Speed Is Loud, Tape Is Louder: Winners, Risks, And Draft Truths

Stopwatches don’t win on Sundays—players do. I dive into a loaded Combine weekend and sort the noise from the signal, starting with a simple rule: speed is loud, but tape is louder. From quarterbacks trying to separate in a crowded class to receivers redefining roles and a Buckeye linebacker posting a once-in-a-generation profile, we unpack what actually translates when pads go on.

I start with the QBs: why Ty Simpson’s consistency matters more than a single wow throw, and how Drew Aller’s arm and frame make him tempting while his on-field variance keeps him risky for teams without real QB development. Then we hit the running backs, where Jeremiah Love’s explosion screams day-one impact and Jadarian Price’s pass-game polish makes him a value play in a committee era. The wide receiver debate gets real around Carnell Tate—official time vs. play speed—and how size, leverage, and late hands beat a tenth of a second in shorts.

Defense steals the show. Sonny Styles tested like an alien at linebacker—4.46 at 244 with elite jumps and agility—and already put strong instincts on film. Pair that with Arvell Reese matching the long speed off the edge and David Bailey’s ready-made pass-rush toolkit, and you’ve got a top of the draft shaped by pressure and range. I fold those truths into live reactions to Mel Kiper’s mock: premium positions up top, smart fit picks in the middle, and leverage swings late in the first to solve 2025 roster problems today.

Along the way, I zoom out: late-season NBA intensity, why a little betting sharpened my eye without hijacking my wallet, and a frank rant on Cowboys bluster and Steelers facility grades. We close with AFC South report cards—where hope is real, flaws are fixable, and timing matters.

If you’re into draft strategy, combine winners and risks, and how teams should actually allocate premium picks, hit play. Then tell me: who’s your biggest riser, and which “workout warrior” are you fading? Subscribe, share with a friend, and drop a five-star review so we can keep this rolling.

Transcript

Setting The Stage

SPEAKER_00 0:09

Welcome back to the JB Sports Podcast. Today is Sunday, March 1st, and we are back for another pod. So if you've been listening for a while, you kind of know our schedules. Sunday morning slash afternoon is not necessarily a time that we decide to record slash put out a podcast. But because of us going to one a week during non-football season, like unless not can't say non-football season, it's more just like until football really ramps up again, which is you know when the draft stuff comes up and we decide to do a little bit more, and um and then football season does like training camp and all that, like the real football stuff, then we kind of do two. But outside of that, we do one be just because we don't necessarily want to be sitting here like like freaking out over trying to find things to talk about, but mostly we are a football show. And on the other hand, um, if you usually listen, we usually there's two of us here doing the pod. Really, there wasn't enough to really warrant trying to get Jace to do it, plus he was sick all week and all other things happening. So I figured I told him, like, hey, I just I'm probably just gonna talk about the combine anyway, and really it's not that big of a deal. So I told him, hey, I'll just do it on my own this week. Um gush about the Ohio State Boys and the Combine stuff all by myself, and then hopefully we'll be able to do one together um coming on next week. So that that's pretty much what's going on as of right now. Not a lot of the pre preluding to talk about. I just so before I get to the combine, because that's honestly that's the crux of the conversation conversation today. If you're not big into the combine because of either moral reasons or because you just don't care about it at all, you like really only care about football, then I totally understand this is not the podcast you want to listen to. I totally I totally get that. But for me, the combine is a huge deal. I love watching Ohio State boys and see what they do, kind of setting themselves up for the future, going to the NFL. Because honestly, once they're a buck guy, I root for them for life, as long as they're not going to a rival team of mine, which they usually end up doing, and I still have to feel it's almost like I feel bad about feeling happy for them. Because again, once they're a Ohio State guy, I like I root for them for the rest of their career. So I love seeing what they do, and then I love seeing in general because again, all these players have a chance to be drafted by my team, unless you know they're a top 10 pick, which will never happen for the Steelers, at least as far as I know. So I like watching how everything goes out because it's just watching these talented players go out there and do their best um at showing their crazy athleticism is just a very fun thing to do, and honestly, that's what what I've been watching the last couple days uh to see because you know, watching these dudes go out and do their thing is awesome. But before I get to that, basketball has been really fun to watch as of right now. Uh again, I've been okay, here's the caveat, right? I have been betting on basketball games, and if you've listened for a while or not, I am big on betting when it comes to NFL stuff, and then for the longest time when it comes came to basketball and other sports, I really don't bet it. Like for the most part, I've pretty much stuck to NFL and pretty much stuck to it that way. But this time around, I had a little money left over in the bank from um in the accounts for from NFL season, and it wasn't enough to be like, oh, I should just cash out and just sit on like use it. So I'm like, okay, let me just go ahead and start doing some um NBA betting. My stepdad does it. Uh, we make a fun thing of it, and it's just like a back and forth, just trying to see if we can we can get a little lucky and like watch some games. And doing it, I has led to me watching a lot more NBA games than I definitely would have, even though I I do consider myself an NBA fan, but I'm just not like a night in, night out guy, right? But because I'm making bets, and I'm again it's not crazy necessarily. I'm betting let's 10, 15, 20 bucks or like total on like a full slate of games, five, six, seven, eight, like a lot of games, right? I'm not doing anything crazy. I'm being very safe about it if anybody is worried, which I don't think anybody is, but again, this is what I have to tell people around me that look at me and like say, hey, you shouldn't be betting. I'm like, you know what? I don't have any devices. I really don't I don't smoke, don't drink, don't anything like that. Betting is pretty much the one thing that has probably popped up for me. So as long as I don't do it to where it's ruining my life and betting all my money away, I should be in an okay spot. And that has not happened as of yet, so I don't feel any shame. So bet responsibly, folks. I mean that's the PSA. Bet responsibly, bet what you can bet. And if you if you're starting to lose, lose like your livelihood and all of that, then you probably should go should go seek some help. Alright, that's my PSA on that. So I've been betting a lot more NBAs of recently. I won a bet big bet last night. I'm not gonna get too far into that, but anyway, it's a big bet. I I like doing it. It's it's it's a it's a fun thing to add on to. And because of that, I'm watching a lot more NBA. And I have to say, because here's the thing, I am a fan of an NBA team, I'm a Bulls fan, but the Bulls are ass. And they've pretty much sold on the season. They s they gave away some of their young players that I think were promising, and in pursuit of trying to get a really good draft pick this year and next year, they're really trying to break it down to the studs and like start start from scratch, which I'm like, okay, fine. The NBA is gonna try and make it harder and harder to do that over the next few years. So like doing it now is probably the best way to go. And but again, it's just I'll watch it in passing, but I'll I ever go into a Bulls game, at least as of right now, and say I really want to watch how this goes. No, but if I make a bet on it, I'll be more likely to pay attention, and not just the Bulls, but other teams too. And because of that, I've watched a lot of really good basketball as of recently. Not saying all of it's good, not saying all of it, like not saying all of it's bad, but there is some real like Vic watching Victor play on a nine and nine out basis is awesome. Watching the Pistons play, and Kate Cunningham has been awesome. Uh let's see. OKC, whether they are healthy or not, because Shay has been in and out of lineups, and like that game the other night with um let's see, with OKC in Denver, that was an absolute firework show with how that game ended up. I think Jokic ended up getting into it with uh Lou Dort, and that was a whole big deal. Like when you watch games like that, it's like, damn, that's something that's I'm not gonna necessarily say it's like matching playoff intensity basketball, but when you have two really good teams going at it and and it's just like some really good players, and like it just have that intensity, and it really to be honest, it doesn't look like they like each other. And again, I it sucks that as a society, and honestly, I'm not gonna say society in general, but it kind of is true. But for me, it's just like the added element of maybe not liking each other definitely helps the product on the basketball court. They play a little bit harder, it gets a little more physical, and I just feel like it shows to the TV screen when these teams are like really have a little bit of animosity, and it's not just that game, it's like when ever Victor actually no, that when um Victor and the Spurs go up against the Thunder, like you can tell Victor with him and um Chet not liking each other, that really translates when you watch the game. So, like when you have some animosity on the basketball court, it leads to some ex some potentially fireworks moments, but it also can lead to some very good hard-nosed basketball. And I'm not sitting here saying that the game should be like the 90s. Again, I well I'm I really didn't watch a lot of 90s basketball, so I'm not really one to get on that soapbox, but watching some more physical hard-nosed basketball is definitely a lot more fun than watching these guys just kind of you know do what they're doing, kind of float around looking for a three. I feel like there's just it just adds a little bit of a bear a better element to it that definitely shows up in the playoffs. So having a little bit of that in the regular season is definitely nice to watch. So if you haven't watched a lot of NBA basketball, go ahead and watch it. We're getting into let's see, teams are getting playing in like the 50s and 60s of no sixties and seventies of games. So like we're getting close to the end of the season here over the next month and a half or so. So get into some basketball before the playoffs, watch these teams because they are trying to make, especially the teams that are trying to be good and make the playoffs and um do a lot of winning. There's a lot of good basketball to watch, and I I don't I'm not gonna sit here and say you should bet games to help you care more, but like there's some good basketball happening. So have some fun with it. Watch some teams like when I'll say the teams that I like the most when it comes to watching is um the Spurs. Like watching them play. I think they're playing against the Knicks right now. Um, I like watching Cade Cunningham and the Detroit Pistons. Um, let's see here. You know, I'm not gonna lie to you, being a little bit of like a um of a masochist, not a masochist, being a little bit of a pessimist and like watching things crumble, watching the Lakers with LeBron Luca and um Austin Reeves not really play all that well together is kind of a fun watch because like, hey, how can it look bad? Even though all of those players individually are good. Luca obviously being one of the better players, even though he doesn't play defense and all that, but offensively he's one of the best players out there. Then you have LeBron being a little bit being older for sure, but still playing some really good basketball, and then you have Austin Reeves being a really good offensive weapon, like the combination of those three and how they it really doesn't work whatsoever is kind of a fun watch, especially when they're playing against some teams you think they would beat, and then they like lose games in a crazy way. Luca not taking the last shot and like giving it to LeBron to have to make some type of circuit shot to win the game early on last week, and then they also gave up, coughed up a game against the Phoenix Sun with like Phoenix Suns with like a game winning three by is it a Kogie, I think, for the Suns, like a game winning three at the end of that game. I think it was a Kogie, right? I forget who it was, but it was a game winning three by the Suns against the Lakers in the like the middle last week or late last week. So it's just a I like watching those games where it's like, hey, like you see some good individual play, but as a team, they're not really all that good. And it's just a lot of basketball, man. And uh like you're talking about the obviously the SGAs and Thunder, especially with Sith with uh Shea Gilders Alexander being back. And then let's see here. Who else have I really am I missing? I don't think I'm missing all that many teams. Hold on. Let me look at the standings here just to make sure. Boston in their same old Boston way, it's not really all that exciting, but Jalen Brown now being the leader of the team, they're kind of like waiting for um what Jason Tatum to come back because they're saying that he's actually practicing five on fives again after his um his Achilles tear, ACL tear, one of the Achilles tear, I believe, from um from the in the lat late last year. He they're saying he might be back and be able to play, start playing before the playoffs and like have a chance to really ramp up and be ready to go in the playoffs. Like that'll be a fun little thing to watch, even though Boston, even with Jason Tatum, they look very boring when they play because they just kind of like you know, they don't have a lot of personality when they play. It's like shooting, looking for threes, all that, not a lot of like it's not a fun watch, but they're very robotic. But Boston is a good team. The Knicks, stepdad's a Knicks fan. I'm not saying that all their games are the most fun, fun to watch. Um, I'm not the biggest cat fan, but again, it's a good team. Cleveland, with now with um James Harden, he is experiencing a injury to his on his thumb of his shooting hand, I believe, or not. I'm not sure about that. But they're dealing with an injury there. But James Harden with the Cavs, they were playing a lot better basketball before he got hurt. And the Cavs with James Harden, how does he change their offense? Will they be a lot better going into the playoffs? And like the Cavs were like one of the more underperforming teams this season, and then they got him. And then they were playing a lot better because you know James Harden does add a big element when it comes to running your offense and all of that, even though he doesn't add a lot defensively, and who we all know in the playoffs he won't really be able to add what you would you think a player of his caliber should, but as of right now, they look a lot look like a lot better team with him on the court, um, kind of running their offense. So that's interesting. And then you have Toronto middling team, but they're they're they're a tough team to watch. No, not not tough as in bad, but tough as in like they play a very hard-nosed brand of basketball, playing a lot of good defense, and they just have length all over the place, and they have some guys that can hit some shots. And let's see. Philly is kind of sitting there around the six, six speed, uh, six slot, and they have Orlando, Miami, Charlotte, Atlanta. Oh, real quick before I get to the West, and like some again, this I've probably gone way too far as to the teams that I'm watching because I'm really like I'm watching all these teams because I'm betting games, but like I'm not saying all these teams are like very fun to watch. But I will say Charlotte. Um, why am I forgetting the guy's name? Um, hold on, hold on, hold on. I'm getting uh Khan Kneppel, the rookie from Duke. I think he broke the record for most threes hit by a um a rookie, um a rookie player ever in um in NBA history. He is a very fun watch. He hits a lot of threes. He kind of is a lot like a very good playmaker. He's not just a spot up shooter on that team. He gets some assists, um, he gets boards, he plays very again for a white guy, Khan Kineple. Um he plays very white guy brand of basketball, but I think he's more much more talented than that. He can run the offense, he he can kind of like make plays happen. Um definitely a playmaker in that way, but he is a very good, very fun player to watch. And on top of that, you have um Lamilla Ball, who is like up and down when it comes to like there was a game where he hit like I think it was like seven, eight threes in a game. Like he was like super hot, but he he's a very talented player when he's locked in and doing things, and then um Brandon Miller is like probably their most talented and consistent player on a nine-in-night out basis. He's a very good player as well, even though Charlotte's sitting in the play-in right now, but they are a fun team to watch when you're watching them. And then going to the West, okay. See, like I said, San Antonio, Houston, with KD and all of them, like again, it doesn't necessarily always look clean because they don't really have a point guard to run their offense on a night and night out basis. But KD, you can tell, to a certain extent, has taken on a little bit of that playmaking, trying to bring the younger players along. And they play very good defense when they're locked in. And Reed Shepard, the guy that um hits threes for them, is a very talented, like when he's again another white guy hitting threes, but like when he's locked in, he's a very like electric three-point shooter to watch. And then on top of that, it's that they just have so many young, lengthy players. You have um Amin Thompson, and then you have why am I forgetting the other guy's name? Oh no. Is it Jay? Nope, not Jason. Nope. Uh I suck. I suck, I suck, I suck. It's Alfred, oh, Shangoon, their their center. He's kind of like when you play physical with him, he gets a little bit weird. He's not really the most physical of players, and he's not a big rebounder all the time when he's playing against some bigger centers, but like he can get you assists, he can score pretty well for the most part. Um, pretty good center to watch, even though it's not the most consistent all the time. Jabari Smith's with the other guy I was talking about. He's a very long um player, shoot a lot of threes, play some very good defense, um, rebound a bit. Like he's a very fun player to watch as well, young guy. But like the Rockets are very fun, they're very dangerous. Obviously, Denver with Jokic, like potentially if Jokic can play enough games to be in the to get the to be available to get end of the season awards, like he might be get another MVP again because of how much they lean on him and how much he delivers on a night in, night out basis with what they do. Very, very fun. Jokic is probably one of the more he's probably the best player when he's playing and healthy. Um, awesome, awesome team. Not not I'm not gonna say awesome team. I will say this version of Denver is probably the best they've been, probably since their championship year. Like they finally have a team all like all around that is like very good, especially once they get uh Wam Free and the one player back. It's like their third best player on their team. Hold on. Aaron Aaron Gordon, like he's been out for pretty much most of the season. Once they get him back um from injury, he's like their third best player, but he's a very good defensive player, can shoot some threes, a very versatile player all around to help out Jokic and Murray. I think they are a team that can be very dangerous, especially on depending on who they face in the playoffs. Like OKC doesn't want to have to deal with Jokic in a seven-game series if they have Aaron Gordon and Murray playing very well, on top of other teams too. Like, I think Wemby would have a problem with Jokic on a night in nine out basis because of the size that Jokic brings. So, like, I do think that uh Denver when healthy can be a very dangerous team. They're sitting around the four spots, so they're definitely gonna be in the playoffs, not really without much of an issue there. Minnesota, they're okay. Obviously, they have a superstar in Anthony Edwards, but outside of that, it's a very up and down. They can be a very fun team to watch depending on the matchup and the playoffs. So, like, there's a lot of fun teams to watch. I'm not gonna I don't want to just go all the way down this road here, even though I kind of have, so I can't really say that. But I think a lot of fun basketball to watch. Go if you see a good game that has some superstar players, go watch it. See if you can have some fun with it. Because it really is like I'm not trying to sit here and cape up for later like basketball as of right now, but like this is the perfect time if you've been waiting for the season to go and you're waiting for real basketball to start, and like it feels like teams are like really bringing up the intensity because they're all trying to look for at least the winning teams. I think this is the time to do so, man. We're getting late into the season, we're getting into playoff time, and I don't think you just want to drop in during the playoffs and like be surprised by some of these teams that are playing some very good ball. Because if you haven't been paying attention, you'll miss it. Like Detroit, the fact they're as good as they are with Cade, like unless you've been paying attention, like you're gonna that's a team you're gonna miss coming into like dropping into the playoffs, and like what the hell happened to Detroit, the Detroit fucking Pistons, a team what we historically have all known to be just a bad team. No, that isn't necessarily the case. I'm not saying they're gonna make a huge splash in the playoffs, because I do think that there is a little bit of playoff um um wear. Not wear and tear. There's some playoff experience that I think Detroit lacks that I think they need. I don't think they're gonna make a huge run in the playoffs um this upcoming this upcoming playoff run. But I do think that they can be a talent, like depending on the team that they face, like you'll see how talented they are and see they definitely are on the come-up, even if they don't necessarily get far during this upcoming playoffs. But they're a very fun team to watch and very good. I think basketball in general is very fun to watch right now. Go in, if you whether you have a favorite team or not, just watch some games and see if you can have some fun watching them because there's a lot of talented players out there to watch, and I think you'll have fun with it. Alright, so kind of with getting out of the rabbit hole of the NBA, which I'm being totally honest, I did not like mean to like go down that road and like I think I really went down the rabbit hole a little bit there by 20 minutes worth of just talking about NBA Bass one, how I think it's fun, especially with betting on games. But you know, you know, it is what it is. But I've had a lot of fun watching it. Let's get out of that. Let's go to the NFL. Not not really the NFL, but the like the combine. Is there any NFL stories I want to talk about before I get to that? Let me see here. Um, NFL stories for before I get to the combine stuff. The Vikings are intending to either trade or cut Aaron Jones and Javon Hargrave. Aaron Jones Sr. The running back, and then defensive tackle Javon Hargrave. And then they're two little bit older players. They've been in the NFL for a while. Like Aaron Jones has not really been the same player as of like the last couple years, I believe, with what he true what he was before. He was just a very versatile back before, and it just tell the age is kind of getting into him, and he's getting paid a decent amount of money. So, and not to mention Vikings are like$43 million over in cap space, even if even with the up in all the cap um revenue, because I think the new number for the salary cap is like a little over$300 million for this upcoming season, and I think the Vikings are like$40 million over that, so they definitely have to cut some guys to kind of save some cap dollars. And with this, they're kind of gonna save like$18-19 million with either trading or getting rid of those two. Aaron Jones still a little bit older back, not as effective as he once was. And Javon Hargrave is still a decent defensive tackle, but like at the money they're paying him, I could see why that's a cap casually they're probably willing to take, especially with like who knows what Minnesota will be quarterback wise coming into the season, because it was awful with um JJ McCarthy last year after they let uh Um Sam Darnell walk away for pennies on the dollar, not pennies on the dollar. He got paid very well, he got paid like 30-something million from the Seattle, but he goes and wins the Super Bowl with them right away in his first year there. So, like, and what they got out of J.J. McCarthy wasn't close to what they needed him, needed him to be. So whether he takes that next step coming into next year, or they go and get a veteran guy to kind of take over and like be their guy, there's no way Minnesota thinks they're going to be a playoff team and like have a chance to go like go deep into the playoffs. So the idea that you're that far over in cap space, and then you're not really sure whether you're going to be a winning team or not going into next year, especially in that division where Chicago's on the up and up, obviously doing what they did last year. Um the Lions are always going to be very lions are up and down, but again, they're always going to be a very talented team and very hard out. And then you also have the Packers, who was also a very good team on a nine-in, nine out, uh week in, week out basis. So I just think in in that division, it's going to be very hard for Minnesota just to believe, unless they're going to get a much different Jason McCarthy coming into year, what would this be year three? Um, or if they get like a really good player to be their new starter coming into next year that they think they're going to be able to have a team worthy of go over going over in salary cap for, or like being in salary cap hell. Like, do you have a team worthy of that outside of you know Justin Jefferson? Like, do you have a bunch of players that are like you have a team that's worth being in cap trouble for? Or if you can get rid of some of your players, maybe get a little bit worse as a team, but you can get under their salary cap, kind of set yourself up for years in the future, that'll be an important thing to uh important for Minnesota to kind of figure out. So those cap um cuts, cap casualties, or just trading them will definitely be an interesting thing to do. Um let's see. Well, there's stories that I want to talk about. I did mention this in passing, but the NFL salary cap is up to 300, like a little over 300 million going into next year, which is like a 20-something million increase over last year. Definitely a big deal. Kind of help out all the NFL teams out there, kind of get under the cap with such a big jump. It'll definitely help out a lot of teams. Um, so that's gonna be that's a big one going into next season. Let's see, Jerry Jones. I don't know again, he's back to doing the whole talking and saying things out of his butt. Whether he actually means it or not is a totally separate question. But he said going into this offseason, he's he intends on them being a high spend a big spenders in free agency, which I'm like, I'm kind of surprised about because why would you do so? Especially the team that went 7-9-1 last year. I don't know how you come into this season saying, hey, we're gonna be big spenders and we're gonna be aggressive with what you did going into last season. No, what you did last year. Like, I don't know how you can like say, hey, we're gonna be super aggressive with the team that didn't even go 500. I don't know how you can be like a I don't know what why that would lead to you being again. Your offense is very good, but your defense was awful. You got rid of Micah Parsons, and he's he went and played with the Packers and did some good things there before getting hurt. And I I just don't know how you're if you're the Cow if you're Jerry Jones and the Cowboys, I don't know how you can again. This is what he does every year. I'm not necessarily as surprised, but I just like Cowboy fans, man, it's just like that he's feeding you bullshit every single offseason. Every single offseason. And again, it's it's like the intenthesis of it is like what they're gonna be doing with because what how they have their cap set up right now, like with all with the three guys they're paying Dak like I think he's like a 70-something cap sep 70-something million dollar cap hit this year. Cd Lamb is a big cap hit, and the Glefgar Tyler Smith are all players that are gonna like have huge cap numbers, and he is going to they're gonna have to like redo those deals, and then you have Kenny Clark, you're gonna have to redo like Kenny Clark deal, Quinn Williams, um, Osa Digizua. That's like that's like you have a lot of big players, and then not to mention you have the one guy that you traded for coming into last year, George Pickens, the wide receiver, who did very well for them last year, I have to admit, and he's looking for an a new deal, and they gave him the franchise tag, and it's a non-exclusive one, so he'll be able to go talk to other teams and potentially get a different deal that the Cowboys either have to match, or whatever team signs them to the deal would have to trade the Cowboys for him if they're not willing to match the offer that the that George Pickens ends up signing. So I don't know, man. It's again with the George Pickens thing and you not signing him to a contract, again, having to because Pickens gonna be looking for like 30, 40 million when it comes to his contract. So I don't know how if you're the Cowboys, if can you afford to have two top flight receivers that way that's getting paid that much money? Because again, I understand George looking for that type of money because he out he outdid what C D Lamb did last year. And C D was getting paid 30, right? Or he's getting paid like 28. Or am I crazy? Hold on, let's see here. Hold on. I think it's I think he's getting paid 30. Um contract. Let's see, he's getting paid he did a four-year 136. He's getting paid like tw he's getting paid like 30, 34 mil a year. And he's sitting around a$38 million cap hit as of right now, so like he's getting paid a decent amount of money, and some of the best players in the NFL are getting paid in the mid-like the mid-30s now. So like George Pickens gonna be looking for more than that, and I totally understand him looking for that, but the Cowboys aren't gonna give that to him. And the thing is that when you trade for a guy like that, either you have to be willing to sign them to make you giving up that pick worth it, or you have to be willing to trade him again to then get even bigger value back. And I think if they decided to trade him tomorrow, I think I think they traded a second round pick to get George Pickett was a third-round pick. It was definitely a third-round pick. So they traded a third round pick to get him. I do think they'd probably get a second now if they traded him tomorrow. So why wouldn't you do that? Especially if you don't if you don't think you're gonna be a team that's gonna like make the playoffs and like make a deep playoff run, especially in your division, especially with you going under 500 last year. I just don't know how why that is not the option you're taking. Because if you're gonna build a team long term, again, maybe it's because Jerry Jones is so old that every year is a go after a year because Jerry Jones has made it very clear he wants to win another Super Bowl before he dies. And I think he's in his late 70s, he's in 80s. He's he's older, he's like definitely a lot older, and like living on a being around on a year-in-year out basis is not necessarily a given for him, even with the money that he does have to help keep himself alive and all the money and doctors and all that. So I don't know, man. He just again when Jerry Jones talks about this stuff in the offseason and talk about being aggressive and all that, I just don't know how. Like, I don't think like fans in general that aren't cowboy fans of uh like they don't I think we all are very aware of what Jerry Jones' tactic tactics are to kind of keep his team and himself in the limelight at all times. I don't think the general NFL fan is gonna fall for that. But there's cowboy fans every year that fall for it, and I'm I feel sorry for them. I really do. And again, I do think they've the cowboy fans have been getting smarter and smarter over the years and kind of getting less susceptible to these moments. But I think in general, like I just feel like the fan base is very uh I think they're getting tired of the bullshit, man. And I think and it's not getting any better from Jerry Jones. I just don't, and I don't see him being very good at the bullshit he's spewing, let alone doing things that make you think they're gonna be like competitive on year year in, year out basis, like he says they are. Like they're just not doing that. So I don't know, man. Cowboy fans, I think they have a again, I'm not saying you're for my high horse. I think I'm dealing with my own specific set of issues with my um my Steelers being what they are as of like as a football team and as an organization, getting an F minus is being like when it came to the report guard grades, which funny enough, those grades are not supposed to be public, but they ended up being leaked anyway. You have the grades come out and the Steelers are the 32nd ranked team when it came to the report cards from the NFL PA. Like, that's the bullshit I'm dealing with because you know they don't care about facilities, they're sharing a field with a with a college team, they're sharing their practice practice facility with a college team in Pitt. So, like all this other shit they're dealing with, on top of the fact that they're not very aggressive when it comes to how they build their team and all of that, like being this 32nd ranked team, even though I think prestige-wise, the Steelers aren't the worst team in the NFL, but when it comes to the things that actually matter, like facilities and taking care of your players and like the bathrooms, there's they said I think I heard or read that there was like five bathroom stalls in the players' locker room for like over 80 players, that's insane. So hearing about my team not being willing to like pay for some of the amenities to help them on a week in, week out basis play at their best was definitely not a good thing to hear about a team I have so much love and respect for. Um, I would wish that my team would have the same love and respect for the players that they say they admire so much and how they love the culture that they're building, but yet they're not willing to take care of those guys, and it's just it's kind of annoying to hear as a Steelers fan. So again, I'm not coming, I'm not really talking about the the Cowboys from my high horse at all. I'm dealing with my own set of issues. But, you know, it's it is what it is when it comes to Cowboy fans, man. I think everybody outside of the Cowboys nation can agree with that, that their owners always be on a lot of bullshit about everything when it comes to the Cowboys in the offseason and kind of keep themselves in the limelight. Alright, so that's it on the Jerry Jones thing. Let's see, is there anything else story-wise I wanted to talk about before I got to the draft stuff? I don't think I have anything. Okay. I'll talk about the draft mock draft, Kuiper's mock draft afterwards. Okay. So from here on, this is what I'm gonna do. I want to talk about the combine. I don't necessarily want to go too long, but I do I have watched a lot of combine stuff, so I am kind of excited for that. So, combine, kind of giving my some of my winners. Um, I don't necessarily losers for the most. I don't necessarily want to go too negative, but I do think there are some winners to talk about when it came to the combine stuff that I want to want to go into. And then after that, I want to do the well oh the comp the Mel Kuper's mock draft. I want to go through that and kind of give my thoughts on his mock draft coming out of the the combine weekend, and then after that, I want to keep going on our NFL season grades coming out of last season. Last week, me and Jace did the NFC South. This week I want to do the AFC South. I'll give my grades, and I don't have Jace's, unfortunately. I think I wish I would have thought about it when I was talking to him yesterday to ask. So that's gonna be a little bit iffy of an issue. I don't have his grades for today. But going into Next Pod, I will if you as long as he's on, I will get I will just kind of ask him quickly what his grades are, and I'll let him do that. But as of today, I'll just give my grades for how I thought the each AFC team should feel um coming out of this last season if I was a either a front office person or as a fan. So I'll be giving those grades after I do all the combine slash uh mock draft stuff. So there we go. That's the rest of this pod. And let's get into it. So combine. How do I want to go about this? Should I go at this day by day? Or should I just, you know, since only quarterbacks care. Only most people what most people care about is the quarterback stuff anyway. So let's start with what happened yesterday with quarterbacks, wide receivers, and running backs, and then I'll go backwards from there. How about that? That's probably the way to go. So I watched most of, if not all, of the combine stuff yesterday when it came to the quarterbacks doing their thing, along with the running backs and wide receivers. I just kind of want to give my general thoughts on things as they go. So let's see here. Um I don't necessarily want to get into height, weight, speed, height, weight in like the measurable stuff, because that's stuff you can kind of look at, other than a few players that I kind of want to get into specifically. But when it comes to the quarterbacks, let's start with them. So, quarterbacks, let's start with that. So the quarterbacks that did stuff yesterday when it comes to actually throwing the football, you had Taylor Green, Haynes King, um, Cole Payton, Sawyer Robinson, Jalen Daniels, Luke Altmeyer, and then Joe Fagano. Those are guys with like 40-yard dashes, and like some of the guys that threw. Um let's see, not a not participants in the draft, right? So, what were my thoughts? So, one of my big things come coming into the draft was was there going to be a quarterback that was going to separate themselves outside of Fernando Mendoza? So, Fernando going into this draft season, he is looked at to be the number one guy, the guy that's gonna be drafted by the Raiders, pretty much locked in, no really, nobody's really questioning it for as of right now, nobody's questioning it, right? So he is the number one guy locked in, steal it, throw away the key. That that's number one guy. So what I thought coming into this draft, to this combine, was was there gonna be a different guy to kind of separate themselves from the rest of the pack? And some of the guys that were looked at as being the potential guys was Ty Simpson. You had car um Ty Simpson, the Alabama quarterback, uh Carson Beck, who was the quarterback for Miami last year, uh Garrett Nussmeyer, who was the looked at as a very talented guy, but like he with his own issues being at LSU, um Drew Aller, who was the Penn State quarterback that got hurt in the middle of last season, but he's looked at as a very talented quarterback, even if he's not necessarily fully developed with what he is as a quarterback and accuracy and all of that. Um so those are the guys that people were like, at least for me, I was looking at be like, hey, can any of them kind of separate themselves from from the pack from the rest of the pack? Um, not necessarily be with Fernanda Mendoza, because I think Mendoza's on his own level, but who can be that other guy that could be a late first round pit type of pick if they kind of didn't do enough in this whole process? And with what I was seeing throwing-wise, I didn't like a lot of the guys throwing. I think the most consistent guy was Ty Simpson in general. But with like as much as I think that he can throw the football, I think he can really make a lot of throws, and he's a pretty accurate passer. And as long as he has a clean pocket, I think he can be a very uh relatively good starter in the NFL. But I think with what the NFL what the NFL is now, what what they want from their quarterbacks is they want guys that can move, guys that can do a lot of different things, when not just sitting back there and being a statue. I don't think Ty Simpson gives you a lot of that. But I do think if you give him a clean pocket, if he can kind of like uh kind of give him that space, I do think that he can do some very good things in the NFL. Whether he can be a really good starter in the NFL, like like one of the better guys in the NFL is uh definitely a different question. But I do think when it came to what I saw from him throwing yesterday, I do think I do like what he he didn't blow you away with anything that he was doing. He was just making the right plays, like he making the right throws, not necessarily being super off, but I don't think you can necessarily be waddled by his arm. His arm is fine, it's not necessarily like a howitzer or anything like that. Um, but Ty Simpson, I think, in general was probably the most consistent guy that was doing some throwing stuff as of yesterday. Um Taylor Green was definitely the quarterback from Arkansas, was probably the most physically impressive guy. I think he's like 6'5. Um, I think he ran like the fastest combine time. Um he ran the fastest 40. I think he had like a 4'3, 6'40. So very fast, very good. I think he had a 43 and a half inch vertical, 11 foot two inch broad jump. Like he was like probably the most physically gifted athlete throughout the whole process of yesterday. It's like, but again, he when it comes to throwing the football, he's the most inconsistent. Like, can you really expect him to he is a he's a guy that you're gonna need a lot of development before he'll be ready to be anything in the NFL to even decide whether he can be an NFL quarterback or not. Carson Beck was fine, didn't blow you away, made some good throws. Um I don't know. I've never really been a big Carson Beck guy when it comes to being an NFL guy, let alone what he's doing in college. He's so inconsistent. But when he has everything right, he can do some things that can translate to the NFL, but it's I'm just I I just don't think it's gonna be consistent enough to really rely on. Um I do have to say, this is one of my fears, right? And this pertains to Drew Aller, the former Penn State quarterback who got hurt in the middle of last year. I think it was like a a busted ankle or something like that, that he had to get surgery on, and then I think they said he'll be ready by fully ready to go by rookie minicamp. And this is the problem with Drew Aller, okay? Because he has every physical tool you could ask for. He's not necessarily as like crazy athletic as like a Talen Green, but when he when he does throw, he has a howitzer of an arm, he has an effortless arm, he can make all the big throws out there. When he does decide, when he's healthy and when he does decide to run, he'll be able to run very well. He can get he can get you a few yards, he could do like if you're looking for a potential Josh Allen clone, Drew Aller would be the guy that would be closest to that. And it definitely showed yesterday that when he can uncork one and like really do his thing throwing the football wise, is that he has the easiest arm out there and he is very good. And and what you saw on tape, what you saw him do at Penn State at times, like you can see their flashes from him that'd be like, Hey, he can be somebody in NFL if you if you can polish him up and make him the player that you really want him to be. That's the guy. And why am I scared of this, right? Because I watch too much of him at Penn State, and I understand how up and down he can be, and really down can be like down in the dumps looking like one of the worst quarterbacks out there. And my problem is that Drew Rowler's not gonna be a first-round pick. He may be a second or third round pick. And what my fear is is that the Pittsburgh Steelers love Pittsburgh more than anything, and they love Pennsylvania more than anything. Heck, they picked up a pit quarterback in um why am I forgetting his name now? That sucks. Uh, Kenny Pickett, because he was a pick quarterback that had a decent amount of success, and they did consider, like, oh, this is us, this is Pittsburgh, like we're picking a guy from Pennsylvania, and they had a lot of pride in that. I could totally see them looking at Drew Aller and saying, hey, if we're gonna be picking up Aaron Rodgers for another season, and we already have Will Howard and we're not sure whether he can be the long-term answer or not, why not pick up a probably more talented guy in Drew Aller and see if he can be the next guy here in Pittsburgh? And that's what I'm scared of because I've watched too much of him play in college football. And as much as I can totally agree that he is a talented player, I just don't think he'll ever be consistent enough to be a starting quarterback in the NFL that you can rely upon, and that's where the issue comes in. And I'm not feeling great about it because I just feel like he's gonna be up for the taking for multiple rounds over, and I feel like the Steelers are gonna be that team that's gonna fall in that rat trap. And I'm not fully feeling great about it because, again, the Steelers have to do some stupid shit like this, and I don't trust in their quarterback development at all. So they're gonna have to get a guy that may have a few scars, and I'm from what he was not just scars, but issues. And can I trust the Pittsburgh Steelers as a team to be able to have quarterback development? I just can't. And yes, they do have a core a coach in Mike McCarthy that has a little bit more quarterback development over his time in the NFL, but like, do I trust that either? No. I don't trust Job of the Hutt to train my quarterback to be the next guy in Pittsburgh for the next 10 to 15 years. I don't. But again, Drew Aller did his thing, is a very talented guy. Honestly, thrown yesterday, he looked very a lot more consistent. But again, it's just it's much different when you're in shorts and a t-shirt than when you're in a play in an actual football game, where you're going to revert to some of your bad habits, and that's what Drew Aller really did throughout his uh his uh college career. Was as much as he talked about how much he got better with his feet and like making better decisions and like being a more mechanically sound quarterback, he always reverted to what he usually does in the in the biggest games and in the in the in the bright lights, not the most consistent of quarterbacks. So I don't know, it's definitely weird, but I do think Drew Aller is uh a guy that I'm worried the Steelers will actually try to go take. Um, anybody else quarterback wise? Garrett Nussmeyer, the guy from LSU, a talented quarterback, he has a really good arm, but like I hate his decision to making. He's a and it's crazy because he was so bad at making good decisions at the quarterback position, and he his dad is an OC in the NFL, I think for the Saints, right? But yeah, it was just like he's way up and down. Like maybe he can be an NFL guy, but like can he be like an NFL starter type of dude? I'm just not sure what the decision making. I'm not sure if that can necessarily be fixed. Um, going to a different level where you're gonna be dealing with a lot better athletes and like tighter windows and all of that. Not sure if a guy like him can be trusted. Um now getting out of the quarterbacks, let's go to the running backs. Um, Jeremiah Love, if it's understood, does it have to be said? Jeremiah Love is like the dude in this draft. He had an amazing draft. He ran a 4-3-640, he ran a 1.55 10 yard split. Everything that he did, he looked like the best, most explosive guy, bar none from everybody, other every other running back coming out of the combine process. He was really good. And I also think Jadarian Price, the other Notre Dame running back, was also very good as well. He isn't as explosive as Jeremiah Love, but he's a little bit more of a pass catcher coming out of the backfield. But I do think he showed that he's a very talented running back. Is he a guy of Jeremiah Love's caliber? No. But I think amongst all the other guys that were in this combine, he showed to be a very, very, very good prospect that I think a team will be very happy to take in the later rounds. Because I think Jeremiah Love is probably the only one round round one running backs to be taken. I think he'll be probably a top 10 pick, but I don't really see any of the any of the other running backs being a first-round draft pick by any means. So I think the team that takes Jeremiah will love him, but I think outside of that, I think there would be a lot of running backs from two down that'll be second, third round draft picks. I think you could do a lot of good things with. Mike Washington Jr., the running back from Arkansas, physical freak, by the way. He's 6'1, 220. He ran a 4-3-3-10-yard uh 40-yard dash. He ran a 1-5-1-10-yard split, 39-inch vertical jump and a 10-8 broad jump. He was a he like he's a he's a big boy and he runs pretty quick for his size. Like he is a that's a that's a I might even want to say bruiser because it implies that he's slow. That's a big running back that has a lot of speed to him and can do a lot of good things. Um let's see here. Who was the yeah, and he ran the fastest 40. He ran a 4-3-3, Jeremiah Love ran a 4-3-6. So like the Mike Washington Jr., the guy from Arkansas, definitely had an insane day. Um, Jam Miller, the running back from Alabama, a little bit smaller. Not as fast, but like he can do a lot of good things in the NFL as a running back. He's a little bit smaller, too. Um, but like there's a lot of like I said, Jeremiah Love is the only like potential superstar running back coming out. Again, I can't Can I say a potential superstar? He's the only one. I can't say that because in the at the running back position, guys that are getting picked in the second, third round can definitely make that jump because it's that's just what the position is in the NFL as of right now. But the only guy as of right now that translates to be an instant impact superstar running back in the NFL is Jeremiah Love. But outside of that, there are some very good running backs, Mike Washington Jr., like I already said, Um Jadarian Price, the other guy from Notre Dame, um Jam Miller, Alabama. I think that there's a lot of other running backs that I think you can get a little get excited about. But I do think those are like the three that I'm definitely a little bit more excited about than the others. But I think all in all, I think there was like one of those going um stories throughout this this combine process. I think they said that every single position group it is the fastest it's ever been. So the average speed of all the 40s ran amongst every position is is the fastest set of 40 times in combine history. Um, and this is it's a very these dudes just getting bigger, faster, stronger, and it's just it's really showing to be that way in like in every single position. And it's just these athletes are just getting better and better. They really are. And I are we gonna be hit a point where human uh freakiness is probably gonna be at its at its at its uh peak? Probably. And I say freakiness as in like athleticism, not necessarily anything else for any of the weirdos out there. Um but I do think all in all, these athletes are just they're going insane, dude. And they're getting they're just getting they're getting built differently, and they're all just getting better and better and doing a lot crazier athletic feats. So very, very fun watch yesterday with with the running backs as well. And they all can catch. I didn't really see anybody with like real brick hands in the in the um guys that were catching the football out of the backfield with the running back drills and all that. Like all of them are very versatile, can run, can catch, can um the blocking is a little bit different because it's harder to do. Um, harder to judge that when you're not facing a real dude running at full speed at you. But all those running backs are very versatile, can kind of do a lot of good things. Wide receiver. Um, let's see here. One of my main thoughts, not thoughts, but like questions of this wide receiver class was that Carnell Tate was looked at to be like the number one guy, the best wide receiver coming out of coming out of college this season for the draft, right? Coming out of Ohio State, of course. Sorry, I have to mention he's a buckeye. My question coming into this combine was was there going to be a a different wide receiver that was going to make a big mark in this combine and like really like show out and like be the second guy behind him? And let me start with Carnell because there was a little bit of controversy coming out of his. So Carnell Tate didn't do any of the catching, he didn't do any of the like the drills, right? He didn't do any of like the wide receiver drills, but he did test. He did the 40-yard dash and he did the 10-yard split. The 40-yard dash, he had an official time of 4-5-3. Okay. Not a very fast time for a wide receiver, especially for a wide receiver that's potentially a top 10 draft pick. Not good, right? And people were talking about that all over Twitter and talking about how slow he is and whether he can be an actual superstar receiver, which again, I don't like that conversation because there are slow receivers that didn't do all that well in the combine process that turn out to be superstars. Hell, Puka Nakua. Puka Nakua was not known to be a fast wide receiver whatsoever. Let me hold on let me look at this real quick. Hold on. Um Puka Nakua combine results. He ran a 4-5-7-40. 36 and a half inch vertical jump, 4-3-6 uh 20-yard shuttle. So, like a guy like Puka Nakua's looked at as one of the best wide receivers in the NFL. He was a fourth round draft pick. He was a fourth or fifth round draft pick uh for the Rams, and he's one of the best out there in the NFL right now. JSN is not looked at as to be the like the most physical Marvel type of wide receiver, and he's literally he had the best wide receiver season this past year in the NFL. Um, so like there are like the speed isn't necessarily everything, right? But it is a big indicator on whether you have the speed to separate and all of that. And the 4-5-3 was definitely not a good look, and he ran in the same time for both of his runs, right? And then coming out of last night and coming in this morning, it was news all over Twitter and on social media and all of that that there was multiple NFL GMs and executives and all of that, and like combine people that were hand timing it, and they got times that were under the 4-5 uh combine time. Under 4-5, what they were saying. They're all saying it was like high, like mid to high 4-4s what they were testing at, and they were it's not they're not worried about the 4-5-3 official combine time, which is like on one hand, could it be Carnell Tate's people kind of like saying, hey, we're just gonna throw out the throw out this not gonna say bad info, but is it like Carnell Tate's people getting out to some of the insiders and just getting the news out there, like, oh, he ran a fat a little bit faster time than what the combine time says. But it was like it was by some of the bigger ones that said, hey, this is not coming for Carnell's people, this is coming from the NFL people, they did run more faster than a 4-5. Which I'm like, okay, fine. But here's the thing: even if he does, he doesn't look like a 4-5 guy when he's on the football field. And that has been a proven thing over time that there are guys that potentially aren't necessarily the fastest when it comes to being in a shorts and a t-shirt in a combine setting, but once once they have the pads on and once they're out there competing against other people, that they're a lot fat they play a lot faster than that. And I think that as again, as long as the combine time is sitting around a 4-4, like a high mid to high 4-4s, I think he'll be fine. And I'm gonna believe it that he's faster than a 4-5-3 because I saw him play for Ohio State for three years, and I think he proved that he's not a four-five guy. I think he is faster than that, but even if he isn't, he proved in the in college football that he was a guy that was getting away from a lot of people, especially in this last season. He was burning a lot of people out there in college football, and he was a big play receiver, so I'm not worried about that whatsoever. But it is something that people were talking about in the NFL circles that, you know, can I challenge the validity of? I guess he'll have one other opportunity to run a 40 at the Ohio State Combine, so the Ohio State Pro Day. So like he'll have a chance to run again and probably get a better time out there. But I think all in all, I don't think it fucking matters. I think Carnell Tate is the best wide receiver coming out in this year's draft. He has a size, he has enough speed, and I think he proved it in an Ohio State team that he can, like, in his college time, that he is like he is that dude. He can he's very good. I think he'll be the first wide receiver taken in this year's draft. But again, it's just that 40 year time. And again, here's the problem with the 40s, right? It's fun to watch, it's fun to talk about when these guys are blistering fast. But in this setting, that is not these guys that are getting into track stances to try to run their fastest 40. That isn't what happens on the NFL on NFL field. Guys are not getting in track stances to start a play in the NFL. That's not what that's that's not what's happening. So when it comes to these 40-yard times and how they're again, they I get it, it's a it's a something that helps you translate to see if your tape will match what you can actually do physically. I totally understand. But I feel like it's just it's a little bit overblown at times, and I feel like it needs to be a piece of the puzzle, not the whole puzzle in itself. And people that consider the 40 to be the bigger, like the biggest piece of the puzzle, which is not necessarily always the case. That's my problem with it. But again, I do have fun with it. I do have like I love watching the guys that have blistering speeds, and then the guys that are abnormally slow and that are super slow for their what they're supposed to do is like a little bit of a red flag. But I think the guys that have like the middle tier stuff that, like, hey, it's just like you know, it's not as fast as you would like. I do think these players can be still be very talented and productive in FL players, even without having the fastest combat combine times out there. That's it. That's all I'm saying. Um but outside of Carnell, Mikhail Lemon, the other uh wide receiver is considered a first round guy. He ran a ri he ran pretty well in this combine process. I think he ran like a let's see here wide receivers results. Let's see. Did he run? I don't think he ran, did he? Um I don't think he ran. Sorry, I'm looking for Mikai Lemon because he was out there. I think he did all the combine the drills, wide receiver drills. I don't think he did any of the testing. I don't think he did. Okay. He was the other guy that's considered a first-round wide receiver. He's a lot smaller. He's more of a slot guy in the NFL. Um, but he's fast. Well, at least he plays fast. He didn't really show anything with the 40. But again, like I already, like I literally just said with Carnell, it shouldn't matter. But I think he's a little he's definitely a lot smaller than what you would think he would be. And I think it's a guy that, especially with him being an outlier, being as small as he is, I think he does need to have a little bit different combine stats when it comes to being a little bit faster because you do have to make up for that lack of size with a little bit of speed. But Mikhail Lemon, when he was doing his his wide receiver drills, he showed he is a little bit different of an app, like a little has a different twitch than a lot of different guys. But again, he's a smaller guy, so like you he view better. Um let's see the wide receivers that kind of caught my eye. Deion Burks, I think he ran the fastest 40 yard time. No, Brendan Thompson, the wide receiver from Mississippi State, ran the fastest 40. He ran a 426 40, I think. Yeah, he ran a 4-2-6, blistering fast. Um, not necessarily the guy that was looked at to be like one of the top wide receivers in this year's draft in this year's draft class, but running a time that that fast was a very cool time to see. Um, Xavier Thomas, wide receiver at LLC, ran a 4-2-8. He had a blistering fast time. Deion Burks, he ran a really good time of a 4-3. Um, he was a guy that's looked at as be the one of the better, like a top two, three round receiver. I think he did a lot of good things. He's a little bit smaller, not necessarily the biggest guy, but I do think he's a guy that people in the NFL could be like a real good slot type of burner type in the NFL. I will say Zachariah Branch, the the wide receiver from Georgia, he he ran a 4-3-5, which is him being at okay, this is the problem of the combine stuff, because I talk about the combine time not mattering as much, but I think with context, it can be kind of put together, kind of matter. For a guy like Zachariah Branch, who's 5'9, he's stupid small, he's at 177, 177 pounds, 9 inch hand size, 29 inch arm length, a guy being as small as he is, and he runs a 4-3 F5, which is again again a fast time. 435 is a very quick time. But at his size, it doesn't look as fast because, like, hey, you don't have the size to really like if you're gonna be draped on, draped over by a by a cornerback or a slots, a slots, uh slot corner or a safety, like you're gonna have to run by them at your size. You're not gonna be able to get a lot of jump balls over these people, and if you're not gonna be able to run away from them, it's gonna be a little bit harder for you. And so, like, putting that combine time with the size, weight, and speed of these the size and weight of these guys definitely kind of puts a little bit bet more more all-around picture of these guys and what they can be in the NFL when you're kind of trying to try and translate it out. So, with that, I just think for a guy like him, I was like, I would wish he would run a little bit faster with how small that he is. But other guys that kind of got um my attention in this year's draft and this year's combine stuff. Let's see here, who was the other guys? Jacoby Lane, the bigger wide receiver from USC. He ran a 4-4-7, but being at his his size, 6'4, um, 200 pounds, the fact that he's running a time like that is definitely a big deal. He can be a guy that can be like a bigger like X type of receiver in the NFL. Long with Carnell Tate, you have who was the it was the one guy from there's another wide receiver. I think it was from like North Dakota State, I think. Bryce Lance. Okay, Bryce Lance, the Lance last name is probably a little bit a little bit uh familiar because he is the brother of Trey Lance, the quarterback that was drafted from the Niners from North Dakota State as well. His brother is coming out in this year's draft as a wide receiver. Let me tell you this real quick. He's 6'3, 200 pounds, uh 32-inch arm length, nine and one-fourth inch hand size, but he is a bigger guy as a wide receiver. Definitely a bigger guy. He ran a 4'3, which is a pretty blistering time for a guy at that size. He ran a 149, 10-yard split, a 41.5 inch vertical jump, 11-inch broad jump, 11-foot broad jump. Um he his athleticism is insane for how for how big that he is. It's insane. It's insane. And with like a guy like that is a guy that you can draft in the second, third round in the NFL draft. And if you can kind of mold him right, he can be a very talented, like, he can be a big play receiver for you with being as big and not as fast as he is coming out of North Coast of State. So like it's for guys like this, I think the combine makes a huge, um, a huge makes a huge leap for. And it's just like it's the guy with the big height, weight, speed guys that can also like that kind of prove it out there. That I think that that's what leads to NFL teams kind of taking a chance. Some of these guys saying, Hey, they have the physical tools, we need to teach them a little bit, they need to still grow, but if we can get that, can they be the next special guy on our team? Which I think is a big deal for guys like that. Um, so those are the quarterback, right, running backs, wide receivers. Oh, tight ends, too. There is one tight end that really got my eye. I'm not gonna lie to you. Kenyon Sadiq, he's a guy, he's looked at as the number one tight end prospects in prospect in this year's draft, but he's a freak. 6'3, not necessarily as big when it comes to a tight end. 241, but he had a 4'3, 940, which is absolutely insane. He ran a 4-3 as a tight end, very fast, and I think he can be a very big weapon in the NFL. Um, a little bit smaller, but I think he can be a weapon for a lot of teams, whoever would draft him. Um, but he's splistering fast, a little bit shorter, but I think he can be a very good uh very good option for a team in the NFL. Also, the other tight ends that caught my eye, Eric Stover, Eli Stowers, who was the guy from Vanderbilt, very talented, uh, very talented receiver. Sorry, very talented tight end, a little bit bigger, 6'4. Um, didn't run as fast as the time. You ran a 4'5, but again, for a tight end that's pretty plain fast. You ran a four foot, he had a 45 and a half inch vertical jump, um, 11-foot broad jump. Like he was he was definitely a little bit of a physical freak. Not necessarily as crazy as Kenyon Sadiq, but he's a little bit bigger. So he's trading a little bit of that for size. Um, but the tight ends aren't necessarily crazy, but Kenyan Sadiq was definitely the out the uh outlier. And then uh offensive linemen are going today, but I'm not really you know big on going the offensive alignment route in the combine stuff because it's just you know there's the the main guys are Spencer Fano, and then who is the other guy? It's the two Miami guys, right? No, Spencer uh Fano, who is the Utah guy, and then you have the who's the other one? Francis Maui Goa is the other guy, Caden Proctor from Alabama, and then who is the other UM guy? I'm crazy. I know there's another one, but I'm not gonna go down. That doesn't matter. But yeah, the offensive linemen, a little bit harder to judge when it comes to the combine stuff, unless they're like physical freaks out there. But I'm not sure I don't want to go down that road because again, I'm not a guy that knows enough football that can really translate all everything that the offensive lineman looks like. Again, the arm length is always a fun thing to go to if they have shorter arms, and that's definitely a big deal on the defensive and offensive lines. But I do think that the guys on the offensive line that kind of show out in these in this kind of combine process. A little bit harder to translate than the skill positions when it comes to, you know, it's obvious when a guy can run faster than another guy, he can be a better receiver or a DB and all and quarterback and all of that. Um, defensive side, I think this is gonna be early the first two days of the draft. There's a couple guys I want to talk about before we get to the mock draft and then the other things I wanted to go to. Um let's let's start with the defensive ends. Let's go with that. No, sorry, I'm not I'm not gonna start with defensive ends. I'm gonna start with the linebackers, and this is what gets me, okay? Again, my number one thing about the combine stuff is I want to see the Ohio State guys come out and show out and do their thing and show why they're the players that they are and the caliber of players that they are, right? And coming into this combine, coming into the draft stuff, like people were looking that Ohio State can have three or four top 10, top 15 picks in the first round of this draft, right? Very excited for that. That's like one of the first times it's happened in a while. It's like very, very pop, very, very good to have a lot of players getting picked up high in the draft because it helps you in every way. Shows that Ohio State's very talented, they can produce players, and then they when it comes to helps Ohio State with recruiting and all of that. And coming into this combine, there were three guys that are considered locks to be top 10-ish picks. There was Caleb Downs, who is a safety that's a little bit smaller, but when it comes to what he did on the in the NFL, when it comes what he did in college football, and his tape and everything, he showed that he is a one of the best defensive players in this draft. Physical stuff notwithstanding, he is the one of the best football players coming out. Top ten pick. Carnell Tate, number one wide receiver in this in this draft class, top ten pick. And then Arvell Reese. Crazy freakazoid athlete. They translate to him to probably be a pass rusher. And then with that, he is looked at to be a top five pick, if not number two overall, after Fernando Mendoza. All three of those guys are considered to be top five picks, top ten picks. With the one guy that was kind of like, oh, maybe he can be a top ten, but more like top 12, top 15, was Sonny Styles coming into this combine. But Sonny Styles said, fuck that. I want to go out here and show how much of a freak isoid athlete I am, and he destroys the draft. The the combine. So I keep saying the draft. He destroys the combine stuff. I'm gonna give this specific stuff for him because I think it just kind of like gives an overall picture that's like insane for a guy like him. So Sonny Styles, linebacker, Ohio State. Four spent four years there. Spent his first two years there as a as a safety, was very good, but because of the size that he had, and because the weight, and because trying to slim keep slim, because his body kept filling out so easy, because he has such a frame that he can just take on a lot more weight, he was putting himself through hell to try to stay slim enough to stay at the safety position. So they're like, hey, if your body's gonna fill out this uh in such an easy way anyway, why not move you down to linebacker? So for the last two years, he has been a linebacker that's been doing very good things. He spent his first year as linebacker during the national championship year with Ohio State, and he showed to be a very good athlete and that was still learning the position. And then he comes back for this this past season, comes out, cuts down on the amount of missed tackles, um, make shows to be a lot more fluid of an athlete at linebacker, can make some good decisions in the box, can get sideline to sideline, make a lot of good plays. He we rushed after the passer a little bit from the linebacker position and got some sacks, and he just did a lot of good things at Ohio State as a linebacker that showed he can be he was already looked at to be like the number one or number two linebacker prospect coming out in this year's draft. And why he was looked at to be a top 10-ish, top 12, top 15 pick, right? So especially with Arvell Reese going out there and doing what he did in the combine stuff, it was definitely a huge deal that he was able to do what he was doing, right? So Sonny Siles, so 6'5, two 244 pounds, 32 inch, almost 33 inch arm length, 10 inch hand size, and this is what he does, okay? As a 40-yard dash, he runs a 4-4-6, which is number one amongst all the linebackers in this in this um in this combine. Okay, he runs a 1-5-6-10-yard split, which is blistering fast for a guy of his size, a 43 and a half half inch vertical jump, which is over I think I'll I'll get to like the main point over the guy his size. He ran he does an 11 foot two-inch broad jump, a seven-inch, a seven-second three-cone drill, and then a four-second 20-yard shuttle. Okay. I think I heard this stat that a combine stat. So as a guy that is over 240 pounds and over six foot, six foot four or taller, okay? He has the fastest 40, he has the fastest 10-yard split, and he has the highest vertical jump of anybody that's done the combine that they at least since they've been tracking it. So this is since 1999, once since they started uh tracking all the combine metrics, right? So since 1999, he has the at his size and at his length, he has the fastest 40 time, the highest vertical jump, and like the I think the uh biggest broad jump as well. He destroys it, man. He destroys it. And he let's see here. Let me make sure I'm not crazy here. At linebacker, he runs the let's see, the fastest 40 at linebacker at 4'46. He has the best vertical jump by 3.5 inches. The next best linebacker was at 40 inches, he was at 43 and a half inches. He has the biggest broad jump at by three inches, so he was at 11, 11 foot two inches. Um the next best guy was at 10 foot 10 foot nine inches. Um he's like top, what is he, top one, two, three? He's top six in the three-cone drill. And then he's also top five in the 20-yard shuttle. Like, so as an athlete, he is insane. And he was already showing to be the bet the best, if not the second best, linebacker prospect in this year's draft. What's in in total, right? And then you he goes out there and shows how special of an athlete he is. He just kind of blows everybody away. He was the really the talk of the combine for like the first two or three days because of how insane that he did. And he showed out he did an awesome job. And this was along with Arvel Reese, who is already looked at to be more of like the physical Marvel between the two. And he comes out and he kills it as well. Sonny runs a 4-4-6. Guess what? Arvell has to come out as well as an edge, and he's like, hey, I'll run a 4-4-6 as well. So they literally run identical for uh 40-yard dashes. Arvell 6'4, he's 241, 32-inch arm length, and 9.5 inch hand size. He runs the same uh 40-yard dash at 4-4-6, and I think he has a similar 10-yard split as well at a 1-5. I think um Sonny had a 1-415, 1-4-6, 1-5-6. No, one five-six, I believe, is what he ran. But here's the thing: the two Ohio State guys, linebackers that were doing their thing in um for Ohio State this past season, they came out in this combine and absolutely destroyed the whole combine process. Sonny, because I think he did a lot more stuff. Like I think he did all the testing that was available. Arvell did not, I think he did a lot of the linebacker drills, but he didn't do really as much testing as what Sonny did. But again, even the things that he did do, he showed that he was the blistering, insane alien athlete that we all thought he was coming into the season, what he thought he was coming into this draft process. So having Arvell be the guy that he was that was looked at to be a top five pick, and then Sonny was like a top 10, top 15 guy, but like now Sonny has like really vaulted himself up as like he's too good of an athlete to pass on. So he's gonna be a top 10 pick as well. So now, with all the stuff that's happening in this year's draft stuff, like people are projecting there's gonna be four buck guys drafting the top 10 picks. Which I think I saw was like the first time this is if this does happen in the draft coming up in about a month and a half, this will be the first time that has happened since like 1967 with like Michigan State having four guys drafted in the top ten. So this is the first time this would happen in a very long time, and those guys have really locked themselves in to where I think all four of them will be top 10 picks, where they think the only guy potentially being uh, even though it shouldn't be, the only guy that could potentially be a question of whether he's a top 10 picker pick or not is Caleb Downs. That's only because he's not necessarily the physical freak that the other the other three other, well, a lot of safeties would be if they're gonna be a top 10 pick. But again, I just think his tape is too good to where you can justify him being not a top 10 pick with how what he has been in college football over the last three years. So I think the Ohio State guys showed out and they did their thing, they were absolutely awesome. Sonny Styles really stole the show when it came to what he did in this combine. I think also the style I think the Styles family kind of stole the show because even though his brother um why am I forgetting his why am I forgetting his name? That's not good for me. Lorenzo Styles. Even though Lorenzo Styles is not really looked at to be that great of a prospect coming out in this year's draft, he I think they were questioning whether he would be a draft pick at all coming out. And I think Lorenzo Styles, he ran the fastest um 40-yard time for all the safeties that because he's coming out as like a slot corner slash safety. Um he ran the fastest time of all the safeties. He came out and he ran a 4-2-7. So he ran a blistering time. I think he kind of really destroyed the draft uh the combine stuff as well. I think he was the number one safety with the with the 40-yard dash, the 10-yard split, vertical jump, he was like top five. Um broad jump, I think he was I think he was top 10, right? He didn't do the he didn't do the broad jump. Didn't do three count, didn't do 20-yard shuttle. So like amongst the things they did, he was he was definitely high amongst all the safeties. So maybe that'll help him be able to make sure that he's gonna be a draft pick in this upcoming draft. So I think the Sunny, I think the Styles family had an awesome time. Um, and I was very happy to see them do what they were doing in the NF in the uh combine stuff. Awesome to see. But amongst all the other players defensively, the guys that kind of caught my eye. The let's see here. Also to mention, um, why am I forgetting his name here? Let's see. K Mac, um Katie McDonald for Ohio State. He also did a pretty good job in this year's, he didn't like destroy the combine process like some of the other Ohio State Buck guys did. But I think he showed out, did all the drills. I don't think he did any of the testing though. I don't think he did. He didn't, but I think he just did all the uh defense tackle drills. So like I think the Ohio State guys showed up, did their thing, did uh showed out, and I was very happy to see them do so. I really was. So, amongst all the other defensive ends that caught my eye, Arville obviously did his thing. The other guy that's looked at to be a potential top five pick was David Bailey, the guy from Texas Tech. He destroyed the process as well. Again, a guy at his size, 6'4, 251, doing what he did. He ran a 4'5, 40, 162. Again, it's just like when you're facing off against some of the those two guys from Ohio State, it kind of just got for overshadowed a little bit. But he came out and did a really good thing. So, like he between him and Arvello, that's gonna be a very good uh question as to which one of those two will be drafted first. But I think both of them will be top five picks. But it's just that he did very well in this year's combine stuff. Um, Trey Moore did okay. Let's see here. Cassius Howell, even though he did a lot of good stuff when it came to his combine stuff, but what he did on the field at Texas AM was not really consistent enough, and people are questioning if you're not really gonna do again. It's kind of like the um the question with Shamar Stewart, right? Who Shamar Stewart destroyed the combine, but when it came to what he did on the field at Texas AM in his time in college, it didn't show up when it comes to what he actually did on the field. So I think NFL teams are getting better and better about if they weren't productive at the college level, can we expect them, even with them being physical freaks, that they'll be able to produce at the NFL level? And I think teams are going to start to take better attention to that and not necessarily just say, hey, this guy's a special athlete, so we have to take him if it even if he hasn't shown it on the field at the level that he's at the level he was at that he can produce at that level. Um let's see, Denied in a Sutton, the edge from Penn State, did pretty well. Um other linebackers, the who's the other guy? Jacob Rodriguez, the other linebacker from the linebacker from Texas Tech, he was looked at as a potential Heisman um candidate because of how virtual he was at Texas Tech. He did a very good job. It's like there was a bunch of dudes out there in the combine that did an awesome job, and I was just I was very happy to watch it. It was fun. And again, this is probably just a word jumble for like the last 30 minutes or so because of how much I was just talking about kind of going back and forth being insane. But if you watch the combine, there's a lot of dudes, a lot of fun things to watch. And I I think I got to like a lot of like the big a lot of the big ones that I want big um conversation points that I wanted to talk about with the combine. So this is one of the bigger things that'll happen in the NFL, at least for from now on, it'll just be kind of stories with cut with um mock drafts and all of that up until the draft, which I think will happen in mid to late April. So I'm I'm happy we I got to have this point where I had to talk a little bit of NFL stuff and like some of the stories that come out comes out of the NFL combine. Um definitely a big deal, especially with there's not a lot being a lot of football news as of right now with this time of year. Let's see here. So from there, I wanted to react. Does it is this whole mock draft on here? I wanted to react to Mel Kuper's mock draft, which he I think this was after the combine. Um, let's see here. Yeah, this is after the this came out. So this came out the 24th. So this came out before the combine. Okay, I just want to react to his mock draft real quick and just give my thoughts as I go. I think this will be the last thing before I get to the NFL season grades for the AFC South um division. So pick one for him is Fernando Mendoza. Understand, makes sense. Um New York Jets at being a pick two, he had Caleb Downs, the safety from Ohio State, going there. I'm not sure if this will happen. I'd be very happy if it did. I think Caleb will still be a top 10 pick, but I think because he kind of tested to be a little bit smaller and not necessarily a physical freak, not necessarily having an elite trait physically. Um I think there will be a little bit, a few teams that won't be as excited to go for a guy like that because they don't have the physical Marvel side of him when it comes to the Caleb Downs. But I think as a football player, he's probably the best player in this whole draft. So I do think he'll still be a top ten pick, but I doubt he'll go number two. I think it'll be one of the pass rushers, either Arvel Reese or why am I forgetting the other guy's name? Um, David Bailey. I think one of those two, the pass rushers, will probably go to the Jets. But I love that he had Caleb Downs still be a top five uh top five pick because I think he probably deserves to be. Number three, you had David Bailey to the Cardinals. I understand the Cardinals, again, they've already spit so much they've already put so much on defense. I think they probably uh well, they just used an offensive player. They just got Marv last year. Not last year, the year before. That sucks by me. I suck. Um and Carls will probably need a quarterback because they're probably not gonna have Kyler Murray this upcoming season. They're probably gonna get rid of him or trade him. Um, but there's not really a quarterback here that makes sense, and I think going after the best player available, either David Bailey or Arvell, would make sense. He has them going after David Bailey. I get it fine. It's your style of pass rusher. I totally understand. I think Arvell is a little bit more of a project. I think he has all the physic I think his physical traits are jumping out the water in comparison to David Bailey. But I think David Bailey is probably a little bit more of a no commodity right now that is he's been only a pass rusher in his college career, so I think it's a little bit easier to translate. Um, while Arvell, you do need to do a little bit of molding to get him to where you need him to be, even if his physical tools are absolutely insane, even compared to a guy like David Bailey. Number four, Tennessee Titans, going they're going to Arvell. Totally understand. They need they need a lot more defense. I think going the best player on the board wouldn't make sense for a guy for a team like Tennessee, even though I think they could go wide receiver. Getting a guy like um Carnell Tate would be awesome in this spot to help out their young quarterback and Cam Ward. But going after Arvell would be a I totally understand with them now having Robert Sala as their head coach being a defensive guy, makes total sense. Uh Giants going Spencer Fono. This is another spy I could see Carnell going because to give um Jackson Dart another receiver to throw to on the opposite side of uh Malik Neighbors. But I do understand maybe getting him a little bit more protection with a guy like Spencer Fono, the uh offensive tackle would definitely be a huge help. Six, the Browns going Carnell Tate. That makes sense. Again, it's insane for me to for them to go for Carnell when they are not sure if they even have a quarterback they can rely upon. But again, I think that I think the Browns at this spot, they've put so much time and money and draft picks into their defense. I can understand them going offense in this year's draft, but I just think taking a wide receiver without you even knowing if you have a quarterback that you can uh you can say is going to be your guy is a little bit of a question mark. But again, even if you do take a guy like Carnell now, it maybe it makes you, if you're gonna suck again next year anyway, it would put you in a good spot to where whatever quarterback you end up taking in next year's draft, because I think you'll be a top ten pick again going after a quarterback, that you'll have a team ready to go for whatever quarterback you do bring in that has you'll have a good number one wide receiver to kind of um rely upon. Number seven, Washington going after Sonny Styles. I think that's a pretty good pick for them. Washington needs a lot more help on their defense. Um, he would be an awesome pick for them, in even though I think there's a chance that now Sonny, with all the crazy stuff he did in the combine, he may not even be available at pick seven, which is kind of funny to say. Um Saints had number pick eight going Mikhail Lemon. Oh they do calf Chris Olave, who is their number one guy. And I think offensively did pretty well, but again, they did trade Rashid Shahid in the middle of last year to Seattle. So they do have kind of like an opening for a number two wide receiver, especially if you totally believe that Tyler Shuck's going to be your guy for the future, getting him another number two receiver on the opposite side of Chris Olave would be awesome, especially with a guy he can play. Makkay can play inside, outside. So I totally understand that pick. Makes total sense to me. Um pick nine, Kansas City going Jeremiah Love, that makes sense to be able to get, you know, Kansas City of all the years they've had Patrick Mahomes, they've never had an awesome running back to hand the football off to. And now with um Patrick coming off of the knee injury, coming, even if he comes back for the first game of next season, the idea that you could potentially get him a running back that can help ease some of the pressure off of his shoulders to be able to like hand the ball off and be able to get a guy that can hit some home runs and or throw the football to out of the backfield that can help, I think is a very good pick for them. I think would suck because they'd be getting such a good player to kind of help out their team. But I think it'd be a very good pick for them to go for a guy like Jeremiah Love. Uh, number 10, Cincinnati Bengals going Ruben Bain Jr. I don't know. He's a very good pass rusher. He did very good in Miami. He does lack in some of the physical length, size, speed skills, but I think he showed it on the college level that he was a dog and he had the physic physicality to blade that position in the NFL. I'm not sure if the Bengals need again, they probably need more pass rushers anyway, because I think Shamar Stewart probably is considered a bust already. So So having to spend a top 10 pick on another pass rusher after you spent a first round pick last year on a pass rusher and it didn't go all that well is probably insane. But again, there's other people that have picked, like, you know, Caleb Downs to drop all the way to 10 in Cincinnati to take him. I think no matter what, they're probably going defense on this pick anyway. So for the Bengals to go literally best player available at on the defensive side of the ball is probably the best pick for them. So Ruben Bay makes sense. Pick 11 Miami, going Francis Maligoa, makes sense. Offense line isn't good. Who knows whether they're going to have two coming in next year? Trying to build their offensive line from the build it from the inside out. Definitely a big deal. I think Miami could definitely use that. I think they're probably a team that's hitting the reset button. So being able to get an offensive tackle that can be your stall worth for the next 10, 12 years or so would definitely be a huge deal for them. Dallas Cowboys at pick 12, going mansword to lane, cornerback from LSU. Makes total sense. The Dallas defense is awful. Their secondary is awful. So taking the best cornerback on the board in this year's draft is definitely going to be a huge deal. I totally understand them making that pick because their defense is so bad. If they go offense, it'd be insane if they did. Um pick 13, you got the Rams who got that pick via the Atlanta Falcons. Um Jermon McCoy, the cornerback from Tennessee. That makes sense. I think a lot of their resources for that team goes on the offensive side of the football, going to Matthew Stafford, Pokanakua, Devontae Adams, and all those offensive pieces. And the Rams for the last two years have really used their draft capital on getting um defensive players to kind of keep their defense young, cheap, and just trying to get talented players that way. And I think they have two first-round picks this year. I think they have pick 13, um, which was Atlantis pick, and I think they also have what other pick do they have? I think they have their have their own pick at 29. So I think they have two picks in this year's draft, which is they're saying that maybe they can go defense on the f on the 13th pick, and then on pick 29, maybe go a quarterback. That'll be a guy that can sit behind um Matthew Stafford, or they can just go ahead and use that 29th pick on another player to help their team out for this year and go after a Super Bowl. So I think they have a lot of options with them having two first round picks. So going this pick corner makes total sense because I think that is one of the weaknesses of their team coming out of last year. So their secondary was not all that great. So Jermond McCoy, uh Jermond McCoy, talented corner, makes total sense. Uh pick 14, Baltimore Ravens, Jordan Tyson, wide receiver out of Arizona State. That makes sense. They haven't had a like Zay Flowers has been their best wide receiver for the last couple years. But I think in general, I think Zay Flowers has been fine, but he's not, I don't think he's ever played up to his level of being a first-round pick like they drafted him to be. So getting a guy like Jordan Tyson, he's been very hurt throughout his college career, but if they can keep him healthy, he is a big, long, um, fast wide receiver that can do a lot of good things. So I think getting a guy like him to be the number one wide receiver for Lamar Jackson will definitely be a huge help. Pick 15, Tampa Bay, um going CJ Allen linebacker from Georgia. They need a lot of help defensively, man. So getting a guy like CJ Allen from Georgia coming from a great team in college, um, they know how to build defensive pieces. And I think that adding anything to go in this defense, because again, they've put so much of their time and energy onto the offensive side of the football. Going defense with their 15th pick overall, especially with you know, some of the they're not really being a great offensive wide receiver or anything like that to kind of they already plus they spent a first round pick last year in picking up uh Mekek Buka. So going defense in this pick makes total sense. Pick 16, the Jets uh via Indianapolis because when they traded away um Sauce Gardner to the Colts, they get the Colts first round pick. So with that pick, they would go Peter Woods would be the Jets, and that makes total sense. And now they need a new DT because they traded their defensive tackle, Quentin Williams, away to the Cowboys. So that makes total sense for them to go that pick, and not to mention with them having a defense versus coach, and with their offense not really playing all that, not really being all that great, not having a quarterback at this spot to really take. That makes a lot of sense going Peter Woods. Even if he isn't the biggest physical freak. But again, you're at pick 16, so you're not really expecting that um at this spot. Detroit Lions, Zion Young, defensive end out of Missouri. That makes sense. They need defense, they need defense a lot. Their offense is fine, they need as many defensive pieces as possible. Their secondary isn't all that great. They don't have a great pass rush outside of Aiden Hutchinson, so going with another pass rusher to kind of go along with Aiden on the other side will be a definitely huge help for that Detroit Lions team. Um, Minnesota taking Dylan Thinneman. Yeah, the safety out of Oregon. He's very fast. Their secondary is getting a little bit old in age. Harrison Smith is there, still their starting safety coming out of last year. He's 37 years old. He's still been playing good football, but being able to get some young blood into that spot would definitely be a huge help. Young blood, cheap, definitely be a good spot for Minnesota, especially with their issues offensively. They're not really it's not really a great player to take at quarterback or anything. So being able to use that pick and get just getting a talented defense player would be a huge help for them. Carolina picked 19, Keldrick Falk, the defensive end out of Auburn. That makes sense. He's talented, but not necessarily all that productive. But I think that Carolina, with what they were doing last year, their offense didn't do all that bad. They used a first-round pick on Tet McMillan last year. So getting a guy on the defensive side that could help that side of the football. Because I think between Carolina being a team that made the playoffs last year, their weakness was on their defensive side and getting after the pass rusher, getting after the passer, and getting a guy like a defensive end from um Auburn would definitely be a huge deal for them. Cowboys at pick 20, who got that pick via Green Bay because they traded a traded Micah Parsons away to Green Bay, they would use that pick on Akeem Mesador, defensive end out of Miami. That makes sense. Getting another pass rush again, defense is what the Cowboys need. And with this being their second pick in the first round of this year, that makes total sense them to use another pick on a defensive player. Because again, that's their Achilles heel right now. So using that um pick on another pass rush would be a definitely a huge deal for the Cowboys. Pick 21, Pittsburgh Steelers, he has them taking Ty Simpson. Oh, fuck me in the ass. I can't see. I don't know, man. If they're gonna have again, do I think they probably need to get another pass, another quarterback in this year's draft? I think they do. I'm not sure if Ty Simpson is gonna be a guy in the end. He can be the guy for the Steelers after if their Aaron Rodgers is their answer for this year. Can't Ty Simpson be the guy for the Steelers long term? I'm not sure by that. And I think they probably need to use this pick to get maybe another offensive piece. If the Steelers are gonna stay vigilant that they want to they're they're they're they're maintaining the thought that they want to be competitive in this year's upcoming season and not just try to lose games, I think you need to get another playmaker offensively to help out Aaron Rodgers, so that's gonna be your answer. Okay, I do think if they do if they get the answer from Rodgers early before this year's draft that he will be back, I think they might make a different decision because I just don't think you can use again, I just can't, I don't think they cannot use another first-round pick on a quarterback that may be okay at best. I'm just not sure Ty Simpson can be that guy, and I just I don't agree with taking a guy at this spot in the draft. I'd almost rather use a lottery, like a just use it as a lottery pick later on in the draft and just take a quarterback with higher physical upside and maybe build him up in the future to be your next guy. I just don't think Ty Simpson, physical tool-wise, can work in a place like Pittsburgh where they things get cold. You're facing off against a lot of physical teams. I just don't think Ty Simpson's that guy. I think you need a bigger, more physically talented uh quarterback to be your guy. And I just think Ty Simpson is not that. Pick 22 uh Chargers going to Olivier Ione. I'm not sure. Ola Vag. Olivia Vega Ione. Uh the guard out of Penn State, he was a very good guard. I remember the last name of his. He was a probably their best offensive lineman last year for Penn State. Very good. I fact you can put another pick into your offensive line is kind of a little bit like a double triple down on what the Chargers have been doing. But again, with you having um John Harbaugh, nope, Jim Harbaugh as your coach. Totally makes sense. He's an offensive line guy. So getting another guy to kind of share up that offensive line after how bad it was last year without your start two starting off tackles. I totally make sense why they would do so. Pick 23 Philly, going Kenyon Sadiq, tight end out of Oregon. Whoa. Whoa, that'd be insane for that they go tight end. If they go another offensive piece, well, I guess if they're not sure whether they're gonna have AJ Brown or trade him before this next upcoming season, getting a guy like Kenyon Sadiq to be another offensive piece potentially without AJ Brown going into next year would definitely make sense. But here's the thing whether you go with another offensive piece or not, your offense is still the issue. Like adding another offensive talent to an offense that isn't all that good structurally. I'm not saying the offense when it they have talented guys offensively on that team. But it's just because they can't put an offense together. Uh, who knows what the issues is? Is it Jalen Hurts? Is it the OC? Who knows? But adding another piece that's gonna want the football may not get it is probably a little bit of an issue. But I understand if AJ Brown's not gonna be there going into next year, you're gonna need another offensive pass catcher anyway. So Kenyon Sadiq at the tight end position would be very explosive and a very hard guy to stop. So I totally understand why they would go that pick. Um, next pick, pick 24 Cleveland Browns going Monroe Freeling, offensive tackle out of Georgia. Offensive line needs help for the for the uh for the Browns. They've already taken in this mock draft from Mil Kuyper. They had him taking Carnell in the with their first pick in this first round. So going offensive line with their second pick in this first round definitely makes sense. And even if they can't get the they don't have their quarterback of the future as of right now, going into next year, next year's draft, after they suck for another season, they will have a they will have an offense ready for a new quarterback to kind of be dropped in and be ready to go from day one starting the 2027 season, which honestly makes sense if there's no quarterback that they really fall in love with in this year's uh draft process. Almost there. Pick 25, Chicago Bears, Caden McDonald makes sense. Their defense is probably the side of the ball that needs more help. And going a guy like Caden McDonald that can help stop the run, get after the passer a little bit is definitely a huge help out of Ohio State. Um, he may not have all the physical Marvel tools, but I think when it comes to what he is on the foot on the football field, he's a dog, makes a lot of great plays, and in the best games, he played his best. So I think that's a very good pick for a team like Chicago that needs a lot of help defensively. Pick 26, Buffalo Bills going Denzel, Boston, wide receiver from Washington. Again, wide receiver has been a huge point of emphasis for the Buffalo Bills. Now they have an offensive head coach. I think wide receiver is probably their biggest area of need because they have a running back, they have their quarterback. Defensively, they've made it work, but I think they probably need more defensive help. But now having an offensive head coach, I would totally understand them kind of going the offensive side of the football, get that side of the football figured out, and then use probably the rest of your picks on defense. Um, Denzel Boston, a big, talented, fast receiver, would definitely be a huge help for uh Josh Allen of that offense. So it makes total sense there. Pick 27, um, San Francisco 49ers, Kaden Brock, Kaden Proctor, um, offensive tackle slash guard out of Alabama. He played offensive tackle at Alabama, he played left tackle, but I don't think they'll need him to play left tackle, or maybe they might if the uh Trent Williams problem may go, because Trent Williams is 38 years old and he's looking for another extension. So he's looking for more money to uh play with them, and that could be a potential issue if they don't get it, kind of get that figured out. So getting a guy like Caden Proctor, which I don't think he really translates in the NFL as a tackle because I just think he's not athletic enough. But even if he doesn't play tackle, he can play very good, he can be a very good guard in the NFL. So I do think he kind of gives you a little bit of positional versatility, depending on where you need him. But I think at tackle, he's definitely not going to be as good as whether if he was were to play guard at the NFL level, I think he'd be a lot better. Um, pick 28, Houston Texans, um, going Jadarian Price, running back out of Notre Dame. That makes sense. If there's not going to be an offensive lineman that you truly believe in at this spot, um, I do understand going in like a running back that'll help out your offense because I think they were kind of rolling around um using some running backs that do you think they can be really big weapons long term? I just don't think so. But going Janerian Price, he was a very good guy out of the backfield running the football. He should be very explosive at Notre Dame. It makes total sense. I totally get it. I'm not sure if I again they can't go wide receiver, they already have their quarterback, their defense is already loaded, so offense is probably the way to go. So either offensive line or running back probably makes sense. So I think I'd probably rather them go offensive line, the best O-line on the board at this spot. But I do understand getting a guy like Jerry and Price, a very talented running back, would definitely be a huge help for that team. So that makes sense to me. I I don't I don't hate it. Pick 29, um, LA Rams, Blake Miller, offensive tackle out of Clemson. That makes sense. If you have an old quarterback back there, you have an office lineman that just retired. Um I think that makes a lot of sense, man. I think Blake Miller tackled out of Clemson. I think heck, why wouldn't he be taken from by Houston in the pick before? But with this spot, makes sense that they would probably go another offensive lineman to kind of keep their O-line cheap. Young, good, and to kind of help protect um Matthew Safford. It makes total sense to me. Pick 30, Denver Broncos, Emmanuel McNeil, Warren, the safety out of Toledo. A little bit less well known, but I think, and not to mention, can they go offense on with this pick? They used a got a running back now. They used to hit that their first round pick on the running back last year. They got their quarterback, their defense is already very good. So I think the Broncos are in a spot at pick 30 where they can just take the best player available. I'm not sure about Emmanuel McNeil Warren being that guy, but again, at safety, I think that it might be one of their spots where they might be a little bit older. So they already have uh Hufanga and Brandon Jones, so maybe he's just a guy that can sit on the bench and maybe turn into something long term. But again, you're at pick 30. You already have a very talented team, so you can take a um you could take a flyer on somebody that may turn into something later on down the line. Um pick 31, the Patriots going R. Mason Thomas, who is an off the line offensive lineman, sorry, linebacker out of Oklahoma. Sorry, I was having a little bit of a brain aneurysm there. That makes sense. Their defense needs a lot more help. I think that getting a talented linebacker from Oklahoma that played a lot of good snaps there, I think would be a huge help for them. Their secondary is already saw worth by um Christian Gonzalez, and I think their secondary is probably a little bit, I think their linebackers are probably their weakest position as a team. So getting a guy like R. Mason Thomas would be a huge help for that uh that Patriots team. And then pick 32, Seattle Seahawks, the braiding Super Bowl champs, going Avion Terrell, cornerback out of Clemson. If you're a team that you're in Clemson, I mean, sorry, at with Seattle, that has so many talented pieces already, what do you do to keep replenishing your team? Just keep getting talented players that you can kind of keep throwing in to your team and kind of just keeping things young, keeping things loose, and um keeping things cheap. Getting a guy like Avion Terrell, a talented cornerback out of Clemson, a little bit up and down, but if they're not gonna have Rek Willen coming into next year because he's gonna be a free agent and Josh Job, they're both um gonna be guys that are gonna be free agents this upcoming season. You're gonna have to replace that with a young guy. And a guy like Avion Terrell just coming to be your cornerback too to start would be such a huge deal. So that totally makes sense when you already have guys like Devon Witherspin on the other side, and you have Nikon Muwori being the safety slash slot corner. So I just think that's a very good pick as well. And I I don't have too many huge objections to this um mock draft from Mel Kuyper. I do think it's gonna change a lot, and I think there's gonna be a lot more um mock drafts to react to coming out of the draft. I'm sorry, coming out of the combine and all that. So we'll do that as we go. Um, and then from there, I have one more thing I want to do before we get out of here, and that is the um NFL season grades coming out of this past season, and the division we're doing today is going to be the AFC South. I just kind of want to go through each team the AFC South, give my grades based off if I was either a guy working for their front office or whether I was a fan, um, how I would feel about the team coming out of the season that they just had. That's my whole point of this. I won't have Jace's grades, but I'll get his on the next pod. Um, but I would do want to at least give my grades and just kind of talk about it from there. We'll start with Tennessee. Man, how do I feel about Tennessee? They I think you could feel good great about Cam Ward. I think even with them not playing really good football this year, I think Cam Ward showed that he was a real dude. He didn't have a lot of help offensively, but I think he made a lot of splash plays that I think really showed that once you get him the help that he deserves and needs, I think they have a team that you can really build upon. Your team coach sucked in that you had to fire him and go hire a different guy, but we're not gonna necessarily talk about what do you think about them going into next year. It's about what you feel like coming out of this year. Do you I think as a team you sucked in general, but I do think Cam Ward gave you a little bit of something to at least feel comp like some hope about. So I will go, even in the Tennessee didn't really think they're gonna be a great team coming out of this year anyway. So I'm gonna go. Ooh. I want to go D, but I'm gonna say C plus. No, sorry, C minus. Because knowing that Cam Ward's gonna be your guy for years to come, I think is such a huge development that even if your team didn't do anything this season that was worth noting, I will go C minus because I think having your quarterback of the future is such a huge deal. I'll go C minus on that. Even though their team around, like everything else on that team is absolutely awful. They really have nothing else, especially offensively. They really have nothing on that team offensively to feel happy about outside of Cam Ward. Um, so I think they're gonna need a lot of pieces overall, and I think they're they're gonna have to build their team out. But I think because you potentially have your quarterback for years to come, I think C minus is probably the way to go. Um next team, Indianapolis. I think Indy started their season like how did they start their season? Let me see here. Hold on. Colts uh Colts record here. At the end of their season eight and nine. They I think they started the season like five and one, six and one. Hold on, let me see here. They were eight and two in the first ten games. Their first ten games of the year, they were eight and two. And they ended their season losing every single game that they had left. And then ended their season what was it? Hold on, I can't count. They're eight and nine, sorry. So they ended their season eight and nine. After starting the season eight and two. Here's what I'll say. I think Daniel Jones, before he got hurt, which I think he got hurt right there in the middle of that season, right as right as no, you know, they're losing a couple games first before he got hurt and got ended the season with not being able to play. So I think that I think Daniel Jones, as long as they get a deal done with him, that he's shown that he can be their quarterback at least for the next few years or so. So I think he he they shown they at least have a quarterback that they can rely upon to be a every day an every week starter for them. As long as he comes back healthy and they get a deal done with him. I think Jonathan Taylor had an awesome season. I think their team overall is very good. I think defensively they have a lot of issues they need to fix. Defensively, um, Tyler Warren was a really good pass catcher for them. I think offensively they had a lot of pieces. They had a lot of, they were doing a lot of good things before the injury started piling up for Daniel Jones, and he eventually went out with the season ending ending injury. Defensively, they had a lot of things they need to fix. I will go because of how good their season started and how it ended, I will go. See if I'm gonna if I'm gonna try to give Indianapolis a C. No, you can't go C minus. You know why? I'm gonna go D plus for the Colts. You know why? Because they went for it. They started their season so well, and at the halfway point of the season around the trade deadline, they decided to double down on Sauce Gardner, and it didn't work out well on top of the injury. So I'm gonna go D plus because of how that season ended, along with the fact that they gave up their first round pick. So now they don't even have a first-round pick to help their team out. But again, maybe Sauce Gardner can be that guy for the next upcoming years, but he's an expensive guy. And Sauce Gardner had already been a guy that's kind of like taking a little bit of a downturn in his career as of so far, because he started his career off so hot with the Jets in the last couple years had started like kind of taking a little bit of a downturn. So I'm gonna go D plus because they gave away, they were aggressive and gave away their first round draft capital to try to help out this team, and it didn't do anything. So I'm gonna go D plus for Indianapolis. Dang, I think I'm gonna go D plus D plus for Indianapolis. I'm gonna have to go D for Tennessee. I'm gonna go D plus for Tennessee because I don't think they had nearly the Um nearly the expectations coming to the year that Indianapolis did. But I think that Tennessee is all around as a team, doesn't have anything to look forward to really outside of Cam Ward. So I'm gonna go D plus, even though I think they their quarterback, they feel a lot better about that. But outside of that, they don't feel nearly as good as what the Colts do because they at least the Colts have a lot of pieces that they think that will be mainstays for them for a little while, even if they I don't think their quarterback position is as locked in as what Cam Ward is for Tennessee. Um next team. I'm gonna go Houston Houston here. Houston, a third year in a row with CJ Stroud as your starter that you get through the NFL season. He doesn't play all that great this year. Offensive line is awful yet again. Um injuries throughout the year, but your defense is absolutely amazing and like probably the best defense in the NFL, from my in my opinion, throughout last year. So like your defense is so awesome. CJ Stroud ends the season on a very terrible note, throwing four picks in the first half of their playoff game against the Patriots. So that doesn't look good. But again, they faced they had another season of making the playoffs again and winning a playoff game against Pittsburgh in that first round, even though CJ didn't play good in that game either. I'm gonna go for Houston, I'm gonna go C minus. Because as much as I believe in CJ Stroud, and I really do, I really do believe in CJ Shroud, and I think that those last two games in the playoffs in this past season was probably gonna be a blip on the radar for him totally in his career. But I do think, if I'm being honest, based off of how bad the offense was this past year, and what I think like they really need help offense line-wise, and like their running back position, I think that I'll go C. Because again, with CJ Stroud, he's won multi won three, four playoff games now throughout his NFL career so far. He's one they've gotten past the first round every single year of their uh of their time with CJ as their guy. Their defense is still awesome. I think as long as CJ takes a few steps forward, I think they can feel like he can get over this. But I think you just can't feel great about what CJ did those last couple of games. It just wasn't good. But I feel like he's shown you that he is a great starter in the NFL so far. So like you can't necessarily say that this like the CJ that you saw the last couple games is what he's gonna be the rest of his career. I just don't think that's necessarily accurate. So I'll go C. The CJ stuff's gonna have to get fixed, and I think CJ will fix it. Um, but I just think that you need your the office line help me, they just need so much help offensive line-wise. Uh and the offensive coordinator position is like iffy too. I'm like, I don't know how you can feel confident about your offensive coordinator as well. But again, it's all if CJ plays with how he needs to play, I think the offensive coordinator is not that much of an issue. So I'll go C plus with Houston. They want another, it's hard to feel terrible when you got to the second round of the playoffs again. And if CJ just plays a normal game like he usually would play, you would have won that game against uh you would have won that game against the Patriots and you would have been in that AFC championship game going up against the Broncos. So I'll go C plus for Houston. And then Jacksonville. Jacksonville coming into this year with a brand new head coach, he what is he gonna be the guy? Um Trevor Lawrence, is he gonna kind of turn out to be the quarterback that you had that you drafted him to be and what you paid him big money to be? Um especially coming off of a year where let's see here. Weren't they like under 500 the year before? Let me see here. Jacksonville. Let's see here. Jaguars record. Last year they were 13 and 3, right? 13 and 4. The year before, they were 4-13. So they literally turned their season around from 4-13 to 13-4. Trevor Lawrence turned his whole I'm not gonna say turned his career around, but he totally turned his career around on his head last year when he was playing a lot better football. He was playing great, he was using his legs a lot more. I think he was just playing a very good brand of football. Um, had a lot less turnovers by comparison. Hold on, let me see here. He had 29 touchdowns, 12 interceptions. Not terrible, not the worst it could be. Almost 4,000 yards passing. Trevor Lawrence played a lot better than what he had the year before. Um he ran the football a lot better. I think he did, I think he did, I think Jack Trevor Lawrence played great. Their offense did really well. Um the the thing with Travis Hunter, this whole the experiment with Travis Hunter didn't go all that well. He ended up getting hurt in the middle of this season. He didn't end up playing the rest of the year. So who knows what he's gonna be in the future, whether he's actually gonna stay playing both wide receiver and corner, or is he gonna start playing more on one side than the other? I think there was news that he was potentially gonna be playing mostly corner next year with a little bit of wide receiver, which I think was what everybody was looking for from him. So maybe that'll be figured out. But again, with the season that they ended up having the year before and how they totally turned it around, I don't think in a in the thing in the playoff game that they have, they played against um Buffalo in that first playoff game and lost 24-27. So it was a close game. So I think you can go B plus. I think as a team you have to feel like it's a B plus because they didn't really get as far again as with as talented as they look throughout the year and having that close game with Buffalo, so like maybe you don't feel all that bad about that, but and you feel really good about your coach now. I think he's proven he can be a guy, and I think Trevor Lawrence played very well as well. So I'll go, no, I'll go A. I'll go A. Because I think Trevor Lawrence playing as well as he did. You know you have a head coach you believe in now. Your offense played great, your defense played actually some pretty decent football down the stretch as well. So I'll go A. It can't be an A plus, but I think A definitely A minus. A minus is where I think I should go with that. So I'll go A minus with the Jacksonville Jaguars. They totally turned their season from the year before from the 2024 season on its head, going 13-4 to 14-3. They played very good football. Trevor Lawrence played great, and I think that I think they should be very confident about how their season ended and how what where they can be going. So I'll go A minus for Jacksonville, and that is it for the NFL season grades for the AFC South. So for me, I went D plus for Tennessee. Um, I went D plus for Indianapolis, I went C plus for Houston, and then I went A minus for Jacksonville. Those are my uh grades um on the next pod. We will I will get Jace to have his grades on the on this division, as well as us going to a different division in the next podcast. Um so again, it's been a it's a little bit late on when we usually do our podcasts, but you know, I figured wait till after the combine so I have some things to talk about there. So that's about it for me. So I don't really think I have anything else to talk about. That's it. So I'm about to go and watch some basketball today and like kind of enjoy the rest of my Sunday. So that that's where I'll end it here. If you guys have been listening for a while, we appreciate you. If you're just not jumping on, hopefully you like us and enjoy us enough to join us on this where I talk about sports in the dumbest way possible. If this is your first pod you've listened to and you just listen to me sit here ramble on, um, make sure you go listen to a different podcast with both me and Jason so you get a better idea of what we what this podcast is at its best. And when you have both of us here, both the hosts talking shit, talking to each other as brothers, doing our things as a podcast co-host. 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Have a great day, have a great night, and we will see you guys later on this week slash next week. Bye y'all