Draft Season | New York GiantsIt is now officially open.
This is draft season. John Milk, Tony Pauline with you, thank you for being with us. We are back from Indianapolis at the Combine after a lot of steak, a lot of walking around, a lot of talking to people, a lot of watching guys in shorts and t shirts running around a football field.
Always a good time at the Combine.
Johnsh Milk, Tony Pauline from sports Keita, Tony, how are you sir?
Okay, little tireds. They were just about all of the workouts, So though they dragged on for a long long time, some of those days were seven eight hour days. I finally got their late late, late late Sunday afternoon as a second group of offensive linemen we're working out. But it was a productive and not tiring week.
Yeah.
Look, you start early, you go late if in terms of talking to the prospects, doing the work, and then trying to network and talk to people all night.
So there are certainly long days.
And as always, Tony, a lot of the talk was about the quarterbacks now was disappointing. And by the way, just so fans know, we're gonna do offense today since next week is gonna be kind of in the middle of free agency and we don't really know what's happening yet. We're just gonna do the second part of our combine review defense next week, and we're also gonna get kind of the latest things Tony is hearing at each one of these spots heading out of the combine. So that's what these next two weeks to look at. The week after that, we're gonna talk about how free agency will impact team needs in the draft, and that's what these next three weeks will kind of look like on draft season, so certainly stay tuned.
All right, So, Tony, let's start with quarterback.
Then it was the big talk, and we'll get to the guys that did throw with the bigger talk with the guys that did not throw. The three consensus top three, and you can tell me if you think that they're not still the guns that's this top there. I know some people have intimated JJ McCarthy might be slipping into that conversation. Caleb Williams did not talk, Drake May did not talk, did not work out, and neither did Jayden Daniels.
So your thoughts on the quarterback position overall?
I thought it was a mistake by Drake May not to throw. We talked about Caleb Williams. We knew we always gonna throw. Jade McDaniels. I mean, he's gonna go to his proda, He's gonna throw to Brian Thomas and Malik Neighbors. I mean, he's the number two quarterback in the board right now. There's only one spot to move up, and I don't think he's gonna move up to that spot. I do think it was a mistake that Drake May I did not throw. I disagree with the fact that JJ McCarthy could displace Drake May as the number three quarterback. We'll talk about that workout. I think Drake May's probably going to go in the middle part of round one. What I heard coming out of the combine is Jean Payton of Denver absolutely loves JJ McCarthy. As I've said from the Shrine ball, I mean, he wanted to move up to get a quarterback. He may not have to move up to get JJ McCarthy. And as we saw just a day before, uh we're taking this podcast, they're letting their veteran quarterback go. They're gonna take an eighty five million dollar hit against the salary cap. They need a quarterback. I think he's gonna be JJ McCarthy.
All right, so let's talk about the guys that did throw.
Let's start with McCarthy Tony and you know, talking to people out there, I would be at this point shocked if he drops out of the top fifteen. There are just too many quarterback needy teams between that ten and fifteen area. Whether it's the Vikings that they don't resign Kirk Cousins. You mentioned the Denver Broncos, the Las Vegas Raiders are in their heck, I'll even throw the New Orleans Saints in there, not even to mention the Atlanta Falcons at number eight. So there are a lot of teams that need quarterbacks. And you know, he's a guy that I know wowed teams and meetings. You're listening to him at the podium, he's kind of like Captain America standing there. He always says the right thing. I'm about eight games into his tape. By the time we record our next live podcast, I'll have gone through it all the way.
But it just seems like, I mean, I'm willing to bet that he's going.
To be a top fifteen pick here is that the impression you got walking out of Indianapolis as well?
I did more so based on the needed quarterback and the fact that team teams are desperate at quarterback and those top three guys are gonna come up the board quickly, rather than the fact that he just blew anybody away with his workout at the combine, whether it's throwing workout. I mean, the interviews you knew were gonna go great. As I said all along about JJ McCarthy, he's got a lot of moxie, he's got a lot of confidence. He was a terrific leader. I'll be interested to hear your thoughts. You watched, he said, you watch eight games on him. But I know when I watched the throwing workout, I was not overly impressed. Yes, he had some really nice deep throws, no doubt about it. Through the deep out relatively well, through the long pass relatively well. But those short and intermediate passes that JJ McCarthy threw were all over the place. I mean they were wild, and you could see at times when he tried to put extra speed on the throws, when he tried to zip the outs, he was overthrowing they were going over the receiver's head, which is JJ McCarthy. So do I think he's gonna go top fifteen? Yes, I think he's gonna go to Denver Broncos in one shape form or another. But I think it's more because teams are desperate in that top fifteen, you know, when you get to that area from eleven to fifteen or so, they're just desperate for a quarterback, all right.
So that's where we think he's going to go.
And I'll give you my take on his workout in the second, but I want to follow up first year Tony from people you've talked to. Where do you think teams have him graded in terms of either you know, round or in terms of just how he's there he stacked vertically on their boards.
Well, I mean, still there's still a lot to be played out. You know, I don't think, I don't know that he's a top twenty player on teams boards, but he's going to go top twenty. Like I said, I was told right after the workout Peyton Sean Payton, Denver is in love with them. So what they did with Russell Wilson and you know you said Minnesota as I reported, from the trive ball. Peyton was willing to move up to.
Get a quarterback absolutely all right. So in terms of his workout, I thought it was fine. You know, I think on tape Tony I did not love his deep ball on tape. I thought he kind of threw everything like a line drive. He didn't get any arc on any of his deep throws. And it's funny. I thought of what you said about McCarthy and I knew exactly where you were coming from. You know, all his throwers are kind of line drives. I think he's good enough arm strength. I think he can hit that deep out and he made the point he threw the deep out well. I think his accuracy over the middle on tape, on crossers and stuff is really strong. I think he's good at that. But you know, I think he puts the ball into danger a lot. He puts the ball in the crowded areas in the middle of the field. I love his confidence to be willing to do that, and I'd rather pull somebody back from that than to try to get them to do that when it doesn't come naturally to them. But I do wonder, and this is the point you made a couple podcasts to go. If he's going against NFL defense with NFL quality defenders, will those passes get completed at the NFL level, I'm not sure about that. I'm looking forward to watching the second half of his season. Luckily, in terms of going through it, there's not a whole lot of pass attempts in the second half of a season. Souldn't be as they ran the ball so much. But I'm curious to see war wind up on him. But I understand the accuracy, the poison things like that in the intermediate portions of the field that teams will like, But I don't think I've seen enough to make him a top fifteen or a top ten player on my final board.
Maybe that'll change, but right now I don't have him there.
I'd be shocked if it changes. Then when it changes, as you find out something about other players that you don't like, and it's more a result of other players moving down and McCarthy filling that slot rather than you're gonna move macarthy up. And you know, just basically what I said all along is a lot of those passes that he was able to get away with on Saturday are going to be interceptions on Sunday, and that was prominent to me on the film Love Is MAXI love his confidence, but again I think he's gonna be overdrafted because of the position he plays.
All right, I thought, you know, we talked at the Senior Bowl. Neither one of us was all that impressed with how Michael Penick threw the ball at the Senior Ball. I thought he was really good indoors at the combine tone, he threw a nice spiral, was very accurate, got the ball downfield shortened the media was accurate. I thought, you know, Michael Penis is what he is at this point. We've seen him still too many passes. I don't think anyone's learning anything new. But I thought he did throw the ball while down in Indy.
I thought he was phenomenal. I thought he had the best quarterback workout hands down, not just the DP ball, the short and intermediate throws. The outs were on target, they were timed well, they were accurate. I think he missed maybe a handful of throws if that. But he had one of those quarterback workouts where you can see early on who was getting into a tempo. He could spin that ball better than anyone that I saw there. It makes it a very catchable throw. The ball has got excellent speed. Like I said, the timing. I know a Dunja and Pulk were in his group, but still for him to do that at Lucasoil Stadium to basically receivers that he had just meant forty eight hours ago. I'm not a Penis guy, but I thought his combine workout was a big win.
All right, I'll just throw a bon Knicks. I thought his workout matches tape right. I thought his arm strength was fine. It wasn't spectacular, but it was fine. I think it's what it looked like on tape right. I thought he was pretty accurate with this throws, and to me, I think much like I think he just is worried what he is right now, and I think he kind of confirmed what I think we thought he was going into the process.
I was not a fan of bon Knicks workout. I'm going to slightly disagree with you on arm strength. I mean, I did not like the speed of the outs he threw one bounce pass. I was sitting there with a few people and we kind of looked at each other. I think the thing with bone Knicks is great college quarterback, great leader, you know, applaud him for the last two years at Oregon, but not only the Combine but the senior ball. He's not proved to me that he's going to be anything other than a game manager on Sunday, which is okay, you can do that just as long as you have a great coach and you have all the pieces around him. But again, I mean, we thought that the senior Ballonick said, an opportunity to have three great days of practice and cement themselves as a first round pick never happened, and I didn't see much elevation in his performance at the Combine.
Yeah.
Look, I think when all is said and done, all the day too great on him, and I think that's where he's going to be, which is fine. You know that that's great. But you know, I'm with you. I don't see high end quarterback talent there. I'm with you on that, all right, any of the quarterbacks you're bad to you, Tony. Anything else you're hearing about the quarterback position. Walking out of Indy, No, I.
Mean people were going goga over to Joe Milton throw the adr passed down field, which was a phenomenal pass. People were going nuts. But anything twenty yards and underneath under twenty yards Joe Milton, you know, as an adventure. Somebody asked, I said to somebody, I said, the operative word, when Joe Milton throws the ball as duck because you don't know where it's going to go. And and people went crazy over that deep ball, which was phenomenal. But after that, you know, I got from Joe Milton what I expected. Consistently inconsistent. He's got the tools he needs, Gonna need a lot of work from the ground up. If somebody coaches him correctly at the next level, he's able to put together. They hit a home run. Devin Leary. I thought he was up and down, had some nice throws, but overall wasn't a great It wasn't a great workout. Spencer Rattler had some nice throws, did some good things. But again with Spencer Rattler, I mean since that fresh his freshman year at Oklahoma, it's been very inconsistent. You don't know what you're getting home. Sam Hartman, I think, I mean he was the crowd favorite, look great running the forty. Everybody's talking about. Just does not have any armstrungt. I mean, could not could not get speed on the throws, how to put a lot of extra effort what he wanted to drive his passes.
It's got great hair, though, I mean what everybody says, phenomenal.
I don't have to worry about that.
You Bob jealous. I'm not gonna lie about jealous of his hair, all right.
Anything you hear in rumor wise about quarterbacks besides the Mcarthy Sophie were heard. If you the guess right now, Daniels two, May three or May two, Daniels three.
I think there's no way Daniels gets past Washington. And I guess the rumor that I heard was is that New England may trade down if they don't get Daniels at three, and I don't think that's gonna happen.
Interesting.
I've also heard that maybe the market for Justin Fields isn't what we thought it might be, or maybe not even a second round pick.
But I think that's something we'll if to stay tuned for.
I imagine at some point this is recording this on Tuesday afternoon, we'll post on Wednesday. My guess is that you know by the time for agency starts justin fields will be somewhere unless really there is no market. There's only so many quarterbacks in free agency. Baker Mayfield is anywhere yet, Kirk Cousins, and there's more open seats I think than there are quarterbacks. So and now Russell Wilson's a free agent two. So we'll have to see what happens in terms of that. The running back position, Tony, it's a position that maybe gloss over is the wrong word.
But you know, we've kind of been a little dismisses up, dismissive of it.
You know, both of us probably don't think we're gonna get a running back picked in the top fifty, maybe not even until round three of this draft. But I gotta be honest with you, I was pretty impressed by this group in their workout. I was pretty happy with what I saw. You know, Trey Benson running a four three nine to two hundred and sixteen pounds.
Let's start there, six feet. We ran a four three nine one five two split. He jumped pretty well. You know, I think there's.
An easy argument to be made here that he should be the first running back off the board.
Well, either him or what we'll talk about blake Korum. But I would agree with you. I mean I had written that he was expected to run fast, I think, at that speed, and you see it on film. I mean, he's not a slow guy. On film he shows the ability to break into the beat defenders, into the open field and then run to daylight. So but I would agree with you. It's him, or in my opinion, or Blake Korum, who I thought had a terrific workout, terrific in the position drills. But the Benson went there at that weight to be that fast was helped him.
Hey, look and I was a little bit of Blake Korum down or Tony heading into the combine, and he sold me. I was really impressed. I thought the questions I had about him was not about his tape. It was about his athleticism and what he did in the forty A four to five to three isn't a you know, blowout time, but for him, that's fine.
That is more than good enough. With everything else.
He brings to the table at two hundred five pounds at five eight He's a sturdy, dense guy. He's not going to be undersized. And then a six eight to two three cone and a four to one two shuttle and he jumped well. He checked every box. If Blake Korum, to your point, is the first running back off the board, I'd have no problem with it.
I think he's going to be a very good pro.
And I thought his athleticism numbers, which for me were a worry, got disproven with what he showed in Indie.
Yeah. I mean I actually expected a little bit faster. I thought he'd get in the four force, but big deal. He was four one hundreds off. He plays fast, and he's not just straight mind fast, as you mentioned that the three cone time and the short shuttle time. You know, on film he shows the ability to turn the corner terrific pass catcher. Is he a feature runner, No, but there are a few feature runners anymore in the NFL, and teams you know are going to use him as a situational ball carrier, also a good blocker. I thought he quitted himself well during the combine workout.
Two other guys Marshall and Lloyd, who I know we were both impressed by at the senior ball. I thought again, four to four six thirty six inch vertical jump at five nine two twenty those are really good numbers, and then Tony Ray Davis five eight, two eleven are running four to five two. I think he's a guy that probably hasn't in him to be kind of in every down back in some ways, maybe not a high end one, but I think he is the body type in the build to do it. Those are two other guys that I thought did a really nice job.
Lloyd was terrific catching the ball on a backfield, came into two twenty. He's playing weight's going to be closer to twelve, but still ran a four to four to six at that weight at that higher weight. Caught the ball very well. He looks strong, he runs with authority. Same thing with Davis, who has a really good film. I mean, he's a good interior ball carrier. He's not afraid to grind it out on the inside. One guy or two guys who really impressed me. I like Tracy Tyrone, Tracy Junior out of Perdue.
Tell the fans about him.
Tony We've even talked about him much, and he's a pretty interesting background in story about how he came to running back.
Five eleven two hundred and nine pounds, which he's playing which closer to to to a five. We're in a four to four eight with forty with a one to five to three split, forty inch vertical jump. I'm looking numbers here six eight, one three four roh six twenty yard shotw sort of a do it old type of guy, good pass catcher of the backfield. You're gonna get him late in the draft sixth seventh round. But a guy who really has flown under the radar screen for most of the season got so momentum late, and you know he's been a good player. He had a terrific workout. I think he cemented himself as a Day three pick. The other guy who I thought and.
By the way, former for fans, I do know, former wide receiver. He's a guy that converted to running back late.
So the other guy who I thought had a good workout. One of your favorites. Dylan Loud of New Hampshire of four five four forty with a one five two ten yard split, thirty seven inch vertical jump, picks eight to four to three cone four two twenty yard shuttle, twenty three reps on the bench. After the running back workout was done, they took him over. They had him field puns. Feel kicks because if you watch the New Hampshire film, he's a game breaking return specialist, gonna be a Day three pick. But he's sort of your as you like to say, Swiss Army Knights. He does everything well. He's a good pass catcher out of the backfield, runs hard on the inside, shows the ability to turn the corner, and he brings that element of return specialists with him. And again, you know, he's good to see your ball, he's better at the combine, and he's building momentum heading towards the draft.
Jalen Right from Tennessee, Tony showed off his speed and then I have not watched a second of his game tape. I need to go and do it. But Girndo at six foot two hundred and twenty one pounds, ran a four to three to three jumped forty one inches broad jumped almost eleven feet six nine four to three cone at that size with a four to one five shuttle for a guy that size, who boy really.
Doesn't play to that speed though, And I knew about Corenda going he's a track and field guy, so the this was not unexpected because you know he was just a track and field sprinter. He's a real good athlete. You know. He's a bigger bodied, UH running back who does the little things well, exceptional blocker and pass protection, which is what I think is going to get him drafted. I actually thought, I know his teammate the juwar Jordan didn't run all that while ran a four five six, But I thought Jordan did very well during the position drills. Looks strong, look quick as well.
What do you think of Jayalen Wright. We haven't talked much about him.
Tony straight line home run hitter. I mean, if there's a if there's the smallest bit of the open space, he busts through the whole beach defenders into the open field. Placed at a forty speed, can run the daylight. Not the biggest well, I mean, he's it's kind of what it was. His weight was two hundred and ten pounds. But when you watch him, he's not a guy that breaks a lot of tackles. It's not a guy that picks up a lot of yards off initial contact. He's more of a speedback. If he learns to play with size watch out. Also a decent pass catcher out of the backfield, or as best as you can be catching the ball from Joe Milt all Right.
Two or two other running backs for you.
One a guy that I liked coming out of was his senior Bowl or shrine Isaiah Davis at a South Dakota State Tony. You know, six foot, came into two hundred and eighteen pounds, which is a good weight. Ran a four to five seven That was a big worry. From a four to five seven is not a great time. But for between the tackles guy, it's okay. But jump thirty four inches which was nice. Jump nine to eleven broad which is a which is a pretty good jump. And I think he's gonna be another kind of Day three pick that couldn't have been like the interior short yardage of a timeshare. And he's a good receiver out of the backfield too, And in terms of pass pro.
Good short area of quickness too. I mean he's more of a downhill run up, but he's got the ability to quickly avoid piles or make defenders miss the game. Film is really good, and I mean he's been solid throughout the post draft, pre draft process, the postseason process, and he's definitely cemented himself as a Day three selection.
Were you concerned that at five nine two Bucky Irving only ran a four five to five. If you're that small, I feel like your time's got to be a little faster.
No, yeah, I thought it would have been faster. One five to four, ten yard split, twenty nine to five, vertical jump, ninety seven broad not great, not good marks Altogether, you're looking at a guy who he's football fast. He's football quick. May not be the greatest athlete in the world, but as you said, you know, at that size you expect a little bit faster. Twenty nine and a half inch arms, that's not too bad. But yeah, is it a concern, well, to concern that he's probably he's not in the top two running backs. It's gonna be Benching or Blake Horn. He's you know, he's further down the list. Could he For as much as I like to get his game, when you look at the numbers, you think maybe fourth round, one last back I got to bring up. And I hate to beat a dead horse.
But oh, you know, you can patch yourself on the back, Tony. It's okay, patch yourself on the back.
It's fine. I know where you're going with this.
I've never been a fan of Audric Estimate, and I've said at time and time people pat him as a top three back as a day two pick or seven to one in the forty one, five eight in the ten yard split, twenty three bench, decent vertical jump thirty eight inches. But to me, again you watch him, he is a downhill ball carrier. Has been compared to AJ Dillon. You talk to Green Bay Packers with they dropped AJ Dillon again in the second round. I tend to doubt it. I mean, he is what he is. He is a solid short yardage goal line ball carrier. And in this day and age in the NFL, you don't draft that type of back in the initial four rounds.
All right, let's anything you're hearing the reterms of running back. When do you think if I've made you over under right now, what pick the first running back will be selected?
What pick would you put out there for.
That over runder? Would be fifty five right now?
Late second fifty five? All right? I like it?
And you think probably Benson right now would be the first guy off the board. Or Brooks from Texas who obviously didn't work out because of the knee.
Yeah, I mean Brooks is highly rated but doesn't have a big body of work. And you know they say he's going to be ready for training camp. Does that mean you know it's gonna be one hundred percent ready. I think it's gonna be Benson or Blake Korum. You know, it's kind of funny. I mean, Keelan Robinson Brooks teammate invited to the Combine four four two forty one five to one ten yards split, only carried the ball twelve times last year. I mean they invite him to the combine. He is a tremendous return specialist along with Dylan Loud. When the running back workout was done, he wowed was fielding pumps and kicks that coming out of the machine. So that's really if you're going to draft him, that's why you're going to draft him. But it was kind of strange that guy who only carried the ball twelve times last year. And it's not because he was injured, not because you sidelined. It's just that you know, they had warps, they had other people there, but got an invite to the combine.
What do you think a.
Little Shipley a guy that did not work out at the Combine but had some success that clems and we haven't really talked much about him on the podcast.
I love Shipley's film. I mean I have Shipley as a late third round guy, as a pass catcher, as a ball carrier, decent blocker. I love his overall game. I want to see his testing numbers. The film on Shipley I really like a lot.
All right, there we go, let's jump.
I'm going to leave the wide receivers for a last because they're the sexy possession where he likes it. You gonna have to wait till the end for that one, folks, so stay tuned. We'll get to them last. Let's jump the tight end to here Tony and it's a good class, much like the running backs that we haven't talked a bunch about obviously. Brock Bowers, you know, you said it would be kind of a game time decision without he would work out, and it turned out to be a no go.
So he did not do anything, which is fine. We'll see him at his pro day.
He's still coming back from that, you know, tight rope surgery and all that stuff he dealt with over the course of the year.
Wances will be one hundred percent totally understand that.
Uh, let's start with your guy, Jatavian Sanyor's tony and six four five, good size, you like that, but a four six nine and he had won that went over four to seven as well.
Just a one to five to nine split four three two.
Shuttle your thoughts on Sanders, and I think any hope of a late first round pick for him is is kind of gone now maybe late second round you think, well, what are you feeling?
I still think top forty for for uh for sawn Is because the fact is, just let's let's let's talk about the tight end workout. The tight end workout didn't start until seven forty five on Friday night. And I had said that about Bowers, you're gonna sit around all night. They're gonna sit around all day and then they, you know, take to the field at seven forty five. Because that safety workout took more than twelve The safety safeties just went on and on and on, and I was sitting there all day on Saturday. So seven forty five, I believe, is when the first tight ends started to run. I finally said I had enough and I had to get out of there. As far as as Sanders is concerned. You know, there's football fast and then there's forty fast. The fact is is he's a bigger playmaking tight end. I still think, as I wrote, there's a chance he could go late first round. Maybe Kansas City has got to get ready for the future after Kelsey. Maybe San Francisco's got to get ready for the future after Kittle. I know Miami, he still has his pro day. Sure he's gonna have run his BRO day and it'll be a little bit better. I thought he did the position drills. He's a good pass catcher, as you've see. As we've seen I should say at Texas, even though they had a lot of receivers there and the ball was can only go to with so many guys. I'm not going to just discount because a four to six nine is not a bad time. I mean, let's be honest, it's not a bad time. And he still has his PROTI to work out.
Other tight ends that I thought were impressive Tony.
Let's start with THEO Johnson out of Penn State six six two fifty nine, really good size, ran a four to five eight. I don't think he quite ran to that time when we saw him in Mobile at the senior ball.
But these Penn Sdate kids. They know how to put up workout numbers.
They always have they whatever they do in the strength conditioning program there, these guys are ready to go jump. Thirty nine and a half inches at that weight is really impressive a ten to five broad. I think THEO Johnson, you know, if he's the third tight end off the board, that wouldn't surprise me, you know.
But see the thing with THEO Johnson is he was expected to do this. This WI wasn't say anything out of the ordinary because everyone knew THEO Johnson was a great athlete. The problem is, I think he had forty four receptions, but when you watch the Penn State film, he just doesn't wow you. You know, he doesn't come across as a guy who's two hundred sixty pounds and runs a four or five five, or runs in the mid four fives, and just comes across as a great dominant athlete. So I think with THEO Johnson sort of the opposite with Jatavian Sanders, in the sense that Johnson's a great athlete who's got to learn to be a really good football player, where Sanders maybe not doesn't have the same athletic row was the same testing numbers. But he's shown himself to be a real consistent threat and a big play, a big play tight end, all.
Right, Ben sinant TONI HVAC versatile, measured in just under six four two hundred fifty pounds, ran a four to six eight forty inch vertical jump. I think he's a guy that I think a lot of NFL teams are going to be attracted you just because of his versatility. And I think his work was more than good enough to make him attractive to NFL teams in the mid rounds.
Well mid rounds. The day two. I mean, you know, you mentioned, you know, Johnson being the third tight end off the board. I think Benson not could be the third tight end off the board. I'm sure he's gonna run again at that big twelve Pro day. I'm sure it'll be faster. You know, he's a sneaky guy. He's the guy who finds ways to separate catches the ball very well. The thing is is that frame. I mean you said, h back, you know there's if teams don't think he can be your traditional or full time tight end, and he's more of an h back. That may limit the market for him, but right now he's my third tight end.
Any of their tight ends jump out to you, Tony.
Well obviously, Devin Culp with that forty time you want to talk about h backs, I mean out of Washington a guy he ran the four four seven with a one to five to five split thirty one. You know that sort of that sort of you know, where does he fit at the next level? Are you playing him on Milana scrimmage? Are you lining him up back off Blana scrimmage? I thought overall, you know Ti Ryman at two hundred and seventy pounds four to sixty four, Kate Stover I think ran reasonably well. Reverends van Ford four to seven to seven. Scouts have talked about him for the longest time as a day two pick. I never saw it with him. Guy who didn't work out. That's getting a lot of traction. We spoke about him once or twice during the season. Eric All from Iowa played seven games last year tore A acl I think he played two games a year before at Michigan before he had a back injury. Teams loved this guy, I mean, because he's six ' five He's two hundred and sixty pounds. He's expected to be a four to six type guy. Eric All is a guy who no one's talking about because he hasn't really played much football the past two years. Was invited to the Combine, is expected to be ready at full speed come training camp. He's a guy who could go much earlier from what I heard in Indianapolis, and people are expecting, you know, late third round, early fourth round. All of a sudden, Eric eeric Ohle's name is called off the board and people are going crazy because he hasn't played, but a lot of teams like him. They like that potential, they like that big playability that he has. Many of the teams that are looking at Jatavian Sanders, Miami Dolphins, the San Francisco forty nine Ers, and the Kansas City Chiefs are also looking at Erik All.
What did the attende McLaughlin Tony. He's a guy we haven't talked much about it. I thought he had a pretty good workout.
I mean, again from Arizona, decent size. That offense there was kind of funky in the sense that you know, the head Cowing had Wiley. I think he's got a lot of upside. I think he's a late round pick.
All right, anything else at the tight end spot that you want to feature, that's it. All right, let's jump to the offensive lineman. Let's go interior first. Well, we'll save the tackles for last year. Tony and we had some really good workouts, I thought, from the center guard, some of the underside centers. Tanne BORERLINI had a really nice workout at three hundred and three pounds.
He moved really well. I liked him. At the Senior Bowl he did well.
We saw Matt Lee, I believe it trying correct and I think he did a pretty good job there. He had a nice workout, and my guy Mason McCormick, I thought he.
Was really good. He had a really good workout.
And guy, we talked about it, trying to CJ Hansen, you know, smaller, but boy, he's got really good feet.
I think with all those guys, you know, they're athletic guys who just have to get bigger, they have to get stronger. I think with those guys, we got what we expected. I mean, we knew they were good athletes. At least we knew they were good movers. They were good zone blocking prospects, and they impressed. The guy who absolutely blew me away with his workout, with his movement skills was Christian Haynes of uk Khon, who I think now has moved into the early part of round two five three in the forty with a one seven five yard split, thirty three inch vertical jump, eight foot six twenty five on the bench. Now, why do I say that six three hundred and seventeen pounds. When you look at Christian Haines when we saw him at the Senior Bowl, he looked solely like a power gap blocker. You know you're gonna have to keep him in confined quarters. He's a big mash, just punch in the face type of guy, you know, all of a sudden, I know, shorts and T shirt. You saw him move incredibly well during his during his testing and during the position drills. I mean, I was like, and I was texting people as going this was going on. I was like, I mean, look at this guy move around the field. He never did this at Yukon, really didn't do it at Senior Bowl, but he's got this potential and I think, you know, you talk about BORDERLINI and Matt Lee. Those guys were expected to run good times, to have good testing workouts because they're good athletes, movers at the offensive line position. I think what Christian Haynes did really caught a lot of people by surprise, which really elevated his draft stock.
Two are the guys inside. I thought Charles Erner moved really well from LSU. We talked about him a little bit in Mobile.
And then Brandon Coleman, who played both guard and tackle a little bit, but six four three thirteen thirty four and five eighth arms, ran under five second forty yard dash, a one seven three ten yard split which is pretty good. Jumped over thirty inches, broad jumped nine and a half feet. Brandon Coleman had a really nice workout.
Big man who plays big football, who's got some upside potential, six four and a half, three hundred and thirteen pounds. I want to say one thing that caught me by surprise, and you know he didn't have a bad workout. Cooper BB five oh three in the forty uh one seven five ten yards split, thirty one and a half in charms, which is really gonna hurt him. I mean, guys like you know I didn't think that Christian Kooper bb. I thought all along could be a late first round pick. But with thirty one and a half in Charms, he's gonna get pushed down draft boards and it's gonna be a lot of people who will move up ahead him. Not only thirty one and a half and Charms only did twenty reps on the bench. You've got short arms, you know you're supposed to be able to do more reps because you don't have to push the bar, push the five pounds as much as a guy that's got thirty.
Four with Charms with his tape, I'd still be comfortable using the second round pick on him. I think absolutely physical, smart, He's played a lot of football. I like Cooper Reeve. But you're right that arm length and people kind of knew he had the t Rex arms going in, we just didn't know what he would measure at. And look, those are short arms, but he's not a tackle least, so I'll give him some type of reprieve from that.
All right, let's go to the offensive tackle class.
Tony, and we had such high hopes for this class coming in, and to me, everyone kind of met expectations.
You know, maybe some guys could have been a little bit better here or there.
But all the guys that we had first round grades on, Tyler sa Fuanga, Tyler Geiton, Olu Fashionu, Jordan Morgan, Joe All Even Kingsley, Sue Mattia, Marius Mims, Troy Fahatanu, all these guys, and we'll get into him individually obviously, but no one disappointed. Like I didn't walk out saying, oh that guy's not a first round pick now. And they all did really nice jobs.
And I think some of the guys really helped themselves. I mean, you know, you didn't mention Rosen Roger Rosen Guarden.
We'll talk about, Oh he's on my list.
A Tyland Grable, I mean from Central Florida. Who he's got terrific filming. He had an outstanding workouts. I thought that Sue and Matata, Jordan Morgan had a terrific workout. A Marius Mims for a guy that big right tackle prospect, I thought he did well. So yeah, I mean this was you know, we knew it was a offensive tackle rich draft, and these guys stepped up at the combine.
All right, let's star the Marius mims six eight three forty with extremely low body fat. I mean he looks good for three hundred and forty pounds thirty six and an eighth inch arms. Holy cow, ran a five oh seven is jumping numbers weren't rate.
But I know he heard himself too running. Who cares this guy?
And we've talked about him a lot here because his lack of experience. Just I think eight college starts, right, But somebody's gonna fall in love with these traits. And when he played by the way, he was good. It's not like his tape was bad. And and and he's he's gonna go I could see him be in the top fifteen pick with these measurables. I'm not gonna lie.
Yeah, I think he's probably gonna be maybe Pittsburgh. I think he's gonna be a little bit later than that. I did hear some concerns about immaturity, but hey, guy coming out of Georgia's immature is that news to us? But yeah, I mean whatever do you said is right on. I mean only eight starts, But when he's on the field, he's a masher. I mean, he is a guy who you're not gonna pull him across the line of scrimmage. But he shows on film the ability to get out to the second level, which is what those athletic numbers really proved. Six eight three forty. I mean with those arms, you're you're looking at a guy who and he's just basically this is the tip of the iceberg for Mitts. He's one of those guys who is really good now and if he's focused on the test at hand and really puts his mind to it, he could be outstanding two or three years down the red.
Speaking about standing, I'm no longer going to refer to Troy Fatanu as a guard prospect anymore.
This guy's a tackle.
Look at his workout and his measurements six four three seventeen thirty four and a half inch arms, ran a five and one forty vertical, jumped over thirty inches. Why and he played great on film at tackle at Washington. Why Why am I moving this guy inside, Tony, I'm leaving him outside. That's where he's played, He's played well. His measurements all match up for tackles. He's a tackle on my board now, I'm not even thinking about guard.
It depends. I mean, he's probably I mean I think he was rounded off to six ' four. He's probably slightly under six y four. I want to get that Master report and see what the what the exact measurement was. But again, I mean, there's some teams that don't mind the shorter TA tackles. But I've always felt with a guy, like with any player who plays left tackle and does it well on the college level and shows the athleticism and the footwork in the movement skills, you leave on left tackle until he proves otherwise, then you've got a guy like say Elijah b Ratunker of the USC who's now with New York Jets, who was a terrific left tackle, but they want to stick him in a guard. But yeah, yeah, I mean again, another athletic guy who's got good size in the sense that good girth, good bulk, moves incredibly well and really loved that expectations and I loved I mean, ros Roger rose Guard just blew me away because you watch Rosen Roger Roseen Garden who plays on the player on the other side of anato at at Washington six five three pounds, arms a little but short, thirty three and a half inches four ninety one seven three ten yard split thirty inch vert for four point six shuttle. You know, you watch rosen Garden compare heir to his teammate, you thought, well, he's more powerful, but he's not as athletic, although he was. You know, he showed zone blocking ability at Washington, the ability to get out to the second level, and you know, now he's gone from someone who I thought was mid second round probably into the early part of round two. Roger Rosenhard don't think he moved into the first round, but definitely helped himself because he was more athletic than what people expected. People don't realize that's what the combine is. You know, if you're expected to be a five one to zero offensive lineman. I took the forties in point you look at the ten times and you come out and you're much more athletic than anybody expected. That is really going to help you. That's what Rosenguard did.
Yeah, I'm with you.
I remember he was the left tackle in Washington, and then when they got a left handed quarterback, they thought so much of him they put him on the right side so he'd be protecting Michael Penick's blind side, and that's where he played the last couple of years with Pennix there, so I'm with you. I'm higher than on Rosa Garden than most talking to people down there, I think some people have him as like a late round three, early round four pick. I have a more top a round three, you know, into middle a round two.
I think he's a good player, So I'm with you.
A couple other guys, Tony Teal Esfwanga, I thought he moved very well, and I was happy with how he moved in some of those mirror drills, feeling better about him at tackle.
Tyler Geidin didn't test quite as well as I thought he would, but I thought he was fine.
He was good enough obviously, Olu Fashionu. He didn't finish his workout.
He pulled.
I think it was a thigh right, it was a quad during his forty yard dash, but he was fine. Joe all the forty time wasn't great, but everything else was fantastic. And he's just a gigantic human being. I thought he just looked a little stiff in some of the movement stuff, but he's just so big with those arms. I don't think it matters to be honest with you, I think Kingsley. You know Sue Mattia.
I thought he was really smooth in all his workouts.
So all those guys are sticking where they are for me, if not even helped themselves a little bit.
I think Sue Matia cemented himself as a first round pick.
I mean, I hope, so.
Decent workout thirty one on the bench with thirty four and a quarter inch arms, moved incredibly well. The jumps weren't great, but okay, fine, I mean that's explosion. You see, he's got to improve his run blocking a little bit. Not that it's bad. I thought he was really I really think he if he didn't help himself, he cemented himself as a first round pick. I thought Jordan Morgan did exceptionally well, you know, moved relatively well. Real good athlete as we knew he would be. You know one guy that's going to be interesting to watch is Andrew Rayham, the center from Oklahoma. Had a horrendous work out, horrendous five four to two in the forty with a one to nine to four ten yard splate, twenty four and a half in vertical jump, seven to eleven broad jump. You're looking at those numbers, and that's seventh round free agent type numbers for an offensive lineman. But you watch the film and the guy is a masher, the guy someone who punches you in the face. He's a good power gap blocker, So that's going to be interesting to watch. I'm sure he'll run at the well, they're not in the Big twelve. They're in the SEC now, so the Oklahoma's gonna have their own broad day. I'm sure those numbers will be better. And somebody I mentioned early on Kyland Grabil, the left tackle out of Central Florida, who had an exceptional workout, came in measured in sixty six threwing at six pounds four with a one six nine ten yard split, thirty six and a half inch vertical jump. He plays to those numbers on the field. He is an athletic guy on the field who shows a lot of ability and pass protection. With that body type, you know he's got growth potential. He's a guy. I don't think he's a Day two guy, but I think he's an early early Day three guy. Fourth round. He's got a lot of upside. No one talks about him because if you pay attention to him and large Farkers. There's so many other tackles in this class. But I was glad to see Grabel because I've always thought highly over.
Yeah, and then look and he didn't work out. It wasn't off the charts or anything. I think Christian Jones was going to be a good football player, Tony. I think you put him a right tackle on the pros, you get him top of the top of the fourth round, bottom of the third round.
I think he could be a starting tackle in this league. So I just wanted to throw him out there out of Texas.
Well. His workout was actually pretty good, five all four in the forty. His three cons a little bit slow, as bench press was a little bit poor. I think I think I smoke with him at the senior ball. He's not the greatest athlete in the world, but I think he's a good player, and he's been consistent really since his freshman year at Texas.
All right, let's go to the wide receivers, Tony. Unlet's there's something else on the tackles you want to mention. And I counted by the way, I think we might have one, two, three, four, five, six. I think we could have eight or nine offensive tackles in the first round, depending on how you Qualifytanu from Washington. I mean, it's gonna be a historic first round offensive tackle class. That's how good this group is.
And it's a positionitity and good athletes, so you you know you're gonna have right tackle prospects who are very athletic. Go, we're early in the go throughout the first round.
All right, let's have the wide receiver. We could do a full show just on wideouts. That's how good this group was. Tony and everyone makes a big deal out of the Xavier Worthy for two to one, which, by the way, yeah, okay, I'm not gonna argue with that.
That's a big deal.
That's really impressive, But we thought he was gonna run fast right to me, the more impressive forty yard dashes are the ones by eighty Mitchell, Brian Thomas, and Devontes Walker, who were thirty and forty pounds heavier than Worthy.
You weighed in a one.
Sixty five and they all ran the mid four threes, which, oh man, that's good.
You look at Brian Thomas on film and he looks like a taller, bigger, possession receiver, and then he goes out, he runs a four to three three, and you're like, wow, you know, were they just having a run underneath routes because they had guy like Elie Dabors who could get it down the field. Or is it just you have to teach him to play to the speed. Sixty three two and nine pounds, thirty two and three quarter inch arms, ninety three quarter in hands, which is important, bench press eleven big deal, thirty and a half inch vertical jump on top of the six with three. You know Thomas is gonna go and the Laker was gonna go in the late first round. Does the forty time push him up even further? You know? I don't know. But again I go back to the thought of expectations. You thought, okay, Brian Thomas, real good receiver, low four fives, maybe high four fours, and then he runs a four to three four, and it's a matter of you know, where was his speed on film. What happens is the coaches will look at his numbers and they say, you know what, we're gonna teach him. We're gonna coach him to play to that speed. So not only do we have a big body receiver with reliable hands. But we got a big body receiver, reliable hands who can run a four to three four. We're gonna teach him. We're gonna coach him to play that speed. Yeah.
Look, I'll slightly disagree with you just because I thought he'd run really well.
I didn't think it was gonna be low, you know, mid four threes.
I thought I saw some deep speed on tape where he'd be in the low four fours. But at that size, really really impressive. Not shocked that Ady Mitchell ran as well that he did Tony. You watch him on tape. He can move, he can run. I think his change of direction was really good as well over the course of the week, and that to me is what makes him different. Right, these guys that run really well, but they're not that big, they're not great route runners.
You know, he's inconsistent, he lacks.
Some polish, and you know he doesn't bring out every game necessarily. But if you just look at the athletic package, Ady Mitchell's is a top twenty player most years. Now, there's three other great wide receivers this year, so he's not going to go as high, but I think he's going to be I think he's a lock first round pick now, and if you get a team that can develop him and polish him up a little bit. He does have number one x wide receiver type of potential in this league.
And he's been like that since he was a freshman at Georgia, where I thought, Wow, this guy is going to be an early first round prospect. I heard a second year at Georgia, you know, played it the Texas this year and there was the crowd of pass catchers at Texas, and like you said, there was some inconsistency in his game. Was in some inconsistency his pass catching workout at the combine as well. But he's a bigger guy, you know, excellent arm length that just under thirty two and a half inches. You know, he's not a He's very smooth. He's very fluid in the sense that he's going faster than he looks because of that frame. I think he can I'm not so sure that he's a lock first round pick. I could see him being a first round pick. I hope he is because I've formed over him the past three years. But still I think he's got a great upside to his game.
Yeah, I'm with you and then I was happy devontees Walker caught the ball well. You know, he had so many drops at the senior ball. We were worried about that. He showed off the speed we knew he had it, and I thought he caught the ball pretty well in the field workouts. I was happy for him.
Yeah, forty and a half inch vertical jump on top of that four three six forty eleven to two of broad You know, he's an athlete. You know, the thing with Walker is it's gonna come down to the interviews because you know the story how to transfer because you wanted to play close to home, wanted to play back north in North Carolina. There's going to be some question about that, and you know, no doubt about it. But again, here's a guy who's got a great amount of upside. He's got a good frame, he's been a big play receiver. Caught the ball relatively well after dropping more passes than he actually caught it.
The Senia Bole and then Roma Doomsday. Tony just did everything. He checked every box. He even did the shut all, he did the three cone. He did well on that For a guy his size. He weighed at a good weight over two hundred and ten pounds. His forty time was in the mid four fours, which is I thought a good time for him based on what you saw on tape.
I mentioned this de jility. Joe's those are good is lead. His jumping jeels are good.
Is on the field, workouts were great. His interviews, to what I understand, we're also very very good. He's going to be a top ten pick, and there's just not many holes in his game. He's so solid across the board. I think he's going to be a very very safe pick for whomever ends up with him.
You know, you talk about the forty times. Fine, we know he's not a true vertical threat. Okay, fine. His ten yard split was one five to two compared to Xavier Worthy who had a one point four to nine. So it was ten yard split, which is important because that gauge is your ability to quickly get off the line of scrimmage and get the top speed. And you know, like you said, he caught the ball well, played to a great balance and body control. That's something you want to see, especially from the bigger guys. You know, are they are they coming out of their breaks under control, staying low, sinking their hips, ready to catch the ball. He did that throughout the workout, which is what he did the Washington.
One hundred percent.
Some of the smaller guys, and I say smaller just because they're not like six ' three Roman Wilson, I thought, had a really nice day. Ran a four to four to one or was it four to four to zero with the final official whatever it was, it was one of those two. Alad McConkie broke the four to four barrier, which is huge for him. I think he showed that, look, I'm not just a slot guy. I could play outside too with that speed. And then Ricky Piersall, who had won really good practice in in Mobile before he said I'm out of here, peace, hey, god out of town. He was great again six ' to one, checked every box on the workout. If you're looking for day two, really solid receivers that can do a little bit of everything and run and catch and run good routes, those three guys are gonna be, I think, really good round two players that team's going to pick up here in the draft.
McConkey ran much faster than I would have ever expected. I wouldn't have expected anything under four to four thirty and a quarter inch arms hands that are barely over eight and a half inches. So it's going to be interesting because if you are a metric sky an electrics team and you're looking at arm length and hand length and hand size, you know that may not sit well with you. Roman Wilson basically did what we knew he was going to do. A lot of people think he's an absolute second round pick, but again, thirty and three eight inches, his hand size is nine and three eight inches, plays big football, even though he's not.
The Antonio real quick. Just seeing him at the podium, he's very narrow like. He is just not a big bodied guy at all.
Yeah, and that's why he's a slot return type guy. Piersoll who was a tough receiver everything, I mean, was much faster than anybody expected, good vertical jump. I think part of the problem with piersoul Is is that Florida offense was so all over the place. Good three home time. I don't know that he's going to get into date two of the draft, but I think he's going to be a real good pick up early part of Day three.
A couple other guys too up throw out there. I thought I had pretty good workouts Tony. I thought zaviel Ague did what he had to in terms of his athletic numbers. I thought he'd checked some boxes. Troy Franklin I thought was fine. I thought his field workout was a little rough. He kept slipping and falling down. I don't know if his cleats were bad or something, but he ran okay. You know, he only measured a what one seventy three on Franklin, I think, which I didn't love, or one seventy six. And then I thought the two other Washington receivers had good days. I though Jalen Polk and Jill mcnollan were also both pretty darn good.
I think the interesting thing is, does Xavier Worthy move ahead of Troy Franklin right now on boards because of that speed, because of the fact that he was, you know, two tenths of a second faster, you know, forty times. You know, you can look at it any what you want, But you look at John Ross, you look at Tevon Austin. Guys who just blistered in pre draft workouts watch their draft stock take off. So I think the thing with Franklin's time and his workout is is he now passed because of what Xavier Worthy did. Ran the forty and that was it. Of the Jakwan Jackson of Tulane had a really good workout, looked very quick. Cornelius Johnson a guy that we spoke about almost every day from the Shrine ball one four four four forty yard time. I mean, for a guy that's two twelve pounds, he's not a vertical receiver. That was incredibly quick. And we know from watching him at the Shrine game. He even you know, throughout his career at Michigan when they threw him the ball, he is a real good pass catcher.
Yeah, I think he's a sleeper, much like Roman Wilson does not a lot of targets because of Michigan's offense, but at that size, with that workout, I think some team is going to roll the dice on him, and I think they'll get a good player, you know, potentially on day three.
One of the guys too, what.
Guy we do got to talk about is you know key On Coleman.
Yeah, please go a mad and you yeah, you talk about Kean and and then I have two other guys I want to mention.
Too, you know. I mean people were talking about him as potentially the second receiver of the ball during the season. Runs a four to six one, which is not good at two hundred and thirteen pounds, thirty eight inch vertical jump, good arm land, good hand size. But where does he fit into the draft? Now? People were talking about him as a first round pick. I never had him as a first round pick. You're looking at you know, late second round right now. And Johnny Wilson, I mean, what didn't Johnny Wilson run in the mid four five? Let me look here, real.
And even if and look at Johnny Wilson's three conan shuttle numbers at six seven, what is he six ' eight? Those numbers were even good. Johnny Wilson, He's like Pauline and Schmelke. Stop calling me a tight end, guys, I'm a receiver.
Look at me six He came at sixty thirty one pounds. Got to go back to the Senior Bowl, which is more exact measurements. Thirty five and three eight inch arms, ten inch hands, thirty seven inch vertical jump, four to five to two. The one five to five split is a little bit slow, but still, I mean again, it's a game. It's a matter of expectations. If you looked at the preseason charts, everyone thought that Johnny Wilson was a four six two four sixty five guy. He comes in, he runs at ten faster.
Yeah, really impressive and I think you can find a way to use him as a weapon here.
And I will give Coleman credit.
Like they flashed on TV, Tony, if you watched, I know you were in the building. They put up the miles per hour tracking speed for the guys when they were like the Gauntlet and stuff like that, and Keon Coleman posted some of the fastest gauallet time numbers. So I think you showed that maybe the play speed a little bit faster than the forty times.
So something to keep in mind too.
Well, the gunlet's important because you're basically running lateral. I mean it's more of a lateral drill, like a crossing pattern if you will. Yeah, and you know there's straight line speed and there's lateral speed, So you're absolutely right, that is important.
All right, Final guy, I want to talk about his Malik Washington. Tony a guy that we saw in Frisco and we liked what he did there. He's kind of a big run after catch guy shrunken into miniature form. His numbers at Virginia this year were tremendous. He ran a sub four or five. I think he had the highest vertical jump of any wide receiver there. I think he's a guy that helped himself trying to make himself into a Day two wide receiver.
Well, see if he's Day two I mean short arms.
But I said trying, didn't say he'll get there. He's trying.
Well, I mean he's a legitimate next level prospect. If he doesn't go Date two, who's going to go early Day three? Great route runners we saw at the Shrine Bowl. Has been an incredibly productive pass catcher, not only last year at Juve, but even when he was at Northwestern. Great route runner who knows how to separate. He also should be able to double as a return specialist. A lot there to like is a smaller guy five eight and a half one hundred, one hundred and ninety pound, so you know you've got to be able to overcome that depending on the type of offense that you run.
All right, Tony, final question before we wrap this up, and again defense will be next week. How do you see the order of the top three wide receivers going in this draft and why.
It hasn't changed. I mean, even though Marvin Harrison seems to continually shoot himself in the foot by doing you know, dopey things, I still think it's Marvin Harrison, Malik Neighbors, and Romadoonza, and I think they're all top ten picks. Want to see how Neighbors. You know, even if Neighbors doesn't come out with a great forty time to watch the film and you know he's super fast and he's super quick. There was there were some people who think that Malik Neighbors could go higher than Marvin Harrison. I don't fathom that happening. I still have Marvin Harrison number one on my board, and I think those are the top three guys.
I'm with you, Tony, good stuff.
Stay tuned next week as we dive into the defensive half of the NFL combine and his NFL freeency gets underway as well. Again, we'll do our freegency review and how that impacts team needs in the draft the week after freegency begins, so we get a couple more signings and we'll see exactly what's going on for Tony Poline.
And John Schmilk. We'll see next time on draft season.
