The Herd with Colin CowherdColin can't believe Time Magazine's list of 100 Most Influential People did not include Caitlin Clark and argues she might be one of the most influential athletes since Tiger Woods and Michael Jordan. He shares his NFL Mock Draft based on what he would do if he was running each of the teams picking in the top15. Plus, Brian Baldinger from the NFL Network joins the show to discuss Colin's mock draft and why Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders deserves more respect for what he accomplished in college
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This is the Best of the Herd with Colin cowher on Fox Sports Radio.
All Right, here we go. It is Thursday. This is the Herd.
Wherever you may be and however you may be listening. Thanks for making us part of your day. Great show today. So in one hour, I'm gonna do what I do once a year. I'm not really in the mock drafts because it's just signing up to be wrong, like forty times, but I do right before every NFL draft, I do the top fifteen picks.
What would I do if I was.
The general manager of the top fifteen teams drafting. I'm not going through the entire first round, but I went through the top fifteen one hour from now. Here's who I would draft based on rosters, need, what you've done in free agency. This is what I would do. I've always said if I didn't do this for a living. My dream job either a screenwriter or an NFL general manager. So in one hour, I'll be the general manager. It is great to have you in. So at the end of yesterday's show, Jordan Schultz filling in for Jmac. This week, in one of the Herdline stories, had that Time Magazine's list of the one hundred most influential people in America. They did not have Caitlin Clark on the list, but they had two other WNBA players, and they had a bunch of other athletes. I love Jalen Hurts. I don't think he's one of the one hundred most influential people. I love him, and it just struck me. I had so many people reach out to me on this yesterday. So I just want you to think of words matter influential. Influential is the word Time Magazine used. Influential. She played one year of pro basketball in a small market for the worst team in the league, and she literally changed the entire financial makeup of the league. That defines influential. The WNBA had its most watched season in twenty four years, its highest attendance in twenty two years, and set records for digital consumption and merchandise sales last year.
That is all Caitlin Clark.
Six WNBA teams have already preemptively for their games with Caitlin Clark moved to bigger venues. Time Magazine used the word influential. I didn't they used that word. Well, Colin, I heard this, Colin. They gave her Athlete of the Year in America in December, and so there was no reason to put her on the April list. All right, So Time Magazine is telling me she went from the Athlete of the Year in America in December and by April she's less influential than Breonna Stewart.
Yeah.
Yeah, I'm not gonna buy that argument. You think Hollywood in the nineties said, listen, Tom Hanks. Everything he's in is great, He's won back to back Oscars, but you know, let's share the spotlight. Nope, movie studios were fighting over Tom Hanks. Everybody wanted Tom Hanks because Hollywood. Hollywood's gotten into trouble in the last ten years when they've tried to make independent movies where women fall in love with fish and now nobody goes to a theater except for Tom Cruise and Christopher Nolan, Big Avenger movies, right, like the big directors, the big stars, play the hits. I've been doing this for thirty three years. I've had a pretty good career TV and radio podcasting. Play the hits. You think Fox upstairs and baseball coverage goes. You know, we've done a lot of Aaron Judge, Otawi, Juan Soto. Anybody checked out the Mariners schedule lately? Can we squeeze them in? That's never been a discussion ever here. The NFL this year literally has a new rule. You no longer have to put every team on television at least once because they realized Carolina is not well run.
That's a Carolina problem.
Why should I force network CBS, Fox, ABC to put on bad products?
So this idea, and I'll.
Say this, there have been a lot of great individual female athletes globally, but in terms of North America and team sports, men have dominated. And because men have dominated this for so long, they get it. UFC just put John Jones and Connor McGregor on every big card. It's not about sharing. We'll pay them a fortune. The rest of the guys, eh, we'll pay what we want to. Major League Baseball, Fox coverage, Moro Tannian, Aaron Judge, the NFL. It's funny, Lamar Jackson, Patrick Mahomes the Philadelphia Eagles. You ever notice that they put on television big brands all the time. The minute the Pittsburgh Steelers are uninteresting, Boom gone off. Let's put on the Detroit Lions play the hits. But the WNBA last year blessed their hearts, finally got a star, and they didn't know that they couldn't figure it out. Well, we don't want to put too much, too much, Caitlyn Clark. Gott Nope, every game, every list, every game, every moment, every contest, every All Star game, every single day, all Caitlyn Clark, Well, it will offend Who cares you didn't make any money in twenty four years? You're subsidized by the NBA. Who gives a rep? Who are you offending players that don't make revenue? You're subsidized by the NBA more, Caitlin Clark all the time. Always hurting the feelings is the reality. ESPN and Baseball Right now they've hurt each other's feelings. They'll get over it. If you don't make money, you're.
Not a league.
You can't subsidize people forever in sports, So Caitlin Clark changed the financial structure of the league. She's not wasn't my word, it was Time Magazine's word. They used influential, and now she's not influential. So here's a rule for anybody considering starting a league. And I do think the WNBA got so mocked and criticized they finally figured it out. In sports, don't get caught up in sharing the spotlight, because occasionally an athlete will be the spotlight.
Don't play nice, play the hits. Caitlin Clark is.
Easily the most influential athlete in a team sport since Michael Jordan.
Patrick Mahomes is great.
The league was doing fine, Tom Brady retired, the league's doing fine far, Peyton Manning left fine.
They're great.
I mean, you could argue Steph Curry is influential because of the way he changed the way basketball is played.
Maybe that's the second most.
Influential person, but I mean, the only athlete in my lifetime I can think of that compares to Caitlin Clark. And it's not a team sport, it's golf as tiger woods. I mean, Tiger Woods literally got people to a television on Sunday for a decade. It was Sopranos after Tiger Woods round. I mean he changed American viewing habits. So just think about this. Six WNBA teams have already preemptively moved the Caitlin Clark games to bigger venues. Time Magazine, you use the word I didn't. You invalidated your list. You made it inauthentic because you were trying to play nice. Don't play nice, play the hits. Okay, So you know, I mostly because very busy, living a very full life. I stay off X a lot. You know, it's like a conspiracy theory platform. Now I kind of stay off it. But apparently I made some news. I got a call yesterday afternoon from somebody very close to the Nico iam Aliyava family. So he's the quarterback at Tennessee, very good, making a lot of money, and decides I'm not going to show up to a spring practice. And the story from Tennessee side was he wants a bunch of money and we're not going to give him a raise. We're alread paying him two and a half million. We're not going to four Now his family is saying that's not it. So you know you got people at Tennessee saying it's all about the money. His family say, it's not about the money, it's about the fit. I don't know if going to UCLA is better than playing at Tennessee. I think Tennessee's got better players. It makes one hundred and fifty million dollars a year, it's a huge program. I'm not sure I'd leave Tennessee for UCLA football. But he's a California kid, so I was told in this wild wild West nil era. As of yesterday, he's going to UCLA. Now his family is saying it's not about the money. Tennessee is saying, eye roll, give me a break. So I am surprised by this because I said, in southern California, it's understood that UCLA is a basketball school. USC is a football school. They got a lot more money. It's private, you can pay people whatever you want and don't have to report it. And USC jen Con the athletic director, and Lincoln Roddie, they are highly aggressive with football.
They are spending a lot of money on nil.
UCLA football, I was told two years ago spent less than Utah and around what Oregon State spends, so I thought it was very probable it would be USC as he transferred. We talked about that a couple of days ago, but I was told yesterday by somebody close to his family it's UCLA.
Now.
Is it official yet that we're on day two of a ten day portal opening. It's not official yet, but I was told link Ken Riley loves a five star high school football recruit that is in the program. Now, who's he in Long Street? He's a very, very very go to YouTube, great high school quarterback. Lincoln Riley loves him. Doesn't want to send any bad messages or bad vibes that that kid, that freshman will play at least some this year and they want it. They think he's going to be the future of the program. And so UCLA is like, you know, we're going to roll the dice here. But I will say this, and I've said this before, I don't want to hear about how all these young athletes are impoverished and you always have to take the money. I do not think money should drive decisions when you're a great young athlete. I would stay at Duke or Carolina over go to the G League over one hundred thousand dollars. I mean, I'm sorry, you play at Duke, you get thirty million dollars or free marketing. The only reason I know who Zion Williamson is he played at Duke. I'm not watching G League or YouTube videos for high school basketball players, so I don't know if this is a good move. But but I am told somebody close to the family that UCLA is the spot. Joel Klatt, who I think, we were both surprised. Joel Klatt talked about this on my show a couple of days ago.
I could see him back on the West Coast. I would I would think that he wants to be in the Big ten. I would think, but I think he could wind up somewhere else. I think U n C is interesting North Carolina. That's That's just to just to keep your eye on that. The LA schools make a lot of sense.
Now.
I have heard that there has been a huge, quiet influx of u c l A money, that's all.
So I'm not going to be shocked if he winds up at u c l A.
I am not tied to U c l A boosters and donors. I know a few USC boosters and donors. But if Joel Clatt's hearing it, that validates it for me. So I've heard it to U C. L A. He's a very talented player. He is absolutely going to be a he has a good year with UCLA or Tennessee. He's going to be a first round, second round prospect, long, tall, good arm. Just needs to clean it up. But he looks the part, you know. And I mean when I watched him and I watched Jackson Dart, and I watched both of them. If you told me one of them was going to end up eventually being an NFL star, I would have chosen this kid, even though his game is not as clean or refined as Jackson Dart. Today, I did think this was interesting. This made me laugh yesterday. So you know, in a full disclosure, Urban Meyer's a friend. But everybody is saying good for Tennessee for taking a stand. Urban Meyer's like, yeah, I've coached in the SEC. Forget this stand stuff.
As a guy that's been involved almost forty years in this game, I can't believe this happened here. Here's the reality is Tennessee is screwed there and they got a problem. You lose a potential high draft pick. You have the backup quarterback left last year, and now you have a red shirt freshman as thro your nine passes and a freshman you have zero experience, and the portal opens as we speak, they're going to have to go get one.
Yeah.
I kind of get that too. So that's where we are as of now. Time Magazine, Stop being nice, Stop worrying about sharing. I mean again, men dominated team sports in North America.
It's not about that.
Just man play the get the stars up front center Rinse repeat, Rachel Nichols in studio in an hour from now, in forty five minutes from now, I'm gonna give you. If I'm the GM, here's what I do with the top fifteen picks. I think the Raiders pick is fascinating. I think the Jets pick is fascinating when you really have to when I really sat down today with a team and really wrote down what I thought. I'm the general manager. I think there's one shocker. There'll be one shocker, but I would do it if I was GM.
Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd Weekdays and Noonie. They're not a Empacific. I'm telling you. If I'm GM, this is what I do, so they'll probably be trades. Everybody wants to trade down outside of Tennessee. The truth is it's not a great draft. People want to trade down, so that could be six trades. I don't think a lot of people want to trade up, so I don't think there's going to be a ton of trades.
Everybody keeps telling me, oh, trade, trade, trade, who wants to trade up? There's not a great enough player here to trade up, and there's about eight really good players, and all those players will go to teams that need them.
So here we go.
Let's do our top fifteen mock draft. This is who I would draft if I was a GM. Number one is Tennessee. You gotta get cam Warden. It's an easy one. Last year the Titans quarterbacks combined for twenty two touchdowns and twenty one picks. It's a winnable division. He fits Brian Callahan's offense. They've got one go to receiver. I think he'll win games. I think he'll make him a playoff team. Easiest picking the board. Cam Ward Number two, Cleveland. I think they go and get Trapped Hunter, the best overall athlete. In the draft, and he'll play both sides. They're receiving Chorus, Jerry Judy, and a whole lot of men. They also have quarterbacks all filled out. They got Flacco, they're paying to Shaun Watson, they got Kenny Pickett. They've said the signal they're not getting a quarterback. So I think this is the only player in the draft that can affect both sides of the ball, and in a division with the Ravens, you need to catch up. I think it's the pick number three may surprise you. I do now think the Giants are gonna take Shador Sanders.
Here's why.
I think Jamis Winston and Tommy DeVito they'll cut him in camp. I think they're gonna go Russell for a year. Even Russell's contracts not that punitive. It's all based on how many games he plays and how well he plays. I've changed my mind. I think they're gonna go get him. I think he's a star. It's a star town. I think it's a big market. Brian Day has proven a history of you can give him kind of average stuff and he'll correct it. I don't think there's a lot to correct. They've seen him personal workout recently. I think they're gonna go get Shaduer. I think the Patriots are gonna get Abduall Carter the edge. Last year, the Patriots had the fewest sacks in the league. There'll be plenty of running backs, tight ends, and wide receivers later in the draft. They it's Mike Frable. They're gonna I mean, go look at what they did in free agency. A lot of big uglies, a lot of size and movement. Carter's a great athlete. They don't need to rush Drake May's development. They can get him help later in the draft. It's a good tight end and running back draft. You can get that second, third, fourth, fifth round. They get Abdul Carter. Jaguars get Mason Graham. Jags defensive lines already talented. I think Graham's really underrated. People say his ceiling is low. All I know is when I watched him, he pushed everybody around the field. They had the second worst total defense in the league last year. They've already got Trey Von Walker and Josh Heinz Allen ad Mason Graham, and don't worry about the d line for the next five years. The Wolverine big kid from Anaheim Aria in California. I think he goes number five. I think the Raiders go get Ashton gent the running back from Ohio State. Is he worthy of this pick. He's the best running back in his class. Geno Smith is very good on play action Pete Carroll's career. He was great when he had Reggie Bush and Lendale White in college and Marshawn Lynch in Seattle. They had the worst rushing attack in the league last year. Their offensive line is set. They've got an elite weapon in Brock Bauers. I think you give Gino help Ashton Jenny playmaker at six. The Jets get Tyler Warren at number seven.
The tight end.
This kid can do everything, even split him out wide. He's a playmaker again, takes the pressure off Garrett Wilson, who gets double teamed. Now Devonte Adams has gone super versatile player and they just haven't had any tight end production over the last couple of years. They have six tight end six touchdowns at the tight end. Baz I watched the USC game. This kid had seventeen catches. He is about as viable and has the kind of dexterity. He's a little bit running back, a little tight end you could throw the football if you wanted. I think the Jets finally go get a big time tight end. Panthers get t Mac wide receiver Arizona. I like him, he's a little bit of a glider. But they got to get Bryce Young help. This is an organization. This is the year for Bryce Young, who played pretty well last year. Panthers at eight.
Take him.
The wide receiver group in Carolina does not have a true number one. Again, I know two gms that are cool on him, and I know one that loves him, and it's a GM I respect. So Bryce Young needs more help. This kid's a true number one. Go get him.
At eight.
Number nine Saints Will Johnson. They moved off Marcus Lattimore, sending him to the Commander, so they need a number one.
I think he's great.
He was hurt at Michigan. I think he's a great court I think he starts for everybody in the NFL. At Denvery's hearts, he's just not as good as Patrick's are ten. I think Will Johnson is an exceptional player. They had the twenty seventh ranked pass defense in the league. They've got to replace Lattimore. I know you're talking about quarterback, but I don't even know what to make of that Derek Carr story. And I think Shador is going to be off the board and it's too high to draft Jackson Dart Will Johnson nine to the Saints number ten, Bears, go get Edge Jaylon Walker, Listen Montese sweat from the inside. Let him last year in sacks they could have drafted in the number one spot and Edge last year. He's a Georgia bulldog who rushes the passer, great physical specimen. I think you go get him. They keep upgrading in the trenches. The Bears upgraded their O line this year in free agency. I think they upgrade their D line at the top of the draft. I like Walker to the Bears at ten, number eleven, nine ers. I would go Calvin Banks. Trent Williams is aging at left tackle. He's thirty seven years old, and let's be honest, if you're gonna spend money on brock Perty, then you have protect him. Their old line is the weakness of that football team, and he's the best player available.
I like him better than Will Campbell. I don't know.
I watched a lot of Texas football. He was really good in the big games them all people, so.
I like him.
Number twelve Cowboys, Amarion Hampton, running back North Carolina. I think he's a poor man's Adrian Peterson. Big strong, just just a hard dude to bring down. I mean, look at him wrong, look at the legs, look at the burst, and let's face it, the Cowboys running back room is atrocious. Twenty seventh in the NFL. They've already invested draft capital in the old line. They've already paid Ceedee, Lamb and Dak. They need star power and there's not a good enough wide receiver to draft in this spot. I think this kid is electric starter day one, and again, Dak's better on play action than sitting back in the pocket throwing forty times a game. Number thirteen Dolphins, I go Will Campbell. I think he's pretty good. Not as good as Kelvin Banks. Again, you're investing in Tua. Tua has that injury concern. Go get an offensive lineman. You also lost a very good tackle in Tron Armstead. So let's just do this, go get it. I know it's not sexy, you're moving off. You tried sexy with Jalen Ramsey and Tyreek Hill. How's that working out for you? Just go to the trenches and get a good left tackle number fourteen the Colts. This will be the steel of the draft. Armand memboo from Missouri who tore it up offensive lineman outside of Quenton Nelson. None of the offensive lineman and Indy played seventeen games. People talk about needing a tight end. Lovelin's not good enough to draft in this spot. I think this will end up being the steel of the draft. Will Johnson and armand Membu I mean physical specimen and listen, I think your receivers are good enough. You have Jonathan Taylor and Anthony Richardson. You should probably run more than you do pass anyway, he's a maler. I'd take him at that spot. He's about as good as player. Last year the Colts, Chris Ballard waited and got the best pass rusher at like fifteenth. I think this will be the best player at fourteenth available and he'll start Day one. And at fifteenth Atlanta Shamar Stewart edge rusher Texas A and M. They don't get to the quarterback. Second few of sacks in the NFL. Do you want to beat Baker Mayfield. You got to rush Baker Mayfield, put pressure on Baker and so I think it makes sense. They have used their number first round pick on offense for four straight draft picks, so it's time to pay attention to defense. This if I was general manager for these teams, I'm not saying this is what they're gonna do. This is what I could do. I think the Shador Sanders. I looked at New York over and over and over again, and I have come to the conclusion where the best athletes off the board. They've already got a very good defensive line that's not an area of and I think they'll keep Ross for a year. Jamis, Tommy DeVito. You can move off those guys in camp. And I do think there's something to be said about Sanders, Dion Sanders' son.
In New York.
It feels big, it feels fun. I mean, the Jets don't have the future quarterback, do they. I mean, do they really have the future quarterback? So the Giants not want to have the future quarterback. I mean, let's be honest about New York. It's a competitive market. So Jordan, what do you make of it?
You know, I'm looking at it. I like it a lot.
I would say so Will Johnson. You made a point about him being hurt. He is viewed as a truly special corner.
I love him.
At New Orleans at nine, I don't buy that New Orleans is going quarterback at nine.
Guy, I don't know what my take is.
There's too much unknown, and I think somebody's gonna move up. Come on, somebody's gonna move up before nine to get shaduor Sanders. There's too many teams that need a quarterback.
Yeah.
And I also Tyler Warren at seven to the Jets. It's interesting because it's a whole new regime. But last year they really struggled. Do they want Olu who they go with from Penn State to big tackle, or do they go brock Bowers. Now they have an opportunity to get another transcendent tight end and Tyler Warren, who is fantastic.
Okay, So I didn't do any trades in mind, Yeah, Okay, So I do believe if somebody called the New York Giants with Jamis and Ross, if somebody called the I said this the other day, if somebody called the Giants and gave you two seconds a third in the first next year for Sdor Sanders. I think the Giants would take it because I think they're comfortable with Ross, but I didn't want to put trades in and monkey around with all this stuff. Yeah. Yeah, and by the way, all of these players start immediately for their teams. I know we have indicated it's not a great draft, but if you're a team and you're bad and you get an instant, young athletic, inactent spensive starter, it does make you a better football team.
I had a GM tell me a couple of days ago that Ashton Genty is being slept on. I said, what do you mean, he's it's going to be a top five, top ten pick. He said, no, no, no, you don't understand. This guy is a superstar. People are talking about him like he's this really good player, maybe a great player. He is a superstar. He is a Day one, fifteen hundred yard guy. Aston Genty to the Raiders at six. To me, out of every pick, here might just be my favorite. Because we talked so much about Pete Carroll and Marshawn Lynch. Now, I don't know if Pete ultimately in that organization wants to go running back at six, But there is a big contingency within the Raiders building that really likes genty. And if you really want to build this offense the way that Pete Carroll has had a great offense, it's around the running game in play action. That was Russell Wilson and Marshawn Lynch. They just gave Geno the extension. You bring an Asha Gents, I think it's a home run.
Well, I'll give you a team that's interesting, Jacksonville. Jacksonville's got two guys in their defensive line that are already elite. So you could say Mason Graham's not a place of need, but sometimes it's like who's the best player on our board, and so like, I don't think Jacksonville needs a defensive tackle, but I think you can't watch Mason. I watched Michigan play fifteen times in the last two years, maybe twenty.
He dominated every guy played.
Again, Mason Graham is great. He's also very versatile.
And if you think about James Gladstone comes from the Rams who they draft last year, Jared Verse and Brandon Fisk. They hit on both Mason Graham because of how dominant and versatile he is. You now can pare him with Trayvon Walker and Josh Allen, and now you have a truly dominant defensive line.
Now we don't really know where the.
Jags are thinking because a it's a new regime and B they don't do visits. But if you just think about where this organization comes from, both Liam Cohn and James Gladstone come from the Rams line matters. Lestide has built that team around his defensive line. I like that pick a lot. I'm curious. You did something interesting here too. You did Carter at four. Now he visited the Patriots. If he's on the board at three, you really believe the Giants would pass on him for Shador.
Well, so I've done back and forth. I like Shador. I've said this, I like him. There's a lot of signals from the Giants they like him, and I said the other day I think they're bluffing. But you start looking around at the contracts for Russ, Jamison, the Vedo. Yeah, you could move off all of them if you wanted to. I don't think they'd move off Russ because I think Russ they would bring Shador in and say, listen, this is this is pro Jamis's score, they'd move on.
You don't want some young quarterbacks.
I think they like James a lot though.
Ye people say they like him a lot. And he bounces around the league. You ever noticed that? Oh? I love him? How can he keeps bouncing around the league?
And so I think that the Giants should do her in the Giants is my toughest pick.
But I think.
There's just a lot of signals and I think I'm not gonna do trades.
I said it again.
If somebody offered them a first and two seconds for Shad, I think they would absolutely move down. Yeah, because I think the Giants need more help.
I think anybody's offering either, do I I don't.
Everybody keeps telling me a lot of trades. Who's moving up in this draft?
Yeah?
Yeah, I'll tell you the other one too. I'm just looking at this a I don't know if Loveland the for Michigan. Michigan gets past Indy.
I don't.
I'm not sure because they do need a tight end and he's a terrific player.
Great tight end draft it is it is Will.
Campbell at thirteen.
I don't think Will Campbell is getting outside anywhere near thirteen.
You don't call him great mock. I'm gonna pick it apart. The one mistake you made.
Will Campbell out of LSU is not going to get to thirteen in Miami.
If he does, that's a gift. The only knock on him is that his arms aren't super long.
I don't like that.
Okay, that's like saying the only knock on an astronaut is he's afraid of heights.
It's like, but.
Dominant, dominant player with short arms. Okay, So obviously arm length matter left you.
It does.
It's feet and length.
But I think Will Campbell is a special prospect, a dominant, a dominant left tackle. I don't see him getting anywhere near thirteen. That's that's my one nitpick with this.
Anything else I like, let me tell you when Miami drafts Will Campbell, Chris Ballard will be celebrating because he's getting a better al linement at FOURT.
You love a lot of people love him.
Physical Mond Misoi is a beast, Yeah, and then you talk about be Shamar Stewart absolutely wrecked the combine. I think he was probably the best dude at the combine athletically, and I like that for Atlantic.
Good.
By the way, my staff says, it's Mason Graham to the Jags as good because they didn't defend the r on last year.
Yeah, there we go, There you go, goodmuck, good Mue.
I like those Michigan guys.
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Years and years ago, Brian Baldinger was doing his thing on the Internet and he was really breaking down offensive line play. I thought it was fascinating and I have said many times on this show, I don't use my hands, so don't ask me to break down offensive line technique. He does it better than anybody and really follows the stuff and has had a great post career. Former Cowboy went to Duke, so you know he's smart. Brian Baldinger is joining us live thirteen years in the Lady.
You know.
Everybody says, well, it's not a great it's not a great draft, and like, I'll give you an example. I watched Mason Graham play fifteen times. I saw him grab and throw all conference offensive linemen. But his ceiling's not this.
I don't know what his ceiling is. I know what I watched.
So you tell me, as an offensive lineman like Mason Graham, if this was a great draft, would he be middle of the first Like, I just see a wildly productive, super aggressive, strong defensive lineman. That's what my eyes see.
What do you see?
He's a great technician. You know, pad level is important in this business.
Low man wins. He plays with great pad level. He has great hands, he can stack anybody. You talk about the offensive lineman he's going up against against Ohio State, you know, Penn State, some really wickedly good offensive lineman.
And he stacks and he sheds him and he holds his ground.
Ye.
And you know, you can win a lot of one on ones when you play with great technique and you've got strong hands and all that kind of stuff. So reminds me of what Leonard Williams was when he came out in this draft. And ten years later, Glender Williams is playing the best football of his career. But that's what he was coming out of USC column and that's what he reminds me of.
Right now, Okay, so I want to talk about my can get Kelvin Banks ready. So everybody tells me it's not a great offensive line draft. Again, I watched six Texas games. I watched them when they played great teams. Kelvin Banks was squishing people. So you tell me as an offensive lineman, he's big. The size is indisputable, high school and college dominant.
Why isn't he considered great? Well?
I think you know, you see, you know, he's gotten beat It's not like he's shut everybody out this year, but you know he's got dancing bear feet with a big body, long arms, long enough anyways, and he's going against the best at Texas A and M and you know the SEC. The last few years, the best thing to happen to Texas is for them to join the SEC, get out of the big twelve and go up against SEC type defensive linemen.
For guy like Kelvin Banks, it's the best thing to happen to. These guys.
They got really good competition every week going against those schools. So you go against Georgia twice in the last two years, like you see great defense. You can really measure your progress because the kid came in at it. You know, he came in as a five Star Recruit and started day one for the Long Wars. Yeah, and then went up the competition two years ago when they went to the SEC.
You know, sometimes we and I've had people tell me this, Colin, don't outthink the room. Sometimes the answer is right in front of you. And I said, just think about Shador Sanders. If you pass on him, son of a legend, historically accurate averaged thirty.
Three a game with no run game and a battle line and moves well enough.
I've seen multiple moments and pictures Brian of him standing next to people my size. I'm sixty two, one ninety. He's thicker than you think. But yeah, shoulder, he's a real he's a man, he's a big body. Are we out thinking the room on this kid? Like we're just picking him apart? And I'm like, I don't know. Seventy four percent completion percentage, Brian under duress, that's a real number.
I can overlook that.
And he can win from the pocket, that's the basin thing. He doesn't have to leave the pocket, I mean wins from the pocket.
Now.
Pat Sherman was offensive coordinator this year.
Colin and I talked to Pat at Shador's pro day in Boulder on April fourth, and he installed Chip Kelly's offense, basically the most simple offense.
You can have.
Inside receivers, outside receivers, because that was the best way to move the football because they didn't have a tight end, they had average offensive line, they.
Didn't have a good running back.
It was Shador and four receivers, and they took over a program that won one game and were the Sledge of college football. And they've somehow won nine games last year and went to a bowl game. So like he's elevated that program. But there's not a lot there and they had and so he got blitzed a lot. He got Max Blitz a lot, which no quarterbacks in college football did. Like I'm talking about Blitz Zero's send the safeties after Sador, speed him up. See what he does. And he made a lot of big plays to throw. The deeper the ball goes, the more accurate it gets. He's got incredible touch on the deep ball.
So tell me in the NFL locker room.
The one thing about sometimes in baseball, when you break into a sport like Bryce Harper, there's a way to play the game. But I've found in the NFL in the NBA. If you got swag, if you can play, guys love it. And I think players will love Travis Hunter. They'll root for him to play both sides of the ball. I mean, would you play him both?
So what do you make of it?
Oh?
No, he's unbelievable. In fact, I was at his pro you know, he was there catching balls from Schador and honestly everybody was there from the NFL, so I'm representative from every team.
I think their jaws just dropped. I mean, the guy is indefatigable here calling and.
I don't mean to use a big word here, that's the only word I can find the guy has. He's got Michael Jordan type endurance. He does not fatigue. I don't care at the temperature, the competition. He's the best corner He plays cornerback the way a thief does. Like he bakes the quarterback and he gets him to throw it to where he wants to. Then he takes it away from him and on the other side of the ball. His ability to adjust to a ball in the air is what we see from Garrett Wilson, Devonte Adams, some of the great receivers in his.
Game he's got. He didn't wear any gloves at Sadori's pro day.
His hands are so good he doesn't even feel like now he all wear gloves in a game, but he catches everything and it's it's you just can't take your eyes off them. And I'll just say this, we're in the entertainment business, colin the NFL, we're entertainers. You talked about star powers at WNBA. That's why we watch. It's the same thing. Any ten year old kid that's gonna go watch Travis Hunter next year in Cleveland where he's going because they fell in love with him that day. They're gonna buy a Travis Hunter jersey before he ever puts it on, and they're gonna want to play both ways.
He's gonna start a trend. It's gonna happen. You have to play them both ways.
I don't know what the number of snaps are, if it's a hundred a game, but you've got to start him on one side of the ball and play him on the other side in a variety of packages.
Because I just think he's that talented.
Okay, here's somebody I'm a little cool on, Jackson Dart. It reminds me of a little thicker Zach Wilson. Same high school, same body type, same offense.
Boy.
When you sped the game up for Zach, it' BYU. When you speed it up a little for Jackson, he wasn't quite the same. There's a certain comfort level, and I watched them several times. I do think he is an NFL quarterback. I thought, I still think Zach is. I think it's I'm here in all this top twelve fifteen stuff. I don't know, Brian, what's the tape say to you?
It's not just the tape.
There's an emotional part to this game where he's just too like Zach Wilson, Like it's just too frenetic on the sidelines. The emotion, whether it's tears or whether it's joy like, there's not any sort of well I expect it. I'm a three year starter at Mississippi. I'm expecting to go beat you know, Georgia, you know, on a Saturday night. And he did, and he played well in the game.
He took care of the ball.
But I just think there's this emotional rollercoaster to how he plays and who he is, which I don't know if that's I don't know if it's bad, but I know when I see it, it can work against him. And I see that from him, and so I don't think he's a top fifteen pick. You could talk yourself into it, because you can go watch the game against Georgia. You can watch the game last game he played against Duke in the Gator Bowl, where he threw for four hundred yards, threw four touchdown passes, did make a mistake. You can fall in love with him, but I think the Zach Wilson thing is a pretty good comparison right now.
Yeah, okay, I'm going to show you my mock draft. Now this isn't my mock draft.
So what I do, Brian is I've always said if I didn't do this, I'd want to be an NFL GM. It's not going to happen, I know it. But if I didn't do that, I would do that. Yeah, So this is who I would draft if I was the GMS of this team. Just tell me something that you agree with and there's something you don't buy.
I saw Cam Woard in Miami's Pro Day, and all of Tennessee was there, including the reporters that report from Tennessee. They fell in love with them that day. That's a Cleveland from Jimmy has them to Andrew Barry, to Kevin Stefanski. They fell in love with Travis Hunter. He's going to Cleveland. The one thing I'd say, and I don't disagree with Shador going to the Giants. They're working about today. Today's Thursday. They're working them out in Boulder today. But if they passed an Abdul Carter after they passed on Micah Parsons after you look at the rich history of pass rushers with the New York Giants, Like every Giant fan is gonna go If a Doll Carter lights it up and Shador sits behind Russell or whatever, they're gonna go nuts. They're like everybody the owner is gonna fire himself, you know. So that's the only question I have. Are you gonna pass an Obdul? And may what greatness looks like? Especially what could be a Giants' uniform That might be something that they never ever worrying number eleven wearing mics number like that might be unforgivable right there.
Let me tell one more.
I think Ashton Gent works with the Raiders because I think gino off play action is actually pretty good. Gino on third and eleven and everybody knows he's throwing makes mistakes. Gent played at Boise State five eight. Some have said small does that?
What do you see?
I see muscles on top of muscles. The guy is a like he looks like a bodybuilder, but he's agile. Like look, chip Kelly's the offense coordinated with the Raiders when Chip went to Philadelphia. That was Shady McCoy's two best years. He led the league in rushing in chip Kelly's first year. He spreads you out and played up tempo to run.
The ball like this is.
You're going to get a lot of a college atmosphere offense from Chip Kelly with the Raiders this year. I think genty is the perfect chess piece to go play with right now.
That's exciting.
You know you played for the Cowboys. Do you think they'll draft a running back? Potentially they need it. You have no run game.
What do you make of that they have like one hundred picks.
Honestly, like they should go trade up to get Ashton Gent who I played with Tony Dorsett. You know there's been EMMITTT. Smith there's been c there's been you know, all kinds of great running backs in Dallas. They've gone now a couple of years once Zeke really started to decline. Where it's falling apart. This is the rich history of the Cowboys, you know, is at running back, and you go back to Walt Garrison and Dan Reeves and everybody else that played there, Like they need a star running back.
That's what's been missing from this offense here for the last three or four years.
Brian Baldingger, You're great, Baldy. NFL network is always great stuff. Thanks man, Thanks don don't you Sue?
Yeah, he's so good. Yeah, so he's got the Jackson Dart concerns.
I do. And listen, I just got a steak dinner two nights ago from an unnamed source on this I watch. You know, I watched a lot of college football. You watch a lot of college football. I didn't see a first round guy, little hit and miss for me, just just just not clean enough for me. And I've said this, I like Jalen Milroll so much about Jalen. Jalen's too mechanical to be a star quarterback in the NFL. But I do think you could take him in, write, coach some of this stuff. A lot of it is who do you get? I mean, Jackson Dark goes to the Rams and sits for two years with them, Fay, then you get a different outcome than him going to the Saints and starting tomorrow, you know, rushing him in when he's not quite ready.
