you know, Mayanoa from this year's draft. I've written it about Proctor this year. But teams. I gotta stop writing it because I'm gonna write it to cover my own tail. But the fact that NFL teams just don't think like that, like, I guess they don't care about taking a guy that would definitely be Pro bowl caliber at guard because that tackle position, you know, it's just. Is so tough to fill. I get it. But I just wanted to throw that out there to you because you see these guys on the NFL level all the time. I want to get your thoughts on that.
- [53:00]
Robert Mays
That. So there's a couple different considerations here. We actually had a mailbag question a couple weeks ago talking about this idea of guys failing attack on the moving inside a guard. How many examples are there where that's actually worked out? I think it's going to depend on how you're going to classify fail, like in the short term. I think the best recent example of a guy who was an abject bad tackle moved inside to guard, and you really saw, okay, we can work with this was Kinkley Sumataia last year with the Chiefs. But I think a lot of the time it's guys that move inside for one reason or another, but they weren't a disaster at tackle and didn't suffer some of those confidence issues that you're talking about. Sam Cosmi was one of those guys. Collectio Semile was somebody that we mentioned, Roger Saffold. But those are guys that just were better guards than they were tackles. It's not that they failed outside necessarily. So I think that's the consideration there. And I think with guys moving inside to guards, it's typically a. Well, they have to move inside to guard because there's some sort of physical limitation. And there isn't a physical limitation with somebody like Kaden Proctor. And so would a team be hesitant to move him inside where he's a little bit less valuable? The last wrinkle of this. We are doing a series of videos this year in conjunction with the Beast, and Kaden Proctor was one of my guys. And I was watching it, and I'm just watching the way that he moves and the way that he struggles with space and to redirect a little bit. And I'm like, he's a guard. Like, and not. And not in a pejorative way. Not in a. Like, oh, well, sometimes that's a dirty way of framing a player. Well, he's really a guard in my mind. It wasn't even that. It was. I just think he. This upside is so real at guard, and you're minimizing some of the deficiencies. I would love to see him have a chance to play guard like you watch. Makai Becton had a rough year with the Chargers, but moving inside and, like, what he was capable of doing in the run game with the Eagles, like, I just think there's something really appealing about that for a guy like Kaden Proctor, and you're minimizing some of the concerns. So on that front, we're 100% on the right. On the same page. That's exact same thing I saw when I watched him.
- [55:04]
Lance Zirline
Yeah, you got to need a left guard, too. So he. I mean, you could draft them and plug them there anyway. You could start him at left, you know, and that's one where you could say, look, let's start him at left tackle or even right tackle, and if we need to, we can move them at guard. But I just. When you watch the way he run blocks, he mashes people. He's got the mentality. I think the weight is always going to be in the, you know, more than likely the high 350s, the low 360s. I mean, if he was 339, 341 pounds, he would be ripped. I mean, he carries so much lean mass that 350 is not a bad weight for him at all. It's just that trying to catch up with guys who are 100 pounds lighter who make quick inside moves on you, it's just going to be tough. Like, it's just physically going to be difficult. He's got long arms, which helps. But. Yeah, I was curious to what you would. You would think, because if you watch him on tape, you'll see the same thing we saw. It's just if you didn't, we'd be talking about him as a top four player. Right. If he had a good year, the year that was expected, he'd be a top three or four player. So that's just how that works. And I'm not completely convinced that he's not on the board at six with the Browns. By the way, I think Monroe, Freeling and Kaden Proctor are two guys you need to keep an eye on at number six for the Browns.
- [56:17]
Robert Mays
So I was going to ask you, are there any other offensive linemen here for the Lions that you would consider if, if Proctor isn't the guy that I offered you? Yeah, I think Monroe to talk with other guys.
- [56:27]
Lance Zirline
Yeah, I think Monroe Freeling would be the pick. Yeah. Just because I think, look, he needs another year of college football in my opinion. But he's extremely athletic. He has long arms, he's a natural left tackle and he is somebody who has the athleticism to handle the things that I think think that we talked about that Proctor could struggle with. So based on. If you look at this like we have to get a tackle this year, I think Freeling may. The Lions could look at Freeling as having the higher floor than Proctor. And that's why I think that he could be the pick there if he's, if he's available. If both those guys are available, I think Freeling might be the pick just because he has that higher floor athletically especially.
- [57:12]
Robert Mays
Let's get to the Minnesota vikings here at 18. Option one feels like we've talked about him for every team. Let's do it again. Draft Jamaican McCoy if he is available and he is available. Option 2. Draft Emanuel McNeil Warren from Toledo. Safety is absolutely a need for this Vikings team. If you look at the current roster without Harrison Smith. Option 3 Draft your best available offensive tackle. We talked about this a little bit with the Rams where you're planning a year in advance. Brian o' Neill is going to be a free agent after this year. Freeling, Blake Miller, Max and Ichor from Arizona State all available here. So Those are the three ways I went. Draft your Mod McCoy Option 1. Draft Emanuel McNeil Warren Option 2 Draft your best available offensive tackle. What are you doing if you're the Vikings man?
- [58:00]
Lance Zirline
Well, my pick that I'd made follows one of the picks that you have is Jermob McCoy. But I, I just, I think when you look at the cornerback and let's get into it right now, then I've added James Pierre this year they got Isaiah Rogers, McLaughlin. I think they, they think he has some potential in terms of outside corners. Jerome McCoy is going to be better potentially than all of them. He is a press man, corner who. And if you have a good pressman corner. It allows creative blitz callers like Brian Flores a lot of leeway to get as exotic as possible when you know you can throw a guy on an island. I'm not too worried about the athletic stuff. I knew was going to be good. I think the medicals will work themselves out. I mean, teams are going to know if the medicals are good or not. But my guess is it's an ACL tear. I think he's going to be fine. Guys come back from ACL tears all the time. My pick is Jermond McCoy. Jermod McCoy. I feel like wide receivers should be a need for them because I don't trust Addison off the field. And I think corner for sure should be a need as well. And I brought this up on social media. I said, hey, Vikings fans, why did I never read about corner and wide receiver? Shouldn't this be. I always read about defensive tackle who I don't like one there. I read about safety who I personally wouldn't take McNeil Warren there. Why not cornerback? And they. And to my surprise, a lot of the Vikings fans, you know, it wasn't Beatriz. Vikings fans said, absolutely cornerback should be on the board. And So I love McCoy in that spot. I think McCoy and that was my mock draft pick in my last mock was McCoy. I just think it makes a lot of sense. But I want to get to. Let's go pick two. The option number two. Who was option? Oh, it was McNeil Warren. So let's go. Blake Freeling, man, I mean, Monroe Freeling over there. I mean, Monroe Freeling would have to come in and be a swing tackle in year one more than likely. Unless you wanted. Unless you wanted to play him at guard. If you thought you could try to get away, but really will Fryes is there. I don't think he's going to take any snaps at center. I don't know if Donovan Jackson, I'm trying to recall if he's ever taken snaps. I don't know that there's a guard who could slide in and challenge and maybe start at center. I'm not sure if any of those guys have snapped at all. But to your point, I just told you that I think the tackle needs a year of seasoning. What better way to get seasoning than to be a swing tackle behind Darris on Brian o'. Neill. Two very good tackles and then you've got your. You know, you may have to play some politics there with. With Brian McNeil or maybe Brian McNeil is like, I know I'm Getting older. That's. I mean, Brian o', Neill, maybe. Brian o' Neill says I'm getting older. Whatever. This is just football. I'll move on after this year and get another contract with somebody else. It may be cool with him. Maybe you have to kind of smooth it over a little bit. I don't know. And maybe you try to get, you know, maybe you say, oh, he's a swing and he's going to be tackled some tackle guard for Monroe Freeling. But as a roster builder, I love it because we get cheaper at right tackle in the future. We have a plug and play option at right tackle with Monroe Freeling as soon as Brian o' Neal is gone. And like we talked about, you have to, you have to be a year ahead on offensive tackles, especially if possible, if you can be a year ahead on those guys. So you're not in a desperation mode with low supply. You know where the supply is low. And if you're Vikings, you hope to be drafting 19 or higher every single year. You hope to be in the twenties every single year. And the best tackle is usually off the board there. So I love the idea. I'm going to stick with McCoy, but man, I love the idea of Freeling there. If you're willing to let him just basically spend a year not. Not playing a whole lot, at least you hope he's not because you hope both your tackles stay healthy.
- [61:58]
Robert Mays
They, they signed Ryan Vandermark to that one year offer sheet, which is that. That wasn't surprising to me only because having to play adjusting or school last year was just such a disaster for them. And so having them get a little bit of insurance with the swing tackle wasn't surprising. I'm not sure that would prevent you from drafting a tackle in the first round if you think you're moving on from o' Neal after this year. So the last.
- [62:20]
Lance Zirline
I hadn't even really thought about that. I didn't look at o' Neill's contract and it's something that's important to do. You really need to look at contracts, as so many of these decisions are based on future contracts. And Brian O' Neal is what is. He's 30 now. So I mean, he's still got a lot of good football left. But if you wanted to hit reset on. And if you wanted to hit reset on the value of that position, it's not a bad idea.
- [62:46]
Robert Mays
Yeah, his age, his 20, 27 season would be his age, 32 season. That, that's, that's where that 32 came from. If you were to bring him back for that season. So that's why I threw that out there. The last one I wanted to mention just very briefly, just you talk about defensive tackles and defensive tackle. Maybe no one in this range being worth drafting. Option four that I was going to throw out at you. Would you trade the 18th overall pick for Dexter Lawrence if you were the Minnesota Vikings?
- [63:20]
Lance Zirline
If you flip me, I might need to be flipped a third. I might want to get some more. I don't. I don't love. Dexter's not young, he's not old, but he's in his prime.
- [63:30]
Robert Mays
But he'll be 29 this season. He. He turns 29 this. Don't think I haven't looked.
- [63:36]
Lance Zirline
Yeah, one is a lot. I'd have to probably get at least. I'd have to get probably a third back for that. For me to consider that I'd push back on. I push back on me giving up just my 18th dick, let me put it that way. But would I love to have Dexter. Oh, man, I'd love it. So, yeah, I would. I wouldn't just settle for giving up 18, though. But we can have that conversation. We can stay on the phone line a little while. Let me put it that way. We can talk.
- [64:01]
Robert Mays
Obviously, the news came out today that he's requesting a trade. Diana reported that. And so just. Just something that's worth keeping an eye on. Two kind of just wrinkles that are Viking specific when it comes to that. They do not have a lot of cap flexibility. Even if you were to play with the contract this year and try to get that number down, they've already restructured pretty much everybody. Based on looking at it. That's not Brian o' Neal and then TJ Hawkinson and I think Van Ginkel are like the only three deals where there's like a big base salary that they haven't touched already. And so that would be a consideration for a team like the Vikings. And then the other part of it, which plays into you talking about getting that third back, they just haven't made a lot of picks over the last couple years. And so them giving up a pick, even if it's for a premium player like a Dexter Lawrence, especially coming on the heels of an off season where they added two third contract defensive linemen and did not work out for them, they may not be the best fit. But because it came out this morning, I thought it was worth touching on just a little bit for maybe what teams in the back half of this first round might be thinking. If Dexter Lawrence is potentially available.
- [65:07]
Lance Zirline
I would say one player you didn't mention is Akeem Mazador. Or we could just talk about Rush. So Van Ginkel is in the. I believe it's the last year of his contract. I looked at his contract. I think he's got one. Oh, no, he has a one year deal. So Van Ginkel has a one year like $23 million deal. So you also have a player in Jonathan Granard who had three sacks last year, played only he had a shoulder injury. So he missed the end of the season. Right. He only played 12 games, but he wasn't, he really didn't have a ton of production leading up to those, you know, up to his season ending injury. I mean, you can never have enough Rush. I think Mezador or choose your pass rusher could also be an option there for Minnesota in that spot. Just because as a 3, 4 team, like I said, you can never have enough. Van Ginkel's getting older. I just think Rush could be another position that you could see potentially on the board there. I think defensive line for Minnesota, D tackle. We know don't love one here. I like Dexter Lawrence. And then of course Rush I think is another one that we could look Minnesota's got sneaky amount of needs now that, that you really look at it. I mean there's a lot of direction.
- [66:24]
Robert Mays
They absolutely do.
- [66:25]
Lance Zirline
And we have to move on, move back. That's what I do.
- [66:30]
Robert Mays
So let's run through the selections that we made. 13. Makai Lemon going to Los Angeles Rams. 14th, Kenyon Siddiq going to the Baltimore Ravens. That's a spicy one, man. 15. Vega Iwane going to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. 16 Jordan Tyson going to the Jets. 17 Kaden Proctor going to the Lions. And 18, Jermad McCoy, the cornerback going to the Minnesota Vikings. I like it. I feel like we did a good job of sorting through this stretch of the draft.
- [66:59]
Lance Zirline
Good player still on the board. For the next person making the picks, I can tell you that there's some interesting picks.
- [67:05]
Robert Mays
All right, that is all we've got for today. Lance, tell everybody where they can check out all of the draft work that you were continuing to do over there.
- [67:12]
Lance Zirline
Yeah, you can go read the draft profiles@NFL.com There'll be 400 plus draft profiles on their strengths, weaknesses, how I see a player, player grades coming up soon. I'll have round projections that are coming from my NFL sources where players are expected to get drafted not relative to my grades but relative to where the league values them. So I'll have that populating. You can just, you can just Google NFL. You can just Google NFL Draft Tracker 2026 and you can find it very easily. I'll be on path to the draft every Friday on NFL Network. You can see that NFL insiders on NFL plus every Tuesday, Thursday. And then I'll be doing live draft commentary Thursday, Friday, Saturday of the draft along with Bucky Brooks and Mike yam on the NFL fast channel or I think YouTube for sure on day one and maybe on day two and day three as well. I'll have that information in the future. But every pick, I got to know him and I got to talk about them. So it's, it's fun. But it is a long draft week for me.
- [68:15]
Robert Mays
Listen, I, I'm sure by the time my draft prep is over, I have read a hundred of the write ups that you do.
- [68:24]
Lance Zirline
I'm waiting for Dane to hurry up so I can find out if Dane and I talk all the time during the season. Like, hey, what did you think of this guy? Like, we always like to bounce things off of each other. Dane is one of my favorite people in the space. One of the guys I trust the most. But I'm like, hurry up, Dane. I want to see, I want to see where you and I disagree or where I'm like, yeah, exactly. Dane gets it. I don't know what these other draft guys are thinking.
- [68:46]
Robert Mays
Well, you have to wait about one more day because the Beast will be here on April 8th. So be on the lookout for it and be on the lookout for all the stuff that Lance is doing. Really appreciate the time, sir. Great to chat with you. Great to catch up.
- [68:57]
Lance Zirline
Yeah, great catching up. Thanks, Robert.
- [68:58]
Robert Mays
All right, that's all we got. Thank you so much to Lance for his time. We will be back tomorrow with Dave and Dane building the Beast, which, like we said, is coming out on Wednesday. Very, very exciting. We're getting into the best part of draft time, so be on the lookout for that. Sincerely appreciate you guys 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.
- [69:30]
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