0:02

The Eagles Entertainment.

0:07

With the Kent pick in the NFL

0:09

Draft the Philadelphia Eagles

0:11

Swick.

0:12

You're listening to the Journey to the Draft podcast.

0:16

Welcome to the Journey the Draft Podcast. I'm your host

0:18

Fran Duffian. Today we continue our

0:20

divisional recaps of the twenty twenty three NFL

0:23

Draft today with Ben Fennel for Draft Buzz.

0:25

We're gonna take a look at the NFC South

0:27

and the AFC South, So Atlanta

0:29

Falcons, Carolina Panthers, New Orleans Saints, Tampa

0:32

Bay Bucks. On the NFC side AFC, we're

0:34

gonna go Houston, Texans. A huge draft there down

0:36

in h Town. We've got the Jacksonville Jaguars

0:38

and the Tennessee Titans. And then we've

0:41

got Zach Kicks from Locked On Colts. He's

0:43

gonna join us to talk through the Indianapolis

0:45

Colts. They obviously made a huge pick at number

0:47

four with Anthony Richardson and a bunch of picks

0:49

after that. Zach and I are going to talk in the blueprint

0:52

about what that means for Chris Ballard and Shane

0:54

Steichen, former Eagles offensive coordinator now

0:56

the Colts head coach. What is the blueprint

0:59

of this roster now going into the twenty twenty

1:01

three season and getting ready for next year's draft.

1:03

So we're gonna talk through that with Zach Kitz there

1:05

in the blueprint, and then we've got Draft mail Bag. We've

1:07

got an Eagle specific question to wrap

1:09

up the show. As always, the best way to reach

1:11

us if you want to get a question in on Draft mail

1:13

Bag, go over to Apple Podcast. Leave us a question,

1:16

leave us a rating, leave us a comment, and we will get to

1:18

it here on an upcoming episode that said,

1:20

let's catch up with Ben. It's time now for Draft Buzz.

1:25

Now, it's time for Draft Buzz.

1:28

All right, joining me once again here for Draft Buzz,

1:30

my friend Ben Fennel and Ben. We're gonna go through the

1:33

NFC South and the AFC South today.

1:35

We'll start with the NFC side. We're gonna go alphabetical

1:37

order here. The Atlanta Falcons their top choice

1:40

running back, Bijon Robinson out of the

1:42

University of Texas. They take him at number eight overall,

1:44

the first running back to go in the top ten since

1:46

Saquon Barkley. Ben, you and I had this

1:49

discussion offline multiple times. I was in

1:51

full Charlie day Moode really kind of

1:53

connecting the dots there between the Atlanta

1:55

Falcons and Bijon Robinson.

1:58

But what are your thoughts in terms of why he ended

2:00

up in Atlanta.

2:01

Well, it seemed like the designer landing spot

2:03

for Bijon in the first round, and the

2:05

Falcons ended up taking them. And if Arthur

2:07

Smith is going to continue to lead this team

2:09

and lead this offense, his philosophy

2:12

is building through the run game, building

2:14

through the trenches, and developing not

2:16

only your offensive identity, your team

2:18

identity through the physical rushing attack.

2:21

And if you don't have an alpha back back

2:23

there like a had in Tennessee with

2:25

the Derrick Henry, you better go get one. And

2:27

I think Tyler Algier did a nice job last

2:30

year as a Day three pick, and Cordero Patterson

2:32

filled in as a hybrid piece as well. But

2:35

Bijon Robinson and his upside

2:37

and his ability immediately

2:39

to be able to contribute and make plays, I

2:41

think that's the cornerstone piece

2:43

you're looking for. Obviously, the Drake Londons

2:45

and Kyle Pitts of the world are still going to

2:48

matter and have places in this offense,

2:50

but they're not the identity that Arthur Smith

2:52

wants, and I think this is an identity piece not

2:55

only for the offense, but the entire team.

2:57

Yeah, to me, it was fascinating just because you know, you

2:59

and I have I think like started having those discussions

3:01

about Beijeon to Atlanta. It was like mid March. It

3:03

was like a little bit after the combine, and you know,

3:05

looking around mock drafts at that time, you

3:08

know, it was heavy defense for Atlanta

3:10

at that point, it was all the edge rushers, it was the

3:12

corners, maybe an offensive lineman, right

3:14

depending on how free agency was gonna shake out. But

3:16

it wasn't really until the second week

3:19

of April where you started to see some of these

3:21

mock drafts start to put bijon there. And I'm

3:23

talking like ESPN mock drafts, you go

3:25

to like Danny Kelly at the Ringer NFL Network,

3:27

all of like the main mock drafts that you're going to follow.

3:30

Nobody really had that connection. And but you and

3:32

I, as we were talking about kind of offline

3:34

was you know, you look at Arthur Smith and that identity

3:36

that he wants to have offensively, you start

3:38

to look at that division right in that NFC South.

3:41

You say, hey, Tom Brady's out Carolina.

3:43

They've got the number one pick. You know, New Orleans

3:45

or they they're still kind of a team in transition. That

3:47

division is wide open. This is a franchise

3:51

that is in year three in this regime with Terry

3:53

fontenoah GM Arthur Smith at head coach.

3:55

More than any other player they could have taken at number

3:57

eight, Bejon Robinson puts them in position to

4:00

win the NFC South. They showed commitment

4:02

publicly to Desmond Ritter, a quarterback.

4:04

They were noncommittal on Tyler Algier

4:06

as the kind of like that Bell Coow back. Fonto

4:08

comes from New Orleans where they took mark Ingram. They

4:11

always pound for best player available,

4:13

best player available, more so than others.

4:15

They have an assistant on staff, Dave Huxtable,

4:17

who was an analyst at Texas in twenty twenty,

4:20

was part of the staff that brought in Bjon

4:22

Robinson. It was there for his freshman year. They

4:24

always prioritize guys with toughness

4:26

and character, the intangibles, and that's everything Bjon

4:29

stands for, right, So there were all these little breadcrumbs

4:31

there with Bijon Robinson. The Atlanta

4:33

Falcons, and so when that pick was made kind

4:35

of brought a smile on my face just because of all the discussions

4:37

you and I Dan and I Josh Naris,

4:39

you know, other people you know in our circle had

4:41

kind of talked about Bijon going to Atlanta.

4:44

And I'd like what Terry Fontina is doing, and he's really

4:46

putting his stamp on this roster as

4:48

a GM should we know the lifespan

4:50

of these you know, decision makers aren't

4:52

very long if you don't win immediately. So

4:55

if you don't have success in a three, four

4:57

or five year span, you're not going to be there anymore.

5:00

So I like that font too. While making

5:02

some decisions, I go against some analytics

5:04

and some league trends, like paying into

5:06

your offensive lineman, drafting tight ends, high

5:08

drafting a running back, high paying safeties

5:11

like Jesse Bates the money that he got.

5:13

I'm really impressed that Fontanda is not going up

5:15

to the plate with his bat on his shoulder, you know, those

5:17

guy's swinging just like a Brad Holmes in

5:19

Detroit kind of came in at the same time, had

5:21

to move on from the Stafford era, just like FO

5:24

had to move on from the Matt Ryan era. These

5:26

guys are taking big swings and you have

5:28

to, as young gms in this league, put your

5:30

stamp on the roster. And I think Terry Fontinha

5:32

is one of the premier gms right now saying,

5:35

you know what, I'm going to do what I want

5:37

to do. I don't care what the league says,

5:39

or the trends say, or the market says, because

5:41

this is going to be my team. And if I don't

5:43

make it my team and make it my decisions, aren't going

5:46

to be out here in four or five years anyways.

5:47

Yeah, I think that. You know, it's it's always interesting when

5:50

you have these kind of team building philosophy discussions,

5:52

is that these moves are not made in a vacuum,

5:54

right. I feel like when we were having the discussion

5:56

of Jon Robinson fitting there at eight, like me,

5:59

personally, I have made that choice

6:01

for the Atlanta Falcons. Then there's the

6:03

version of this team build a number I don't think I

6:05

would have, but it was easy to kind of paint the

6:07

picture of why they would have, right, And

6:09

so from that angle, you can really see a lot

6:11

of reasons why. Let's get to some of the rest of this

6:13

this class, though, the biggest surprise in your

6:15

mind when you look at this class.

6:17

Well, I think then going bijon at eight, that

6:19

leaves them desperate to fill in

6:21

the left guard spot and leaves

6:23

them desperate to fill in some medrusher spot. Yeah,

6:26

when you're sitting there in the second round, there

6:28

weren't a whole.

6:28

Lot of premier edges left exactly.

6:30

Yeah, I think only Matthew berger on thirty

6:32

eighth overall was a little bit surprising

6:34

for me. Two picks after Steve Avila.

6:36

I think Avilla warranted that spot,

6:39

but almost twenty picks ahead of o Cyrus

6:41

Torrence.

6:42

So the interior class.

6:43

Is really all over the place as far

6:45

as.

6:45

How teams are viewing.

6:46

He obviously went ahead of the Joe Tipmans and then John

6:48

Michael Schmidts. So to see Bergeron go

6:50

thirty eighth overall so a little surprising,

6:53

I think on draft day for myself, yeah,

6:55

I.

6:55

Thought he might go a little bit higher personally,

6:57

And when you look at the defensive ends, that was kind of

6:59

my you know, because they obviously need pass

7:01

rush. That's been an issue for them for years

7:04

and years and years. So no defensive end until

7:06

round three but again, like I kind of shrug

7:08

at that because I'm like, yeah, like we talked about why the Bejon pick

7:10

made sense Bergerund I think made perfect sense

7:12

there. That was kind of seen as like the ceiling maybe

7:15

for Nolan Smith, that number eight overall

7:17

to Atlanta. I felt like they were gonna go with bigger

7:19

defensive ends, right just you look at Ryan Nielson, the new

7:21

defensive coordinator that just got hired. He

7:24

comes from New Orleans. They've always prioritized

7:26

like those big ends that kind of crash off the edge

7:28

and can recavot both run game and pass game.

7:30

And that's just not Nolan Smith's body type, right, So

7:32

to me, like you go out and you go get the

7:35

kid from Ohio State that they took in the third round, Zach

7:37

Harrison. I think that makes sense from a body type

7:39

standpoint. And so that in mind, let's now go

7:41

to Day three. Who are some of the players

7:43

that you feel like can contribute most there

7:46

from the third day of the draft for the Falcons.

7:48

Well, I love that they grabbed Clark Phillips the third

7:50

at Utah, who I think is a plug and play nickel

7:52

in the NFL. To not only this Falcons

7:54

team, but a lot of teams in the NFL, and I see a

7:57

need for that nickel spot. They brought to Mike

7:59

Hughes, who spent some time in Detroit. But

8:01

I can see Phillips being the day one nickel.

8:03

You know.

8:03

Obviously inside of Jeffreyokuda and aj

8:06

Terrell, you brought in Jesse Bates on the back

8:08

end. We'll see if Richie Grant can kind of solidify

8:10

his game going into his third year. I

8:12

see that nickelbackspot open season

8:15

for Clark Phillips to take it and not look back.

8:17

Yeah, for me, Clark Phillips was the name that I

8:19

wrote down as well for that category. Big

8:21

picture takeaways for me real quick, Ben, I think

8:24

when you look at Atlanta, you look at Fontea, you

8:26

look at Arthur Smith, and you know, it's fun now being

8:28

in year three of this regime, because now you've got three

8:30

years worth of draft classes to kind of look at all, Right,

8:33

what are some of the themes that really pop up? I would

8:35

say one thing versatility, certainly

8:37

on offense. You know, that's a big hallmark of

8:39

what they try and present. They want guys that can line

8:41

up all over the formation. But the other big thing

8:43

intangibles I think are very very important

8:46

to this regime right now. When you look at Fontea

8:48

and you look at Smith, five of the six picks they

8:50

made this year were team captains. That is something

8:52

that has shown up time and time and time again

8:54

with this group as well. Every time that they have taken

8:57

swings on players, a lot of them have been high

8:59

Caro, high level of toughness, team

9:02

captains like that kind of background

9:04

with a lot of these players, and so that's just something to

9:06

keep in mind if you're mock drafting for the Falcons

9:08

next year.

9:09

Yeah, I think that's really fair.

9:10

And while they didn't spend huge

9:12

money in free agency outside of Jesse Bates,

9:14

this is going to be a very new team, you know, bringing

9:16

in guys like that B level free agency

9:19

and Bud Dupree and Klays Campbell and

9:21

David Onyamada, Lorenzo Carter and

9:23

trading for Jeffrey Akuda, this defense

9:26

is going to have a much different identity

9:28

and tone and presence at nearly

9:30

every level. So you could catch lightning

9:32

in a bottle and a division that is really

9:34

open and up for grabs.

9:36

So I'm excited to see how this all works.

9:37

Together to me, like you and I we

9:39

talk about this a lot too, is you know, when you're looking at

9:41

like draft trends with teams and stuff, and a lot of that can

9:43

be noisy and not necessarily like foretelling

9:45

the future. Some of it can be coincidence, some

9:48

of it is by circumstance. But look, every

9:50

team can say, hey we really want tough

9:52

guys, or hey we really want guys that are versatile.

9:55

Yeah, every team will say that, but the kind

9:57

of the proof is in the pudding. Right, So at the end

9:59

of the day, if you're so electing a high volume

10:01

of high character guys, I high volume of versatile

10:03

players, I high volume of guys that have medical

10:06

risk or character risk, or you only select

10:08

powerful offensive line you stay way from undersized guys,

10:11

like whatever those trends are, you know, at the end of the day,

10:13

Like, yeah, trends can always be broken, but it

10:15

always kind of like tells a story of what you really prioritize.

10:17

Because anytime you step up to the microphone, like you

10:20

can lie right as a as a head coach, as

10:22

a GM like you can always not tell the truth. But

10:24

it's tough to lie with draft choices

10:26

and with free agent dollars. So that's why

10:29

I always kind of follow those kind of trends. Let's

10:31

go down to the Carolina Panthers. Obviously they make the top

10:33

choice, not just for them number one, but in the

10:35

entire draft. They select quarterback Bryce Young.

10:38

We've talked about this so much. I don't think we need to dive too deep

10:40

into it, Ben, but your thoughts on Bryce Young

10:42

why he was the pick over CJ. Stroud

10:44

over Anthony Richardson for the Panthers.

10:46

Yeah, just an exciting CEO type

10:48

of quarterback on and off the field. I think

10:50

bringing everything you want from that leadership

10:52

in tangible spot from the quarterback position

10:55

on Frank Brake's team. And Bryce Young

10:57

is one of those guys is just too good to pass

10:59

up. It's nothing against whoever

11:02

else is out there. It's just not willing

11:04

to pass over this guy. And it doesn't

11:06

matter if it's the high upside potential

11:09

of our Richardson or the smooth and

11:11

calm demeanor of a CJ. Stroud, doesn't

11:13

matter who's behind the curtain, we just can't pass

11:16

up for Bryce Young. And I think that's the type of

11:18

feeling you want out of that QB

11:20

spot and out of the number one pick. You don't

11:22

want to have any second guessing. And I don't think

11:24

this Panthers team ever really thought of anyone else.

11:26

Once they got their hands on Bryce Young and

11:29

got them into the room and into the building, they

11:31

weren't looking back.

11:32

Yeah. Everything you kind of hear and then obviously

11:35

you listen to and read from the coverage

11:37

of the Panthers outward facing and then behind the scenes,

11:39

is that the scouts all loved universally

11:42

coming out of the fall, Bryce Young. He was their

11:44

top guy. But they really wanted the coaches to kind

11:46

of go through the process once the staff was set.

11:48

Hey, you know what, we want you to really

11:51

get a look at all of these guys and make your own

11:53

evaluations as well. Right, so here's how

11:55

we feel. How do you feel. They

11:57

let the coaches go through the paces, and at the end of the day,

11:59

everybody said on Bryce Young. So

12:01

I for all the reasons you said, I think it makes a lot

12:03

of sense. Let's now go to the biggest surprise

12:05

from this class. And for me, I guess it would

12:07

probably be like Chandler Savalla, the guard from

12:09

NC State getting him where they got him in

12:12

the early part middle stages of Day three.

12:14

He was a guy that was getting a little bit of buzz for the back end

12:16

of Day two. I'm assuming the injury had

12:18

something to do with that. I was kind of surprised, honestly going

12:20

through that he did not get invited to the combine

12:22

ben going through Savalla's film. But even

12:24

still, he was a guy that, you know, I thought that

12:26

was a good value pick there for the Carolina

12:29

Panthers.

12:29

Yeah, to get him in the fourth round, absolute steal,

12:31

a guy that played a few games with Ikey Aquano

12:34

yep two years ago at NC State before Zavalla

12:36

ended up missing the rest of the season. But I

12:38

could see him absolutely being the day one starter

12:40

at either guard spot. Brady Christiansen

12:43

looked pretty good at left guard, and Corbett

12:45

can play the right guard. But you can upgrade that. It

12:47

seemed like the NFL was just down a bit on the interior

12:50

guys. I don't think people expected It's Osiris

12:52

of Torrents to go fifty ninth. Overall, a

12:54

lot of people thought he'd be an early Day

12:56

two at the worst. So I think a lot of the interior

12:59

guys kind of sliittle a little bit My surprise

13:01

was seeing DJ Johnson go that early

13:04

outside linebacker out of Oregon, exciting

13:06

athletic profile, but to see him

13:08

go ahead of other positions,

13:11

ahead of some of the running backs, ahead of some of

13:13

the receivers, ahead as some of higher

13:15

level prospects like Trenton Simpson or at

13:17

of bar A.

13:18

But there were no edges left. If you needed

13:20

an edge man, you.

13:21

Got into the Tyler Lacys and Mike Morris

13:23

is real quick and I think if you

13:26

needed one, you better go get one. And

13:28

personally I liked in Isaiah Maguire a little

13:30

bit better there. But the DJ Johnson's

13:32

lit the world in the third round. That's how

13:34

the board goes. And these are lessons to learn

13:36

in the future that these premiere positions,

13:39

the tackles, the edges, the corners,

13:42

thrust them up your boards because they are going

13:44

to get picked over other positions almost

13:46

every year.

13:48

It sounds to me like kind of watching

13:50

back the press conference after that pick there, Ben that exactly

13:53

what you laid out is what happened for them, where

13:55

they said, look, the edgreshers kind of went off the board fast.

13:57

You know. In DJ Johnson, this is a free show

14:00

athlete, and that's something that Scott Fitter or the GM

14:02

at Carolina, they always prioritize

14:04

high level athletes. He came from Seattle

14:06

where they did the same exact thing. And if you look at

14:08

his draft classes since he has been named the GM,

14:10

they are always going to prioritize players with traits

14:13

and that's something certainly DJ Johnson

14:15

brings to the table. He was over two fifty

14:17

five and he ran, like you know, in the four fours, right,

14:19

so that something silly like that. He's an explosive

14:21

athlete raw for sure, but that

14:24

was an area that they wanted to address. They knew if we didn't

14:26

get one, now we're gonna kind of be left out in the

14:28

cold.

14:29

I mean, sitting there in March, fran, are you expecting

14:31

DJ Johnson to go six picks ahead at

14:33

Trenton Simpson right?

14:34

Yea.

14:34

You know, it's just an interesting pecking order. And those

14:36

edges flew off the boards. And personally,

14:39

I wasn't a Tyler Lacier, Mike Morris type

14:41

of guy. You know, the heavy ends guys that are

14:43

playing at two eighty out there, good edge

14:45

setters, but man, that edge group dried

14:47

up real fast. And that's kind of if you needed

14:49

one, you better go get one.

14:50

All right, let's go Day three early impact.

14:53

Who plays the most snaps as a rookie from their Day

14:55

three.

14:55

Guys, Well, we kind of hammered it there. I really think

14:57

it's gonna be chandlers of all. I think he's gonna be a Day

14:59

one starter. He'll beat out either of those incomic

15:02

guards. But also look out for a Jamie

15:04

Robinson.

15:04

Yep.

15:05

Well, I think in the middle of that defense. On the back end,

15:07

it's kind of open season. You know, you're shaking

15:09

things up, bringing in a Von Bell, and

15:11

you have Xavier Woods, and you know Jeremy

15:13

Chain back there. But Jammie Robinson,

15:16

little Florida State, little South Carolina,

15:18

you got Brian Burns, you got j C. Horn

15:20

out there. Maybe able to make some friends

15:22

in the locker room, depending on who you're talking to. But

15:25

Jammie Robinson, I think it's going to be a better player on

15:27

Sundays than ever was on a Saturday.

15:29

Yeah. I think Jamie Robinson is a guy. Certainly keep

15:31

an eye on him, just because he's got that position flex

15:33

right where he can contribute to the nickel as well. So

15:36

there are a couple different avenues where he could get off

15:38

on the field. Big picture, just any other takeaways

15:40

when you look at the hall there for the Panthers,

15:42

I guess for me, and this is a small sample size because

15:44

Fitterer has only been the GM there for two seasons

15:47

now, but every single player that he has selected

15:49

has come from the Power Five. So no Group of

15:51

Five player, no FCS player

15:54

for Scott Fitterer in two years as a GM.

15:56

So that's something just to keep in mind as well for

15:58

them down the road.

15:59

No, I don't think I had any big takeaways. I think they addressed

16:01

a lot of needs with a free agency

16:03

adding you know, Hayden Hearst and Adam

16:05

deelan of the world, and they went into the draft with a really

16:08

nice looking roster which allowed them to

16:10

ebb and flow after getting that number one

16:12

guy and Bryce Young able to add to Jonathan Mingo

16:14

and Zavalla a couple other nice pieces.

16:17

I think everything kind of fell into place and now you just

16:19

need to get the roster churning on the field.

16:22

Let's go now to the New Orleans Saints. Their top

16:24

choice Brian Brazil, the defensive tackle

16:26

from Clemson. Ben you and I.

16:29

We did the mock draft extravaganza a couple

16:31

days before the draft, and Rezi, I believe,

16:33

was the pick. It was either him or Miles Murphy

16:35

from Nick Underhill. Underhill, who's

16:37

an outstanding resource when it comes to New Orleans Saints, was

16:39

pounding the table. It was going to be one of those two Clemson

16:42

d linemen. He felt like it would be Brazil. Murphy

16:44

went a couple of picks earlier, Brazil is

16:46

on the board and he ends up being the selection. In

16:48

your mind, why was he such a great fit for

16:50

the Saints.

16:51

I don't remember if the Saints were the oldest or the second

16:53

oldest roster last year, but at the

16:55

end of the day, it doesn't matter. This team needs to get

16:58

younger. They're trying to turn over the trench is

17:00

particularly on the defensive side. You have

17:02

obviously Cam Jordan getting up there in age.

17:04

He drafted a guy like Peyton Turner two years ago

17:06

in the first round a little bit disappointing.

17:09

I think Brian Brezi really is going to embody

17:12

that Cam Jordan type of presence

17:14

the inside outside great run defender,

17:16

also can contribute to some subpackages

17:18

and on third down, But you had to get younger,

17:21

had to get more explosive. And I think Brian

17:23

Brezi, who believe is twenty one years

17:25

old, has still have a lot of football ahead of him,

17:28

showed what he can do it early at Clemson as

17:30

a true freshman and has play leveled off

17:32

a little bit with some injuries and some personal

17:34

life things. But the Saints team has

17:36

to get younger and more impactful and

17:38

do it in a hurry. And I think getting Breze and

17:40

then turning right around getting Isaiah Foski

17:42

in the second round really speaks to what

17:45

this team needs, the roster needs, and their

17:47

intent was going into the draft.

17:49

They lost so much in free agency

17:51

along the defensive line, and they went and they signed

17:53

players. You know, they brought in Colin Saunderson, the Chiefs.

17:55

They brought in some players, and if they

17:57

had to line up the day before the draft, they could have.

17:59

But to your point, like you needed an

18:01

injection of youth, there some high talented

18:04

youth, and we know the Saints prioritize

18:06

high level athletes, especially along the front

18:08

seven, and Brezy checked those boxes for sure.

18:11

Biggest surprise for you for the Saints.

18:13

I think seeing a uh you know, Kendrey.

18:15

Miller in TCU, which mine

18:17

too. Credit to TCU man, they pumped out

18:19

some prospects in the draft. They really rode that

18:21

wave up to the National title game to see guys

18:24

like Steve Abila get rocketed up boards. But

18:26

then guys like Dylan Horran and Quentin Johnston

18:28

and speaks right to Kendre Miller and see him

18:30

to go ahead of you know, Devin ah Shane, or

18:33

ahead of Tank Bigsby, ahead of Abakanda,

18:35

ahead of TAIJ. Spears, who obviously

18:37

had the medical and the lack of ACL

18:40

which you know made his you know, draft

18:42

stock a little bit of a question. But Kendre Miller,

18:44

I thought was just surprising to see him go ahead

18:46

of some of those other guys. But credit to that

18:49

run and they had the season and everyone

18:51

kind of rode that wave.

18:52

Yeah, and especially when they signed Jamal

18:54

Williams, they gave him solid money in free agency, so

18:57

I was a little shocked that they went with a player like Miller.

18:59

Obviously, there's some stuff up in the air with Kamara

19:01

and what his availability could be this year, so

19:03

that will be interesting to watch moving forward. Day

19:05

three. Early impact for me, I kind of like the

19:07

fit of Jordan Howden, the safety from Minnesota

19:10

ban as a Day three pick. There. Howden's

19:12

an athletic player, could play in the post.

19:14

He's not Marcus Williams, but he's that kind

19:17

that style of kind of free safety, and

19:19

I think that that makes a lot of sense for them.

19:21

Yeah, I believe the first pick on Day

19:23

three was Nick Saldeveri at Old Dominion.

19:25

Yeah, could see him competing right away with Sezar

19:27

Ruiz for that right guard spot, which they

19:29

didn't pick up the fifth year option on former

19:31

first round pick Ruiz, so his days

19:34

in New Orleans seemingly coming to an end.

19:36

I could see Saladavari taking that right

19:38

guard spot day one in camp and

19:40

maybe not looking back and being a full time

19:42

starter for him.

19:43

That could be a great value pick in.

19:44

The fourth round and really one of the

19:47

underrated offensive linemen in this class.

19:49

A guy that played tackle at Old Dominion

19:52

looked really good but could play guard as well. I think

19:54

he slid inside the Sender Bowl. I think he

19:56

has Brandon Thorn's blessing of our offensive

19:59

line guru as hit one of his favorites

20:01

as well. So look for Nick Saldeveri

20:03

fourth round pick to maybe be that right guard for

20:05

the entire season.

20:07

Yeah, and for me, just kind of big picture, you

20:09

know when you talk. We mentioned this a little bit

20:11

here in this discussion, but I think in terms

20:13

of a big picture takeaway with the Saints, you have

20:15

to take the measured athleticism into

20:17

account. You look at like the previously

20:20

what was the spark scores that everybody had, right, but now

20:22

it's the the RAS, the relative athletic scoring

20:24

metric. They do a great job. Math Bomb does

20:26

an outstand a job on Twitter of tracking all

20:28

these guys. But you know, since Jeff Ireland

20:30

has been installed to kind of run the draft, this

20:33

is a great nugget from Jeff Duncan, who

20:35

did a piece going into the draft entering twenty

20:37

twenty three. Since Jeff Ireland took over

20:39

the Saints full time draft in twenty sixteen,

20:41

the average RAS for the Saints drafted

20:43

players is eight point three to one.

20:46

That is extremely high. I know according

20:48

to the guys over at math Bomb. You know,

20:50

over at RAS eight point zero is

20:52

an elite number and they've only selected

20:55

one player in the first two rounds

20:57

under eight point oh. Now that was Von

20:59

Bell, the defensive back from Ohio

21:02

State. The Saints like they're gonna draft athletes,

21:04

They're gonna draft highly athletic players.

21:06

Yeah, and that's just something just to keep in mind. If a guy

21:08

is not going to test well, he's probably not gonna fall

21:10

in the Saints radar moving forward. And again,

21:12

that's a sizeable sample size, right

21:15

you're talking twenty sixteen. This was said the seven

21:17

or eight drafts. Now we're talking through That is no

21:19

small sample size for sure.

21:21

Yeah, I think that's really fair. A lot of high end

21:23

athletes and some of them work out, some of them,

21:25

don't. We all remember them trading up in the first again,

21:27

a Marcus Davenport yep never quite

21:30

filled in and developed like the player they

21:32

had hope for. But you move on from some

21:34

of those players and some of these previous

21:36

picks. They have to step up and play better

21:38

too. You know, the Ray sesar Ruizz of

21:40

the world were former first round picks. Zach Bonds

21:42

of the world were third round pick. They

21:45

need some guys to step up that they had taken and

21:47

took some big swings on. Peyton Turner

21:49

is probably that one they're certainly looking at in year three.

21:51

All right, let's take a look now at our final NFC

21:54

South team, and that's the Tampa Bay Bucks. They

21:56

select pit defensive tackle Elijah

21:58

Cantsey, and he was a player that was often

22:00

mocked to the Saints ben and the lack of size

22:03

there was what a lot of people around the Saints

22:05

are like, Yeah, I don't think kans is going to be their kind

22:07

of guy. He's just too small. But that was

22:09

not a problem for their arrival of the Tampa Bay Bucks.

22:11

Yeah, it just seems like that Bucks type of pick

22:13

that has seemingly developed

22:16

the undertackle that you know, backside

22:18

three tech, that Warren Sapp role, that Gerald

22:20

McCoy role, and now the Klija Kansi

22:22

role. But the Bucks were a team in my opinion,

22:25

I had a really tough time figuring out where they

22:27

were going. You know, there's a team that can look

22:30

to the tackle spot. Are they going to replace Donovan

22:32

Smith on the backside or move Tristan

22:34

wurfs Over, who is an All Pro young player

22:36

at right tackle. Should they addressed the quarterback

22:38

spot in the future or get younger on defense

22:41

or in the back end. This is a team I had

22:43

a tough time finding a landing spot or

22:45

projecting what their plans are or

22:48

potential is for the season. But Clidja Kansi

22:50

high level player, a team that I think had

22:52

to get younger as well. I believe they were the oldest

22:55

team, but the Saints were right behind them. Team

22:57

they just had to start turning over the trenches and Klaija

22:59

Cancy's a great way to do it.

23:01

Did you have a pick from theirs? There was the biggest

23:03

surprise in your mind? Honestly,

23:06

nothing really surprises me with this team

23:08

at this point, but I'll get into that a little bit later. Was

23:10

there a big shock for you?

23:11

I think seeing Cody Mack go that high, but

23:14

I thought a little bit more as a round three,

23:16

round four guy.

23:17

But this team, you know.

23:19

They had to replace the Alex Kappa and Ali

23:21

Marpetts at guard. They now lost Donovan

23:23

Smith to see Mac go ahead of

23:25

a John Michael Schmidt,

23:27

so I thought embodied the Ryan Jensen

23:29

a little bit more Osyrus Torrens. I thought

23:31

they wanted a bigger, burly offensive

23:34

lineman up front there, but Mark certainly

23:36

fits the Hey, we want to be more athletic

23:38

at the guard spots, and we don't care where

23:40

they came from. We don't care if it was Humble

23:43

or where Ali Marpet come from.

23:45

Hold on, hold on, it'll come to me.

23:47

An h I think, yeah it was.

23:48

Hobart, and yeah Hobart

23:50

right.

23:50

Yeah, Alex Kappa was Humble, So they

23:53

don't care where they find those guys. Just I

23:55

had Mock a little bit different in the pecking order

23:57

there, so that was just a little bit of a surprise. But again,

24:00

sitting there in the second round, friend, I

24:02

had no clue where the bucks were thinking.

24:04

Right, a handful of Day three

24:06

selections and just kind of looking at

24:08

this group. There are a lot of guys that kind of checked boxes

24:10

for them. But I would say that you look at this overall,

24:12

you got Pitt linebacker Servassie Dennis,

24:15

Purdue tight end Payne Durham, Kansas

24:17

State corner Josh Hayes, Nebraska

24:19

wide receiver Trey Palmer, and then

24:21

Eastern Michigan pass rusher Jose

24:23

Ramirez, and I would say of that group,

24:25

the guy that stood out most to me is someone who

24:27

could play early on Ben would would be Payine

24:29

Durham, the tight end from Purdue. You pair him

24:32

with Kate Otton from last year, and I

24:34

think that those guys. You know, that's a that's a

24:36

solid one two punch there, a tight end for the next

24:38

handful of years.

24:38

We're doing a good job not picking the same day

24:40

three impact guys because I had two names written down

24:43

I couldn't see, yeah, and one

24:45

was Jose Ramirez at Eastern Michigan, who

24:47

I think can get quarterbacks right away with

24:49

a you know, an upside to maybe be every

24:51

down player, but right away be a sub

24:54

package, third down type of piece. But then

24:56

I said, what about Trey Palmer. He'd

24:58

be the you know, downtown, over the top

25:00

guy. That's Scottie Washington role if

25:02

you remember, in that offense. But Palmer

25:04

also has some issues with you know, his hands

25:06

and tracking the ball, but he brings elite speed

25:09

right off the bat that I think compliments the

25:11

Mike Evans and Chris Godwin and Russell Gage

25:14

type of presidence they already have.

25:16

For me, just kind of looking big picture at this class

25:18

bend, you know, I would say that this is a team. And that's

25:20

why I said, like, nothing really surprises me

25:23

when you talk about the Tampa Bay Bucks, because they're just not afraid

25:25

of outside the box picks, right

25:28

whether it's like oh, we're gonna take a trade

25:30

up for a kicker in the second round. We're gonna take non primary

25:32

positions. We're gonna take guards and defensive tackles,

25:34

high and safeties, high, undersized

25:36

players get you know, the analytical outliers

25:39

fcs guys twenty four year olds. They

25:41

traded up and took that USC defensive

25:43

tackle who was like twenty seven a couple of years ago. Right,

25:46

They are constantly kind of making those outside

25:48

the box picks, and they're also just not afraid of

25:50

like raw and underdeveloped players, and not only

25:52

like not afraid of them, but they're they like seek

25:54

those guys out. They talked about that here this year with

25:56

Yaya Diabi, the pass rusher from Louisville.

25:58

It's like, yeah, like he's not a finished product yet, work,

26:00

but that's okay. You know, they viewed that. They

26:03

said the same thing I remember after they drafted Carlton

26:05

Davis out of Auburn a few years back, as like, yeah,

26:07

like he's not a finished product yet, but we're going to bring

26:09

him in and coach him and try and see if we can let

26:11

him reach his ceilings. So just keep that in mind when

26:14

talking about the Bucks in the future as well.

26:15

Yeah, I think trusting their coaching and their development

26:18

is a big aspect of what the Bucks do and taking

26:20

these picks and like you had mentioned the Cody MUCKs

26:22

of the world from North Dakota State likely

26:25

moving positions, playing on the inside.

26:27

Same kind of thing, you know as the Alex Kappa

26:29

and Ali Marpetts and developing

26:31

guys like cam Gill if they took undrafted

26:34

a few years ago end up being a nice.

26:35

Player for him.

26:36

Yeah, Yad Diabi, same type of thing. I think,

26:38

seeing the future and not asking where

26:40

are they today.

26:41

But where will they be in three years.

26:43

They really believe in their staff and the guys

26:45

that work with them every day and the coaching.

26:47

All right, let's go now to the AFC. We'll

26:49

start with the Houston Texans who had the number

26:51

two pick entering the draft, and they finished

26:54

with the number two and number three picks. So

26:56

let's just talk about rather than talk about like just CJ.

26:58

Stroud's talk about the pairing

27:01

of Stroud and Anderson in your

27:03

mind, like remove all

27:05

the outside noise, Like how do you think

27:07

this came to be? What do you think that their thought

27:09

process was going in? Do you think that it

27:11

was always going to be CJ. Stroud. Do you think that

27:14

they were thinking about going Anderson first

27:16

and getting the quarterback later, Like, how do

27:18

you view that unfolding over the last

27:20

couple of months.

27:21

I think it was always c J.

27:22

Stroud at that number two spot,

27:24

and then number three was kind

27:26

of a late in the process idea

27:28

to trade up and to allocate resources

27:31

to maybe get a guy that wasn't going to go one

27:33

or two. So seeing Will Anderson

27:35

at the prospect of going third overall,

27:38

the Texan said, wait a minute, we might be able to

27:40

work our way up there and have the capital to slide

27:43

in and take him as well. So I think

27:45

that Will Anderson was kind of a late idea,

27:47

but CJ. Stroud I always

27:49

had as quarterback one. I think any team

27:51

would love to have them, and the Texans sitting there

27:53

with the second overall pick, that's a team

27:55

hoping to not be up there again. So I

27:57

know a lot of people thought.

27:58

They were going to pass entire early on quarterback.

28:01

Or maybe try to circle back and get

28:03

one later or trade back up later. I

28:05

think if you're sitting there at number two and you have high level

28:07

of prospects like a Bryce Young and a c

28:09

J. Stroud, You better go get one while you're

28:11

there. So I always believe c J. Stroud

28:14

is going to be the pick. And the Will Anderson idea

28:16

I think was elite in the process type.

28:18

Of uh you know view.

28:21

Yeah, you mentioned the Marcus Davenport trade

28:23

up by the SATs a few years ago. That was the last

28:25

time that a team traded a future first So

28:27

multiple first round picks to go up and take a

28:29

defensive end. And I obviously Will

28:31

Anderson and Marcus Davenport are way different

28:34

from a prospect standpoint, from a development standpoint,

28:36

so you know, I'm not making that comparison, but

28:38

obviously it's a huge swing for Houston and say,

28:40

hey, we're gonna put this volume of

28:43

assets into a non quarterback.

28:45

I think it's gonna be interesting see how it plays out. To

28:47

me, it feels like that they had there were probably

28:49

some conversations, some friendly

28:51

debate rather you know, inside that building, of

28:54

do we take the non quarterback or do we take the quarterback?

28:57

You know what, Like we've got the ability to get both, like Arizona's

28:59

they've got their the door open for trade.

29:01

Let's see if we can go make that move and they come away

29:03

with both players. If both guys hit, no

29:05

one's going to say anything. If one of those

29:07

guys doesn't hit, then that obviously that that's going

29:10

to be a huge topic of conversation for Houston

29:12

moving forward.

29:13

Now, the real question I want to know is how much

29:15

did they Did the Cardinals make

29:17

anyone believers they were going to take will

29:19

Anderson? Or was the Cardinal's idea

29:22

of taking Paris Johnson that exposed

29:25

that everybody knew the Cardinals

29:27

were a trade park, right because they weren't interested

29:30

in Will Anderson. So it's kind of I kind of support

29:32

the idea either way.

29:34

That's the thing is that, you know, there

29:37

was the thought of them taking Anderson,

29:39

but then Peter King came out with his column

29:42

the Monday before the draft and said, hey, you know

29:44

what, Arizona might take Paris Johnson

29:46

staying here at three right, So with that on

29:48

the table, I don't think anybody would have thought that.

29:51

But if that's on the table, and I'm not saying that

29:53

the Cardinals told Peter King that, but someone

29:56

told Peter King that, right, So there were some beliefs

29:58

somewhere around the NFL that was a possibility,

30:00

and so you know, if that was going to be the case, if they

30:02

were forced to stick and pick, I guess as it might have

30:04

ended up being Paris Johnson. The other threat

30:07

of it, though, is like do you keep Tennessee

30:09

or Vegas or somebody else from trading

30:12

back up into three to take CJ.

30:14

Stroud? So it's like, okay, if we want to protect Anderson

30:17

from the Cardinals, Like who are we

30:19

more okay with risking losing?

30:21

Right?

30:21

I think that's ultimately the debate I'm sure that they

30:23

had was like who are we more likely to lose? Is it

30:25

Anderson or is it Stroud? And are we okay

30:27

with either? And that's the debate I guess they got to

30:30

have. Internally. There was a quote

30:32

that Nick Cassario, the GM for THEE Houston

30:34

Texas, he was just on with Chris long Key

30:36

and Timiko Rans went on with Chris long this week on his

30:38

podcast and said, you know, we're never gonna

30:40

let data force us

30:42

to make a decision, Like we're okay with making a decision

30:45

essentially if the data says no. So

30:47

basically the way he was saying it is, yeah, trade

30:50

value track might have said, we lost that trade. It might be a bad

30:52

idea, but we're gonna go and get the player. If we want

30:54

the player, we're gonna go get the players. Essentially the

30:56

point I think that's kind of how they view the

30:59

selections of Stroud and Anderson in

31:01

that spot. Biggest surprise, I mean, that's

31:03

got to be just trade to three, right, Is there anything else that

31:05

stands out?

31:05

The other I felt like that was the low hanging fruit.

31:08

The other surprise. I think seeing a

31:10

tank Dell go over Jail and Hyatt.

31:12

I think a lot of draft knicks and people

31:15

in the media were surprised. As a you

31:17

know, Bolitnikov winner often mocked

31:19

in the first round in Jail and Hyatt sliding

31:22

to middle round three, and

31:24

to see guys like a tank Dell go over Jail

31:26

and Hyatt, I think was interesting and probably

31:28

surprise a lot of people.

31:29

I do think that they got a nice receiver as well.

31:32

When they got to early day three. You get Xavier

31:34

Hutchinson, the receiver out of Iowa State. Here's

31:36

my Day three early impact. And honestly,

31:38

I don't even know if that's even a good characterization

31:41

of Xavier Hutchinson because It's kind of a crowded

31:43

receiver room when you look at Houston's p chart, especially

31:45

if you get John Metchi back, you know, hopefully

31:48

he's fully healthy and he's able.

31:49

To brow it a Noah Brown brought in Robert Woods.

31:51

Yeah, there's a lot of bodies there, so I don't know if Zavior

31:53

Hutchess's gonna make an impact as a rookie. I did like, I did

31:55

like to pick though.

31:57

Yeah, they pulled some Day three sneer Bowl guys

31:59

for sure, in which I believe they had a

32:02

they're the ones with tons of picks. Now it was Jacksonville

32:04

ten picks on Day three, but yeah, the Texans

32:06

taking a couple of senior Bowl receivers and Tank

32:08

Dell and Xavier Hutchinson. And I really

32:11

like Toyot Toyo adding in there. Maybe

32:13

him and Kirk sewell, excuse me,

32:15

him and Christian Harris

32:17

can rejoin each other and be the linebackers

32:19

of the future out there.

32:20

We'll see how that goes.

32:21

It feels like the AFC South in

32:23

general accounted for like a third of the draft.

32:25

Because you mentioned the Jaguars had ten picks

32:27

on Day three, the Colts had like eight picks

32:30

on Day three. We'll talk about that later. The Texans

32:32

had a bunch of picks. The AFC South was very

32:34

busy during draft weekend.

32:36

This Texans team's a funder roster. I'm interested

32:38

to see how it all works together. If it works together,

32:40

they have some parts at places. They brought in

32:42

a lot of free agents, a lot of vets.

32:45

Not a lot of a's and b's, but

32:47

a lot of c's, like the Robert Woods of the world,

32:49

the Noah Browns of the world, the Denzel Perryman's,

32:51

Corey Littleton's. You know they brought in Steven

32:53

Nelson last year, Jimmy Ward coming

32:55

in. You know those are guys that we know, all those names,

32:58

their vets. You know what you're getting. Now, Let's

33:00

see if some young guys have some juice and can kind

33:02

of beat those guys.

33:03

And that's what you want to do. And adding

33:05

a CJ.

33:05

Stroud in front of a or

33:08

behind a pretty good offensive line.

33:10

You know, I think Kenyon Green got his feet under him

33:12

last year. We know Tunsul Shaq Mason's

33:14

in there now at right guard, or they brought in and

33:16

extended Titus Howard needs to play

33:19

better. He's going to be the right tackle. How about

33:21

Juice Scrugs going in the second round? There was another

33:23

one, Like I'm talking those interior guys, fran I

33:25

think the pecking order which is all over the place

33:27

in my opinion, But to see Juice Scruggs

33:30

and we'll talk about them in a seting, but Breton Strange,

33:32

both those Penn State guys really shout

33:34

up boards late in the process.

33:35

Yeah, I think to your point about the

33:37

Texans, you know they over the last few years,

33:39

like since Casario's gotten there, essentially they

33:42

have always just gone out there. You know what, We're just going to

33:44

give out fifteen one year deals to these

33:46

veterans and bring a bunch of guys in. And you kind

33:48

of had this like ragtag group of like c plus

33:51

talent. But now pairing that strategy

33:53

with okay, like CJ. Stroud and Will Anderson

33:56

at the top, like all right, this influx

33:58

of bluetooth talent that makes it excitse.

34:00

I thought a team like the Packers should have implored

34:02

this type of strategy, But obviously,

34:04

not knowing your cap situation the offseason at Rogers

34:07

was tough. But adding in a love you want

34:09

to add some more veteran presents around

34:11

him. I know you do have a boch Tiari

34:13

and an Aaron Jones, but a very young receiver

34:16

room, a very young tight end room. Put

34:18

a lot of emphasis on the draft in Green Bay

34:20

to play and perform with the young Jordan Love.

34:23

Look what Houston's done with Stroud. They added

34:25

young.

34:25

Pieces, but there's some solid vets

34:27

all over the place. Rebuilding doesn't

34:30

always have to mean let's just get younger,

34:32

younger, younger. I think it's finding an

34:34

interweaving of youth and depth.

34:37

All right, let's go down to the Jacksonville Jaguars.

34:39

We're gonna skip the Colt obviously, we're gonna have them in blueprint.

34:41

So going to the Jacksonville Jaguars, they trade

34:43

back twice in round one, they settle in with

34:46

Oklahoma left tackle Anton Harrison.

34:49

Bennett's hard I would imagine that a big part

34:51

of that was the new surrounding Cam Robinson, right, and

34:53

his potential suspension here moving

34:55

forward into the season. But your thoughts on Anton

34:58

Harrison ending up with the Jaguars.

35:00

Yeah, and even if he was, you know, wasn't you know

35:02

because of the Cam Robinson? You know, obviously replacing

35:04

and securing the now

35:06

Kansas City Chief and Juwan Taylor was important.

35:09

But Anton Harrison, being a two year starter,

35:11

just turned twenty one years old, ran sub

35:14

five forty yard dash. He's athletic,

35:16

he's long, he's young. Someone

35:18

was going to take him right in that ballpark. So I

35:20

think the Jags I had the need, had

35:23

the fit. Harrison was available, but

35:25

like you've been talking about the corners, the

35:27

edges of the tackles, he was going to go in

35:29

the first round all day long. Now we just need to

35:31

find the fit. And I think the Jags in right

35:33

about a week or a couple of days before the

35:36

draft, this was the landing spot and kind of checked

35:38

out.

35:38

Yeah, I think you hit on all the major

35:40

points there. Biggest surprise, I would

35:43

say, just kind of looking at the class as a whole. I thought

35:45

that they'd addressed the cornerback spot a little bit

35:47

earlier than they did. They didn't really get it until very

35:49

late in the draft. It selected a former Temple

35:51

Owl who transferred, Christian Braswell

35:54

the cornerback for Rutgers. Their biggest surprise

35:56

over off the Jaguars.

35:57

Biggest surprise for the Jags that would probably

36:00

to see a certain positional pecking

36:02

order, and that's a Ventro Miller in the fourth

36:04

round. Yep, going over No asool

36:07

who I think, no A soul. If you look back to last summer.

36:09

Was the first round Mox everyone comfortably

36:12

in ten to fifteen.

36:14

Yeah, I think just going back through the landscape

36:16

of the prospects and their evaluation

36:18

prospect the Ventro Millers, who

36:21

I believe we've had talks about him over the years,

36:23

dysfunctional Florida defense

36:25

for the past few years, but he's flashed some ability.

36:28

He's a guy that's been playing, I think since twenty eighteen

36:30

or twenty nineteen on that field and has

36:32

flashed him up and down play. I think we liked him

36:34

at times, we didn't like him at times, but

36:39

injuries changes

36:41

the whole deal. To see him go over No

36:43

A soool that surprised me a little bit. And also

36:46

Breton Strange sixty first

36:48

overall, fran that spots

36:50

ahead of Tucker Kraft, ahead of Darnett

36:52

Washington, tight end six at

36:54

sixty first overall. A lot of tight ends went

36:56

off early day two.

36:57

Yeah, I really liked Breton Strange

37:00

on tape. I think you did too. Right, you really like Brittany

37:02

Strange.

37:02

He stood out in that Auburn game early on and had a pancake

37:05

off the edge, and that's when I started watching him.

37:06

To me, like reminds me a lot of like what we like

37:09

so much about Tommy Tremble coming out of another name,

37:11

like a really athletic just like a nasty

37:13

kid is going to rip your face off like.

37:17

An h back move.

37:18

Tighten reminded me a little bit of IRV Smith coming out.

37:20

No doubt. And so I think when you're looking at Strange, it's

37:22

like, okay, yeah, Like I like Tucker Craft

37:25

more, but different players, right. I mean

37:27

tuker Craft's like you're kind of your classic inline guy

37:29

and you're gonna move them around a little bit. But Strange it's

37:31

just a different body type. And so I liked

37:33

that pick. But it was definitely surprising for

37:36

sure. Day three early impact. This is going to

37:38

be interesting because they had, like as you mentioned earlier,

37:40

ten picks on Day three, just a

37:42

wild allotment of selections here.

37:45

For the Jaguars traded down a bunch they had

37:47

to pick from the Jets in the James Robinson

37:49

trade, they had to pick from the Panthers in

37:51

the was that that was the Leviscus Channault trade,

37:53

so they.

37:54

Had to choose from this will be the one where we're gonna

37:56

pick the same I know.

37:56

Yeah, probably I picked Uh do

37:58

we do like a one two three? It's all right, sturdy at

38:01

the same time you go first, I'll go Tyler

38:03

Lacy here from Oklahoma State. You mentioned him earlier,

38:05

you know, big body to end. And the reason why I

38:07

like it the Jaguars are one of those teams last

38:09

year where you know, hey, it's third down or if

38:12

it's second and twelve, they're gonna put all

38:14

like like body defensive linemen out in all the

38:16

field and it's gonna be a bunch of those dns. The kick inside,

38:18

arden Key kicks inside, and you've got like four

38:21

guys that are six foot four, two hundred

38:23

and seventy five two hundred and eighty five pounds coming at

38:25

the quarterback. Like Tyler Lacy is

38:27

basically that guy. He's just gonna line up as a defensive

38:29

tackle more often than not. Right, So you

38:32

know, I think at the end of the day, like he kind of fits

38:34

what they've built up front.

38:35

Yeah, they love the edges that are

38:38

the beat your face in type. Yeah, they're

38:40

going to run around you. They're gonna mault tight ends.

38:42

They're a little heavier, they are super athletic,

38:45

and the Ry Robertson Harris is of little world

38:47

Tyler Lacy I think fits that perfectly

38:50

fits the style of a Trayvon Walker

38:52

just and obviously not in a as explosive

38:54

package, but fits the tone. But my

38:57

pick for a Day three impact it's

38:59

gotta be Parker Washington sixth

39:01

round pick out of Penn State, which they have Calvin

39:03

Ridley, they have Christian Kirk. You know, Zay

39:05

Jones is a nice possession piece in there. It's going

39:07

to catch balls over the middle.

39:09

Then I think.

39:09

Receiver four is wide open. I really

39:11

think Parker Washington is not only going to make

39:14

the team, but be an impactful player

39:16

in the offense. And I think he's somebody

39:18

in like the camp and the preseason is gonna

39:20

have a huge you know, preseason two or three

39:22

and really get his name out there. End up being

39:25

a borderline, you know, fantasy

39:27

play. I think as the season moves on.

39:29

Yeah, I think of the all the reps we

39:31

saw Christian Kirk taking in the backfield last

39:33

year, like Parker Washington could do all that stuff too, right,

39:35

so there'll be an interesting player for them in the middle

39:38

of that offense.

39:39

Tank Bigsby the compliment

39:41

a Travis etn.

39:42

Yes, but dude, like he might be

39:44

more than a compliment when it's all said and done, Like

39:46

he could be the guy. He could be the guy. It would not shock

39:48

me if that's the way that it shook out.

39:50

But not to mention, Brenton Strange is like a move

39:52

tight end with a Derek Parrish, who

39:54

is a full back edge from Houston, kind

39:57

of do it all, you know, rip your face off

39:59

type of football player.

40:00

Man.

40:01

Doug Peterson's getting a lot of fun offensive

40:03

pieces out there, and I think a lot of this is going to come

40:05

down to the offensive line making it

40:07

work.

40:07

Well, let's rewind back to like last January

40:10

February. Then every year the Combine

40:12

list comes out, and then what's the first piece

40:15

of content that comes out from all the

40:17

draft analysts is all these are the Combine

40:19

snubs. Here are the top ten, the top fifteen.

40:21

Well, the Jaguars, and it helps when you have ten Day

40:23

three picks. The Jaguars selected five guys

40:26

that were not invited to the combine. So they

40:28

were okay with taking some of these combines. Some five

40:30

guys not invited to Indianapolis that end

40:32

up there with the Jacksonville Jaguars.

40:35

You have a doubtful look on your face. So I'm going to go

40:37

through the Let's go through the list for you.

40:39

Okay, one second, so hold on, I have it right

40:41

here. The good thing is is I was expecting you

40:43

to question this, and so I had it ready for

40:45

me.

40:46

All right, So all right, definitely the app the app State,

40:48

oh lineman, Yeah, Voschek from

40:50

North Carolina.

40:51

That's two easy ones.

40:52

All right, so exactly, and they're actually all right in a

40:54

row. So it was Christian braswell,

40:57

the corner from Rutgers. It was Eric Hallett,

40:59

the second, the same safe from Pitt Cooper

41:01

Hodges from app State, like you mentioned, Ray Vohoschek

41:03

from North Carolina, the defensive tackle.

41:05

And then Derek Parrish, who was on all those combine

41:08

lists, the snub list, the fullback from Houston.

41:10

So they end the draft with five guys that were not invited

41:12

to the combine. So they'll be okay with that

41:14

snub list. That might be something to keep an eye

41:16

on if you're a Jaguars fan next spring.

41:19

Yeah, I don't know what Doug Peterson's doing out in Indy

41:21

these days.

41:21

Anyways.

41:22

All right, let's get to the next team here,

41:24

our final team between the two of us, the Tennessee

41:26

Titans. They select Piters Skronsky

41:29

with their first pick at number eleven overall. And I

41:31

don't that was not a popular mock draft choice

41:33

when you look at all all the big mock drafts, all the sharp

41:35

morock drafts. But your thoughts on Scronsky ending

41:38

up in Tennessee, Well.

41:39

They just come so far. I mean just two years

41:41

ago.

41:41

I think they were in the AFC Championship Game in

41:44

twenty nineteen. But looking at the twenty twenty

41:46

season, they had Taylor Lewan and Jack

41:48

Conklin, Ben Jones, Roger Staffle,

41:50

Nate Davis, those guys are all

41:53

gone. They needed to hit reset on

41:55

the offensive line. He brought in a Daniel

41:57

brun Skill. You brought in an Andre Dillard. You're

41:59

trying to fix some things in free agency, but

42:02

adding a Peter Skearansky was in need.

42:04

Whether he plays left tackle, left guard, right

42:06

guard, right tackle, you need

42:08

to improve this offensive line. If you're gonna keep

42:10

rolling with the Tannehill for another year or two

42:13

and keep rolling with Derek Henry,

42:15

you better add some physical offensive lineman

42:17

to make this run game tick. And I think last year

42:19

they had a bit of an identity crisis with the type

42:21

of offensive lineman. Think Skearansky

42:24

fits that previous era of nasty,

42:26

tough, physical.

42:28

Movie off the ball types.

42:29

I think they got a little bit light, a little bit too athletic

42:32

the past few years with the you know, Aaron

42:34

Brewer types and Dylan ray Dunes and a

42:36

little bit of an undersized guy. I think Scaranki's

42:39

gonna fit the tone that Mike Vrabel wants

42:41

for the team and the rushing style

42:43

and philosophy of the offense.

42:44

And you know what I like about it too is that you know, look,

42:47

this is a team that we talked about like a

42:49

traits like they've gone for the tracy players

42:52

over the years under a former general manager, John

42:54

Robinson. And then also they are not afraid to take

42:56

risks under John Robinson, right, whether it's

42:58

medical or character like. They they took a lot of guys

43:01

and some of them hit and some of them didn't. When you look

43:03

at Skoronski universally was viewed

43:05

as I don't know, like if you pulled like every draft

43:07

analyst instead of who were the safest players in the draft,

43:09

Like, my guess is Skoransky was gonna show up on the

43:11

top five, top three of that list every single time.

43:13

So to just say like, hey, you know what, let's just keep this one

43:16

in the fair way. Skoransky, whether he's a

43:18

tackle, whether he's a guard, like you feel good that he's gonna

43:20

sit or he's gonna hit and be an NFL

43:22

starter. I kind of liked that, taking a step

43:24

back and looking at the selection.

43:25

Yeah, I think that's really fair.

43:27

But coming with safeness sometimes

43:29

comes with blandness. And I think Skoransky

43:32

wherever he went was gonna get met with a

43:34

little bit of okay, good pick.

43:36

But but and I think that was

43:39

the tone around him as a prospect. I think you're getting

43:41

a really good player the plug and play, whether

43:43

guard or tackle, day one, and

43:45

I think it's gonna be a spot you can trust immediately.

43:48

That's good value.

43:49

He may not have the wow traits, the wow length,

43:52

the Wow paycakes, the wow personality

43:54

off the field, that's okay, He's.

43:56

Gonna get the job done on the table.

43:58

All right, let's go to the biggest surprise,

44:00

your biggest shock for the Tennessee Titans.

44:02

I think trading up in the second round

44:04

to get Will leave us. You know, they have Tannehill,

44:07

who is not a cheap quarterback. They took you

44:09

know, Malik Willis last year in the third

44:11

round, so it's essentially saying we're comfortable

44:14

moving on from that project. So to pay

44:16

a high dollar amount to Tannehill, then

44:18

second round money to leave us third

44:20

round money to Malik Willis, it's

44:23

a lot of resources of the quarterback spot

44:25

on a team that has a bit of an

44:27

identity crisis, you know, can use some more receiver

44:29

help. Paying a lot of money to Derrick Henry

44:32

behind an offensive line like I had mentioned, has

44:34

gotten smaller and less physical to

44:36

spend second round capital, which you traded

44:39

up, so you spent some leader capital to go

44:41

do that on another quarterback.

44:43

It's certainly planning for the future, but it might

44:45

come at the expense of twenty twenty three.

44:48

It's like one of those things too, where if

44:50

Will of Us hits like you're good right and you're

44:52

in great shape, You're what the Eagles have been over the last

44:54

few years with Jalen Hurts, Right, But if he doesn't

44:57

hit, then you've given up the quality asset

44:59

in a second round pick, plus the other complimentary

45:01

pieces that you gave up to go get. Will

45:03

Levis Tannehill on the back end of his deal.

45:06

If you want to try and upgrade that position, you're

45:08

starting like behind the eight ball because of the assets

45:10

you had already given up, right, And so I think a

45:12

lot of people would argue that it's also a risk

45:14

worth taking, right because of what the potential

45:16

boom could be. It's tough. I am of the

45:18

believer that you always keep swinging at quarterback.

45:21

A lot of people will say, like, you know, you question the Desmond

45:23

Rider selection by Atlanta last year. You put this

45:25

one in there with it, Will Levis, You look at what Houston

45:27

did with Davis Mills a couple of years ago, right, Like

45:30

taking those Day two quarterbacks that might get

45:32

it's kind of like a gray area where it's like, oh, like

45:34

the guy wasn't good enough to go in round one. You know,

45:36

he's not quite a Day three guy, So like, all right,

45:38

like where does he end up? What kind of player are

45:40

we talking about if that hits, that

45:42

is such a huge boom for your football team, and so, you

45:45

know, I kind of go both ways with it, but I definitely see

45:47

what you were saying. I guess the Taj Spears ending

45:49

up on day two a little bit of a surprise

45:51

for me, just because of all the whispers you had heard about

45:53

the medical stuff you mentioned earlier. You know, they're running

45:56

back from Tulane. But again, if he hits, that's

45:58

a big time player.

45:59

Yeah, And just looking at this offensive roster,

46:02

I think we'll leave us will eventually get some starts

46:04

this season. I don't know under what circumstances,

46:06

but I think it's going to be really tough to evaluate.

46:09

You know, behind this offensive line, not a

46:11

great receiver room as it sits right now.

46:13

You're going to have to feed Derek Henry and get your money's

46:16

worth out of that high value contract, and

46:18

that's your identity of the football team. I

46:20

just think we'll leave us is going to be one of those guys that's

46:23

playing around kind of suspect parts

46:25

may look a little dysfunctional. You're going to

46:27

finish twenty twenty three and still

46:29

have questions about the quarterback spot moving

46:31

forward and who the guy is. So this is

46:34

a team that could be picking three, four

46:36

five next season and have to make a

46:38

big decision on do we go

46:40

Marvin Harrison junior? Or do we go a

46:42

new left tackle? Do we go the premier

46:45

edge rusher? Do we try to get one of the quarterbacks?

46:47

While we're sitting up here, another team that

46:49

I think is just as I've been saying, a little

46:52

bit of identity crisis, and I think this is a huge

46:54

season to figure out where you are with

46:56

some of these incumbents.

46:57

Let's go to Day three. Here, three flayers on Day

46:59

three, after the trade up and some other deals

47:01

they've made, it's only three picks here. Josh Wiley,

47:04

the senior tight end from Cincinnati, Jalen

47:06

Duncan, the tackle from Maryland, and then

47:08

Colton Dowell, the wide receiver from

47:10

UT Martin. We did not discuss Colton

47:13

Dowell at all. I need to know. Did you grind the

47:15

UT Martin film before the draft?

47:17

Did you watch Colton Dowell? I did, but

47:20

stonefaced liar, I.

47:21

Watched one game I did.

47:23

He lit up Tennessee, all right, So he

47:25

had a game I think one hundred and twenty yards against

47:27

the University of Tennessee the premier game.

47:30

I'm asking this sincerely, like, what's the skill set here with

47:32

Colton Dowell?

47:33

Really good size receiver six two two

47:35

oh five. He's a good size, he's functional

47:38

size, not too big for his own good and play

47:40

special teams, can win down the field, makes

47:42

a lot of good jump catches in traffic or

47:44

you know with the cornerback on his back and just

47:46

looking at the receiving pecking order. We have trailing

47:49

Burkes, we have Westbrook II Keen, we have

47:51

Kyle Phillips in the slot. Racey mcmatth

47:53

ended up being a nice piece they took two years ago, Chris

47:56

Moore from the Texans coming in,

47:58

and then I think it's Colton Dowells to compete

48:00

with McMath and more for snaps

48:02

and kind of special teams present. So I

48:04

think he really embodies some of those previous

48:07

late Day three picks. And also look out

48:09

for Jacob Copeland as an undrafted

48:11

me to compete in that receiver room. But Coltland

48:14

Dowell, as I should say, as I mentioned

48:16

U T. Martin had a big game against the Tennessee

48:19

Volunteers and not going too far here

48:21

with the Tennessee Titans, so obviously

48:23

making some more headlines there out there in Nashville.

48:25

For me, I howbout Jalen Duncan, the tackle

48:27

from Maryland. Dude, if you had asked me six

48:30

months ago, actually more than that now, I guess could

48:32

be coming out of last summer, all right, Jalen

48:34

Duncan, I would have said, like, yeah, like I kind of feel

48:37

better about his upside moving into

48:39

the NFL than Peter Skronsky, the guy

48:41

that they took in the first round, right, And look, Duncan,

48:43

you look at the traits. He's got everything.

48:46

He just has not been able to put consistently put it all

48:48

together. He's given up a ton of production over the course

48:50

of his career. Like clearly not a finished

48:52

product yet. But this is the guy that I think the ceiling

48:54

is really high, and I really liked him coming in.

48:56

He was my favorite senior tackle coming into

48:58

the fall last year or so you're hoping

49:00

the arrow is pointing up that his best football

49:03

is ahead of them, but they might have got a gym there in

49:05

the middle of day three.

49:06

He's one of these types that offensive line coaches

49:08

just won't be able to quit. He just reminds

49:10

me a lot of like a le Raven Clark, right,

49:13

he didn't go as early as he did. Clark was a third

49:15

round pick, but Clark's been on I think his fourth

49:17

or fifteen in like five years.

49:19

Yep.

49:19

The guy that has all the tools, all the ability,

49:22

all the length, just needs to put it all

49:24

together like that

49:27

kind of thousand percent. Now a boy

49:29

he had some coaching, you know, yeah, yeah, early

49:31

in his career, and they all have different reasons for

49:33

their success or lack thereof. But Duncan

49:36

has all the tools, and offensive line coaches

49:38

are just gonna say, look, give me that guy. I

49:40

can work with that guy and then obviously try

49:42

to put their stamp and fix them. But Duncan's

49:44

a guy everybody just want to take that step.

49:47

The past two summers never

49:49

did his play just leveled off a little bit. But he

49:51

flashes some Day two

49:53

type of prospect play, and he flashes some undrafted

49:56

type of play, and I think getting them right there in the sixth

49:58

round or fifth round is I'll be the

50:00

most appropriate.

50:01

Well, Ben Four divisions up, four divisions down.

50:04

We are halfway through our divisional recaps.

50:06

Here. The twenty twenty three NFL Draft, and we are also

50:08

look, I was like kind of like plotting ahead on the

50:10

podcast. We're not too far

50:13

away from our first previews of the twenty twenty

50:15

four class number one. But then you and I are also going

50:17

to be doing some pro scouty, doing a little

50:19

bit of that NFL tape. Over on the Eagle Line

50:21

the Sky Podcast, We're going ahead to some of the Eagles opponents

50:23

here in the coming weeks, so make sure you stay tuned

50:26

for that as well. Coming up on the Eagle Lie the

50:28

Sky podcast. Wherever you get your

50:30

podcast, Ben, Thanks so much, we'll talk to you next week.

50:33

All thirty two teams are always under

50:35

construction. How are they being built? Let's

50:38

check out the blueprint? All

50:42

right? Joining us here this week for the blueprint

50:44

is Zach Kicks from Locked On Colts. You can follow

50:46

him on Twitter at Zach Kicks. Zach returning

50:48

to the podcast to talk through Chris Ballard

50:50

the Indianapolis Colts the twenty twenty three draft

50:53

Shane Stike, in his first draft as

50:55

a head coach, they draft Anthony Richardson

50:57

at number four. Overall, a lot of excitement I

50:59

would imagine out in Indianapolis.

51:01

Oh yeah, for sure. I mean we've

51:03

been waiting for this young quarterback for

51:06

a long time. Obviously, it was

51:08

due back in twenty nineteen

51:10

when Andrew Luck retired, and they've kind

51:12

of been putting band aid after band aid on it

51:14

for years and years with Carson Wentz

51:16

and then Matt Ryan this past year.

51:18

But now finally we have our young quarterback

51:21

to build around. And yes, I know he's a bit

51:23

of polarizing between a lot of people out

51:26

there, but I'm excited to have him

51:28

here in Indian and I'm sure the Colts are too.

51:30

I mean you could see from a lot of their videos they've released

51:32

and stuff like that. I know we get a lot of post

51:34

draft stuff where it's like, oh, this is the guy we wanted it

51:36

all along, but there's a lot of good

51:39

tangible evidence to say this is the guy that Colts

51:41

wanted the whole time.

51:42

Well, and I want to give your flowers here a little bit, because

51:44

you've been kind of pounding this drum for a while that

51:46

you know, Anti Richardson was going to be the guy. There

51:49

were some buzz I want to say, like in late March

51:51

that oh they might go not quarterback here,

51:54

maybe it's going to be Will Levis. There was a lot of buzz

51:56

about it being Levis, or would they make a move up

51:58

for CJ. Strap words

52:00

in your mouth. I'm pretty sure you told me at one point, like, guy,

52:02

if it were down to Stroud and Richardson, that

52:04

they would take Richardson. I think that was just what

52:06

owner Jim Mersey had said that they would have taken Richardson

52:08

if they had the first overall pick, and so clearly

52:11

Richardson was their guy. What gave you

52:13

the confidence that that was going to be the case?

52:15

You know?

52:16

I think the best thing we can say about Chris Broward,

52:18

and we'll talk about this when we talk about his other selections

52:20

in this draft, and obviously talk about his

52:22

draft history, is at the end of the

52:24

day, he's all about swinging for the fences. We're

52:27

putting it in baseball terms, he's all about swinging for

52:29

those home runs. And if you strike

52:31

out, you strike out, it's fine, it's okay.

52:33

Because the draft is such a crapshoot anyway,

52:36

you might as well just give it a really good hard

52:38

swing and swing for those fences and

52:40

whatever happens happens after that.

52:42

But Anthony Richardson is.

52:43

The guy in this draft class where if

52:45

you're stacking all of these guys up there, there's

52:47

no Trevor Lawrence, there's no Andrew Luck.

52:50

In this draft class.

52:51

There was a bunch of guys who had a flawed profiles.

52:54

There's flawed prospects there across

52:56

the board. Why not take that shot

52:58

on a guy like Anthony rich where if

53:01

you can just get his mechanics up and you can get

53:03

him more experience, you're talking about

53:05

a top five quarterback in the NFL. I know it's

53:07

crazy to think about at this level

53:09

because he's coming into the NFL as a fifty two percent

53:11

pastor in college, a guy who never

53:14

really fully put it together at the

53:16

college level. But when you're looking at his

53:18

arm talent, when you're looking at his athleticism, where you're

53:20

talking about his ability and just looking at

53:22

the recent ability of prospects to hit

53:24

and what they kind of have, what attributes

53:26

they have, Anthony Richardson fits

53:28

that mold. Anthony Richard is the guy who's been

53:31

hitting lately, so I understand

53:33

the hit. And when you look at again at Chris Ballard's

53:35

history where he takes those shots on

53:38

high ceiling highly athletic players.

53:41

Anthony Richon fits so many different

53:43

boxes for them, and obviously when you dig

53:45

into his personality and the type of person he

53:47

is, that's exactly.

53:48

What the Colts look for. So it was

53:51

a little tough there throughout the process.

53:52

You know, when all the national media guys were saying Will

53:55

Levis was what one hundred percent the guy, and Will Levis

53:57

was the guy the Colts were zeroing in on, I was like,

54:00

I don't think it's gonna be Will Levis,

54:02

but I doubted myself a little bit there.

54:04

But when they turned the card.

54:06

In and end up being Anthony Richardson, you know, I

54:08

felt very validated in my thoughts and

54:11

kind of what I knew about this Cults organization well.

54:13

And what's what's so interesting, And I love being

54:16

able to follow general managers and team

54:18

builders and head coaches when they've been entrenched

54:20

for a long time, and you know, in terms

54:22

of NFL years, like Chris Palaces been

54:24

the GM for a while, right, He's one of the more tenured

54:27

general managers in the NFL at this point, and

54:29

we've seen him now work with a handful

54:31

of different coaches just because of the turnover they've had

54:33

in Indianapolis and the different kind of stages

54:35

they've been at in the team building process,

54:38

and he's always kind of stayed true to

54:40

like what his template is and what his philosophy

54:43

is. But I think the coaches are always

54:45

kind of involved there as well. This being

54:47

a podcast where a lot of Eagles fans are listening,

54:49

we don't necessarily need to get into why Shane Stikeen

54:51

and Anthony Richardson makes sense. I think people can kind of put

54:53

two and two together there, but just talk about

54:56

you know, Ballard and his ability to kind of

54:58

work in concert with the coaching to

55:00

make sure that hey, like I'm going to stick to what I

55:03

believe, but we're also going to try and fit

55:05

things well for you as well.

55:06

Yeah.

55:07

You know, Chris Ballard said a couple of times throughout the

55:09

process that they didn't change rankings

55:11

of these quarterback prospects throughout the process

55:13

because of Shane Steikeen, but the way

55:16

they viewed these players and how they could use them

55:18

in Indie was changed heavily.

55:20

By what Shane stike Ha said.

55:21

You know, Shane Stikeen would get them in the film room and say,

55:23

hey, we think so and so quarterback

55:25

can do this for us, and we think we can build

55:28

a game plan around this aspect of their game.

55:31

So that's kind of the big impact Shane Stiken had.

55:33

But if you watch with the first pick series

55:35

of the Colts released there on YouTube, you could tell

55:37

throughout that process and throughout that series

55:40

that Shane Stiken was one

55:42

hundred percent all in on

55:44

Anthony Richardson, like that was his

55:46

guy, that was the player where when

55:48

he watched the film he said, you know what, I

55:51

can get this guy to being a top five quarterback

55:53

or a top tier quarterback.

55:54

In the NFL.

55:55

And for Chris Ballard, I think that just lined up perfectly

55:58

with what he was expecting and what he was

56:00

thinking going into this process. Again, Chris

56:02

Ballard is a high level, high

56:04

ceiling type guy. You know, he wants those high

56:07

ceilings and if he swings and misses, it's fine,

56:09

But he wants a coach that's going to line up with that philosophy

56:12

and that ability and what he's thinking with that.

56:14

So I'm assuming that was a big part of

56:16

the coaching process. They did the coaching search that

56:18

they did this past offseason, where you

56:20

know, they probably talked about the potential

56:23

quarterbacks in this draft, and and Shane

56:25

Stiken probably was was a big time

56:27

guye to them where it was like, you know what, this

56:30

is a guy I can get the most out of a player like Anthony

56:33

Richardson more so than a Raheem

56:35

Morris or more so than a Brian Callahan.

56:37

So I do think there had to be kind.

56:39

Of a little bit of a mismatching there and a little

56:41

bit of a conversation.

56:42

But at the end of the day, I think both of those guys.

56:45

Had Anthony Richson as their top guy and

56:47

it just worked out perfectly that he was there at number four.

56:50

All right, Well, let's get into some of these other picks

56:52

here. We'll go to day two, a pair of selections

56:54

for Chris Ballard and the Colts. Julius Brant's

56:57

the corner from Kansas State and Josh

56:59

Downs the wide receiver from North Carolina.

57:01

When you look at those two selections there, what

57:04

does it say about the Colts

57:06

and Ballard and the strategy to select those

57:08

two guys.

57:09

You know, it's hilarious because you have

57:11

me on this show because of my Build a Ballard type

57:13

series, my series where I dive into

57:16

the Ballard brand of player, and

57:19

Julius Brents is the epitome.

57:21

Of Build a Ballard.

57:22

He's the perfect Build a Ballard

57:24

corner, super long, super athletic,

57:27

super high upside, does

57:29

everything that Chris Ballard wants out of a cornerback.

57:32

And then we look at wide receiver and

57:34

Josh Downs is the complete opposite

57:36

of the Build a Ballad wide receiver.

57:39

You know, we talked last year about the build a Ballard

57:41

wide receiver and it's this big jump ball athletic

57:43

wide receiver can win down the field.

57:45

And then they took Michael pay exactly.

57:48

They took Alec Fears last year and I felt so

57:50

vindicated by that. But this year they take Josh

57:52

Downs, and I think those

57:54

two picks right there showed the diconomy

57:57

of a coach's opinion and

57:59

a GM's. You know, when you're looking

58:01

at the GM, the GM wants that athletic

58:03

corner, that big athletic corner, and he

58:05

wants that typical mold. So when

58:07

it came down to picking that defender they needed

58:09

in round two, they took who the GM

58:12

wanted and that is the perfect fit

58:14

for his style. Now we look at round

58:16

three and we're looking for at a playmaker for the offense.

58:19

That's not a Chris Ballard pick there in Josh

58:21

Downs. That's a tiny, tiny wide receiver

58:23

who, yes, he can go up and win the ball, win it

58:26

vertically if he needs to, but he's more of an underneath

58:28

guy. That's a Shane Steiken wide

58:30

receiver. You know, Shane Stiken, quick win wide

58:32

receiver like DeVonta Smith, who

58:34

can win those you know, if you're going empty and you need that

58:36

weak side number two guy that can beat a linebacker

58:39

over the middle, that's Josh Downs, you

58:41

know, just like DeVonta Smith. So you know,

58:43

again you kind of see the dichotomy

58:45

of the two there, where Shane Steiken was probably saying,

58:47

you know what, give me a quick win guy like Josh

58:50

Downs and I'm good. They got him

58:52

in round three, and Chris Ballard said, you

58:54

know what, I need to get my big athletic corner in

58:56

Julius Brientz and they got him in round two.

58:58

So I think they walked away with Day two with two

59:00

guys that really fit what they were looking

59:02

for going forward, especially in terms of just

59:05

young athletic players. And we're

59:07

really excited about both those guys, I think Down's is going

59:09

to be a big time producer in year one

59:11

with Shane Stikeen. And I'm assuming that you guys

59:13

think the same way, knowing what you know about Shane

59:15

stike In.

59:16

Yeah, and you know it's funny too about Julius

59:18

Sprance. To your earlier point about like the selection of

59:20

Shane Stikeen as the head coach, I'm sure that

59:22

part of the reason why Gus Bradley

59:24

was both hired last year and then retained this

59:26

year was his affection for like the bigger,

59:29

longer, tradesier corner, right, and so that

59:31

is a perfect fit for the way that Gus

59:33

Bradleys like to play. Look at it. We'll just

59:35

fast forward to day three as well. Nine picks

59:37

here on day three another corner in

59:39

Darius Rush, the corner from South Carolina,

59:42

was one of the like the taller, longer, tradesier

59:44

corners in this draft, but they take

59:46

him after Blake Freeland, the left tackle

59:48

from BYU who jumped out of the gym in Indy at

59:51

a time and wha atabarre was a legendary

59:53

workout out of Northwestern Daniel Scott,

59:55

the safety from cal He had a pretty good workout.

59:58

Will Mallory from the tight end from Miami, very

1:00:00

athletic physical specimen, evan hole running

1:00:03

back. It could be a space player from Northwestern

1:00:05

Titus Leo from Wagner is a freak show

1:00:08

kind of like an edge linebacker, hybrid player.

1:00:10

Jake Witt tested, you know, he tested like crazy.

1:00:13

The tackle from Northern Michigan, Jalen Jones

1:00:15

a corner as well. So a

1:00:17

bunch of trades players and a bunch

1:00:19

of shots of the apple. A bunch of cracks of the apple here for

1:00:21

Chris Ballard and the scouting staff.

1:00:23

Yeah, for sure.

1:00:24

And you know it's funny that if you go through all those players

1:00:26

like you just did there, what's the most common

1:00:28

thing we're talking about there? Workout warriors,

1:00:30

guys who tested out of the gym, guys who

1:00:32

are super athletic on film. And you

1:00:35

know what, I know, it's a heavily analytic

1:00:37

approach to it.

1:00:37

But like the more.

1:00:39

Shots you have, again, it's

1:00:41

like what I said the top of the show, just swing for the fences.

1:00:43

Of these nine guys.

1:00:44

They took on day three, if three of

1:00:46

them become guys who actually make your roster,

1:00:49

you know, if only three of them make the roster, but with

1:00:51

their athletic ability to become starters one day,

1:00:53

you're talking about one of the best drafts in franchise

1:00:56

history, you know, because you're hitting on these guys

1:00:58

on day three who are so perb

1:01:00

athletes that have success. I mean, if we look

1:01:02

at the tradition of day three

1:01:04

guys that actually hit in the NFL, most of them are

1:01:07

just superb athletes that either slipped because

1:01:09

of off the field concerns or slipped

1:01:11

because of inconsistencies or them being

1:01:13

raw in college. So I always love

1:01:15

the Colts approach to day three.

1:01:17

And you know, it's funny.

1:01:18

I saw a lot throughout this process people being like, oh,

1:01:20

the Colts just drafted the most athletic class in history.

1:01:23

Well, actually look at their twenty twenty two class

1:01:25

as well, the twenty Yeah,

1:01:27

Jelannie Woods, Bernard Ryman, Nick

1:01:30

Cross, Like they've been going superb

1:01:33

athlete the last couple of seasons, and

1:01:35

I think this is the way to go.

1:01:37

Again. If you miss, you miss, it's fine. But

1:01:39

at the end of the day that these.

1:01:40

Guys where that you're taking these big shots on,

1:01:43

if they fail, they could probably

1:01:45

still be good special teamers. I mean, Daniel Scott

1:01:48

is a guy who I think is going to be a phenomenal special

1:01:50

team or at worst in the NFL.

1:01:52

Darius Rush, I think you had like fifteen

1:01:54

special teams tackles the last two seasons

1:01:56

there at South Carolina as a gunner, another

1:01:59

guy can be a really good special team. So you're getting

1:02:01

guys where, yes, the ceiling is high,

1:02:03

but the floor is not that low because of what they

1:02:05

can do with special teams. So I always love teams

1:02:08

that take shots on athletes on Day three and

1:02:10

what people joked about. If you see what

1:02:12

the Colts did on Day three, it's just shots

1:02:14

and shots and shots at the.

1:02:16

Ten rs guys.

1:02:18

You know, the Conrambine Warriors,

1:02:20

the Pro Day Warriors, and you know

1:02:22

what they hit, they hit. So I always love

1:02:24

this approach that the Colts take, and

1:02:26

I couldn't be happier with.

1:02:28

That's and I feel like that's like the one element

1:02:30

that is missing for like the pure

1:02:32

like analytical approach. It's like, Okay, hey, we're gonna

1:02:34

take like big, strong, physical, hight weight speed athletes.

1:02:37

We're gonna take a lot of them, right, We're gonna trade down, We're

1:02:39

gonna acquire as many picks and take as many you

1:02:41

know, throw as many darks as possible. The only

1:02:43

thing that I feel like from an analytics standpoint that people

1:02:45

are like, you know, up in my arms about when it comes

1:02:47

to Chris Ballard is like the position value

1:02:50

standpoint is like, all right, like spending those high

1:02:52

acquisitions on interior offensive linemen

1:02:55

or on tight end position, and you go

1:02:57

down the list there not necessarily on left

1:03:00

tackle and corner and pass rush.

1:03:02

Yeah, you know, I will say this.

1:03:04

I've been very critical about Chris Ballard

1:03:06

with that in regards to his positional

1:03:08

value. But if you look at the last couple of seasons,

1:03:11

a lot of his top picks have been on.

1:03:13

Prime position in terms of positional

1:03:15

value.

1:03:15

I mean this past year, you know the draft

1:03:17

that we just had, it went quarterback, corner,

1:03:20

wide receiver. Yep, those are high

1:03:22

value positions right there. Years leading

1:03:24

up to this they go pass rusher heavy in twenty twenty,

1:03:27

the year before that, you know, they take left tackle

1:03:29

really high, they take wide receiver very

1:03:31

high. Yes, they take safety and tight end

1:03:34

high. But again it depends on how you value

1:03:36

those positions and what you're going to have them do in

1:03:38

your team. But you know, the last couple of years, they really

1:03:40

have trended towards actually

1:03:43

taking those high value.

1:03:44

Positions very high.

1:03:45

It's just early on in Chris Ballard's

1:03:47

tenure it's been we're taking prime

1:03:49

positions high. It's just the ones that are hitting

1:03:51

are the Shaquille Leonards. They are the Bradon

1:03:54

Smiths, who we thought was a guard moving

1:03:56

over to tackle, which ended up being a very high value

1:03:59

there. It is the the Quentin Nelson's at

1:04:01

guard there. It's like, Okay, those ones are hitting,

1:04:03

but we wish the Komopaturres hit. We wish

1:04:05

the Taekwon Lewis has hit who they spent prime

1:04:07

picks on.

1:04:08

Yah.

1:04:08

I don't think the issue too much is with Chris Ballard

1:04:11

spending those picks on high

1:04:13

value positions. It's just hitting

1:04:15

on those positions there. We've seen some

1:04:18

hits and misses there obviously there, and he

1:04:20

has a much better track record with guard and

1:04:23

inside linebacker. But this next

1:04:25

draft class, obviously the one that we just had here, is going

1:04:27

to be the biggest indicator on Chris Ballard.

1:04:29

You know, Candy hit on that.

1:04:30

Quarterback position, Candy hit on

1:04:32

corner for once with Julius Sprintz. Can he hit

1:04:34

on wide receiver there? With Josh downs? Those

1:04:36

are gonna be the biggest questions. But until

1:04:38

you start consistently hitting on those priority

1:04:40

positions, like you said, you're always going to have that

1:04:43

stigma of oh you value inside.

1:04:45

Linebacker, Oh you value guard.

1:04:47

So I understand where you're coming from with that, But I do think

1:04:49

there has been a recent focus with Chris

1:04:52

Ballard actually throwing picks

1:04:54

at those prime positions. It's just we

1:04:56

need those guys to hit now, you know.

1:04:58

And I think those are all valid points

1:05:00

for sure. So you know, we talk about like the traits,

1:05:02

the athleticism profile, all of that.

1:05:05

Are there any other kind of like actionable items

1:05:07

for people, you know, whether it's kind of just thinking about

1:05:09

the Colts and the way they build their team. You're putting together a mock

1:05:11

draft for next year, you know, what are some other

1:05:13

things to kind of keep in mind. I've got a couple, but I

1:05:15

would love to be for you to to throw some out.

1:05:18

Yeah, you know, the biggest thing is obviously the athletes.

1:05:21

You know, I think I think we can't deny these

1:05:23

last two years. I think again, if you're looking at

1:05:26

kent't Lee Platt's RAS stuff or whatever

1:05:28

over there at math bomb on Twitter

1:05:30

if you're looking at that stuff. I think they've only drafted like

1:05:32

two guys under nine point zero Ris

1:05:35

the last two.

1:05:36

Sadason Why that is insane? Wow.

1:05:38

Yeah, I think it's been Jalen Jones and

1:05:41

I want to say Titus Leo was slightly

1:05:43

under. I think those are the only two guys

1:05:45

so of the last two classes, like twenty players

1:05:49

you know that has been under.

1:05:51

Doesn't he define elite as an eight point zero Yeah,

1:05:54

Like so they say, like, okay, like we were talking elite

1:05:56

of elite to say we're only we're not going below

1:05:58

nine point zero.

1:05:59

That often, right, if you're mocking for the

1:06:01

Colts going forward, just the elites

1:06:03

of the elites athletes, they don't even consider

1:06:06

them for the Colts. If they're below the elites

1:06:08

of the athletes, you know, if it's a middling athlete,

1:06:11

don't even consider them for the Colts.

1:06:12

There.

1:06:12

But yeah, if you're mocking for this team going

1:06:15

forward, you want to put a priority on explosion.

1:06:18

I think that's the biggest one there because the Colts

1:06:20

have you know, again with all

1:06:22

this nine point zero RIS stuff, and all that and superb

1:06:25

and superb athletes. You know, it's most of

1:06:27

the explosion that they're looking for. You're

1:06:29

looking at the high verts, you're looking at the high broad

1:06:31

jumps, You're looking at guys who are those

1:06:33

really fast ten yard splits. No

1:06:35

matter what position, they want that

1:06:38

explosion at every position. They want guys

1:06:40

who are just fast out of their jump.

1:06:42

That's what you really like out of those players there. But outside

1:06:45

of that, you know, they like the small schoolers.

1:06:47

Titus Leo, they like that.

1:06:49

They're like Drew owl Tree last year

1:06:51

out of Youngstown State got him,

1:06:54

I think Eric Johnson out of Missouri State.

1:06:56

The year before that.

1:06:57

If you can go further back, they got ej Eat

1:07:00

out of Tarlington State. They love

1:07:02

to go to those small school guys. So I always try to find

1:07:04

some small school guys they like as well.

1:07:06

He has said in the past, because of this

1:07:08

is Chris Ballard, he has said that, like you

1:07:10

know, going back to his days at Texas Aum

1:07:12

Kingsville, he'll always have an eye on like the Lone

1:07:14

Star Conference down there in Deep So

1:07:17

he's not bashtball about taking those small school.

1:07:19

Guys right right exactly.

1:07:21

So I always try to I always try to highlight some small

1:07:23

school guys they could like, and I got.

1:07:24

Close this year. I got close.

1:07:26

I didn't get Titus Leo, I got

1:07:28

Cody Crest, who is one of their undrafted free agent

1:07:31

guys, and Leam Anderson out of holy

1:07:33

Cross I got. But uh yeah,

1:07:35

you definitely want to look up the small school guys

1:07:37

there for the late Day three stuff. But it

1:07:39

really comes down to superb athletes that

1:07:41

know what they're doing on special teams and on

1:07:43

Day three, if you're mocking for the Colts on Day

1:07:46

three, guys that have changed positions.

1:07:49

That is what they love

1:07:51

that stuff because it shows the ability to

1:07:53

overcome adversity in college.

1:07:55

If you look at guys this past year, Darius Rush

1:07:58

changed positions in college, Jake quit I knew

1:08:00

for a fact, without even talking to Jake Witt

1:08:02

that that was going to be a guy that Colts would like because

1:08:04

he changed positions and he changed sports even

1:08:07

in college.

1:08:07

If you even go into the past, you know, EJ.

1:08:09

Speed changed multiple positions in college.

1:08:12

I think Nate Harston a couple of years ago

1:08:14

change positions in college. You know they love those

1:08:16

guys who changed positions. So on

1:08:18

Day three if you're looking at the Colts and what kind

1:08:20

of players they like, if you find an athlete that

1:08:22

has changed positions in college, that's

1:08:25

an Indianapolis cult right there.

1:08:26

And they took two of them this past season.

1:08:28

Yeah. And also the other big thing, and this was

1:08:30

apparent this year. I mean, they took seven guys arount

1:08:32

the Senior Bowl.

1:08:33

Yes, they love them.

1:08:35

It helps when you got twelve picks, so the volume is

1:08:37

going to be there, but it was a six in a row. It

1:08:39

was like six guys in a row. On day three, we're all

1:08:41

at the Senior Bowl. So it feels like, all right, like a Senior

1:08:43

Bowl high athlete like check

1:08:46

the box. You feel like they're going into Yeah.

1:08:48

Yeah. I actually always put in my build a Ballad

1:08:50

series that we talked about on here, I always put like a big

1:08:52

Star next to players that have Senior Bowl

1:08:55

because if they have that and there's like a

1:08:57

tiebreaker between it went in doubt the Colts

1:08:59

would go Senior. They typically go to

1:09:01

those Senior Bowl guys. They also like Trying guys too,

1:09:03

and some hula guys as well, but Senior

1:09:06

Bowl they very very much.

1:09:07

Value because you know, they get more info on those

1:09:09

guys.

1:09:09

They talk to them more in those interviews, and

1:09:11

then they meet up with them again at the combine, So

1:09:13

they just have more conversations with those

1:09:16

players and they feel more comfortable about those evaluations.

1:09:18

But yeah, that's a great observation Senior

1:09:21

Bowl guys. They absolutely love Senior Bowl guys.

1:09:23

Well, Zach, this has been awesome for everybody looking

1:09:26

for more work like this. Make sure you go follow

1:09:28

Zach on Twitter check them out over on Lockdown Colts.

1:09:30

Zach, thanks so much for joining us once again here on

1:09:32

the Journey to the Draft Podcast.

1:09:33

Of course anytime. Man.

1:09:37

Now it's time to hear from you the fans

1:09:40

in the Draft mail Bag. All

1:09:43

rights, some great stuff there from Zach. Let's now get

1:09:45

to our question here in our draft mail Bag, and again

1:09:47

the best way to get into this segment

1:09:50

is to go into Apple Podcast. Leave us a rating, leave

1:09:52

us a comment. I want to give a shout out here to

1:09:55

er dj Kidd who left a five star

1:09:57

review just saying, Fran what an Eagles

1:09:59

draft. What a great draft for the Birds. I'm

1:10:01

looking up and down this roster and I'm having a hard

1:10:03

time getting to fifty three as some really

1:10:05

good players are probably not going to make this team. My

1:10:07

question is do you still see any glaring

1:10:10

holes? Maybe linebacker, maybe one more veteran

1:10:12

Oligneman did not think this roster could

1:10:14

be as strong as last year's, but wow,

1:10:16

and that's from Ed Devlin, So Ed, you

1:10:19

know, look, what I would say is, clearly there's a lot of talent

1:10:21

on the team right go out. You add in some players

1:10:24

on the pro market, with guys like Rashad Penny

1:10:26

and DeAndre Swift. I like a lot of the veteran

1:10:29

depth that they acquired, right whether it was guys like Greedy

1:10:31

Williams or you go to the safety market

1:10:33

with Terrell Edmunds and Contavious Street. I've

1:10:35

always been a big fan of right, so both

1:10:38

sides of the ball, they added some pro talent and then

1:10:40

clearly one of the better drafts in the

1:10:42

NFL this year. So there's a lot to like about what the Eagles

1:10:44

did this offseason. That said, there's

1:10:47

still a lot that's unknown and you still need

1:10:49

to let this play out. So whether that means

1:10:51

letting it play out over the next few weeks, over the

1:10:53

course of mini camps, and they're obviously the OTAs

1:10:56

that are going on right now, or once

1:10:58

you get on the field this summer for training camp and letting

1:11:00

those things play out. What we do know is

1:11:03

that with Howie Roseman in this Eagles front office,

1:11:05

the roster building does not stop. The

1:11:07

team acquisitions do not stop. It was after this

1:11:10

date a year ago when the Eagles acquired James

1:11:12

Bradberry. It was after final cuts last summer

1:11:14

when the Eagles traded for CJ. Gardner Johnson.

1:11:16

Then they go out in season and they get in dono Quan Sue

1:11:18

and Linval Joseph right. So the pattern

1:11:20

there being that they're always going to look for

1:11:22

ways to be able to beef up the roster, even

1:11:25

if it's something small like going and acquiring

1:11:27

like Marcus Steps off the waiver wire from the Minnesota

1:11:29

Vikings a few falls ago and kind of stashing him

1:11:31

and letting him develop and then him becoming

1:11:34

a starter down the road. You're always looking

1:11:36

for ways to be able to kind of create some talent

1:11:38

on the roster. They're going to always try

1:11:40

and find ways to do that. And so it's a good

1:11:42

question. It's a very talented roster, but things still

1:11:44

have to come together. Guys have to step up

1:11:47

and take some of these jobs obviously knock on

1:11:49

wood, you have to stay healthy as well, so

1:11:51

Ed appreciate the five star review, appreciate

1:11:53

the question, and appreciate you following

1:11:56

along and listening here to the Journey of the Draft podcast.

1:11:58

Big thanks to Ben Fennel to Zach Hicks

1:12:00

as well for joining us. We'll be back next week right

1:12:02

here on the Journey to the Draft Podcast