Eagles Entertainment. We're the fifteen pick in the NFL Draft to Philadelphia Eagles flect. You're listening to the Journey to the Draft Podcast. Welcome to the Journey the Draft Podcast presented by Life Brand. I'm your host, Fran Duffy, and we are here in Indianapolis at the Indianapolis Convention Center for the twenty twenty three National Scouting Combine. And it's gonna be a crazy week here on the Journey of the Draft Podcast daily shows to get you prepped for everything that we are seeing here boots on the ground in Indie for the biggest event on the NFL Draft calendar until we get to the NFL Draft here in just a couple of months. Now. We're gonna start today's show with mister Relevant, where we are welcoming in one of my favorite people in the space, and that is NFL Network analyst Charles Davis CD. You can check him out, obviously, the voice of Madden Football. You can check him during the season over on CBS Sports. He called a number of games for the Eagles this year. We're gonna talk a little bit about that and of his favorite topics and some of his favorite players coming in to this event, so we're gonna get into that with Charles Davis at the top of the show. After that, Lad Giovanni and I are going to go through some of our biggest takeaways from the media availabilities here in Draft Buzz. So we had coach and GM availabilities on Tuesday and Wednesday. The Eagles, Hallie Roseman and Nick Sirianni spoke on Tuesday. We'll cover some of our big takeaways from that and get into some of the players that spoke on Wednesday morning. We're gonna cover that they're in Draft Buzz, and then to wrap up the show, we've got some questions from you at home in our draft mailback, including a mock draft. So before we get started, I want to quickly remind you if you've got a mock draft, if you've got a player rankings question, if you've got a player you want to know more about, or just a draft related question, head on over to our Apple podcast page. Leave us the question there in the comment box. We will get to it here in an upcoming episode in our Draft Mailback segment. We're gonna be doing this every single day for the next four days. Here from Indianapolis. So if you want your question answered, stop what you're doing right now, go leave us a question in the Apple Podcast section there on the Journey of the Draft podcast, and we will get to it here in an upcoming episode that said, it's time now for mister Relevant with Charles Davis. It's time for mister Relevant please to welcome back here to the Journey of the Draft podcast. NFL Network analyst Charles Davis. Charles, good to see you. Thanks for having men. I appreciate it. I'm I'm so Chris. No Chris this year. See, I'm sure he will appreciate you asking for him. You tell you, tell him when I'm on the scene and he doesn't show up. We'll be talking with Greg this week as well. You need to talk to Greg. That's the dude right there. Hey, hey, Greg, everybody killing for those quarterback breakdowns? Aren't every single year? Well, let me ask you this, because you know you've done a couple of you did a few Eagles games here, including a play off camp. Yeah, which was cool. Yeah, And so I know throughout the course of the season you were harping a lot on Jalen Hurts and his improvement, his huge step from twenty twenty one to twenty twenty two. My money. Yeah, Well, I want to spend this forward to like this week, because we're gonna see a lot of players take the field this week. All these guys have flaws, All these guys have issues that I gotta correct, right, So, um, do you kind of take it see that case of Jalon that you know, while that can be an outlier in some cases, and that is an extreme version of it, and say like, yeah, like it's possible for all these guys. I think that's a great point for him because if you take it that way, well, we use Jalen Hurts as that guy because he left Alabama because he supposed to Boseley he couldn't throw the ball well, and I think I heard this story. You probably heard the same story. I think he was locked in on going to Maryland, right and Nick Saban's like, dude throwing the ball. You wanted to find Mike Locksley. You know, Mike Locksley was going up there earlier, and Mike's great coach. But Lincoln Riley's get get it rolling right now and guided him to Oklahoma, and we saw where that went. He got better as a thrower. I'm gonna take him, and I'm also gonna put Josh Allen there because remember when we evaluated Josh Allen, I don't know exactly what you said during that time. I will tell you what I said, what I believe I said, and I hope I'm not changing it because I hate revisionist history. Love Josh Allen in so many different ways, but to that point had not seen quarterbacks go from being a mid fifty percent thrower in college to a sensational thrower in the NFL. You might move a few points. He moved sixteen seventeen points. Right now. I still believe he's an outlier because I don't know anyone else has moved that big. But he's opened it up to where if you like a person, you think that that jump might be in there. Hello Anthony Richardson in Florida, that's what we're talking about. So he has opened the door for that. Jalen has shown that you can improve as a thrower and get better. He was a better thrower in terms of accuracy prior to but we've seen that. I'll tell you where I thought he got best. Where he made the biggest prove move was I think you remember they were playing the Chargers nor Kansas City's two years or two years ago twenty one, and Kansas City was rushing him and every time he moved left, yep is either an incompletion throwaway or run for two yards because his percente would drop dramatically. Boy did he make that improvement? Yeah, stick back to the super Bowl so he may move into his left. He put the time and he put the effort in. The young man's a marvel. Well, and that's the where you start getting into like the intangibles of this week too. Right, the FaceTime that we on the outside get, I know Ellen and I are going to talk about that a little bit later in the show, is like the FaceTime that we get, but more importantly, obviously the FaceTime that teams get with all these guys. And what good is a ceiling and an upside if you're not going to put in the work to reach that. And so Jalen hurts Josh Allen, two guys that have those intangibles that are gonna put in the work and the work yeah, absolutely. Plus you know how it is the feel of a person. Yeah, right, you've been around people. Fran Elle has been around people where you evaluate them from your time with them, and what does that feel like to you? Where you get that And you know, an old friend of mine was an It was an an FBI agent. Nobody told me. He said, I hate the term gut feeling. I said, why, he said, because in our business, if you have a gut feeling about a case, if you let the gut feeling take over, you shape the evidence to fit your gut feeling instead of following the true evidence. Right. So I don't have a gut feeling about someone. I just want to feel who they are, who I think they are, and then see if it plays out what I believe to be true. And that's hard to do because once you like someone, you will make it work for your humans Like that's the thing is, that's the human element comes into it. You like them, You're gonna make it work if you If you like Anthony Richardson from the University of Florida, then you believe he's gonna be Josh Allen and improvement as a thrower. How you talked to over the years where you're like, you know what, like I have I talked to someone so last night, you know he's a good player. I didn't really love his handshake. You know what he did. He looked me in the eye when we were talking about it. Didn't really like click. It was almost almost like watching um, what was the what was the movie with Brad Pitt and Jonah Hill Moneyball? Oh? Yeah, remember when the old when the older scouts are sitting around talking and the guy's like, I don't I don't like him. He's got no confidence. We mean he's got no confidence. Got an ugly girlfriend, but that means he's got no confidence. Right. You know, hey, I never go to a barber this ball because he's got no respect from my hair. It's all those sorts of things that you run into and somehow they become those deals. I'm not laughing at because I'm quite sure there's some of those things hold up for whatever situation you have. I just have to try and be careful. But I always hear my FBI agent mentor in my head. Don't make it fit your feeling, follow it to its conclusion, let it play out and give you the answer. Don't you form the answer and then fitted around it. Uh, you're always one of the happiest people whenever you walk into a room. Yeah, vizze, he got vizza, he got the other way. Well you you have a little extra peppinger stuff. And I think, I think I know why. Why's that there's all the vols here this year? Man, it's been a couple of years, been a couple of years. We'll first round pickstime. It is so good. I feel bad for Hendon Hooker with the knee, because if he doesn't have the knee, I'd be arm wrestling people about him being QB three. I know people will now say if I have him ahead of Will Levis, that's a homer call. Whatever. I think you know me well enough. I try and follow the way it is. Yep. I really think that this kid is a dynamic player. I know people want ding him for being twenty five. I don't mind having a twenty five year old rookie quarterback versus a twenty year old rookie quarterback going into a hudle little bunch of grown men. That's just men. Quarterbacks are playing till a forty now, So I'm gonna take a guy. He's gonna play fifteen years. He can play. I think you'd be the guy. But as you pointed out, no one's a lock. No one is this. Everyone has their strengths. There are a few flaws in there. Which flaws do you want to live with? It's gonna be fun to watch how these teams decide who they think that guy is and will know very quickly come draft time or right before the draft when a move is made. Because I have a feeling there's gonna be a move somewhere Chicago, Ryan Polls, g I'm gonna have that phone wide open. Talk to me, Talk to me, talk to me. Is it worth it? Is it what I want? Am I getting what I want? What if Ryan Poles wants to trade Justin Fields and get the people and keep the pick yep, right now, we could we could go somewhere else, then they have to have those discussions. If you don't have this conversations, I responsible. Ryan Poles is not irresponsible. Ryan Poles is going to be a very good GM. They're going to go through every scenario, figure it out, go from there. Like with Justin Fields, did sure or last year he looked a lot like a single wing tailbat right? Is that where we're going to go? Do you believe in him throwing the football enough? Because this league has moved to where you've got to be able to deliver otherwise. I don't think you can play around your quarterback anymore. I get played through your quarterback. Well Hending Hooker. Probably it seems like Day two, but feels like Day two because of the ACLA. If it wasn't for the a c L, I think there would be a fight because he would rise as we get closer. Feels like Day two. But someone's gonna get a good player. Darnell right offensive tackle likely Round one. Jail And Hyatt receiver dal and Highest started the year's wide receiver three at Tennessee. Cedric Tillman was my wide receiver, my favorite senior receiver coming into the year. Giggles strong. He's still gonna be, but just positions changed by a play, by injury, by things. But it's nice to have some guys back on the scene. I feel very good for for my Valls. I'm very happy for him and the betech out of Daniel Jones Daniel jeremyin is applau. Although he has guys. He got a couple of guys here too. Yeah, there's some guys Campton, He's got a Cameron camera people. Ye there's some there's some guys. They have a really nice program. Let me ask one last question. What do you want to see this week? What are you most excited to see here this week in India? You know it's funny, is it's it's it's one guy, Drew Sanders. Oh, I like it, crazy backer Arkansas. Yeah, I'm crazy about Drew Sanders because of what he what he offers. My early comp on him is Dante High Tower. Okay, yeah, not as big Dante. Mean when Dante walked into a rita by Alpha big boy who right was twenty twelve draft. Yeah. Would you remember, obviously you remember the Super Bowl against Atlanta. Ye, we all remember the Brady come back and the whole deal. What precipitated what started it? Dante Hide Tower going to the edge, Blitz taken down, Ryan Ball comes free, getting the ball, steel possession score, start to come back. Drew Sanders does that. Yes, he does that for you. You see him get to the edge and beat people up. But what I liked was I thought he developed as an off the ball linebacker. He was a guy I thought that could, to use an old term, he could play the piano and he can go laterally up and down and make those plays in the hole. I really liked him, so I'm eager to watch him move around athletically. He told me today he's got a little bit of a hammy, so he's not gonna run the forty, but he planned to do the drill work. Let's see if the hammy holds up in the drill work, because the pro days into March. Honestly, Like, that's what I'm looking for a linebacker anyway, Like the sort area stuff in the position work. Honestly, how you got one in Philadelphia that I I might be able to beat TJ. Yeah, I think I might be able to get He might knows. He might knows me out at the tape, but I'm not gonna make under eighty tackles right because he knows where to be. He's got savvy. He puts himself in the right position. He's had the first area quick, this's the diagnosi and gone. He beats blockers to the point and he makes plays. He's a tremendous football player. Doesn't get four eight so he went on draft. He was dead. He was absolutely dead. But he plays four four well. Charles Drew Sanders, one of many players. We'll be watching here when the live coverage starts March second, as the linebackers, the defensive line take the field of NFL Network, you will be live throughout the course the next few days. Thanks so much for joining us here on the journey. The Draft podcast was my life brand. Thank you, Fran, thank you. I'll appreciate it. Now it's time for Draft buzz. Let's now welcome in Cabriella, t von Ella. It's your first time in the combine it is. You've been here just over twenty four hours. Where are your thoughts? This is so cool, genuine, so cool. Now. I am a football nerd, so I was gonna love this no matter what. I've watched it on TV every year, but being here in person and seeing everything set up and all the teams set up is just just a neat experience. It really is very special here in Indianapolis. Yeah, it's it's a really cool experience. There's a lot going on that the week kind of evolves and changes. As you and I have talked about. We've got a player availability that just started today. We're gonna get into that a little bit. But over these first couple of days, we've had a lot of head coaches and general managers speaking. On Tuesday afternoon, Howie Roseman and Nick Sirianni both spoke to the media, so you can check out a lot of the takeaways from that with Dave Sperdarra over on the Eagles Insider podcast. But you and I, let's let's chop it up a little bit here your three big takeaways from Nick and from Howie on Tuesday afternoon. Yeah, We've only been here for over twenty four hours, and I felt like the second we landed, things just got nuts. So we had Nick and we had Howie yesterday and as they were making their way to the podium, all kinds of news broke from the team is well, both announcing Brian Johnson being elevated to offensive coordinator and then Shawn de Si of course being hired as the new defensive coordinator. So that's a lot of what these press conferences revolved around was these new hires. So my first takeaway, of course is on Shawn Decai. The big takeaway from Nick was about his football IQ and his detail on his sharpness. Pete Carroll talked about him yesterday in his press conference and he talked about how detail oriented he is as well. Judging by the reaction across the league, it seems like a good hire. I like that he has some Philly tides, being a Temple guy who was a graduate as since assistant back in I think it was oh seven, I believe for him. Do you know him very very well? Yeah? I was gonna say, I've got an extensive background with coach Deci, so we'll be addressing that here upcoming on the Eagle and the Sky podcast. Was that a little tease? Yeah, we haven't done anything yet, but soon to come, hopefully. Over on the Eagle and the Sky podcast, we'll dive into schematic stuff with both coach Deci and with coach Johnson, who obviously is been here and I know Nick spoke with the impact he had on this offense these last two years. Yeah, before I get to him. The other thing that I thought was interesting when talking about to Sias, Nick kind of said, Look, we're gonna go into this season a little similarly as we did two years ago in terms of opposing teams. Have some unknowns now from the Philadelphia Eagles. Sure, you're gonna know the pieces that are on the field and how they play but it's gonna be a bit of a new scheme. Things are going to look different from a defensive perspective, which then leads me to my third my second takeaway, I'm sorry, which was the promotion of Brian Johnson. Now, Nick Sierranni says it's his job to retain good coaches, and he did that in retaining Brian Johnson, but he said, this time around, you think it's gonna look really different, but it's not. Things are gonna look pretty similar offensively because Brian Johnson, of course has been in the building. He's worked with Shane Steke, and Nick spends every day with Brian Johnson, so that will be a smoother transition on the offensive side of the football. And so I thought that was a huge takeaway from yesterday as well. And then my third takeaway coming from How We Roseman, where he says, look, at the end of the day, our job during the season is to prepare for the off season. There's so many questions about all of these free agents that he will have a slew of them this year, and there's a lot of question marks. People had a lot of questions yesterday about what he's going to do about that, and he said, I've been thinking about this for longer than you think. I didn't just wake up yesterday and start wondering what I'm gonna do with all of these free agents. When it comes down to it, friend, they're not all going to be in Philadelphia next year. How he knows that that's just being realistic, But he's confident in the draft picks that they have, not just this year, but next year as well, that they can keep building. Yeah, And that's the thing is that you know, when you factor in the fact that a lot of the rookies on the team this past season, the guys that we saw on Lucasoil Stadium last year at this time, you know, Jordan Davis, Cam Jurgen's, Nikobe Deane. You start going down that list. A lot of those guys did not play significant roles here as rookies. But you're gonna need those guys to come in and play some quality snaps or compete for quality snaps here the summer going into the fall, and so certainly will be a lot on the table for Jordan Davis, for Nicobe Dean. You go again going down the list, a lot of those guys, there's gonna be snaps available for all of them. It's about going out and taking advantage of that opportunity. So I would expect we'll see a lot and hear a lot about those guys here in the coming months. Um so yeah, those areas one from Hallie. Yeah, I love it all right. So um, we also spoke with a lot of the Front seven players here in Indianapolis today. So basically the way it works is that the day before the players take the field for drills and for athletic testing, they meet the media the morning beforehand. So um, tomorrow on Thursday, you've got the Front seven taking stage over on the turf. Well that means we spoke to them this morning starting at eight am. We heard some defensive line we heard some linebackers, defensive tackles. Who did you who caught your eye? Who was someone that you were really impressed with? After walking away from the podium, I want to bang on a table for Nolan Smith because he speaking language was everything. He was captivating. His press conference was crowded, which is to be expected. I mean, he's a Georgia guy, and prior to the y he suffered this year, he was going to be talked about no matter what, but the way he spoke, for his humility, his passion, he was a guy that clearly just loves the game of football. He reminded me a lot of Jordan Davis at the podium in terms of his professionalism while also sticking true to who he is and really allow allowing his personality to come out when he spoke. So he was both entertaining and you could relate to him, but then he also was serious and got down to business when asked about more hard hitting football questions. I loved his personality. I loved his honesty is authenticity. Any team that drafts Nolan Smith, they're gonna get really lucky from obviously what he can do in a football field, but what he can bring in terms of the culture and leadership and and just his genuine spirit and love for the game. So I want to try and be cognizant of the fact that I need to be better at this on this podcast, that there are a lot of people, a lot of fans that are listening now for the first time. They're just tuning in. Hey, let me get a better sense of these draft prospects. So Nolan Smith is a pass rusher from Georgia. When he was coming out of high school, he was like five star, number one, maybe the number two player in the country. He was regarded as the best recruit in college football. Stayed local. He's from Savannah, Georgia, and stayed local to the to the Bulldogs arrived there and it was kind of like under fire the first couple of years. He was seen as like a disappointment by Georgia fans. Only one startness first two years, was not super impactful, but he was always doing the right things and I was really impressed. I forgot I'm not sure if you were on this part of the press conference. It was towards the beginning of it where he was asked about like, hey, like you've gone through a lot over the course of your career, and he said, yeah, like I had some growing up to do, and you know, I didn't know all of my players when I first got there, and coach can't play me if that's going And they said, look, well look you know all these guys transferring, Um, could you have done that? Could Why did you stick it out? And he said, you know, that's just not the way that I'm wired. Uh, you know, the coaches don't see that I'm ready to play like that's on me, that's not on them. And so um that that stick tuitiveness, you know that that that like fiber that he's built up. Um. I was really impressed with him as well. I also having to love his tape. So I think when you look at Nolan Smith, he's on size. I mean he's we'll see what he comes in at tomorrow, but he's listed under six foot three. He's gonna be earned. Like the two forty two forty five pound range would be my guest. He's gonna be under size. But I love watching this kid. But he's really athletic. He said he's gonna do a lot of the testing here. He's not gonna do the bench. He tore his pectoral muscles like October November, so mid season. That was his first major injury of his college career. But all of the metrics were very favorable to him before that. Before that injury, he was having a career year here this season for the Bulldogs, and if you were watching Georgia late in the season, you always saw him on TV on the sideline with his teammates, very very engaged. Nolan Smith it's hard not to like that kid. He's a he's a fun player. You mentioned too when he was asked about how things started off on the wrong foot for him at Georgia. He was asked that again, kind of in another way of the same question for he's another way. Yeah, and he alluded to already answering the question, but respectfully said, you know what, I want to say this again. Yeah, and he said, I want kids to hear this. I'm happy to talk about this. And that was a moment where I realized he also understands this platform, right, he understands that people are listening. And it was funny to kind of paint the picture of the way that this is set up. There's about over sixty prospects that spoke today and about eight different groups, so it's kind of chaotic. It's a bit like reports you have on your phone. A lot. Yeah, I went through. I think I counted I was at forty eight too many. Yeah, you got a lot more than night. I've got a lot of trans I've got a lot to transcribe in the next twenty four hours. It's not gonna be fun, but but it was interesting because you know, the groups kind of follow Some people get their questions and then they leave move on to the next But his group kept growing and growing and growing because he really just captivated everyone. Everyone had stopped and listen. Uh and it was It was very, very well done. Yeah, he's a he's a really fun player and someone will hear about I think that there will be more first round buzz on Nolan Smith when we leave here, and we'll see how he tests on Thursday. Stay tuned. We're gonna be doing daily recaps here and they're gonna be shorter episodes. These are all gonna be shorter episodes this week than what you're accustomed to on the Journey of the Draft podcast. But stay tuned. Daily episodes, daily recaps from what Ell and I are seeing here in Indianapolis. Any other big player takeaways? I have one more Brian Brizzie. Okay, he spoke towards the end of the session. It went from eight am to eleven am. He was towards the end. I was looking forward to hearing from him because he entered college as the number one recruit in the country. It's very SIMI very a lot of hype around him, and he burst onto the scene his freshman year and then things kind of fell off for him a little bit. He was a bit by the injury bug throughout his career as well. So I was excited to hear from him. And also, if anybody falls college football weekend and week out, if you watch college Game Day, he had an incredible story that aired one week about the loss of his sister who was fighting cancer, and so I really just kind of wanted to see him in person, how he presented himself, and he lived up to the hype in terms of who he is as a person. He was so humble. He said he feels really, really healthy, which I think a lot of people wanted to hear because there are questions around around his health. And he said, you know, I just pride myself on playing through the whistle. He said, he he's versatile. He's played a variety of different positions and in different schemes. And you know, someone thro room a question said were you most comfortable playing? And he took a second, and I thought, how is he gonna answer this question? And he said, I'm comfortable anywhere, which is what people want to hear, which is important that he answered it that way. He's very poised very mature and uh, he threw in a little. He said he grew up watching Ryan Caregain, which I thought was interesting. He's with the Eagles a few years ago. But I also felt old in that situation because he said he grew up watching Ran be ready for that that is going to happen. I'm seeing a lot of guys were I'm like, oh, this guy was born in nineteen ninety nine. He's one of the older players in this draft class, and I'm like, oh God. So Brian Brezie, as you mentioned, he came into college as the number one player in the entire country out of Damascus High School in Maryland. Twenty one starts in his career, only started four games in twenty twenty one due to an injury. Basically, what happened if my memory serves, and you know, don't like take me like a hundred percent on this, but he heard his shoulder reanswered the game. It was like, I'm gonna I'm gonna keep fighting through this, and I think had the shoulder injury for about a week. It was like, I'm gonna get through this. Then toward his ACL, yes, so when he tore his ACL, they said, okay, let's check on that shoulder. He ended up getting surgery on the shoulder, so he had to go. He basically had two different rehabs he had to go through coming into his redshirt sophomore season, which was this year. It was mostly healthy this year. I know he was like dinged up a little bit and obviously was dealing with everything that he was dealing with off the field as well with losing his sister. You know, this was a really decorated player coming out of high school. And watching him on tape last year, which was that injury shortened year, I really liked him. Yeah, he plays with his hair on fire. He's different than Nolan Smith. Obviously a bunch of different body type at six foot five, three hundred and ten pounds, but he's got inside outside versatility. I thought he was laid on his feet. He's strong against the run. He still has some things to clean up from a chechnique standpoint, But Brian Brezie I liked him and I anticipated he's pretty good off the field. But it was good to hear that he impressed you in the press conference. Yeah, he did such a great job. I also like someone asked him which NFL quarterback he's looking forward to sacking the most. And he said, whatever one I'm playing that week. And I said, this kid knows how to answer questions. That's the thing is that, Like, you know, Um, I was actually asked on a different podcast on Tuesday, you know, do scouts take anything from media interviews and the teams? You know, teams overall, don't sit back and watch every press conference. Not. Hey, it's Tuesday, March eighteenth. Let's watch all the d line pressers from from Indianapolis, right, But um, individual scouts, individual decision maker, some coaches for some players, if you got some questions, you might Hey, you know what, let's go back and just watch some of the media interviewers. Let's watch his press conference with the Combine and just get a sense of a like, do they answer questions a little bit differently for the media than they do with us? Because that absolutely one thousand percent happens, um. And then number two like how do they handle themselves? And you get a sense us on the outside get a sense of like how do they just handle questions? Like are they comfortable just like Communica? Are they good communicators? Like? And that that stuff does matter to a certain extent. Um, a guy's not going to be a pro bowler based so only off a press conference. But this kind of stuff doesn't matter, So it's always going to be able to get in front of these guys and talk to them for the first time. Yeah. I talked to a few others that I'll have some of their quotes in Today's just getting ready to getting I'm writing an elo on the scene every day while we're here. So I touched base with some younger brothers. Uh Chuley TWOI Polo two, the younger brother of Marlin he spoke today, and then the younger brother of a former Eagle, Nate Herbig. I spoke with Nick Herbig today and he had some great stuff about just his support of his older brother, how much he learned watching him go through the draft process. And uh even spoke with right Robert Bola. He's a he's a Georgia bull jaw, and I asked him about what it was like playing with Jordan Davis, and he laughed when I first asked that question. He said, we all know he's goofy and great things to say about Jordan Davis, but it's so funny the way people light up when you asked him about Jordan Davis. Yeah, we'd be a remiss if we did not talk about speaking of Georgia. So the potential number one pick in this draft. H Jayleen Carter left Indianapolis this morning. Um, you know, and you can go find the details online. Uh, basically he put it out. Actually want to go pull the tweet up he posted, Um, which you sent over to me. This is a great podcasting. Um, so real quick. So Jayalen Carter put out a statement saying, this morning, I received a telephone call from the Athens, Georgia Police Department informing me that two misdemeanor warrants have been issued against me for a reckless driving and racing. Numerous media reports also have circulated this morning containing inaccurate information concerning the traffic and tragic events of January fifteenth, twenty twenty three. Is my intention to return to Athens to answer the misdemeanor charges against me and to make certain that the complete and accurate truth is presented. There is no question in my mind that when all of the facts are known, that I will be fully exonerated of any criminal wrongdoing. So back on January fifteenth, there was an accident late at night Georgia Bulldog. A player lost his life, a staffer lost his life, and there was obviously some things that need to be answered from Jalen Carter standpoint. So it is notable only from this standpoint, and that a he's potential number one pick. He's mocked to the Chicago Bears at number one and basically every mock draft and if not, there somewhere in the top three or four picks. So, you know, Jalen Carter not participating in the rest of the events here at the combine and we'll see how much if this does impact a stock o thoughts. You know, there's a lot to unpack with the entire situation with a loss of life there, but just keeping it from an NFL draft standpoint, certainly a big discussion point here today. Being here boots on the ground was kind of wild. It was a little crazy because everything was breaking during them. He was what was it was like twenty five minutes where he was. So he was supposed to speak at podium one. Brian Brizzie was right before him, was supposed to go at ten am. So I was standing there at podium one Bretty for Brian, Yeah, and we're sitting there. We're sitting there and nothing's happening. Now there's no player at any any podium at this point if you look around right, kind of things quieted down. It got a little beery. It's not how it goes usually. It's like very repet They shift people out in and then coming out exactly. And everything was moving like a machine this morning. And then people started getting the Twitter notifications and everything started to blow up and everybody's reading things and then you can kind of hear the whispers and time still going on, and the group scheduled to go before Jalen Carter still was not at the podium. So now I think it was I would say between ten fifteen and twenty when they were start at ten. They come to the podium, when Brian is done, he gets down and no new nameplate yeah h hits the podium. So what happens is when a player comes off the podium, the player who's scheduled to speak next, their nameplate goes on the podium for them, and jiggling. Carter's name never was put on the podium, as we kind of anticipated he wouldn't then not speak, But it was a very interesting situation. Even hearing some people who cover the Bears around me were kind of like this could change everything. As you mentioned as he's you know, mocked to go to Chicago. So it's gonna be interesting to follow over the next few months. But being here as it kind of unfolded was was crazy. Yeah, it's certainly the newsist item from an NFL draft standpoint here today, we would be remiss if we did not talk about that. Speaking of the law on the scene article, you can go check out. Also, I've got a position by position previews for all of the events happening here this week and so on Thursday, the defensive line and linebackers taking the field over across the street at Lucas Oil and so you can go on and check out what I think about the edge rushers, the defensive line, the defensive tackles, and the linebackers, all three groups up now on philadelph Eagles dot com. I've tweeted the articles out Who I expect to test well, Who expect which drills I'm most focused on from a position standpoint, Who I expect to look good there. So if you want to get ready, if you want to get primed, if you even if you want to get a sense of like, oh, what does a good three cone time look like? I've got that in there as well for each of those positions. So you can go check all of that out on Philadelphia Eagles dot com. And you're gonna have the daily La on the scene articles as well. Who had daily podcasts. We've got a lot coming here and it's just the day one of what's going to be what now five podcasts from here in India. Even in my column you can find out what friend and night eight for lunch. I had a good burger yesterday. If you did, let's get a burger. We've got a good state coming tonight. Yeah, you've got your first from cocktail tonight. We'll try to remember to ask you that tomorrow after we watch all the drills for eight hours street. So we've got we've got a lot coming here on the Journey of the Draft podcast. Um, that's it. We've got one more segment to wrap up this show. We've got a draft maailback. We got a handful of questions for you at home. Let's get to our final segment of the night. Now it's time to hear from you the fans in the draft mail bag. All right, so I've got a handful of questions to get to from our Apple podcast page, and again the best way to reach us head on over to Apple Podcast. Leave us a question, and if you've got a comment a mock draft. We've got a couple of a little bit of everything here for us to catch up on. Leave us leave it there and we'll get to it here in an upcoming episode. First one comes from Joho Checho, who just said five star review. Great podcast. I've got a question about the Senior Bowl practices that happened last week are the last month. Cody Mock, the offensive linement from North Dakota State, was one of my favorites coming in and I keep hearing good reviews about his ability to move inside and move well, but I've seen tons of videos of him getting rocked backwards by stronger defensive tackles. To me, he fell a notch by proving he does not have the anchor strength to play inside right away? Why am I seeing it differently? So Yoho, Obviously I was not we l and I were neither of us. We were supposed to be in mobile, but with Eagles going to the Super Bowl, we did not go to the Senior Bowl. I have gone through a little bit of the tape, so I've gone back and seen what we've seen from Cody Mack. From all intensive purposes, he had a pretty strong day, I know, early on, and that's typically what you see with a lot of small school players. Ella is that when you go down to those all star game events, especially to the Senior Bowl, a player from a smaller school you're not used to. You know, there's a difference with between like the Missouri Missouri Valley Football Conference for Cody Mack as opposed to saying, oh, I'm going up against an Auburn defensive tackle and then a guy from from USC and then from Penn State. So that day one transition can be a little bit rocky, and then you wait to see how do they bounce back, And from what I understand, it was a little bit rough for malc early and then he kind of bounced back and got better throughout the course of the week. So Cody Mok by all intensive purposes, seems like he's gonna be a day two offensive lineman. He's a left tackle throughout the majority of his career. He played some right tackle as well, early, but a lot of people feel his best reps will come at guard in center. So a very fun personality. I don't know if you've seen his head shot. Yes, so he's got long flowing locks. It's flowing, and he is missing like three three teeth three. He's got the best smile in the NFL draft. So good question there from Yoho checkouh. So Ricky also checks in um just saying how much they love the podcast. Uh, you know, I've been listening since twenty twenty one, the best, the best podcast there is? Uh? Is there any way what's the best way I can watch and analyze or scott these players myself? So, h, Ricky, what I would say is that just watch as much as you can and try and you know, get with other get with people that have played, people that have coach, and just try and pick their brains and uh, you'll pick up as much info along the way. But the more you watch, the better you'll get at this entire process. We've got a mock draft here, Ella. I want to I want to figure into this one here right him left a five star review as I'm joined by Dane Brugler. Dane, don't think you're getting out of this. Uh, you're you're coming on the podcast this way as now he's walking away furiously. UM, all right, so we've got a mock draft here right him checks in. Um. Love the love all the different voices like Ben Fennel, Emory Hunt, the return of Greg Cosell, and Dane Brugler. As he walks away, I look at that. That's his cute. I always love hearing your thoughts on the prospects and the intrigue of what roles like a play in the NFL. Here's a mock draft. What do you think? Well? At ten Ella Brian Brezi from Clubson Area, So coming full circle, Brian Brezie to the Eagles at number ten, at number thirty six, so I guess there's a trade down here. Jamir Gibbs, the running back from Alabama at thirty six. Auburn defensive end Derek Hall. Were you in on his today? He's pass rusher, senior pass rusher from Auburn probably more. He's built like a Brandon Graham. He's a little bit shorter, but he's got some long arms, really good run defender, really violent at the point of attack, and he's come along as a pass rusher at number ninety eight, Maryland corner Deontay Banks. He's an underclassman who declared for the draft. Super sized corner. He's got outstanding size and that's one of the big things he hangs his hat on. Jackson Kirkland, the offensive lineman from Washington, had a healthy year this year. Injury played the last couple of years. He actually got went back for a sixth year this year at Washington because he was actually he got invited to last years combine and I believe was actually here if I remember right. Uh, he went, he went to the Shrine Bowl last year and was got a late accept It's a late waiver to go back to Washington. And so Jackson Kirkland, Uh, the option there. He's played some tackle on some guards, some left and right side. So versatility, we know, very important along thee offensive line here in Philadelphia. Ella Jayden Reid, the wide receiver from Michigan State. Uh, this is a guy who I don't know based off your research. Uh, this guy's offense and special teams had a great Senior Bowl week as well. Obviously it was great the Eagles going to the Super Bowl. It does know there's a little bit missing. Uh, not going down to mobile uh and being able to take all this stuff in from some of these guys from the Senior Bowl. Uh. Dante demis another guy from that's coming off an injury. UM extremely productive his career. I believe it was a broken fibulous broke his leg in his senior season of twenty twenty one. Went back last year and I know it was still kind of fighting through that. So we'll see what he does here this year this week. Um, you know how much he tests. But Dante demis a big body pass catcher. We'll see what he looks like from a health standpoint. That was a big question with him. And then Josh Wiley, the tight end from Cincinnati, really athletic player down the seam. So a lot of different positions hit there. It seems like checking a lot of boxes. Yeah, I like that a lot. I think what's cool about mock drafts too, is we don't know what this team is going to look like in a few months as well, So I think it's cool to project, you know, who the Eagles could draft as is as the team is right this minute, because obviously it's an ever evolving, ever evolving process. But I love taking a running back. I love adding depth to the wide receiver room. And of course we know how he puts all his money in the trenches, and so it's not surprising to add depth at both offensive line and defensive line. He did a he did an interview I think I believe it was with CBS Sports yesterday Howie Roseman, and he just said like, yeah, like you guys who's asked about just like team building and the template between twenty seventeen and twenty twenty two and some of the similarities and differences. And he's like so secret, like we love taking Lineman. That is always gonna be never shy away from at night. Yeah, that's that's always going to be a staple of the program. Um last question here. R J. Field eleven left a five star review saying fran a common mock for most people so far, has been at corner between Devin Weatherspoon the corner from Illinois and Christian Gonzalez the corner from Oregon. Can you explain what aspects from a coverage standpoint would justify Witherspoon as a top ten pick, as a lot of his highlights seemed to be from tackles and hits. And for Gonzalez, the movement in ball skills are obvious, but what weaknesses do you see from him that he could improve upon? Also, why do you think both of these guys were so underrecruited by major programs? So that's a loaded question, all right. So here's what I would say. If you're looking at Christian Gonzalez and Devin Witherspoon, Both guys are really really talented, and both guys, uh, definitely check a lot of boxes that what you're looking for to play corner in today's NFL. They just check different boxes. So I think when you look at Christian Gonzalez, he's six two two one, he's got outstanding size, He's going to test like a freak show elo In my dB preview, on my Cornerback preview, he was a guy listed as a workout warrior. He is going to impress from an athletic portion, uh standing in the workout. Have you are you're familiar with like his background and stuff yet? Yeah, And I think it's interesting. I've been reading more recently that some have him picks as the best non quarterback in this draft. Wow, I've read that a little bit in the past. Few weeks, which Willie Anderson I feel like, is that guy for a lot of people, And so to see that, I think some eyes are being opened to Christian Gonzaleses. So when he mentioned his workout, it's going to be interesting to see what he does well. Because the thing is, I don't think that that's nuts. Like he's got like at six two two oh one, like that's great size for a corner. He's got speed, he's got quickness, he's got he's got the ability to play press man. Um. Yeah, And that's like, if you're talking about like a guy that has outstanding trades, I can play press man like his worth is waiting gold. So both of his sisters, two older sisters were all American sprinters. His one sister, Melissa, ran for Columbia and the Olympics. His dad is six foot nine. He played basketball, utep and played semi ro basketball. His mom was also like a big time figure skater, right, was it I noted that she was also an athlete? Yeah, I don't remember. Yeah, I'm trying to remember. All I know is I realized I lost in the gene Pools apartment. He clearly hit the lottery from that standpoint. Um, Now, I would say, like the big knock on Christian Gonzalez was coming into this year, he did not have an interception. He transferred to Oregon from Colorado, so he was spent his first two couple of years with the Buffalos, did not have a pick there. Now, that defense was not great, that team was not great. Teams were running the ball a lot on the on the Buffalo. So uh then you come to uh here this year and he goes to Oregon and he has four picks and he looks outstanding, And um, I will say, like the film that I watched that made me fall in love with him was the Colorado film. Like I really liked when I saw at Colorado, not even just at Oregon. So it's not just oh yeah, this is what he looked like in a new scheme. I think he's got a lot of traits to be able to work with. Now you look at Devin Witherspoon, he's a little bit different. He's sub six foot, he's listed at one eighty three, one eighty five, like he's he's a much different kind of build. He's a smaller, some more slender corner who was really productive here this year. He had three picks fourteen PBUs he as as r J mentioned, he is very aggressive. He has a violent hit or. He's a solid tackler. He's got outstanding zone awareness. He matches routes really really well. So if you are someone who really prefers the tough, instinctive corner, oh, you might go a little bit more towards Witherspoon. If you want the traits and the guy that's got that has the ability to play press man, you might more go more towards Gonzalez. It just depends on what you like. And but I'm not gonna argue with it either way. Well, and I think that's the interesting part about the draft process, especially when it comes to the cornerback position. Sometimes it's just about team and scheme, right, I mean, Christian Gonzalez, maybe some people have him as the best non quarterback athlete in this draft class. But perhaps or maybe a team or a scheme where it just doesn't fit Christian Gonzales And that's okay, And that's where maybe Devin Witherspoon finds success in, you know, within an organization. So I think this is just an interesting position to analyze as time goes on. Because I think they're There's a lot of players you can't go wrong with, but there's perhaps some that just thrive more in other situations. I love it. It's it's certainly one of the more interesting topics to discuss, especially at that position at corner um. You know, there's there's so many factors at play when you talk to guys in terms of the kind of success they have at the next level. Well, Ella, this was great our first dive into Journey of the Draft podcast here from Indianapolis. We've got four more of these uh here in the coming days, so make sure you stay subscribed, stay tuned to the feed right here on the Journey of the Draft podcast presented by life Brand