40s and Free Agents: Draft Week's Biggest Remaining Questions

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2:07Trust me, your future self will thank you. Welcome back to 40s and Free Agents. I'm Greg Rosenthal alongside the best draft analyst in the business, Daniel Jeremiah, on his favorite week of the year. We're only a couple days away. Are you ready, DJ? Yeah, I think so. I mean, you never know until we get there, but it's, man, I'm just glad it's here. It takes, I think I've said this before, but like the crunch to the combine feels like it shrinks every year. And then like the literally path to the draft from the combine to the draft, it feels like it just gets longer. I think you're just getting older and you guys got to work harder to repeat the same productivity, which is why I'm going to put you on the spot.

2:51Did I tell you my cheat code, by the way, this year? Sure. Oh, man. Not actually watching the film, just reading everyone else. Yeah, just survey everybody. Survey the landscape, see what everybody has. No, no, this was my cheat code this year. Unintentional. But I was like, you know what? I've been having too much coffee. I'm going to get off caffeine. So I did it for two months. Two months, nothing. Well, then the crunch of the draft, and it just doesn't stop. So I started taking it back up. Oh, yeah. It's different. When you've taken a little bit of a break, I mean, I feel like I could scale a skyscraper right now, which is one cup of coffee.

3:30I mean, I know you're you're a clean living type of guy, DJ. So this is about as crazy as you get. But, yeah, you know, you know, everyone who's had a little weed here, it's legal here in California knows, you know, if you take take off a couple of months, the next time you have it, it's going to it's going to pop a little a little extra. There's something you were. I'll take your word for it. Look, in this show, we're bringing back a segment people loved last year. I'm putting you on the clock for five minutes, just hitting you with rapid fire question. We're also going to kind of look at a couple of teams at the end that we think may be just one draft away from being closer than you think.

4:05And maybe some teams to pump the brakes on. But let's just start off just generally. Now that we're kind of at the end of the process, some general impressions of the 2026 draft class. You have a better view, I think, than almost anyone of like how each draft class is different. What what stands out to you about this 26 class? Yeah, I will say kind of the good and the bad here. I think as you've gone through the whole process, I think the you know, we talked about the edge rushers a lot and it's it's a good group of edge rushers. I think the corner group being pretty deep is a significant part of this draft and kind of seeing those guys go all the way throughout.

4:43And on the opposite side of it, it's just the running back. this is one of the worst running back classes, you know, just in terms of the number of guys. Like I talked to a GM the other day that said they had like six running backs on their front board, which means they had six draftable running backs, which is insane. When you look at it, I was just looking at, if you look at total, like you're talking about 21 running backs getting drafted on average over the last five years, 21, they had six. So it's going to come from other positions. We're going to see a lot of tight ends day three, you know, the corners, safety groups, receivers is a bazillion of them.

5:19But that is a fascinating storyline in this draft. I remember on this show just one year ago, you were talking about how you love this tight end class more than any other. And then you think about this rookie season for Tyler Warren and Colston Loveland and Harold Fannin and even Gunnar Helm is out there making plays. You're absolutely right. Rondae Gadsden made some plays like all those guys did. Good call. I think it's pretty deep at receiver, but every class seems like it's deep at receiver. linebacker certainly tackle um i don't know is there a defensive tackle even taken in the first you know i don't think that's i don't think that's a slam dunk i think we could could be waiting till round number two and uh in the quarterback position obviously did you want a little more sizzle though just be honest like did you would you want a little more sizzle out of the draft class this draft class i think you can build the nucleus of the guts of a really good team here but i mean look when we're doing what we're doing quarterbacks are kind of the tent poles that that hold the discussion as you go through the entire draft.

6:17And we have one who's going to be the first pick. And then, you know, a maybe with Ty Simpson, like when you've got years, when you've got five, six quarterback names, you're kicking around there that that kind of drives the lead up into the draft. And yet you've talked about you. And I'm curious now that you've really gone through your top 150 and getting everything going. Like, do you think it's deeper than some other classes? Because I went and looked at the 2024. This was going around. I don't know if you saw this, the third round draft, the third round picks for 2024. And you look at it and you're like, wow.

6:49I mean, there's some contributors there. Not a lot. Not a lot. You know, you have Jalex Hunt and Cooper Beebe and Blake Coram as some of your, those are good third round picks, but those are some of your real standouts in the rest of it. So that class, which had some great players at the top, not as deep. What do you think in terms of depth of this class? Well, I think that there's another discussion that goes along with that, and I'll get to in a second. I think it's a fairly deep. I don't think it runs deep into day three. To me, it's like up to like second, third, fourth round. You know, I really like, but there's some years where you're like, man, I'm in the sixth round and they're still getting good players.

7:22What I think is contributing to that list that you just discussed in 2024 is the fact that because of technology, because of having all of the data on these players, not only the analytical stuff, but then also having GPS, you know, in-game technology. I think there's more of a standard around the league. I think there's less variance. And I think basically what we used to scatter, you know, 50 players or let's say scatter the 30 players could get scattered over four rounds. I think all those guys are getting identified and crunched in. You also have to factor in the transfer portal where all those guys are transferring up.

7:58So there's not as much guesswork with some players. They didn't play against the quality of competition. Well, now they're in the Big Ten or the SEC. You're playing. It's easier to identify guys when they're playing NFL talent or players. each and every week or at least a bunch of the time. So I think that's what's happened. And that's what's hurt some of these middle round players is the rest of the league has kind of crunched all these guys together. So you're saying you've gotten better. The league's gotten better. Not me. I'm not. No, I, yeah. I just think it's the league. I don't think it's anything to do with me.

8:24It's just that there's more, a little more consensus around the league now. And I think it's because the information it's your apples to apples. You're not having to, you know, compare nine different fruits here. Justice for Kalen Bullock, by the way, who was taken there in the third round, He might be the best third round player. And Gonzalez, the guard for the Colts has been very good. So there were good. There's always going to be good players, but not a ton. All right. Let's talk about inflection point. Where do you think this draft changes potentially? Like, where are you looking? I'm looking to me.

8:56It's like this little alley that I think is fascinating. It's, you know, five, six, seven, I think drives a lot of this draft. So because they could go anywhere, they could go offense. They could go defense. the Giants, you know, the more I looked at that and we saw it last week where they came out in their press conference and said, neighbors, you know, it's not all the way back yet. And you lose Wandale Robinson. And I'm like, okay, well, they could be in a receiver market there at five, you know, where they're picking just, they got to get somebody to help out with Jackson Dart. And then you also, well, the best players available are going to be the defensive players.

9:29So, you know, do they go with one of those Ohio state guys there at five? There's some, some mystery there. Six with Cleveland has always been the debate of receiver tackle. I've kind of landed late in the process more so on tackle first because you don't want to miss out on that when you get to 24. And then Washington doesn't have a second round pick. So they could be potentially Jeremiah Love could be there. You could be looking at, you know, downs could be there, but they could also be an attractive team to come up to take that spot and they can recoup a second round pick they don't possess.

9:58So five, six, seven is kind of where things I think start to change. Yeah. It's fascinating because my biggest question is like, when do these tackles get taken? because if they don't, then you see the premier players in terms of just like blue chip, a lot of the guys near the top of your prospects taken in the top nine picks. But if these tackles just start to get taken a lot early, that's going to push everyone down. I think that's possible. That's no fun. Is this even a good tackle class? I know, but I think – I feel like you're just trying to make these guys happen. They could be guards. Like, it's not – I think that – but again, I think that there's a premium there, and that would not surprise me.

10:34And I think once you start to see one or two of them go, people are going to panic. Here's the thing, though. You could go inflection point as early as two because I don't think we have a consensus on which defensive player, and it's probably a defensive player that the Jets take. And then even Arizona. I know you've been doing Maui Noah every time. I feel like they're a grab bag. Why couldn't they take Jeremiah Love? Our friend Nick Shook had him going to Arizona at three. I feel like they could go in any direction in terms of premier talent. They could take one of the Ohio State players. They could take a tackle.

11:06So it's as unpredictable to me in the top two and three as a class that we've seen in a little bit. Arizona's also the, you know, they're kind of the Ty Simpson team for me. So where is that? Like if Arizona were to trade out, maybe they traded out. If they traded out of the top 10, my spidey senses would perk up a little bit and say, okay, maybe they're going to take Ty Simpson there. or they come back up from 34 maybe and try and take him there. But they just – they feel like the most obvious to me, you know, at this point in time, feel like the most obvious Ty Simpson team. And I will say I've been on the desk when Mitchell Trubisky was taken in the top five.

11:45I've been on the desk when Blake Bortles was taken in the top five. Like those guys that we didn't, you know, quite see that. So I'm just saying you always – you know, it's saying that they're a little bit of wild card. I'm just trying to give a little bit more oomph to your point there. I like that. And we had a mailbag question on NFL Daily last week. Like, what players would a team even trade up for in this draft? It's kind of a confusing one. But Arizona maybe would be at that spot where you just trade up a couple spots. Do you have a player that you think someone would trade up for? Yeah, I've gone back to the Jets.

12:20I mentioned that last week, just talking about the Jets with the receiver and Carnell Tate. and you've got proof of concept of an Ohio State receiver right there. They need another guy. I know you're an A.D. Mitchell guy. I like him and I'm hopeful there, but I don't think you're going to rely on that. I mean, I don't want that on my tombstone or anything. I'm an A.D. Mitchell guy. I'm saying if he's your number three and you have Garrett Wilson and a player like Cardinal Tate as your two, I think you're cooking with gas. I think the tombstone says decent tennis player, owner of Jezelnec's watch.

12:55And then it says right beneath that A.D. Mitchell fan. Look at that thing. What a watch. And that's right. I'm glad you mentioned once again, Minichauk Regional, 1996, Massachusetts State champion. There you go. Let's go Falcons. Last question before I just give you a bunch of rapid fire question. Is there something that surprised you? Again, we're thinking kind of big picture, evaluating the entire group of players that you kind of learn through the process. maybe not expecting going into it? Going through and looking at that, that's a great, that's actually a really good question. You know, I just think what surprised me the most is that for a profession that I was in of scouting where we were so obsessive over, you know, measurables and those things, that guys are just having to put that to the side a little bit in this particular draft.

13:42So it is. I mean, you look like Fano doesn't have the ideal length. I still think he's going to go high. Bain and his notoriously short arms, he could slide a little bit but I mean it's not like he's going to fall out of the first round Cassius Howell with his short arms but still I think the more I talk to teams there's plenty of teams that are excited about him so there's a lot of these exceptions that for the most part scouts don't don't like jumping on that train but it feels like you almost you're going to have to and I would even put like Jordan Tyson's injury history like that's a there's there's injuries every single year.

14:16There's, you know, significant concern there. But I think as we're going through the process, people have been able to just kind of put this stuff on the side and say, we're just going to take the good players. Yeah, where are we at, by the way, in the – there's less measuring every year in terms of 40s, certainly in terms of shuttles, but just in general, getting the actual data. It was a big talking point, I feel like, going into last year's draft, and now everyone's just used to it. Did it change at all this year? Did it just keep getting less numbers? like where are we at with that yeah i mean especially in indie um and there's just there's incomplete stuff on so many players they just kind of as i'd like to say just kind of buffet the process but you you get the at least you get all the gps data you know from the from the tape and and all that stuff so you have that but it's going to take it's just going to take a while for that database to build up the nice thing about all the indie testing is that you could go back you know 30 40 years or whatever and compare this stuff i i heard that you know there's always like a couple prospects i heard in this class people didn't even know their birthday how is that possible is that a real thing i had not heard that yet but uh um that's an interesting know it but like the public it's been a baseball issue i mean remember we've had all that you know some players come from latin america and then you realize he's 24 he's not 16 it's like dj it just seems like um he's younger than he looks.

15:38Then suddenly you look up and he's got kids in college, graduating. You're going to be a grandparent. You know what I mean? Oh my God. All right. Let's put you on the clock. We are going to have five minutes. I'm going to try to get as many questions as I can. DJ, you are on the hot seat. Start the clock. Let's go right now. Number one, could David Bailey just be Chop Robinson with better PR? No, He's more skilled as a rusher. That's a mean question. It's not mean. Chop Robinson was a first-round pick. Yeah, no, but I'm still holding out hope for Chop. But no, he's a higher-rated prospect coming through the process.

16:19Okay. Have you heard any, you get the inside stuff, of any veteran players potentially shaking loose in this draft? Yes, I have, but I was sworn. Come on! What, are you going to be one of those insiders after the fact? It's like, well, everyone knew this. No, you know me well enough that when we hang up, when we finish this, I'll text you and tell you. Okay. Put it under your lid. Does that make you think there's going to be a lot of trades then, in general? I think there's going to be a decent amount of trades, yeah. I don't know how high they are, but I think as we go throughout the draft, you'll start to see trades.

16:49And I do think you're going to see some bets get moved, whether it's right before the draft or during the draft. The obvious names would be like A.J. Brown, Kenny Moore is out there, Brandon Ayuk maybe gets a lead round. None of those are the ones on. Yeah, those aren't exciting, though. So I felt like you were going to do something. I might be overselling it. I don't think mine's super exciting either, but they're guys, you know, maybe Jarrett Stidham. Let's put you kind of on the table here. A player you think deserves to go much higher than consensus. I'm a couple of guys I'm higher on, but one would be Emmanuel McNeil Warren.

17:20I just loved, I loved watching him. And I think there's a chance he could fall into the second round. That wouldn't shock me. You know, safeties do slide. And I just think he's a really good player and he ran in the four fives. I guess people wanted to run a little bit faster. I think it was 4-5-2. That doesn't matter to me. He's 6 '3.5 and change. He makes a ton of plays. His missed tackle rate was a little bit high, which people have been banging on him when I've talked to some teams. And then I had to fight back on that and said that's like we're talking about one or two, three tackles over the course of the year.

17:49He guys forced nine fumbles in his career. Can we offset that a little bit? I would love to see him with Flores, with the Vikings. That could be a fun one. Or Todd Bowles even drafting around the same spot. How about a guy, I know this isn't being negative, but you think deserves to go lower than consensus. Oh, lower than consensus. I think that, well, it depends on how high he ends up going. But, you know, Monroe Freeling, I like what he can become, but I think there's a significant risk there. He's just not, he hasn't done it for a long period of time, and it's not a, you know, it's just not a long track record there.

18:24So that's one that I think's got a little hero or zero to it. I think a lot of these tackles could be boomer bus picks. Are you mad that you listened to me? I don't know if you remember this, but I was the biggest reason you made Travis Hunter, your number one overall player last year, right before, you know, the draft. Are you mad that you listened to me? I probably should have just, I had Abdul Carter throughout the whole process. And the last, the last update I ended up switching. Keep your stock, keep your stock. Everyone's bailing. It's year two for a young player. Pro corner next year. Then everyone will just shut up.

18:56though um kind of a similar idea if arvel reese winds up primarily as a linebacker will you apologize to me and ollie connelly uh sure yeah i will if he plays as an off the ball linebacker full-time oh yeah i want that i will apologize to both you guys there is there anyone that you think is suffering from prospect fatigue like a great player that everyone's just picked over for too long because the process is so long? Gosh. I don't know if they've gotten down on him, so to speak. I just don't think anybody talks about Ioane, the Penn State guard. It's just like he's boringly – everything he does is really, really good, and I feel like people don't talk about him.

19:41That's absolutely true. We haven't much on this show or on NFL Daily, and that was going to be one of my questions, true or false. Ioane is better. at guard than any of these tackles are at tackle. I think that's true. Okay, and some of them might end up being guards anyways. I mean, we mentioned it before. Are you just trying to make this tackle class happen because they play tackle? No, they're making this tackle class happen because of the class that they're in. I love that. It's just like when you say you're too high on this guy or you're too low on this guy. Well, then list them out. Start telling me who you're going to take over.

20:18him you know i think that was uh an instructive answer for people like myself and everyone listening he's not a top 10 player well then tell me who the top 10 guys are in the draft the top 10 is pretty sweet here but then after that or maybe even but that's the gist of the argument is what yeah is nick emanwari gonna get safeties drafted higher this year just because of what happened last year uh i don't think so because derwin james didn't get kyle hamilton drafted higher and kyle hamilton didn't get nick emanwari drafted higher what are we doing here All right. Which did you enjoy more? Five minutes with me on the clock or five minutes with Eisen on SportsCenter?

20:55Well, I mean, I as a kid, I'll be honest with you, I didn't dream of being on a podcast with a mime. So I did dream of being on SportsCenter. So, I mean, I think I checked that box. But doing a show with Greg dressed as a backstage hand is fun. What are you even talking about? I mean, I'm wearing a totally normal. you know it's just so collared dark black shirt it's dark is there do you have an undershirt in there too like black black no give me a break uh that's it that was our five minutes good job dj uh you're off the clock you passed uh you can do one more show of 40s and free agents when we come back after the draft which we are doing but this is not over this isn't over not only is this oh man you know series not over this show is not even over but we are going to take a break and wrap it up on the other side.

21:48We spend so much time breaking down the draft from a distance, rankings, fits, projections. But when you're actually there in that environment, you realize how much more energy and fun there is in the moment. With the American Express Platinum Car, you can experience some of the most exciting events by enjoying exclusive access to unique experiences worldwide. Plus, as the official payments partner of the NFL, American Express will be upping the ante by giving card members special access to experiences at the 2026 NFL Draft. Card members can feel closer to the action by visiting the Amex fan experience, where they can test their skills and earn a personalized fan profile.

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