2026 NFL Draft Winners and Losers

27:18Ollie Connolly:I will say this though. The one thing that would never be doubted is, you know, we couldn't be in more lockstep in every decision that we make. For any of the questions or misunderstandings just based on my demeanor or disposition last night. I did want to get that out of the way. This is my buddy right here. All right. So, um, I did, that was brought to my attention because I got so many texts and, um, that was never my intended way to be able to come off, but sometimes I can be a little grumpy, you know, he, he also goes on and that was a good way to handle it. It's very convincing when he just rubs less as a, I do believe they are buddies that, That I do not doubt for one moment.

27:57I do think, though, it's a working relationship. And Sean McVay is the one who wears the pants in that working relationship. I don't think that's any slight to Les Snead who has done an incredible job taking picks after the first round, in which it might be Les Snead's domain, which is like rounds two and on or three and on. Like, he's been incredible. But Sean McVay is the most important person in that organization. And any suggestion from media members who had all this conspiracy theory that they're making this pick and McVay is somehow upset is preposterous. Like, you don't think Sean McVay has the biggest voice of taking a quarterback that he's going to basically pin a big chunk of the next five years of his career on?

28:37Of course, he has the biggest say. He went on to say to Peter Schrager and Kyle Brandt and later in that press conference, too, that his consideration for Matthew Stafford and wanting to be respectful to Matthew Stafford was really what was behind that. So I guess he was kind of acting like he was upset. I don't even know. It didn't work out. It was all an unforced error that almost has taken attention away, Ali, from the unforced error that was the pick itself. So I just don't get what happened here. And I just hope it's not a moment we look back on as when this little Rams era started to go downhill if we don't look back on that fourth quarter against the Seahawks in the regular season as that moment, too.

29:22Ollie Connolly:that is the logic i heard right away when i asked people over there like what is going on this is so peculiar it's like oh sean's doing an acting job he doesn't want to upset matthew staff it's like matthew stafford knows sean mcveigh very intimately you don't think he can tell when he's acting he was on the phone with him i wonder how that call went i have no clue but i'm sure if i'm sure whatever mcveigh was saying publicly is not going to change the the content go on sorry no but just it does remove some of the concern around just the pick in general I find it just such a baffling choice to make.

29:54Ollie Connolly:I like Ty Simpson as a potential solid starter down the line could he become Brock Purdy with some development? To have to wait on that for two years if you sign an extension with Matthew Stafford before he retires why would that be the style of play you would take to go through that development arc? You do that with someone like Aaron Rodgers where you want to change the throwing motion. You do that with someone like Jordan Love with high-end upside who just needs to get integrated into a pro-style setup. Part of the reason you would take Ty Simpson and maybe rest him or sit him for one season or 11 weeks is because he has all the fundamental understandings of what a pro system looks like.

30:31Ollie Connolly:He just doesn't quite play at NFL speed and maybe needs to add some more body armor. So to have to wait two, three years for a guy without mightily impressive physical tools where you're betting on the mental intellect, that's just a confusing profile of quarterback to take this far out anyway. I agree. And just like, why not take it later? I know you're wanting to think of the future and you're thinking, well, we're not going to be up at 13 too often, but Ty Simpson type prospects will be available at the places that you're taking off. And usually like Ty Simpson is not necessarily a guy you have to get into the top 15 of a draft to get.

31:11He's closer to, I don't know, like a Mac Jones type level of talent, which is like middle of first round or whatever. And I just worry that like, I think distractions get overrated, but this is a win now type of team. You got Puka over here. You got now this quarterback. You're just inviting all this into your building in a way that feels unnecessary when you could have had Vega Ioane just make that offensive line like incredible, right? Like he's sitting right there. You could have, I love Casey Concepcion, like maybe they didn't see him as a fit for their offense. You could have had a different offensive weapon to just add there.

31:52You could have taken Kenyon Sadiq, who the reports were, they were quite enamored with, and they end up taking what might have been a reach at tight end in the second round instead. So I just don't get it because it just felt like asking for a lot of attention, certainly. and it's all going to be on shot. It's going to be like up to Sean McVay to make everyone wrong. And I don't want that to be the focus of Sean McVay proving that he's smarter than everyone else by making this pick.

32:25Ollie Connolly:And I don't want to skip over the rest of the class. We can come back to that. I think, I think that is a problem too, but just on Simpson, lastly, for that being the guy that like, Oh, we can't not take Ty Simpson. We're never picking a 13 again. He really is more in the mold of a Jared Goff of a Matt Ryan. and he doesn't even quite have the arm of those guys. I don't think that that can improve in the league. Guys have done that before. Brock Purdy did that. Tom Brady did that. But we just saw with the change from Goff to Stafford that it put so many new things on the menu for McVay that he's almost like self-admitted himself back into the Jared Goff world he tried to get out of by trading for Matthew Stafford.

33:02Ollie Connolly:I just find it peculiar that that is the style of player they would be willing to sit and wait on for two seasons. Yeah, maybe some of it's just from my own basic like human angle that it just from a human perspective with Stafford and everything going on with this team just seems like bad vibes. Let's talk about the rest of the class though. Max Clare and in the second round, I don't know if it was necessarily a reach like where he went and where he was in that tight end class, but for them to just add, you know, yet another tight end, they have Terrence Ferguson, they have Davis Allen, obviously Colby Parkinson like went to another level last year.

33:38Tyler Higby is still on this roster. They take Keegan Trost tackle in the third round. I don't know if you have any thoughts on just like how they approach the rest of the draft.

33:49Ollie Connolly:I found it utterly baffling. They're in a Super Bowl window where part of the reason I've got to suspect for taking Ty Simpson is contract or not for Matthew Stafford. They just don't want to play the annual. Is he retiring? Is he not? How is the back? Is it not? So from that standpoint, I can understand going for the quarterback. The rest of the draft class is a move tight end who didn't play an awful lot for Ohio State, that was probably better at Purdue the season before. A developmental tackle. CJ Daniels, a small vertical wide receiver who creates no separation down the field. And then Tim Keenan, who I actually really like, he was excellent in 2024 out of Alabama as a big run stuffing nose.

34:25Ollie Connolly:But the ideal scenario for all of those players is they play zero snaps in the middle of a Super Bowl window. You have the best roster in the league and you went into a draft or at least came out to the draft with a crop of players where you're really hoping they don't play. It's a great point. And look, last year's draft, Ferguson didn't have to contribute right away. I love how he moves. Like, I think he could contribute. Josiah Stewart didn't have to play right away. They really didn't get much production at all out of their entire rookie class. So those guys need to step up. But you also don't want to be going back-to-back years without getting any contributions for your rookies.

35:05It gets thin quickly.

35:07Ollie Connolly:And it's not like they're going to have all the same injury look. It's not like they don't have a need at tackle. They would probably like to improve over McClendon. So there was guys they could have brought in. You mentioned Sadiq. You mentioned Mikhail Lemon. There's all the stuff going on with Puka. They tried to move on from Devontae Adams. like they admitted basically publicly that we do feel we've got a need at wide receiver. And so to just not try and find any kind of extra offensive firepower, I just find very puzzling. Makes me think that they could be active in the future. Like, I don't know if it'd be a trade.

35:42No one's signed Juwan Jennings so far. Like there are other options late in the off season. That would be fun. Why not?

35:49Ollie Connolly:Maybe Terrence Ferguson could be included in a deal. Okay. man, that guy walking off a bus. He reminded me of Kyle Brady back when he was in the Patriots. Just an impressive specimen. Let's take a break. We're going to come back. We'll get a little more positive, do some more winners, and yes, a few losers after the break.

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41:01Ollie Connolly:I'm sorry to the audience this year. I think they're starting to come around slightly to my style of thinking of how they're going to build their offense out. They have assembled a basketball squad of players around Bryce Young. It's a bunch of tall guys. And with Brazil, you get extra explosiveness. You get uncommon movement skills. And as all the league tries to trend towards, we're getting bigger. It's going to be heavier personnel. two years ago the most efficient way to find an explosive play in football was either when the Bills put Alec Anderson on the field as an extra lineman or it was Bryce Young in empty and the rest of the league tried to copy what the Bills did we're going to get to 13 personnel but an extra tight end on the field we're going to start playing with extra eligible linemen no one tried to go the other way and match the volume of empty the Panthers were playing in including the Panthers and if you're trying to offset all the defensive movement pre and post snap whether it's the different fronts, whether it's all the rotations and disguises, whether it's all the blitzes and the pressures, you got to try and make the defense be static.

41:59Ollie Connolly:The best way to do that is either by getting to empty or by playing with tempo. We saw this with Jaden Daniels and the commanders in his rookie season, which the commanders have now said, we're out, we're going to the heaviest stuff ourselves. And if you just look at how they've assembled that roster with McMillan, with Coco, with Brazil, even with Monroe Freeling as a really rangy tackle who can play ideally as a left tackle on an island with a really wide extended pocket i i just get the sense that they may be looking at this going we're gonna have to go down with the ship with bryce young is he special or not the best way for us to find out is to put him in the pocket as a point guard distribute it around and give him as many options as possible on every single snap and that means being a 15 to 18 percent empty offense which is what they were by the way when he came back from being benched and actually looked pretty good for the first time yeah i i'm excited about that one uh former two lane player, Chris Brazel, like he gives you a little bit of Brian Thomas Jr.

42:54vibes just in that, man, there just aren't that many people who move quite like that. It's a spot where you're talking about them helping to change their offense. Like he was someone that you thought, okay, he's going to need a little time to like ease in. And yet the Panthers need someone to contribute, I think right away, because you can't count on it at tight end right now. You can't count it from Xavier Leggett. So they kind of need a third guy. But the ceiling is there. I like that you went excited about that. I like, basically, there was those three third-round guys who I'm just curious to watch their careers.

43:28Ted Hurst, we already hit with the Bucs. Brazel going to the Panthers is fun. And then the Dolphins took Chris Bell off the board, right? And that was bizarre. We're just bouncing around here. But because Chris Bell, who looks like he could have been a first-round pick, practically, if he had been healthy, he's coming off a torn ACL. was taking 20 picks behind Caleb Douglas, who I think the 75th overall pick, and that was just a surprise. Like, what did you think about that mix? What did you think about the Dolphins in general?

44:00Ollie Connolly:I love the Chris Bell pick. I mean, they found a player who could be somewhere on the continuum between A.J. Brown as the common comparison, but there's also some D-bonus after the catch. If you can just get him the ball, he's not got immense stop-start quicks, I would say, and he's not got much crisp or snap coming out of routes. But if you can get him on the drags, get him on the crosses, get him running to grass, I think he can be an absolute steam train after the catch. And then along the sideline, can body people up, can bully them out of the way. I found the Dolphins draft was a bit peculiar in the sense that we've heard all along about how they want to build through the trenches and that's their mindset.

44:40Ollie Connolly:It's going to be very Green Bay-centric. And you saw that with Caden Proctor and there's a little bit of that with Jacob Rodriguez as though he's kind of a lighter tap dancey style linebacker you saw it with will kasmarek but then when you go through chris johnson um trey moore chris bell kyle lewis those are more space uh cardinals nick rawless style players than they are we're going to build this big imposing two sides of the line of scrimmage type roster and then we'll start addressing some of the skill positions some of the off the ball work down the line so you mentioned kasmarek which was a late third pick and that kind of gets us to to a different category i'll go back to the picks that got my got me going in a second but in general i kind of want to talk about what happened with the tight ends because you were talking about okay a year ago or a couple years ago there's the two way to try to you know create explosive plays get big or you know maybe spread them out play some some tempo and the league just is getting bigger they looked at all the tight end usage that the Rams were so effective with, you know, three tight ends on the field.

45:46Sometimes the Rams take now a fifth tight end. They're going to keep doubling down. It was, it was a point a lot of people made after this draft of just like tight end media. Like we knew Kenyon Sadiq was going to go early. Eli Stowers as kind of a big receiver to the Eagles middle of the second round. That was, that was pretty much to be expected, but then it got a little wild. The Jaguars take a Borkercher third off the board an older prospect who had 19 catches uh in the second round a wild pick but then it just started a run uh klein from germany goes to the texans right that was uh he's going to be 24 when the season starts the rams take max claire that's the second router the bears and sam roush oscar delp who kind of looks more i think like a what we normally think of as a promising prospect with the Saints in the third round, Kaczmarek in the third round, Eli Raritan in the third round, you know, different values, different styles of players.

46:44But kind of what do you make about this tight end mania type of draft we just had?

46:49Ollie Connolly:I think it says across the board, the draft wasn't very strong. This is also if you look back the last two seasons, last two drafts, not just this one, this is the range these guys go in. They're always way lower on the consensus board and a consensus board typically defaults to the guys like Eli Stowers the guys like Justin Jolly who winds up going way later where it's receivers who are called tight ends in college and just the usage and what is asked of a tight end in college ball for the most part doesn't align in any way with what they're asked to do in the pro so teams will bet on the guys who can block and have some degree of physical gifts and that's why you see Delv go that's why you see Borcher go and it's why they'll just say let's just take Sam Rauch let's take Kazimerick let's take the best blocking guys in the class we at least know who they are we can identify the skill set everyone's going to be playing more out of 12 or 13 over the next two or three seasons they try to offset all the all the chaos that's happening defensively if you just look at the best defenses in the league whether it's denver or seattle the only way to get after these guys is do we trust ourselves in empty protection do we have a hall of fame quarterback or we're going to have to get big because we've got to make those guys be static and the only way to do it is to get as big as possible well yeah it does i guess your answer the question i had which is like what's next because this is this is how the league trends work is like once everyone starts to get on trend it's it's sometimes too late already because everyone spent this off season trying to figure out how to defend that and then we'll see some of these picks it's not like that's where the mcvay one was interesting with taking max claire because he seemed to double down in a way i really thought But he would have said, well, I did that for one year.

48:26Ollie Connolly:I solved the puzzle before everyone else. I'm going to head the other way. It will probably, and that's where the Sadiq one is interesting, where Stowers, though I do see him as a big power slot receiver more than a tight end. You've got to try and get yourself to that Patriots 2011 model, most likely where you are two tight ends, but it's with tempo. You're basically a spread offense, but you just have the two tight ends on the field. That's difficult to find. I thought the Saints coming out with Oscar Delp is the one that kind of gets me a little bit intrigued that Kellen Moore could maybe adapt some of that old school Patriots stuff.

48:57I like that. By the way, the picks, I kind of get just my football loins going. We talked our Sonny Stiles. I feel like Arvel Reese, it happened so long ago that just no one's talking about it anymore, but him landing there and them starting him at linebacker makes me excited. I mean, in theory, there could be better situations, I guess, than the Giants, but I like the vision that they have for him. And then Dennis Allen getting another fun safety in Dylan Thienemann. I just love that. Dennis Allen's living his best life as a defense coordinator. He should have never become a head coach. You mentioned the Jaguars.

49:32I have a category that's under winners and losers that would be more of a loser. It's like a team that you feel differently about. It could also be a pre-draft take that you regret. I'm wondering if the Jaguars fit either one of those modes because I'm curious to hear what you think about the Jaguars draft.

49:53Ollie Connolly:The Jags one was deeply confusing. It really did feel like overthinking the room. I liked Bokosian more than the consensus, but I still think the 56th overall pick was a bit rich. I understand there was going to be a run on tight ends. There were still guys going on day three who have some degree of at least blocking capability or upside. You take a 25-year-old guy with barely any production, it's pretty confusing. I liked Albert Regis. I liked Emmanuel Pregnon. The Jalen Husky one was the first player who went off the board. I had evaluated roughly 350 players in the class. I hadn't even watched Jalen Husky, so I can't say it's a bad pick because I haven't seen him.

50:31Ollie Connolly:But it felt really rich for a guy who wasn't even on the consensus board. I didn't even have on my long watch list to get to before the draft. All the way through, Wesley Williams is a real tweener who I'm not quite sure will ever have a real role in the league. so it just felt massively ahead of consensus IDing once again that we're smarter than the rest of the league even when you watch their pre-draft or they did the free agency video there was an arrogant strain running throughout the video that we know better than everyone else and you can agree or disagree with the consensus board itself, everyone builds their own board and in this draft in particular I think the consensus board was going to be off and there were particular positions I would say outside the first two rounds where the league's board is just completely different to what the consensus board is but even with that said there was a lot of really rich picks I would say it's an interesting situation because their front office did a good job kind of getting some players around the margins in free agency and like different pickups last year they didn't get much production out of the rookie class I mean I love the Travis Hunter trade but obviously you know he play that much.

51:40Caleb Ramsaw, their third round pick, Wyatt Mullum, like was, were not really on the field for them, partly because of injury, partly not. Basial Tootin was a good fourth round pick. They had a ton of day three picks, but you haven't like seen their guys, quote unquote, for this new James Gladstone staff, like step onto the field. And so there's just still a lot of questions, but I like a team that's confident. Like, I feel like people are ready to just take shots at Gladstone though maybe they're asking for it I don't know that is true that is true the best

52:12Ollie Connolly:part of the free agency video was when a member of the staff said we should film this and then James Gladstone says it is being filmed and he revealed to his staff that the whole place was wired to wired with cameras and then maybe he should have let his underlings know beforehand they were being filmed throughout their jobs that that is a great call um while I'm thinking veterans. I have a category, the weirdest veteran related story. Jordan Schultz, and there were some whispers about it, mentioned that maybe some teams were interested poking around at Nico Collins. That was a little weird. I mean, it's not the first time I've heard that.

52:49And so I think it's going to be safe. Nick Casario came out after the draft and said Nico's not going anywhere. But two years left on his contract, pretty underpaid. Maybe it's just a contract thing, but it sounded like some teams were like sniffing around on on Nico Collins also Brandon Ayuk like after the draft still was not traded and John Lynch literally went up to the podium was like yeah we just think it's good business to keep keep him if anyone's interested just let us know he literally said that I was like I've never seen that before this is so weird and so vindictive everyone knows that he's available John they're not gonna call they're just gonna wait you're not carrying him onto the season just just give up the ghost those are my my weird choices i don't know if you have thoughts there or a different weird veteran kind of related story the day one though

53:36Ollie Connolly:correct me if i'm wrong they have to pay him no money right so it's it's free they have no guaranteed money but he does have uh a contract so at they they can they can just wait until almost the season starts but then it guarantees itself that once you get to week one there's there's zero chances on the roster week ones but you could wait around till camp you're right The thing I found a bit peculiar post-draft was why the Lions and the Bears, based on how their boards went, did not outbid for Jonathan Grenard. I found it a little bit puzzling that I liked both their drafts. I liked the Bears a lot more than the Bears fan base appears to do, which I completely understand.

54:13Ollie Connolly:I'm mostly in the mode of evaluating the player to the scheme fit. Then you do have to sit back and say, OK, what does the roster look like? And it's got some holes that they could have addressed during the draft. Well, wait, why didn't they like this? This is where I should be on top. Logan Jones is center in the second round. Tight end Sam Rauch in the third round. He was part of that tight end run. Xavier and Thomas, the LSU wide receiver in the third round. What was it that they didn't like? What are your favorites? Keyshawn Elliott, a linebacker in the fifth round. Yeah, Dennis Allen knows ball.

54:42Ollie Connolly:He's still Keyshawn. He knows what's up. I don't even know what they didn't like. I didn't have any problem with that. I think it's the not addressing the interior defensive line, not trying to go and get one of the addresses. It was a stacked edge rushing class, and they just kept going and you could have got guys of real value. Even early on day three, in the middle of day two, there was a ton of value to get with the edge rushes. I think that would be the Bears fans' main concern from what I've understood. A couple of them were probably a little bit puzzling to me. The one I really love was Xavier Thomas.

55:10Ollie Connolly:I had him graded out as a tier four player for me. I thought that was like way high because he just wasn't showing up on any of the consensus boards. So for Ben Johnson to buy in on him, he's got a little bit of Luther burden to his game. He might be the most electric returner in the country. Really good stuff after the catch. He's really explosive. So I thought the Xavier and Thomas one is one that we'll look back on in week 10, week 11, when there's a lot of guys who are talented, maybe long-term developmental players, but you're looking up on red zone and there's just this like electric player making a whole bunch of people missing and returning punts and kicks.

55:41I love that. And I think with the Lions draft, the most surprising thing to me was that they gave up a fourth to move up six spots for Derek Moore, the edge from Michigan, just because. And, man, they were really projecting that another team was going to take Derek Moore. And they really do seem to fall in love with their evaluations, which I get. Like, who wouldn't? But it seems like if he had been taken, Gabe Yacus was there. There was other edges that would have been available. And that's just kind of a thing that the Lions do. They're also moving Panay Sewell to the left side. They did say Blake Miller is going to be their right tackle.

56:16Panay Sewell on the left side. And that's more of a league-wide trend. And man, a lot of these offensive linemen are being asked to move positions right off the bat or don't have set positions, which I think is risky. Like Ihanachor for the Steelers, I think was a good value, but they don't seem sure where he will play. And are you going to move Fautano away? And they're kind of saying, we're not sure, really. And I believe them. They're not sure. And so that's, I think, a risky part of this, almost this entire like top of the offensive line class. What did you think about all the different linemen that aren't going to play where they played in college?

56:51Ollie Connolly:Well, Blake Miller, I think, will play on the right side, right? So that's where he played in college. I would probably keep him on the right and move Fawitano to the left. That's where he played in college, so you can get him back to his most comfortable spot. I think Hianucho is the one, in three years, the whole league will go, what were we thinking? This guy moves like Teron Armstead, and we decided not to take him because he's not played the sport for very long, and his technique's not there. We just saw Jordan Mylar to go through the same development arc to become one of the best left tackles in the league.

57:21Ollie Connolly:And there was, I thought, good tackles in this class, but the majority of them are going to have to move inside, most likely to guard. None of them move the way Maxi Anachor does. He moves like Arman Membu. He's not quite as nasty in the run game. There are some technical flaws, but he just moves completely differently to anyone else that was drafted. I get why you take someone like Blake Miller. He's really durable. He's really explosive. I think there's way more upside with him than he's given credit for. He's kind of pegged those like long-term starting Clemson tackle, like solid technique.

57:51Ollie Connolly:If anything, I think he's a little bit inadequate. Technically, he doesn't really play to how he's going to have to succeed in the league, but he's crazy explosive. He's got the nasty mean streak. He's a pure Dan Campbell player. So I love the Blake Miller one for the Lions and the Januchal one. I know he wasn't their first pick. They wanted Makai Lemon. It's a pretty impressive fallback plan to get a guy who could wind up being the best of the whole group. Yeah, those are some depth charts worth watching. I think we know what they're going to do in Detroit. We'll see the offensive line with Pittsburgh.

58:20A couple other depth charts I'm watching. I had a category spicy depth chart situations. Carson Beck, Jacoby Brissett. I'm kind of into that. You're putting your hand on your head. There was a graphic. We're going to put it up if you're watching on YouTube that ESPN put out, which I really enjoyed, that said, is this the future of quarterback in the NFC West? And it was Ty Simpson and Carson Beck. I don't know. I don't think it's the future, but we'll see.

58:52Ollie Connolly:That Cardinals draft in general was puzzling. And it's a difficult one because they drafted a ton of players that I really like. Everyone loves Jeremiah Love, how could you not? I'm a huge fan of Chase Besantis. Caleb Proctor is the flyer interior rusher from the small school in that system I thought was an excellent value pickup. I thought he'd go a little earlier than the 104th pick. But you come out of a draft having had the third overall pick with the most guaranteed money to running back rooms in the league and still with needs of quarterback right tackle and second edge rusher. And even Besantis, his skill set is his slick feet in pass pro, which doesn't really marry up with the fact you just took a running back third overall in the draft and you're telling us you're going to be this downhill thumping type offense.

59:36Ollie Connolly:So I just found it very, very puzzling for a team having this heavy rebuild. And taking Carson Beck in the third round is just, that's mind-blowing. It was crazy to me. I get, like, trying to take a quarterback every year just to see if you hit on one. Then take Nussmeyer in the fifth or whatever. Garrett Nussmeyer goes eventually in the seventh. Using those high-volume picks, I mean, high-value picks on Beck, especially when it sounded like maybe ownership gets involved with the Jeremiah Love pick, who's like a great player, but you worry about how that process all went down. Like that makes the second and third round picks even more important to get guys that can play right away.

1:00:15And Carson Beck is probably not going to be that. I'm also curious about the Ravens wide receiver situation. You know, Zay Flowers is there. Rashad Bateman, after every season, gets unhappy. There was a whole thing after last season. He's still there. And then your guy, Elijah Surratt. What are you worried about? What are you worried about? passes on the outside from Lamar Jackson and then Jacoby Lane, who they took a round ahead of them. And so they double up at wide receiver. Surratt's got a chance to play because I think his skill set matches up pretty well with Lamar Jackson.

1:00:47Ollie Connolly:Jacoby Lane, I don't want to be disrespectful. I have little to no interest in. Elijah Surratt, I had in the same tier as all the top receivers in the draft. I understand that if you go and watch him, it's not going to be as explosive and as almost like expressive as the really dynamic receivers in this class. But in just terms of professional receiving, get to point A, get to point B on time, in rhythm, and get yourself open. The fact he creates such a chasm of space without being a new Baratlee kind of tells you he knows what he's doing. And he's doing it against elite competition for the national champions, going up against everyone.

1:01:20Ollie Connolly:He's got the deepest, most diverse package of any of the receivers in this class. And now he's going to go and play with an MVP quarterback who will be able to just throw the ball off the sideline. And Lamar hasn't really had many of these types of players. It's been like the embers of DeAndre Hopkins. He's not being in the Justin Herbert situation, which is if you just throw the ball off the sideline by two yards, this guy can go get it for you. That's the get out of jail free card. Every time it's third and seven, the rush is coming home. Just throw it off the field, a pseudo throwaway. Elijah will come down with it.

1:01:47Look, I hope for your sake that evaluation of Sarat is right. I hope for Patrick's sake. I hope for Lamar Jackson's sake. Because the description that you have for him, he's where you need him to be. on time, in rhythm. Not a description I would use for many of the Ravens wide receivers in the Lamar era. A lot of it is, it's Zay Flowers-ish. It's loosey-goosey. It's feel it out. Like, Bateman has his moments, and I've always thought he's got a chance and underrated, but that hasn't had a lot of reliable, like, Derek Mason for Joe Flacco type players. I feel like he could use some.

1:02:24Ollie Connolly:Yeah, the high-end outcome for Surratt would be somewhere with Mike Williams, Keaton Allen. and how they were used with the Chargers. And he's going to come in and block his tail off. It's going to be more of a compressed, condensed type system rather than the pace and space and all the fluid moving motion in that sense. I think he's going to become a really reliable target for Lamar in a way that they haven't had recently. We're going to take one more break, and we're going to drive Eric a little crazy. But there's only one draft all season, and there's only one show with Ali recapping it all.

1:02:53We'll finish it up on the other side.

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1:07:07Back on NFL Daily. We're thinking, okay, what do we still need to get into this show before we drive Eric crazy? Let's drive him a little crazier and talk about the bills i i said i had a category sneaky bad draft for a team and your response ollie was like was the bills draft sneaky bad like was it even sneaky uh what did you think about brandon

1:07:31Ollie Connolly:bean doing brandon bean things over the weekend it just continues to do what he does it makes no sense to me joe brady gets hired in part because he convinces ownership and brandon bean that i'm not just the offensive guy i can be the ceo i'm gonna pick up the phone to jim leonard one of the up and coming defensive minds in all of football. And we're going to buy into the fact we're going to have the most modern defense you can find. I'm not just an offensive guy. And they go throughout for agency. They go through the draft and they acquire no one who fits the model. The Jim Leonard would need to actually run the defense.

1:08:03Ollie Connolly:You would truly want to run at heart. And even beyond that, just a, it doesn't fit schematically what we hired this guy to do. They didn't add any juice off the edge. They added no interior defensive lineman to help with the fact that could not fit the run. They didn't add a true off ball linebacker. They didn't add a true depth safety. So all the things were an issue just down the spine of the defense last year when they played pretty mundane ball. They didn't add to that. And they didn't add any of the versatile hybrid pieces that Jim Lennon would require to actually be able to run his scheme.

1:08:31Well, they did add TJ Parker. What was that? Zero juice. Zero juice off the ball. Some people like TJ Parker. Derek Klassen had him in his top 20. The Bills clearly liked him. It was kind of a draft pick favorite.

1:08:44Ollie Connolly:I'm not disputing that you don't like TJ Parker, but you like TJ Parker for the scrappiness, for some of the inside-outside potential, for the fact that he's an all-out effort player, that he's smart against the run. He's not coming in as a true burner, flying it off the edge. Skyler Bell, UConn wide receiver, fourth round, 125th overall. Can I introduce you in a little Skyler Bell? I understand why people like Skyler Bell. He had a ton of production at UConn. They built the entire plane of the offense out of him. I do worry about those guys when they come to the league and you're like the third guy in the progression, playing 20 snaps what does it look like when it's not all bubble screens and jet sweeps kind of patting the statue yeah and and look tj park i'm just trying to play devil's advocate here bradley chubb not a lot of juice in uninspiring offseason overall a lot of it was around dj more like the the money and the draft picks and so that's that's really got a hit but um look they're all sabers fans they're they're they're they're happy right now they're distracted how about the seahawks as Is it rude to say their draft was sneaky bad?

1:09:48Or should I be wary because they've been nailing drafts so well lately? You know, you take a running back, Jadarian Price, who's exciting, can fill a role for them. Bud Clark, the safety late in the second round. Julian Neal, Arkansas cornerback. Probably more the first two picks, a little risky. But the Seahawks have seen things different than the rest of the board for a while. And for the most part, they've done well.

1:10:12Ollie Connolly:yeah they're pretty good at this they just had a parade so it's tough i think to criticize schneider he doesn't have maybe the best resume of doing the late in the first round running back thing which is where he overthinks things i think uh price was clearly the second back in the draft and he does fit the the need of the kenneth walker of getting some real juice and explosivity in there and he probably is going to work on a pitch count depending on when zach charbonnet is back from the injury so you can make some sense of it i'm just not sure it was the best value it's just hard to find a lot of space on that roster to truly upgrade uh anyway i really love julian neal i thought he was a massive sleeper in the draft he's a perfect fit for them and andre fuller the cornerback from toledo they took in the seventh round is the most seahawks player you could have found in the draft he lives to fit the run the coverage stuff we can worry about four or five years but just flying downhill on special teams being forced out there because we've got some injury concerns in week eight week nine whatever fuller i think has started of potential so it wasn't awful all the way around i was just not a huge blood clot guy and then you can have the conversation about running back value that's fair that we haven't hit day three too much because we didn't do a show after so i'll just give you the floor on any day three pick or picks that you want to kind of give some love to we did talk about keante scott the uh kind of nickel that that's going to be playing for the buck so that's one we already covered some other day three guys maybe in your in your eye one that i'm gonna track really closely is vj pain the safety from kansas state i think he's a natural corner who was forced to play safety and i love the idea of getting him he was the 228th overall pick and he's going to aaron glenn who might be the best pure man coverage technique coach in all of football i don't know how many years he's going to get to work under aaron glenn but in terms of taking a late round flyer on these cornerbacks there's a lot of slow small corners that were taken late in the draft and i think he was just completely miscast as a safety was evaluated as a safety by most people i think for the jets uh during training camp they'll try and move him to corner and that one interests me and then it's got to be tailing green getting tailing green late in the draft who has legit potential as a quarterback he played in school in the lamar jackson offense the lamar ran at louisville he played under center just as much as ty simpson he played under center way more than fernando mendoza if you go back to 2024 against Texas A &M.

1:12:34Ollie Connolly:He has some pocket navigation and throws on the move that are absolutely outrageous. I think he can be a quarterback if someone's willing to invest the time commitment to do the development. And if not, you get a guy with the size, weight, speed profile of Calvin Johnson. That feels like a pretty good thing to do. You think that's a joke. Go up on Mock Draftable. Pull up the spider chart. It's him and Calvin Johnson one-to-one. He could be Terrell Pryor. Maybe he plays tight end. He's adamant he's going to be a quarterback and that needs a massive mechanical overhaul. But if Ty Simpson goes 13th overall because he ran a pro-style system, so did Taylor Greene.

1:13:09Ollie Connolly:He just also is this ridiculous athlete who can pull the ball and take off and run. Yeah, I loved me some Jalen Milrow going into last year thinking like, well, worst case, he's a plus Taysom Hill maybe with a package of plays. That hasn't, you know, borne out yet, although we'll see. I'm not giving up on Jalen Milrow. But Greene, who you mentioned from Arkansas, taken by the Browns in the sixth round. So another quarterback added to that room, which is interesting. Now, maybe you can sneak Taylon Green through waivers and he's on your practice squad. Maybe you could do that for Dylan Gabriel, frankly.

1:13:44I don't know. The Browns in general, we kind of skipped past Emmanuel McNeil-Warren getting taken by them in the second round, like I mentioned it on our show. But in general, the value that the Browns got, pairing up Concepcion and Denzel Boston, getting Spencer Fano early, and then just taking picks throughout that for the most part made sense to me. The only thing that didn't make sense to me was on Sunday, you probably didn't see this quote, where Andrew Barry called Jerry Judy their bell cow wide receiver. The rookies are not going to threaten him in any way. They're just trying to make Jerry feel better about the fact.

1:14:21And I didn't even know bell cow receiver was a thing. I have my doubts whether that'll actually happen but yeah like while we're here let's give some

1:14:29Ollie Connolly:Browns the Browns some love just when I was coming around at Andrew Barry you read that quote to me that's brutal that's brutal uh the Spencefano pick makes a ton of sense I was not quite as high on him as other people in the class but if he was there at the top grade at tackling they move back to get him that that's great value not just Concepcion who I'm slightly worried about the scheme fit and him just being cast as Zay Flowers when I think he can be more than that but getting conception and denzel boston together i think is is an excellent value there is two completely complementary skill sets i was not as much of a fan of denzel boston as the consensus was but he has a pretty clearly defined skill set which is he could dunk on the head of anyone if you throw it up above the rim in the red zone he can go and dunk on your head and i think if you force that in the first round out of being concerned but you get a three level demon like casey conception to fry everyone uh throughout the rest of the course of the game i'm pretty cool with bringing denzel Boston is as the red zone target.

1:15:21Yeah. Concepcion could have fit my category earlier where like good value, really good player in my mind. I'm not sure the fits perfect. I mean, you would have liked a different spot than the Browns, but maybe, maybe it's Arch Manning throwing ball to him.

1:15:33Ollie Connolly:And credit to Andrew Berry, because one of the other trends was no one was giving up those 20, 27 picks. The league on mass was saying, we think this class stinks. It falls after the top 100 picks. Berry was able to squeeze out a fourth rounder in a trade for next, uh, next year's draft which compared to this draft might be a late two early three comparative to talent across the board so he not only nailed it all the way through i love justin jefferson the linebacker from alabama as a potential coverage safety down the line he's he's really athletic austin barb was one of my preferred developmental tackles you mentioned mcneil warren who i think that's the right range for him rather than being pushed him into the the first round where he was being mocked so So it's crazy value.

1:16:13Ollie Connolly:Although I even prefer Joe Royer to almost all the Titans who went off on day three. So I thought they absolutely crushed it, both in terms of value and moving the board. It was it was pretty impressive. If they have a second straight, really strong draft like Andrew Barry is not going anywhere. I don't I don't care what their record is. Maybe they'll get a new coach, but not not him. Day three picks, by the way, I did want to shout out. You are Bernard with the 251st pick Philadelphia invited by O.C. Uminura to participate in the 2024 Nigeria camp. I had a long conversation with Maurice Jones Drew, who was there at the time.

1:16:51And when it happened, like you O.C. is finding these guys. And Henry Hodgson, our friend, has been excited about. I think Bernard in particular hasn't literally played any football, but he landed in the international player pathway program because he has some of the freakiest numbers, like testing wise that you have ever seen. So if some team's going to figure out how to make him a player, how about the Eagles? That's a day three pick. I like Jonah Coleman, the running back for the Broncos, I think could be a real factor as just like a doubles hitter, might lead them in carries this year. Wouldn't surprise me at all in the fourth round.

1:17:27And then I wanted to mention an undrafted kicker, Kansai Matsuzawa, the Tokyo Toe. He wasn't drafted, but he's on the Raiders. We should have mentioned him as part of the Raiders haul. He fell in love with football, visiting Las Vegas years and years ago, went to a Raiders game. Or no, maybe it wasn't Las Vegas. Yeah, went to a Raiders game, fell in love with football. Then he went to Hawaii, barely missed a kick last year. So shout out to Kansai Matsuzawa, rooting for him.

1:17:57Ollie Connolly:I got to say on Bernard, it did hurt my soul that my beloved Lou Moore went undrafted and a guy who's never played the sport was actually taking the seventh round. He does have the crazy athletic profile. I got a little bit nervous when I saw I was sent through, you know, the black market of the draft community. You get some of the workout stuff with him to do the evaluation. I was really nervous during the interview portion of the package that was put together when he said it's very uncomfortable to wear the helmet. And I was like, OK, OK. let's get ready for training camp i mean we we can we can get through that we can work on it we can work on it we can work on that speaking of the eagles um i had i had a category happy new offensive coordinator what are you and i would put sean mannion as my pick in that category what what do you make of the transition that they are undergoing as an offense eli stowers and And Makai Lemon, two guys maybe making plays over the middle of the field.

1:18:55Certainly Dontavian Wicks and Lemon, I think, fit well in a style of offense that Mannion was learning under Matt LaFleur in Green Bay, that it's different than what the Eagles have done. It's different than what Jalen Hurts has been running the last handful of years. So just kind of what do you make of what they are doing and what that means for Hurts?

1:19:17Ollie Connolly:I really like it because I think they've been able to find the players who could play both styles. And so if it doesn't work out one way, they can at least break glass and revert back to being pretty static, pretty spread and playing one-on-one football. I think Makai Lemon can roast people in the slot just with the two-way go, classic Julian Edelman type football. He's probably at his best playing more like Cooper Cup where it's tight to the formation. It's really condensed. He's running to grass. It's a lot of crossing routes. Stowers, I think similarly, is more of a power slot to me who can play some matchup football for you.

1:19:49Ollie Connolly:And if you want to force him to be a tight end, the best comp I could come up with would be Dallas Goddard, where it's really vertical in the receiving game. He's mostly, they're in the gun. He's splitting across the formation. He's not really the target point in the run game. He's just kind of a nuisance in the way to make the numbers work. So I think what it's given them is guys who fit the new style, if that's what they want to push to, removes any kind of get out of jail for Jalen Hurts. Like this is what we're doing. This is the new offense. Are you willing to throw the ball to the middle of the field with rhythm or not?

1:20:16Ollie Connolly:and if that kind of falls apart these guys still fit the old model they used to run rather than boxing themselves in um to to what the new system is going to be i mean if that falls apart it might be tanner mckee time and i also don't don't sleep on cole payton jalen hurst doesn't want to do the push the tush push stuff anymore they go and get a quarterback in who is a downhill thumping tasem hill type quarterback if we're going to move the system again it's okay jayla interesting like that um do you have a coordinator you think on either side whatever one stands out to you most most like a a coordinator who is just like much happier after this draft of what he's going to get to work with i think keller moore and doug nussmine together with the saints i think the offseason in general they've got to be pretty pleased i think if you come away with jordan tyson who plenty of teams graded out as the number one receiver in the class we talked about oscar delt being that profile of that fits the model of George Kittle of the guys who didn't have great production in college but they're great athletes and they block their tails off in college and that usually translates better to the league and then Bryce Lance he went lower than I thought so they were able to get a potential maybe Rashid Shihid replacement as a size speed vertical threat and you add that to David Edwards in the offseason with Travis Etienne in free agency you look at that offensive line if McCoy is healthy which I know is it's probably not the smartest thing to rely on McCoy's health, but they have real talent.

1:21:45Ollie Connolly:And with Tyson and Delp and Lance, I think it's just a great amount of building blocks around Tyler Shook. So I'd be pretty fired up if I was Kellermore and Doug Nossmeyer. Yeah. The only fly in the ointment for Saints fans is Cesar Ruiz is still there. But we'll see. I know some Saints fans were unhappy with their draft, which I was shocked by. Kristen Miller was your guy at defensive tackle. You really like that pick. I think it was your number one defensive tackle. And then they've made some moves since the draft, or at least since we talked about, they traded a seventh for Tyree Wilson. Not so sure that was worth it, but it's a seventh.

1:22:22I mean, the freaking Ravens let their owner take a fifth round pick. Did you read that story? No, no. Who was it? I will find out. I think it was a Clemson running back. Am I crazy? Anyway. Oh, was it Randall?

1:22:37Ollie Connolly:The Clemson running back? I'll get back to it. Did you like him, by the way? Did you have any feelings for him? I was not a fan, no. OK, Steve Bishotti at some like Ravens summit they always do in Florida or whatever, like a month or two ago, he was like, I want a draft pick. Eric DaCosta told this story at the present. He's like, I want a draft pick. Like, I've never gotten to take any. I've never gotten involved. I want one draft pick as like a homework assignment. And they were like, sure, boss. Like, what could you say? You would have thought it would have been a seventh round pick. but they actually gave him a fifth round pick to play with.

1:23:10He says he went in the lab and, oh, by the way, happens to be like friends with Dabba Swinney or some assistant there and takes that running back.

1:23:19Ollie Connolly:They did then take a punter after that, which is indicative of probably how deep their draft board was. They were kind of done. By pick 150, they thought the class stunk and they were like, hey, yeah, the owner can take a fifth round. Yeah, they said our last fifth down rec. And this is a quote from DaCosta. He did his research. He studied the tape and talked to people. He has a really good relationship with Davo. I mean, okay, so he just talked to Davo. Who should I take late? My happy coordinator, bouncing all around here, is... Oh, wait, I didn't finish my point on the Saints, which is that they trade for Tyree Wilson, and they also signed Anfernee Jennings, the former Patriot edge setter, which I think was like a good...

1:23:57That guy can actually play snaps for you signing at this point in the offseason. Like, just a good run stuffer. the saints are just making sense which is a strange feeling it does it does i don't know

1:24:08Ollie Connolly:what to do with myself uh kristen miller i had as you said i thought was the best interior defensive lineman in the class he is a picture perfect fit for brandon staley i just like that on offense they said we we think we got something in tyler shook he could be really really good for us in two three seasons let's go and try and take big home run swings if we just find one player out of delp and tyson those are boom or bust type players to me if just one of those guys is a near all pro type player it's worth taking the swing on those guys then defensively we'll go and get kristen miller who's the most sure thing i would say of the defensive lineman in the class um jennings sure thing is a free agent pickup uh tarry wilson he is what he is for a seventh round pick to have an interior guy with who has some degree of umph i would say as a pass rusher as an interior player i just think the work they've done is very sensible in a way that makes me feel confused yes that the only thing i fear is it's a it's a team full of on paper injury risks i know every player is an injury risk it's tackle football but it's just there's a the receiver group shock the offense the offensive line especially like you mentioned mccoy just hasn't been healthy so there's a lot of like if but it could work out really well my last thing i'm going to talk about here and if you have anything you just got to get out on the show think about it, Ollie.

1:25:30But first, I'm going to ask you about Brian Flores, because I'm going to have him as my happy defensive coordinator for them to go all defense. It was almost like Kevin O 'Connell knew everyone said he was now in charge of the draft. And so he wanted to show everyone, hey, I'm going to do what's best for the team. It's not all about my offense. And they go defense with their first three picks. Caleb Banks, a really high ceiling defensive tackle from Florida, Whereas like if he's healthy with Flores, it could be a home run. He's had foot problems. It could be a total swing and miss. They get big orange, Dominique orange, defensive tackle in the third round, different style of player than Banks.

1:26:09And then Jake Golday, who listed at linebacker, but maybe a little bit more of a hybrid role. All three of these guys really could be hybrid style players. And because you have Brian Flores, he's been pretty good at picking the guys that will fit for him. man I think as good as their defense was to add like a an influx of youth which they needed they actually were kind of an older defense uh really promising for the Vikings yeah Caleb Banks on the

1:26:34Ollie Connolly:best reps looks like Chris Jones it's just how often you can get those reps and whether he can stay healthy but I was totally understanding of if any defensive attack was going to go in the first round you take the guy who in flashes looks like Chris Jones just seems like a pretty good bet to me perfect fit for brian flores's system golday is the one-to-one comp would be van ginkle he played a really peculiar role at cincinnati it was uh strange to try and project out what system he would work in as a true stacked linebacker playing in the box i'm not sure he would be able to handle that but for the vikings as playing as a mugged player in the pass rush game playing on the edge on early downs i can absolutely see that and you mentioned big Orange they got big citrus in there who is more of the two gapping run stuffing guy but I think he's got a bit more wiggle than a lot of the guys who went ahead of even someone like Caden McDonald who is a better like pure run defender better technique defender can blast people in a way that Dominique Orange doesn't have that kind of thunder in his hands but he's got more juice he's got more sideways wiggle so I think that fits for Brian Flores more than other guys who are on the board and the last guy I'll note for them they took late on in the fifth round Charles Demings from Stephen F.

1:27:40Ollie Connolly:Austin is one of the best all-around athletes in the draft. He's got no clue what's happening right now at corner. He was so much more athletically gifted than anyone he ever came up against. He was just doing his own thing, freelancing, having fun, could get away with it because he was this crazy athlete. But to find one of the four or five best pound-for-pound raw athletes in the draft in the fifth round of a draft, everyone's saying, oh, this class stinks. The Ravens giving their pick to their owner in the fifth round, and they can come away with Charles Demings and hand him to Brian Flores, former DB coach, for a couple of seasons, that's one to keep track of.

1:28:12I will be, and I was even before you said that. We actually have sound of Charles Demings in maybe my favorite head coach call interaction of the entire weekend. I can't get enough of these, but this was a particularly good one between Demings and Kevin O 'Connell.

1:28:29Ollie Connolly:Charles, man, congrats. I appreciate it, dog, man. So good. Your voice sounds like better than any melody I heard, man. That's the first time in my life anybody's told me my voice sounded like a melody. Thank you for that, man. Hey, you're right on time. You just made my whole day right there. I hope we made yours. We're fired up, bro. Aw. Aw, yeah, man. Aw, this is divine interaction right here, dawg. You know, the other teams, man, they drafted dogs. But John just got a piece, man. I'm telling you. Hey, I'm going to hold you to that, man. I'm telling you. I'm going to hold you to that. Aw, yeah.

1:29:03Ollie Connolly:We're going to walk through the Dothman and run straight through it, man.

1:29:08I've got order my Deming's jersey now. I'm in. I wish in another life I could just be like an NFL cornerback. That's definitely what I would want to be. You have that vibe. Need a little more height, a lot more weight. It's all happened. Do you have anything else you need to get into our winners and losers show, Ollie, before you get on that plane for Paris?

1:29:32Ollie Connolly:You asked me if there was something I wanted to brag about or made me look smart. Yes, that was a category we never got to. To maintain the pompous, arrogant allegations, I'm not going to miss out on that category. I just would like to point out to you politely that John Harbour said that Arvel Reese is a versatile player. We're going to play an inside backer, will linebacker. Does this mean that DJ owes me a beer? I love that. We're going to be taping our last 40s in free agents, and that is going to remind me to bring up that very issue with the man himself. DJ did an awesome job. It was fun watching him all weekend.

1:30:09And he's like taking pictures with Mel Kuyper. But you're right. That was a good pat on the back. Ultimately, that's what Arvel Reese is going to do. I thought you were going to pat yourself on the back for Malachi Lawrence.

1:30:21Ollie Connolly:No, the one I would really do it for would be Jaden Kennedy, the Chiefs fourth round pick, who is this safety nickel, 5 '10", 180, small by league standards, probably is going to play at safety, not nickel. I just loved everything about his game. He is an electric player to watch. Crazy smart, crazy tough, plays so much above his height and weight. And it's just a complete dog on the field. And I just loved him so much more than the crop of like long limbed safeties who are being pushed into the second, third round discussion. And he wound up being the seventh safety taken off the board. He was the eighth on the board for me.

1:30:57Ollie Connolly:He was 20th on the consensus board going in, but he went ahead of Genesis Smith and Jalen Kilgore and Zaki Wheatley. and just the ideal fit for Spags. If anyone can figure out a role for him, the play will be Spagnuolo. I mean, that's who you want, drafting your defensive back prospect evaluations that are extra high. Spags is going to make you look smart. That's awesome. And look, Ali also broke the Jonathan Grenard news sort of by mistake on his podcast. So check out the read optional. You deserve a break. Let's hit that music. I will put our NFL Daily crew up against any crew in the business.

1:31:33We will be back on Tuesday and Wednesday with two of my favorite shows of the year where we hit every single team in the AFC and NFC. So if we didn't talk about your team in this show, we will hit them at length with Patrick Claibon, Jordan Rodrigue, a cast of thousands. We will see you then.

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1:33:58Ollie Connolly:Get a quote today at the Hartford dot com slash small business. That's the Hartford dot com slash small business. This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.