← The Bill and Doug Show: Ohio State Football Talk
The Bill and Doug Show: Ohio State Football Talk
Ohio State football's changing of the guard
00:16:45
There are 15 Ohio State rookies on NFL rosters, a boost to the Buckeyes' NFL presence as the previous big class of Buckeyes cycles out of the league.
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Foreign. Welcome back to the Doug Show. I can call it that one. It's just me, the Bill and Doug Show. Glad you guys are here. YouTube channel up and running. Our podcast feed is now up and running. You can find us there. The substack is up and running. Bill and Doug osu.substack. google Substack and Bill and Doug. Anyway, the. The full force of what Bill Andis and I are doing is now fully underway. Audio video that's this written word free stuff here. Premium stuff on substack. We are planning a premium show and podcast on Substack on Wednesday where Bill and I will compare what happened in 2015 with the Ohio State Buckeyes as defending national champs with what could be happening this year with 2025 as the Ohio State Buckeyes trying to repeat for the first time in history. We have at least five lessons that we think this team can learn from 2015. Bill and I both covered that team. We're going to talk about that. But that got me thinking as, as we are in this week with the NFL getting started about sort of the identity of Ohio State football. And I do think in this, in this day and age clearly, where I certainly believe this, I mean, not this point, everybody believes this. The NFL is the biggest sport in the United States. I think college football, second, I, I don't even know if there's much of a disagreement about that. That's the power of football in this country. And I would argue that. I think football itself is the most unifying thing in a fractured nation. Everybody, almost not everybody, not everybody, everybody's aware of football. But then the type of people who love football, there's no single group, right? It crosses gender, it crosses race, it crosses age, it crosses geography, it crosses religion. Like it is a unifying force. And so when the co. When college football is two. But the NFL is one part of your identity as a, as a college football program is tied up, I think, in what your guys are doing at the NFL level. And I just wrote a story on substack because I can remember a time when I was covering the Buckeyes and I think I wrote a story about it and I couldn't find it. I went by, I've like subscribed to the old newspaper archive website. I couldn't find it, but I remember thinking like there was a time when Tom Brady was, was representing Michigan in the NFL and Drew Brees was representing Purdue and, and sort of thinking like, man, like, who's the face of Ohio State football in the NFL back at that time, 12, 15 years ago and you had a guy like A.J. hawk, you had some people there. But it, but it wasn't the same, maybe to the same level what J.J. watt was doing as a Wisconsin Badger. Right. It wasn't the same level. You like the, the best of Ohio State in the NFL maybe wasn't quite at that same level. And now you think now Ohio State's basically doubled its number of NFL players in the last 10 years. And there's also a changing of the guard happening here that I think is very appropriate. Ohio State's been interesting in that these recent national titles have been about a decade apart, right. So you go 02, you go 12 years to 14 and now you go 10 years to 24. And then like the hearts of those teams went on to the NFL. And as one bodies and brains man, NFL careers don't like long NFL careers last a decade. So by the time you have a national championship team that was was led by a bunch of future NFL guys a decade later, most of them have cycled out. And that's happening right now. So there is a changing of the guard happening for Ohio State football at the NFL level that I think is worth acknowledging and that's we're going to talk about here just a little bit. Bill's breaking down film against Tech. He's in his 14th film breakdown so he didn't want to do this conversation. But also we're getting ready for that big show on Wednesday. We'll have our picks For Ohio State vs Grambling State on Thursday. Lots of stuff coming your way. Fifteen guys from last year's Ohio State team made 53 man NFL rosters. That's the draft picks plus Josh Fryer as a free agent. And it's a refresh and, and it is happening at the end of the cycle for the group that came in in 2016 because that group in 2016 there were 12 draft picks that year for Ohio State and only four of those 12 remain on NFL rosters in some form right now Eli Apple is on the practice squad for the San Francisco 49ers and then three guys have made are on active rosters. The Joey Bosa who spent his first nine seasons with the Chargers and is now with the Buffalo Bills. Taylor Decker who was going into year 10 as a starting tackle with the Detroit Lions and he suffered through the down period in Detroit football and to see what the Lions have become now. And Taylor Decker has been a decade long stalwart. He started 126 games in the NFL. Every game that he's played as an NFL player has been a start. So in nine years, he started 120. He's been a starter every year. Remarkable. And then Nick Vanette, great career, tight end. I don't know that, that you would have guessed that Nick Vanette would be the other guy sticking around this long. But that group is cycling out. So there are only four of those 12 guys left. And now here come the new 15 guys. The 15 new guys this year, right. In this class. And you look back, for instance, Ohio State, their big draft class after the 2002 national title team came in 2004. Just, it was similar to the 2014 team. It wasn't the year after the, the title. It was the next year when the guys all hit the NFL. But by the time, so that group came out in the NFL Draft in 2004, by the time the next like that, that next national champion group came around in the 2016 draft for the 2016 NFL season, none of those guys from 2004 were still in the NFL. None of them lasted that long. That's not unexpected. Right? But none of them were into their 12th, 13th year where they were still around. There were guys. The 2006 NFL Draft class for Ohio State, I think, is similarly remembered. That 2004 class was huge. 14 players. The 2006 class had nine guys, but had five first rounders. So I think that's, we're going to use them as a little bit of a jumping off point. There were three guys from that draft class who were still in the league in 2016. They were kind of hanging on to pass the torch. AJ Hawk, Dante Whitner and Nick Mangold. 2016 was the last year in the NFL for all those guys. A.J. hawk played one game in Atlanta. Dante Whitner played 11 games in Washington, and Nick Mangold played eight games with the jets, the only team he ever played for. So those guys were all first round picks and they held on until 2016. So that year in 2016, if you looked at, hey, how many Buckeyes are in the NFL, you would have had these three guys from the 2006 class who are now passing it to the guys, to the 2016 class. And now that 2016 class, there are four guys left who are now passing the torch to this 2025 draft class. And I, I think sort of linkage over the years as you connect guys through a program. I'm very interested in that. The, the idea that I played with this guy and then he went on and did this. But then I also played with this guy at the end of his career when I was starting out. I'm always finding that very fascinating. So the idea that this is the new era of Ohio State football and I'm curious if you guys want to leave this in the comments on YouTube or something. If you're listening on a podcast, if you want to leave a comment in there. The idea of like I think Ohio State fans care about the NFL. There was a time early in my career covering where I think I thought they cared more that but I came, I think to understand over time you care about the guys now. You always care about the now. And sometimes I actually think you're more interested in the future than you are in the past. That you would rather hear about the 17 or 18 year old who's going to be a Buckeye than than the 24 or 25 year old who used to be a Buckeye and is now in the NFL. But I know a lot of you watch games on Sunday, the NFL is going to start on Thursday, this week. And I'm sure you have pride in watching Ohio State guys do their thing. So I do think it matters. And then all those times, right, the Ohio State University, when guys are introducing themselves, Ohio state right now, 57 guys on the 53 man roster. Quinton Judkins is going to get his contract signed with the Browns any moment and probably play in the opener. He'd be 58. That's tied for second. That's tied for second for all colleges right now at a time when 10 years ago the Buckeyes weren't in the top 10. We're not in the top 10 of guys in the NFL. So I think this is here to stay. I asked Ryan Day about it on Tuesday. He gave a long answer about it that I wrote about at Substack. But I do sort of as a tip of the cap on the way out, I just sort of want to run through that 2016 NFL Draft class and how they did what they did as we kind of get ready to say goodbye to them. So they made a total of 12 Pro Bowls and Taylor Decker still could make one. Joey Bosa, that draft class. 12 guys drafted in 2016. Joey Bosa made five, Ezekiel Elliott made three, Michael Thomas made three and Taylor Decker made one. He made his first one last year, first pro ball last year. So he could still add to this. Let's run through that group very quickly because again, these are the guys who have been among the best representatives for Ohio State in the NFL for the last decade. Joey Bosa was the first Ohio State guy drafted that year. Nine seasons with the Chargers, now in Buffalo, five Pro Bowls. Some injury stuff, you know, not acknowledged like right now, certainly as one of the best edge guys in the NFL. Not with Miles Garrett, not with TJ Watt, not with his brother, right, Nick Bosa, who's three years younger, but a really good NFL career. Five Pro Bowls. I mean of course, Ezekiel Elliott. There's two guys in this group that I think are sort of maybe signaling the passing of the torch here. Ezekiel Elliott and Von Bell. Not with teams, neither to my knowledge, has officially announced a retirement. But it seems, seems like they're probably both done after really productive nine year NFL careers. Zeke, eight years in Dallas, one year in New England. 9,130 rushing yards in his career from 2016 to 2024. That period, those nine years, second most in the NFL behind Derrick Henry. It's funny, I can remember this being at the NFL combine and talking to a lot of people about hey, Zeke is so good, he has a chance to be like a top five or top ten pick. At a time when we were really starting to move away from running backs going that high. And I did think to myself, man, I wonder why Derek Henry isn't thought of that way. And this is not one of those where I'm trying to make myself sound smart. I really just did wonder what exactly is it that maybe why isn't Derek Henry a first round pick? And then I also have thought 4, 000 things that have been completely wrong about the NFL draft. So Zeke might be done. That's a passing of the torch to a guy like Trivian Henderson, who people in New England are really excited about. Eli Apple. This is his seventh team. He's in San Francisco on the practice squad. This is the seventh team. A credit to him as a first round draft pick. Played in a Super Bowl. The Cincinnati Bengals has hung around and made a decade long career tip of the cap for that. Taylor Decker. Remarkable. Made his first Pro bowl last year. As I said, 126 games, 126 starts in his NFL career, all in Detroit. Darren Lee played five years in the league. He was the last first round draft pick that year for the Buckeyes when they had five in 2016. Five years last year in 2020. Michael Thomas led the NFL in receiving in 2019 with 149 catches for 1725 yards. Seven years in the league, last played in 2023, had a year in there where he missed due to injury. Remarkable run there was the best receiver in the NFL for two or three years, then had some injuries and fell off. And then obviously that can happen to guys but three Pro Bowls, great representative of Ohio State. Von Bell, nine years in the league again not with the team at the moment. Four New Orleans, four in Cincinnati and one in Carolina. Tremendous player like great NFL safety. Great NFL safety, not a surprise. And then the rest of these guys kind of, I mean other than Nick Vanette. We mentioned Nick Vanette who is still in the league again. What a credit to him to be hanging on any way possible seventh or eighth team for him in Minnesota right now. Adolphus Washington three years in the league last year was 2018. Braxton Miller, two years in the league again. I did a podcast a while ago for a long time. Bo Bishop, the great Bo Bishop and I talked about this for an hour. I just think there was a time when I thought it possible that what Lamar Jackson became in the NFL I thought there was maybe a chance that Braxton Miller could do that. And in the end I think Braxton probably wasn't a good enough passer even before the shoulder injury. But then the shoulder injury sort of took that away. I, I would. I was talking about this the other day and something else I was doing about about Ohio State receivers and the idea that Terrell Pryor was a nine game starter in the NFL at quarterback and then was a thousand yard receiver in the NFL three years later remains a remarkable feat. But I just think when you see some quarterbacks that have succeeded, it does make me wonder at times. Braxton Miller or Terrell Pryor a they were in offenses at Ohio State that emphasize their skill sets and may helped showcase their skills and they were great college players, especially Braxton. But if they had been in more of an NFL system, could that have prepared them a little bit more for the next level and maybe set them up to have a chance at quarterback success in the NFL the way we've seen some guys. Lamar Jackson is rare. The idea is like anybody can be Lamar Jackson. I'm not saying that at all but I do think about it because. Because Braxton ended up trying to do it as a receiver. Hasn't played in his last NFL game in 2017. Nick Vanette again hanging on. Remarkable, not hanging on. He's a 10 year NFL player. I don't know if we would have thought that at the time. Joshua Perry, two years great NFL commentator, two years in the league last year, in 2017, some injury stuff there and then Cardell Jones one year in 2016, six of 11 passing in his NFL career. And I have thought this for a time in Buffalo, did Cardell Jones walk so Josh Allen could run? When you think about a big dude with a cannon for an arm who's a little inaccurate, but there's a lot there to work with. And when he runs, he's a truck. Josh Allen, remarkable NFL player to be like Cardell Jones could be as good as Josh Allen if, if somebody could have gotten their hands on Cardell Jones and, and maybe molded a little more, I don't know. Because the package is rare, the size and the arm and he can move. You guys remember him trucking Alabama safeties in the playoff? I've, I've always wondered a little bit. And then when you see a big guy with a, with a cannon for an arm who can move, succeeding the way he is at the same franchise, I do wonder about it. So tip of the cap to that Ohio State 2016 NFL Draft class. Best of luck to the 2025 Ohio State NFL Draft class. As the NFL kicks off this week, again with the guys on the practice squad and on the injury list, like there's a chance that some week this season there's going to be more than 60 Ohio State Buckeyes playing in NFL games. Which is, which is a remarkable thing. And again, it's almost twice as many as a couple years ago. Premium Podcast if you want to check it out, come join us on Substack and subscribe there to get Bill and I breaking down 2015 post game show on Saturday after Ohio State Grambling State Free here on your podcast feeds on YouTube. Sunday show sound Off Sunday Sound off where we dive in even deeper on a game rewatch. Take questions from our Substack subscribers. We're up and running. We're grateful that you guys are here. We will see you soon wherever you find this show. For now, I'm Doug Lamoris and this is the Bill and Doug Show.
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