Mock Draft Part II: The Darnold Factor, Denver QB Revisited | NFL Deep Dive

Published Apr 12, 2021, 8:00 AM

The sequel to Part I of the 2021 Mock Draft Extravaganza begins with a flashback. Last week, Jenny and Gary had the Panthers selecting Justin Fields with the eighth overall pick. Now that they've traded for Sam Darnold, would a first-round QB still make sense for Carolina? Conor joins Jenny and Gary to discuss.


Then, the next eight teams are up, from the Broncos picking ninth to the Cardinals with the 16th selection.


Among those picks: Finding a home for Mac Jones—how high can the fifth quarterback go? A conversation on whether the Cowboys should go for more offense or address a rebuilding D, and the Eagles' never-ending search for pass-catching weapons continues into the 2021 draft. Also, the pros and cons of the Patriots making a move for a quarterback, how Danielle Hunter’s contract situation factors into the Vikings’ pick, and why the Cardinals might need a receiver in this draft after all.

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Hello, and welcome to the mm QB Monday Morning NFL Podcast. I'm your host, Gary Grambling. I am joined by Jenny Brentis of the week Side Podcast. Jenny, how's it going. I'm doing great, Gary, and we are joined by Connor Or of the week Side Podcast. Connor, how's it going. It's good. You kind of introduced the show like you and Jenny were hanging out and then I imposed on this, but well, by well, we started the first eight last week, Connor, so I guess you know, maybe that's what he was setting up. Yeah, the two of you are probably wondering why I called you in here on on this Sunday evening, and you're both fired. No, no, but we're we're at part two of the mock Draft, and uh, I want to get into it like this. Uh. As you know, we are a podcast of laws, and one of those laws is that when we do the mock Draft series, we do not undo picks from previous iterations. Now, when we tape last week's show, and I will recap the first eight picks in case you missed the show. If you missed the show, shame on you, but I'll do you the favor and recap the top eight picks. In a second, we are at pick nine with the Broncos, but pick eight to the Panthers. Jenny and I gave them Justin Fields. We finished the show and a few hours later the Panthers traded for Sam Donald. Now do we revisit that pick? I say no, and and frankly, I think if Justin Field falls to the Panthers, they should take them. I don't think you can pencil in Sam Donald as your surefire quarterback in the future. So that's my take on it. Okay, so before the show started I said that I was definitely in support of redoing the pick. But you know what, Gary, I think you've changed my mind. I didn't realize that it was a law, you know, I knew that you said you didn't you didn't undo picks. But now that I know it's a law, I'm feeling a little bit more constrained by last week's pick. You also lay out a good argument. Maybe they're not banking on Sam Donald. Maybe they end up trading Bridgewater and it's Donald in a rookie. You know it's I would say that the call is up to you, Gary, It's it's your show. Connor and I are just guests were kind of brought it. Yeah, Connor, you are, you are a juror in this. Jenny just made a terrible argument on behalf of her client. I did, Yeah, I did. There's no reason to not change the pick because the circumstances have totally changed, unless it is your turn and then you're going to just make the same pick again, in which case we're just gonna have to move on. Like there's them. We're kind of vice script into this, but I think it's if I'm the Panthers and I got Sam Donald, I don't want Justin Fields because I've already picked up Sam Donald's or promised to pick up Sam Donold's fifth year option. Although I guess you can promise a lot of things in the NFL and not follow through on them, but um or in life or in life, Yeah, that's true. Um, Yeah, I absolutely think this should be up for discussion. Um, mostly because I'm almost done with the mock draft that I'm contractually obligated to complete and I have a different scenario, so it's gonna mess me up today on this podcast. So to make it a lot easier for me, if you would, if you would open the floor, um and maybe redo the pick, but don't don't do this on my accord. I've clearly imposed already on the podcast. So let's let's walk it up to eight. Let's go through the first seven picks, and then we have like eight more picks to do, but we'll we'll recap the first eight year. Jaguars took Trevor Lawrence. The Jets took Zack Wilson, the forty Niners took Trey Lance, the Falcons took Penny Sewell. That that was the first sort of curveball here in our uh we'll call us a what they should do kind of mock draft. And then obviously, if your team does not match up with what we have signed them, you have a right to be upset. So the Falcons took Uh took the offensive tackle Sewell. The Bengals took an offensive tackle Rashawn Slater, Dolphins took Jamar Chase, the Lines took Davante Smith, and then the Panthers, and we we gave the Panthers justin fields and again, look at this Sam Donald fifth year option. It's only guaranteed for injury, right that that's still the rule with the new cb A right, Um, I just I don't know. Are you Are you banking on Sam Donald after the first three seasons that he put together here, I think he goes justin Fields, I guess, I mean, I don't know. And and again this is just from one person, you know, but you know, I didn't hear a lot of glowing things personally about Justin Fields during this process. That doesn't mean that there aren't a lot of other people and slash analytics to support the fact that he may be the second best quarterback in this draft behind Trevor Lawrence. Um. No quarterback. UM has a better completion percentage to UH throws beyond his first read than Justin Fields, So that kind of knocks down some of the initial criticisms. He's a phenomenal athlete, so I think there's a lot to like about him. Um. But you know that's not things I can personally vouch for. UM. So I don't know if I if you're asking me if I'm the GM of the Panthers, I have Teddy Bridgewater and Sam Donald. That feels good enough to me. And I used that pick to to get something else I need you know, Oh, go ahead, No, I was just gonna say that the Panthers were grasping for quarterback options this offseason, and it would make sense that they would try a lot of different things. So one could be trading for Donald, the other could be drafting a quarterback. The worst case scenario, well, no, this is not the worst worst case scenarios. They both end up being bad quarterbacks and then you still have a quarterback. UH. One bad case in you know, is that Donald plays really well and it's like, oh, well, we just spent the pick on to the fields. Well move Justin Fields for pick next uh next offseason. I mean it's shaping up to be a very weak both draft class and free agency class for quarterbacks. And who knows, maybe Tom Brady has retired, maybe Ben Roethlisberger has retired. There's probably going to be a need for quarterbacks uh next offseason. And Justin Fields, had he stayed in school again, might have been QB one in two drafts. So I guess let's let's simply let's put it this way. I will officially open it up to uh to an alternative for the Panthers here, but let's talk about who would be UH. They're not going to take a receiver. Our our top two tackles are off the board. They're not definitely not taking a receiver, but I would assume they're not. Uh, Kyle Pitts probably the guy if if you're looking for the long awaited air apparent to Greg Olsen there in Carolina. So it is, And if either you wanna want to throw out another name here, I just think they're going offense because it took all defense in last year's draft. So, uh, for our purposes, does this come down to Kyle Pitts versus justin fields? To me, the thing that's complicated about that, right as you're saying that they're not going to go receiver, and Kyle Pitts is not really a great blocker, and he's probably gonna play more X and slot than anything in the NFL, Like he's just gonna be a big tight end. You know. I don't think that, you know, he's not good To me, I don't imagine him doing a lot of traditional tight end things, you know. So if receiver is already crowded, um, then I don't think that that's a pick you make. I think value wise, you probably just take him and figure it out. If you're Carolina and you move the pieces around, because it would be a phenomenal gift to uh, to Sam Donald. But I'm not, uh, I don't know. It's it's an interesting question. I mean, um, having Fields there etched in stone already just sort of boxes us in a little bit. That's you know, I'm just I'm just, I'm I'm very bothered by this. I have officially unatched Connor. How about that he is? And if you are ready to stand on the table for Kyle Pitts, we can, uh, we can do it here. And I do think Pitts is a better blocker than people get him credit for. I think he's so overwhelmingly good athletically that I think that he's not a good blocker. But I think he's a passable NFL blocker. I think they will be able to play him in line at some point, maybe not very early on, but um, Pitts versus Fields? Will you uh? Will you blow this up? Connor? Will you swipe the the draft card that was on its way in and replace it with your own? You know, I I don't know, you know, I don't know. I don't think Pitts gets this far a b I think that the Panthers could use a lot of help on the offensive line. I mean, you have like guys like Elijah Vera Tucker, you have Christian Derris Saw. You know, a lot of these guys that I think, you know, might be somewhat interesting, um and and worth mentioning there. Uh maybe Tevin Jenkins is a little bit too far down for the conversation here. But I don't know. I like that idea. I mean to me, um, you're building something, uh, and you're trying to make your offense work. Um, and you can bump cam Irving down because you just signed him and right now you're left tackles cam Irving. You know, I think that there's probably um, you know, some tea leaves to be read there that that's probably not a part of the plan either in the long term. Uh. So, I don't know. I I opened the I opened up the floor, um to to to all picks, not just Kyle Pitts and Justin Fields. It is interesting that Pits is still on the board in our mock drap what was going on. But now that I'm looking back at the other picks, I mean I feel fine about all of them. I mean I was a part of the process. The two tackles came off the board four five, which is kind of a twist for the Panthers here. True, and you guys didn't do trades. No another law hunt, okay, So dare you clearly not a listener of the show. Although I didn't, I didn't know the other law that you can't take you can't take picks off the board. So all right, Uh, then I'm okay with either one of those two. I will I will yield, and then I will take my I will take my rightful turn in in the next area here. I'm gonna let you guys kind of finish this off, and then I will enter the discussion with with the next series of picks. Jenny, you know what, garyl Let's just stick with it. Let's stick with justice. I was going to say it, but I wanted to accept it and hear someone else say, you've you've converted Meyer. Justin Fields remains with the Panthers in our mock draft. And uh, that does it for our opening recap here, and now we can start the show. All right, we are running down eight more teams. That's actually just the next eight picks in this one. We don't have any uh, any duplicate teams at this point in the draft, not until you get down to I don't know what Jaguars at twenty five or something like that, Dolphins at eight. Team that's that's the first duplicate. But that's that's for part three. So we are at We're at the Broncos at number nine, and uh, I guess this starts with the quarterback conversation again and for the purposes of our mock draft, Matt Jones is still on the board. Uh. And the question is looked, is Matt Jones it's mac Jones is good as his sort of uh, I don't know draft seasons stock would suggest at this point. Or is he a guy that's just too much of a reach in the top ten here. That's a good question. I think that a lot of this fits because you know, I don't know, I'm like right in front of me. For example, like you know, I have the Sports Info UM Solutions College Handbook, which is great. I really like that, and lead up to the draft, and they had written a lot about how he's sort of best suited for, you know, a downhill sort of play action um offense, which you could argue fits well with Denver and if you're just like you know, if you're reading the tea leaves, I mean, you know, Mac Jones was coached by you know a lot of the people on that staff. Um, you could probably imagine probably have close relationships with the Broncos. The Broncos have a very old, entrenched coaching staff, guys who have been around for really really long time, and guys who are probably gonna have good relationships with you know, Sabin and his staff, you know, which are kind of kind of looks similar. And even now, like you know, Doug Maron's there, Bill Bryant's there. They weren't there last year, but it's not gonna be hard for Pat Sherman to reach out to those guys. And I remember too, the Broncos did um a ton of work on Jerry Judy last year. So they were in tough SCALUSA for a lot of this. They watched a lot of film. Um, they're already prepared for a lot of this. George Peyton did not go to Mac Jones's pro day, skipped it to go to Justin Fields's pro day. So read into that how you will. But I like Mac Jones here. I have him going to the Broncos in my mock draft. It makes sense to me. Um I just don't think they could go into the season with Drew Lock. That would be crazy. That would be crazy to me, especially if you're Vic Fangio. It's your three. You've had two losing seasons. Are you really signing up for another year of Drew Lock? Yeah? And they haven't made any bold moves at the quarterback position this offseason, and so it does seem like it's setting up for a draft pick, And that would seem to be in line with you know, you make the change this offseason too, having George Peyton running football operations instead of John Elway, and it would make sense that you have sort of a new person selecting the quarterback and you clearly have a need at the position, and they haven't done anything else to address it. So it seems like this is the last route for them to go. They wanted some fits Magic reportedly this this offseason, didn't get it. Uh. The other position, they're probably looking at our defensive oude of the ball stuff probably linebacker and cornerback or the other things that come up with this team. But um I continue to wonder about Mac Jones. I'll wonder about it until he wins his third or fourth Super Bowl. Whether he is just the is he a style of quarterback that just doesn't work as well in this league anymore? Uh? And I guess the pocket pastor always works. We see it every year in the postseason. Those are the guys who play deep in the postseason. But the guys who don't have that movement skill, that ability to create their own time and space, if they if they fail, if they're not as sharp maneuvering in the pocket as as they have to be, it's like they face plant worse than pretty much anywhere at this point. But I'm a I'm open to Mac Jones here. I'm not a Mac Jones guy, but I do think for the reasons Connor laid out, it makes some sense here. I I guess it would come down to like a Mac Jones versus Micah Parsons versus Caleb Farley Patrick certain type of debate in our pretend war room. But um, is it weird that exactly for the reasons that you said he's a completely outdated prospect, I was like, that's why he's perfect for the Broncos. It's like Pat Server is gonna be like, this is the kind of guy that we need on our team. Like, you know, it's like that that entire team screams outdated offense, you know, and they got rid of the guy who was going to run the next gen offense and then they said, no, we don't want the Kyle Shanahan system anymore. We want the patch of our offense. And so this is exactly why they would take back Jones. Like it all makes complete and total sense to me. So we will have five quarterbacks in the top nine. Wow. And the last time we five quarterbacks in the first round was draft, and in that case there were four in the top ten I believe, and then obviously Lamar Jackson went thirty second. So this would be something. I was looking at the Broncos play action rates with Drew Lock on on Saturday night and just weeping because they were really low and because that's how I was spending my Saturday night. But that I was gonna say, it seems like for weeping, then the actual statistics themselves. So the Broncos, the Broncos at nine are taking Drew lock quarterback Alabama, and that kind of that might exist. Well, we'll see, we'll get to the end. That might exhaust the quarterbacks for our our mock draft series. Here you mean Gary, You just said Drew Lock, quarterback Alabama and the Google doc which is really impressive. So his name is Mac Jones. His name is Mac Jones. Bringing Mac Jones rather than a recommitment ceremony to Drew Lock at that point. But if somebody wrote the wrong name on the draft card, that would really be something. What would have to our first round pick. We that's how committed we are to Drew Lock. We just would have to swap one of his special draft cards in on the way to the podium. All right, We are at the Cowboys at number ten. A lot of people circling defense for them because they just didn't play very good defense last year. They have some holes on the offensive line, which we all kind of assumed that that Travis Frederick Zack Martin, Tyron Smith thing was just gonna go on forever. Uh, most of those guys are still there, but they have some holes on the old line. But obviously they have the receivers in place. They they're paying quite a bit of money to their running back. They have their quarterback, So you're probably gonna what cornerbacks, uh, if you're dan quinn is running that defense. Now, not that it's the classic Seahawks style. Everyone has their twist on that now. But if you're gonna have dan Quinnon as your defensive coordinator, you have to be able to generate a pass rush with that foreman with that foremat rush. I like cornerback here. Their secondary was so bad last year. They've made some changes this offseason. Obviously, Kean O'Neil, dan Quinn's former draft pick from Atlanta, they brought in. They drafted Trevon Diggs in the second round last year, so perhaps he takes a step forward, But I think cornerback is the pick. I'm totally on board with that. UM. I think Patrick's certain. J C. Horne, you know one of those guys that works for me that that makes a lot of sense because you know, the defense was just so unbelievably bad last year, and I think that picking one player there to make them marginally less bad is probably better than an offensive player that makes a good unit or a really good unit just a little bit better, you know, if that makes sense. Although Kyle Pitts still being on the board really is freaking me out a little bit, but as as it should. Uh. And maybe they could, uh, they could take Kyle Pitts and then roll out of second football on every offensive snap and distributed to all those guys that they're they've just they've just invested so much draft capital and uh and now cap space in their receivers and tight ends. At this point, I I had forgotten they'd given Blake Jarwin that big contract, uh since he had hurt last year. But um, yeah, the cornerbacks. Caleb Farley, there's rumors about some some uh some medical stuff with him. Does that knock him down? I think he was the top guy at the position coming in. But I think you're if we're talking cornerback, we're probably talking Farley versus Patrick's certain at this point, it seems like you were leaning ed drusher. Yeah. There's just no great edge rushers in this draft. There's some, there's some interesting guys. Uh. I think if you had your choice between a top of the line cornerback and an edge rusher in UH, in this year's draft, I think you have to go with the with the cornerback. I agree, Connor, do you have do you have an opinion Farley versus Certain. I think if Farley's healthy, I go Farley. But I don't know that those are just like the rumblings now in draft world. I'm uh, I have a good Patrick certain stat if you want to hear it, I do. Um. So last year UM Quarterbacks targeting, Patrick Certain had an expected points added per game of negative fifteen points six. It's incredible. That's really really good. Um. I'm I'm a little bit jaded because I covered the Jets when they made the d Milliner pick that you know of high high, highly drafted album cornerbacks. UM that said, Um, I think you can't view those things in a vacuum. I thought he was very good against good receivers, and uh, I think he's Uh. I think he's the guy, you know. I think that makes a lot of sense. Let's do it. Patrick's retained NFL bloodlines. Jones has loved that to the Cowboys, which brings us to the Giants with the eleventh pick. Uh, plenty of defensive needs here on top of that, uh, possibly offensive tackle again. I mean, how long are they gonna be able to sort of lean on Nate Solder, who's been something of an underwhelming free agent addition there anyway, So again our top two offensive tackles are off the board, or or the top two sort of concetts to stop too in Sewell and Slater, which kind of leaves the board open for a much of defensive guys. Or again I don't know. Evan Agraham is there. Kyle Pitts is probably better, but well, I don't know. We'll we'll talk it out here. I don't know. The Dave Gentleman factor here is so it just looms so large, you know, um asking around. It seems like Joe Judge is gonna is going to have, you know, a little bit more of a say in this, and he's got a really interesting direction in terms of where he wants to take this. But you know, I don't know if the temptation is going to be there for Dave Gedtleman to take another offensive lineman because it does two things. It fits into his philosophy which he's been very steadfastly married to for a long time, which is, you know, the big people you control the line of scrimmage, and you know they're not going to be able to control the line of scrimmage with that offensive line this year. There's just no possible way they're going to do that. And so do you take someone like Elijah Vera Tucker who's gonna, you know, stand in for Kevin Zeisler and you know, be that middle um, that midline guy for a long time time for you and it helps say Kwon Barkley does something like that, or um, does he do something out of character? There's still a lot of really good receivers there. Do you give any consideration to the fact that one of these guys that you could take these past catching weapons, even though you have a glut, so to speak, you're also taking it away from the Eagles who are picking right behind you, or you're worried about that at all? Does that concern you? Um? I don't know. So. I think that there's a lot of play here. But Gettleman is still Gettleman, and he does have a pattern in kind of the way that he's operated over the years. Yeah. I mean if the draft, if our mock had gone differently and either Seool or Slater was still on the board, you could see the Giants going that direction. But of course that is not the way that our draft has gone. Gary, probably due to me mucking things up. Um, So it is it's sort of impossible to notice that Pitts is still on the board. And I know that's not the purpose of the show in a sense, Gary, It's supposed to be talking about their needs and then matching them to the team's UM. So yeah, I mean, offensive line, cornerback, edge, um. But you know they need playmakers and they made a big splash receiver signing at free agent. But that's not to say you can't get another player. And I agree Pitts is better than ever Ingram. And you know, Joe Judge's mentor is really going all in on the tight ends this offseason, so maybe he'll follow suit. Pits is really interesting here. I think Michael Parsons is interesting as just sort of a do it all linebacker Patrick Graham, he certainly fits, uh you know what what you would want in sort of a Patriot style let's do a lot of things well type of type of defense here. I will say Connor the one thing with get him infactoring the Eagles. Remember when he signed Golden Tate a couple of years ago, and just like the Eagles a comp pic exchange for that signing. Yeah, I don't. I don't know. I think you wouldn't mind at all helping the Eagles a little bit when it comes right down to it. Uh, what's the one position the Giants don't draft in the first round ever? Right? It's linebacker? Yeah, the Giants I don't think of drafted a first round linebacker since Carl Banks. Right. Yeah, it wasn't that, Lawrence. I remember one time I had to do some like random mock pick and there weren't a lot of great options on the board, and I guess I just was like, well, maybe Alec local Tree is in the mix. And I got skewered for it, Connor, because of that fact that you just the same exact thing for me and c J. Moseley because c J. Mosley at the Chelsea Pierce Draft event. Um, you know, when you cover the Giants, you just run around to all those people and say, if you talked to the Giants? Have you talked to the Giants? Have you talked to the Giants? And he said yeah, and they said that they want to draft me, and so I said great, and I wrote it and then everybody got really upset, and uh, you know, and they took Odo Beckham anyway, So everything worked out, all right, Kyle Pitts, that's a curveball. I like curve balls, do you though, or did you just invite me onto the show? I've made a mess of it, and here y'all just say to Connor, hey, let's just not mention to Jenny. We're doing the show. I was grinding my teeth as I said, I like curveballs. No, I do like curveballs. I'm okay, Yeah, I mean if they if he was there in some unbelievable scenario, I would guess that they would trip over themselves to turn this card in. So, yes, all right, let's let's do it. Kyle Pitts to the Giants. Only I guess that one more season of watching Evan Ingraham have the ball bounce off his hands a little a little too frequently, which brings us CEO's hell, look at the Eagles. I think the Eagles ideally would would land Kyle Pitts in their dream mock draft, though they apparently don't think so since they moved down from six to twelve here. Um, but if you're the Eagles, you're probably still looking at wide receivers in need. You're probably still looking at cornerback for need. That's been the case for like the last three years, those two positions there uh and then uh and then tight end. But if Pits is off the board, you're probably not going to see in the tight end go in the first round here. Yeah, receiver is just such a dire need for them right now. And if they are going to go forward with seeing if Jalen Hurts could work this year or at least giving him a shot to to to prove himself, then you need to put players around him. But we've been saying this in every other circumstances the last two years. Well, once needs better players around him and gotta get receivers. And why isn't this working out? So, I mean, it's just as you said, Gary, it's been the perpetual question. Yeah, I think we're pinning ourselves a little bit too, because we've taken of the three of the of the three big receivers, we've kind of taken the two bigger bodied receivers off off the table. And so now if you're the Eagles, right, you're looking at a Jalen Reager like Wattle combination maybe. And you know, I don't know how much I mean that's good, you know, but do you want a little bit more of a variation there in terms of you know, body type and and really receiver type. I don't know if that matters to them at this point or if they just want guys who are going to get open. But um, you know, I don't know. I do love it and nothing makes you happier. And then complementary skill sets among receivers. I just think it's one of the most most magical things in the world. But uh, I do think Janalen wattles too. I think he's too talented to sort of pencil him in as a stylistically does he fit. I think he is a guy that you just say, if we can't make them fit, we have we have bigger issues then, um than just filling out a receiver depth chart. That's true, And if you're Nick Sirianni, you would probably like, um uh to go into the season not drawing up a bunch of fulghum stuff. You know, fulgham is good, but you know, you just need a little bit. You need a little bit more because they're probably gonna trade Zecher. It's during the draft to right, so at some point you would imagine that that's going to happen. So, Um, getting targets back somewhere for Jalen Hurts is probably gonna be something you're gonna have to do there. That's a lot of Jalen though too, Hurts Reader and Waddle that is Yeah, you know, is that a consideration if you're the Eagles? I don't know. There's every time you say Jalen like three people are going to turn around the locker room and that's chaos, communication issues. They'll have to work through that. Chip Kelly would have never stood for this, but we will give them Jalen Waddle at twelve to the Eagles here, which which brings us to the Chargers. And do they do they continue to build around Justin Herbert on the offensive line? Do they do they turn to the defense at some point and and try and build up uh an aging unit at this point? Uh? What do they do? Everybody yelled their ideas at the same time. Jenny, what do you think I think offensive line would be a strong consideration here. Um, they've certainly added in free agency, but I think they could benefit from continuing to add in the draft. I agree. I mean, really, what you're looking to replace target wise is is basically Hunter Henry right, which I think you could do in the second or the third round of the draft, Like you could find something comparable, um, you know, just to to help your offense. But if you get someone like I mean, I don't know where they're where they're looking, but you know that that tackle spot, to me, that left tackle spot is a super glaring issue for them and something that they definitely need to uh um to get fixed. I think that's uh, you know, among the more glaring like need based picks that that a team would need to make, that would make some sense here. I think you could even reach a little bit and and grab somebody. The offensive tackle class is not that bad beyond the top two guys, Like I do think that there's some some decent talent. There is another glaring need to it's an unusually deep tackle classes here oftens tackle class. We we just don't see that anymore in the league. Um, I don't know. I would be cur to see Elijah Vera Tucker get a shot at offensive tackle, but I understand most teams have pencil demand as a guard. So who are looking at here kind of probably uh someone in the dry saw uh. Tevin Jenkins type of mold here as as sort of a bigger bodied Uh. If you are pessimistic, you would pencil them as right tackles. But I think, especially now that the positions are kind of interchangeable anyway, I think that's fine going left tackle with someone like that. Yeah. I like Derris Saw. Um. I think he uh um, I think he works there. Um in his entire career at Virginia Tech. Uh, he only allowed ten pressures, ten quarterback pressures over an entire collegiate career. That's pretty amazing. So um, I think Justin Herbert would appreciate that. That that's something that I think that's something he would like. I think so too. Let's give him a Let's let's give him Christian Derris Saw Virginia Tech offensive tackle to the Chargers at thirteen. Uh real quick uh Part two recap Here we have the Broncos saging Mac Jones. We had the Cowboys taking Patrick Certain, the Giants take and Kyle Pitts, the Eagles take generally Wattle, and the Chargers take Christian Derris Saw at thirteen, which brings us to the Vikings, who, uh, I don't know they have all these draft picks as if they have like a thousand draft picks UH in this in this draft, so I guess they can stand to roll the dice a little bit at the top here. We know they have tried to bring in that complementary edge rusher for Daniel Hunter UH to play opposite him. That did not work out within Gockway, and that's a that's a need there, and they I don't know, just until the end of time, they're gonna be looking for offensive linemen UH in Minnesota because I think they I think they have guys who hold up pretty well as run blockers. They just they have so many guys on that line who cannot pass protect for any like just it's a it's been a disaster for I don't know, the last decade. So those are needs safety. With Anthony Harris going away, do you get someone to compliment or maybe even long term replace Harrison Smith at this point, lots of lots of needs on the vikings all of a sudden, Yeah, they have a lot of work to do. I think those two positions that you will outlined in the trenches on both sides, you know, edge rusher and offensive liner are the two glaring ones as well as you know, adding to the need at edge rusher is the uncertainty about Daniel Hunter's future. I guess I'm happy with his contract and he's still coming off of the neck injury that sidelined him in so I think that sort of adds to to the need there. But as you said, Gary, maybe it doesn't make sense to take an edge that high this year. It's an interesting it's an interesting like thought, right, Like I don't know, like is it as bad as we're making it out to be, um? Or you know, is there some talent to be found there? I don't know. I mean, if you're the Vikings, is there um an excitement factor essentially in the fact that you get to set the table here and you get your choice of every edge drusher in the draft? Um? I don't. I don't know if that's an attraction. UM. But if you're Mike Zimmer, who is so defensively focused and it's going to steer everything that way anyway, UM, if it's not something in the secondary, I think we would be asking ourselves probably a similar question about safety anyway, right, is is it too early to take a safety that the Minnesota loves layering cornerbacks, so maybe it's not too early to take a cornerback there. Um, But I don't know. I think there's an attraction to the fact that maybe if it's not a phenomenal edge class, you still get the one guy that you view as better than everybody else at the position. I think there's a couple of things we said here. I just I don't know. I can't imagine them going cornerback again, although I guess Jeff Gladni's uh issues with a domestic violence arrest. Uh, I mean, can they can they count on him ever playing full all again? We're gonna find out when you're looking at the value of safeties in the league right now, with so many teams go and cover two looks. It's the just the position so devalued at this point across the league. And if you're looking at the edge guys again, I'm not crazy about any of the edge guys. You're probably looking at Gregory Rousseau, Jalen Phillips, and and Quitty pay here at this point. The one thing you would say about taking one of them in round one is obviously Zimmer wants that complimentary edge to Daniel Hunter. That's why they went out and gotten Gogway. The issue within got Way, even if he had a great year last year and and the Vikings made the playoffs and all kind of worked out, you're gonna basically have to pay him more than Daniel Hunter. And that just sort of rubs the salt in the wounds of nail Hunter wanting the bigger contract. Anyway. We know the Vikings are are not in great cap shape regardless, so it's almost like taking this first round edge rusher or if they like guy in the second round, basically finding that complimentary edge rusher in the dry aft gives you that excuse to say the Neil Hunter or well, you know we broughtly gut, We're not paying the more than you like. I'm sure they'll they'll do right by Hunter on the contract anyway, but it sort of takes a little bit of that heat off of it if you get this guy in on the uh as as I would say, artificially deflated rookie wage scale contract here, that's a lot of things to consider, Gary, you said, maybe a few things, but that's a lot of a lot to chew on there. It is it is, and this is this is. Uh, this is what they're doing in Minnesota right now as you all try to sleep or listen to a podcast or possibly both at the same time, because what you listen to while you try to doze off. Um, So yeah, I know. I think it's down to like, I mean, I don't know what. I don't know if either you have an opinion on on the top edge in this glass. I think it's so I'm open to arguments because again, I think all these guys have their charms and their flaws and that's just the way life is going to go. Uh. If it's not one of the edge guy is, you're probably talking you know, maybe you're talking to Elijah Vera Tucker at this point. Uh, and address the offensive line here. I just I don't think they're going back to the secondary at this point. I agree with that. Yeah, I agree. Um, my favorite edge player in the draft is is Jalen Phillips. But I think if you're looking for more of a stylistic fit, it might be um Quitty Pay. I mean that's who I have them the Vikings taking in in my draft um my mock draft. Um oh for a four game season. This basically for Pay and and in, and he had seventeen hurries twenty three quarterback hits over four games. That's pretty good. Um, that's that's incredibly productive. And so I think that stands out. Um. Everyone seemed to be uh going wild about the pro day and that seemed to go well. So I don't know. I I think he makes some sense there, um, but it is what it is. You know, if you don't see the positional value there, I could easily see them just going with the best player available. You know. Let me, uh, let me ask you this. I think the Vikings developed those edge guys so well. I think they can look at this class and say, well, who's got the biggest upside? Is it Jalen Phillips, who you know, he's a bit of a one year wonder, you know, top top high school recruit who uh you know, almost walked away from football at one point after he left U c l A and then re emerged that Miami as this as a stud last season. Do they look at him and say, this is the guy we can we can mold into the best possible player because we've seen our staff do that before. Or do they you know, I think they go that over necessarily production on the at the college level. That's a good point. That makes a lot of sense. Um file this under like super meaningless things. But I did find it interesting that Miami's defensive coordinator called him like the best player that he's coached like in his entire career. And I think he's been he I mean, he's been coaching for like thirty five years or something like that, that guy. And again, I mean that's what you say, um, you know, around this time in the draft, to try to get your players selected higher. But it seemed to be, um, you know, just an interesting thing to go out in a limb and tag on a guy. So I I do think that's interesting at least. And again, I mean you're gonna need you're gonna need high upside, and you're gonna need it immediately in that division, you know, you can't really afford to spend time developing a guy. So maybe that makes sense, you know. I do agree. I think that's a good point there. Let's do Jalen Phillips here to the vikings. If there are no uh, if there are no objections, as the first edge guy off the board here in our mock draft exercise, sounds good, Gary, and that will bring us to the Patriots. And again, as we've discussed where a podcast of laws, we do not do trade ups in this I mean, I didn't you guys do radio hits with radio hits all the time around the nature, around the world. And Uh, everyone wants to know what the Patriots gonna the Patriots gonna trade up and you just shrug your shoulders and say, like, they usually don't. But if you look at their last four draft classes, those haven't been very good draft classes and that's why they're in the position that they are in. So gut feeling, Uh, do the Patriots trade up in this draft and try and get one of the quarterbacks? My gat feeling is a now interesting, What makes you think that? Just my gut you know, No, I know, I I don't know. I I'm just not sure that I see them falling in love with a guy to do that for I don't. Well this, See, this is the part of my process every year when I'm filling out the mock draft that I'm trying to gauge what Jenny knows and when very little and when what you should ascertain and when she has a take like this, and I have the Patriots taking a quarterback. It makes me extremely nervous, and it makes me want to rip up everything that I have written down so far. Because if you're not feeling it that I'm not. No, but you have, you know, different scenarios. And in this mock where we're at right now, five quarterbacks have gone in the top nine, right, which is a lot. Yeah, and so in this scenario, like, I don't necessarily see them taking somebody as it's constructed. Um, if we're following, if if this is a real universe and this is something that's actually happening, Um, maybe New England tries to develop one of these second tier guys which we're now hearing a lot about. You know, there's some buzz for some of the kind of those second and third round guys that that might be available and and it might be a good part of this class. So yeah, I don't know beyond that. Um, if you're Belichick, I don't know what you're necessarily looking for here. I mean, you know, there's a lot of good linebackers in this class. Um, there's still good wide receivers. Um. If if Waddle went to the Eagles here at twelve you still have a guy like maybe Rashad Bateman, um that can help you round this out and and turn this into a powerhouse. But to me, it's like, what was the point of going out and getting all these guys if you're not going to have a quarterback that can stretch the field beyond what Cam Newton provides you. Like, to me, the offseason felt like it was setting itself up for another quarterback unless this Uh there's something that I was missing maybe about what Cam Newton could do on film last year. All right, well, the quarterbacks are thin here. I don't know. I mean, you're probably not going with a like a Davis Mills type that would be the next Yeah, so if we're if we're stepping away from quarterback and uh and again in our exercise, the top fiveer off the board at this point, Uh, do you do you chase U? We have killed Farley on the board. Do you chase him? As as a Stephan Gilmore are apparent. Micah Parsons very much fits the Patriots style mold as far as what he does at linebacker. And uh, look they never really go edge rusher. Uh. They tend to try and pick those guys out on on Day two. It hasn't worked terribly well the last couple of years. But uh, that's uh, that's kind of their m O. But uh did to me. To me, this is like a Farley versus Parsons call, I'd go Parsons here, Uh, just as a guy who really fits what they what they do in Foxborough. Yeah, I think Parsons is a good fit. I was going to say that cornerback is a little bit of a wild card just because how central it is to Belichick's defense and the fact that this might be the last year with Gilmore. But if you fits down to Parsons versus Farley, I think you're right in Parsons being the pick there. And he's a very explosive player that can you know they've been they need a difference maker, they need difference makers everywhere right as you know they're trying to rebound from last season, and Parsons is that player who just kind of makes an impact all over the field. I think that's a rent Is consensus pick there. Then Michael Parsons, I mean, you know the Patriots that secondary Connor. And that brings us to the final pick of this show, which are the Cardinals at sixteen. I mean, look, they need a cornerback. We just taught Caitlin Farley a little bit. If if they don't go cornerback, they could probably use some reinforcements on the offensive line. There's also probably one of the teams, Uh we should we should whisper this in podcast land. But but they do need a running back. So you know, do they do they like one of these running I did like a Naji Harris or Travis a t n or one of those guys. But quarterback and offensive line probably feel like the most glaring needs at this point. You know what I think their most glaring need is. It's wide receiver. And let me tell you why uh not? Not a single Like all the other units are so bad or average that drafting one player at any of these positions is not going to turn them into a special team or fix any of their problems. But drafting one of these guys out of the generational receiver class and making him your number four guy and increasing the amount of time that you're able to go for wide. They do it thirty five percent of the time, which is way more than anybody else in the league already. But why not do it all the daying time and make yourself impossible to stop and just outscore everybody else in the division. And then you know, and then turn your game over to the pass rushers that you got in the off season. You still have Chandler Jones, you have J. J. Watt. To me like that would be the situation where I would pound the table for another one of these wide receivers. Make it so you're just averaging thirty five points a game, and uh, and try to push the table that way, because you take one average offensive lineman in the middle of this round and it's not gonna make your offensive line that much better. You take one cornerback to try to replace Patrick Peterson and it's gonna take him a lot of time. You know, when's the last time, really, maybe outside of Lattimore, that we've seen Denzel Ward where a guy comes in the first year and plays to a level where, um, he earns that first round that theoretical first round pick status. But receivers, I mean, you know, I don't know. I love that you make yourself so ridiculously strong that Christian Kirker Andy Isabelle is your number four wide receiver and they're all on the field at the same time. Connor, that's a pretty compelling argument. I'm still sticking with corner for the Coloninals, but I really like how you lay that out. It's just such an acute need at that position. With Patrick Peterson gone and there are where they're sitting in the draft, they should be able to get, say the second best corner on the board potentially, and that's how it's checking out in our mock at least, and so I think that would be a really good outcome for them. It is a great point though, by Connor and they they I mean, look, that offense is basically a bunch of dudes running io routes. They don't really create a whole lot of opportunities for for receivers to sort of get schemed open. So you need great receivers who can win one on one. Uh. That said, I also would rather take a cornerback here. I think they should go receiver round two. I think they should do a day too, but I think here they go cornerback. You guys are just ruining time time for me. But that's okay, um, I see I see the floor. Caleb Farley, Jenny sounds good. Caleb Farley, and that that does it for for part two of our of our mock Draft series here and I'll do a a very fast recap of the sixteen picks so far, and then you can you can tune in next week and and get the penultimate episode of the series. UH number one Jaguars take Trevor Lawrence at to the Jets take Zach Wilson three forty nine stake Trey Lance for the Falcons take Penny Sewell, the Oregon offensive tackle. At five, the Bengals take Rushawan Slater. I don't know why, pronouncer Rashane Let me do that one more time, Shelby. At five, the Bengals take Rashaan Slater, Northwestern offensive tackle. Six, the Dolphins take Jamaar Chase. Lions take Damante Smith at seven. Panthers settle on Justin Fields with the eighth pick after a long drawn out debate there. UH at number nine, the Broncos take Mac Jones. Cowboys at tend take Patrick Sir Tan the second UH. Eleven, Giants take Kyle Pitts. Twelve, Eagles take Jalen Wattle, thirteen, Chargers take Christian derris Saw fourteen The Vikings take Jalen Phillips, fifteen, the Patriots take Micah Parsons, and at sixteen the Cardinals stake Caleb Farley, the cornerback from Virginia Tech. Uh, Jenny Connor, we'll do this again next week and then one more week after that, and then we'll have a mock draft. Sounds great, Gary, This has been really fun. Then after this week in mock draft, the best mock draft picks that didn't make it into this mock draft, it'll be great. A plan, I think that's absolutely a plan. Just content creating contents. You guys have your your mock drafts. Connors is going to be out this week on Tuesday. Jenny's I think is a week from Tuesday, and uh, it's just gonna be mock draft chaos. So many mock drafts. You'll you'll just hate mock drafts by the time it's all said and done. But if you did, we could stop doing them. So really actually hate you know what I mean. I got really close to the microphone there, which I wasn't supposed to do. But you know, if you if you really do stop liking them, then then we do them as much. You know. But but if you like them, then we're going to do good advice. It's up to you guys out there that is wise words to wrap up Part two of the mock Draft series. The mm QB Monday Morning NFL podcast is Jenny Brentis connor Or and me Gary Grendling. We are produced by Shelby Royson, Sis. Executive produiser podcast is Scott Brody, Mark Ravick as Emeritus editor at the MmpB. Andy Bennoik is the founder of the mmqv NFL podcast. Be sure to subscribe to this feed as well as it feeds for the weak Side podcast in the Albert bar Show. They're all for free on Apple Podcasts, and once you do subscribe, please leave a rating and review for all of them. It really does help other people find the shows, which are also available on Spotify Radio dot com, Stitcher, si dot com, and wherever else you listen to podcasts. M often

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