Defensive Tackles & Linebackers Breakdown

Two positions. Fifteen prospects. Zero boring stories. We go deep on every ranked defensive tackle and linebacker in Dane Brugler's Beast 2026 — full scouting cards, external intel, and a debate question on every single player. Lee 'The Fridge' Hunter left Auburn on social media saying they treated players 'like dogs,' followed his coach to UCF, signed an NIL deal to come to Texas Tech, and played the Senior Bowl in his hometown of Mobile as a kid who used to attend it as a fan. Jacob Rodriguez gave up his scholarship at Virginia, slept on his brother's apartment floor as a walk-on, won four linebacker awards, finished 5th in Heisman voting, and his wife is an Army Black Hawk pilot. Sonny Styles ran a 4.46 forty at 6'5", 244 pounds and his mother posted online after his combine that 'there will be more Styles coming.' Kayden McDonald had seven sacks in a single high school playoff game. We cover all of it — plus the Peter Woods hype-vs-production debate, Josiah Trotter carrying his father's Eagles legacy into the league, and the linebacker nobody's talking about who had more tackles than Jacob Rodriguez in 2025. Follow us @redzoneblitzpod on X, Instagram & TikTok | redzoneblitzpodcast@gmail.com

Find us on social media:

X: @redzoneblitzpod

Instagram: @redzoneblitzpod

TikTok: @redzoneblitzpod

www.redzoneblitzpodcast.com

redzoneblitzpodcast@gmail.com

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:07

Uh-huh. For all things NFL in college football.

SPEAKER_01 0:19

They made that pretty clear.

SPEAKER_06 2:45

Thank you, Shafter.

SPEAKER_04 2:47

Basically, a nicer, calmer, more professional of what we've been bitching about for the past five months with our iceberg.

SPEAKER_06 2:56

Before you start, I think it's only right we give you a little intro.

SPEAKER_00 3:06

Yelling here we go till his voice runs cold. Living like a legend in the black and gold.

SPEAKER_06 3:14

So where do we want to begin? What do we want to say?

SPEAKER_08 3:21

I hate talking about this.

SPEAKER_06 3:22

But I bet. I bet. Um, guys, I think I will let um some of my co-hosts, you guys, you guys lock in here. You just ask some questions. Go ahead.

SPEAKER_07 3:36

If no Aaron Rodgers, why are you looking at me? If no Aaron Rodgers guy images, yeah, yeah. No Aaron Rodgers, who did you want to start at day one? Who do I want to start at day one?

SPEAKER_08 3:47

With no Aaron Rodgers. Uh, I want them to go into the draft, and I want them to get a QB in the third or fourth round, whether that be Nussmeyer or Aller. Because I think Simpson's gonna be gone before then. But is that your day one starter? I would say maybe put him in training camp to go up against Will Howard and see who can beat out who, but probably.

SPEAKER_04 4:15

Yeah. But with those additions, like, are you comfortable? Like, you've you've got this streak of always having the winning, the winning record, going to the playoffs. Like, you've got TJ Watt, you've got you just went out, like you've got Metcalfe, you just went out and got Dowdle, you went out and got Pittman, so you've got these veteran guys, you got the more weapons. Are you comfortable going like do you think they want a rookie?

SPEAKER_08 4:40

Honestly, I could give I couldn't care less about the streak. No, but I couldn't care about the streak. If they go into this year and they shit the bed, and right now I think the plan is Mason Rudolph.

SPEAKER_04 4:54

Well, what is what is the hope? Like, what is like if Aaron Rodgers comes in, or not comes in, if if if Aaron Rodgers comes back or you have to start a rookie quarterback, the hope is like what is your expectation with legitimate expectations coming up this year with uh having added doubtless with having added Pittman because you've got the weapons now.

SPEAKER_07 5:17

And he's almost and you've got a legit defense because you almost have no excuse no matter who comes in.

SPEAKER_08 5:23

Well, the hope would be that that rookie can be the franchise QB later on in the future. That's kind of the hope. And everyone says Mike McCartski's a QB whisperer and all that, and he can mold the young QBs.

SPEAKER_04 5:36

I would like to see that. I mean, he does shelter young QBs because he runs a basic bitch West Coast offense. So it's gonna be running a the play, the actual play calling are pretty much.

SPEAKER_07 5:46

But if it's pretty rigid QB, keeping it basic isn't bad.

SPEAKER_04 5:49

Well, that's what I mean. It's not terrible.

SPEAKER_07 5:51

They can always go that to the Browns and ask for a quarterback, they got like five of them.

SPEAKER_06 5:55

So, what's the goal for the season? That's my main question. Let's start there. Let's diagnose this from the start. What is what is your goal for the season?

SPEAKER_08 6:04

Is it I've said the goal for the last couple of years since Ben has left is to win a playoff game.

SPEAKER_06 6:10

I think we have to go baby steps before we're like, oh, Super Bowl or bust, super bowl, but everyone's thinking so with your current roster, with your current construction of your roster, with the cap that you guys have, with um whatever you guys have going on. I mean, I can go look at your team right now. Shout out to the folks at Over the Cap. Love them, great stuff. You have TJ Watt making 32 million in a signing bonus. Um, now he's not making that for very long, um, but for the next little while, you've got DK Metcalf with his contract. Um, so you got Watt at 42, you got DK at 31, you got Alex Highsmith, you got Jalen Ramsey, you got Patrick Queen, Cameron Hayward, Pat Fryermouth, Michael Pittman Jr., Jalen Ward. Like, you're they're all guys making a bunch of money, they're all players that can play, but at the same time, what are we doing here? Is the main my main question because is the goal to make the playoffs is the goal to play relevant games? Because if we're not playing relevant football, then there's no point of having a Jalen Ramsey, which I mean, I guess they could cut him post June 1st, or they can trade him. And maybe that's what they do because they could save 14 and a half million dollars. They're set up in a way where if this shit goes sideway sideways and they want to trade everybody, they could save it. Like they could trade TJ Watt and save 32 million, they could trade DK Metcalf and save 25, Jalen Ramsey 19, Alex Highsmith, 14 and a half, Patrick Queen 13. So they're net positive in all those situations. But are the Steelers gonna commit to a rebuild? And is a rebuild what Steelers fans want? Because I do not think putting in any quarterback, no quarterback in this draft class will save you. Not for I don't even think Mendoza will save you and be like, okay, let's hunker down on the backs of Mendoza and we're gonna go all the way to you know the the playoffs. Let's just say the playoffs. So is it playoffs and win try to win a playoff game, or is it let's rebuild? Because I feel like you're stuck in the middle, and this is typically where you are not good enough. And that's we live in a city where there's a hockey team that does this, so I can assure you, it's either gonna be it's either gonna be a rebuild and you want it to be a rebuild, or it's gonna be a rebuild, and you guys were just like fucking how if they were rebuilding, they should have started that at the end of end of last season, right? They should have traded a bunch of these guys, man. Well, that's what I mean.

SPEAKER_07 8:39

You you would have had a lot of picks this draft.

SPEAKER_06 8:41

You could have started, they have a lot of picks, like they don't get me wrong, they would have had a lot more. They have a ton they have the most picks in this draft, but at the same time, you could have added even more, you could have had even more.

SPEAKER_04 8:52

But that's what I mean. Like you've got all these veteran guys, like if Aaron Rodgers comes back, they know what they're getting out of Aaron Rodgers, they want him back, they want him back, they've all said they want him back, but if you have a rookie, do you think at this point in the career, this guy, this team as a collective, do you think they want to be run by a rookie quarterback this season? Not at all, not at all, which is why this whole like you've been saying that Aaron Rodgers hasn't been holding them hostage. Every quarterback now is gone. Like, there is the only way you're getting a veteran quarterback now is through a trade, or you're you're waiting till the end of training camp.

SPEAKER_06 9:28

Or you're wanting to bring back someone out of retirement. Okay, I can give you I can give you some quarterbacks that are available if you want to go through them really quickly as an exercise. Um, we can obviously Aaron Rodgers, right?

SPEAKER_04 9:41

Uh Russell Wilson, he's available, but you're not bringing him back. Yep, let's be real. You're not bringing him back. I'll keep going. They might have to. No, you're not bringing him back.

SPEAKER_06 9:48

I'll keep going. Taysom Hill.

SPEAKER_04 9:50

No, he's not a quarterback. He's a utility.

SPEAKER_06 9:54

You got Tyro Taylor. You're not bringing in Tyro Taylor. You got Cooper Rush. You got any.

SPEAKER_04 10:01

Hey, hey, you can reunite with Mike McCarthy.

SPEAKER_06 10:03

You got Jimmy Garoppolo. Um, you've got Brandon Allen from the Titans, who played about 4.6% of the snaps. Uh Jeff Driscoll from the Commanders, he played no snaps last year. You got Phillip Rivers, who played 16% of the snaps. He's a UFA. Um, and he's gonna stay a UFA. And then you've got just a bunch of guys that didn't play last year. Like the that's that's what I mean.

SPEAKER_04 10:25

He waited so fucking long. Brett Rippin's. Everyone else has found a home. So you're either it's either Aaron Rodgers, a rookie QB, Will Howard, or you're basically waiting till the end of training camp, hoping a veteran gets cut, but then you have you got your first couple games are almost a write-off because he's got to come in, learn the system and everything. Like, I don't know.

SPEAKER_08 10:49

I think we like I think what you would hope is you you draft a rookie QB, hope that McCarthy can groom him into becoming a face of the franchise if they can get they can find a QB in the draft that can do that, and then depending on how the season goes, if they can compete to make the playoffs, that's great. And if they have a chance to compete to win a playoff game, then that's the best thing. But yeah, if it goes sideways, then you're probably you know, obviously, the QB position you might struggle if you're putting in a Ruby rookie QB. I get that, and but if you end up picking high in the draft, that's not a bad thing, but then you get a better QB next year.

SPEAKER_06 11:32

But then you're you're risking back, but you're risking how how what are you gonna run it back with? If like all those veteran guys I just said, all are like, nope, I'm done here. Like it's well then you commit to rebuild, but then it's like you're not committing to a rebuild out of your own choice, you're being forced to commit to a rebuild, right? You see how that's like different, so it's one thing if they come into it with a plan. Like, if you're got a plan with the rebuild, you're like, okay, I know what I'm doing, but it's like when it's a tire fire and you're being forced to rebuild, and every team around you is like, hey, like, we know Pittsburgh, they're saying you're gonna get you're not gonna get full value for any of your guys.

SPEAKER_07 12:08

Yeah, you're gonna get low balls for you're getting a low ball.

SPEAKER_06 12:10

Your first offer is gonna be a low ball. But my question is is like, does this not frustrate you if Aaron Rodgers does like I think every Steelers fan should be rooting for Aaron Rodgers to come back because it is gross mismanagement on the Pittsburgh Steelers and Omar Khan if he does not? Sam Howell signed a one-year, $2.5 million deal.

SPEAKER_07 12:30

It seems like if Aaron Rodgers comes back, he's asking for like a big payday now. No, I don't think so. He has not gonna be getting it. He has to be sitting there if he hasn't signed, like they need me now. Give me your money. Who cares? I mean, what it what's he gonna get?

SPEAKER_06 12:46

10, 15, 12, like he can get 20 million, whatever. Like at this point, they have no choice.

SPEAKER_07 12:50

If he says I'm coming back, they have no choice, right?

SPEAKER_06 12:52

But my point is, okay, forget even the money. Sam Howell signed with the Cowboys for two and a half million dollars. Sam Howell, albeit, is not gonna be a guy that's gonna take you over the hump. But if you were to go draft a Garrett Nussmeyer, if you were to go draft a like, I don't know, Ty Simpson or somebody else, a place like he's a great placeholder and he's played snaps of the NFL and they got him for two and a half million dollars. I don't think that's a bad backup plan. I don't think it's a bad idea to have Sam Howell there. He's better than fucking Mitch Trubisky. So I think that you all the fans that you're for the Steelers, all of them, they should be rooting for Aaron Rodgers to come back so that Big Mike can go out there and do his little bullshit about it.

SPEAKER_04 13:40

I think they are, but I mean, like, why the fuck hasn't he made the decision yet? Like, that's that's what I'd be thinking about.

SPEAKER_07 13:47

The only thing I can see is it's a draft surprise. Him showing up for the draft. I think that could be what he's doing.

SPEAKER_06 13:55

I don't think he wants to play for Mike McCarthy. Yeah, and I think I don't think so. I think right now Mike McCarthy, Aaron Rodgers came to Pittsburgh over.

SPEAKER_04 14:02

Then he should have said already, like, this is what I mean. If he doesn't want to play for Mike McCarthy, he Mike McCarthy's been the head coach for how for how long now? And he's if if he didn't want to play for Mike McCarthy, he's been like, you know, fuck it, I don't want to play for Mike McCarthy. Like, so what's gonna again? What is gonna fucking change? If you didn't want to play for Mike McCarthy two months ago, he's not gonna want to play for him now.

SPEAKER_06 14:24

I think there's certain things that Aaron Rodgers wants control of in when it comes to him playing and whatever, but I also think at the same time, how like I I believe that Aaron Rodgers was fully ready to go to the Vikings this year.

SPEAKER_03 14:36

I don't think so.

SPEAKER_06 14:37

I think so. I think he's fully ready to go to the Vikings, and I think the Vikings looked at him and were like, Yeah, we're gonna pass. And they went Kyler Murray, and I think he also got burnt there because I don't think that he wanted to come back. I from everyone.

SPEAKER_05 14:50

But you fucking said it, make up your fucking mind. What's frustrating? But it's his only chance. He's trying to exactly so make up your fucking mind, but nothing has changed.

SPEAKER_06 14:58

We've said this, nothing has changed, but I don't think he really cares about like the Steelers, to be honest. I feel like he could be dicking them around for the sheer joy of dicking them around.

SPEAKER_08 15:06

What frustrates me about it though, and guys like Shafter and all these media guys are saying that oh, McCarthy and Rogers are talking through negotiations, and negotiations negotiations are going great and everything. And I'm just I think that's total bullshit. Oh, it's gotta be because if negotiations were going great, and Aaron Rodgers said he would give them ample amount of time before the draft, whether or not he wanted to come back come back with the team or not, then if they were going good, he would have already signed. He already would have can't come back, there wouldn't have been all this circus bullshit going around. So I agree with you that I don't think he wants to play for Mike McCarthy because he came to Pittsburgh to play for Mike Tomlin and he's gone.

SPEAKER_06 15:48

And I think the little and I think it's honestly embarrassing all this like begging and everything else that these other guys are doing, like on the team. Like, well, please, Aaron, come back, please. Like, come on.

SPEAKER_08 15:59

And Mike Tomlin was a defensive guy, so I think when Aaron Rodgers came there, Mike Talman was like, Okay, I got a big I got a lot of respect for you, Aaron. You because Arthur Smith can't run shit.

SPEAKER_06 16:10

Arthur Smith was basically just there for the vibe. Like, I don't think he was actually had any say in whatever was going on.

SPEAKER_08 16:16

So he could just, you know, he had he had uh full control of that offense, I believe. But now Mike McCarthy's there and he's gonna want to run his systems and change his schemes, and that's probably why Rogers is getting mad. And yeah, I don't think everyone says, Oh, you know, Mike McCarthy hired this is great for you know, Rogers will come back, they'll reunite. I think it's a bad thing. And maybe they should have talked to Aaron before they hired Mike McCarthy. He didn't even want to draft him. I think he passed in the draft of drafting him.

SPEAKER_06 16:46

Yeah, no, you're only as good as your options. So I mean, we will beat this horse till we got a decision. Hopefully, we get hopefully we board the flight on Monday or Tuesday morning, and there's some sort of decision that would be that would be made because my oh my, what a what a wonderful time it is to be alive. Because I mean, if he if he doesn't make a decision by Thursday, I'm I assume we're going under the assumption he is no longer playing football for the Steelers. I would assume because that would be fucking hilarious if it's July and magically he showed up the cards.

SPEAKER_07 17:18

Isn't that also messing up with the like their scouting? Like who to take? 100%. Their resources like they they might end up think thinking we're getting like a their non-QB at 21 or whatever they're picking. And now they're gonna take Ty Simpson.

SPEAKER_06 17:33

If Ty, if they had Aaron Rodgers and they're like, all right, well, you know what? We have Aaron this year, we can pass on Ty Simpson, it'll be fine. We'll go draft a guy in a better class next year, and now they don't have Aaron Rodgers, and now they're like, okay, we only have one first round pick. The Jets seem to be very interested in taking Ty Simpson. Whether or not that is the case, who knows? The Jets could dangle it in front of them, be like, hey, you guys want to trade up? Because we're about to take Ty Simpson. We're about to get your guy.

SPEAKER_08 17:58

Regardless, they need to draft a QB.

SPEAKER_06 18:01

They only have two on the roster. I think they will draft a QB. Um, whether or not the QB is like, I really hope the QB is not set up for failure and playing first like first round snaps or first uh or starting snaps, sorry, uh come September. I really hope they don't drag them out to the wolves and here you go. Here's Kenny Pickett 2.0 all over again.

SPEAKER_08 18:24

But yeah, that would be a disaster.

SPEAKER_06 18:26

I digress. I digress. Uh, fellas, that's enough Steelers talk for today. Let's talk about uh some defensive tackles and some linebackers. Uh, we're gonna dive right into it. Let's go with Caden McDonald first. Um, once again, for those that are maybe new here, we are going through Dane Brugler's The Beast Guide on the Athletic, going through all the positions, all of them, and talking about some of our favorites in each of the positions. Um, and if you guys have any questions, you guys are disagreeing with us, you guys think we suck, you're a Steelers fan, and you want to cry to us, you can write to us, redzone blitzpodcast at gmail.com. You could also find us on the socials, red zone blitz pod, um, on X, Instagram, TikTok. You can also follow Love Machine KK. What is it? KK Red Zone Blitz. I think so. Yeah, is that the handle now?

SPEAKER_07 19:15

Yeah, that's the handle.

SPEAKER_06 19:16

And what do we got? Uh what's your what's your handle?

SPEAKER_04 19:20

Craze wonder. Okay, with the K. K-R-A-Z-E O-N-E-R.

SPEAKER_06 19:26

Yeah, good luck.

SPEAKER_04 19:27

I gotta I gotta change it. You gotta get it. That's from what I did. That's my gamer tag, everything I've always had. So we gotta get it. I'll figure it out. We gotta we gotta figure something out.

SPEAKER_06 19:34

But for right now, yeah. Uh fellas, let's dive into it. Yeah, let's dive into it. Kaden McDonald, fellas uh 6'2, 326 pounds. Uh, he had seven sacks in a single high school playoff game. He had 46 career sacks and 131 career tackles for loss in high school. Um, those are absurd numbers. Yet his college production, three sacks, eight tackles for loss, look pedestrian by comparison. When a player something is going on, there's some sort of like one of you guys is like, there's mic squeaking going on. Trying to figure out which guy it is. Of course, you're gonna blame me. It might be you, actually. It could be. Get closer.

SPEAKER_08 20:18

Mike squeaking?

SPEAKER_06 20:19

Yeah, I can like hear your guys' mic squeaking. Great audio that we're making grave listeners. I think you're hearing shit. No, man, I could hear it. I could hear it. Uh, it's gone now. But for a brief moment, I could hear like res K, whatever. Anyways, uh, when a player's high school tape is the most compelling evidence for their NFL ceiling and their college tape is solid but unremarkable. Which data set do you actually use to draft them? And is Caden McDonald's floor in the NFL defined by his college body of work or what he was doing before uh the system changed him? Uh I believe he had three years at Ohio State. So the biggest Hey, hey, hey, whoa, whoa, hello. Go ahead. Go ahead.

SPEAKER_04 20:59

Oh, so I was gonna say that the biggest thing is obviously just the schematic changes, right? Like going from high school and and college, you're playing under in under different systems. His biggest thing is he was a run stopping specialist. Like he's the bet, he's the best against the run in the entire draft. I think in the entire college, college football. He's a big fucker. Like we say that nicely. Oh, absolutely. With all fucking with all he's just a big boy. I'm on him finding a free topic and beating our no. I meant that in yeah, in a positive light. Yeah, but you've got guys like on the edge with Arbul Reese. You've got other guys that are gonna go after the quarterback, he's there up the middle, stopping the run, man. And the diff one of the big differences, too, even is Ohio State was so deep that one of the things with him is he didn't play a lot of snaps, and that's not because of any. Injury, that's because they had so much depth to that position. Yeah, they were in a heavy, heavy rotation. So he's only playing like 30 snaps a game. You can only do so much. Like your stat, like your box score stats not going to show up when you're only playing 32 snaps a game. Yeah, he only started one season, right? And he only started one season. His job was to stop the run and clog up the middle.

SPEAKER_08 22:28

But if you you know, if you look at the tape, there's so many, he made so many plays stopping the run. And it's impressive that he was on a team like Ohio State, and you could see that. Like compare it to Sonny Styles, Arro Reese, Caleb Downs. He still was a factor. And if you put him on a smaller school, he might have impressed even more. He just went to a good school and played his role, like you said, just being right at the nose guard, using his quick hands, just shucking off blocks and then stopping the runner. So he was asked what was needed for him, and he's gonna be a great pick in the draft. I I think you'd probably go like more second round, in my opinion, but well, he needs to develop his patrust.

SPEAKER_06 23:11

I feel like their thing is like it's so hard to find nose tackles that are this big and behemoths. I think he's gonna, I think a team's gonna take a positional pick with him. Like I can see Bill Buffalo taking him, um, where they're picking at 26. I can see also your bull, your your homies.

SPEAKER_07 23:28

Uh you guys don't have but is it lack of inexperience is gonna show up against the NFL blockers.

SPEAKER_06 23:33

It will, it'll take I can see Pittsburgh taking. I feel like you when you have a guy like TJ Watt, you need a guy like in the middle that can uh, you know, there your guy's line needs help in the inside.

SPEAKER_08 23:44

Yeah, the problem is like I know Cam Hayward, uh Cam Hayward's getting older. What's better to mentor him than yeah, yeah, but they did draft Derek Harmon recently, so trying to see what he can do.

SPEAKER_06 23:55

But he I think a team will take a positional flyer on him. I do have him going in the first round, per my estimation. Um, I would not be surprised, obviously, if he slid to the second, but I can see him going to the first.

SPEAKER_04 24:07

One of the big things, too, when you watch him with how good he is, he's good on everyone else. Like you watch his highlight packages, and you're gonna obviously see him. You watch anyone else's highlight packages in Ohio State, you watch Sonny Styles, you go look up our Arvell Reese's their highlight tape. Guess who's actually making a bigger highlight than them? It's Caden McDonald. He looks good on everyone else's fucking tape.

SPEAKER_06 24:32

And sometimes there's like boring players, like they're just not. There's just it's just he's there, he's massive, he does his thing and does his job. He does his job, and like some we talked about this before. Those sometimes are the best picks because they're not the sexy ones, but they're the ones that do their job. Uh fellas, uh we talk about Clemson all the time for a program that did not do great things this past year. They had a ton of people going into the draft. Um, Peter Woods. Uh Peter Woods um called a but was called a potential top five draft pick before his junior season. He finished 2025 with 14 pressures and two sacks. Um, the narrative around him is grading to the flashes. He's here's the core tension. Every analyst says that he's got the elite tools, every analyst also says 2025 didn't show them consistency consistently. At what point does grading to the flashes become making excuses for underperformance? And if your team drafting him in the late first round, what's your plan if the flashes don't become the baseline?

SPEAKER_04 25:36

So with Clemson, I've said I've said this before 2025 is a fucking write-off. Like, everyone we're talking about with Clemson, we're gonna say the same thing. 2025 was a fucking write-off. Yep. Like, you know what he can bring, you know what he can do, but one of the biggest things, the knock on him, is with the 2025 season, once it got to the point where there was nothing to play for, you could tell he he gave up on the season. He stopped playing, he stopped putting in the effort, and that showed on the tape. Yeah, so that's a red flag to me. Because if you're not playing for anything, if you're not playing, I can't.

SPEAKER_06 26:19

What do you mean?

SPEAKER_04 26:19

I can't hear myself.

SPEAKER_06 26:21

Are you trying to hear yourself?

SPEAKER_04 26:22

Well, I can't hear myself.

SPEAKER_06 26:24

I don't even think no, I can hear you. Okay, I can't.

SPEAKER_04 26:27

I had nothing in my headphones, it was fucking weird.

SPEAKER_06 26:29

No, do you like hearing yourself? Sorry, folks. Well, I kind of need to hear my sorry folks. Yeah, we can joke so we're we're just trying to figure out our audio, folks. We're trying to we're trying to get to the best spot here. Okay, can you hear yourself now?

SPEAKER_08 26:40

I can now, yeah. Yeah, I agree with are we all good on the yeah, yeah, yeah. We've been good.

SPEAKER_06 26:46

We've been recording, yeah, yeah. No, we're good.

SPEAKER_08 26:48

Yeah, uh, no, I agree with you there. Yeah, he he definitely has the the size and the uh the size and the speed actually to compete at the next level, but there are times where he is quick, but he does miss some tackles and he he doesn't really there's no flashiness plays out of him that he has. And what's crazy to me is that even you look at the tape, he he has like offensive plays that are bigger than his defensive plays, right? He had like two um rushing touchdowns in the red zone, and then they used him in short yardage, which maybe was a bad thing for him defensively, because then he was just so gassed out when he went to go play defense. So I don't know, maybe what's the way they use him, obviously having um Parker on the outside as well.

SPEAKER_07 27:36

He's a quick guy, but he needs to really work on consistency, deliver so a team drafting him probably has to develop him a bit more.

SPEAKER_06 27:44

Yeah, I mean, he he should be a better gap shooter given his burst. Um, so there's the things that he needs to work on. He will be a project. I've got him second round. Um, maybe first if a team really falls in love with him, but I've got him, I've got him second round. Uh moving on, fellas, we got Christian Percy Miller uh from Georgia. Uh man, it's stat line is almost empty. He's got 11 and a half career tackles for losses. He's got four career sacks across two starting seasons. Um, Auburn starting center called him the hardest defensive tackle he faced in college football. Georgia's defensive system is notorious for suppressing individual stats through rotation and scheme. Jalen Carter, who went number nine overall in 2023, had a similar low stats, high film impact profile from Georgia's rotation. Now, is Christian Miller the next Jalen Carter, or is the Georgia rotation an excuse being used to paper over a player whose stat line reflects exactly who he is?

SPEAKER_04 28:50

Well, that's that's another thing, right? Like with the heavy rotation, so he's only playing 31.2 snaps per game. He needs to play, uh he needs a to play a little bit more. Um, but he's a beast and he's violent.

SPEAKER_08 29:03

Yeah, I think he kind of lacks some of the there's another guy that we're gonna go over that I think has a bit better technique and moves when in the trenches. I feel like he does have the power and he's really solid. He maybe throws off guards and tackles with his initial instep move, but overall, I feel like he definitely needs to get coached up on the techniques at the position. And I feel like he might be a little bit undersized.

SPEAKER_06 29:31

Yeah, that's a fair assessment.

SPEAKER_07 29:34

He's a solid run guy, he'll be down on a lot of a lot of the run plays. I also like a run stopper.

SPEAKER_06 29:42

I just find it funny every year they do this with Georgia where they're like, oh, they're so old. Oh, they're so they're coming from Georgia. Oh no, they're not gonna be good, and they turn out to be just fine.

SPEAKER_08 29:51

Yeah, they produce a lot of good technical.

SPEAKER_06 29:54

He's a solid run defender. Sometimes you don't need like the crazy stud guy being produced, but they consistently keep pumping out guys that are like active NAFL NFL players that are making an impact. So I I wouldn't be too hard on Christian Miller. I think he's probably gonna be a second round pick. Uh, then we got Kayla Banks, 6'6, 30, 327 pounds. He got out, he had outstanding 2024 LSU tape. Um, he was listen, so his mother was afraid of him getting hurt, so he didn't start playing football until late in high school. He then became a 327-pound, six foot six NFL prospect. His 2024 LSU tape is outstanding. His 2025 was disrupted by injury, he's going in the second and third round. The question NFL teams are wrestling with when a player has elite physical tools, flashes elite performance, and has a perfectly explainable reason for his down year. Do you draft the player or do you draft the narrative? And how many times has the tape was good two years ago and he was hurt last year been the last good thing you ever heard about a player?

SPEAKER_04 30:59

That foot injury scares me because he injured it in spring practice. He wore the boot boot for a couple weeks, it fully snapped during the fall camp, which missed him missed the season, came back, but then he broke the set on the same foot, he broke another bone in the same foot, and that was right before the combine. He didn't even realize it till he was doing on field on field drills. So that when it's been over a year on the same foot, if the same injuries, that scares me a little bit. But he's another big guy. The only thing with him, he's got quick feet, he's got the movement, it's his reaction time. His reaction time from the snap is not good. Like if you watch any of his tape, there's a snap, he has that has like he's everyone else is jumping off the line into the whatever. He's the last person like that moves. His reaction time is is just not good.

SPEAKER_08 32:00

Yeah, yeah, I agree. I honestly I feel like it's a shame because of his injury history. Because I honestly think if he was healthy and he maybe he could prove us wrong, he could work out in the offseason in training camp and be healthy and show that it's not an issue. But I think this guy could be the best defensive tackle in the draft. Yeah, I think the way he moves, his size, his power, the way he can swim, move on the inside, guys, doesn't give him a chance. He has the size, he is a he is a little bit slow, like you said, but I think that could just be a stamina issue. Like carrying that size, it's not easy running around the field at six, six, what three he's really gonna work well.

SPEAKER_06 32:39

Like if you watch film and like it's more of a system pick, he's really gonna work well with zone blocking teams. So teams that need a wide body run stuffer, they're gonna be able to unlock his like potential.

SPEAKER_07 32:50

He's also a guy that you can put in different spots, yeah.

SPEAKER_06 32:53

So he's gonna be, I think he's gonna get that versatility. You're gonna hear his name a lot. Like when he's in the league, and you know what? Knocking on wood. I don't want any of these prospects to like have shortened careers. Um, even the guys drafted by Philly. I just hope they request their trades and get out of there at a at a good decent time. But like you're gonna like if he stays healthy, you're gonna you're gonna hear him a lot. You're gonna hear Caleb Banks like making impact plays and like stuffing runs, and um with especially with his frame and the way he can move. Yeah, I agree with you, Matt. I think he's got probably the potential to be the best guy. It's more so the fears that Brandon brought up where it's like, do as a team, do you take a first round flyer on him? Do you take a second round flyer on him? I've got him going in the second round. I can see a team going in the first round. Yeah, like late in the first. I can see a team that is, you know, they that has a team that has patience. The board's gotten wiped out. They have a big need at defensive tackle, and then they go and they take Caleb Banks and they and they work from there. So I would not be surprised um if he goes in the first round. Now, Lee the fridge hunter, the defensive tackle, number five on the on the beast guide, six four, 318 pounds from that all just blowout team in Texas Tech when it comes to their defense. Um man, okay. So what do I have on him? I've got um so Lee all Lee Hunter left Auburn and posted on social media that they treated their players like uh treated players like we wasn't good enough and like dogs. He was a four-star recruit who was red shirted and never played a game. He then transferred to UCF, became a three-year starter, signed a lucrative, that's the key thing with Texas Tech, uh, lucrative NIL deal to come to Texas Tech for one year. And his former Texas Tech teammate, Emmanuel Pregnant, himself, a 2026 NFL draft guard, said Hunter was the toughest player he faced all season. I guess here's the debate. A player that publicly burned his bridge at Auburn, then followed a coach to a mid-major, then chased an NIL money deal to Texas for one year. Does the career arc say opportunist who goes where the deal is best or resilient competitor who bet on himself at every stop and always delivered? And finally, does it matter to NFL teams what his motivation was as long as the tape says he was dominant? So I'll answer the first question first. So I'll repeat the question. Does his career arc right now, Mr. Fridge Hunter, does his career arc say that he was an opportunist who just follows wherever the deal is, you know, the best? Or he is a resilient competitor who bet on himself at every stop and always delivered?

SPEAKER_04 35:50

Can the answer be both? Like he went to Auburn, it was terrible, it didn't work out for him. Sometimes it just doesn't work out for you. That's why you see a lot of guys transfer out a year one. If it doesn't work out for you, the system, whatever doesn't work out, it doesn't work out. So he went to public though, right? Character issue, in my opinion. Well, I don't think so. Um, went out to UCF, balled out for three years, and then you know what? In the NIL, I are you blaming them? I think every because you're gonna start seeing this like how many guys now have transferred every every fucking season. Yeah, everyone now is an opportunity. Now it doesn't matter, like loyalty is gone. It's betting on to do what he's gotta do. You're getting that bag, but yeah, you're betting on yourself, like you're getting that bag, but you gotta go and put the work, you gotta show out.

SPEAKER_06 36:36

Yeah, he like there's I sympathize with him in some way, like I sympathize with him in uh in some way where he um was redshirted as a four-star recruit.

SPEAKER_04 36:50

So a lot of guys redshirted as a four-star, four-star, five-star recruit.

SPEAKER_06 36:54

But that's what I mean. A lot of people do that, so it's like you're not the first guy that that has happened to. So his whole bitching and complaining in the media with his whole ties with Auburn, duh, I think that drop drastically dropped his character.

SPEAKER_07 37:09

Dropped his character issue.

SPEAKER_06 37:10

Yeah, because you can't have a guy bitching and complaining, like you're gonna have tough conversations in the NFL, as he's not gonna be fucking sunshines and rainbows. You don't need this guy going on and holding a press conference on Twitter, basically being like, Well, fucking they're treating me like a fucking like like a dog, they're not treating me right, blah, blah, blah, because there's tons of shit at stake, and things run like maybe people most people didn't know that he did that at Auburn because the the scope wasn't as big. But if he gets drafted to the Bills, or he goes drafted to New England, or he gets drafted, and he tries to do that thing there, it's not gonna work.

SPEAKER_04 37:40

Oh, it won't fly in the world.

SPEAKER_06 37:41

And it's and it's not gonna work, and he's gonna get cut, and he's gonna go somewhere else, and he's gonna get cut. And it's just he's not it. It's in college, a lot of programs will give you the grace because you are so dominant, and the college football programs need you to win in the NFL. If you are a liability to them, they will get rid of you. Checkmate Antonio Brown, checkmate Le'Veon Bell. Like, all right, that's enough. Checkmate, George Pick, George Pick, like that's enough. Like, they will get rid of you, and we're next. We make it a joke where we talk about like like we talk about it with the Steelers, but in terms of like almost every organization does it, where there's a guy that you're like, okay, this is not working out for me anymore. You're a head case, you're a headache. It's more work keeping up with you and trying to.

SPEAKER_07 38:29

Keon Coleman's on the bubble in Buffalo, right?

SPEAKER_06 38:31

Exactly. So, like, you like I think that that is definitely a character full. Now, in terms of the comp, I think he reminds me a lot of Alfred Collins, uh, Texas defensive lineman who San Francisco selected in the second round last year. Uh, his pass rush tools are currently limited to the bull rush. Uh, he did show an increased uh repertoire at the senior bowl, so he has shown some light since um since the season ended. He's got the motor to clean up for the sacks. Um he's built like a tank with cleats, man, like 6'9 wingspan built to clog the interior gap. I think he projects best as a one technique or nose tackle on a four-man front. I don't hate him. I've got him going second or third round.

SPEAKER_04 39:11

But he's another guy that with the pass rush, he that wasn't his job. No, his job was to blow up the gaps, his job was was to contain the quarterback. Yeah, let the other hold and contains, he blew up the A gaps. You let your edges like David Bailey fucking go after like go after the quarterback. His job was to contain to make sure that quarterback didn't get out of the pocket, didn't get out of the pocket. Yeah, but one of the things two of the things I think are the best for him. One, he played in 52 games, never been injured. That's huge. Two, he's probably faced more double teams than anyone. Yeah, like every time he lined up, he was double teamed, so he's used to getting double teamed. So going up to the next level, you know, if he gets the double teams, he's gonna be he's he's seen it before.

SPEAKER_08 39:59

If he just could if he just gets coached up on like a stronger base and more explosive because he had lowest vertical by three inches at the combine, you could really see a guy that is you know relevant in the past rush game. They could, if they swing it outside, he can actually, he doesn't need to rely on guys like Height or Bailey or Rodriguez to go get the runner.

SPEAKER_06 40:22

I like them going to one team in particular is the Lions. Um, they've got a lean a Lee McNeil already. Um, I think if you put him alongside with him, now you're cooking. Now you got an Aiden Hutchinson on the side that can that can go hunt, and you got a guy like you're solid in the middle there. So I can yeah, I like him going, I like him going to uh going to Detroit. I think he could be a good fit there. Also, you're coached by Dan Campbell, who's a real players coach, and like I think Dan Campbell's a straight shooter and like tells you how it is, and I think that might work out best for this guy. Uh moving on, fellas. Uh, we got to get through this here. We got Dominique, Big Citrus Orange. Um, Iowa State, 6'2, 322 pounds. Um, big citrus snap count jumped from 28.2 to 45.6 per game in 2025, nearly doubling his workload. His production went down. So Brugler flags conditioning on this one. The math is uncomfortable. Uh, when you give a player significantly more playing time and their impact decreases, um, what's that telling you?

SPEAKER_03 41:24

Stamina issue.

SPEAKER_06 41:25

Yeah. Do you think that that can be fixed?

SPEAKER_04 41:29

Condition, strength, and conditioning coaches. Easy, easy fix. Takes a little bit of time, but it's fixable. But don't expect them to play 45 snaps as a rookie.

SPEAKER_06 41:39

So we talked about character. We talked about a guy that, like in the previous one, went to a different program or went to different places. Uh, Big Citrus said no to Ohio State to stay at Iowa. Does that tell you anything? Like, do you value that at all when it comes to making this decision? Like, hey, this guy could have gone, he he very well could have hunted a national championship by going to going to Ohio State, but he chose to stay at Iowa State.

SPEAKER_04 42:07

Matt Campbell has a thing about loyalty. A lot of his guys, well, look at look at going to Penn State. He brought all of his guys to Penn State. He's always just got that, he's built that culture where guys buy into him, his system, his culture, everything. Guys at Ohio, Iowa State have been loyal to him. But one of the big things was is he was ready to quit football. He was a selfish kid. And Iowa State, he says, Iowa State changed my life. So why would you leave if you bought into Matt Campbell? If that's a system, because if you're in a good support system and you leave that support system, what's your chances of that's they don't have the same support system, or you don't gel with that system, and all of a sudden, you know, your old habits come back, you start being selfish, say fuck you, I'm gonna get mine, which that does not work at Ohio State, yeah. Or if you just fucking quit, says fuck it, I'm out. So with a kid like that, I give them all the credit for staying at Iowa State than going to Ohio State.

SPEAKER_06 43:15

Question for you what's the position in football that you think right now it's the easiest to transfer out? Like it does it the system or playing for specific systems, it doesn't matter. Like, obviously, kickers and punters, sure. Like, okay, let's get that out of the way. But like, would it be wide receiver? Like, because no, you could run there's not many wide receiver, there's not many specific systems for I don't think it would be any skill wide receivers. Yeah, it wouldn't be any of the escope positions because then you don't think O line or D line because I think like I'm thinking O line and D line is probably the toughest to when you're transferring out because you're playing a specific system, you're playing with specific guys that you're playing, you're almost playing off of each other. You go into a brand new system. Like you can't be it's on a single position, whereas like a wide receiver, I can take a wide receiver from Notre Dame and be what position has transferred the most in the NIL? That's a good question. Um, we can ask. Let's let's do that. But you you guys give me a rationale.

SPEAKER_04 44:15

That's gotta be a wide receiver.

SPEAKER_07 44:17

I was thinking maybe someone in the secondary.

SPEAKER_08 44:19

I think to expand on on Big Citrus here, like you were saying, uh No, tell us about which position transferred most, Matthew.

SPEAKER_06 44:27

Fuck Big Citrus. Uh it is wide receivers and cornerback safeties. They are transferred the most. Um yeah, I guess yeah, wide receiver is probably the easiest plug-and-play position, and then I don't think that.

SPEAKER_04 44:39

I think the wide receivers is because whoever was your wide receiver too doesn't be want to be the wide receiver two anymore. They want to be the wide receiver number one.

SPEAKER_06 44:47

But my thing is like when you think about it, like if you're a school going and trying to poach a wide receiver, does the scheme they played in before matter when you're poaching them? I don't think so.

SPEAKER_04 44:58

I think you all depends on what your quarterback can throw and what he what routes he what routes he can throw and what routes.

SPEAKER_06 45:06

Because the wide receivers how I rate them is I almost rate them individually on shit that they can do on their own. Like some guy can be like a really good, like I don't know, really good route runner versus a really good vertical threat versus a guy in the slot versus like somebody that is playing on the defensive tackle. I almost have to look at okay, like what scheme were they running in in Iowa? Like, can that team can be?

SPEAKER_07 45:27

I can see wide receivers being there because you want to play with a quarterback that's gonna get you the ball. Yeah, well, otherwise you're nothing.

SPEAKER_06 45:33

Wide receivers are also the divas, which are most likely to get unhappy in a certain situation where they're like, okay, I don't want to be here anymore. But yeah, sorry, man.

SPEAKER_07 45:43

Where am I going? Who's that quarterback?

SPEAKER_08 45:46

Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_06 45:47

Wrap up Big Citrus for us.

SPEAKER_08 45:49

Yeah, I just think like you were saying the Ohio State system, yeah, it probably just didn't fit him. He would benefit, like you were saying, about a player's coach. If he played for a guy like Dan Campbell, that'd be good. Because then it's like, I need to work on you know this part of my game. He is a bit clunky, but hey, Mike McCarthy also players coach, apparently.

SPEAKER_06 46:08

The streets are saying.

SPEAKER_08 46:10

What streets are that?

SPEAKER_06 46:11

The streets him and his streets, right? The street, the street outside his house. They they're all saying he's a player's coach. So like so, like the the five people that probably live in his neighborhood. The fucking 90-year-olds are like, Hey, who's moving in next door? Mike's coming home.

SPEAKER_08 46:26

Oh, Mike's coming home.

SPEAKER_06 46:28

Um yeah, no, I I think that's fair. I think he would benefit from having a system where there is a player's coach available. Uh, ripping through these guys, uh, last two left, Tyler Onianum from Texas AM. I hope I said his name right. Um, he transferred from Iowa State. Wow. Well, look at that. There goes that. There goes that. There goes that point.

SPEAKER_07 46:48

Uh maybe that's why Dominique stayed, right?

SPEAKER_06 46:50

I he transferred from Iowa State to Texas AM and immediately produced finishing second on the team and tackles for loss behind an all-American. That's a successful bet on himself at the SEC level. He did it in a very strict household uh with a value system his parents brought from Nigeria. Also, one thing I have learned I have been around some Nigerian folk. Those folk do not play, they do not play around. It was I I No, they're very serious people. I very serious, they do not play. There's no jokes, there's no like fucking around there. It's you it's business, it's straight business. So I that me that checks out. Um, guys, I think it's more of a personal question because like obviously, like, he's got good tools, he's he did well, but do you also put in weight into like the family background? Like, uh, he comes from a disciplined household, things are very like you know what, to the core. You gotta get you got to get great good grades, you gotta do things the right way. Do you think like NFL teams when they're doing this kind of testing, when they're interviewing these guys, how much of an impact, if you were an NFL GM, would you put on the person's family background and where they came from? This is also off the cuff. By the way, the guy that keeps fucking emailing the fucking NFL. I hope you're I hope you're fucking listening now. Brandon's about to tell you how he only drafts kids from the hood. Well, Brandon's like, I want them only from the hood. I want single mothers.

SPEAKER_08 48:15

Man, Mendoza's on the Raiders. I don't know about that.

SPEAKER_06 48:18

I don't know about that. He's too perfect. Yeah, he's too perfect.

SPEAKER_04 48:21

Well, he grew up in a fuck around find out family. Yeah. So he's like you said, very strict. You know, he's a guy that's gonna listen.

SPEAKER_07 48:30

He's a one-battered guy.

SPEAKER_04 48:32

He's the guy that's gonna listen and he's gonna do his fucking job.

SPEAKER_07 48:34

Yeah, he's gonna do his fucking job.

SPEAKER_04 48:36

He's gonna, yeah, he's gonna, he's gonna work hard. He ain't gonna say shit. He ain't gonna bitch. He's got that, he's not gonna cry.

SPEAKER_06 48:43

He's also not gonna be able to get a respectful mentality. He also, I also he could prove me wrong on this one. He's probably not gonna be the guy at Bucks Wild on a Monday night. Like, he's probably not gonna be the guy. You never know, man. I know he could prove me wrong. Some of the talent at Bucks Wild can swim, man. He could make you proud. He could make me proud there. He could be, he could be in the Fort Worth area doing his most. But also, no more free ads. Every time I say it, you guys gotta stop me. We're not fucking giving him free business. Uh, he could be at the establishments. Sorry, we'll say it that. Um, okay, what the fuck? Chica's Banitas. He could be at Chica's Banitas. Last one. That was the last free plug for any adult entertainment.

SPEAKER_08 49:19

You know what's crazy? You just introduced this guy as being the most well-mounted mattered, and then we're just fucking. We're gonna put him over still. Let's fucking get into the fucking entertainment establishments.

SPEAKER_06 49:30

Could you imagine we actually do get a partnership with a strip club? We would like we would be talking about the most wholesome things, and then we would segue to you. Um, so that's great. So you got milk. You know who has milk? Chica's bonitas. Um strong bones on that guy. He suffered an ACL injury, but he returned through three touchdowns. You know where else you could get milk? Chica's Benitas. It could be, we could have something here. Chica's Benitas, hit it on. Red Zone Blitz Podcast, a gmail.com.

SPEAKER_08 49:57

Some old lady's gonna think, oh, this seems like a nice one. That seems like old lady looking like this.

SPEAKER_06 50:01

There's gonna be a lady googling Chica's Benitas to be like, oh, my son, he just suffered an ACL injury. I gotta get him some milk. Just call the bringing her little fucking 11-year-old fucking son who's playing basketball down there to Chica's Benitas, getting greeted by a Mexican man making tacos outside, going, oh no, it's just be bad times, bad times. Uh, all right, let's get back on track here. Last defensive tackle. Um, Chris McClellan, possibly the most boringest name that you've ever heard in your fucking life. We got Big Citrus, we got fucking the tanks, we got the fight, we got so many great fucking names. And here comes fucking Chris with his boring ass name from um where'd he go to school? Hold on. He went to Missouri, of course he did. Um, sorry, Chris. Uh he couldn't start at Florida, so he transferred to Missouri and immediately became a steady two-year starter. His father just his father was a college athlete. His strength is in his hands, he's described as a bear claw and his frame. Uh his weaknesses is burst and tendency to play high. Uh, 2026 interior defensive linemen who play high and have marginal bursts don't really make the field in the NFL just with the way the game's going on passing downs. Now, if all of his value is entirely as a early-down run defense of tackle, um you take the risk there.

SPEAKER_04 51:22

In a later round, like he's not a first or second. I think he's he's not even third. I think he's like late third. Like he's a project, like he's he's a guy that's gonna be like a rotational guy. Like he's not gonna be your starter, he's gonna be he's gonna be a rotational guy.

SPEAKER_06 51:35

I mean, you could be happy that he's there, he's there for the ride. Like, I don't think he's gonna cause you too many problems, but he's gonna be, yeah, but he'll be bouncing around some rosters.

SPEAKER_04 51:42

But there one of the things with his size, like he's got great size, and that's the thing. Like, there's guys that even if they're big, um there's just some guys that just look the part of an NFL player. Yeah, he looks the part of an NFL player.

SPEAKER_06 51:56

He does, like he does look, yes, he absolutely looks like wingspan, big hands. But I hope, uh, yeah, I hope his agent is currently reaching out to he's a very durable player, 51 games. I hope he proves me wrong and this gets clipped when he becomes he goes to the pro uh when he goes to the hall of fame and can't. Uh I hope uh I hope his agent is reaching out to you, Hall, because I think you there's a lot of moving going on in this man's future. He's gonna be jumping from team to team. Um, that would be a great stop plugging the ad. He's a very good logroom guy, too, right? Stop doing it. No, I can't, I can't now. You can't not plug in the ad. I'm trying to show the people what it could sound like to be a part of the red zone blitz experience. You could you too could have your ad play it on the red zone blitz.

SPEAKER_08 52:37

I predict that like our hoodies that you just got us uh tonight. I they're gonna have like ads all over them. Yes, we're gonna have a patch. We're like a fucking NASCAR drawing.

SPEAKER_06 52:46

We're gonna look like a European hockey team where it's just fucking patches everywhere.

SPEAKER_07 52:49

There's gonna be all the strip clubs on the back.

SPEAKER_06 52:52

Yeah, you know, there's gonna be some titties, there's gonna be some, it's just gonna be real eye grabber for you guys. Also, um, we have been reached out. We have been we have been invited. Um, I don't know if we're gonna take them up on their offer, but we have been invited by a Pittsburgh establishment. Oh fuck, yeah, we're going. We're fucking going. We have been invited. I believe I don't want to murder their name. Uh, I gotta give a shout out if you guys are in the area. Pittsburgh, they're flying in talent, ladies and gentlemen. They are flying in talent for the NFL draft.

SPEAKER_04 53:24

Well, yeah, we're flying invited.

SPEAKER_06 53:26

Uh cheerleaders, Pittsburgh, 3100 Liberty Avenue. Um, yeah, apparently the party is going to be going on all night. Um, it's gonna be a wild time. Please give them a call at 412-281-3110 to book your package now. Um, Kenzie Taylor is coming in for um Matthew will like Kenzie Taylor. Oh, yeah. Yeah, oh yeah. Look, you just the eyes just looking up the place. Eyes just brightened up. Uh, so Ken, there's tons of stuff going on. Uh, they also have some Chicas Bonitas. They have Cinco de Drinco on Tuesday.

SPEAKER_04 54:04

Uh, very well done. Thank you.

SPEAKER_06 54:06

Thank you. Thank you very much.

SPEAKER_04 54:06

That's one year better.

SPEAKER_06 54:07

Thank you. Better in person. Better in person. I've been practicing for the time I get to go to Chicas Bonitas. Uh, I'm really sorry, Cheerleaders Pittsburgh. I totally took over your ad with another strip club, your competitor. But um, okay. Everybody needs to go look at the tag, go on Instagram right now, search Cheerleaders Pittsburgh, and go to the location. Like, click on the map one, and you'll be able to see the pictures. It's literally one guy. There's one guy that has been over the years posting pictures and tagging cheerleaders. Oh my god, he might, he's in every single photo. So do I give him a shot? Do I give him a shout-out? Do I give him a shout out?

SPEAKER_03 54:50

Guys, that one up.

SPEAKER_06 54:51

Okay, actually, I'll send I'll send it so you guys can actually see his. I'll send it in our group chat right now so you guys can see. Hold on, hold on. This is this is actually might be the funniest thing I've ever fucking come across. Is he still posting? Let me see what he's posting recently. This is a total segue. We're getting to linebackers, don't worry. You're fucking on for a ride. Oh my god. Okay. So okay, he might have moved on to a different club now. He's also aged Grace like a ton.

SPEAKER_04 55:19

You know who he looks like?

SPEAKER_06 55:20

Dude, every single post on. Oh my god. Okay. Like, go tell me.

SPEAKER_04 55:27

Remember that time we went out? Yeah. Which one? The guy that wanted to fight our Uber driver. Yes.

SPEAKER_06 55:33

Does he not look like a blacker version of him? Yes. Uh, this is one of the uh he took a selfie with what uh one of the strippers. He said, I love seeing my friend Venus, she's one cool and personable and humble person. It's always fun talking to her whenever I see her. She's so positive and so loving and so caring. I have nothing but love for her and all she does. She's one of the prettiest women who work at cheerleaders. She's such a beautiful and humble, all-round person, truly blessed and privileged to know her and be friends with her. She's one stellar person inside and out. Well, Steve, Earl Jones.

SPEAKER_07 56:14

He seems like the guy when you're there is gonna be like, hey, that's my girl. No, he's the next girl.

SPEAKER_06 56:19

Well, I mean, I'm happy for him. It seems like he's found his Anna.

SPEAKER_08 56:23

I really hope we we don't uh we don't die Anna Roussini his situation.

SPEAKER_06 56:28

No and get him and get him like fired from no, there's no way this guy has a job or a wife. There's no way. No, there's way too many stripper fucking um selfies. Um, oh my god, Steve, what are you doing, buddy? He's living the best fucking life. He's gonna be very confused when there's an influx of like a hundred thousand people in his joint, and he's gonna be looking around like, what the fuck is going on here? Uh but you're in my seat. Yeah, you're in my seat. I'm a regular here. Those are my ass.

SPEAKER_04 56:55

Those are my titties.

SPEAKER_06 56:56

Um, but yes, the draft is happening. It's it's going on. Uh, you can also reach out to them on Instagram, Cheers Pittsburgh. Uh, that is their Instagram handle. Um, they are yeah, they are gearing up for the draft, fellas. Uh, they are bringing in um, like I said, talent. $2 Bud Lights. Kenzie Taylor is in town April 23rd to 25th. They're open 11:30 a.m. to 4 a.m. They are gonna be open all the time. So shout out to them.

SPEAKER_07 57:25

Uh, I guess we won't need to go back to the hotel room.

SPEAKER_06 57:28

Yeah, we just chill out there. Yeah. Um, all right, shout out to those folks. You know what? We did our thing. Uh, now let's go, linebackers, fellas. Let's go, linebackers. Let's go plown like Steve Earl Jones or whatever his name was. Linebacker one. Here we go, cowboys. We're trading up.

SPEAKER_04 57:46

We are fucking trading up. Absolutely. We're gonna trade up.

SPEAKER_06 57:50

We're gonna draft this guy. It's it's gonna happen. It's gonna be beautiful. We're gonna like it. I'm gonna buy a styles jersey. It's gonna be fucking tough.

SPEAKER_07 57:56

How many jerseys are you gonna buy?

SPEAKER_06 57:58

Which if they draft a guy, if they draft, if they draft a guy, okay. Also, Jermaine McCoy, that's a very valid point. So the latest on Jamon McCoy is that he is fault. Teams are so fucking like out, he's off boards completely.

SPEAKER_07 58:14

Yeah, I saw that. So he is dropping. He is even after his pro day, hey.

SPEAKER_06 58:19

So the knock on his pro day was we all saw him sprint, we all fucking got horny, we were rock hard as a fucking like we were in Bucks wild. But the problem was was he only did certain exercises, like he didn't do a full like testing.

SPEAKER_08 58:32

So like teams are worried about like that's what I say about pro days, is they make them look the they make the player looking at the biggest. Well, that's what they're for, right?

SPEAKER_06 58:38

Like the pro day is supposed to be making him look in his best light. Yeah. Now the issue is is like Jerry kept going um before the uh what was it like before one of the meetings, he goes, uh uh he goes, We're not interested in bringing in a player that's gonna be a red shirt. Yeah, and we can't. We can't like we cannot afford that. So now looking at it, it looks like that was who he was talking about. Multiple people have confirmed that the Cowboys are completely out on Jermaine McCoy.

SPEAKER_04 59:07

They should be, which is what I've been saying the whole fucking time. And everyone keeps mocking him. I'm like, no, we can't.

SPEAKER_06 59:12

Like, we honestly cannot afford to have a defensive player. Thank you, Matt Everfluss. Um now the thing that I was gonna say is this is still the same team today. The Steven Jones game. Steven, you fucking idiot. He thinks we don't understand football. So he goes today, they asked him a question, they're like, hey, like, I what's anybody traded up for or anybody asked inquired about um George Pickens? No, no, no, but no trade offers for George. No, nothing there. Yeah, Steven, because it would cost a two round fucking two first round picks. No team's gonna trade two first round picks for fucking George Pickens. Like, would it be fucking stupid? Like, yeah, I no shit. There's no fucking trade offers. Also, guys, by the way, the Raiders have publicly announced as of five minutes ago, teams have inquired about the number one overall pick. It's about time. Let's get that speed, let's get I think that usually happens though.

SPEAKER_07 1:00:11

Every draft, everyone kicks. I mean, with their Kirk Cousins signing. You would be they gotta they gotta be thinking about it. Do we go down and take like an Arvell Reese?

SPEAKER_06 1:00:20

If I'm like any if I'm like the Texans, I'm gonna fucking call them and be like, hey, what's the price? Like, what do you like? What's the actual price there? Even though I may not have any intention.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:29

You're also judging for your own picks because you're trying to figure out okay, what's the number, what's it gonna cost to get the number one pick? Like okay, so if it costs this much to move up to number one, exactly, exactly. So if I want the number two or the number three, I know what a number one is. So if they start saying they want what it's gonna cost me to move up to number one, I'm I'm gonna tell them to fuck off because I could just use that and get the number one overall pick. It's building out your own baseline, it's important to do that. Finding out it's your trade leverage, it's finding out how much does it cost. Okay, cool. Because if if you're telling me what the first overall pick costs, now I can go to the Jets. What's the number two overall pick cost? Okay, play a hypothetical. What's number three overall? I don't fucking know what they're gonna call it. Okay, no, play it.

SPEAKER_06 1:01:13

No, this is your job. This is what you do as a podcaster. I wouldn't, I wouldn't. You're the Texans, you're the Texans. No, it's not about you fucking trading up. Fuck, holy fuck, it's an exercise. I'm sorry, man. You are the Texans, you're 20. But if you're the Texans, why would you want to be traded? Okay, stop hold on. Oh, that's everybody getting it. Everybody just pause. Okay, fuck the Texans. You're the Steelers, you're the Steelers. Why are you gonna drag our this is you taking Mendoza? Holy fuck, guys. We're not actually trading up. I'm trying to think what do you think a move from the 21st pick to the first pick is worth? Give me your opinion. Three first, two first, two first are second.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:53

It's gonna cost three first, but he's not worth three first, so no one's gonna fucking do it.

SPEAKER_06 1:01:56

Thank you. Three first. Awesome. Now let's keep going. Now, three first. Pittsburgh knows that three first is what it calls to it costs to go to the first overall pick. Exactly. So now you go to the fucking Saints call you, and the Saints are number nine, I think. Or no, they're saying they're number eight. Saints call you, and they're like, hey, you got any interest in taking our pick? And you're like, Yeah, I would love to take the number eight pick. Awesome, amazing. And they're like, it's gonna be three first. You're gonna say, fuck you, two middle fingers to the phone, and be like, get the fucking stop wasting my time. The Raiders offered me three firsts, so and to your point, that's the baseline, three first. Yeah, so any team that comes after that out comes in, like if the Jets come up to you and they're like, Yeah, it's three first, it can't be exactly.

SPEAKER_04 1:02:41

So that's what I was trying to say. Like you're just gauging, so you're just gauging on what each pick is gonna cost because that way you know if you go down and say, Okay, now I want you you know what it costs to get the first or the second. If I just want to go and get the fifth, yep, I'm going in with an with an offer and what whatever they counter with.

SPEAKER_06 1:03:00

So I already know I would not I know I brought it up, but I would not gauge too much into the Raiders saying they got calls. I think they're gonna be a good one. No, you're just gonna be able to do that.

SPEAKER_04 1:03:09

You're just gauging on how much it costs so that you know how much the next picks cost, the next pick after that cost, and so on.

SPEAKER_06 1:03:15

But do you see like even like the raiders like that article? It doesn't drive the same buzz as the cowboys. No, I ever I've seen like eight articles today about the cowboys doing fucking 95 different things, and I'm just like at some point they're always trying to do 95 clickbait because people fucking buy into it, do anything, follow them. They've never fucking traded up like recently ever. They don't do this. It's not a normal thing that they do, but like, can we talk about like the fucking like does anybody care about the Jaguars?

SPEAKER_07 1:03:45

No, does anybody care about it's because everybody just wants to talk about the cowboys?

SPEAKER_06 1:03:49

Thank you. So when you guys get on us about why are you guys talking about the cowboys?

SPEAKER_07 1:03:53

But it seems like everyone's here is talking more about the Steelers than the Cowboys. Well, the Steelers are just we're we're we're becoming that circus.

SPEAKER_08 1:03:59

No, no, no. We're just we're just pitying. Well, you got Mike that's why you're yeah, see, it's you're trying to resemble the Showtime Cowboys.

SPEAKER_06 1:04:06

I understand what you're trying to do here. Um, fellas, we got to go to the guy who's actually Showtime. Let's actually fucking lock in here. Uh Sonny Styles has a 43.5 inch vertical, a 4.4640, and the rare ability to cover tight end, slot receivers, and play in the box. His father won a Super Bowl ring. He graduated high school at 16. His only career interception is flagged as a weakness. ESPN's Lewis Riddick praised him elusively. Chris Sims calls him a freak of nature. Yahoo Sports said his elite athleticism means you need character issues or low production to determine teams. And Styles has neither. Yet he's somewhere going between four and 13, depending on the mock. Is Sonny Styles the safest top 10 pick going in the entire 20th 26th draft? Yes or no, and why?

SPEAKER_04 1:04:51

Yes. And the big reason for that is the durability. Like he played as a safety, now he's a linebacker. He could probably go back and just play as a safety and be just as fucking good. Like in coverage, like his tackling, everything about this guy just screams superstar. Like, and it's exactly what the cowboys fucking need.

SPEAKER_08 1:05:16

Yeah, it's so hard to I couldn't find a flaw in his game. He's fast, he's got the size, the speed, closing speed on run.

SPEAKER_07 1:05:26

So Tal can play anywhere in secondary, pretty much.

SPEAKER_08 1:05:28

He's so even just like his acceleration, if he drop backs, he's dropping back to pass, the pass goes out, he anticipates it, he can make the play, turn over the ball. Uh a crazy thing that I read was he received a standing ovation during a formal interview with an NFL team following his on field combine performance. So if you're a 21 year old and you have an NFL organization that just did an interview with you and said, This is the guy that wore the block zero jersey, which is like given to Ohio. State player that is just screams excellence and and all that for the program. And they're giving him a standing ovation after an interview, and you're like 21 years old. That's crazy. That that just screams that this guy's gonna be a future star.

SPEAKER_04 1:06:15

But yeah, like everything, there's no flaws. He can play in man, he can play in zone, he can play up on the line in press coverage, he can drop back. Jeremiah Love is a good thing. The guys can fucking tackle, he doesn't miss tackles. He's he's gonna catch up to you, his side-to-side movement, everything about this guy. Like, yeah, there really is no fucking flaws on this guy.

SPEAKER_06 1:06:35

Like Jeremiah Love is the best prospect in the draft. Um Sonny Styles is the second best prospect in the draft. A lot of teams don't need a Jeremiah Love.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:45

Everyone needs a Sonny Styles. Everybody needs Sonny Styles. And why is he ranked like sixth of the 13 or anything?

SPEAKER_06 1:06:50

You're gonna get positional things, right? You're gonna get you're gonna get things like you're gonna get teams galaxy bringing this. And listen, never know, some team might jump all the way up to three, two. Well, the only people I trust when it comes to Cowboys news have reported that there's two players that the Cowboys deem to be we cannot skip on them if they are there, and that is Sonny Styles and Jeremiah Love. Two players. I don't think they're gonna trade up for Jeremiah Love. I do think that they would trade up for Sonny Styles and the Giants, unfortunately, have the same idea that there's only two players for them that they would like, and that is one is Sonny Styles and one is Jeremiah Love. Now the Cowboys gotta jump ahead of the city. They have to go to the Cardinals.

SPEAKER_07 1:07:37

Yeah, three or four.

SPEAKER_06 1:07:38

I don't think the Titans are gonna trade down. They might, but I don't think that they want to trade down all the way down to 12. Once again, they might. But I think the Cardinals have they have a dance partner there. And I think if it costs you two firsts and you can get the third and maybe a third or second or whatever, I'll take it. Give me Sonny Styles. Let's get let's get this thing going. You pair this guy on with Overshawn, it's gonna be a magical time and fucking ATT. Um taking the Cowboys out of this, man. I yeah. Barring some sort of freak injury, barring some sort of crazy fucking incident, barring some sort of crazy um Bucks Wilde incident or whatever Chica's bonitas incident.

SPEAKER_04 1:08:20

We need a fucking one of those counters. How many fucking times do you say Bucks Wilde in an episode? I'm you gotta say I'm working for the sponsorships, fellas.

SPEAKER_06 1:08:29

I'm working for the sponsorships. Um yeah, barring some sort of well, I I don't want to say barring that he gets fucking AIDS from a stripper and like his ability that route now. Well, I was trying to that was quite the fucking I was trying to say, like I barring his fucking leg falls off from an STD treatment gone wrong.

SPEAKER_05 1:08:50

Okay, is that you're just making you going on now? But do you see how easy I don't understand what the fuck we're talking about?

SPEAKER_06 1:08:58

Do you see how easy it was when I said barring an incident at Bucks Wild, but you guys were so complacent and no, I'm gonna.

SPEAKER_08 1:09:04

But if his leg falls off, he's not gonna be in the NFL. What the fuck are you talking about?

SPEAKER_06 1:09:14

Which is what I'm fucking saying, you fucking lunatic. You're fucking saying is your leg falling off from a fucking STD treatment gone wrong, not a freak incident. Why are you trying to do that anyway? Stay off the weed.

SPEAKER_04 1:09:29

If I fucking crack your beer open, do you guys fucking need it?

SPEAKER_06 1:09:33

Do you guys know what a freak incident is?

SPEAKER_04 1:09:35

Yes. I'm not saying he gets fucking in a car accident and he fucking go to a strip club, he's gonna get fucking eight, yes, and then he's gonna lose his leg. Yes, in a car accident.

SPEAKER_05 1:09:46

What the fuck? Drinking your fucking beer. You need a fucking beard. You need a beer. That is the drinking your fucking beer. That is a freak.

SPEAKER_06 1:09:56

That is a freaking incident. That is a freak incident. You guys are clearly reading too much into this. I'm not reading into it at all. I don't understand what the fuck you're talking about right now. Sonny's talking, man. I'm calling it.

SPEAKER_07 1:10:08

Sonny's talking about wild.

SPEAKER_06 1:10:11

Fuck. I'm dealing with a bunch of fucking disgruntled people right now. A bunch of old guys just screaming, get off my lawn. Barring some sort of freak incident, Sonny Styles is going to be a Hall of Famer in the league. That is my that was my fucking point that I was making.

SPEAKER_04 1:10:28

That's the point you're making. That was where I was going to where you were going with it.

SPEAKER_06 1:10:31

It's not only we wanted a Bucks Wild counter and we didn't just say he's gonna be a feature Hollywood.

SPEAKER_07 1:10:38

You had to paint a picture.

SPEAKER_06 1:10:40

Did you forget the times of your days at USC? How you were clothes-eyed and painting pictures of Hollywood? There's a picture that needs to be painted. It can't just be fucked. We can't just get to it.

SPEAKER_04 1:10:50

And the picture you wanted to paint was a guy fucking going to the strip club getting fucking AIDS and then losing his fucking leg. I just strip club when you go to the strip club.

SPEAKER_07 1:11:00

The picture you want to fucking paint that happened, he's not gonna be Hollywood.

SPEAKER_06 1:11:04

Hey, hey, hey, there's a lot of Hall of Fame players that have done some wild shit. No, I I just took him to the strip club. You guys really took me to the point where I wanted to chop his leg off. Now you took him there with the no, you guys took me there when you were like, my fucking Buckswild reference wasn't good enough for you guys, so I had to go in deeper. Are we convinced that he's top 15, top 10, top five? What are we doing? What's the top five? Top five. Would you say top three? Would you go there? Uh it's possible. I mean, if you take Mendoza out, like let's say, like, it's not like you're not ranking it by positional needs, but you're just ranking the prospect. What do you be top three?

SPEAKER_04 1:11:45

I would if I you know what you know what if if you don't need offense to take Mendoza out, it's just a problem.

SPEAKER_07 1:11:52

Yeah, you got you got love, styles, reese. Those are your big three. I agree with that.

SPEAKER_06 1:11:57

Yeah, yeah, I think so. Yeah, I think uh that checks out. That checks out. Uh now there's a steep drop from linebacker, fellas. So it goes from Sonny Styles to and listen, this is nothing against him. He's he's a very good player. Uh Jacob Rodriguez from Texas Tech. Uh Jacob Rodriguez won four linebacker awards in one season season. His wife is a combat helicopter pilot. He slept on his brother's floor as a walk-on. He tied the NCAA record for force fumbles in a season. He finished fifth in Heisman voting as a defender, six-one, 231 pounds, below average size for an NFL linebacker. His arm length is short. Multiple analysts have compared him to a late second round, high floor profile. Now, here's a question I guess most people can't find the answer for. Can the most decorated linebacker in college football history in terms of awards still fall to round two because of size? And if he does, does the team that take him get the steal of the draft?

SPEAKER_04 1:12:55

Yes. Um, with the size, but yes to both? Yeah, but like with him, he's basically like a teamu version of fucking Sonny Styles. He can do almost all the same shit. I don't know about a teamu version. Not to knock Timu, but I mean, no, no, you can knock him. We don't have an advocate. Very similar, very similar, and he can do everything, but he does have a little bit of rawness, he does make some mistakes, especially in coverage. Like in zone coverage, he can get lost, or he he can just not um he can lose his assignment. So he needs a little bit more work in zone. But the turnovers, man, like he's a turnover, he's good at baiting, and he will punch him bait you, and then yeah, he can't. If you don't if you're not holding that ball right, he's gonna knock it loose.

SPEAKER_06 1:13:49

He's a record-setting high school quarterback, uh, seven over 7,000 passing yards, 106 total touchdowns. So a lot of the way he plays defense is through the eyes of the quarterback. Like he will, like you said, bait him because it it's a different story. We talked about this before. You have that quarterback experience, you're able to like know where the tendencies are of that quarter of the person that like is on the other side of the other side of the line there. Um, I think he is he could easily go in the first round.

SPEAKER_07 1:14:16

Well, that's why he's labeled as a quarterback of the defense. Yeah, no, I think he could easily go and when he was referring to Sonny Stells, I think it's just that mentality as uh just a smart linebacker.

SPEAKER_06 1:14:26

Well, you gotta give the he's your green dot, right? Like he's the guy that's supposed to know the play, he's supposed to relay it to his teammates. That's traditionally the position. But I think like Jacob Rodriguez could go in the first round.

SPEAKER_08 1:14:37

I also think uh it's worth noting with it for a guy that was on the same team as David Bailey, I think he finished top five in the Heisman. There's 14 games, 128 tackles, 11 tackles for loss, seven force fumbles. That's that's pretty impressive.

SPEAKER_06 1:14:53

They and a lot of it also is like there's also the other side of that where a lot of people can knock at saying, Well, he's playing with fucking look at the people he's playing with. Like, look at how many fucking talented players he's playing with. And you could say that you could say that about all the Ohio State. No, but the Ohio State guys have I think you give the Ohio State guys a slight edge because they're playing in a little bit of a better conference, but it's surprising they lost in the national championship budget. Well, they lost them, your your boys in Miami, but with all that talent, that that's kind of surprising. Yeah, so it's like you can't, I guess you can't really weigh that that much, but like Texas Tech had a great program last year, and a lot of guys are going into the draft this year, so it's like you see a lot of synonymous stuff when it comes to the David Baileys, and you see him and you see Romello Height. And so it's it's interesting to see how much talent Texas Tech was able to pull in with like almost one year of like just an NIL implant of players. Uh moving it on, speaking to another team to that is really good. We got CJ Allen, fellas. Um CJ Allen started at Georgia as an 18-year-old freshman uh because Glenn Schuman said his ability to handle information was ahead of the older players. Uh, he's now 21 and a second round prospect. He's dedicated his 2025 season to his grandfather, who coached football for 30 years. Uh, his processing ability is described as his best trait. He doesn't take the cheese, quote, keeps his eyes on the ball. The weakness section is all physical, not strong enough as a blitzer, struggles in zone drops. Um, do you think it's possible for a player that has that much elite football intelligence, but he doesn't have the physical traits um just there to have them developed in the NFL, and maybe he's a year three star versus a year one?

SPEAKER_08 1:16:35

Coaching, man. Coaching is huge. Yeah, he's gonna need a lot of it in the passing game. He's a great downhill runner, though. Like out of out of all the guys we've talked about, if if they hand the ball off, he is like right in the backfield, coming right at you. His size is a bit concerning, and laterally, I don't know, he's a bit slow, lateral, side to side movements.

SPEAKER_02 1:16:58

Yep.

SPEAKER_08 1:16:59

So I don't know. I would be a little bit worried about picking him in the second round. I think he even might follow the third.

SPEAKER_06 1:17:07

Yeah, I think so. He's a long-rangy athlete with closing speed. Uh, I guess he needs to like mature that stack and shed and coverage recognition. There's upside there with him, though.

SPEAKER_04 1:17:16

There is upside, and it's funny because like when Mox first came out, like aside from Sonny Styles going the top, like CJ Allen, like he was like late teens, early 20s. I saw in the like the first mox that came out. He's obviously dropped a little bit. But like he's a coachable guy that can be coached up, team guy. But it's just crazy how he was he was rated so high. Like he he's good, but he has he needs a lot of coaching up, he needs the snap count, he needs to put in the time. But I just think he was a little like overrated, like just seeing how high he was going on these mocks.

SPEAKER_08 1:17:53

But that's the thing with like big schools like Georgia and the SEC, is they're gonna get that recognition, but then yeah, once you keep looking at the tape, you're gonna have a second, third take, and then you're gonna be like, uh, I don't know, maybe this guy shouldn't go that high. So, as good as it is to have the spotlight on you at Georgia and the SEC, it can backfire. And in his case, it maybe has backfired a little bit.

SPEAKER_06 1:18:16

That's like we're into our next guy. Um, a guy who had a lot of expectation, a lot of hype one year from now, going into the next season. A lot of people had this guy circled in as the potentially a first round pick as well, is uh Anthony Hill Jr. from Texas. Um he wore the green dot, so we talked about the play calling helmet as a 19-year-old sophomore at Texas. Uh, that's usually a responsibility given to senior veterans in college football. Here's where things get confusing. Uh his instincts are described as average and reactive rather than anticipatory by Bruegler. They gave him the most trust and sensitive responsibility on the defense in 19, but his instincts are considered average by scouts. How do how does that happen? And then also, is wearing the green dot as a sophomore evidence of like his processing that is not showing up on tape? Or did Texas give a five-star recruit a responsibility that you know masked what the scouts are now catching on film?

SPEAKER_04 1:19:21

I don't know, man. If you ever watch the games, this guy's a fucking like this guy's a game changer. This guy's a fucking wrecker. Like, this guy is everywhere on the field, he is all over the place. Like, you put him with either him or Jacob Rodriguez, like if neck and neck. Like you could pick one or the other. Yep.

SPEAKER_06 1:19:43

I like his backstory. That's why I like him the most. Born in the same hospital as Barry Sanders. His mom ran his mom ran track, his father played uh linebacker, so it's like DNA, DNA, yeah. Family DNA. I like that story in him, but like I agree with you, Brandon.

SPEAKER_07 1:19:59

I think you can put up I also think the pressure that green dot being the play caller, there's a lot young age. That was the pressure. There's a lot, it's it's a lot that slows your your own game down a second or two.

SPEAKER_06 1:20:11

Because you're worried a little about everything else being perfect.

SPEAKER_04 1:20:14

Like he's he can cover a lot of the field.

SPEAKER_07 1:20:17

Like he is smile, but being the play caller, you got that pressure on you, right? That you gotta do it right.

SPEAKER_06 1:20:25

He's my dream pick if the cowboys find a way to like trade back and get a pick in the second round. Because I think that's where he's gonna go. I don't like him at 20.

SPEAKER_03 1:20:33

No.

SPEAKER_06 1:20:34

Um, but I think if they can trade down, if they accumulate an asset in the second round, they can go and get him or Rodriguez.

SPEAKER_04 1:20:40

That's why I've always said what with with one of the picks. I mean, now we're most likely trading up, but that's why I say I want to trade down and get a second round pick because I want one of those two guys.

SPEAKER_06 1:20:48

Well, like if we can end out we're we're gonna talk about safeties, but if there's a world where you get like a Caleb Downs and you pair him with like one of these dogs, that's a good, that's a good thing that you got cooking there. I really like him. I once again I think second round is a lock. He's not making it past the second round.

SPEAKER_08 1:21:04

I think if you're if you're a young player like him, uh and the knock that they're saying is he's just reactive, that can get coached up. You get him in the film room, go over playbook, go over schemes, show him this is what you got to read. He's gonna learn it. I mean, he has everything really you want for second round pick, is a steal. If the Cowboys go back, yeah, they should get this guy.

SPEAKER_06 1:21:26

What I like about guys that are coming out of Texas, and like I've watched Texas closely this last year, probably more than any other year in my life. But what I like about it is you're getting guys that play in a big city, like you're getting guys that play in Austin, Texas. It's one thing when you're playing in like and you're playing one of the smaller towns like in Alabama, or you're playing a smaller town in Georgia, or you're playing a smaller town in um one of the other schools, Ohio, for example, like that's a smaller school. You're able to get away with a lot, you're able to things get put under the cover a lot more in those schools. If you're playing in Austin, like the the if you're fucking around or doing some shit, you're you're gonna there's gonna be headlines, people are gonna find out that you gotta keep your nose clean a lot more at Texas, I think. And and uh for a program that size, these guys are coached in media training, they're coached in how they need to behave in public, they're coached a lot more in that kind of thing, just because they're in a city with that much more that many more people. But having said that, NFL readiness is huge. You get drafted in the NFL, you go to a you go to a I don't know, you go to a city like New York. That's a huge city. You go to a city like I don't know, let's say Dallas, you go to a city where like there's room, Seattle, even like that's a bigger city than some most of these like college towns. I think that's an underrated thing. Is like a lot of guys coming out of Texas are coming in ready with a little bit more pro mentality just because of the city they're playing in, which goes a little bit under the radar than I've noticed.

SPEAKER_04 1:22:50

I just obviously as a Texas Homer man. If you pair Anthony Hill Jr. with the Marvin Overshawn, that would be beautiful.

SPEAKER_06 1:22:57

That would be a beautiful time. Let's go. Let's go. It would be a beautiful time. Uh moving on, we got Joe uh Josiah Josea? Josea Trotter, son of Jeremiah Trotter. Oh, hello, former cowboy and former eagle. Um, I've got uh so Jeremiah Trotter Sr. was an all-pro linebacker. His son Josea is an NFL linebacker prospect. The coverage concern for Josea is real. Brugger specifically says he looks lost at times reacting in coverage. I mean, here's the brutal truth about linebackers in 2026. Coverage is no longer optional. Um, even run-stopping linebackers are asked to handle vertical threats from tight ends and backs on every third down. If he inherits his father's physical gifts but not his coverage development, does the NFL dynasty story end here?

SPEAKER_04 1:23:47

He's gotta get better in coverage. He's got it. Yeah, like he's only gonna play, otherwise, you're gonna only play in the early downs and you're gonna get rotated out like so. You're only gonna be a spare.

SPEAKER_06 1:23:59

But yeah, I don't I don't like him a whole lot. I don't I I like the next guy a little bit more than him. I think he's a third round, maybe like a fourth round. Um dependent it all depends, obviously, on how he interviewed and all that other stuff. But I'm not I'm not a huge fan. He needs to work a lot on his coverage. But he did have an ACL injury his freshman year, so that it cost him. So he was a one-year starter at Missouri. So um we'll get we'll give him that. Uh moving on, I like this guy, Kyle Lewis out of Pittsburgh. Um, he is a high school safety who converted to linebacker. He's six foot, 220 pounds. He's being asked to play NFL linebacker. Uh, his strength is coverage, his weakness is taken on blocks in the run game. So he's kind of that modern NFL hybrid linebacker. I think Devin White, Devin Lloyd. Um, he's six feet, 220. The run game liability is real. I think he will be put on mostly on passing downs. He's got to like bulk up if he needs to.

SPEAKER_04 1:24:59

Stay small.

SPEAKER_06 1:25:00

He's a smaller guy, but I think he can make some noise. Um the the narrative around the Steelers taking him has gotten bigger and bigger. Um, since he's a local kid, he's a fan favorite, um, heading into the um heading into the draft in Pittsburgh. So I wouldn't be surprised if they go there, but he was playing the nickel role. So, you know what? I like him going in the third, third round, fourth round, same kind of range. Uh, next one we got Keyshawn Elliott, fellas. Um, Keyshawn Elliott is one of 10 children. He's that's yep, yeah, yep. Um, he um is modeling his NFL career after Fred Warner, uh player who himself was a fifth round pick, who became a first team all pro. The Fred Warner path is a template that Elliott is consciously following. High character, excellent communication, scheme, intelligent linebacker who compensates for his physical limitations with football IQ. Now, the question is whether the path is repeatable. Uh, Fred Warner was once in a generation. Is trying to be Fred Warner a realistic NFL developmental path, or is it setting an unfair benchmark?

SPEAKER_04 1:26:09

I think it's kind of setting an unfair benchmark.

SPEAKER_06 1:26:11

It's hard to yeah. I feel like it's one thing if teams are comparing you there, but like if you're giving yourself that comparison, you're already putting yourself behind the behind the eight ball. He was the only power five player with 90 plus tackles, 14 plus tackles for loss, and seven plus sacks. So he did have over 300 career tackles. I think he has the skill set, he's a smart player. Um, I would like to see him being successful. I also think his future might be in coaching. Um, unfortunately. Um and the last one, I put him in because go Hornfrogs, go TCU. Caleb Alarms Orr from TCU. Um he has more tackles than Jacob Rodriguez in 2025. And Rodriguez won four national linebacker awards. Um, I think the difference there is a little bit of it is conference prestige, scheme complexity, and Rodriguez's turnover production. Uh Alarms Orr played at TCU, Rodriguez played at Texas Tech, same conference, yet their draft grades are separated by multiple rounds. Do you think that's a gap in evaluation justified by what scouts see in the tape, or are the tackling numbers at the same conference level being discounted because Rodriguez's story, you know, walk on, wife in the military, all the awards are more compelling to evaluate subjectively.

SPEAKER_04 1:27:31

I think it's a turn, I think it's the turnover turnover rate that really gives him the edge.

SPEAKER_06 1:27:38

Yeah, no, I I like him. I think he's a smart guy. He comes from a smart household. Like he's fast. He is yeah, he is quick. He's quick. So he is a guy that I would not have any issues taking a flyer with if you have a fourth round pick or a late third round pick. Um, he's a guy that, like, you know what, he may not get the fans riled up as much as a Jacob Rodriguez pick will, but who knows? He You translate his game, you find him the right coach. Like KK said, 22.68 miles per hour on the 40-yard dash. I'm sure they're I'm sure his teammates are are gonna are gonna say that. They're not gonna say he was, you know, being a degenerate and betting on Hawaii Rainbow Warriors at 2 a.m. No shit. Uh but like all that's not from Steam that's from medical skills. Well, they get it from a source, but I think like I I just think like in terms of his skill set, he could play in the NFL. Like the NFL is becoming a quicker game, he can actually do it. Um, he will have to clean up some of his games, he doesn't consistently leverage inside gaps, he can be redirected, so he's gotta have he's gonna have to work on that, and maybe if he adds a little bit more to that causing the turnovers being more disruptive, you might see him um making some plays out in the NFL.

SPEAKER_08 1:28:56

But it's crazy when you go so we just went through the list of the linebackers and really they only have Sonny Styles projected going the first round, that's only linebacker. And if you look at the other guys, you can say the reason is because uh of how good he is in pass coverage. The other guys just don't have his skill. But with these other guys, uh you know, there's another guy, Jake Goldie for Cincinnati. If he shows they've said before, if he can show and prove himself in special teams, then he could find a starting role in the team. So a lot of these guys, if they can prove themselves in the special teams, which a lot of these later guys guys will do, yeah, they're gonna have to do, or if they can improve in pass coverage, then they could eventually become starters.

SPEAKER_06 1:29:42

No, this is an exciting thing to watch. It's gonna be exciting to watch. Hopefully, we end up signing styles in the right position and in the right team, but he's gonna be an exciting player to watch when it comes to his future in the NFL and where exactly he goes. Because, like you said, he can do it all, he's one of one. And the drop off is just evident of that of how much how much um how much the drop-off is after him.

SPEAKER_04 1:30:05

I also just think the linebackers are getting a little overlooked just because of how deep this draft is for edges. Yeah, that's true.

SPEAKER_06 1:30:12

Like, there's a chance for like if this like you had a couple edges that weren't going in the first round, you could have Jacob Rodriguez, Anthony Hill Jr. going in the first round on a regular on a regular draft. So I agree with you. I think they never know.

SPEAKER_07 1:30:24

They might end up jumping in the first round.

SPEAKER_06 1:30:26

You never know. Teams might get a little crazy, boys. Teams might get a little crazy. We are what almost a week away at the time of recording. By the time you guys hear this, we'll probably be less than a week. There'll be some crazy new rumors about how which team's gonna do what. It's gonna be a wild time in Pittsburgh, fellas. There still will be no news, there will still be no Aaron Rodgers news by the time we record. I guarantee you that will still not be a thing. Um, once again, if you are listening to us on any audio platform, please remember to subscribe. Please remember to find us on YouTube. Subscribe to our channel, Red Zone Blitz Podcast. We're gonna be coming up with some exciting stuff um down the line. If you don't follow us right now, you can follow us on Instagram, TikTok X at Redzone Blitz Pod. Um, I will be tagging my co-host socials in the coming days. Make sure you guys all follow them, argue with them. They love it when you guys get into DMs. Talk some shit. They love that. KK just like nodding his head, like, I don't know if I really love that that much. Thanks for volunteering me for that fucking chaos. They're gonna ask me for love advice much uh love corner with Love Machine KK. Um, once again, you know what? Like, we can't thank you guys um enough for all the support and all the love. It seems so surreal that you know what, seven, eight months ago. I don't know how much no, it's probably 11 months ago. Um was it 11? No, it might have been less than that. Nine, I would say nine months we've been doing this. Uh nine months we've been doing this. We're gonna be going to cover the NFL draft. It's gonna be a fucking fabulous time. Shout out to each and every one of you. Uh, any parting words, Brandon? Any advice for the people traveling?

SPEAKER_04 1:32:01

Except for just that one fucker that just keeps fucking sending everyone else emails on us. There's one fucking guy. There's just one guy. One fucking guy.

SPEAKER_06 1:32:09

One one mean Russian machine.

SPEAKER_04 1:32:12

And we do know how we do know how you are.

SPEAKER_06 1:32:15

Yeah, that we are well. We do know who you are. The mean Russian machine. That's what that's what we're gonna call them from now on. Mean Russian machine. The mean Russian machine. Um, yeah, yeah. Shout out, shout out to shout out to uh all I I mean there's no really um there's no really I I'll cut the outro for this, but there's no real um once again, if you are out there and you do have a grievance with us, our lines are open. But trying to um go around the bushes, we see everything, people come back to us with everything. It's not we know you're gonna be normally I would like be like, what's the point of saying this at the end of the episode? But we know you're gonna listen all the way to the end. So I agree with Brandon. We know exactly how we know who you are. Just fuck off. Yeah, there's like that's the I think that's the best way to say it. Um until next time.

SPEAKER_07 1:33:04

This is G. Brandon. I'm Matt. I'm KK. The love machine. Later.