40s and Free Agents: Gregg Has Thoughts About DJ's Mock Draft 3.0

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2:36Welcome, DJ. Two things. Number one, for those that are listening, this was Greg's ninth take to start this podcast. That's not true. So that's the first part of it. The second part of it is, like, who knew there was a librarian fan club out there that has just been all over me on social media? Greg has rounded them up and they they've attacked with the vengeance. And I got to say, sometimes there's sometimes you got to fall on the sword and say I was wrong. This is not one of those times. So let's go on with the podcast. We still have not heard from any listeners that have the Jerry Mark Bright book.

3:07We will be looking out for them. This is a big show. Big day. DJ's mock 3.0 is out. When you listen to this, you can go check it out. You can accompany that you're listening. And look, how many do you get to in the end? Is it four? Is it five? How many are we going to do? I think we're getting close here. I think four or five, no more than five. So we're either one or two left. Like, do you care about getting hits on 3.0? Does it matter to you now? Or you just care about that last one right before the draft you're trying to get hits? Yeah, I wish I could tell you that I don't care about any of them.

3:42I do. I wish I could say that. But the last one there is like, it's not that I hope to get, you know, 15, right? It's just like you have that in your head. Like, I just I mean, Mendoza, hopefully one one. We're OK. They're like, just give me a handful. Like, just give me a handful of them. And then that's it. And then and then you'll see everybody that puts the scorecards out there and all that stuff. I don't really care about that. I just I'm looking not to be completely embarrassed with the with the final tally. Oh, you like getting some right. And look, I had a problem going through this entire list because it all seemed too logical to me.

4:17So we could go through it one to 32. That would be boring. Let's talk first about the changes in the top five. You have Mendoza first overall, but the first big change is Arvel Reese. I'm just going to run through the top five and then ask you some questions. Arvel Reese, the edge from Ohio State, call him a linebacker, going to the Jets. That is a change. You had Bailey there before. You have the tackle Francis Maui Noah from Miami going to Arizona. And then Jeremiah Love at four to the Titans. That's spicy. And Sonny Stiles, the big linebacker from Ohio State, going to the Giants at five. So let's go through these kind of one by one.

5:00Obviously, Mendoza's easy. Love at four is spicy. Is this because they spent so much on defense, the Titans, that is, in free agency, or is it just best player available? It's both. It's best player available, but it's also the fact that they went out and signed a billion guys on the defensive side of the ball. So I literally was just looking at this saying this pick is for Cam Ward. So who is the pick that helps Cam Ward the most? and you know we've long discussed the running back philosophy and all those things but I to me I just I couldn't argue for any other player that would help Cam Ward more than Jeremiah Love and there's also look there's the there's the team side of it and I do think he would be a dynamic player in that offense that'll be fun to watch those two guys kind of grow up together would be fun but Greg they're going into a new building I think it's a year away so there is I always you know there's sometimes where you look at the team side of it but there is some of the business stuff has to seep in there a little bit of like, man, those are two fun, you know, those big banners that they hang up of the players outside the stadium when you're pulling in.

6:09Like that's a little sales piece there in Nashville. Put those two side by side. Jeffrey Simmons, great player, beloved, I'm sure, in Nashville. But when they did the Titans uniform reveal and the lead guy for it is Jeffrey Simmons, I'm just thinking, hmm, this team needs a little more pop. Also, like, why is Cam Ward to the side? He's your quarterback. Let's show some belief in your quarterback. And by doing that, giving him a big-time weapon. Yeah, I think Jeremiah Love would be a lot of fun there. I do think there's other pieces they need to add into place offensively. I think they've – the thing that's going to be fascinating with them, and this is a longer discussion for another day, but when you overpay for Dan Moore in free agency and you're in a weird spot there because you're like, well, we've committed to him.

6:57We paid him all this money. But we also know that we'd like to be better at that spot. Like at what point in time do you say, okay, we need to get someone better there. That's a tricky place to be in. So, you know, you give him an offensive player because they spent so much in free agency on defense in a way. You know, they trade for who was Jermaine Johnson. They have Cordell Flott. They signed Alante Taylor. Jonathan Franklin Myers gets money. They have a couple other like lower tier signings. And yet, despite all that, I would argue, you know, this draft is great at edge at the top. They would have edges on the board.

7:32Did you think about the fact like, OK, they have Jermaine Johnson's on a what, you know, last year of his deal. And then Ola Dejo is the starter opposite him. So they despite all these additions on defense, they still aren't really that great at edge. But to me, it wasn't what they did on defense. It's what they didn't do on offense. So it was just that they took the resources they had. And some of them, like you mentioned, are going to be short term deals. but they neglected the offense to a large degree. So that's why I'm like, you can't go an entire offseason and do nothing to really, really support your young quarterback.

8:05And it can't just be bringing Calvin Ridley back. Wandell Robinson, okay, solid player, but they need more. They need more firepower for him. So that's why I went that way. I love seeing Arvel Reese at two. You moved him up. Is that because of how you view him or because of how you think the Jets or the league views him? There's always a couple guys where I have the same grade on them, and sometimes you wake up on this side of the bed, sometimes the other side of the bed of who you like better. This is not about that. I still have Bailey in my list over Arvel Reese just because, to me, there's more certainty.

8:43I've seen him play this position. I know what he does there, whereas Arvel Reese has a little bit of that versatility to play in a couple different spots. I just, you know, I kind of want to look. They're playing a 34. They want to be multiple, do different things. I think Arvel Reese, you want to be able to drop in coverage. He can do that. He can do a lot of different things. And I also think this is not a team that's all in on 26. This is a team that's got all these assets, including three first-round picks in 27. They can play a little bit more of the long game here and not worry about the immediate results you're going to get from this player.

9:15So that was the working theory I had. Some of it is simple, too, Greg. Like, look, I've put other guys there. I want to see the domino effect of if this, then what. So that's part of the mock draft exercise for me. Just to keep yourself mentally engaged because this show isn't doing it for you. That's fair. Yeah. By the way, what is going on with your lighting back there? It looks like you've got streams of lights coming down. I'm in the studio today. We're working around the Jeremiah schedule, so we're going right into a big NFL daily right afterwards. I got to get into the studio. One question, though, Juan Reese.

9:50if he was with the Jets I would make the argument you might just knock out their worst starter from a year ago Jamie and Sherwood at linebacker and he plays there and he doesn't I know but he didn't play well it's like 15 AAV I believe according to NFL.com slash IQ I believe you could just eat that loss because they have the cap space to do it at Edge they have Will McDonald Joseph Asai, Kingsley and Iqbari so they actually do have some edges there and you know there are people i might i might try to get ollie connolly who's on nfl daily to join this show and have him really make the argument that this dude is a could be a generational linebacker real deal linebacker that you shouldn't move him what do you think about that yeah i would i would not agree with that but i i think he can play off the ball but i think his i think his impact will be better felt off the edge i think he's a tick late i think instinct wise i think sunny style is more instinctive than him you watch him next to each other, I think he sees things a lot better.

10:47So you have Sonny Stiles at five. That fills a huge need for the Giants. I like that. I do like how you guys are always about, it's about the tape. It's about football. It's not about the combine. But then the second Sonny Stiles gets out there at the combine, you're just like, oh, we got to put him higher on my top 50. We got to put him up in the mock draft. I'm just pulling it up right. I'm just pulling right. Well, yeah, because my first list came out January 22nd. Okay. Yeah. That's my first list. Sonny Stiles was my fifth player on January 22nd. What's he now? Sonny Stiles is my third player.

11:21So he's moved up a whopping two spots, and I have him going. Oh, look at that. Five on my list. What a gross overreaction. Moves up two spots and goes the exact same spot of where I have him on my overall list. It's such a cheap shot. It's a cheap shot. Two spots is a lot. You could view it a different way. He went up 40 % from five to three. You know, it's a lot. How much would you have to give up in the draft to move up from number five to number three? That might be like a second round pick, a first round pick, something like that. He's got the same grade. He's got the same grade. That's come on.

11:56That's just such a that's such a lazy narrative. I don't blame you. You see him in person and you get excited to lump a group of people together. Oh, you guys. I mean, gee, many Christmas, Greg. I feel bad now. So let's do a section that I am really excited about. today. It's all in presented by Toyota and it's the picks on your mock draft that I think you got right. We've only gone through the top five so far. So let's, let's go to the rest of the 10. I'll just read them off for now. Carnal Tate is going number six. That's obviously the Ohio statewide receiver going to the Browns. You have Ruben Bain Jr.

12:36going ahead of David Bailey. So Bain goes to the commanders. Bailey goes to the saints. Then you have Spencer Fano going to the Chiefs as the second tackle off the board and Caleb Downs to the Bengals. I kind of want to circle back and say, I like the fact that you had Bailey to the Saints. I think the Saints would take either one of those edges. But if you look at the commanders, they could really use like a run stopping edge. Was that like the feeling you're getting from the league or more just like looking at the depth? That was more just me looking at it. And, you know, I'm glad, you know, first of all, Greg, at the start of the show, we're not going to go one through 32.

13:15That would be boring. And we're going to literally go one through 32 here. No, I just went, I decided you go one through 10. I'm not going to go the rest of the time. But I think people are listening. If you're a fan, you want to hear it. It's like, there's nothing wrong with that. That's just, that's where we are. But I want to, there's a couple of things I want to explain on a few of these, and then we'll get to get to it. Cleveland is a gamble. Like it is, it is well expected. I'll put it that way, that they want to come away with a tackle and a receiver with their first two picks. And then order of operation is going to be everything.

13:44Now, the safe play is that you take the tackle first because there's fewer of them, and they need a left tackle. So if you're looking at the left tackles, truly it's Monroe Freeling and Caleb Lomo. Those are the two left, like play left, pure left tackles in this draft. Proctor, to me, I think is going to end up being more of a right tackle eventually, but you could have that as maybe the fallback out of Alabama. So I've been giving him a tackle, and I think Monroe Freeling, could be in play there, even though it's a little bit higher than I have him. But I thought, okay, what if they gamble? If you gamble, take the receiver first, take Tate, who's a great player and will really be a nice weapon for you offensively.

14:20Then I think that would lead them, and we'll get to it later, that moving up a little bit from 24, just to get a little – they might get a little antsy of we need to get one of those other two guys, so maybe they move up. So that's the gamble pick with them taking Tate. When you get to Bain, who you were mentioning, I like the fact with Bain – It was Bain and Bailey in that spot for Washington. And then I look at Owe and Bailey as almost being very similar. You know, speed guys, that's how they play. Whereas Bain, I think you can use them on base downs on the edge. I like the fact of letting Bain, which he did a lot at Miami, kick inside in sub situations where you've got Owe on the outside, you've got Chason on the other side, and then you have Bain rushing over a guard next to Owe.

15:02I think that's a way that he kind of can do that more than Bailey would be able to do that. So that's why I fit him in there. And then Bailey, you know, with New Orleans, that's just to me by far best available. It's a need for them. Gives them a fastball. They've kind of got Granderson and they've got Chase Young. They don't have like juice, like real juice coming off the edge. Bailey gives them that. So a little something that they don't have. So that kind of gets us through those ones. And then I don't know if you even got to Kansas City with Fano, but that's one where... You're not listening?

15:33I mean, I said it. Yeah, I don't know. I was listening to you trying to say the names properly, which is an absolute chore. But the fact that you have a need there at right tackle, he is a right tackle. He can go there. I think he'd be an upgrade over Sua Matia at left guard as well if you wanted to do that. And there's a relationship thing. I do the Charger games. I've been at Chiefs games and seen Kyle Whittingham on the sideline late in the year at Chiefs games because of him and Andy Reid have a friendship that goes back decades. They're very close. he's going to know everything about this kid.

16:06So, and I've been in the draft room with coach Reed and relationships. I've heard, you know, when we're talking about players that he, he, he values heavily what his friends, you know, say at these schools. So that's why I had Fano going nine to Kansas city. A lot to get to there, but I thought you would give me some credit for getting Maui Noah, With the, with the side, you know, it's like little Wayne says, geez, moving silence, like, like in lasagna, you know, Well, I just if you would have been able to spit it out within 10 seconds and not looking down, looking up, looking around and trying to search in your soul for how to say that properly, I probably would give you some more credit.

16:46But no, it's more that I printed out old school, like the list. But I got my laptop. You pronouncing you pronouncing Malinoa was like Charles Barkley's golf swing. That's what that was like. It was like you hit the ball, but it was a long time to get there. It was like you trying to handle a pop culture reference from the last 20 years, which I just did with little Wayne. That just went, whoop. I was like, what? It wasn't. I did. I did do TV with him, though, on NFL. It wasn't it wasn't silk from from the 90s, like R &B. That's I would. Yeah. If you wanted to go H-Town, if you were knocking boots, I would have been all over that.

17:22But not so much. Not so much. Caleb Downs, is he the pick there for the Bengals? I got you on your heels a little bit with that one. You did. I was just like, well, I am a man in my 40s. Caleb Downs, look, they've been trying to make up for Jesse Bates since he left. They did bring in Brian Cook, who's kind of a different type of safety. They re-signed a guy named Jalen Davis, who's been there for a while, just as a one-year deal, very low, who's probably, if you had to start today, the nickel in Cincinnati. Do you see Caleb Downs filling that sort of role? Yeah, he can give you that versatility to be able to do that.

18:03And to be, you know, you want to use him as a big nickel. He can hang in there and do some of that duty. You can move him around. It's just, to me, it's a versatile, smart defensive player from the Big Ten and specifically from Ohio State. Like, this is just on a tee for the Cincinnati Bengals. Like, this is – it's just set up for him. And he's just – to me, he's a total adult. Like, he's going to come in there and just provide, you know, the leadership, the communication, just a real steadying guy. I think it makes a lot of sense for them. You mentioned Carnell Tate going to the Browns. First of all, I pointed out on social media that, like, I actually wanted to give the Browns some credit.

18:43They signed four starters on the offensive line. I thought that would be tough to do. It almost felt like, okay, good job. And then I thought about it, and you're still spending$77 million in dead money on players that aren't on the team. You don't have much cap space and you're still spending about$47 million in cap space on Deshaun Watson. And you've got a ton of holes on the roster. So I don't want to give them too much credit. And shockingly, there were a lot of Browns fans that were like, we don't have a lot of holes in the roster. Like, where are the holes? The whole like and and I think you just said left tackle and receiver.

19:16They're going to be looking for that. I think they could use some safety help. I think they could use a running back. I think they could use a quarterback. I mean, there are. Well, they got two. They got the two young backs in last year's draft. Sure, but Judkins might miss. That's a very serious injury. What was his injury? It was the combo fractured leg and tearing ligaments where that can really set you back like a year, and you can't really count on it. My question for you, though, is he the consensus number one receiver? Do you think everyone agrees or most teams agree that Carnell Tate's number one?

19:49I would say so. I believe the vast majority of people are going to have him as the top guy. I think it wouldn't shock me if there were some people out there who had Jordan Tyson as the number one. For me, I'm a little bit lower on him just because I factor in the durability. If you just want to go purely off of the talent and the ability, you could make that argument. I can understand why some people would feel that way. I'm not quite as willing to risk things in the first round. And Ozzie, Ozzie Newsom was always a proponent of doubles. Like we're not going to swing for the fences. Like if you have somebody who has, if you're comparing players and one guy's available, one guy's got durability issues or one guy's got, and this isn't Tyson, but if you've got somebody with some learning issues and like, I don't, I'll take those shots and chances after the first round.

20:42And the second, third round, you want to roll the dice a little bit. I'm a little more risk tolerant, but not, not here. I, I think to me, Tate is, is rocks. I'll, you know, exactly what you're getting. So I have two more picks. I think he got right. That's it, I guess. No, I liked a lot of the picks. But two more that stood out to me. Akeem Mesidor, the edge rusher at 15 to the Bucs. An interesting name, maybe different viewpoints of him out there. But they absolutely need an edge rusher. What was your thinking there? Yeah, well, I mean, I definitely think it's a need for him. And to me, knowing Jason Light, I know he values production.

21:17so you've got somebody who's got he's got numbers to go along with how hard he plays and the temperament that he plays with so you you bring kind of an a little bit of an edge to the edge position and he's another one that has the ability to kick inside and rush you know inside over guards Miami did that with both those guys last year so um I just like the temperament he plays with and um you know the age I don't I don't know that that's gonna hurt him as much as maybe some people would think. 25 years old. Yeah, he's going to be a little bit older. But I just think you're going to, you know, you're going to, he's going to be rip-roaring, ready to go, polished, no development required, and he's going to step in and make an impact.

21:56I wonder what edge that they could sign in the meantime. You know, Joey Bosa is still out there. There's a couple guys. AJ Epines is still out there. Cameron Jordan. That would be funny after they went back and forth on social media. Like, because I think they are kind of in the spot you don't want to be, which is they have to take an edge I feel like in the first two rounds at this point they might feel that way no matter what they do but they might add one other signing and then one other one I wanted to shout out was your 27th pick Kenyon Sadiq the Oregon tight end falling all the way to 27 but I love I love the fit I can see it on the 49ers you know how did he fall so far and then what do you think about them taking like a tight end even when you have Kittle in place yeah there's always this happens every year where there's somebody that you think is uh you know like highly rated let me see where i have him on my top 50 list i think he's in your top 15 so he's my he's my 13th player but this happens every year and when you're going through the exercise and you get by some certain spots like here here was i've long thought his floor would be the chargers at 22 um and people will say well you've got gadsden you went out and got kohler like i'm like that this is a different type of player.

23:09He's just a different caliber of guy. And I think a play caller like Mike McDaniel would be able to use him and have a lot of fun with the creativity and how you can utilize him. In this scenario, I had Ioani, the guard from Penn State, falling down a little bit. So if you're the Chargers, and I'll pose that question to you, you've got, in my opinion, the top interior offensive lineman in the draft, and you've got the top tight end in the draft. I couldn't, you have to take the interior offensive lineman where they are. I know they've paid Cole Strange and they've made some other investments there.

23:43They brought Penning back, but Ioane's on a whole different level. I would have a hard time passing on him to take the tight end. So that was kind of the last hurdle, which got him all the way down to San Francisco. The same things I would say about him playing with Mike McDaniel, I'd say the same things with him playing with Kyle Shanahan. I like the Ioane pick, and I'm definitely taking that because Daniel Jeremiah told me to. I'm getting the feeling that DJ is the shadow GM here for the Chargers. He's always nailing these Chargers picks. No. Somebody did something. I don't know if it was them or the Ravens.

24:17It was one of the – maybe it was the Eagles. One of the teams that I'm often associated with, it was like if you go back and look at his mock draft 2.0, he always has the right one in that one. Did you do this? Yes. I told you about that, but yes, I saw that on social. and it was the Chargers. And I went back and I saw a quote from you in the scouting combine. You think I don't do research for 40s and 3s? And you called him your favorite offensive lineman in the draft. So, of course, the Chargers are going to take him at 22. I don't know. I don't know where they stand on that. The funny thing is, like, I do.

24:53I've known Ortiz for 20 years and we're buddies. But I have other buddies around the league where we'll talk a little more openly about players and he doesn't give me anything so i i don't i never really have any firm intel people i i know think that i'm i am but i'm i promise you i'm not so okay i like to see you to see you squirm here all right those are the picks i thought you did well on uh that was all in presented by toyota we're gonna take a quick break and during that break i just want the listeners to think about what it was like when when a young daniel jeremiah was was playing h-town you know on MTV and his parents walked in the room, how he just scampered to switch the channel.

25:33We'll just be back in a minute. That was an uncomfortable song to be on when it came out. No, the worst one was, what was the one? Let me lick you up and that was the one. That was definitely the uncomfortable one. Please put that into the podcast. No, please don't do that. Singing that right now. For adults with Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis symptoms, every choice matters. Tremphaya offers self-injection or intravenous infusion from the start. Tremphaya is administered as injections under the skin or infusions through a vein every four weeks, followed by injections under the skin every four or eight weeks.