The 'What If' Scenarios In The Top 10 | 6 WR/DBs With Greg Cosell | Mel Kiper's Mock Draft

Published Apr 14, 2023, 6:35 PM
Fran Duffy is joined by Greg Cosell and Ben Fennell to get you ready as we are now less than two weeks away from the 2023 NFL Draft. Greg breaks down a trio of wideouts and corners before Ben speculates different scenarios in the Top 10 and examines Mel Kiper's latest two-round Mock Draft.

Eagles Entertainment with the ken't Thick in the NFL Draft the Philadelphi Eagle. Click you're listening to the Journey to the Draft podcast. Welcome to the Journey of the Draft podcast. I'm your host fran Duffian. Today we continue getting you ready for the twenty twenty three NFL Draft, which is just about two weeks away. As I'm recording this recording this Thursday afternoon at April thirteenth, we're just over two weeks away from the draft, and we're gonna have Greg Kosell in for pick six. We're gonna cover six more players, three receivers, three corners, all of who are going to be in that first, second, third round discussion. So we've got six really good players on the docket with Greg here at wide, receiver and corner for pick six. Then we're gonna get into some draft scenarios in Draft buzz Worth Ben Fennel, where we're gonna get into some what if scenarios. We're also gonna dive into mel Kiper's two round mock draft over at ESPN, and then we've got a mock draft from you at home in our draft mail back, and again that is the number one way to re Just head over to Apple podcasts. Leave us a review, leave us a comment, leave us a question, a mock, draft, power rankings, whatever it is, leave it there in the comment box. We will get to it here on an upcoming show. You guys have done a great job all draft season long of consistently leaving us those reviews and leaving us those comments. So I'm gonna ask you now, with two weeks left, this is the time to ratching it up. Even if you've left a question or two. Now go in. I'll answer another question if you go and leave it there in our Apple podcast page. That said, let's get into Pick six. It's time now to catch up with Greg co Sell. Now it's time for Pick six. All right, excited to welcome in here to the Journey of the Draft podcast once again my friend Greg coo Sell for some Pick six and Greg, we've got six more players on the docket today. We're gonna start with some wide receivers, three guys that we're excited about. And we'll start with the number one guy I think on this list for most people is Jordan Addison, the wide receiver from USC won the Bulletina cough Award is the number one wide out in college football as a sophomore in twenty twenty one, catching passes from Kenny Pickett. With Pitt ends up transferring last summer, goes out to USC to join up with Caleb Williams and Lincoln Riley and the rest of the USC offense. The production falls off a little bit, but a good player and a guy that a lot of people feel is going to go in the first round of the draft. Yeah. And I watched all of his targets from twenty twenty one when he was with Kenny Pickett, and then of course all of his targets in some games this year from twenty twenty two when the quarterback was pretty good as well. Caleb Williams, you know, he's one hundred and seventy three pounds, But I felt watching his tape, I'd be curious your thoughts, fran I felt watching his tape that he played a little bigger than his size. I didn't feel watching him that I was watching a little receiver. I thought he aggressively attacked the ball in the air. I thought he made tough, contested catches that really demanded high level concentration. I thought he had really good body control. He's got strong yet soft hands. He certainly fluid and smooth as a route runner. I thought he had a sense of how to run routes, you know. I thought he knew how to use his vertical stem to attack and break down corners, and I thought he could separate. Um. Yeah, I thought he was a three level player, you know, not maybe a pure burner, and obviously his forty time suggests that he's not just a burner. But I thought that he could be a vertical receiver as well. So I thought he was kind of a multidimensional type receiver that will transition well to the league. Yeah, I think there are shades, and I think you're gonna get into this body type often, but I think there are shades of like a Davante Smith there in terms of the way that he plays. You know, five eleven hundred and seventy three pounds is obviously not an ideal body type. He's a little bit slighter than you'd like. But to your point, I also thought that I thought he played through contact pretty well considering that size, and that was contact mid route, that was contact at the catch point. I don't think he's He's never going to be like you know, there's like monster through contact obviously, but um, I think that between that play strength and then also his ability to create his own separation, fine space from to make himself available for the quarterback. Um, just a really sharp player and that showed up. I thought even on the field at Lucas Oil Stadium, the positional workout of the combine was pretty impressive. He's a savvy vertical route runner. He can get defenders turned around it and again just find ways to get open. But to your point, I mean, he's not going to be you know, at one hundred and seventy three pounds he ran in the mid four fives. Uh, and that's not that's not super impressive. But I think at the end of the day, this is the guy that knows how to get open. He's reliable at the catch point, he plays stronger, he plays again, plays through contact. Well, Um, he's just a certain kind of guy. Yeah, and you know, some might want to put him in the slot box due to that size, but I think he's more than that. I think you can line him up both. I think he will give you inside outside versatility and yeah, I agree with you. One hundred percent. I mean, you know, the one thing that he could do, and I think this is really important, is I thought that he showed the ability as a route runner to stop you know, he could he could really do a good job to create separation stop on on vertical stems, and I thought, you know, that's important. And I thought he tracked the ball really well. I just thought he was a quality wide receiver. As you said, it's one seventy three ideal, no, um, but he has a lot of positive traits and I think that that he can be a three level to mension, more savvy than I would expect for a guy who's a third year junior who wasn't even a full time receiver in high school. He was an athlete recruit as like a quarterback wide receiver hybrid coming out of Tuscarora High School in Frederick, Maryland. So, um, yeah, I think when you look at Addison there is a lot to be excited about. I just think that, you know, you kind of have to gauge, like, all right, what is he in your mind? To your point, I don't think he's a slot only he might be best in the slot. I don't think he's gonna be a slide gray player. I do think he can give you, certainly some quality reps on the outside. I could do another player, but I think, like from a usage standpoint, could be used in different ways. We're just talking much about a much different kind of body type, and that's Xavier Hutchinson from Iowa's Date. I've talked about him a lot on this podcast. I think our listeners have an idea of how much I like Xavier Hutchinson. Just under six foot two, a little over two hundred pounds, but this has been a high volume target and another guy that could be moved around the formation, could give you stuff inside and outside. Yeah, you're the one who said, hey, you gotta watch him. I was going to anyway, but I finally got around to him. I kind of liked him. I mean, look, it's easy to say, you know, and there's certain things that are always easy to say, and then people write guys off, and you know, I think one of the things I hope that we do hopefully well is, you know, we really think about how a guy can be deployed in the NFL. You know, we know that Xavier Hutchinson is not going to run by people He's not a vertical guy. I mean, he ran a four or five three, which is better than let's say, Michael Thomas ran coming out of Ohio State or DeAndre Hopkins ran coming out of Clemson. So it's not as if he's slow. But I don't think anybody's going to look at him as a vertical speed guy. That's not his game. Michael Thomas as a comparison as an interesting one I had not thought of. That's that's actually that's interesting. Yeah, and that's one guy. I mean, I got vibes watching him. And again, you know how this goes. It doesn't mean I'm making an apples to Apple's exact comparison, you know, of course, but I thought I saw a little Michael Thomas. I saw a little Keenan Allen when he came out of college California, you know, I mean Keenan Allen. Look, you gotta remember that Thomas was a second round pick and Allen was a third round pick. Now they become when when Thomas played, we don't know what his future holes. When he played, obviously he was great, and Allen's been a really, really good receiver, but he's a certain kind of receiver. And I think that's what Hutchinson is. Um, yeah, he's got great I wrote down I'm on Ross Saint Brown, Greg when I was watching in Saint Brown again, he was the guy wh went in the fourth round, right right, that's you know, but when you're when you running the four fives, you're not always going to be viewed as a top thirty, top forty five picks, right. And and and then guys grow and develop and they're in certain systems in the NFL that allowed their traits to be maximized. You know, no one's gonna say, boy, that Keenan Allen man, he just runs by people. You know, that's not his game. But he's a great receiver for what he is. You know. You know he's got inside outside flexibility for sure. Okay, he catches pretty much everything. So as a short intermediate receiver running routes with precision, I thought he was really good. He's got to refine a nuanced feel for route running. He's got really good route quickness. He has a sense of the pace and tempo of different routes, and there's really kind of a smooth quickness to his route stemming. You know, again, not vertical, but He's just very smooth, and I thought he had some diversified release packages when when he was facing press. So you know, to me, there was a lot to like about him as long as you understand what he is. We're not comparing him to guys who run four three, five. He's not that guy. But I mean, I think he has the tools and the trades to develop into a quality NFL wide receiver and depending on team and scheme, could be a volume target Fran. That's the way I saw him. I mean, he was an extremely high volume target this past season, one hundred and seven passes over almost twelve hundred yards receiving. This past year, he reset his own school record and catches. He set the record at Iowa State last year or eighty three comes back a year later, it has twenty four more grabs and was a finalist for that Blitna coof Award as the top wide out in college football. I think, you know, and we're gonna talk through one more receiver, so I don't think we need to like have like this, you know, a huge wide receiver discussion. But again, it kind of gets into the thing where, um, you know, in this class, maybe there's not that Jamar Chase, you know, DeVante Smith player at the top, but they're gonna be good players available throughout when you get into these middles, and and and then just before we move to our third receiver, you make a great point. And the thing is very often receivers in terms of volume, become a function of team and scheme. Okay, you know there's honor receivers in the NFL who if you just looked at their individual traits, you wouldn't necessarily say, man, that guy is absolutely special. But because the game, teams throw the ball a lot, and because of the way they their particular pass game schemes, receivers get a lot of targets. And you know, Hutchinson to me could be that guy. You know, and it depends where he goes. But I really liked his tape and I think that he'll translate well to the league. A player that I feel like is probably in the same bucket in this class, like a player I see definitely is like a Day two talent like but it wouldn't shock me because of the cluster at the position if he fell to the early stages of Day three. Rashi Rice from SMU, who also another big body, tower target just under sixty one, right over two hundred pounds, was extremely productive over the course of his career, two hundred and thirty catches and set all kinds of records down there for SMU. What are your thoughts on Rashi Rice. I mean, the one thing that bothered me about him, but I liked him for the most part, is that I thought he had far too many drops, uneasy catches. That's the issue with him compared to Hutchinson, for sure. Yeah. Um, so his hands were frustratingly inconsistent. He dropped too many easy ones. But you're right, here's another guy. Had one hundred and fifty three pass targets this year, so he was a volume target. Um. You know, he lined up almost exclusively on the right because he played in you know, that kind of college offense. That to me is not a big issue one way the other. That all changes anyway. I think he's got good size, he's got he's got a different kind of building Hutchinson. He's got a sturdier kind of frame. Um. You know, you wouldn't say that he's a twitchy guy. You know, he's not sudden in the way he moves. I think he's more methodical in his movement. But you know, I kind of liked him. You know, again, you think comparisons in some ways. You know, he reminded me of and again it's it's somewhat similar to what I was saying about Hutchinson, and people are gonna say, what are you crazy? This guy's you know, unbelievable as a pro. He kind of reminded me just in body type and the manner in which he played. When I watched DeAndre Hopkins at Clemson, interesting, yep. You know, Hopkins was six one and two fourteen. Rice is what, he's almost six one, correct, he's four And by the way, he ran a faster forty than Hopkins by a pretty decent amount, and his ten yards split was far better than DeAndre. DeAndre hopkins ten yards split was not very good at all for a wide receiver, as you know, and for whatever it's worth, his vertical jump was significantly higher than DeAndre Hopkins. So, you know, Rice, much like Hopkins, never looks like he's moving with any kind of suddenness and speed, yet he's always able to create just enough separation on different routes. The difference, of course, is at Hopkins has phenomenal hands and catches everything and Rice does not. But Rice, on the other hand, also made some unbelievable catches that you just go, oh my god, that's that's tremendous. Yeah. The name that I wrote down and kind of you know, in terms of like usage and also like the same kind of like dense body type. A guy that can play inside and outside and made some outstanding grabs during his time at Penn State. Has turned into a good NFL receiver. Chris Godwin. Um, yeah, I wrote that name down too. Yeah, if you think of him as a slot right, because Godwin has evolved in his NFL career into being essentially a slot receiver. Yeah, this guy gets He is so competitive, not just like at the catchpoint where he makes like some of these outstanding like circus catches, but he is a violent blocker. He'll win with strength, technique, and effort. He fights through contact in every area of his game. We talked about you and I both prioritize that trade and that the ball tracking does stand out. Yes, he has those like those frustrating catches or frustrating drops, but you know those are things that you feel like you can correct that ball tracking is a harder thing to correct than he does have that ability outside the numbers vertically down the field even to be able to track over the shoulder and finish. That's exactly I type the exact same thing. Yeah. I also thought that he transitioned seamlessly from receiver to a runner when he caught the ball, you know, in the middle of the field. I thought he was competitive run after catch. You know, there's a lot to like about this kid. You know, it's just that the hands were just a little maddening. You know, there were just too many drops on routine. You can't trap the easy ones. That's the bottom line again. Three players that I feel like, you know, some slightly different body types. You know, Hutchinson probably he's the taller, like more broad player, Vershi Rice, more dense, and obviously Addison of a slighter frame. But all three guys have been high volume targets. There's plenty of tape on all three of these guys. To go out and kind of evaluating all three of them, you have the ability to be starting receivers, and Addison is being talked about in the first round, has a chance to fall into the early stages around two. But these other guys, Rice Hutchinson, you're probably talking about like middle of day three into the early stages a day sorry, middle of day two, early stages a day three. So again one of many receivers, are two of many receivers there in that area. You know, different body types, right, But like Kyler Scott from Cincinnati, we haven't really talked about, Yoshavas from Princeton, Parker Washington from Penn State. There's just a bunch of guys, Michael Wilson from Stanford, I know you, like Jonathan Mingo from Old Miss eight area. There's a it's a pretty like fun receiver group, especially when you get to that area of the draft. I would agree, and I think you're gonna see guys drafted in ways that you and I might not think, oh he went there, you know, just because it's going to be very team in schemes specific. Yep. All right, Well let's get to our second position here that we're gonna cover. We're gonna do three corners. Now, we'll start with the guy that I think it's gonna get drafted first of this group, and that's Kylee Ringo from Georgia. This is a big bodied kid. I mean, he absolutely looks the part. You're talking six foot two, over two hundred pounds and he runs in the four three. Those guys do not grow on trees, and I think that's one of the more attractive things about Kaylee Ringo. He's nearly two ten, he ran four to three six, and that does show up on film. This guy recovers extremely well. What are your thoughts on Kaylee Ringo? Not a huge body of work, but I mean, twenty seven starts is a redshirt sophomore for the best defense in college football. Is nothing to stick your nose up to. No, you know, it's funny because I did not love bring those tape. You know, he's all the things you just mentioned. Is the reason he's at Georgia, you know, because there's not a lot of guys like that, and that's why he was a big time recruit. He was the number one corner prospect in the nation when he came out of Arizona in high school. And that's why he's at Georgia. But you know, I think you're dealing with a guy that he's clearly smooth and fluid. He's not twitchy. Size and physicality are defining attributes of his game. I think he's a little tight hipped. I think one of the things that really stood out to me watching his tape is he has trouble stopping. I felt like watching his tape, you could throw curls and comebacks on him all day long. He had struggles to stop, and I think that's where his hip tightness comes into play. He can't really stop and transition and change direction fluidly, and I think ultimately he's at his best playing press man, where those issues are are less important or don't show up as much. I felt like he didn't have a really refined feel for routes and where they break, and therefore I thought he lost leverage and assignment discipline a lot. And I didn't think his eyes were particularly great. You know, he was not. I did not watch it, and I kept watching tape. Fran I think I watched You'll think I'm nuts. Most people do anyway, But I watched one, two, three, I watched nine games. Okay, so I'm a little crazy. But I just kept thinking to myself, Okay, I must be missing something because I keep seeing him. You know, it was a potential first round pick and he could well be, because you're one hundred percent right. There's not a lot of six two, two hundred and seven pound guys who run four three six, So he could well be. And I know for a fact he's working with Richard Sherman to prepare for the draft and his future, so you know, maybe he'll get better. But I struggled with his tape quite a bit, you know, And there's a few things with the profile, right, I mean, he had twelve penalties in two years like that, that's not a good number. He had nine this past year as a as a sophomore. He's going he's going to be a twenty one year old rookie. Um, you know, to kind of paint the picture because there were two former Eagles corners. We have a lot obviously, most of our listeners or Eagles fans, not everybody, but most of them, and so I feel like this is a good way to kind of paint the picture for Kaylie Ringo is that he kind of reminds me Greg of and correct me, you know, tell me what you think about this. He's like a mix of Ronald Darby and Rasul Douglas, two corners in like recent Eagles history. Where you've got that big body for Rasul Douglas, but with you know, some of that that same like that tightness, but you have that four three speed that Darby brought to the table. I think that Ringoes really good playing downhill, like Rasul was um and Rasul had great ball skills. Ringo at times that's going to the knocks on him is like does he have that ability to find the ball in the air. That was a knock on Darby. Right, So it's like a blending of those two corners where like the traits are certainly there and you mentioned like he's working with Richard Sherman. He's still a very young player. Um, you know, there are a lot of people feel like, hey, if it doesn't work out a corner, he might be a dynamite safety, you know there. So like there's a lot there the projection to say like, Okay, even if it doesn't work out at corner, maybe he's did the other he still can present value down the road. He's a really interesting eval and not. The thing is is that there are like lots of corners that like I do feel even with the weaknesses, he's going to be a starter in the league. He might even if he's not like a oh Man like this guy's one of the best in the league. Like I do think he's gonna end up being a starter, and that's a will be the case. Oh no, no question, And you did hit on something that I made note of as well. I thought he needs to get better at the moment of truth, they were reps. He had good position but didn't really locate the ballum. So no, I think there's there's concerns that show up on tape. And not only did I watch those nine games this year, but I also watch five games last last year, so I've seen a lot of ring though. And you know, I'm actually was I was actually very glad to hear he's working with someone like Richard Sherman, who's incredibly intelligent and knows how to play the corner position. Yeah, and so hope fully that really helps him. But I thought there were just too many concerns on tape for me to think to say he's a first round pick, like you said, he's gonna play in the league. I'm not saying you shouldn't draft him and he shouldn't be in the league, but we're talking about a guy that I know on mini mock drafts, is you know, toward the end of the first round, I did not see him as that kind of player as we speak today. Well, and that's the thing, Greg, is that that even that is like a huge evolution from where he was for most of the summer and even most of the college football season. He was in the top ten of most mock drafts, like all through from September October, and even while watching it, I was like, yeah, I don't I don't see that. But it's funny, you know. Daniel Jeremiah has said multiple times on On the Move the Six podcast the last couple of weeks in talking about Kaylee Ringo, he's like, you know, one thing that they would say in draft rooms, um, you know and talking about players, like all right, like you know, we've beaten him up enough, he's taken enough. It's like, all right, at some point the guy becomes a valuable piece. And yeah, maybe he's not the top ten pick that people talked about him as, but at some point you're like, yeah, like you're gonna be okay with taking a six through corner, no, no question. And I learned that years and years ago that you know, when guys have issues, it doesn't mean they can't play, and they still have value. You know, there's no question about that. I believe me. I learned my lesson a long time ago, and I started doing this. I started thinking at the beginning of well, the guys an all pro or he can't play, And obviously that's not the way. It is a lot of guys play and not everybody's an all pro. Well, let's get to the next one. Here Emmanuel Forbes from Mississippi State, and this is another fascinating prospect from the SEC. Just he's over six foot and a half one hundred and seventy pounds. He is very lean. He came in one sixty six the combindrec That is lighter than any corner drafted in the last decade. And they again a six foot corner, not a five eight corner, but a six foot corner who checked in at one sixty six. He is rail thin, but he's long man. I mean, he's got thirty two and a quarter in charms, set the FBS record with six pick sixes in his career. So this is the guy who's got production. He ran four to three five at the combine, so he's got speed, he's got length. There's a lot to like that with the profile, Greg, Yeah, I mean he's a tough evaluation for one reason or one reason only one sixty six, So that makes that makes him an outlier an exception, and you have to decide how you feel about that, because there's no question his tape's really good. I mean, he's got length. As you said, he's very smooth and fluid. He's got really loose hips. He played a ton of off coverage, as you know because you watch the tape, but he's got long speed to run with vertical routes. I think he has really good zone understanding and awareness, not something you see a lot of in college corners. I thought he had a really good feel for route concepts and kind of the gray areas they produced for his own coverage. I thought he was really good at that. So ultimately, you know, you have to decide is his length and higher level athleticism and savvy enough to compensate for his frame. That's really the question, because this guy's got good traits and is a good player, but he's one hundred and sixty six pounds or now you have to decide how you feel about that he You know, when you look at the list of corners that have been drafted that you know are under like one eighty five is usually a number that a lot of evaluators in the Apple will point to and say like, hey, like that's kind of a mark that I'm not willing to cross. That's one of that we talked about this with Devin Witherspoon coming out of Illinois, right, is that you know that that at that weight, that's gonna be a question. And a lot of the guys that you would point to, you know, you would say like, oh, well, this guy you know has thrived in the league. You know, Dante Jackson down in Carolina, he's made plays. Ben vill Ward one of the better corners in football. But those guys again, they're they're shorter, they're five ten, they're five eleven and one eighty three or one one seventy eight. Um. You know, he had the density. The body density on Emmanuel four is just so alarming. I think that does show up at times, you know, like at the point of truth is a tackler, right, that's just his ability to consistently get get guys to the ground. I think that's gonna be a concern for him for some people. But again, with that length, with that speed, with that ball production like that, that's gonna be tough to ignore. So it would not shock me if he ended up in the latter stages around one. Yeah. And you know, I think we both agree that it all comes down to, Hey, you feel about the one sixty six, Yeah, because the tape's good and h you know you mentioned about the tackling, but it's not for lack of effort, you know. I felt like he tried to compete and tackle people. He's just one hundred and sixty six pounds yep. Important to note a big time baseball player who like didn't really commit to football until like late in the process. So this guy, he was a big time base I believe he was an outfielder over the course of his career. So umah, Emmanuel Forbes, well, the ball skills of ball tracking, I'm sure that will come up over the quick if he does hit, I think there will be many stories written about his baseball background. Let's now go to the final player here, Greg, And this is the guy that I've actually watched the last two years. We thought he was coming out in the twenty twenty two NFL Draft ended up going back. He was committed to go to the Senior Bowl and everything. And that's Riley Moss from Iowa again. Over six foot, he's a little bit thicker build, one hundred and ninety three pounds, he's got really short arms. But this guy's played a ton of ball, nearly forty starts in his career. He's a pretty good athlete. That's really well across the border. Former walk on at Iowa who carved his way into again a thirty eight star career. Yeah, and he set the Iowa high school record in one hundred and ten high hurdles. I mean, this guy's a really good athlete. I really like Riley Moss tape. I mean, I you know, obviously I knew who he was. I did not watch him last year, so this was my first real exposure to him other than seeing you know, games on television. And I really liked him. I mean, he's got good size, he's a good athlete, he's competitive, he's physically tough, he tackles all this comes through in every game. You watch his ball skill too, Gregor outstanding, really good, really really good. And and you know he's more smooth and fluid. You wouldn't say he's twitchy and sudden. You know, he doesn't move like Christian Gonzalez or Deante Banks. But he's really smooth. I mean, I think you saw a lot of examples of him playing press, you know, mirror match press man. Very smooth and transition. He opened his hips easily. He's got top end speed, I mean, you know, the easy response as well. He's not fast enough. I mean he ran a four or four or five, and I remember it was I think the second or third play of the game. You always love to see corners against you know, Ohio State, because Ohio State seemingly has every five star receiver you know in Western Civilization. And on the second or third play of the game against Ohio State, he just ran. He got in the hip pocket of Marvin Harrison on a vertical route and the ball wasn't thrown to Harrison, but he just ran with him thirty five yards down the field and he was in his hip pocket the entire way. You know. So you know, the more I watched Moss, the more I liked him. He gives you really consistent execution snap after snap. You know, he has the length the smooth athleticism to play both man and zone. He's really smart and savvy and zone. He plays the game with physical and mental toughness. I think he's a really good prospect. Yeah, I think that when you look at it. You know, coming out of that Iowa scheme, there's a lot of NFL coverages from a like a zone standpoint. You watch, I might read things out out really really well. So I love the zone instincts. I love the competitiveness, I love the ball skills. I mean a lot of the things that you pointed to. He's played a boatload of special teams nearly five hundred special team snaps in his career, So you like the floor in terms of being able to come in and it contribute as a backup and special team are early on. It wouldn't shock me if a team took him in like on day two and he became a starter. In short. I mean, and then there's certain places you love that you just stick in your head. I mean, there was a pin poll concept against Northwestern and he freaking jarred Peter Skorronsky. I mean, he just jarred him, you know, And Scornsky could well be a top ten pick. In this draft as an offensive lineman, and then he not only did he jar him, but then he made the tackle for one yard. So I mean it's plays like that that stand out. Besides Opous, he's a corner, he's got a cover, but you know that speaks to the physicality, the toughness, the competitiveness. I mean, I don't this kid to me other than the fact that he's not, you know, a super high level athlete, you know, he is a really good prospect. No, I love it. Well, Greg, We've covered six players here pretty in depth, and six players that are probably gonna get drafted here in the first three rounds of this draft. Thanks so much for joining us once again for the four pick six on the Journey the Draft podcast. We've got probably like one more of these and then we'll we're gonna get be great and ready for the draft. We'll have like some some kind of special segment with you the week of the draft. Thanks man to appreciate it. Now it's time for Draft buzz. All right, So great stuff there from Greg. Let's now welcome in Ben Fennel for some draft buzz. And Ben, we teased it last week that we're gonna kind of go through some what if scenarios where um, you know, each just kind of talked through what you know, we're at that point in the draft where everybody has some kind of a feel how they think it's going to go right, where it's hey, you know what, quarterback, it's gonna go one and two Bryce Young and c J. Strabt number one and two. And then you know, we talked about it last week. This was coming off of Lanzerlines mock draft over at NFL dot com where he said, you know what if the Panthers take Bryce Young instead of CJ. Stroud, It's not a guarantee that the Texans are gonna take CJ. Stroud. They might pass on a quarterback and take a defensive end, they might trade out, you know whatever, whatever that may be. It's now that sets off a whole set of dominoes. All right, Well, that means that CJ. Stroud might be up for auction at this number two slot or the number three slot. Maybe that causes the Raiders to move up, Maybe that causes the Titans to move up. Other teams can get mixed in. What does that mean for the rest of the top ten? Who and where players may fall, and I think it's really interesting just to kind of talk through that. And by the way, that's what NFL teams are doing right now and last week, and honestly they'll be doing it next week and even in the build up to the draft. Is that you're going to go through all of these different in the scenarios so that when you get to draft night, you're not completely blown away by something that happens at number eight or at number three, or at number seven or at number eleven. Right, So you know, this is an exercise that everybody's kind of going through, and it's important this time of year. Yeah, And I find different teams have different osophies and practices, you know, when it comes to this, particularly if you're picking in the front half of round one. I've heard the mock draft exercises are much more important than the later teams because it becomes that much more excuse me, high variable to predict. So there's some teams that are the trust our board. We can't predict what's going to happen, but we're gonna believe in our board and go off of our board. There are some that like the forecast of scenarios and these mock draft exercises really give you a scope and do what could happen on day one and what decisions could we be making. And I think just trying to put yourselves into the what ifs just gives you a leg up on the actual scenarios and the actual pickings. But it's very hard to predict. Obviously, it's one of the more hard predict exercises out there, and trying to figure out this draft order and who's gonna go where, And I think that's what makes this whole process so much fun. Yeah, and the Eagles obviously sitting in a unique spot because they are both like picking in the top ten while also having that later pick as well. Right away with those two selections, you're taking both of those approaches, right, Like, you don't know how the top twenty nine are going to go, but you can forecast most of the different ideas for how the top nine are gonna go. So let's go through one. And this is one actually, ironically enough, Daniel Jeremiah over on the Move the Sticks podcast, the latest one that just dropped. Um, you know, he floated the idea and this is kind of pairing with this is that you know what if Anthony Richardson falls to number nine and the Chicago Bears were to take him, right, and so that that is something that we can that's a that's a separate scenario from what I wanted to bring up. But my question was this, you know, we all think that, you know, there's a good chance that quarterbacks go one, two, three, and even the potentially that for the first time ever, it could go one, two, three, four. But what if neither Anthony Richardson nor Will Levis go in the top ten, in the top nine, right, and now you know they are both on the board at number ten. I think there's a lot there to kind of chew one and what that would mean for the Eagles in particular or sitting at the number ten hole, because now number one, you know, if you are you know, obviously like the Tennessee Titans, the Minnesota Vikings, the Tampa Bay Bucks, through Washington, whoever it is that's picking in the back half of the round, you might have that ability to be able to move up if you're the Eagles, to say like, hey, you know what, like there's going to be some attractive trade offers to move back. And I think that's certainly something you know that could play in the Eagles favor. I think a lot of people would say, oh, well, if Richardson and Levis don't go, that's bad for the Eagles because that means a bunch of players go off that you know the Eagles would think about selecting. But you know, there's another way to look at that as well, and so yeah, but then there's also the potential for a nice trade back package as well. Yeah, I think the speculation can kind of continue there. Certainly those teams and the teams like you mentioned the Tennessee, Washington, maybe Detroit, Tampa are going to start sitting up in their chairs saying, maybe you could go get one of those quarterbacks. And then the speculative nature of number nine, like DJ suggested, if Anthony Richardson goes to the Bears, you get just a speculative and saying, if Anthony Richardson is sitting at ten, what if he goes to the Eagles? You know. So I think it's it's a fun to kind of go through those exercises and to try to speculate and forecast ahead. And I don't think anything is off the table, you know. I think you know, when you look at like Tennessee. They've done a lot of work with both of these quarterbacks, both Will Levis and Anthony Richardson, and they're sitting at the eleven spot right behind the Eagles, and you know, there's I think there's plenty of gamesmanshipped there in terms of like, oh, well, you know the Colts, who are division rival of Tennessee, Like do they trade back thinking that they can get one of these guys. We don't want them to feel too comfortable. So we're gonna make sure we were doing there are due diligence on these players. Well again that all the other teams are seeing that and say like, hey, there's a chance that a quarterback could go at number eleven, we need to trade ahead of that. I think that that could be an interesting scenario certainly, something that's uh definitely, you know possible. You know, we've talked all the time about quarterbacks, and you know, leaving like last year week of the draft, there was a lot of talking like, hey, you know that no one really loves these quarterbacks, but two or three of them are going to go and obviously only one win in the top was it like seventy five, and so I think that that's something where obviously this class is much better, But I don't think it's not necessary a lock that all of these quarterbacks are certainly not all four are going to go in the top ten of this draft. So I think that's a what if scenario just to kind of keep in your mind that they could be available on the board when the Eagles are on the clock and what that would mean from a trade down scenario. So that is certainly something to keep in mind. There another one that wanted to float at you. So the Arizona Cardinals are seen as a team that could almost is almost certainly going to trade out of number three, especially if it goes QB QB one two, if it goes CJ. Stroud, then Bryce Young, the Cardinals, Hey, you know what, they're probably not gonna sit there. They're not gonna sit there and take Will Anderson. Number three, very likely to trade out. I think believe it was Adam Schefter had already put out here that the six teams have already called about moving up to number three. It feels like there's gonna be a market there for that pick. Now, how far do the Arizona Cardinals trade back? Do they only want to trade back a little bit to make sure they still get a blue chip player, or are they just happy to get a big package to move out. There's been reports about, oh, could the Minnesota Vikings move all the way from the twenties up to number three? And I think that's important, man, is that you know the Arizona Cardinals, they have been a team that all along has been like linked up to Will Anderson has been Yeah, like Will Anderson would make a lot of sense there in Arizona, whereas some of these other teams that are picking in this area, Seattle at number five, you know, Atlanta at number eight. You know, you start going through some of these other teams that are in that area of the draft, and a lot of them are Chicago at number nine. They are locked in on guys with a lot of with great length, and so a lot of people will think, all right, well, this is why they might prefer a Tyree Wilson. That's why Houston might take a Tyree Wilson ahead of a Will Anderson because because he's bigger, longer, he has that kind of body type. So now what I'm thinking is if the Cardinals were to trade out of ten. I think that kind of eases the possibility that maybe a Will Anderson falls into five, six, seven, eight kind of range, and now that makes him available for a trade up for a team like the Eagles or one of these other teams in the back of the bottom of the top fifteen, the bottom of the top eight team of this draft. Yeah, you know, and for someone that's is it draft all year round? The speculative scenarios are obviously really enticing and endless. How do you see the top four going, friend? Yeah, I think that at the end of the day, like you're going off of what the reporting is right now, and it certainly seems like everybody feels like it's gonna be Bryce Young, right, I mean, Adam Schefter, I know, just put out today viewer, Scott Fitterer and and the Panthers. What in all the work you've done on the quarterbacks and projecting forward to twenty twenty three, Frank Reig, what would fran Duffy the GM do at the number one pick. I think it would be Bryce Young and so I I don't disagree with that with that assessment, but um, you know, more importantly, like honestly, like when we're talking through like mock draft stuff. That's why to me, like I always agree with the assertion from like content creators of say like, hey, like mock drafts are about what teams would do, and we can get into like rankings and that's what like ide analysts would do. Um, just because I feel like that's what's important if we're like trying to like feed like the the viewers and the listeners and the readers, is like, all right, we're trying to give you a sense of how this could go. M you know, I think that Bryce Young had one. Dude, I don't know. I mean I think that you know, And credit first of all, credit Lanserline for putting this out in the mock draft last week. And we're gonna give we gotta give a lot of love to Dane Brugler as well, our friend, because coming out of the Combine you go back to that post Combine mock draft that Dame Brugler put out, and Dan has not said this publicly, and he hasn't said it privately either to me, but I want to. I do want to give him some love here. He was the first one that I saw that put out, Like not everybody thinks Houston is definitely going to take a quarterback, and you can go back to that post Combine mock draft and Dane had that in his number two spot was done. Not everybody thinks they're gonna go at quarterback here, um, you know. And so I think that when you look at that and say, all right, well, if if it is Bryce Young at one, it might be a Houston trade out and lancerline is as kind of diagrammed, both from an audio standpoint and from a print standpoint, what the reasons behind that. But you know, whether that's Tyree Wilson, whether that's Will Anderson, whether that's a trade out. And then at number three, I think that's where it ends up being a quarterback. It's just a matter of like which of the which team trades up for which quarterback is it? You know, is it Indianapolis trading up to make sure they get CJ. Stroud? Is it the Raiders trading up to get CJ. Stroud? Is it a team that wants to make sure they get an Anthony Richardson. My guess is that it's probably Stroud there to you know, Team X there at the three hole. Uh, And then it ends up being Anthony Richardson at number four. Um, that's kind of how I see it. How do you see it? Yeah, I think c J. Stroud's the best quarterback in the class. I think he'd be a great fit with Frank Reig. I like that marriage, and I think he'll end up being the number one pick. I'm just interested to know Houston has c J. Stroud that much further behind Bryce Young or they just prefer Bryce Young that much more than a CJ. Stroud. I mean that's obviously none of us know that, but I think that based off of what like Lance has put out is that, yeah, like they universally think that Bryce Young is that guy, and that there's some conversations in that building that they don't view CJ. Stroud as that guy. Um, there's been you know reporting it. Could it be that he has the same agent as to Shaun Watson. They don't want to go down and have those negotiations negotiations there with CJ. Strout. I mean there's certainly some that's where you get into like the human element of things. But again that's all reporting that Lands Airline and has done over with NFL media. Um, you know, I think that's that's good. It's gonna be interesting to see just ultimately how this plays out. Uh, you know with Houston, do they trade back? Uh? You know in that scenario and try and get a package knowing that a team will move up. That that will be fascinating certainly to watch. And I really do think again, this is where we get into these what if scenarios. This how that goes one, two, three has an impact for the Eagles at number ten. You know, how many quarterbacks go in the top two or three will impact Who are the players that ultimately get chosen and where they get chosen in the top nine. Uh? And you know again, does that allow a Will Anderson to kind of slip through the cracks and make available for a trade up? Or do all these guys start to fly off the board and now, hey, you know what, there's just nobody left for us. We've got to make a move back because a team wants to move up to take these quarterbacks. Or hey, the run hasn't happened on tackles yet the Eagle the teams want to get ahead of Tennessee and the Jets and some of these other teams that are starving for a tackle. Hey, you know what, we are in the catbird seat. Let's let a team trade up to get a tackle. I think it's gonna be interesting there from that standpoint for sure. One other player that I think is kind of interesting here ben to kind of talk through universally, Bejan Robinson's viewed is like a top three, top five prospect overall in this class, and everybody kind of assumes, hey, you know what, he's not gonna go in the top ten. He's not gonna go in the top twelve running back value. He's gonna fall to the middle of round one, maybe the latter stages around one. We've seen him go in mock drafts to the Eagles at number thirty or to the Lions with their second first round pick. Right, So we've seen this time and time again. Well, what if Bejean Robinson goes in the top ten, what does that mean for something? You know, obviously that will then mean that one of these other players does fall to the Eagles. But you know, if you're a team like Atlanta, I do think that you could make a case if you're the Atlanta Falcons, and people might say, like, man, like, why would you You're not taking a running back in the top ten in the year twenty twenty three. Frant But I think when you look at the Falcons in the NFC South, you're kind of looking around and say, hey, you know what this division is wide open um. You know, Carolina they got they got the number one pick, the Tampa Bay Bucks they lose Tom Brady. The Saints are kind of in a state of flux. The doors open there for us, even with starting Desmond Ritter, a guy that doesn't have a ton of experience, a former third round pick at quarterback Bjan Robinson puts us in position to go and win this division right now. Arthur Smith comes from Tennessee, where at Tennessee they had Derek Henry, that bell cow back, uh Terry Fontina the GM for the for the Falcons. He comes from New Orleans. They spent that first rounder on mark Ingram a few years back. They have shown that, you know, they're they're willing to go high character guys, tough football players, guys that are impact the past game. Think about what they've done to build up that offense and all the pieces that they've added with Kyle Pitts, with Drake London. They are willing to build up this offense and also for all intensive purposes. I also don't think this is an organization that really cares about positional value. And I know Mike Sando from The Athletic made this note earlier than I think it was last week about you know, you look at the money they've given out this offseas into a guard to a safety. They took Pits a tight end in the top five, and a lot of people didn't think that was like a worthwhile investment at that position. I don't think this organization cares about positional value. They're gonna go best player available. You could say, sit around, look at this whole dynamic and say, hey, you know, Bijon Robinson, he's the best player available and he puts us a position to win this division this year. Yeah, I think that's a more than appropriate scenario. I think Beijeon is one of my one of nine elite prospects I have grade in this class and he goes in the top ten, I don't think it would get a sniff out of me. I think Atlanta is one of the possible landing spots at nine or maybe at eight. You know, I think Eagle sitting there at ten, there's gonna be a possibility. And then throughout the draft, you know, fifteen and a half Rand is Bijan over under going fifteen and a half. You know, I think that I think that eight is his ceiling. I think that's as high. That's as high as he goes in the draft, right, and just thinking about who else is in that spot from eight to fifteen, I don't know that there's a lot of other teams that I feel good about kind of pulling that trigger there. So if I had to guess, it's like, all right, like Atlanta versus the field, I think if I was, if I was, I would probably set the field right. So I would take the over that he would go later than fifteen. That would be my guess. Yeah, But actually I think this is the possibility for him there with the Atlanta Yeah, um, yeah, I think he finds his way into the teens or early twenties there to a Baltimore and he falls a little bit, But I have no problem take him in the top ten. You know, it wasn't that long ago Naji, Harrison, Travis Etan were first round picks. Edwards Hilaire was a first round pick year before se Quon was third overall pick. I don't think we're at a completely different era of running back. If there's an elite running back and you feel great about it, I'd be more than okay with having him on a rookie contract for five years. That's the thing is, you know Naji went like in the early twenties and I don't, And yeah, like I don't know. You know, there were a lot of people that were like, oh, like, I don't know if that was a smart pick for Pittsburgh, but like, uh, to me, like Bejan is a clear and I mean he's a better player than than Nazi was at Alabama, so um, you know, I think you kind of have to bring that into the equation for sure. All right, let's get into let's get into this mock draft. This is a good one here from mel kiper Over at ESPN. A two rounder from mel kiper this week. And let's take a look first of the top five and then we'll dive into this mock a little bit. Here's how the top five went according to mel Bryce Young goes number one to the Carolina Panther. C J. Stroud does go number two to the Houston Texans, at number three, the Tennessee Titans, they go quarterback Anthony Richardson. Number four, the Indianapolis Colts they go Will Levis. So again, like we just talked about the possibility of Richardson and Levis falling out of the top ten, mel Kiper has it going opposite QB QB QB QB to start this draft. Jalen Carter then goes number five to the Seattle Seahawks. So a lot to chew on here, Ben, First of all, again, QB's go one, two, three, four. That would be the first time in history I believe that that happens. Will Anderson falls out of the top falls out of the top five. So now he's available, you know at number six. What are your thoughts here on how this five ultimately pans out? Yeah, I'd like to know what type of capital Tennessee gave up to the third overall pick there. I want to know if you know, if it was Derrick Henry, you know, involved in that. I think the contractor Ryan Tannehill and Derrick Henry's contract to then go get a player to get put on the shelf here. I just feel like this organization needs to have more of short term and long term goals that are clear. I have no idea what Tennessee Titans think of their current state with Tannehill, with Willis. So you know, these trees are so speculative and it's not knowing their internal discourse is you know, really tough. But four quarterbacks go one, two, three four, I don't think you're gonna get a bunch of reaction with me. These are the teams that knee quarterbacks, and these types of prospects don't come around every year, as we saw last year one quarterback in the top seventy five. I know next year there's a you know, some cat nip out there to look ahead. But I think these guys are more than likely you're gonna find themselves in the first round. Maybe will leave us as the one that falls into the teams, but if they go one, two, three four, I wouldn't be shocked. So Mel just did describe what he thought package would be for Tennessee moving up to number three. He said, you know, the most recent comparable trade would be San Francisco Miami back in twenty twenty one. They moved up, you know, from the teams up to number three. Overall, what he thinks this package would be would be number eleven, then their second rounder here this year, number forty one, next year's first rounder, and then likely another first rounder as well, because that again, that's what that forty nine or swap was, was two ones and two future ones. You're one in year two that year to get up to number three to make that pick in terms of Anthony Richardson, So that would be the hall that the Arizona Cardinals would get in. And again goes back to what we were saying earlier is you know the Cardinals. Are you looking at this saying, hey, you know what, we want to move back. We don't want to move too far back. Or are you saying, hey, you know what, give us that package, give us three ones. We are long ways away. We need to build up this roster. I think that's an interesting decision there for that franchise, and again a new regime there as well, with Monti assen Fort the general manager, and with Jonathan Gans depleted for the second highest cap hit next season by the way, just under Patrick Mahomes, So a lot of money dedicated to quarterback. So then go spend major resources to trade up and get your future quarterback wild playing Derek Henry a huge amount of money behind a suspect offensive line. The Titans are definitely one of the live wire teams and trying to project what they're thinking and what they're gonna do. That's why a lot of people would say, like, hey, you know what, like take your medicine this year if you're Tennessee, like do what you gotta do, like kind of have year zero and then kind of restart the clock and start moving forward next year. But all right, let's get to this Eagles pick. Here Ben another another Scronsky pick. This is again this is because I think this is like three or four in a row with Peter Skronsky in terms of our mock draft round up. So it's really come down to like two players that we're seeing most often to the Eagles. Now, it's either Peter Scronsky or it's Lucas van Ness from Iowa. It really seems like those are the two names that mock drafters are slating to the Eagles most often. Here's the blur from mel This could be a spot for an edge rusher, but Philadelphia can keep a strength of strength by taking a Scronsky with right guard Isaac Samlo departing in free agency, there's an opening, and many NFL talent evaluators believe Scarronsky has all pro potential if he moves inside. He started thirty three games at left tackle in college, but his arms are slightly shorter than average for a tackle. The Eagles lost both of their starting safeties this offseason, but could find at least one replacement on Day two of the draft. So Ben again, it's Scarronsky, van Ness and everyone. In a while, you see like a Bijan or a Nolan Smith mixed in, but those are definitely the chik picks for the Eagles in most of these mock drafts. Now, yeah, and I think you know they have a lot of viable inside options. Obviously Jurgen's in year two, and Sue o Petta is there and Jack Driscoll. You know, considering us Scarronsky, it's gonna be the same conversation with like a Broderick Jones. And I liked speculating scenarios and speculating depth in this league. And you know, if a lane or a mulatta, you know we're to get dinged up in twenty twenty three. Do they feel okay, at the tackle position. I think Broderick and some other guys are going to be in the conversation here, and I see van Ness sliding all the way down into the middle of the teens there. He might be a better positional value too. He's a guy might be the three of the future, you know, after a Fletcher Cox type, and maybe embodies more of what Josh Sweat does is the heavy end as opposed to the stand up and on the other side a Son Reddick. So a lot of viable options there, But as those quarterbacks get thrusted up, the Eagles should have their pick of a pretty good letter. All right, Let's go to the six guys going off the board right in that area. So at number seven, the Raiders they take Illinois corner Devin Witherspoon. That's become a popular choice for Las Vegas there. At number eight, the Atlanta Falcons they take Nolan Smith, the pass rusher from Georgia. At number nine the Chicago Bears, they go tackle, but they go Darnell Right, the tackle from Tennessee. That's the highest I think I've seen Darnell Right in a mock draft. At number eleven to pick after the Eagles. That's the Arizona Cardinals. After that trade down with Tennessee, they take pass rusher Tyree Wilson from Texas Tech. The Eagles pass on Wilson to take Scarronsky at number twelve the Houston Texans they take Jason Jackson Smith and Jigbo the wide receiver from Ohio State. And then at number thirteen we once again see the Jets taking Georgia left tackle Broderick Jones. Ben to me, the the biggest surprise. I would think it would have to be done out right right he was. That's the highest I've seen him go. The right tackle from Tennessee. I guess it's kind that's a plug and play there for justin fields. Yeah. Absolutely, that's the highest we've seen him go. I think it's very possible as well. I've heard there's some teams that view him as the best offensive lineman ready to play primarily a right tackle spot, so as teams that need right tackles, nine is kind of the starting point, I think, and he can definitely be considered there. Also would look out for a Las Vegas Raiders considering him at maybe the seventh position. But my biggest surprise seeing Will Anderson number six go to the Lions. Yeah, you're gonna book end Aidan Hutchinson out there. This Lions team and Brad Holmes have done a great job. They have four picks in the top sixty. Man, they have an exciting, exciting roster. They've already made some good free agent moves to get a Will Anderson caliber at six, which they're gonna have themselves the pick of the litter here. They could have gone Nolan Smith, they could have gone Devin Witherspoon, they could have gone offensive Lineman. I just think the Lions are sitting in a really fun spot to add some sort of weapon to either side of the ball. So what would be going back to the earlier conversation, like what would need to happen for Detroit to not take Anderson, like I guess, so to get past that point, like I could very well see them taking Devin Witherspoon instead of Will Anderson. Instead of Will Anderson, I guess that would be the thing, or like you know, if because obviously, like Tyree Wilson is still on the board here right like Jalen Carter he goes off the board at five, So Okay, So like the teams, I feel like you have to worry about If you're the Eagles and you want to trade up for Anderson, you're like, okay, Seattle at five, Detroit at six, and now you start to get into like Vegas at seven, like you're like all right, like that maybe you want to move up in those scenarios. Like I'm just wondering, like, what point does you say, like okay, like this is the spot where you have to worry this, this is his floor if you're Will Anderson. Well, I just saw the Bleacher Report crew, which we love, Nate Tyson, Brandon Thorne and some of those guys did a great mock draft and they actually had six lines going Witherspoon, seven Raiders going Christian Zalez, so that eighth pick right there, and trying to figure out who Atlanta likes. They're clearly in the market for an edge, you know, could be the dance partner there to move from ten to eight, and then you get your pick of whoever you want, whether that's Nolan Smith, whether that's Van Ness, whether that's Will Anderson sitting there, whether that's Tyree Wilson sitting there. So seeing some other you know those cornerbacks thrust it up. The NFL often doesn't pick up, you know, pass up these alpha corners. And there's two of them that are very likely to go in the top fifteen. But where is the tough thing? All right? Well, let's let's talk about the Eagles in their next pick, because it does not come until number thirty seven in round two. Because mel Kiper has the Seattle Seahawks trading up for Tennessee quarterback Hendon Hooker with the Eagles at number thirty. So the Eagles move back, they pick up some extra picks. Here, here's the blurb from mel Kiper. Here's the first selection from my project, from my projected trade at the end of round one. It just feels right. Jamir Gives is a dynamic receiver out of the backfield. He caught forty four passes last season. He could split time with free agent signing Shot Penny and Kenneth Gainwell and be an easy outlet for quarterback Jalen Hurts. Plus, the Eagles have two more second round picks to add talent, so Ben, it feels like a really nice situation here for the Eagles. You trade down, you get that, you get an extra two, you get some extra picks later in the draft as well, and then you get Jamir Gibbs, one of the most dynamic offensive playmakers in the draft. Yeah, it'd be a really exciting addition to the offense, and definitely his pass game usage and upside is really exciting to add in the Siriani's offense. With some of the free agents, like you'd mentioned, every Shot Penny and the existing stars there, it's pretty exciting to add a Peter Scaranskia early and then a Jamir Gibbs to your offense. I'm not sure either are gonna have a huge weight on their shoulders for twenty twenty three, which is the best way to come into the NFL. So I love just to see what can you do with them and slowly working into the the NFL game. But Jamir Gibbs looks like he is ready to go and ready to be an explosive element for any offense. Glad he'd be here in Philadelphia. You and I love the round two of drafts just because it feels like teams like get so much value, especially you get like that early part of round two, and it's just funny, like when you go through a second two round mock draft, and you start to go through some of those names, you're like, man, like this guy lasted, this guy lasted, this guy lasted. That's exactly what happened. Here are the six players that went right around this pick. For the Eagles at number thirty seven. At number thirty four, the Arizona Cardinals, they take Quentin Johnson, the wide receiver from TCU. At number thirty five, the Colts they get Alabama safety Brian Branch. At number thirty six, the Rams end up with Georgia Tech defensive lineman Keyon White. All three of these guys potential first round picks. That's gonna number thirty eight. The Raiders they get guard Osirius Tarrens from Florida. Another potential first round pick. Carolina Panthers at thirty nine they take Drew Sanders, the linebacker from Arkansas, and then at number forty, the Saints take Georgia tight end Darnell Washington. All six of these guys very possible to be first round picks. You know, all these guys, it was there one that stood out as the biggest surprise not to be in round one. I think Osirius Torrence is flirting with the fringe first round right now, and they just don't make them that big. And that's and that NFL ready. So him and Steve Avila, whether you have them as guard one, guard two or vice versa, I think they're both in the conversation of going round one. I just think there's a major drop off after those guys. If you need a starting caliber guard, which frand you need too on your own line, and there's more than a few teams that need at least one, you better go grab them while they're there. Because if you think you go bargain by and grab a fourth round player and plug him into be your starting right guard, buy or beware. So guys like go Cyrus Torrence, and a few picks later Steve Avila is gonna go. I could see them certainly fitting their way into the back end of round one. And Torrence is viewed by most is like a guard only, and that can be, you know, a heavy weight for some guys, But if you're a starter and you have a team views he's a high level guy. Torrence definitely kind of fits that bill. He also, I think really fits the mold of that offensive line. I think that would that would make a lot of sense there for the rant and those in those exercises really quick. I really do like comparative analysis of the positional depth and can you get a similar type of player around later around later than that and receivers. I just see there are so many comparable type of skill sets that you may be considering around one and say, you know what, I get coming around two and grab this guy, this guy or this guy and get a similar type of role. I just find the offensive line in particular as the biggest drop off, not only at tackle but the interior two. And that's when you get to the Torrents and the Avella conversations of you have to weigh the depth and who's the next tier and there's a big jump from one tier to another. So yeah, we really have to consider that, Yeah we Greg and I just in the last segment I talked about the wide receivers that there's a lot of talent when you get into like day two of this draft. So I think if you're talking about taking one in round one, you gotta now compare like, all right, well, how does that compare to the guy that we could get in round two? Special if you're going round one, you're doing the same thing at some of these other spots. Offensive line, I think you're gonna have those conversations. Defensive line, you're gonna have those conversations. So certainly a good exercise from that standpoint. Let's get to the Eagles next second round or here number fifty two, overall pass rusher Derek Hall from Auburn. Here's the blur here from Mel. I focus on offense with the first two Philadelphia picks, but I'm going to switch to defense for these next two. We know general manager Howie Roseman loves to replenish his defensive line through the draft, and the Eagles love their d line rotation. Hall could be a situational pass rusher as a rookie he did have sixteen sacks over the past two seasons. Who develops into a starting edge defender. Veterans Brandon Graham and Derek Barnett won't be around forever, so Ben thoughts on this pick, thoughts on this fit. I love when you and I can dive into a two or three round mock draft because it allows us to talk about players fitting here in Philadelphia that we don't normally get to talk about. Yeah, I think Derek Hall would embody the Hassanareddick role. Loves playing from that stand up position. He's efficient in space, explosive, hard charging type of rusher, can really dominate tight ends at the point of attack. And when you're playing that sam defensive end spot from the stand up, you're typically playing against some tight ends and the U tight ends and having to defend some perimeter action and receiver screens. You better be athletic and physical. I think that's Derek Hall for you, as opposed to the Josh Sweat, which is our heavy end that will come and slide in and play some four eye and some three tech, which Hall could potentially do in a couple of years. But I just think his stand up style really represents the Son Reddick and would be a great Day two pick. I think he's a really exciting player, really hard charging type of player, and really kind of a mix of the way Brandon Graham plays and the Son Reddick. So I would love just to see that I'm all working together. I actually wrote down Brandon Graham while watching Dark Hall. He's longer. That's the thing is that he's got like that body tup where he's shorter but longer, so you know, but the same type of play personality, hard charging, you kind of work with the runway. They blast through half man, really strong at the point of attack, and they play with their absolute hair on fire. And we know here in Philadelphia, d lineman knows tackles. Doesn't matter who you are, you better play with your hair on fire. I just think that Derek Hall would be really welcome in our d line room. Right, Let's go to the six players that went off the board around that around that pick number forty nine, the Pittsburgh Steelers they take Kansas State corner Julius Brents at number fifty. The Tampa Bay Bucks they take Northwestern defensive lineman out of Tommy wat at a bare and fifty one, the Miami Dolphins take TCU guard Steve Avila, who can play guard and center. At number fifty three. Chicago Bears they take LSU pass rusher bj Ojalari. The Chargers at fifty four take the Penn State tight end Breton Strange highest I think I've seen Breton Strange in a mock draft. And then at fifty five, the Detroit Lions they take Tennessee wide receiver Jalen Hyatt, who a lot of people feel could be a first round pick as well. Ben, who's your favorite player in team fit from that group, Because for me, it was bj Ojalari ending up in Chicago where they just need as much pass rush and defensive line help as possible. Adding bj Ojalari, I think is a good addition there for that defense. I gotta go with Jail and High going to the Detroit Lions. You know the Jeff and the scene of Seinfeld where Elaine loses the bet and that's keep paying Jerry and Jerry's just nodding, smoking the cigar. That's Brad Holme. She's just throwing darts at his board, just having fun here. You know, you went and got Bijon Robinson in round one. Now you get it. Jalen Hyatt to add to that offense with Jamison Williams a modus st Brown. By the way, Jamison Williams, you'd be my receiver one in this class. So the fact he was able to snag him last year with that trade up and kind of save him for his sophomore campaign. You add a pure speed weapon like a Hyatt to take the top off, which I think Jamison's gonna be much more of a three level type of threat, not just a downtown Hollywood brown over the top guy. You can do a lot for your offense. So those three with a three headed stable now, because don't forget they got David Montgomery and free agency man Jared Goff is sitting back there, cushy in the pocket behind that old line Brad Holme some really fun pixer. I just feel like, did you feel like Jalen High with Jamison Williams is too duplicitous in terms of like high adding like another second round target. Yeah, you know, they embodied the similar type of play style. They're both kind of lean frame receivers with explosive elements. I just think Hyatt is much more of a pure down the field vertical threat, and in that benj Nson offense, I just think he's gonna look for somebody to be the pure over the top guy. I think they've tried to have the clip Raymond in there and some other type of guys who embody that and believe me. Didn't believe me. Jamison Williams he could boogie too, He could do that role. I just think he could do so much more for your offense. So it's a bit of a luxury pick here. Could we have found the more, you know, pressing piece for them, or of a you know, a dirty work trench player, maybe a three tech which they can use a little juice on the interior D line, which I mean they have Will Anderson and Aden Hutchinson out off the edges, so they're getting pretty luxurious in certain spots. So jail and high I definitely see the resemblance to Jamison Williams. Slightly different but certainly an exciting stable weapons and they brought back old Marvin Jones. Don't forget too. I think I'm gonna do this will be an offseason project for myself. Is I'm gonna go back and look at all like the draft recaps from like you know, ESPN or off on network, or I'll pick up website right and say like all right, this is like from draft day and agree the draft grades. No, you know what I'm gonna do. I want to like do it just like a command and find all that any time that it was a guy was called a luxury pick. Honestly, how often a luxury pick works out? Because like that like to me, like I just feel like that's such a recipe for disaster. M He is saying like, Oh, this guy's a luxury pick um. Yeah, I'll be asking this question real quick before you go to the next one. Bjsalari, the pass rusher from from LSU. He is the pick over at fifty three, the pick after the Eagles in this mock draft, select Derek Hall. How would you compare Derek Hall to bj Ojalari fitting here in Philadelphia because they're very different kinds of players. Yeah, I think bj can serve the true four three defensive end bas Roll a little bit better. I think he's a guy that's very strong at the point of attack. I think he has a little bit deeper of a pass rush arsenal, a little bit deeper of a pass rush plan. I think that's one of Derek halls as kind of major flaws is once his initial rush doesn't work, it's just pure effort motor chase. Right, have a question which sometimes works and sometimes doesn't. You need to be a little bit more technical in your second reaction, moves your counter rushes, and just have a little bit deeper of a bag of trick. Because he has a vicious long arm friend Derek Hall, but that's about it. And Ojulari's a guy that's very technical. I've heard some interviews with them talking about setting up tackles and knowing he's going to go to a next move on the next drive and then a move off of that, and really playing with the sets of the tackle. It seems like the game has really slowed down in combination. He's gotten stronger and stronger each year. I really liked from last year to this year was really impressive. I liked his twenty twenty two tape. I want to say, like a lot more than twenty twenty one, because you saw the talent in twenty one, but I was really impressive. So I really think he got stronger in the past two years, and it came at slightly the expense of like a first step like his brother was pure high side first step. I want to be explosive, elusive. I'll give up a little at the point of attack. I think bj really got stronger, which listen, not everyone could be Miles Garrett out here. So you get a little stronger, you get a little thicker. It's probably gonna come at the expense of some agility. That's okay. Though he learned how to use that strength in his pass rushes. He's not just a high side guy. He's not just a flashing dick guy. He'll long arm you, he'll spin inside, he'll go speed to power, he'll work inside moves. But he's a great run defender too, So he's on the field all the time. He's even kicked inside. He has some three tech snaps and they let all Harold Perkins, true freshman, you know, buck kicker rush off the end. I put up a clip of Harold Perkins just saying, whoa look out for this kid? It's Ojulari at three tech whoopen the guard. But Perkin obviously being him too, the quarterback. So he's a really good player. And it's all kind of how your preferences. Yeah, he was like a Robert Quinn type when I watched him last summer, like off the sophomore film and where it's all like pure highside stuff. And I thought this year he leaned a lot more into his length and his ability to win with you know, that full extension, the long arms, then the moves off of that, like the stab slap rips and the ghost moves and things like that. It's like all right, Like this guy's got like a better sense of like really leaning into his strengths, and he still has that athletic so as you mentioned, like there are times where they line him up over the guard, standing up and he's got that two way go and he's should be in shaken. He gets home four sacks. So he's a better and more complete player than like a Will McDonald or Anna duque Uzama, who are exciting pass rushers. I just think he's a much better for excuse me, three down versatile player that I just think he's a better football player right now. Is Will McDonald a little more exciting as a pass rusher. Absolutely, that's why we're seeing him in the back ends of round ones and some projections like that. But Ojulari, he's a good football player that may not just have an elite element to his game. And that's okay. Let's go to the last one here, the fourth pick and route in the second day of the draft, which again, like that's why I trade down for the Eagles in that scenario, would just be so good to be able to kind of like replenish the reinforcements here. Eagles pick number four in this mock draft number sixty two, safety Kwan Martin from Illinois, a speedy deep safety according to mel Kiper, who could slide into the open free safety spot in Philadelphia. Ben, what do you think about Kwan Martin D'artavius Martin, the safety from Illinois. You know, he really embodies kind of a John C. Gardner Johnson type of style, having played some corner at college, played some safety, played some nickel. But what he's bringing first and foremost his toughness, toughness, toughness. This kid's really tough. He'll play six different spots. Be you on the back end. My comp for him is actually Will Allen if you remember when he came out and really versatile defensive back up ten to twelve years ago. At this point, I know there's a couple of Will Allen's out there, so I'll have to look up which one I'm talking about. But now he'd be a great piece to the back end of the secondary that's kind of going through a little bit of a facelift here. You know, we brought in a Terrell Edmonds from Pittsburgh, and I think Reid Blanket Chip's gonna be asked a lot of in twenty twenty three, we obviously still have Avonte Maddox and then Nickel, so it's what we call those luxury picks. There a guy you may not need to start right away. That's okay. You know, there's gonna be a lot of Nickel, a lot of Dime, a lot of special team snaps, and depth will be tested. Kwon Martin may not be a corner stone this year, that's okay. That's a great piece to fill out your defensive back room with. When I first started him, my thought like, you know, probably better like athlete the football player. And then the more you watch or like man like this kid like I also I love the versatility that at the very top was that I went the other way with that frand I actually thought he was really tough on tape. I did not expect him to test the way he did. I I saw like a really like fluid, natural mover, and like, uh, it was like, oh, like I don't know, like is he there from like a um like an instinct standpoint, a route recognition standpoint, and part of that might bis be like this is the guy that was moved all around the secondary. It didn't really like settle In in one spot. Um, but he kind of reminded me a little bit of the uh the kid from Washington that went in the second round to the parents last year. No, um, the last year he was the second round pick. Uh the way after or before Brisker, he was the first pick by the Bears. Um from Washington. He played, yeah and way he's kind of reminded me of Kyler Gordon. Yes, okay, yeah, yeah, like there was that was from watching him one film. I'll tell you what though, that that workout at the combat not the athletic stuff, like the position workout was like really impressive. That kid, Like for a big, long kid, he moves really really well. Um. Whichevertin dbs out there in Illinois doing a great job because a lot of these dbs aren't the transfers Illinois one of these schools pounding the transfer portal except at dB. So the Kirby Josephs and the Devin Witherspoons and the Klon Martins and the Sydney Browns, they plucked them right from high school. Someone's recruiting their butts off out there in Illinois. Remember who the head coach was before Brett Bilamo. It was Lovey Smith, who knows a thing or two about dB play, So I think that is true. He might have an eye for it. Yeah, that might have had something to do with it, all right. So let's real quick wrap it up with the six players that went around the board here, So again Layton round two, who could be available for the Eagles. At fifty seven the New York Giants, they take Minnesota center John Michael Schmidts. At fifty eight the Dallas Cowboys they get Ole Miss wide receiver Jonathan Mingo. And at fifty nine the Buffalo Bills they take UNC wide receiver Josh Downs Cincinnati Bengals, and number sixty they take UCLA running back Zach Charbonnet. At sixty one, the Bears end up with LSU defensive tackle Jaquelin Roy. And then at number sixty three, this is to pick after the Eagles, Oklahoma wide receiver Marvin Mimms goes to the Kansas City Chiefs, which said, just hate to see that. Just hate to see that. The scariest pick at all of round two for the teams in that division. Like, if you're a team in that division and you see a player go off the board, for me, it is Mims to Kansas City. It's like, oh, like, just add another weapon here for Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid. But who would that be for you? Yeah, that's a great pick right there, because he's gonna run some deep double moves, vertical shots from Mahomes real he tests his arm. He is an outstanding over the top receiver, one of the best I think I've ever studied. To be honest with you, ours or am I scariest pick all of round two? It's gonna be Jamir Gibbs going to Philly. You know, an addition like that that's got to keep you know, Wink Martindale and dan Quinn up a little bit, just making sure you have some linebackers that can cover this kid out of the backfield in combination with the rushing attack they already present that's difficult to defend and the difficult receivers on the outside. Just another weapon in an already explosive, very productive Eagles offense that's gonna keep some defensive coordinators up at night. So the Wink Martindale's dan quinns, they don't want to see any more firepower to this Eagles offense here, But he would definitely be an exciting addition to the NFC East. I love it well, Ben, this has been great. We went a little bit longer than normal, but it was for good reason. A good two were on mock draft and a lot of scenarios that we had to play through. For sure, we'll bend great stuff. As always, we'll talk to you next week right here on the Journey of the Draft podcast. Now it's time to hear from you the fans in the draft mail bag. Great stuff there from Ben. We've hearn a lot of them from Ben here this week. Obviously chipping in with that offensive line preview earlier this week. Make sure you go check that out on the podcast feed. That said, let's wrap it up with our draft mailbag. We've got a mock draft from one of you at home. TSB twenty two left a mock draft saying, hey, look a bit of a different mock as this is for a rival, but talk to me about this Cowboys mock draft. At number twenty six, they take wide receiver Jordan Addison, the wide receiver from USC in the second round, Siaki Eka, the defensive tackle from Baylor, and pick number three Dwayne McBride, the running back from so I'm gonna split this up day one and Day two, and then I'll get into the day three picks. UM Jordan Addison wide receiver USC. I do think that he would fit. I think when you look at pairing him in Ceedee Lamb, Uh, those guys both have kind of inside outside versatility. I would say that Lamb probably has. You'd probably love to have him more in the slot, and you would probably say the same thing about Addison. So you're really kind of forcing the issue saying that both one of those two guys has to be outside at any given time. I don't know if you necessarily love that overall. Um. I think when you look at the types of players Dallas typically takes early in drafts, uh, you know, I think that they really kind of prioritize uh, you know, toughness, um, you know, and guys that are really like bringing like that physical, like physically imposing demeanor to the position. It wouldn't shock me if they went with the local guy, if they went with Quintin Johnson's in that spot, a perimeter player where now that you can say, okay, keep Ceedee Lamb on the slot, Quentin John Quentin Johnson can stay on the outside. Um, certainly they're gonna look. You know, they've done a lot of work on Jackson Smith and Jigba. They've done a lot of work on Jay and Highatt, but they bought Quentin Johnson in for a visit as well. They've also done work on Za Flowers. They've done a lot of work on these top receivers in this class. But in terms of like fitting in with Ceedee Lamb and trying to plug a hole that that team has, they really want guy, they need a perimeter presence. You're lacking a perimeter presence in this draft class right. A lot of these receivers you're looking at as probably more suited to play on the interior. But I think with Quintin Johnson you could kind of make that argument. It might be a little early, but we'll see how many receivers go off the board in this draft. But I do think when you look at at Quintin Johnson, I think that he might have a little bit of a better fit there. But I think it's a good pick. I think it's certainly in the right direction there. With Jordan Addison Siaki Eka the nose tackle there, I think he definitely fits This is a team that needs to shore up that run defense, and Eka is a local kid who does that. You know. I don't know how much of a great fit that is with dan Quinn, but I think this is a team that prioritizes speed up front. He just gives them a body type they don't quite have obviously, right. Eka is built like your traditional two gapping nose tackle. He's you know, three fifty three forty three thirty five plus he's a big, big boy on the inside. Let's go to the day three picks. Here at Tonio Mafi the guard from UCLA, Clayton Tune the quarterback from Houston, Sedric Jackson, the wide receiver from Auburn, and then Isaiah Bolden, the corner from Jackson State. I really think you're on the right track when you talk about Isaiah Bolden and Shedrick Jackson the Dallas Cowboys. They are one of the more active teams when it comes to selecting non combine invites guys that are kind of off the radar. They did it with Deron Blan a year ago, the corner from Fresno State who was not who was not invited to the combine. Mafi is another guy that that fits that mold as well from UCLA. So I think you're on the right track there with those three players. I do think Mafi kind of fits what Dallas typically lights up front, that he's got that physical nature to him, that that maling mentality. So I think that makes a lot of sense. And then Clayton Tune a nice developmental quarterback for the future. I think that he definitely makes some sense as well for that team. So, um, you know that he was brought in on a top thirty visit. Antonio Maffi bought in for a top thirty visits. So this is a team in Dallas that they're not afraid to tip their hand. They have been very aggressive with bringing in their targets for thirty visits. And so when you talk about Eka and Addison and Mafi and tunially, all these guys have been down there to the stars. So yeah, TSB, you did a great job with this mock draft. A lot of guys that make a lot of sense that certainly fit what Mike McCarthy and Dan quinn want offensively and defensively, and some of the players that they kind of target. When you look at Steven Jones, and Will McClay, the VP of football operations down there. So TSB, great job with that mock draft. Thanks to you and thanks to everybody out there for your support. Look again, we're just about two weeks away from the NFL Draft. Go keep leaving us your comments, leave us your questions, your mock drafts over on our Apple podcast page, and stay tuned when we're back next week. Dane Brugler's gonna be back here for Tuesday Morning show. We're talking defensive lines, the edge rushers and defensive lineman. A lot to get through here as we get closer to the NFL Draft. Stay tuned right here on the journey of the draf Of Podcast

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