← The Athletic Football Show: A show about the NFL
The Athletic Football Show: A show about the NFL
Takeaways from the 2026 NFL Scouting Combine
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- [00:00]
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- [00:57]
Brian Baldinger
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- [01:31]
Brian Baldinger
With almost half a million customers and over a trillion dollars of secure payments, Bill isn't new to intelligent finance. It's the proven way to simplify bill pay and maximize cash flow. Want to learn more? Visit bill.comproven for a special offer. Welcome to another episode of Building the Beast. I am Dave Hellman. Dane Brugler and I are fresh off the the NFL Combine. Dane literally drove in on Sunday and was like I got notes, I got stuff I am bursting to talk about. We need to talk about these workouts and that's exactly what we did. We basically went through Thursday all the way through Sunday. Talked about the big winners, maybe the guys that left a little bit out there and the guys who just didn't do anything as participation at the Combine. Definitely something worth talking about. A really jam packed episode as we put the Combine behind us and the real meat of draft season can get going. Now we know who everybody is. From here on out we can just argue about how to slot them. But first let's break down everything we learned at the NFL Combine. Really fun episode with myself and Dane. Let's do it. I got to tell you, Dane, it's surreal being back with you on. On Zoom, considering we just spent the week together. But I very much felt like we were ships passing in the night. Like we had dinner together. We had a couple conversations over the course of the week. But by and large, you are the busiest man in Indianapolis with all the people that require your attention. And I'm trying to do the athletic football show things. I've got shows with Robert and Derek. We're talking like free agency and stuff, whereas you're 100% draft all the time. So it's kind of surreal being back with you after the different rhythms of our combine week.
- [03:25]
Dane Brugler
Yeah, it's. It's funny how. Well, first of all, the week just flies. Like, I don't know, I was there for eight days and I don't know, you blink and it's over. It's kind of crazy. There's just so much to do throughout the week that it just feels like it goes by really fast. But there's. There's so much to learn and I feel like we did just that. We learned a lot. Whether it's from the interviews, whether it was from getting some tidbits, from just talking to scouts and agents and coaches, obviously on field stuff, stuff. There. There's plenty to. To get from what we saw out there. So yeah, let's try to condense it into a. A tidy little wrap up as best we can.
- [04:06]
Brian Baldinger
We can definitely do that before we dive into the prospects, the names, the. The drills, the groups that were really impressive. Maybe just some notes on the actual workouts and the week that was which I don't expect anybody in the NFL to care about. My advice this week. And it's been this way for a. A while, right? But I felt such a disconnect between the fact that we descend on Indie on Monday into Tuesday morning and then you wait around until Thursday for all of the actual drills to get going. It feels very anticlimactic when people are leaving town just as the workouts are getting going. And then we probably didn't give this enough time prior to the combine. Dane, maybe it was the wishful thinking in me I was hop hoping for for better. But my big impression coming out of this, other than a dozen impressive names, is nobody's doing anything, man. Like, there's nowhere near as much to get excited about coming out of this combine when you look and see the huge number of guys that just didn't Participate in things or picked and choose. Chose what they participated in. I mean, the three cone as a drill that the league does at the combine is on life support coming out of this. And I think, not to put a damper on the excitement of the combine, but my big takeaway after four ways of watch, four days of watching drills was like, man, the league's got to come up with a creative way to get the participation in this stuff back up if they can.
- [05:42]
Dane Brugler
It was literally the fastest, just using the 40 yard dash data, the fastest for every single position we've ever seen at the combine, except for quarterback, it was second fastest. And the main reason for that is because the guys that can't run didn't run, but the guys that could run did run and they ran fast. And so if you eliminate the guys that don't run, great, it just pushes the average up. And so, yeah, 3Cone is my favorite drill by far. Just the change of direction and the ability to. Just to get off the short area, quickness and the ability to finish like that is something that translates to every position. And it's something that I think translates well to the football field. And it's not something, you know, you see four guys at this position do it, five guys at this position. We just don't see a high participation rate. I think only one running back did it. So it's just. And we've been trending that way for a while now. It's just this year felt like a big jump in terms of the. And not in a good way towards a lot of guys not participating. But, you know, scouts, teams pay attention to this stuff. So I. And not. I'm not going to call anybody out, but it's like, you hear a lot of prospects. You know, it's funny, you listen to these interviews and they stand up there at the podium and say, yeah, man, I'll die for my team out there. I'm a dog. I just, I want to compete. Then they don't do anything. And it's like, all right, I get it. Your agent probably told you not to. You weren't getting the times you wanted. Wait till the pro day, blah, blah, blah. But like, come on, you're going to be. You're going to tell me, stand up there and tell me you're a competitor and not compete. Kind of weak. But there were. Even with that context, I think there were a lot of athletes that went out there and did compete and help themselves because they were really impressive.
- [07:33]
Brian Baldinger
So I got to shout out my guy, Justice Mosqueda, who put this on my radar during the course of testing, but he was outlining exactly what you're talking about. Like pre. Pre Covid. You could count on like a 50% participation rate at the 3 cone across all positions. I got the idea to go look specifically at defensive line players because that's what I care the most about. In 2017, Dane 37 of 50 D linemen invited to the combine ran the three cone. That's like 75% of prospects. This week, 11% of defensive linemen ran the three cone. Seven. Seven out of 64 prospects. And it goes down the line. I mean, it's a little bit better. But in 2017, 94% of cornerbacks ran the 40 yard dash. In 2026, it was about 63%. So you got some major discrepancies over the last decade. Some major trends going toward doing things at pro day and, and not running all the drills at the front line.
- [08:39]
Dane Brugler
If.
- [08:39]
Brian Baldinger
If at all.
- [08:40]
Dane Brugler
Yeah, look, this is how scouts think and teams think. If you're not doing it, you're hiding something. That's 100% how teams think. And so you better be very confident in where you stand as a prospect or just be confident you're going to put in a good time at the pro day because if not, that's. That's something that ultimately not going to. Not going to say it's going to drop you in the draft. But if it's a conversation between you and another player, who knows, maybe that could be a tiebreaker for a team. It's just, it's another data point that's missing that's pretty important to teams.
- [09:14]
Brian Baldinger
I did say prior to going to indie that I was going to try not to hold it against guys for not working out. I was just going to be disappointed. But yeah, I was. I was disappointed at the, at the lack of drama, at the lack of data coming out of this, but. All right, having wined for a few minutes, let's talk about what actually happened at the combine. I took my notes in order of position groups that went. So like the. The D lineman went first and, and we moved on to the dbs and the rece. So it's not in your traditional order. I just went by position that got on the field first. Let's start with defensive lineman. Ironically, we do have to talk about this. The biggest news item that came out of the defensive line for my money, is a guy that didn't do a whole lot. That would be Reuben Bain. But my goodness, you could feel the shock Waves going around Indianapolis when his official arm measurement of 30 inches and 7/8 came out. And I just. I have no choice but to believe it's going to be a talking point for the rest of the draft process. It's funny, I said this to Maze Dane. You and I have been talking about his arm length since, like, October. But there is. I don't know, it. It feels a little more real when you get a number on it, though. And I'm curious, I know that you have been expecting this for quite some time, but when you have a number on it and people are able to be together in Indianapolis reacting to it. How big of a deal do you think this is for Reuben Baines draft stock?
- [10:43]
Dane Brugler
Only because it was expected, I guess. I guess it wasn't. I don't know. It was kind of. I didn't think it was that big of a deal, to be honest with you. Just because, you know, like I reported back in, I don't know, November, whenever it was that scouts had his arm length, they measured him in the fall at 30 and 3/4. And so it's like, you know, we told people on this podcast, hey, be ready. It's going to be under 31. And so when it came in under 31, I guess I wasn't that surprised or I wasn't that, you know, I mean, I guess it was a good thing. His arm actually grew, what, an inch or eighth of an inch? So, I mean, every little bit helps, but it's just, It's. That's not his game. He's going to be a short arm player now again, you know, I wish he would have done workouts. That was disappointing. We didn't get anything from him. But, yeah, I think the edge group as a whole, we. We talked, we've been talking for a long time how deep it is. A lot of guys did compete and a lot of guys did impress. And I. Are we going to talk about Arval Reese's part of this group or do we wait for linebacker?
- [11:44]
Brian Baldinger
I. I would call him an edge. Yeah, like, I would. I would talk about him here.
- [11:49]
Dane Brugler
All right, well, then he was, if not the most impressive, top three in terms of full workout, both the time drills, the athletic testing, but also the field workout. His field workout was bananas. It was unbelievable. The quickness and violence through the bag drills, the change of direction, the movement skills. He is. He lived up to what I would expect from a player who's number one on my board. And, you know, and I would tell you if it didn't Because I trust me, like all the guys in my top 10, I'm looking for a reason why you shouldn't be up there. And I want to see you match those high expectations. I thought Arvo Reese, he passed with flying colors. He was outstanding. Danny, Dennis Sutton from Penn State, the way he tested was really impressive. For a guy that's 256 pounds running 6, 9, 3 cone was awesome. His jumps, his runs. So that was awesome to see. Malachi Lawrence, he was tremendous with his explosion drills. So, yeah, there were several edge rushers outside of the top guys that I thought helped themselves.
- [13:01]
Brian Baldinger
Danny, Denise Sutton, one of two edges to do the three cone this week in Indy. And yeah, maybe if, you know you've got a 6, 9 in your bag, maybe you're a little more willing to do it than some other guys. I'm glad you mentioned Lawrence. Cause you're right. Like, some guys help themselves. And it's fair to point out the field workouts are not a thing you can quantify with a tape measure or a stopwatch as much as as the, you know, the 40 and the vert and the broad and that good stuff. Arvell Reese looked absolutely great. But I'm glad you mentioned Malachi Lawrence because very tangibly, this guy is listed at 64253 and Dane. Malachi Lawrence went out there and did a 4, 5, 2, a 40 in the vert and a 10, 10 in the broad. And look, I get it, it's the underwear Olympics. We're not gonna overreact. But that comes on the heels of people you and I know and trust in the scouting industry who have been texting us and being like, oh, this guy's the real deal. Malachi Lawrence is a name that's got not getting enough love. Like we were hearing that well before the combine. So for him to show up already knowing that insiders are pretty high on his ability and to put on a circus act like that, I definitely thought he was one of the bigger winners of the entire week.
- [14:21]
Dane Brugler
Yeah. And he was already in my top 100. You know, that came out right after Senior bowl week. And part of that was seeing him live at Shrine and seeing him perform during the week of practices. And, you know, he's not the most bendy guy. And so, you know, like, I don't expect his three cone or shuttles to be great, but he is literally explosive. And that's where you saw the jumps and the get off and the 40 yard dash. And so, you know, just thinking about that Baylor tape and how explosive he was getting to the quarterback. And all that translated really well to drills. So Lawrence is. He's already in the top 100. And yeah, you're right, he only helped himself in terms of where he's going to end up on day two.
- [15:04]
Brian Baldinger
Anybody else you want to hit among edges or can I move on to linebackers?
- [15:09]
Dane Brugler
I mean, I think we should mention David Bailey because again, a player that was already near the top performed pretty well. And so, you know, I think he just kind of checked the boxes. It wasn't like an amazing workout, but it was good for a player who's probably going to end up being a top seven pick. So that's it. That, that's a really good workout. Randon in the four fives. I mean, he was lightning in a bottle for what you would expect from a guy whose forte is get off and burst to the ball.
- [15:38]
Brian Baldinger
That's kind of how I felt about our guy Caleb Banks, too. Like you, he worked out. We were looking forward to that. It was not a bad workout by any stretch, but it didn't get me excited to turn the card in the way I was kind of hoping for. Like, I maybe. And maybe I built it up too high in my mind for a guy coming off of a injury shortened season. I thought it was good. I didn't think it was like otherworldly or anything.
- [16:00]
Dane Brugler
Yeah. And the whole the cleat issue was. That's not what you want to hear. Keldrick Falk was another one who I expected to be a little bit better. You know, for a guy that has these traits, you. You just kind of expected to see it more out there on the field. So I think he left me wanting a little bit more. I mean, let's just move inside a defensive tackle. Since you mentioned Banks, like, so Zane Durant, Penn State. I mentioned Dennis Sutton, Zane Durant. He was outstanding in terms of the athletic testing. I just wish that you could point me in the direction of where that shows on film. Like it just the lack of disruption on his film.
- [16:45]
Brian Baldinger
Isn't that your favorite part of this is you've watched, you've watched plenty of a guy's tape and then this makes you feel like you need to go turn it back on immediately.
- [16:54]
Dane Brugler
Oh, and I will. Because that's. The combine is one big cross checking exercise. If something matches up. Okay, great. That's what the film said. Matches up with athletic testing, perfect. If it doesn't. All right, we need to go back in. Either way. If a guy tests really well but doesn't show on film. Okay. We got to figure that out. Or vice versa. And with. With Durant and. And he's a former running back in high school. Like, I think we knew he was going to test pretty well. But this is a guy who had a grand total of four and a half tackles for loss last year. Four and a half. Like in. In 12 starts. So, yeah, he has this. You know, he looks really good in shorts. He can move really well. I just wish it translated to more football production. And so, um, I think that while on paper Durant's testing, he should be, quote, unquote, a riser. I. And I'll go back and watch more. More film just to make sure. I'm. I'm not wrong by saying this. I just don't think it's going to be as much of a boost for him when you look at the actual football impact.
- [17:58]
Brian Baldinger
Can we talk about a guy. Can. Can. Can we do linebacker just so we can just get this out of the way and talk about the guy that I am jumping out of the gym
- [18:06]
Dane Brugler
to turn the card in for the top five pick.
- [18:09]
Brian Baldinger
Okay, I'm glad you started there because I want to. I want to make life easy on our wonderful producers and the guys and gals who clip the. Clip the stuff out to put on social media. Dan, in a year where we already know that the top 10 is a little bit lacking in. And there's not as much of a sure thing at the premium positions in this draft. Talk me out of Sonny Styles as the second overall pick in this draft. Like, talk, talk, talk me out of thinking that's not stupid. Like, tell me why that's dumb.
- [18:45]
Dane Brugler
No, as soon as Mendoza's off the board, you're on Sonny Stiles. Watch. I think he goes top five. It's just a matter of. Is it one of the New York teams? You know, could it be Arizona? Arizona needs a lot of help in a lot of different places, but they also need to get this right. They need to whether. If they feel like that's an edge rusher, if they feel like it's Jeremiah Love, they feel like it's an offensive lineman, whatever, get it right. And Sonny Styles has one of the highest floors in this draft. There's no such thing as bust proof. Sonny Styles might be the closest thing to bust proof in this draft. When you talk about just checking every box, it's the athletic testing, it's the movement, skills, it's the way his career has gone in terms of trajectory, getting better and better, and it's also the interview process. No. No other player just talking to scouts throughout, throughout the week. No other player had more praise from scouts in terms of their interview than Sonny Stiles. I mean, we're talking standing up, getting a round of applause, we're talking just raving about this kid from scouts and how those interviews went. And so all the, I'll put all that together and I think teams are going to look at this and say, yeah, he's an awful linebacker, but this guy's different. And we feel like he, we're getting him on the up. You know, he's not, it's not like he reached his ceiling yet. So Sonny Styles did exactly what you would have hoped coming in and even then some. So he was what, my number five player in the draft coming in and now I have to really consider if I have him too low.
- [20:23]
Brian Baldinger
I couldn't be more impressed for everything that you just said. I mean, the numbers are silly, the measurements are silly. You look at him and I think you can get in trouble trying to project too much. But with what we know about him as an off ball linebacker prospect and what you know from just watching his tape, combine that with his measurables and athleticism and I'm just like, yeah, the right coaching staff could get production out of him as a linebacker, as a guy dropping in coverage, as a pass rusher. Like there's. Yeah, I have a hard time thinking he can't do like whatever he wants. And like I said, I know you can get in trouble projecting too much. We've definitely, definitely seen guys like that fall short of the freakish expectations before. But I don't know, man, he's so impressive. And you're right, like I, obviously I'm not part of the team meetings, but the time he spent at the podium with the media was very, very impressive. I found out this week that his, he's nicknamed Sonny after the character from the Godfather, which is just amazing.
- [21:25]
Dane Brugler
Like, that's in the Beast.
- [21:27]
Brian Baldinger
Of course it is, Dane, but I haven't read the Beast yet.
- [21:30]
Dane Brugler
When we're done recording, I will send you the bio I have in the Beast for him. It is probably the longest bio in there. Like I have it in front of me. How about, how about he had, coming out of high school, he had Division 1 basketball offers from Akron, Duquesne, Kent State, Toledo. Like there's, yeah, there's a lot of good stuff in there about how special this guy is.
- [21:54]
Brian Baldinger
If I had to guess today, I think Arvel Reese will be the second overall pick in the draft.
- [21:58]
Dane Brugler
But I would agree.
- [21:59]
Brian Baldinger
I. You could. You could easily sway me that it should be Sunny Styles. And if he's not the second pick, then I think it'll be quickly after. Quickly after that. We talked about him before the combine. Shout out Jacob Rodriguez just balling out that I felt silly when I was watching his workout for questioning whether he could, you know, put up good numbers. Cause he. He blew my expectations away. And he, you know, he did the 40 vertical broad. He did a 3 cone. 6.9 in the 3 cone, which was a very impressive.
- [22:30]
Dane Brugler
It's outstanding. Yeah. Which.
- [22:32]
Brian Baldinger
Real quick, Dane. Real like quick tangent. Can you. Like, for people that are listening to this that maybe aren't knee deep in draft stuff, why is 6, 9 a good 3 cone time? And. And what are people looking for when they do that?
- [22:46]
Dane Brugler
Yeah, and obviously your expectations change on the position and the size of the player. But, you know, for people that don't know what the three cone is, just think of it as an L with cones. And you know, you have to maneuver. It's. You can't be stiff and do the three cone with a good time. And so it really helps expose that stiffness, which is why we see a lot of guys not do it, but for. And that's why it's a good compliment to the 40. A40 shows obvious linear speed and not just, you know, get off, but then also can you carry it and can you. Can you stretch it out or do you taper off? But then a three cones looks a little bit different, works a few different muscles. And Rodriguez, we talked after the Senior bowl, like, seeing him up close in person, just the athlete that he is, gave me a new appreciation for him as a football player and as an athlete. And that's why in my top 100 after the senior bowl came out, I bumped him up into like the late second round just because I had a new appreciation for him as an athlete. And then coming here to the combine and even more so because of that workout and the way he moved. So, yeah, good. Good for Jacob Rodriguez. For. He's crushing the process. Senior bowl combine after what he did as a senior at Texas Tech, just. I don't. You can't do the last six months any better than Jacob Rodriguez has done throughout. Jack Kelly, too. The. Our BYU linebacker had a really good workout. So yeah, a couple linebackers did well for themselves.
- [24:22]
Brian Baldinger
Kyle Lewis, I don't think is under anybody's radar anymore either. Dane, if he ever was, after a nice combine for him. All right. Gonna talk some DBs. Let's take a quick break first and we'll do that right after this.
- [24:37]
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Dane Brugler
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- [28:26]
Brian Baldinger
All right, Dane, there's two categories of guys here. When I was watching the combine, you know, your Sunny styles, your R L Reese, your Jacob Rodriguez guys that we've talked a lot about, who I had an opinion of for right or for wrong heading into the combine. And then there's what I like to call the Dane special where I see a guy that I don't know anything about and I'm like, ooh, I gotta get Dane to enlighten me. You back in the day, if you've been with us for a long time, we used to do a segment called tell me more and I just, I'm gonna, I'm gonna throughout this show, I'm gonna throw a through name a few names at you. I would love it after watching cornerback workouts if you could tell me more about Takario Davis out of the University of Washington who ran a 441 despite being almost 64 with some 34 inch arms dragging down at his ankles. I guess with. With the amount of time I spent covering the Cowboys and their arm length, perimeter parameters, I zeroed in on this guy immediately and I was like, I need Dane to tell me more about Takario Davis.
- [29:29]
Dane Brugler
That's a tall drink of water right there. You saw those long strides in the 40, right? You know, he could really stride it out. Yeah, he. Now, as a prospect, it's a little more inconsistent because, you know, the mirror and match isn't always sound. You know, he has. He has a tough time with that sometimes. I. The length is great, but the play strength is average, so that's an issue. But when you have a guy that's that size, with that speed and so you can attach yourself to receivers and especially when you're working on the perimeter. Yeah, that's something that's going to interest a lot of teams, especially those teams that place a premium on length on the outside. You know, whether that's. Yeah. The commanders with Dan Quinn or, you know, you think. You used to think about the old Seattle teams with what they wanted on the outside, but, yeah, Davis is a good one. On the flip side, a guy that doesn't have sides. Who. I thought an outstanding workout. Chandler Rivers from Duke, he was terrific. Avion Terrell, I don't. He didn't run. I don't believe. But it wasn't. That wasn't what got my attention. It was the positional workout. Avion Terrell was outstanding during drills. You saw the ball skills, you saw the movement skills. Avion terrell, he's 18th on my top 100. And if anything, it looked like I had him too low, not too high. He was terrific.
- [30:51]
Brian Baldinger
I was going to ask you about that. Do you think we. Not you and me, but, like, we as a collective draft community, you know, we talk plenty about Delane and we talk plenty about Jermad McCoy. I'd say we even talk plenty about Colton Hood. Are we not giving Terrell enough credit or credence for potentially being. I mean, you've got him at 18, so, like a top 20 guy, but could he potentially go even higher than that? Like, are we not doing him justice by talking about him on that other level of cornerback prospect?
- [31:25]
Dane Brugler
Well, yeah, and I mean, shame on us if we're not talking about him enough. Cause that's. Yeah, he. He. He's one of these guys that's. Once you, like, once you get past the first, what, like 10 picks, maybe like anybody's free game at that point, you know, anyone in that 11 to 32 range is kind of in play at that point. Including Terrell, who I've said it before, even though he didn't have a ton of interceptions, he just has this honey badger aura to him with the way he competes, the way he goes out there and makes plays, even though it doesn't always result in an interception. But the forced incompletions, the forced fumbles, the way that he will hawk down a guy from behind that's not even on his side of the field. Like he just. That that's the way he competes and it shows up on every single tape. So Avion Terrell, I thought was a winner from the combine. My guy, Chris Johnson, if I had to, if you, if I've had to make a list of five my guys, Chris Johnson, absolutely one of them. San Diego State, a guy we've been talking since about, since September. Had one of the big questions was speed. Could he. You know, as long as he got under that 448, man, that was like the magic number. And he did well under that 4, 4, 8. Everything else is just, I don't know. I think he, I think he checks every box.
- [32:46]
Brian Baldinger
Chris Johnson's one of those guys where he, he did a four, four flat twice. And I was like, okay, Mr. Johnson, off you go. Nothing else we really need to see here. And then one more guy I wanted to mention, obviously when you run the best time, people are going to be talking about you. Toriano Pride Jr. Out of Mizzou. Don't know anything about him. But if you can run a 4, 3, 2, I'm going to spend some time watching your tape. That's just how it goes.
- [33:12]
Dane Brugler
There are several teams kind of saying the same where, oh, I did not know you had that in you. And so we knew, we thought you were fast. We didn't know you were that fast. And so that's one of those guys that'll be fired up on the tape tomorrow from teams just kind of making sure we dot those I's, cross those T's, make sure we. We've got them right with our write up at safety.
- [33:35]
Brian Baldinger
I don't know who, who didn't have a nice week at safety. I was.
- [33:39]
Dane Brugler
So you gotta start with one guy though. We gotta start with one guy.
- [33:42]
Brian Baldinger
Which, which way do you want to go? Cause like Lorenzo styles ran the 4, 2, 7 or is it somebody else?
- [33:48]
Dane Brugler
It's gotta be the end of, man.
- [33:50]
Brian Baldinger
Oh yeah. I mean, yes.
- [33:52]
Dane Brugler
Dylan Theaterman, man. He unbelievable.
- [33:54]
Brian Baldinger
He cr. He crushed it, dude. I mean, I know he's been on everybody's radar as a potential first round pick for a while, but he's one of those guys where all of a sudden it's like ah, maybe, maybe top 15. Like what are we talking about here?
- [34:08]
Dane Brugler
It's funny because earlier in the week I, I was on radio with our buddies at 1053 the fan and they asked the ideal scenario for the Dallas Cowboys at 12 and 20 and I said okay, ideal. Like maybe not realistic, but ideal. Okay, all right, let's go Sonny Styles at 12 and let's go Dylan Theatman at 20. And that was before they worked out. Now it's like, all right, no chance
- [34:32]
Brian Baldinger
Sonny's throw that plan in the trash.
- [34:35]
Dane Brugler
I mean does theaterman hopefully Theta men's there at 12 for them if they wanted to go that direction. But that, that might be it because holy cow, what a workout. The testing was awesome obviously, but the workout was phenomenal and it was expected. I mean he's right now in my top 100. He's 22 or something like that. So you know, it's not like again he's going to get this huge bump because of what he did. It just kind of reinforced that. All right. Yeah, came he came in as a kind of a mid first round pick. He's going to leave like that. And there's fewer questions about him than maybe you had going in.
- [35:09]
Brian Baldinger
I came away impressed with like half a dozen guys. Thienaman for sure. Bud Clark looked the way he was supposed to. Emmanuel McNeil Warren. Like his workout wasn't as freaky as maybe I was hoping for, but totally fine. I'm going to take the time to shout out my guy, A.J. halsey. I thought he looked just incredibly smooth in the on field stuff. And one more, I'll do another. Tell me more because this guy was not on my radar at all. But Xavier Wampa out of Iowa seemed to have a really nice workout as well.
- [35:43]
Dane Brugler
Yeah, he's another one I'll be going back to. I mean I had a PFA on him just based on tape. Like and he was a former five star. Like he came to Iowa with a lot of pub and I never thought he lived up to it on tape. Like as a player. I just. You, you could watch Iowa's defense and never really notice him. You know that that was kind of his issue. I just, I want more of an impact. But you know, I think that he's someone that there's clearly talent there. You just have to figure out, okay, maybe if we use him A little bit different way or, you know, it's just a matter of making sure we're not just crossing him off the list because he didn't make enough of an impact based on expectations. I also wanted to mention Traden Stukes, Arizona. It was fantastic. I mean, he's. He's a nickel who, you know, is secondary positions, probably as a safety, but I like him best as a nickel. He ran, I think, four, three, three. He was outstanding, and the ball skills are fantastic. So Stukes, he was. He's. He was already in the top 100 somewhere in the 70s, but, you know, he's someone that's going to make you think about. All right, maybe we need to give him a little bump.
- [36:52]
Brian Baldinger
This doesn't even mention Caleb Downs, who was never going to be, like, a combine warrior. That's not him. But, like, I came out of this. I think I already knew it, especially when we did the Senior bowl, and you look at the Senior bowl roster, and there were, like, 10 exciting safeties on there. And then you watch this weekend. What a year to need a safety. I feel like, yeah, I don't have a top 100 like you do, but I was just looking at it, and I was like, man, there's like, nine guys I would be pumped to draft on Thursday or Friday.
- [37:22]
Dane Brugler
I think I have 10 of them in my top 100.
- [37:23]
Brian Baldinger
That sounds about right.
- [37:25]
Dane Brugler
Downs, the innerman, McNeil, Warren Hulsey, Keonte Scott, Zaki, Wheatley, Bud Clark, Genesis Smith, Jalen Kilgore. I mean, yeah, the list goes on and on. Even day three, there's some guys that, you know, I think are useful players who could maybe even outplay where they're drafted. So it is a good year to need a safety.
- [37:44]
Brian Baldinger
All right, having gushed about safeties, let's move over to the offensive side of the ball. We'll do that. We'll just take a break right now, and then we'll do all offense together right after this.
- [37:57]
Dane Brugler
Thy ticket, lady Jennifer of Coolidge. Well, many thanks, good sir.
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Dane Brugler
Yeah, they do here.
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Brian Baldinger
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Yeah. And it sounds pretty good, right?
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Dane Brugler
Based on the February 2025 Nielsen report.
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Brian Baldinger
Savings with three plus lines include third line free via monthly bill credits. Credit stop if you cancel any lines. Qualifying credit required. Well, I think you can say a similar thing about this position as we did about Sunny Styles. Dane. There's a guy we've talked a lot about. We knew he was really athletic. We knew he was going to go in the first round. But after watching Kenyon Siddiq do his thing at this combine and I know look at testing isn't everything, but if you liked the tape enough to have a first round grade on him coming into the week. And then you see Kenyon Siddiq Post 2, 4, 4 40s actually I think he got to 4, 3, 9. Excuse me, and then jump out of the gym. I mean, I don't know what, what do you think the realistic ceiling is for Kenyan Sadiq? Cause it feels like he's at least got a shot to go top 10 with those sorts of numbers next to his, next to his tape.
- [40:03]
Dane Brugler
Oh, he's a shot, no question. I mean it was always the, well, if Travis Kelsey retires, you know, drop him into that Casey offense or I mean we're always talking about teams in that 9, 10, 11, 12 range maybe. Yeah. And that number, I think that 4, 3, 9 doesn't do it justice because I, I immediately when that happened, texting some, some scouts. Hey, what'd you have? What'd you have? I heard back from four teams. They all had under 435, all four of them. I mean it's like four, three, two, four, three, three, four, three, three, 4, four, four, four, three, four. I mean and yeah, those are hand times but guess what, that's what teams use. The biggest misnomer is the official combine time when in reality teams just use their own hand times. And you know, they do that for a lot of reasons.
- [40:52]
Brian Baldinger
Can you, can you, can you illustrate why the, why that matters to teams, why they do their own stuff when there's like laser timing at the combine.
- [41:01]
Dane Brugler
The main one is so they can have consistency between combine and pro days and other workouts where it's the, the same timer, the same setup and the way you're doing things, the same operation. So that helps limit, you know, any trial and error type of deal. So that, I mean that's the main reason. But I, I think that we can get caught up to a little too much in the quote unquote official. Like that's a made for TV thing. It really is. But it's kind of what everyone runs with as okay, this is your official time. Well that's what you are for life. That's what you'll be known as. Also Kenyon Siddiq, I think he had the most bench press reps or second most among tight ends. He had 26. So I mean the vert was 43 and a half 111 broad. The only reason that wasn't first is because Eli Stowers is a. I don't, I don't. He's not human. I know that but I don't know what he is. 45 and a half inch vertical for Stowers. I mean he's. Yeah, he came into the combine as my tight end too but holy cow, like that is just ridiculous.
- [42:03]
Brian Baldinger
Sadiq and Stowers were just doing action figure all during the entire tight end workout. And yeah, if there was a question about the pecking order, I mean not that there was any question about Sadiq, but I don't know, that seems to put Stowers pretty firmly on the radar.
- [42:20]
Dane Brugler
One other tight end I did want to mention, Sam roush from Stanford. Six six, £267. So 267 is very different than 241 or 239 which Sadiq and Sours. So at that number 47040 yard dash, 38 and a half inch vert, 708, three cone, 25 reps in the bench press. And I need to, I need to double check this, but I believe he's one of only two players talking every position. 319 players at the combine. One of only two that did every single drill, bench press, testing, positional stuff, everything. So credit to you Sam Roush for being one of those guys.
- [43:00]
Brian Baldinger
I'm shocked to hear that the Stanford guy was on top of his game like that. That's so surprising. No, I, I did. I had at least one other guy. Roush was one of mine that I wanted to mention. You've talked about him before. His workout numbers weren't anything mind boggling, but I thought Jaren can acts like on field stuff like the, the drills and stuff. I just, I thought he looked, he looked like what I Thought he was. And I was like, yes, okay, I can, I can do that.
- [43:30]
Dane Brugler
He, I mean, with what he brings on special teams like that just kind of, I don't know. Yeah, Kinnick's gonna be a day three pick at some point and be a longtime special teamer. And then whatever he gives you on offense is just gonna be a bonus.
- [43:46]
Brian Baldinger
I think that's, that's gonna be the question to answer here is like, you know, there's plenty of tight ends you feel good about at a discount. Do you like that as much as you like the idea of Kenyan Sadiq if you need to use a top 15 pick on him? Cause that feels, that feels like the floor to me. I can't imagine him going too far past the 15th pick. Maybe like 18.
- [44:08]
Dane Brugler
18. That's the number I keep coming back to. Yeah.
- [44:12]
Brian Baldinger
Running back. What a, what a cool moment. And I know it looks, we overrate these things all the time. They don't necessarily make you a good football player, but the moment that Mike Washington out of Arkansas had after he ran a 4, 3, 3 and essentially just broke down in tears because, look, the 40 yard dash might not translate to football ability, but you run that as a running back who already had good tape, who was already considered somebody worth drafting, that, that's life changing. Like, that's, that's going to change Mike Washington's life, whether it means he gets drafted around higher, whatever. But it was a really, really cool to see him have that moment after running a blazing 40 time.
- [44:57]
Dane Brugler
I really enjoy talking to him at the Senior bowl and then talking to him again in Indy. A really thoughtful guy, just talking about his journey, you know, Buffalo, New Mexico State, then the Arkansas. You know, he's got, already has his degree, working on his master's. Like his dad's an investigator, mom got a PhD. Like, just comes from a really good family. And he's a really thoughtful guy, but also a really big time competitor. And we saw that with the way go out there run a 4, 3, 3. What he did this past year at Arkansas, what he did at the Senior bowl, and then what he did to combine, it's kind of like, all right, yeah, everything you did the last six months, just keep going, boost your, your draft profile even more. Obviously we know who the first running back's going to be off the board, but then second, third, fourth running backs drafted, that's up in the air. I think Price, Jadarian Price will be number two. But Mike Washington is, you know, he came in as my running back four for Me, he just made a really big argument for running back three and I wouldn't be surprised at all. For some teams he's even running back two. So yeah, credit to Mike Washington.
- [46:09]
Brian Baldinger
Pretty good bet if that's how we're talking that he's a Friday night draft pick, right?
- [46:15]
Dane Brugler
Absolutely has an opportunity because there's just not many running backs that are going to go on day two. But he's one of three or four
- [46:23]
Brian Baldinger
that absolutely could just a really cool moment for him. Really cool to see that. Really cool to see Jeremiah Love step out and look like Jeremiah Love. I don't, I don't really know what else to say about that.
- [46:35]
Dane Brugler
He's not going to. But like you mentioned with Sonny Styles, like how early we need to be talking about him. I mean Arizona, Tennessee 3 and 4, they have to take a long look at their roster and say, yeah, we need help at tackle. Yeah, we need help here and there. But could adding an impact running back who helps us as a runner, as a receiver and just does that like our version of Bijan Robinson or however you want to quantify it, how does that transform our offense? How does that impact the scoreboard for us? They. They both those two teams need to take a long look at Jeremiah Love with that third and fourth pick in the draft.
- [47:15]
Brian Baldinger
Obviously that's going to lead to an interesting conversation because through no fault of his own, Ashton Genti just had a pretty forgettable rookie year because the Raiders were not ready to drop a top six running back onto their roster. I can imagine Cardinals and Titans fans saying something similar. I don't know. I, I think both of those teams are probably better suited to put a, to. To draft a running back that highly. I understand it if you have trepidation about doing so, but I don't think those are like apples to apples comparisons, or at least I don't think they will be by the time free agency's over.
- [47:52]
Dane Brugler
Then that, that's the key because the Titans have plenty of money to spend. Well, let's see how they attack free agency and then we can revisit because, and the last thing I'll say about it, I don't want to hear about position value. I don't. I want to hear about impact value. To me, that's the more important way to frame the conversation. Not the position, but the impact that that player makes. What is the value to us? And that's something that I think all those teams need to consider.
- [48:20]
Brian Baldinger
I'll bet you whatever I feel very comfortable saying Jeremiah Love won't be there anymore when the Chiefs are done picking at nine. Like he'll be a top nine pick in this draft.
- [48:31]
Dane Brugler
I don't think it passes Saints.
- [48:33]
Brian Baldinger
I mean, yeah, no, I think the Saints would be a very likely landing spot too. But if you're some reasons. If for some reason the Saints opt elsewhere, I think the Chiefs are the floor for Jeremiah Love. I just, I don't buy he falls any further than that. Anything else on running back? I didn't. It's, it's not a position other unless you run a crazy 40 like Mike Washington did. Right. I'm just, I'm not easily moved by what running backs do at the combine. Sue me.
- [48:59]
Dane Brugler
Yeah, those are the two, two names I wrote down that I, I, I wanted to talk about.
- [49:03]
Brian Baldinger
So, yeah, let's talk about another silly season sort of thing. Actually, Dane, we kind of nailed it because we were Talking about Carnell Tate's 40 before the combine and I think we set the over under at like 4, 5, 4. And that's exactly what he ran. Or maybe they cut a hundredth off and gave him a 4, 5, 3. But he was right where we were talking about. Which unfort him is a little on the slow side or is it, I mean, as if we're talking about like a top 12 picket receiver. I guess it's a little on the slow side, but I'm going to guess you're not putting too much stock in this.
- [49:38]
Dane Brugler
No. Cause he's not a burner. I mean, that's, that's not who he is. Now. Those long strides, they, they eat up grass and he makes plays down the field. I mean, some of the hand times were better. I. Which I know Adam Schefter tweeted it, you know, like that's, that's true about every player almost. So I'm not worried about it. Obviously you would have liked to see a better time, but I don't think it's something that's going to hurt him. Teams aren't going to, oh, we're going to drop him around. I mean, it's better that he went out there and ran as opposed to Makai Lemon, who said he's the most competitive, competitive player in the draft and then didn't work out. And so it's like, okay. I mean, it's, you know, and Lemon's a guy that's a four or five athlete. So no, it's not going to hurt Tate. And especially when we don't. We didn't see Lemon workout. We didn't see Obviously Tyson workout Denzel Boston said he was going to do everything and then didn't run. That was a little surprising. Casey Concepcion didn't run. So a lot of the guys we think are going to go in the first round didn't run and Tate went out and did and he's going to get points for that. Whether he should or shouldn't, he's going to.
- [50:46]
Brian Baldinger
Speaking of making bets, I'll also bet you $5 he'll run again in Columbus and get like a 45 one and I'm just not. I. You can't convince me to care about this.
- [50:58]
Dane Brugler
Ohio State's got a really fast track so I, I bet you the, the they'll mark it off at 38 and a half years, mark it off at
- [51:06]
Brian Baldinger
38 and a half and get us to 4, 49 and we don't ever have to talk about this again. I don't care.
- [51:10]
Dane Brugler
Yeah, I think that'll happen for sure. But yeah, it was. There's a lot of receivers. I mean I mentioned Casey Concepcion didn't run the 40 but I thought he looked awesome during the gauntlet. Like for a guy where you had more drops than you want ideally for a first round player. He was fantastic going through the gauntlet. Jeremy Bernard and how about his three come I think best in the of this draft class six seven one at 206 pounds which you know, he's not the in terms of pure speed, not going to blow anybody away. But that change of direction was really impressive. I thought Zach Branch was terrific because we talked about his, you know, screen merchant and a guy that just lived underneath. So how would he do down the field? I thought he tracked the ball really well. I thought Zach Branch had a tremendous workout. Bryce Lance, Trey's little brother, what 63204. Went out there, ran a 434 in the 40, 41 and a half inch vert 111 broad. He did the agility too. He was I think 707 flat in the 3 cone which is fantastic for anybody but especially a guy that his size. So Bryce Lance, he was already in the top 100 but he only helped himself. Dejean Stribling from, from Ole Miss, a good sized athlete and ran 4:3:6 at 207 pounds. That was awesome. Who else can I tell you?
- [52:35]
Brian Baldinger
Can I tell you one more? I want to, I want to see if, if you thought the same thing. I love just throwing my dumb opinions at you to see if I'm onto something. So I've known about this guy. We've Talked about him and I don't probably because his teammate is one of the top receivers in the class. He's just sort of been out of sight, out of mind or like in the background for me. You know who blew me away? Jacobe Lane. Yeah, he goes up at 6 4, 200 and posts a 4, 4, 7 with a 40 inch vert. And more so than that. I just thought in all of the, in all of the on field drills, the gauntlet, the, you know, working on air with the quarterbacks, I just thought he looked so smooth and his footwork and body control were very, very impressive. Like I said, I've. I've watched USC plenty over the last six months and I knew who he was, but watching him at the combine just gave me a completely different impression of what he might be and it made me want to go watch three or four games.
- [53:39]
Dane Brugler
I struggle with him quite a bit because I agree I was impressed with his workout. I also think some of, a lot of the reasons why I'm not a huge fan don't show up in those type of drills. Like just very underwhelming play strength, gets pushed around a lot. Very predictable route runner. He's very upright in his routes, gives corners a big target. You know, it's like a lot of the, a lot of the reasons why I have my concerns with him translating at least as a top 100 type draft pick didn't show up in these drills, but credit to him for performing at a high level where he could and you know, for a guy that's tall, slender, really flexible mover, I thought he, he helped himself, no doubt. I think the bigger thing, even more so than that, the interviews. And I haven't got any feedback on the interview process, but that's something that I know scouts more concerned with how his interviews would go than anything on the field, put it that way. So I'm eager to get some feedback on how those went.
- [54:45]
Brian Baldinger
This is why we come to you, Dan, real quick. I. We're probably going long on receiver. We mentioned Dion Burks. He dominated the combine. That's not surprising at all.
- [54:56]
Dane Brugler
Right.
- [54:57]
Brian Baldinger
The guy that I want to just very quickly mention, Jeff Caldwell out of Cincinnati, basically had all the same numbers as Dion burks, despite being 7 inches taller and 40 pounds heavier. I mean you run a 4, 3, 1 with like a 40 something inch vert at 6, 5, 2, 16. I know it doesn't mean you're a good football player, but you're going to pop up on the radar doing that.
- [55:22]
Dane Brugler
Yeah. And he Wasn't like that wasn't expected that 40 like he, he looks like a 44 guy on tape but for him to go out there and do that was really impressive. Especially for a guy that I don't think is a lock draft pick before he ran that time because you know more of a. More of a body catcher. You know he's. The speed was more of like a build up speed but man once he gets going, if he gets, if he has a strong start out of the gate, he builds that up so quickly. The acceleration is so impressive with those long strides. Yeah, I mean he, he. While I think he was more of a borderline draft pick going into the week, I, it's. He's gonna get drafted now and that's. So that's an example of where running that 40 and testing like you did certainly going to help your case.
- [56:08]
Brian Baldinger
Shameless self serving plug Xavion Thomas. One more guy who just had a ridiculous 40 yard dash.
- [56:15]
Dane Brugler
Former Mississippi State great.
- [56:16]
Brian Baldinger
I, yeah, exactly. Thank you for that. His, his tape is like he's not just a fast guy, put it that way. I think he's a pretty good football player.
- [56:26]
Dane Brugler
Yeah. And I enjoyed talking to him. He's very. Another very thoughtful guy. Just thinking about his answers and all that kind of stuff. Telling me how he just remembered playing catch with his dad in the backyard at 5 years old and stuff like that. So that was cool. I wanted to mention Malachi Fields who didn't run great. He had a four six one in the 40 but went out in the three cone and at 218 pounds when 698. Only eight players in this draft. In this draft class at the combine, 319 players, only eight ran a three cone under seven seconds and Malachi Fields is one of them. So credit to him for that.
- [57:05]
Brian Baldinger
No surprise we spend this much time on the receivers because there's a million of them every year and half of them are going to be good NFL players. I love that. I love this is a show for the nerds. Cause we're just burying quarterback like at the very end of the show. But I think that's fair because if we're rewriting what we think of quarterbacks based on the combine, I don't think we're doing this the right way.
- [57:27]
Dane Brugler
There's not a lot to talk about.
- [57:29]
Brian Baldinger
I, you know what? I was excited is not the right word, but I was, I was happy with the quarterback workouts. I was very happy that Drew Aller was able to do stuff. I thought, I thought Nuss Meyer looked fine. I thought Ty Simpson showed off his arm strength and had some. I hesitate to even call them nice throws. Cause what are we even doing? But like Ty Simpson, I thought his arm just looked very live. Taylor Green is an athletic freak. I don't know what that means for his draft stock, but just absolutely silly numbers. And then my last note was that Cole Payton is fricking jacked, dude. So I had a good time watching the quarterback workouts, even if, even if they don't mean that much at the end of the day.
- [58:14]
Dane Brugler
You see those. Remember we talked about how before the season he was a tight end convert? Like, you see why? Yeah, right.
- [58:20]
Brian Baldinger
I sure do.
- [58:21]
Dane Brugler
Yeah. I think that now his workout was kind of like the Senior bowl where the ball comes off his hand really well, but the sprays are just all over the place. And it's just he's so, so raw that I, I personally I couldn't draft him before the fourth round, but that's just me. I mean, I think some other teams would probably be a little more optimistic. Ty Simpson was, I think the, clearly the, the most impressive of the quarterbacks. Throwing the football really clean mechanically. The accuracy was good. I, I think it was Ty Simpson and then everybody else and you know, Drew Aller. I thought, yeah, it was good just to see him out there. Big arm, showed it off. Wasn't perfect, but certainly good enough. A couple of you mentioned Taylor green with the 43640, the 43 and a half inch vert, awesome Haynes King 689, three cone, fantastic 4464 yard dash, which is awesome. And then I, I give Carson back a hard time, but man, he didn't deserve to be booed. Like that was weak. That was like, I get it if it's like a Michigan, Ohio State thing or like, you know, this deep seated rivalry.
- [59:27]
Brian Baldinger
Even if Miami had beaten Indiana, understand it. But you won the game.
- [59:32]
Dane Brugler
Exactly.
- [59:33]
Brian Baldinger
Who cares?
- [59:34]
Dane Brugler
I don't know. It was so weird. Like I don't Beck. Beck didn't deserve that. But to his credit, I don't think it affected him that much.
- [59:40]
Brian Baldinger
I, yeah, that was like. I know. I mean, I completely get it if like your school's biggest rival, if their quarterback is working out. But like, I just don't understand the animosity for Miami from Hoosier fans. But hey, whatever. Yeah, yeah, I don't know. I came out of it. I was just like, yeah, I mean if you're looking for star power outside of Fernando Mendoza, I don't know if this is the quarterback class for you. But there's like six guys that I could talk myself into drafting like later on in the draft. Whether it's, you know, Nuss Meyer and Ty Simpson on late like, like day two or whether it's, you know, Drew Aller as a third or fourth round pick is very intriguing to me. I don't care who rolls their eyes about it. Taylor Green as a flyer because of his athletic ability. Haynes King is somebody that I'd be happy to use a day three pick on cause he's probably going to be more useful to my team over a longer period of time even if he never starts. Like I can. I can get excited about quite a few of these guys even if that. Even if that doesn't mean they're going to be like longtime NFL starters. All right, let's wrap it up really quickly. This was happening on Sunday right before we recorded so it's fitting if this is the one we have the least amount to say offensive line workouts. I think my number one impression from this Dane is maxi and continuing to just build on climbing into the top of this draft process. I mean he runs a 49140 which at one point on Sunday was tied for the best. Throw that in with Monroe Freeling. I don't know if his on field workout was quite as strong, but he certainly has the measurables. At one point Sunday I haven't updated this but at one point Sunday Monroe Freeling was top five in 40s among the offensive linemen, top three in the vert, top five in the broad. So plenty of athletic ability. I feel like those two guys are. We talked about this last week. I don't know if you want to say making a run because they've always been these guys, but I think public perception is catching up to what the league might feel about them. And I'm starting to adjust how high I might. I think they might be drafted well.
- [61:50]
Dane Brugler
And the yeah, the freeling, he had a 17110 yard split. To put that in perspective, the three tackles that were drafted in the top 10 last year were 175, 174, 178. That's Will Campbell, Memboo, Kelvin Banks and Freeling was better than all three of those at 171. Athleticism is definitely not the issue there. It's just more inexperience and but if you're looking for that true left tackle skill set, Monroe Freeling is the best in this draft. Spencer Fano was outstanding. Like his workout Today was well above average. The only, you know, red flag is that the arm length, it came in at 32 and an eighth, which is shorter than I expected. Just going through the fall talking to scouts, and they all expected at least 32 and a half, hopefully 33 on a good day. And it was below that. And that's. That. That's tough. But the couple things that help him. The wing is not, as you know, the arm length is alarmingly low for a tackle. The wing still not great, but it's over 80 inches and that's 3 inches longer than Will Campbell's wingspan was. So a little bit of a saving grace there. But then also what Spencer Fano did on the field, it was if not the best workout of Sunday. Top two, top three. Not just the 40, which was great. 491. The, the vert was awesome. He had a 734-3 cone, which is phenomenal. But then the on field stuff was even better than that. They had him taking snaps, which is I think understandable. Teams want to see him do it just to see what it looks like. Teams are going to be all over the place with Fano. Is he a tackle, is he a guard, is he a center? All I know is I want him on my team. This is a first round player. It's just a matter of feeling confident about where you're going to play him.
- [63:47]
Brian Baldinger
Stealing these from our buddy Trevor Sika, who does wonderful work for pff. They're, they're great stats. But Spencer Fano, he measured in the third percentile among tackles for arm length and the 19th percentile among tackles for wingspan. Francis Maui Noah, another highly regarded offensive tackle coming out of college. 18th percentile among tackles for arm length, 26th percentile wingspan among tackles. So I mean we, we've been talking about this all year, particularly as it pertains to Maui Noah. You got to get your arms around that. You got to decide if you're comfortable with it. I'm curious how Will Campbell affects these guys because, and the irony is Will Campbell was perfectly good for the vast majority of his rookie season. But yeah, those, those flaws were laid bare in a big way in the postseason. And so, so our team's going to be willing to turn around and use a big time pick on a smaller offensive tackle or if they're viewed as a guard, how does that affect their stock? I think that's going to be very fun to see play out.
- [64:53]
Dane Brugler
A couple, a couple other numbers from these offensive line group. Kaden Proctor, 32 and a half inch vert which I don't know but that might be the best vertical ever for a guy over 350 pounds. Just an unreal no. And it was kind of expected but still when you see it, it's amazing. That lower body power that he has is unbelievable. I think Emmanuel pregnant having a 35 inch vert was big. Brandon Thorne just texted me and said Parker Brailsford 910 broad might be the. You think that might be a record among centers, which is obviously saying something. Keelan Rutledge had a really good workout. He was, he had the best short shuttle of any offensive lineman at 4, 5 4, which is great to see. And then a couple other guys that really jumped out to me watching the positional workout. Sam Hesh, the center. Chase Basantis was awesome. Logan Jones for Iowa center who you know, we didn't see at the combat or at the Senior bowl but had a good week here at the combine. Lomu was very good. The other Utah tackle and then Venga Penn State who is one of the best players just full stop in this draft. So I think everyone we expected to be good, I think was pretty good. A lot of these centers like this is not like an amazing center class. I don't. They're not. There might not be a center drafted top 75 this year, but between 76 and 125, 130, we might see six or seven centers drafted. So it's one of those center positions that we don't. There are center classes where it's not a. There isn't a first round guy, might not even be a second round guy. But the depth of position is really intriguing with those guys in that late day two, early day three range.
- [66:44]
Brian Baldinger
And that doesn't even include Spencer Fano working out at center on Sunday afternoon. So I don't know, maybe you have to update those rankings.
- [66:53]
Dane Brugler
Really happy for some teams. Sure.
- [66:55]
Brian Baldinger
It might be really happy. You mentioned my guy Bizontes Demetrius Crown over two. I'm. I'm weirdly invested in the A and M offensive line. I think they can play.
- [67:05]
Dane Brugler
Yeah. Trey Zune also had a good week. Yeah, it's. This is a, this is a good offensive tackle class, I think or offensive line class, period. Even if we're missing the. The Joel at the top, I think it's still a really good group.
- [67:19]
Brian Baldinger
I think that's what I want to, what I want to impart to people over the next two months is like, yes, the top 15 is not the sexiest draft you're ever going to watch. But from there on out, I'm really excited about a lot of the players here. Like I think. I think Friday of this draft is going to be a hell of a lot of fun.
- [67:39]
Dane Brugler
No doubt.
- [67:40]
Brian Baldinger
But until then, we got, we got so much more to do that does it for this week. We've got a lot of free agency content coming your way as the week goes along. Obviously with the league year starting, free agency is going to dominate the next little bit, but Dana, Dana and I will be back next week. We got plenty to talk about. Pro days will be getting underway. We can revisit some guys that work out later and we got a few more tricks up our sleeve. Until then, we appreciate y' all so much. We will talk to you soon.
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Yeah, we've got it.
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