0:02

Empire. Hello

0:08

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every pick that the commanders make tonight

0:36

and this weekend. So go to espn.com

0:39

for all your analysis on every pick.

0:41

So you just heard me. It's Jayden

0:44

Daniels, folks. It's over. It's done.

0:46

Jayden Daniels is the commander's pick at number two.

0:49

That is no surprise and shouldn't be

0:51

any surprise if you've been following this

0:53

for any period of time. More

0:56

and more it looked like that was a pick. Myself

0:58

and others felt like that was going to be

1:00

the pick and you hear things that make you

1:03

feel pretty secure in saying that. But until that

1:05

pick is made or until you get closer to

1:07

this time, you never know. But

1:09

it's Jayden Daniels and I have a feeling that they settled

1:11

on him. I don't know how long

1:13

ago, but certainly he's a guy that caught their

1:16

interest very early in the process. Of course, that's

1:18

why they were scouting these guys. But

1:20

he's a guy that makes a lot of

1:22

sense for what this franchise wants and what

1:24

they wanted in a quarterback. Clearly,

1:27

they were looking at Drake May. They were looking

1:29

at J.J. McCarthy. And as I

1:31

told you leading up to this, I don't necessarily think it

1:33

was between Jayden and Drake May. I do think J.J. McCarthy

1:36

was a guy that Adam Peters really

1:38

liked. But regardless, it doesn't

1:41

matter who was number two. Jayden Daniels was

1:43

their top guy and that's the guy they wanted.

1:45

That's the guy they got. Now let

1:48

the speculation begin about how good he

1:50

could be with Washington, what he can

1:52

do here. And so

1:55

there you go. Now, again, this

1:57

makes a lot of sense. a

2:00

lot of Drake May fans, but with

2:02

Daniels, you get a guy who is

2:04

experienced and who has been in big moments

2:06

in big games, had huge games against

2:08

really good opponents. And

2:10

so there's a higher floor thing, but I'm

2:12

going to get into a minute about why

2:14

you can't assume that Jayden Daniels has hit

2:16

his ceiling by any means. So

2:20

before a month or so ago,

2:22

and I started telling you, and I talked about

2:24

this in the podcast, when I was at the

2:26

owner's meetings, talked to a few coaches there. And

2:28

I talked to a few coaches before and after

2:30

that, but one of the coaches was like, he

2:32

said, he's a stud. Another guy told me he'd

2:34

be a home run. So these

2:36

are coaches like one of the things,

2:39

and I know, again, Drake May had a lot of

2:41

fans out there. One of the things I kept coming

2:43

back to is all these guys who do this for

2:45

a living kept saying Jayden Daniels. And

2:47

early in the process for me, I looked a

2:49

lot at Drake May because you saw the moments,

2:51

you saw the arm, you saw the size, but

2:54

you didn't always see the entire games with that. Even with

2:56

Daniel as you did, and the more I watched him, the

2:59

more people I talked to as

3:01

well, the more I kept coming back to

3:03

Jayden Daniels. And clearly, clearly, they did too.

3:05

Now, is he going to be the right

3:08

pick? I don't know. They're

3:10

still, the organization has to do their job

3:12

as well. They have to surround him with

3:14

the right people, get the right

3:16

scheme, get the right tight calling. There

3:19

are ways they can help and help his development,

3:21

his growth as a quarterback. We did not see

3:23

that with Sam Hall. I felt like they failed

3:25

him with, yes, they put him in there, but

3:28

they threw the ball way too much. They put

3:30

way too much of the burden on Sam Hall.

3:33

And you didn't see the run game. Well, this group,

3:35

they built up the defense. And

3:37

I think you have a better defensive staff

3:39

to handle that defense. And then the run

3:41

game, that's also going to be a key

3:43

here. And that's one way they can help

3:45

Jayden Daniels grow and mature as a passer.

3:48

So the other thing is he helps the run game

3:50

because of his legs. And

3:53

I think, again,

3:55

initially, I liked Drake

3:57

May. where

4:00

I thought, what I wondered with Daniels was, well,

4:02

he, you know, where's his progressions? How did he

4:04

do this? Well, the more I watched him, the

4:06

more you realize, and an NFC offensive coach told

4:08

me the same thing, he's a passer who can

4:10

run. You started to see, like, the more I

4:13

saw him watch him, the more you would see

4:15

him going through his progressions. And one

4:17

of the things Dan Quinn told me at the

4:19

owners' meetings was, that's one thing he liked, and

4:21

you heard this on the podcast, I played that

4:23

for you guys, where he said he liked how

4:25

quickly Daniels went through his progressions. That was important

4:28

to him because, as a defensive coach, he knows

4:30

how important that is when he's trying to

4:32

defend a guy. So what does he

4:34

do to throw off a quarterback? Well, he

4:36

changes coverages post-snap. So as a quarterback, you

4:38

better be able to read that and get

4:40

through those progressions quickly and you saw Daniels

4:42

be able to do that. Now it's not

4:45

that the other ones couldn't, but Daniels, we

4:47

know, does, and I think the other ones,

4:49

McCarthy and May, are going to be, listen,

4:52

I think with this group, a lot of it's

4:54

going to be dependent upon how they develop them.

4:56

That's the plan, I think, who, you know, as

4:59

I record this, it's just,

5:01

Jane Daniels off the board. So

5:03

the other ones are going to be dependent on where they go and

5:06

what the plan is for them there. I don't

5:08

think it's necessarily if one of them goes somewhere and

5:10

fails or succeeds that the same thing would have happened

5:12

here because we don't know. But what we do know

5:14

is Jane Daniels is coming here. It's

5:17

also, you know, it's funny because you go back to the Robert

5:19

Griffin the third day, all of you who were back there and

5:21

remember that, it's only 11 years ago or 12 years ago that

5:24

he was drafted here. I remember that

5:27

very well, the hype around him and

5:29

the excitement around him. Now, I think

5:31

it was muted for this pick a

5:33

little bit compared to that because of

5:35

the choices that they had. And

5:38

people had their favorites and that's fine because there were a

5:40

lot of things to like about each of these guys. But

5:43

I'm curious to see where this goes from here because I think one

5:45

thing with Daniels, I think, you

5:47

know, like Robert, he likes to, he will

5:50

run, but I think he's a more developed

5:52

passer than Robert was at Baylor coming out.

5:54

I think that gives these guys some hope

5:56

that he can continue in that. The

5:59

question is. He'll have to limit those hits. He's

6:01

going to have to learn. It's not just learning how

6:03

to slide. It's changing a mindset and

6:05

learning to say, hey, on this play, just throw

6:07

the ball away. Live to see another down. That's

6:10

the mindset he's going to have to adopt for

6:12

him to have the lengthy career. And that's one

6:14

thing that Robert didn't get to soon enough. And

6:16

it's something that they would talk about. And when

6:18

he got hurt against Baltimore, it wasn't his own

6:20

read. It was scrambling. So that's one thing that

6:22

Jane's going to have to watch. And sometimes guys

6:24

will say, well, he takes one or two hits.

6:27

Yeah, but he could take one or two hits.

6:30

Could knock you out as well. So he's going to have to

6:32

learn that. And when you'd watch

6:34

him in college, he's very explosive. And I

6:36

know one thing that these guys like is

6:39

his ability to create on a third down

6:41

and extend drives. And you saw that at

6:43

LSU. You saw it against really good competition,

6:45

too. That's important. I

6:48

don't think the other guys saw the defenses. I

6:50

don't care what the rankings are in the NCAA. We

6:53

know that defenses in the SEC are going to

6:55

be a little bit different. Alabama's coming at you

6:57

differently than anybody in the big

6:59

10 in the SEC is going

7:01

to. So that gives you a good

7:04

barometer of what that kid can do. And yes,

7:06

he had good talent around him. He had two

7:08

really good receivers. We know that. He also made

7:10

it work with them. And I think he made

7:12

that offense better. And I think when that team

7:14

made a point, he was

7:16

a guy that certainly led that with his deep ball

7:18

ability. That's another factor for these guys, but also his

7:20

legs. And there were times where sometimes those legs worked

7:23

against him. That's why he would get sacked a couple

7:25

of times where you think you can get out of

7:27

something because in the last play, you did. And you

7:29

gained 30 yards. Well, the next time

7:31

it happens, maybe you lose five. But

7:33

again, his passing ability to me is

7:36

a separator from what some of

7:38

the other guys who've come out and who are

7:40

multi threats. Again, I think he is a passer

7:42

who can run. But

7:46

I think

7:48

it's funny because with McCarthy, I think one of the

7:51

things that was attractive to him is that

7:53

he hadn't hit his ceiling. But

7:55

he also, he had played in big games.

7:57

He had won big games, I think, with

7:59

Jaden. And one of the things that deep teams people

8:01

like to see is, OK,

8:04

your team isn't probably going to win this

8:06

game. What kind of game do you have?

8:08

And you'd still see them have big games

8:11

against good teams. And

8:13

again, I know the receivers, and that gave them

8:15

an advantage with one-on-ones, et cetera. But

8:17

I also know that that kid was very hard

8:19

to defend in the SEC. Just

8:22

take care of yourself, man, because that's a

8:24

big thing. The experience factor is a deal.

8:26

And not just like, he played 55 games,

8:29

but it's not just that you played all those

8:31

games. It's what did you see in those games?

8:34

What did you experience? He experienced adversity going

8:36

from one program to another. He had to

8:38

go into and learn a new system, learn

8:40

a new team. Those things

8:43

help teams learn about a

8:45

guy. And then not only did he get

8:47

to LSU and have to learn a new

8:49

offense, learn new people, whatever, he

8:51

really improved. And you talk to people who are close

8:53

to him or worked with him, that's

8:55

when he really started to take off. And

8:58

he started working with him. He's had a quarterback's

9:00

coach for a long time. He started working with

9:02

another one around that time as well. And

9:04

they worked a lot on his progressions, getting through

9:06

his progressions. Because one thing that he would always

9:09

tell them is that he wants to be an

9:11

elite passer. I don't think he wants to be

9:13

just, I think the running

9:15

stuff he knows he can do, but I think

9:17

he wants to be an elite passer. That's what he

9:19

would tell them. And so that's

9:21

why he would work all the stuff. His

9:23

footwork is really, really good. He's been trained

9:25

well in that regard. But

9:28

that experience definitely helps. He's been through a

9:30

lot of things that can measure how you

9:32

are and how you handle things. And again,

9:34

not that the others can't, but he's been

9:36

through it, and so you get an idea.

9:40

And again, the ceiling part

9:43

is the hard thing here. And there

9:45

was an assumption that he has hit his ceiling.

9:47

And I think when you talk to

9:49

some devaluators and all that, they don't agree that

9:51

he's hit his ceiling or that he still has,

9:53

that he's still an ascending passer. Because you look

9:56

at the progress he made over the last couple

9:58

of years, it wasn't just over five years. years

10:00

because the coaching you received each year was different. But

10:03

I think over the last couple years you really

10:05

started to see that him ascend in that way

10:07

and then that's why I think they feel good

10:09

about where he's going and a lot of it

10:11

comes back to his footwork. So when you watch

10:13

him in the pocket, you watch him, you know,

10:15

watch the feet marry up with the eyes. That's

10:17

a big key and you, there were times in

10:19

the past like some of the guys they've had

10:21

here in the past did not always happen with

10:23

that. Sam had to learn that, you know, Carson

10:25

Wentz didn't always do that. But with

10:28

Jaden Daniels, that's been the strength of

10:31

his game. And so like when I've

10:33

talked to people who are close and say LSU

10:35

didn't always tap into some of the footwork,

10:37

in other words, some of the drops that

10:39

they would take. There's not just a three,

10:41

five, seven step drop. There's different kinds of

10:44

three and five and seven step drops. And

10:46

those, that's why some of these people

10:48

feel like he still hasn't hit that feeling

10:51

because there's more he can do because

10:53

of his footwork. Now we'll see. That's

10:55

something that we'll see here. But the

10:57

feeling now going into this is that's

10:59

why they feel like he is still ascending

11:01

because he's still, but there's things with

11:03

that that he can get to that

11:05

and that helps that that opens up

11:07

different routes and different combinations, etc. When

11:10

you can do that and that's why

11:12

they feel good about where he's going

11:14

with this. And

11:17

so again, marry the feet with the eyes. That's

11:19

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12:46

You also wonder, okay, was he a one year

12:48

wonder? But I think because the work

12:50

he has put in and the work he does,

12:52

I think it mitigates some of that fear. This

12:54

is not a chilly sniffer. People remember him. This

12:57

is a kid who was, you know, he did

12:59

go to LSU. It wasn't like he was terrible,

13:01

terrible, terrible. Boom. You

13:03

know, he had as a freshman, he competed. They

13:05

just asked him, you heard the Herr Medway interview,

13:07

they just asked him to compete. And

13:09

he went and did that. But they weren't really putting a lot

13:11

of stuff on him as a passer. LSU, when he got there,

13:13

he had a pretty good first year, elevated

13:15

himself to like a fourth round pick or so.

13:18

And then he really took off. But you have

13:20

to credit the work he put in to get

13:23

to that point. And yes, the talent he had,

13:25

but it's not just the talent. I

13:27

told you guys, I'm an Ohio State guy.

13:29

I watched Kyle McCord last year with Marvin

13:31

Harrison, Emeka Ibuka, you know, Kate Stover, a

13:33

lot of really good talent. He struggled. He

13:36

would not be the top five to take this year. Now,

13:38

what would the other ones, Doug Dunn here, don't know. But

13:40

I also wonder what would they have done the SEC? They

13:42

would, things would have been all different. That's

13:44

fine. But we know what Daniels did. And

13:47

I don't, like I said, that's why they feel

13:49

he's still ascending. And now as

13:51

far as personality, and that's one thing that for

13:53

these guys is big, you know, you want a

13:55

strong leader, but he and he's a more unassuming

13:57

kid. He's a little bit more quiet, but he

13:59

is a... worker. The reputation is that he's

14:01

a worker and likes to come

14:03

in early, get his work done. I've heard

14:05

stories about him coming in at times

14:08

like if he knows people are coming in at six,

14:10

he'll come in at four. That kind of thing. Get his

14:12

work done. He's not a guy that's going to be – I think

14:15

he's going to post a lot of stuff on Instagram.

14:17

If there's stuff out of him on Instagram, it's probably

14:19

coming from someone else. So

14:22

I think those all things bode well. What

14:24

you want is first and last out. And I

14:26

know like when Peters was in San Francisco with

14:28

Kyle Shanahan, that was always the big thing with

14:30

Kyle. That's what they always wanted. First and last

14:32

out. And I think with this

14:35

kid, I think that's what he's going to be.

14:37

And it sounds

14:39

like that football matters greatly to him. And I

14:41

say that and it's like it doesn't – that

14:43

hasn't always been the case when I've seen some

14:45

guys come through here that it doesn't always matter.

14:48

So there's a lot of good things to like

14:50

here. And then I think the last thing for

14:52

them was poise, that poison in

14:54

the pocket. And when I heard

14:58

that throughout this at times

15:00

describing Daniels – and it's not like the

15:02

other ones weren't, but I think that was

15:04

something that definitely could be ascribed to Daniels

15:07

is that poise. And then there's

15:09

the legs. The legs are a massive weapon, folks.

15:11

And we all know that. And I think the

15:13

– I always – when I was looking at

15:15

this, like when I started thinking who are they

15:17

going to take, what would make sense? Well, what

15:20

made sense always was what I

15:22

would come back to, which is defensive coaches hate

15:24

facing guys like James Daniels. They just do because

15:26

they know that they could have the right coverage,

15:28

you could have the right play, and he gets

15:31

out of it and gains 30 yards. And he

15:33

keeps the chains going. But the difference

15:35

is like Lamar Jackson can kill you like that, right?

15:37

But I think this kid is more advanced than

15:39

Lamar Jackson was as a passer coming out.

15:42

Now, he may not be Lamar as a

15:44

runner the same way. And Lamar's a little

15:46

bit thicker, but he's a passer. He can help

15:48

himself as well. And that's what he's going to have to

15:50

learn. And he's going to have to really

15:52

work to make sure he doesn't get hurt

15:54

and get down and take care of the

15:57

ball. But those legs are a weapon. regulates

16:00

the defense. There was a story I would

16:02

tell about Robert Griffin as rookie

16:04

year and he got better in the red zone. The numbers

16:06

were better in the red zone. And

16:09

I remember talking to Shannon saying, oh, did he

16:11

get better as a passer in there? And he

16:13

said, well, it wasn't really that. It was more

16:15

the way defenses started to play them was more

16:17

regulated. They knew what they were going to get

16:19

because they were concerned with Griffin's legs. And that

16:22

in turn opened up the pass game because they

16:24

knew what they're going to get. They know they're

16:26

going to get zone coverage. They can run route

16:28

combinations to beat that. And that helped that

16:30

helped Griffin and helped the offense. So there are

16:32

things you can do because of that. And

16:35

I don't know how many times they're going to run them on

16:37

the ball. We'll find all of that later. But

16:40

I do think that the legs will be

16:42

incorporated in some way. And they are definite

16:44

definite weapon. But again, the poise is another

16:46

big thing that's something they like. And

16:49

so here we are. It's Jayden

16:51

Daniels. And I think

16:53

like I said, I think it's the right pick. Now, whether

16:56

it turns out the right way, that's going to be interesting

16:58

to see because as you know, this is an

17:01

inexact science. And just because most of the people

17:03

I talked to would have said Jayden Daniels doesn't

17:05

mean they're all right. Maybe you're going to be

17:07

right about Drake May or even JG McCarthy. But

17:09

it doesn't mean but based on

17:12

all the intel going into this, I still think he

17:14

was the right pick. And I think they did a

17:16

good job with that. And all the talk about does

17:19

he want to be here or not, so much of

17:21

that was overblown. And I've told you that. And

17:23

I never heard that he didn't want to

17:25

be here. In fact, I heard I talked

17:27

to someone last week said absolutely he wants

17:29

to be there. Talked to somebody else who

17:31

said he felt like that this person felt

17:33

Washington and Minnesota were the best spots for

17:35

Daniels because of the coaching he felt he

17:37

would receive. This guy really likes Cliff Kingsbury.

17:39

So I think and the staff, so I

17:41

think that, you know, so my point is,

17:43

it wasn't like they're all like, oh, he

17:45

can't go there. And I didn't hear that

17:47

at all. Whenever they had a preference to

17:49

go to the Raiders, OK, he knows Antonio

17:51

Pierce. Whatever. You know,

17:54

so I wouldn't take that and hold that against him. If

17:56

he comes out and says it, if he acts like it,

17:58

I just don't think that's going to be the case. So,

18:01

again, good pick, you

18:03

got the quarterback. Now, let's see if they can

18:05

finally make it work and have it last for

18:07

a while because this family

18:10

could be ready to explode if this kid comes in

18:13

and does something and you finally get the guy that

18:15

can help you. You got the new

18:17

owner. You got the new GM. You got a new coach. That

18:20

quarterback is the last piece to turn

18:22

this organization around or to really help

18:24

turn it around and get it going

18:26

back in the direction it needs to

18:28

go and get to where you guys

18:31

deserve it to go. So, anyways, that's

18:33

it on Jaden. So, a couple more

18:35

things. If there's another – as

18:37

we talk right now, they haven't traded back into the first round at

18:39

this point. I don't know if they're going to. So,

18:42

if they don't, they're going to have five picks

18:44

on Friday. And so, what would

18:46

they need? Of course, they need to get a left tackle.

18:48

I think it's going to be interesting to see what happens

18:50

the first round from after I'm done talking. Is Roger Rosengarten

18:53

going to be there in the second round? Is Jordan Morgan

18:55

going to be there in the second round? Amaryus Mims, would

18:57

they trade up to get him or is he going to

18:59

slide down there possibly? Would

19:01

he slide there? But you've got to get

19:03

the left tackle because this all

19:05

starts. You want to protect him. You

19:07

can protect him with a scheme. You can protect

19:10

him with certain other things. But you need good

19:12

linemen too. So, get the left tackle. You

19:15

also have 40. They look at defensive end. Marshawn

19:17

Neeland and Crop Robinson, if either one of

19:20

those guys are there, they'd be very tempting.

19:22

You have tight ends. David Sanders, Jared Wiley,

19:24

those guys are both in here. I think

19:26

40 might be a little bit high on Wiley.

19:29

But could you – you could always trade back

19:31

and get a couple more picks and then get

19:33

that guy a little bit later if you want.

19:35

But that might be a little bit high for

19:38

him. Linebackers are other spots that they've certainly looking

19:40

at. On the other side,

19:42

I don't know that those would be day two picks

19:44

or they're going to be day three picks. But

19:47

they definitely were looking at some of the linebackers.

19:49

And so then that's going to be something to

19:51

watch as well. And

19:54

speaking of linebackers, they came out Thursday

19:56

that they declined to pick up the

19:58

option on Jamie Davis' fifth year. zero

20:00

surprise. And really, he can go and still have

20:03

a good year if they want to resign and

20:05

they can, but that's why I keep an eye

20:07

on linebackers because you got Lou Vou, you got

20:09

Bobby Wagner, Wagner's win your deal, but maybe you

20:11

can get another young guy in here so you

20:14

don't have to pay another linebacker and you can

20:16

then build it that way. That to me would

20:18

be good roster building. This team isn't connected to

20:20

him anymore. They didn't draft him. It was a

20:22

different group and his play hasn't warranted

20:24

it. There was never a chance that I felt like they

20:27

were going to pick up that 50 option. It would make

20:29

no sense. It would be guaranteed money before it

20:31

used to be guaranteed for injuries so you'd

20:33

see a lot of teams pick it up.

20:35

If there's any question now, you just don't

20:37

pick it up and if you need to

20:40

resign them, you do. But I could see

20:42

them picking a linebacker and then developing them

20:44

and then perhaps letting Davis walk if they

20:46

opted not to resign them after next year.

20:49

Anyways, that's it for Thursday night.

20:51

Appreciate you guys tuning in and

20:53

it's a big day Friday because

20:56

we're going to get

20:58

a chance to talk to Daniels on Friday

21:00

afternoon and then you got more picks on Friday

21:02

night and I'll be doing

21:04

updates throughout. If

21:06

they do make some more moves tonight, then

21:08

I'll have another podcast for the morning. Otherwise,

21:12

I'll be doing some stuff during

21:14

the day Friday or excuse me

21:16

throughout Friday, perhaps some shorts etc.

21:18

just to keep you guys updated

21:20

about all these picks and have

21:22

multiple podcasts in the weekend. So

21:24

keep in there. Thanks for

21:26

tuning in. Talk to you next time.