Ranking the 2026 NFL Draft: Edge Rushers and Cornerbacks

00:00:00
Speaker 1: It's a tough sports, not for everybody. You gotta be a little sick to love this game, and we got some sickos. Welcome to NFL Daily, where we'll decide today whether this defensive end class is top heavy. I'm Greg Rosenthal. I'm joined by Ali Connolly across in Manchester, England, and Dan Morgan. The Panthers. GM was speaking on Tuesday. We're doing the GM Press conference tour right now, and he said this edge class is a little top heavy for his liking. I don't know if that's what he's into or not. Do you agree, Ali.

00:00:32
Speaker 2: I think that there's real depth and talent in this class. It depends on what you're looking for.

00:00:38
Speaker 1: That's why I was a little surprised. I was like, first of all, we will get into it is the top like elite, elite and even the close guys to the top. Is it that top heavy? But I heard that take and I thought, well, that was interesting. He might have been talking about the whole defensive line class in general, but I didn't really get that feeling from the trusted Daniel Jeremiah. He thought this is a nice deep class. So I was curious what you thought too.

00:01:02
Speaker 2: Yeah, I agree with DJ. I think it would not shock me. You take the top twelve guys, you throw them up in the air and it comes down in anioda in three years.

00:01:09
Speaker 1: It is a really interesting position. And yes, we're going to talk about edges. We're going to talk about cornerbacks, and we hit most of the other defensive positions, I think all the other defensive positions on a show Ali and I did a couple weeks back, so check that out. But we'll hit the edges in the cornerbacks just before we get going at the top. It is interesting to think about with edges, just as a position, how many of the good players in the league we're drafted pretty late for such a premium position, where it's like you can't find a tackle late, you can't find a quarterback late. The other highest paid position has Nick Benito getting taken pretty late, Daniel Hunter, Max Crosby, of course, Trey Hendrickson, Jared Vers, who was a defensive rookie of the year, got taken pretty late. Alex Highsmith was here a Round three pick at the very least. Toulli Paloto's you know, just got a huge contract. He was a relatively late pick. Herbig on the Steeler, like just a lot of guys. It's an interesting position that it seems hard for evaluators to know who's going to become truly ely.

00:02:14
Speaker 3: That is true.

00:02:15
Speaker 2: I think if you go back through the Bob McGinn pieces that you know, really take on heat during this part of the cycle where all the scouts come out and they kind of start reducing the conversation for people. You go back through those and there's a shocking hit rate of guys ranked by the scouts from thirteen to sixteen. That's like all the old pros in the league that aren't Miles Garrett or well Anderson. And then there's this real amount of slop in the middle, usually from about four to ten, and a lot of that I think centers on being able to see a lot of the technical refinement of the position. It is difficult when you go through the college film, it's not fall in love with the guys who are doing a lot of the technical stuff that they're going to be asked to do on Sundays, and really just the best pass rushes if you're looking for edge defenders, are guys with elite physical traits. That's just the reality of the position, and then from that, as you chase those traits, you're going to have a highest swing of mystery.

00:03:04
Speaker 1: Yeah and yeah, it's interesting to think about. I immediately thought when you brought that up in terms of just a pure pass pressure, there's someone I'm really looking forward to hearing from you. But let's actually start at the top of the edges. And initially like the conversation, Okay, is it Ruben Bain, Is it David Bailey, But we happen to have on Ollie Connolly, who writes the read optional. Everyone should subscribe. If you do subscribe, you would have been the first ones to see his report on Ruben Bain, and we talked about it briefly on the last show. But Oli reported, you know, Bain was behind the wheel for an accident two years back now that resulted in the death of Destiny Betts, who was a college aged woman, and the police crash report at the time stated that Bain quote operated his vehicle in a careless or negligent manner. No finding of criminal liability. Eventually, this happens later before she passes away. She was in a coma and they find no finding of criminal liability. There was a second incident reported a year later that Ali did not report on, but it was interesting. I'm looking at ESPN, it's actually still there. We're taping this on Tuesday, and like Ali Connelly's report, crediting you is like the second third highest thing in the stack. And I guess I'll start with this because I do think we want to handle the bane off the field stuff. Then we'll get into the on field stuff. Just like what led you to be reporting this now? When it's this weird story that everyone immediately after was like the insiders say, oh yeah, the teams knew about it. Yeah, we knew about it, and but just no one had reported it. What led you to report it?

00:04:44
Speaker 3: Yeah?

00:04:45
Speaker 2: I can't speak to why other people chose not to report it. I understand there is a wave of fandom that is either play a focused off from Miami that thinks I was kind of out to get Ruby Baine in some way to drop some salacious story before the draft. That was not in any way the intent of the report, And honestly it was quite the reverse that I really cannot abide in this part of draft season, when people start talking about off the field things, they just drop that into conversation and you have no reckoning of what level of off the field consider is. It's just like people think there are quirky characters, there are legal thing that's not being reported. There was no reporting about this at the time locally in Miami and hasn't come up previously. And I was aware that people who cover the draft, people who cover teams, everyone in the league was aware of this story, but it was not out there. So I just wanted to go and find at the source point what actually happened and what is this conversation that is going on that's being whispered and then being intimated on different shows about anyone having the relevant facts.

00:05:42
Speaker 1: Yeah, and that makes sense. You're just doing the work. There's two parts I want to get into. One is like everyone pushed back immediately, this shouldn't affect his draft stock, Like we'll see the thing I would imagine teams would be concerned about, and you do allude to this, and if you want to expound at all and the reporting, go for it, but that they'd be concerned potentially whether Bain was transparent talking about these incidents, you know, when they've been speaking to them.

00:06:15
Speaker 2: Yeah, from what my reporting was talking to teams, was trying to determine was this a pattern of behavior. As you mentioned, there was a second incident in twenty twenty five after the initial crash that he had in twenty twenty four. Both of those he was cited for careless driving that was subsequently dropped. So I think teams are trying to find out how honest, how truthful, how forthcoming he would be with the second incident as much as the first one, to see if there was a pattern of behavior, which I think is completely understandable one from just risk assessment factor for those teams. And then we've had recent examples of James Person, Henry Ruggs, and I think it's something that's at the top of mind for some of these guys. And when you're going through kind of the red flag stuff, it would be derelict, I think, not to sit down and talk with someone, and I do think trying to get to the transparency the honesty. Was this just a terrible, awful tragedy, which is what it appears to be, or is there a patentive behavior that we need to establish before we invest millions of dollars in a player?

00:07:10
Speaker 1: And to be clear, there there was no field to vriety test administered reportedly at either incident. There were there were two crashes late night and that and that's a good thing to remember about what's happened with some of these prospects previously in their accident. And obviously it's a tragedy. The part of it that just doesn't feel right to me is just the weird media side. And I don't want to spend too much time on it. But you told me something after the after and we can take this out if you want. About about that, Uh, you heard directly that a network or something was going to report on it like the second he got drafted. That that that the tell me about that.

00:07:52
Speaker 2: Yeah, I can leave the audience to decide for themselves why they think that would be the case. But I had it confirmed by first all loaded to by a team, and that was in the report that there was concern that this thing might spiral on draft night, that they were aware that there was a report set to be released the night of the draft. They assumed it was going to be early in the draft and tried to force and embarrass a Laramie tunsel type situation. That was the team's perspective. When I then followed that lead, it was revealed to me and I've confirmed it subsequently that the plan was to have that dropped as Reuben Bain was selected. So once he was selected, that report would then be released, which I thought would then lead to a real scramble of people not having access to facts, not having access to information, and it would be the the classic runaway Internet train of innuendo and concern and confusion about what's going on, and the potential that maybe there is other stuff to come out in that report too. So my editorial judgment was that it would be better to get all the facts out that I had access to before the draft comfortably before the draft, rather than that happened on draft night.

00:08:58
Speaker 1: Well, plus like fact good, like the truth is good. That that is the point of doing reporting, and it's not your first role, although you know you do right for the Guardian. You've had that role before and you do some reporting at the read optional. It's mostly just getting into the x's and o's. But that that's the disconnect I have with like, how how can people be mad when when things are just being reported? All right? So that that's out there, that that's Ruben Bain, and he's a fascinating prospect because he was in the center of this football season right until the very end. There's so much talk about his arm length. Of course, he's a very unique, strong, like exciting player. He's right there at the top of this draft in terms of potentially being the top edge prospect. I think the expectation is he will go behind the Ohio State linebackers and behind David Bailey. But I guess I want to start with with Bain as a prospect because when you just look at the production NGS extend Stats did like a production score of the last five or six years at the position, and it was fascinating to see both David Bailey, who's going to get taken early in this draft Texas Tech, and Ruben Bain at the very top. And the other players on the list are Will Anderson I think was number one, Bailey was two, Abdel Carter was three, then it was Bain, and then it was Aiden Hutchinson, and so these guys were incredibly productive players when you kind of look at the two of them when you're sorting out what you would want as a pro like, I guess, talk to me about how you sorted Baine and Bailey specifically.

00:10:38
Speaker 2: Yeah, I have a few guys clumped together as quality starters. I have Bain as my number one guy. I think it's just picking the flavor and style of rushi. I look at Ruben Bain and I think he reminds me a lot of Brandon Graham. It's kind of a short, stocky square type build, all kinds of power, a good get off, but not an elite get off, and doesn't have that bend that you usually see the top from the really tier one of the edge rushes. To me, he forms more of what will be your past frush plan and someone like a Jared Verse where there's real knock back power and they can win a lot of one on ones that way, but that better as part of a collective, and his skill set can be maximized in that way rather than it's being one of the tier one get off and go win every single one on one match up the way the truly great ones do in the league.

00:11:23
Speaker 1: And maybe Bailey, who will get to in a minute, has a better chance of being that higher ceiling guy. But if I'm picking up whether you're putting down on Bain and this is sort of my experience with it. It with him watching it does feel like the floor And I hate that phrase is pretty high for him. It's hard to imagine him not being like a solid NFL starter at worse, Like, what what did you like most just watching him snap after snap?

00:11:53
Speaker 3: Yeah?

00:11:54
Speaker 2: This the tenacity, the force, the physicality. I think in the wrong game, he's just incredible. He just Stroy's blocks like no one else in college football and the past rush game. It really is these stunts, these twists. Who is willing to turn themselves over to the scheme, just throw themselves through someone's face to have someone else's feast and have something pop. And if you get yourself into the mindset of we're not gonna go and find Miles Garrett or Micah Parsons in this draft, but who is gonna kind of who is going to make a true passwordst plan sing the most? I just think Bain has You can call it floor if you would like. I think he's just a relentless player with real knock back physicality, and those players are not easy to find where that power translates up to the next level. Jarrett verse is a little bit of an outlier in terms of just pure power rushes, translating up and carrying that power up against someone like Trent Williams, up against the great tackles. I think Bain has a chance.

00:12:45
Speaker 3: To do that.

00:12:45
Speaker 1: I mean I immediately just thinking it matches up with the draft. He's such a New Orleans Saints. Yeah, so explain that. Explain that to the listeners, like how he is the same, because they do. They love I do too. I think if I hate this, this is where I'd be most Like Mickey Loomis, I love me like a strong, just overpowering defensive end. Maybe doesn't have all the moves in the world, but you kind of know what you're getting just pushing that pocket back.

00:13:11
Speaker 2: Yeah, they love those heavy ends some inside outside flexibility. I think Bain is so incredibly intelligent as a pass us for two and as usually the players who are kind of out in mash someone through the face, that kind of is the only tool they have in that bag. I think he's just understanding of what's happening in the run game, is understanding of how to tie things together, when is the right time to attack, when is not the right time to attack. He just operates on a different level than most guys you see in college. I think you see it when you watch all the biggest moments keitha down playoff runs. The guy who was kind of just taking over the game and collapsing things over and over again is Rubin Bain. Sometimes the other guys make the play. Sometimes he's just folding a garden and someone else can kind of clean up from the debris. But the guy who's really impacting the pocket on a consistent basis of Ruby Main.

00:13:54
Speaker 1: And that's why the arm length conversation, which I feel like has died off a little bit, which I think is healthy, makes sense to me. It'd be one thing if you're trying to compare him to in the lead elite prospect, even even if Aidon Hutchinson was in this draft or something. But they're not in this draft because you didn't necessarily see the arm length impede him in any way. At the college level. It felt like, or maybe you disagree, it felt like he had already figured out how to work through that issue, Like are you worried about that issue?

00:14:24
Speaker 2: I'm not worried about that issue in terms of being impactful. I think that that is really a conversation if you know, the paw logs will be does he win first contact. He's just making initial contact first. That is more difficult to do just to have shorter arms. That's just the reality. But thinque when everyone has enormous arms on the line.

00:14:40
Speaker 3: In the league.

00:14:42
Speaker 2: That really only showed up him though when it was finishing the play. So it's when he's getting near the quarterback he will reach out to try and to tag the ball. He does can't quite get that. I mean it happens over and over and over again. He does can't quite finish pluce he has the advantage, and that's frustrating. But if he could finish those plays is where he would be in that Tier one conversation. If you can follow my logic. He's just really disruptive, and I think disruption is slightly undervalued for just the payoff of sack production.

00:15:09
Speaker 1: So you're saying you can see plays where he's just literally like if he just had a couple extra inches that you think.

00:15:17
Speaker 2: There are tens, tens twenties of them, particularly when it comes to knocking down passes, which is something that the league is now absolutely obsessed with that they consider that that it's just like a zero on the play sheet. It's similar to a sack that happened at the two yards into the backfield. They care about it so deeply. There are so many ways. Truly, if he had like an inch on his fingers, he would be even more disruptive. I would just always bet on the disruptive guy. There's other players on the field that can mop it up if you just collapse the pocket and turn it into chaos in the backfield. And I just think he generates way more chaos than anyone else in this class.

00:15:51
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I just think in this class he obviously plays a premium position that the style of play ultimately would have him getting drafted in the top ten, twelve, maybe at the max, because it's just not like a deep class of top end talents. I guess now that you've sat with her a couple of days in reactions, I'm sure you've heard from a lot of people since you did your reporting. You know, the loss of life and the danger that he put everyone in it sounds like multiple times is obviously like the biggest part of this story. But when it comes to how teams are gonna look at him, do you have an opinion of if you think like it's gonna make a difference in terms of where he gets selected.

00:16:35
Speaker 2: Yeah, I've spoken to multiple teams who are uncomfortable with the answers, which I think you've discussed before. They had had access to this information for years, so it was sitting down with the person to find out are they comfortable with the responses to the questions, and they were not. I think it's more of a risk management thing where they're looking on their sheet with their flag saying historical ants, historical outlier in terms of the Onmelinth you mentioned, and we don't love the answers to some of these questions, so it's just not worth the risk to us, and we'd just be more comfortable taking someone else we would consider Safa. I don't think it's going to then dramatically change the range he would go. And I think he was always going to go probably from the seventh pick to the twelfth pick, and I was still put twelve as the floor.

00:17:16
Speaker 1: Well twelve is the Dallas Cowboys. As you were talking, I immediately just thought like, well, he's not gonna get past the Cowboys, so what are we talking about that. I think I could be wrong, but I would think Jerry Jones would take him. Let's stalk David Bailey then, because it's interesting, you don't have him in that elite tier. You do have him behind Bain. I don't know, like who else is in that tier. You can tell me, but you know he is the guy that you turn on the tape and is most obviously special in terms of his best trait, which is just the get off the line of scrimmage, which is really special. So knowing, unless you disagree with that, why why when that's the case, is he not that in that elite tier?

00:18:04
Speaker 2: No?

00:18:04
Speaker 3: I agree with that.

00:18:05
Speaker 2: He has probably the best get off of any player in the last decade. He truly rips off the out of the stance like few people you will ever see play the position. He is essentially a cop and copy. If he hits at the apex of what he could be, it's just Nick Benito again, and that would be kind of the high end outcome. Is we get Nick Benito, which is light against the run. You live with some of the downside stuff. It's only really one or two moves to get to the quote about but when it hits, the play is just instantly over.

00:18:35
Speaker 1: It's so fast I mean, yeah.

00:18:38
Speaker 3: That's the slide tackle one that's showing. I enjoyed that one. That's when he slide tackles the quote the but yeah.

00:18:43
Speaker 1: And you know sometimes when they try to chip them and it just it just all happens so fast. It's just the play just cannot happen. Now, I think you could lightly criticize that he absolutely destroys bad competition, at least from what I saw. Against the better competition, I think he was still effective, and maybe that informs kind of where you're putting him. I don't think he was ineffective, but maybe not as dominant. Then again, you can you can kind of say that for maybe everyone except for the tippy top elite guys.

00:19:16
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think it's fair criticism. I would also say that he turned guys who are going to get drafted late on day two and early on day three. He made them look like they shouldn't even be on the field. So Okay. On the times where he struggles, it's really in the wrong game and he has all kinds of effort and motor, he just gets crushed off the ball over and over again. And the BYU game was really telling because they just designed their offensive game plan around David Bailey, who might be the second pick in the draft. And they said, we are put in big bodies on the field, and we are doubling to David Bailey every single time. It will get after him in the rung game. It will slow down the get off in the passing game. And with where the league is at right now, with all the heavy personnel, all the twelve personnel or the thirteen personnel, the extra lineman, you are really just living with hoping on the high end up side that he can just about survive in the rung game. Otherwise you're drafting second overall, a subpackage pass rusher.

00:20:08
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I guess I guess that that explains sort of why you put him where you put him. There is a downside, it's it's hard to imagine him getting out of the top six four even well, I don't know it could happen. Where would you like, like, where do you think he would fit best? If you're a David Bailey's agent, obviously want to make the most amount of money, but also just thinking about to fit the team and everything you do, you think there's the best outcome for him where he could fit.

00:20:37
Speaker 2: Well Honestly, I think he's completely scheme independent because it's just that skill set and do you value the skill set? How much do you value get off and burst? And I think he can convert some speed to power as well. There's a really nasty spin move that he has. But he's kind of a pretty simple, defined player that I think every team in league will be able to find a way to weaponize that. It would be really fun to have him in more of a moving morphing defensive front where you could mug up a whole bunch of players. You're not sure what to do with David Bailey. I do get a little bit concerned if he's just in one of these four down and go teams, if he went to the Titans, if he went to a team he just wants to say, it's four pass rushes and its waves of pass rushes. Does he have the nuance in his game to be able to beat up on good tackles over and over again the way the likes of Will Anderson Daniel Hunter to do. But if you've got him to one side of a tackle and someone mugged a binside and it's this kind of two on one conflict and if you're wrong, it's lights out. I mean, no one's getting off the ball as quick as the guy. So that is where I think you could really get to one of those can you get twelve thirteen special type sack production situations?

00:21:41
Speaker 1: And it sounds strange to say about, you know, an edge, but like the times when he was in space, you can imagine him taking down some mobile quarterbacks that most like edges just could not. I was I was impressed by that. I could just imagine like a very simple minded scout, which I guess I would be just being like, Wow, you don't see that too much, that he is athletic enough to like bring down some guys in space in a pretty special way.

00:22:13
Speaker 3: Yeah.

00:22:13
Speaker 2: I mean he is just a different caliber of athlete. He's not the smoothest and he doesn't have true dip and bend. I think is where people would look at him and be lower on him. He is a straight line ripper, and then once he's kind of out at the stance and the play breaks down, he again can just kind of turn, rotate and rip it once again. So I think the Nick Benito one is the high end up side, and he played in a system where early on. It's a lot of mugged up, attack based looks, and he's just won the guys with the crazy speed off the ball. Then he refined his game in his craft over time. There is some concern about how invested is he in that side of it. Does he really want to refine and work on the game or is this just who he'll be for six, seven, eight years and he winds up being this kind of pass rush mercenary who's on your one oh one list every single season at like forty eight or something like that. Yuh, but even that, to me is a pretty solid outcome. He has one of the most difficult to find commodities in all of the league.

00:23:06
Speaker 3: Right, would you just get off the ball? As a passworus show?

00:23:08
Speaker 1: Right? I mentioned on our Mailbag episode they asked for some of the favorite prospects we ever scouted. Robert Quinn was one of them, and like that that's a guy just was was fun to watch get off the ball. All right, let's let's get to like the next Maybe it's not the next tier of your guys, but I guess my question to you is, like like our a key medat Messidor and Cash is howel just like the weirdest prospects in the in the draft. They're they're both so unique to me and really fascinating to see where they go.

00:23:39
Speaker 3: What is it that you find unique about cash Is Hall?

00:23:42
Speaker 1: Well, he he just seems like a pass rush savant. I mean, he's got a lot of juice. You said teams want to pass like draft a pass rusher like if that's what gets you drafted high. I feel like, I don't know where he's going to get drafted, but he could be very high. But he's got the arm length problem. He might not be in every down player, but man, he's got a lot of talent. He's I think he's as talented a pass rush er just pure like the pure package as anyone else.

00:24:09
Speaker 2: A straight pass rush he's the best in the class. Okay, I truly believe that he is a pass rush genius in terms of tying the moves together, setting things up over the course of a game, how he's able to get guys off balance their attack once there's an opening. I think there's just nobody quite moves like him with the speed, bend and burst off the ball in this class. It really is just is he a specialist and that's what he does and how valuable is that to you? Versus can he live and survive on some of the early down stuff. At least with David Bailey, there is real effort and compete. It's just not a skill set for him. Cash is hell, it's a little bit more. I'm not as invested in having to throw my face into the fire to play against her. And I'll try and backdoor things, I'll try and undercut. There'll be some splash play TfL stuff, but you can just run him off the ball when he's lined up on the line of scrimmage.

00:24:58
Speaker 1: Maybe that explains why the consensus Sport has him been three. I guess that's why I put him in one of the more fascinating players, because you just said, do you think he's the best pass rusher in the draft, and he's not. He's not in the top thirty in the consensus Sports So that immediately to me is intriguing. What do you do with a player like that.

00:25:16
Speaker 3: It's it's tough.

00:25:18
Speaker 2: It's with where the league is trending right now. I do think people are going to be caught in between we kind of chasing the trend of where we're heading of heavier personnel, there's more run downs, everyone's running the ball more consistently. Where do we find a way to get this guy in the field, to hide him in the rung game so that we can uncoll this pass rush potential later in the down. He strikes me as those teams who just let four pass rushes fly off the ball over and over again, and they bring these guys in waves and rotations, that he's just the first one off the bench that everyone's fired up about. You kick someone else inside. He plays off the edge and he just beats up on people one on one on the perimeter.

00:25:55
Speaker 1: Yeah. Maybe maybe, Well we always think how Nick Herbig should play more for, but maybe some similar to that. I was going to say, do you have someone that's making his NFL career work but never really got over the run game deficiencies that you think Howell might have.

00:26:14
Speaker 3: I'm glad you mentioned her Big.

00:26:15
Speaker 2: Herbig was the guy who came to mind for me with him too, where it's like not just like good pass rushing, but like this truly like an operating system that is the streaks ahead of where you should be in college, being able to win inside outside, competitive enough to win through someone's face as all the different moves you'd have won. At times just seems like he's toying and having fun. He's like, I'm just gonna try this because I can do stuff no one else can even consider. A bit of Danil Hunter in that sense of the inventiveness of how he wins. But there is such a downside in the run game. Herbig I think is more in that Bailey mold of this competitiveness he competes. He just didn't fit what Tomlin wanted. Howels is a bit more. I'm not about that life.

00:26:55
Speaker 1: I get I get that, and I think it's a good question to ask how do teams value that? But Adafeowa just got one hundred million dollars Like I do feel like in this draft, if like a pass rush genius with some big deficiencies is more interesting as a top fifteen to twenty player than a lot of the other players that are getting taken, then it is.

00:27:18
Speaker 2: I think the question is where the genius translates when a lot of the linemen and genius is too in the league. You gotta go against Lane Johnson, You've got how much can your genius take over? If you lack some of the physical tools to enact some of the way that your brain is thinking. He really does have shorter arms and his show up on film a lot more than Ruben Baines does because he's doing a lot of the hand and fighting, a lot of the creativity. It's not just full throttle, you know, launching yourself into the frame of the lineman. So when you're playing that style and you'll play more the intelligent way, you also have to have the ability to go and win the initial phase of the rep. And as that goes up to the next level and you're seeing Laramie Tunzel, then Trent Williams, then Lane Johnson, that gets off set a little bit where I think those concerns could show up.

00:28:01
Speaker 1: Okay, a key messador. So he is twenty first on the consensus bort although I don't know about the consensus this year. I feel like after the top fifteen or so, I just wouldn't be surprised by a lot that's going to go on. And Messidor was in that bucket to me with Howell just as a weird prospect because he's because he's older, because he was playing defensive tackle, weighed a ton more before he was as an edge for Miami. He has a lot of moves. I've fallen for these guys in the past as Iraku Leatu Latu, you know who. I think are both going to be good pros, don't. I don't think they're misses in either way, and I think they're getting better where He's just got a lot going on.

00:28:48
Speaker 2: He's kind of a funky player. To me, he is a funky play. He's also got a number of injuries, all of them around his feet. So you've got the health concerns plus the age concerns is where you start the worry about. What would you invest in his fifteen two highs? It more in the twenties type range.

00:29:05
Speaker 1: That's fair? Did you in the end put Messador and Howe like in that same group with Bailey?

00:29:13
Speaker 2: Like?

00:29:13
Speaker 1: Where did you land on Messador? Especially?

00:29:16
Speaker 2: I have Howl a tier below just because I do worry that he's a subpackaged type specialist. Messador I have in that same tier as a good starter with Bailey and Bain. I think that he is as good as it gets and kind of stacking and shedding the point of attack. The pass rush moves are absolutely off the scale. I mean, he has every single thing in the back you could have a one. It's not quite as inventive as cash as how we.

00:29:38
Speaker 3: Were describing before.

00:29:39
Speaker 2: It's a little bit more slotted in and mundaneing what he's doing, but it's every single tool you could ever one. He's definitely got better dip and burst than the majority of the guys in the class. He really can crank it around the corner. And so you've got first step quick, you've got speedbend, burst type pass rusher. I think the question for teams is going to be, well, was he an over developed player for the age and the volume of plays he'd played before compared to the competition he was facing. Does this stuff really translate to the next level?

00:30:07
Speaker 1: Also, was he getting I know he's an edge, but so maybe it doesn't make as much sense, but man, they just seemed well coached. We're gonna talk about Cante Scott and in a minute, who's also an older prospect that at slot. And it's just do you almost take off a little juice from the whole Miami team because they seemed like they were just like a well coached group.

00:30:28
Speaker 2: It is interesting because I would say with Bain and Mesador. They both have very good first step springs. I wouldn't say it's truly elite, but their snap timing is as dialed in as you'll ever find a group. And then their understanding of what they're going to face, how teams are going to set up, what the best move is at a certain moment.

00:30:47
Speaker 3: It's rare.

00:30:48
Speaker 2: I can't think of a combination like that. Maybe Shane Ray and Michael sam a few years back, where this dialed in as a tandem on how to attack people. But Jason Taylor, I mean, I know he probably never wants to leave Miami, but if I was a a head coach in the league right now, I would just pick up the phone and drop whatever bag was necessary to Jason Taylor. He can tell me whether to draft the guys or not. They were so well coached it's not even funny taking away the speed on the back end, that overall talent the team, just how it was kind of pieced together as a puzzle as a collective, and that individual stuff too. It was a remarkable coaching job.

00:31:22
Speaker 1: So he is their defensive line coach at Miami right just for perspective for everyone, the Hall of fame player with the Dolphins. I mean, it always doesn't translate like that, but man, he was such an intelligent player and he has turned apparently into a really intelligent coach. That's a really nice wrinkle. All Right, the rest of the edge class, who do you like versus consensus? I'm just going to list some of the players that are kind of in this late first second round tier. Keldric Falk from Auburn, who might be more of an interior player, but we'll put him in this bucket. We didn't put him with the defensive tackles. His consensus sport is around twenty aeth TJ. Parker from Clemson. I've seen him mock to the Patriots a little bit. He's twenty eighth on the contensuspoort. Malachi Lawrence from UCF forty three on the contensus board. Not a ton of snaps there, but I feel like getting a little buzz our. Mason Thomas is another guy out of this class. Like, are there guys that you liked versus consensus?

00:32:23
Speaker 2: Yeah, Malachi Lawrence, I really like I understand what you're saying about the limited number of snaps, but within those snaps, I think I haven't graded out similar to Bailey and.

00:32:32
Speaker 3: Bain that he's got.

00:32:34
Speaker 2: He's got the plus length, he's got crazy juice off the ball for the size that he plays at. He can really slink and fire around the og, so he's got more dip than Bailey. The get off is not quite at Bailey's level, but it's pretty don elite for the league levels. He's got a lot of technical failings and he can be slow to get off sometimes because the technical side, but the actual burst when it's timed up well is extraordinary. He's got better feel in terms of the handtang common than David Bailey does. He's just kind of a one move, two move type player. Lawrence has gone way more in the bag and he was asked to play around the formation and play some inside, so it wasn't given the freedom just kind of fly off the ball the way the Texas Tech plays were. So this was some kind of schematic confines into him being able to just say his three hundred reps in the season just fly off from a wider alignment and go beat on people one on one. I think in three four years, I really do think he's gonna be the guy.

00:33:27
Speaker 3: He was the most impactful from the group.

00:33:29
Speaker 1: Ooh, so that that's that's bold And look the lack of snaps at edge didn't really hurt Jalen Walker. I know it's a different profile from from UCF. For Malachi Lawrence, he's six four two fifty three, so yes, similar size to Bailey. He I mean, Bailey looks big too, but both of them, but especially Lawrence, like he just looks bigger than his size. He looks like a guy who will hold up fine at the NFL level and is more than athletic enough despite you know, playing at a lower level at college.

00:33:59
Speaker 3: Yeah, I say that Bailey is blurrier.

00:34:02
Speaker 2: It's just all happens so quick you can't even keep up with how fast he's moving. Lawrence, I think, plays a little bit more in control. It reminds me a lot of Matthew Judom, where it's both as explosiveness as Ben. But really the secret source is what he can do being able to navigate a move through space, throw guys off kilter, then snap back inside. He is by far the best chased down guy in the scrambled drill in this class and the volume of Saxon League now that are it's a second phase, someone's bouncing around, you got to go make a play. He has the best pass us radar to me of anyone in this group. So if he had played for that Texas Tech team, I think the production would have been pretty similar.

00:34:39
Speaker 1: That's a fascinating one. You talked to a lot of people in the league. Do you think others share this opinion and that he'll go a little higher.

00:34:47
Speaker 2: I think what teams are trying to figure out is they want him so desperately. I think fifteen is where it starts, and they're trying to piece together. Can they move back and get picks while still getting the guy they want? Are they going to be forced to decide they're going to take a guy earlier than maybe they would have wanted to. But really they would struggle to sleep that night if they didn't come away from the first round with Malachi Lawrence.

00:35:09
Speaker 1: Wow, And so you're saying that specifically about Lawrence? If I'm if I'm listening to this, because I'm not, I'm not into this. But you know they you know they do those they do the over unders and where guys are getting taken like you know, you heard it, you heard it here before before before Schrager is saying this like the day before the draft, you heard it on NFL Daily. First, Uh, Keldric Falk is an interesting guy. I know enough to know that he might answer the question like a guy you are lower than consensus. Then of the rest of these prospects, like why are you Are you not a fan because he he was a guy that came into the year with with like a lot of high big big player, not necessarily a pass rusher. I guess he would in a perfect world, he'd be kind of I don't know what would he be, like a three four end in a perfect world.

00:35:57
Speaker 2: Yeah, three four end or playing outside heavy and on early down to those four down teams, then you put him inside to kind of beat up on guards on the passing downs. He just really slow off the ball. In fact, everything he does is pretty slow. Now, there are flashes you'll show some in the clips here when it's really all timed together and you see the real special talent. And he's incredibly young. And so if you're looking through the draft board in that middle band range, it's a lot of the specialists we talked about. It's cash As Howell, it's our Mason Thomas this is just pure pass for a sizzle. Folk does have the potential I think, over time to be more of that every down player just being able to find a spot anywhere in the front where he can maybe go and cook someone. So if you're betting on long term upside, I can see why teams would bind to the fact they can kind of refine some of the skill set. I just think everything he does is too slow. I think too slow off the ball, too slow to decide what to happen when he's about to engage with someone. And for a high weight speed guy, you would just love every once in a while to take over a game with sheer ferocity, run through someone's face. You're playing Missouri, it's a bad tack. I'm just going to go dominate this quota till they've got to send extra help and it just doesn't happen.

00:37:05
Speaker 1: Yeah, that to me is such a test. When you're watching the All twenty two during the season of these teams and some team is on their third tackle. I do when I'm watching those games, I do like to watch who's facing them because sometimes it's like a mid tier starter. It's their job to win that matchup, you know, consistently and they usually do, and it's like, Okay, that kind of helps to make me feel like you are worthy of being the mid tier starter because you have to take advantage when you have those mismatches. And maybe you're saying Fulk isn't necessarily going to do that. Yeah, And in his defense, he played in specific techniques which didn't really allow him to play at the speed and tempo you would want him to do. And there are all glimpses of him doing that kind of stuff, just purely on the edge and winning with some speed and aggression into content. It's just really flashes compared to the way he was considered one coming into the end and then two at the start of the draft cycle. I mean, this is a guy who was marked going in the top five, top ten, and I think it's slowly come down.

00:38:08
Speaker 2: I think Schrager in the recent mock draft, hebut that was like he's not in the first round conversation. Treig is pretty damn good at targeting who's going in the first and who's not, whether the teams are correct or not. And I think that Lakeness off the ball a guy who wants to play as a technician when they have the profile of just taking over as a physical type player, I think gives teams a lot of pause.

00:38:29
Speaker 1: I always feel bad for the guys that kind of the draftneck community all kind of got wrong in the end because I don't know if the NFL was ever that high on him or not, And then you're on draft Day and he's viewed as some huge follower, whereas like if he had just spin in the low forties the whole time, you know, we wouldn't have to spend all their time doing that. Give me a later round, beloved, I'll call it before we move on to the cornerbacks. If you have an edge that you like and just want to say, I know, you've probably could go on a bunch of guys, and you could go on a third round pick just for anyone that you want to talk about that we haven't hit so far.

00:39:04
Speaker 3: There are so many in this class.

00:39:06
Speaker 1: I just rip him off quick. Then before you get to your favorite Jay.

00:39:10
Speaker 2: Sean Barham I adore more of a joker type move piece player around all the formation, play, some linebacker play, some EDGI.

00:39:16
Speaker 3: I adore Sean Barham.

00:39:18
Speaker 2: The other guy would highlight is Kieron Crawford, who was Keldrick folks teammate Auburn, who was the guy making all the plays and is the guy that they built. It's a really exotic, aggressive type defense, and everything that they built was around Keiroon Crawford, who's only played for I believe five years of football. They did not build their kind of creative stuff around Keldrick Folk, who at that time was projected to be the second or third overall pick in the draft. And he has real juice off the ball. Another guy where there are questions about what can you do in the wrong game. Can you kind of stand and clang and bang down the trenches. But as a move piece kind of a mugged up threat playing all over the formation, I think he can be really impactful. He is excellent in coverage. Most of these guys who are more of the move pieces are really just kind of attack based plays. It's all forward movement. It's hey, they can play over god, they can play outside the tackle and really get after it in the pass rush game. Very few of them showing real coverage chops and Kiroon Crawford has so if you told me he was playing for Brian Flores next season. I would I would have a sneaky feeling for like, the highest volume of rookie splash plays from the Edge group would come from Keion Crowd.

00:40:25
Speaker 1: I love that he's projected to be about a third round pick. We'll see. Yeah, maybe maybe he'll be out there like him and Van Ginkle just ripping off screen passes for touchdowns and coverage. That would be fun to watch. All right, let's go to the cornerbacks. It's a class where some consensus has formed around Mansord Delane and Jermad McCoy as the top two guys. Everyone should check out our forties in Free Agents episode from this week as me Mina Kimes and Daniel Jeremiah, and she had McCoy as one of her Mina did as one of her favorite players in the draft Awesome twenty twenty four tape missed twenty twenty five with a torn acl Let's say you're the gm ally in this I think where it's all leading to. That's why we're you know, you're on short term contracts here with NFL Daily because we might just we might just lose you. You're like Doc Rivers when he when he joined the Bill Simmons podcast an owner. You tried to scout it out, but ultimately you did a bad job, and it's not a good owner. He is putting his thumb on the scale in a way that you didn't think was gonna happen. And he barges into the the draft room a couple picks ahead of where you're gonna go, and he's just sick of you guys getting killed in the secondary. He says, you have to take a cornerback. You have like the ninth or tenth pick. It's maybe even too early compared to where you want, but you have to take a cornerback. Who are you taking?

00:41:50
Speaker 3: It depends on the flavor that I like.

00:41:52
Speaker 1: Well, it's your team in this in this world, it's you know, they're kind of in theory running a scheme that you like. You there's some good synchronosity with the coaches.

00:42:01
Speaker 2: Mansor Delayne is more of my vibe of player. Okay, but I think Juamab McCoy is slightly more talented. And it would be really hard to sleep having passed on Jamal McCoy. And now that's your answer, because you got to make a decision. I would take Mansor Delaye. There's some kind of like help with the risk and the injury concerns, but it might wind up getting me fired in three years. Where Jamal McCoy is the most explosive playmaker on the back end in the NFL, And I've got a pretty like solid player.

00:42:30
Speaker 1: Valuable context and I'm glad you did answer, but you gave the context. Okay, then why do you see McCoy as that exciting? Like what is the potential for him? Assuming he comes back and he's looking healthy. He did do some workouts, you know, he missed the season at Tennessee but got healthy enough to run a forty and work out at the pro day.

00:42:53
Speaker 2: Yeah, he's incredibly explosive, really physical when he's up impressed man coverage. I think his best work though, comes off the ball, triggering and closing from depth. It's a zone heavy league now, and his best of it just scanning it off coverage, breaking underneath, and then he has really rare ball skills. It's just tough to find guys who can go and play the ball in the air the way that he does. And so if you're looking for one of those more playmakery types where they could be a little bit more volatile, McCoy is just a guy who makes plays that he has no business making.

00:43:23
Speaker 1: So Mina camped him a little bit too, unless I'm mixing it up to Stefan Gilmore, yep, but with maybe even I mean not like Stefan Gimmer didn't have good ball skills. I mean he helped win a Super Bowl with him. But do you have do you have someone that he kind of reminds you of a little bit.

00:43:41
Speaker 3: I think gilmour one's pretty good.

00:43:43
Speaker 2: I would say where it's a tough, physical pressman corner who will kind of batter guys up throughout the rep. I think McCoy is just more athletic in the air. He can really go up and get it and twist and control his eyes work at a ridiculous speed when he's in off coverage. I think Gilmore was more of a press only type player. There's a bit more versatility with McCoy's game. People I think prefer him as a truly bumped and run type guy, follow people all over the formation. I kind of prefer him playing off being instinctual going and driving down the ball from death. But he has that versatility, and it's usually you get one or the other it's usually you get Stephan Gilmore's like, what a great press cover corner. We have zone off coverage, reading and reacting to the game. He's not quite on that level. So that to me is really the special thing about Jamal McCoy And I would be pretty stunned if he was not the first one of these corners taken.

00:44:34
Speaker 1: Interesting. So and you're saying all that, and everyone is is just expecting Jets to go like edge receiver, maybe even training a receiver, but I don't know. I can just imagine the Jets taking taking a cornerback and training app for a cornerback, not a too they would.

00:44:51
Speaker 2: And I don't know, it would be very very Jets to pass on alvel Reese for corn who didn't I lost number two.

00:44:58
Speaker 1: But maybe he falls to sixteen potentially or they I really doubt he falls to sixty. Okay. Your type of player though, is Delaye. Why does he fit kind of the mold of the types of guys you like, he's.

00:45:13
Speaker 3: Just really smooth.

00:45:14
Speaker 2: He really reminds me of Kamari Laster, you know, I adore He's just quicker than Kamari Laster is. It's everything is really polished. He didn't give up a reception last season to the same receiver twice in a game. So once a guy caught a ball, and that was usually some kind of bubble screen predesign thing that was logged against mansor Delane, no one caught another ball in him more game, incredibly fluid, incredibly intelligent, excellent up impress and then off coverage. He's not quite I would say, the playmaker that McCoy is. He's more of a forced turndown shadow the number one receiver role over the formation. But what he did in Elshu's defense, it was a really pro style defense. He's playing inside outside, he's playing tight to the formation, he's playing in space a whole bunch. It just looked like Sunday football being played on Saturday, and so he might not have the high wattage plays that like McCoy would have, but I value I think turned downs a ball disruption. It's a way of elongating the play to allow the passers to come home. And he's a little bit more in the Satan vein. No one is as good as Patrick Setan, but it's that style of player as opposed to more of the explosive, big time play maker.

00:46:24
Speaker 1: Yeah, and just fluid. I love what you said. It just looked like Sunday football. He was someone that rewarded watching the All twenty two because it's not as flashy, but you can just see his footwork though, the way that he moves it looks like like how the guys are moving on Sunday. So do you think this is like a big two? Do you think there is a separation between the top two or do you think it's kind of a big four where Colton Hood from Tennessee, Avion Terrell maybe from Clemson would potentially be in that four or is there a difference.

00:46:54
Speaker 2: No, I think there's a pretty significant distinction between those two and the next two guys. And I would say we're both Lane and McCoy. So much of the league now has played fifteen yards and in it's a lot to the flat, it's a lot in the rung game, it's a lot in run support. Both of these guys get after it at a crazy level. I mean they compete like nuts and then both really talented shadow cover corners. Again, usually you got to do a trade off. Is either you've got the talented cover corner guy you're looking at Sauce Gardner or you have guys who just get after it and help you in the rung game and a passable in coverage. It's pretty rare to find guys who can do both this working man coverage in zone and help you in.

00:47:31
Speaker 3: The rung game. To get two in one classes, it's pretty unorthodoxy.

00:47:34
Speaker 1: You're making me more excited about this class and especially the cornerback class premier position and making me think that's that's another team that you can look at the Cowboys at twelve. Do they end up with one of these guys? Feels possible, so then it if they're If they're the top two, are Terrell and Hood your your next two or like, what does your next tier look like?

00:47:58
Speaker 3: I prefer Chris John's him from San Diego State.

00:48:02
Speaker 1: You and Mina another one of her favorites.

00:48:05
Speaker 3: Another really aggressive guy.

00:48:06
Speaker 2: I think meet and I both have the type of like the z a colonna who's willing to come in and get involved in the action.

00:48:11
Speaker 3: That's my kind of guy.

00:48:12
Speaker 1: Yeah, and we had a pretty lengthy conversation and he's I feel like he's been one of Jeremiah's guys as well as just a complete player from San Diego State and makes me think, I don't know, when all the smart people like you guys are all talking him up then like he's another guy if you're looking at that, like where he's getting projected in the desert and whatever that at least right now one week out, like you might do well if you find a Chris Johnson number out there.

00:48:40
Speaker 3: Where is he currently projected? You?

00:48:41
Speaker 1: I don't know. I mean I never look at any of this stuff. We're not allowed to We're not even allowed to give advice, so we're we're right out on the cons you know what hens Sport. He is thirty nine. Now, whether that reflects much, I don't know, but it feels like between him and I would, I would throw Brandon Seesay South Carolina in the mix to forty one on the CONTENTUS spoort. Maybe not similar as players, you can tell me what you think of CSA, but just as guys that the insiders as we get closer to the process seem to be talking about more as potential first round picks.

00:49:16
Speaker 2: Yeah, Johnson, I would I think the Floyd Johnson is San Francisco, which is what's six somewhere around that That to me would be the full and I think that'd be a pretty good fit to.

00:49:24
Speaker 3: If the Niners we're interested.

00:49:26
Speaker 1: Okay, I like that Avion Terrell is a guy who maybe is going to play at slot corner in the league. What do you think about him? And am I being too simplistic by saying, actually, it's okay to just say he moves like his brother. We overthought we overthought Dalvin Cook the Cooks in general, by thinking like, oh, he's like, he's like seventy five percent of Dalvin Cook James Cook. It was like, no, he kind of looks exactly the same, just like a little lighter who should have been taken earlier. Uh.

00:50:01
Speaker 2: I don't think he moves quite as well as his brother. He is really smooth. I don't think he's very explosive, and like the sudden burst to me is lacking. I understand when a guy runs a four to six at a pro day and then he says that he pulled his hamstring like he ran a second time, which would imply to me the hamstring wasn't that hurt that there's like a natural instinct to say, oh, we'll just move him inside. It doesn't make a ton of sense to me, you really do need quick fire, quick twitch reactions of all the quick stuff that's happening in the slot. And so to me, there's an easy way to protect someone like that by just playing them on the outside at depth in a really zone heavy system, someone like the Panthers, where you could play twelve yards and in you can actually hide that better if they can kind of read it and react and flip pretty well on the move, which he can do, and they've got some kind of natural depth built in to try and match stuff vertically down the field. It's a pretty small percentage of plays now where there's true one on one coverage of the ball that's traveling twenty or more yards in the air. It's a lot more quick fire, it's a lot more in out twitch work. He just doesn't really have that knock. He is a smooth player. He's not an explosive player.

00:51:04
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's that's sort of what I was getting at too when you talked about Sundays. Maybe that's more of my type. I've always really liked aj Trell watching Avion Trell. He looks smooth. I'm like, that looks like Sundays too. Now it might be Sundays where he's just average and he's getting cooked by the good players and playing pretty well against the other players. But those guys get get taken highly, and those guys maybe have a season where they pop off and they get a nice second contract. So that's sort of what I meant with him, where when I watched him, I was like, Yeah, he kind of looks like a guy that probably won't kill you, that will play a lot in the NFL.

00:51:38
Speaker 3: No kid, he's gonna give up explosive plays.

00:51:41
Speaker 2: Mmm, so he's gonna be a bit more of a roller coaster for a guy who profiles is more of a steady player. He's probably gonna actually get cool a bit more than not, though a love of the steady guys in the league do get cool for some explosive plays. So just the idea of pushing him into the slot, which I know is like a common narrative that just doesn't really whook me. I do think you need to be more of a fluid type, tweet chee type player, which.

00:52:04
Speaker 3: He is not.

00:52:05
Speaker 2: He is, though, a really impressive blitzer and rundown blitzing is a massive part of Cornerback's work these days, and he's probably the best in the classic timing it, seeing it and reacting it in the blitz game. So depending on the defensive style, I just keep circling the panels of He makes so much sense what they do defensively that if he can be a plus starter, it would be in that kind of system. If you're a man coverage heavy system, if you're the Jets early on day two, that would be a bit of a stretch.

00:52:33
Speaker 1: So you think he's a better blitzer than Kiante Scott from Miami, let's have the conversation about the potential. Like slot cornerbacks, he's another interesting prospect we talked about. I'm curious for your take on him because he is someone where the cornerback tape depends what you're into. But yeah, sometimes it's not as exciting now as a play to play basis as other positions. But kant Scott, like you can find the highlights in any game tape you want. There are splash plays from Kiante Scott, who's yeah, like I mentioned in an older prospect, didn't produce that much until his age twenty four season, I think at Miami's sixth year. But he was awesome last year, really fun to watch and I think could be a fun player, a little bit of Chauncey Gardner Johnson vibes. Maybe, I don't know, since something in that mold. Something in that mold.

00:53:22
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean he is an absolute savage. He wants to run through everyone's face over and over and over again. He does fit this mold of these big nickel type plays I think who were impactful and kind of walling things off in zone as opposed to being matchup threat guys. He can get cooked out in the route second level big explosive plays. He's more of a rundown enforce around the edge, which is if you go and look at the best teams in the league, the best defense in the league, they all have that. It's Kuper Degi, and it's Kyle Hamilton, it's Nicki mun Wari. Like that is the player model you're chasing for. And with the volume of split safety coverage and two deep safeties, you can hide guys pretty well than being caught on an island. Is those kind of traditional, smaller, inside out type nickel players. So I'm a huge believer in Scott. I probably basically age that profile. The league does kind of suppress the value on those type of guys. But he is a guy would I would stand on the table for him, would be pretty delighted to have as a defensive coordinator.

00:54:20
Speaker 1: Oh I love that. And yeah, Like I'm not saying he's gonna He's not someone where I have any feel where he's gonna get drafted higher than expected. He might be a late second, he might be third. Who knows, but just looks like one of those guys that you're like, Oh, that's that's a good third round pick that's still playing like six years into the league and playing at a pretty high level. Are there any other guys kind of in the mid rounds early mid late rounds that you want to give a shout out? Somali Connolly, beloveds.

00:54:47
Speaker 3: Beloved is maybe a tough stretch.

00:54:49
Speaker 2: I really do think this class drops off pretty significantly, honestly after the top two guys, I have concerns about almost everyone that middle band, the slot group is up and down. Outside of Scott say lower round. Probably the most interesting one that I'm just intrigued by what the league will make of them is Devin Moore out of Florida. He's six three, one ninety eight. Was a massive recruit has kind of the frame of those old Seattle corners, so it's like the long and lean and explosive athlete. He's just being decimated by injuries through his career, so he's not played a whole bunch of football. But it does feel like the value if Pete Carroll was still in the league, if he was still running those raiders, you can just feel this would be his third round gamble. Bring me the athlete who's six three with the long goams, who's crazy smooth for someone that size, and we'll just kind of figure out the traits and we'll figure out the football player afterwards.

00:55:40
Speaker 1: And then after the season. You'd read the ESPN article that's burying Pete for making them take him if he just gets hurt again or Pete is there is there a guy as we wrap up here, that you're a little lower than consensus on, someone that you know people are familiar with, maybe if they're into the draft process, like a first second round type that you're not really feeling.

00:56:07
Speaker 2: Not feeling would probably be harsh, but see, say I do have a tough time with he might is quite comfortably I'd say the most technically flawed player where it would almost feel painful to throw him out in year one with where he's at right now. Technically he's an uber athlete, crazy explosive fluid for the kind of twitch he can develop too, So I understand the athletic profile. I just think that technically he is a complete mess at the moment, particularly in man coverage, which is what he's kind of tabbed as is a bigger, longer press style corner. I think if you threw him out there in year one and you've got to go against Justin Jefferson and Jamar Chase and all the great players in the league, he's just so far behind being able to keep a matchup with real speed off the ball. He got fried by Casey Conceptsion. It was a blood bath in that game. The Vanderbilt game. They don't have first round caliber receives in that game. He is just completely lost all the time. So he's a guy where you are really drafting the talent and the traits and hoping you can kind of bring it on over time. I'm not sure if teams even have the life cycle to do that now. It's like a two year situation all year out. Do you do you really have the time to develop these these coliners that you take in the second round.

00:57:19
Speaker 1: Except for Spags Bags As the time I was gonna say is Spags, are they just good at drafting the right guy that fits the system, or are they good at developing? Because when you're talking about CSA like, I immediately was thinking, well, who are the best defensive back development teams? The Chiefs, The Chiefs come to mind. I'm trying to think of some others.

00:57:38
Speaker 2: It's such a volatile position that it's tough to find anyone who consistently nails it. It was Pete and now it might be Might McDonald, It might be the Charges guys. The Charges go and find guys in the full sixth round. They start in the rookie season and go and play.

00:57:52
Speaker 1: In I think they focus and they're really good at seeing what a player does well and just having them do that. And that's how you get Josh Joe being an afterthought on one defense to a guy who's who's starting the Super Bowl playing more than recool and being valuable, and that that's just having a vision. So yeah, it's a lot of it is about how you land where you land. Ali's landed with us we're making them work overtime. This week, we're gonna go back and finish our prospect evaluation rankings whatever we want to call them. Later in the week, we're going to talk about the quarterbacks, the running backs, and the tight ends. We already hit the wide receiver. Hit that button. Thank you Ali again. Everyone check out the readoptional because you know most of it's the x's and O stuff. It's the podcast with John Ledyard, It's the Diving Deep. If you want to hear way more about all these prospects, you can go there. If you want to hear from me and Jordan doing a mock draft back and forth, we're going to be in your feed next see them