40's and Free Agents: NFL Draft Review

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0:41Welcome to 40s and Free Agents. For the very last time this draft season, I am Greg Rosenthal, joined by the best draft analyst in the business. This post-draft recap is brought to you by American Express. We're sponsored, DJ. And even though it's the last thing you're going to do before you go into hibernation, I want you giving full effort because the podcast scouts are out there watching still, and they're going to be evaluating this game tape. I can guarantee you, you're going to get four to five of my best minutes that I have to offer you. And then after that, we're just hanging on. We're just hanging on.

1:19We're just waiting for the helicopter to come pick us up. We're kind of hanging on to that cliff. and then we go off into sunset. No, look, I would never mail it in. Not for you, not on this show that everybody seems to love, both inside the league and outside the league, inside libraries, outside libraries. It's become a cultural phenomenon. Why? I can't cheat those people. That's absolutely right. If you do happen to catch us on YouTube, you can see the Born to Referee, My Life on the Gridiron book, now in the background by Jerry Markbright, a suggestion from Daniel Jeremiah. So look, this is a great opportunity for myself.

1:53I feel like this all draft season, I have access to DJ. And so this show is going to be simple. I think post draft, I just wanted to ask all the questions that were in my head that I wanted Daniel Jeremiah to answer recapping. And then we'll send them on his way to finally start relaxing. And so I'm going to go specific with some teams and some players first, and then we'll get maybe some bigger picture. If you had any favorite picks, anything like that. I'm going to start with the Eagles because to me, it's really fascinating how they get the two receivers early. And I'm including Eli Stowers from Vanderbilt as a receiver, along with Makai Lemon.

2:32And you think about the Madding, the offensive coordinator, Sean Mannion, you expect A.J. Brown's on the way out. I'm just curious, when you look at this build, you know Howie the best. That's why I'm starting here. What do you think it said about this type of offense that they're trying to build and maybe what it means for Jalen Hurts? It's a different sort of offense. It looks like they're building. What did you make of the Eagles draft? Well, definitely investing in the position. I'm just pulling up their depth chart here to go along with what else they had. You know, I think that one of the things how he does really well is he kind of just realizes where the runs are.

3:09And I thought he was sitting there thinking more than likely, if I don't get one of these top couple tackles, he doesn't see, even though there's going to be seven first round tackles, I don't know if he saw enough difference between the back end of those guys versus Markel Bell, who they got in the third round. So he decided he didn't want to be on the end of a run there. So he ended up pushing that one off. And then they come out and get Makai Lemon, who can run after the catch. Hollywood Brown, who they had signed in for agency, can run after the catch. You get a tight end who's really basically a jumbo receiver.

3:40Stowers, who's a big run after catch. So there's a lot of emphasis placed on that, of what you do with the ball in your hands. And that speaks to let's get the ball out of your, let's get the ball out quick. Let's get it out to these athletes and let's let them go. And you think about the other thing is when you have Mannion coming from Green Bay, where it was not a, not a, like I know people who do fancy football to their chagrin, like this is not a feature a guy offense. It is going to be a spread it all around. And that AJ Brown's not going to be there. Right. And look, I know AJ Brown, like a slant to A.J.

4:11Brown was one of the most effective plays in football, especially a couple years ago. But in the past, this is where I'm going with this a little bit too, is like, you know, every Jalen Hurts offense ended up looking the same in the end. But Sean Manian comes from, you know, the Sean McVay, Kyle Shanahan, Matt LaFleur tree, hitting people in stride, on the move, over the middle of the field. Not necessarily what Jalen Hurts has majored in, but they bring in Dontavian Wicks. They give him an extension. And he was obviously there with Mannion last year, too. And I'm just really fascinating to see how this plays out and what it sets up for Jalen Hurts.

4:48Because unlike a lot of the teams, you know, that we talk about the most in draft, like they have a chance to win the Super Bowl. Yeah. Like I know the Giants and the Jets, like we'll get to how fun the Browns draft was. Like, that's all great. But I'm most interested in the teams that have a chance to win the Super Bowl. And it seems like they're really making a change in terms of their offense going into this year. Plus, they drafted the guy best equipped to be a tush-push substitute in Cole Payton. That's what he is, 230-pound quarterback who has an extremely strong lower body. Some people thought he'd just transition away from quarterback, and you kind of use him as a jack-of-all-trades like Taysom Hill.

5:23So, interesting draft for them. I loved it, and you mentioned Marquez Bell. Like what a perfect landing spot for him as a third round pick to Markel Bell, rather, to develop behind Lane Johnson and company. All right. You had Ty Simpson 36th on your overall board. The Rams take him 13th overall. Shock of the draft. Most talked about story of the draft. I mean this from a legitimate perspective. perspective what what do you think McVay sees that maybe you weren't emphasizing as much when you put him 36 like what to take a guy that early and kind of put your reputation in the next few years on this kid Ty Simpson what do you think he sees at a high end from Ty Simpson yeah I mean I talked about the ceiling to me for Ty Simpson and I and I didn't see him in that same light was Purdy, right?

6:21Purdy was the absolute, that's the most you could hope for if what he would be. Now, the reason I couldn't get there is because Purdy had just played so much more football. Purdy was a 225 pound guy who cut to get down. He just feels he's a bigger, stronger, sturdier guy. Ties a little more narrow and not as big. I didn't think he'd have the same durability as him. He didn't play as much football as him. But that's where, if you're looking at it, that's where I saw the ceiling. In talking to folks that no McVay, you get the sense. And then, you know, Drew Brees, his name was mentioned, like, could he be my Drew Brees?

6:54They've always, as you know, they've always in that building had a healthy respect and rightfully so for Joe Burrow. So they're taking the Purdy thing and they think that there's other levels that they can, that he maybe has the potential to make that ceiling even higher and get into that neighborhood, which to me is the fascinating thing about this whole thing. I don't think for the most part, there was much disagreement on the player, like what you saw in the field. I don't, I don't think there was much disagreement there. It was really eight good football games. And you add that together with the lack of the frame and some durability concerns.

7:30So then where do you, where do you, where, what's your risk tolerance? For me, it was, that's, that's a lot going against him. Historically, that's a sec, That's the second round for me. And we said it on the show. If you want to get back into the bottom of the first and take him just to get the extra year for a fourth round pick or what have you, I get it. But I did not view him value-wise, risk assessment-wise. It's too much risk for me to do that all the way up there in the top 15. And then on top of that, the other point that I tried to hammer home was that he didn't play until his fourth year at Alabama.

8:01And now we're saying potentially he doesn't play until his third year with the Rams. So over a seven-year period of time, he'll have played 15 games, eight of which were good. eight good games over seven years. Like that's, there's no, there's no history of that. So that's why I said the, my biggest takeaway is this is going to be a fascinating case study on sample size. Could you, it's a golfer. So I asked him about, I'm like, it would be like, what if you just said you, you just go to the driving range for six years, but you never get to go out on the course. And then, and then now can you, maybe you might be the greatest golfer of all time.

8:35I don't know. I've never heard of anybody that's done that. I, Totally agree, especially with the sample size. And I did think, you know, it's like, yeah, McVay. I worry when you mentioned the Brock Purdy name that there is just a part of McVay that wants to show everyone that that he could do it, you know, because he inherited Jared Goff. That wasn't his. Who's their favorite quarterback? I mean, I know Stafford's the most talented. It's Kirk Cousins for all those guys. And you know why? It's because he was their human joystick. And it was – you remember I was an Indiana basketball fan. And I remember there was a theory way back in the day, like in the 90s, that Bob Knight did not want the high-profile recruits because if they won, it was the players.

9:17If you win with a bunch of guys that weren't as highly recruited and then he just built this team together and it was in his system, then where does all the credit go when that happens? I'm not saying that that's Sean McVay needs credit. He's already regarded as the top coach in the league and the best offensive mind, but it is something to that of like, we want to play the game from the sideline as opposed to like a Caleb Williams who can play the game himself without, without Jeff. And Matthew Safford. I mean, exactly. It's just a shame because seeing his play calling with someone who can get you buckets without necessarily having the right play call was, was so fun to watch.

9:49Maybe Ty Simpson becomes that guy, but it's going to be fascinating. And as great as, Kyle Shannon and did with Brock Purdy and Jimmy Garoppolo in the end, he lost to one of those. Well, look at who did he have previously before Stafford? That was a better souped up version of that was Jared Goff. Right. And they deemed that deemed that that wasn't good enough. And that's, that was early on the process. I heard this in January about the Ty Simpson thing and less and the text with the dad and all, I don't everybody. It was the worst kept secret in football. That was in January. And then they traded the 29th pick.

10:19And I just remember thinking like they didn't, they deemed Jared Goff not good enough. So they went and got Stafford and won a Super Bowl. Now they're going to go back to a guy who's like a smaller version of Jared Goff, not as, not as accomplished like that. I couldn't get, get there. I know it's easier to say than to execute it, but yeah, trading back and possibly taking him. What if you're going to take him, what would have been the move? Which I, and look, there's no reason for anybody to lie to me. I, they could have done, they could have, they could have trade back and taken him, but they didn't want to take the chance.

10:48So in some ways I respect it because it's like, if you have this, you have the stones to take him at 13, then you should have the stones to say, I'm not going to, he's so good that I don't want to take a chance to lose him. Fair. And they didn't want to lose him to their former coordinator, Michael Fleury, where I think he would have ended up with the Cardinals if he wasn't on the ramps. Do you think the Browns? Not a lot of people in the league think that in hindsight, by the way. What? That they just wanted to keep him away. A lot of people in the league said the Cardinals would not have taken him at 34.

11:17That was a scuttlebutt behind the scenes. But again, who knows? I thought it was a loss. I thought they would take him for sure. But then I was told, I don't know. I'm not. And I don't know. I don't know what they said about it. But we'll see. I mean, I think there was a decent chance. He took Carson Beck in the top of the third round. I think there was a decent chance they had Carson Beck over him. That's what's floating around. This is why we get DJ on the day after the draft. The secrets start coming out. I don't know. That stuff's confirmed. But that's the scuttlebutt. DJ's trying not to make news.

11:46I'm not trying to make news. I'm just trying to want to go away. I don't want 9 ,000 people. Hey, you think that they had to. I don't know that. I'm just saying there are a lot of people talking about that. Just turn it off and enjoy the last couple days of the season where the Padres are at least tied for first place. I think we're half game back, actually. Right there. The Browns and the Jets, two really fun drafts. I will ask you, as I recap their two drafts, who you think had the better draft of the two. I'm operating in a position of maybe you like them both. I like them both. The Browns backing up to take Spencer Fano with their first pick.

12:22Casey Concepcion, my favorite receiver in this class later in the first round. Then Denzel Boston, one of your favorites, Emmanuel McNiel-Warren at safety from Toledo. They have a nice developmental tackle. And Austin Barber, a linebacker. My guy, Ollie Connelly, really liked. Justin Jefferson late. Taylon Green is kind of a fun dart throw. The Jets, it was more focused early in terms of the highlights to me. But David Bailey, number two, Kenyon Sadiq at tight end in the first round. You trade back in to get Omar Cooper, the receiver, and then D 'Angelo Pons. What a moment for you. Gets taken 50th overall.

12:58Daryl Jackson a little later, big, big lineman. If you had to choose between one of those, but we can talk about both. Which do you go with? I love what the Jets did, but I would go with Cleveland. So I think Cleveland in terms of understanding the board and being able to realize you don't need to take final at six, which we knew they were going to do. So they were able to get back a few spots, get some extra picks. They still get their guy. Concepcion, you want to know what's funny is that I was talking to one of the things. I could literally show you the text messages of talking to people around the league when I was doing that last mock draft that I got to the Browns.

13:35And I said, who do you think the Browns would take if it was Concepcion in Boston? And I sent it around to a bunch of different people. and everybody unanimous said, I think that they would look for more for Concepcion. So I put Concepcion there. It ended up happening. But Boston was in my mind and they ended up still getting him. They got both of them. And then McNeil Warren, he's my 15th player. And I say it every year, there should be a, you get a trophy for being the safety that falls out, that falls down the board every year. And it always ended up being a really good player. And they were the recipients of that in this one.

14:04So they nailed that one. You talk about Justin Jefferson, the linebacker. I liked him too. I mean, he's, they told me at the school, he was going to run the four threes. He ran in the four fives, which is still a great time for a linebacker, but he, he looks like the fastest guy in the field when he's playing. So I like that value. Brailsford is an undersized center, but for teams that really want to move their center around, he can do that really well. He's got a chance to be a starter. Joe Royer from Cincinnati is a real athletic tight end. They add to that to their room. And then they took a shot on tail and green, the quarterback.

14:34So who's, you know, reminding me of Terrell prior, just as an athlete, like he's, he's kind of a mixture of Vince young and trail prior. how he runs that long stride, that six foot six long striding runner. But why not? At that point in time, there's value. Just take another shot, throw him in there and see what happens. I mean, if Taylor Green makes the team, do you have room for Dylan Gabriel? We'll see. Maybe he's on a practice squad special teamer. Yeah, that's what I was asking. And I'm sure you were not watching on that portion of the draft. But I did tell Rich that a lot of times you look at quarterbacks, like look at the Eagles.

15:10they have a style or a type like Jalen Hurts. So they go out and get Cole Payton, who you can see, you can, how they move around their build, how they run. They have a type. And I said, the Browns, I mean, when you look at Dylan Gabriel and Taylor green, I mean, they are twins, but definitely more of the Arnold Schwarzenegger, Danny DeVito version of twins there. I mean, they're nothing, absolute polar opposites of each other. Kind of like us two next to each other. Would look like that. How about the Angelo Pons? Someone more my size. What, what a moment uh for you i gotta give you your flowers you were saying it back on 40s and free agents uh d 'angelo ponds came up once and you gave the aaron glenn comp uh so not only that happens but then aaron glenn like pumping his almost getting emotional watching some uh highlights that you guys put up at nfl network that was a very cool draft moment yeah i was cool that they had it video because you saw muji like he goes look look it says it says aaron glenn and then And they kind of, they lost him.

16:08He did. He did kind of look like a father, at least a proud uncle when he was, when he was watching the highlights in the video there. But yeah, I think I tweeted out that morning and somebody had said something nice about ponds. And I'm like, I just would love for him to go 44. So I can use my Aaron Glenn comp. And then they traded back to 50. And I thought, oh man, he's got to watch. He'll go between 44 and 50. And then they took him. And then I looked down on my list. I'm like, oh my gosh, he's my 50th player with the 50th pick with his comp being the head coach. like that you can't make that up well you you had a good you had a good mock draft season we'll get we'll get to that later i'll hit that later you you were on bailey the whole time yeah well i was on reese for a minute but it was a long time ago i've been on bailey for a while because i talked about maybe it's for 27 and you know he's more the long-term play but then it had been a few yeah you said at least in the in the weeks before the draft as a lot of people were going over to reese you felt steadfast.

17:05I, the only thing I would push back on, on obviously your evaluation, it's coming from a position of watching all this tape more, but to me, he profiles a little more boomer busty than Arville Reese, which I feel like was against what maybe the consensus was. I feel like that could work, but it also could be someone who is tricky on, on running downs. What, what do you think, like what kept you so steadfast that that was going to happen? Cause you nailed that. Yeah. To me, I didn't think he was a hateful against the run, especially when you watch the Oregon game and the playoff game later on in the year.

17:40So I didn't have as big of a concern there. And then he just was more – he was just so much further advanced as a pass rusher. And you can get creative and do a lot of different things with Reese, but just if we're going to line them both up on the edge and ask him to rush the quarterback 20 times, you're going to see a lot more from Bailey. Just he has different ways to get there. He has more polish. He has more feel. So that's why, you know, that's why I put him there. And the other thing I would say is I think this is a real thing in this draft. And I think it's going to be something that people are going to have to get used to going forward.

18:09I think there's a severe helmet bias in the media versus where we are in the league right now. NIL has changed everything. I just think forever your eyes have been trained. If I've got a guy from Ohio State and I've got a kid from Texas Tech, like what are we talking about here? Like this is Ohio State and that's Texas Tech. And it's like those rules don't apply anymore. That kid could have gone anywhere in the country at a high school. That kid could would have been the highest paid player in the portal to go anywhere in the country he wanted to. And when he transferred, he's he's an elite, elite talent.

18:41And you're going to start seeing these elite talents show up at places like Texas Tech and some of these other programs that haven't necessarily been thought of, you know, quite like that. It's just a whole new landscape, man. OK, that that's fair. Maybe it's the lack of the kids would say aura from David Bailey, just the way he doesn't even wear gloves. Right. That's in terms of his uniform. Maybe that's that's the bias. Maybe maybe you just you grew up like in, you know, what's his name? Who played first? Who am I thinking of? Mark Grace, just Mark Grace and batting gloves up there. Love it.

19:14Look, so you mentioned right now, is David Bailey ready to rush more than our race? Yes. It's really interesting to me. We had this conversation about Arvel Reese about like, maybe he really is like, he's so good at linebacker. Are we overlooking that a little bit? And I said, you know, if we're years down the line and he's one of the best linebackers in league, you, you, will you be prepared to apologize to to Ollie Connelly on the show? Cause we have that argument here and here are the giants starting them out at a inside linebacker, off ball linebacker, a little interesting, I'm sure he's going to be part of the rush plane and everything, but it sounds like on that team, maybe their vision for him, at least to begin with, will be linebacker.

19:55So I'm not saying you've got to prepare your apology now, but I feel like we're getting ready for it maybe. It's a good first step for the reset linebacker believers. Yeah, no, it's going to be fun to watch. He's a great player, man. I had him as a top five guy. I know. But it'll be interesting to see. I think you're looking at the wrong comparison. And to me, it's not it's not Reese versus Bailey. If we're going to be playing him off the ball, it's Reese versus Stiles. And I thought Stiles was more instinctive than Reese personally. Interesting. I'm curious. They were three and four, I believe, on my list.

20:28Is that right? Maybe four or five. But they were they were right next to each other. So I'm curious. No, it's three and five, I believe. But those are the two guys that travel together for me. Same team going to apparently right now at least be playing the same position inside the same division. So that's going to be fun. And I'm sure, look, Denard Wilson, we don't know. And John Harbaugh has a big hand in defense, too. So it's going to be about the vision for him. But it's crazy. Linebackers are back. Stiles might be playing a little, you know, he might back up, play a little safety. You know, Reese will play a little pass rusher.

21:00And it was really cool to see those two guys go high. Let's take a quick break, our last break of the season, and come back and wrap this thing up.

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22:04Back on 40s and free agents, wrapping up the 2026 NFL draft. Jeremiah Love to the Cardinals became a thing late in the process. Do you just think that they could not trade down? I love Jeremiah Love, so it's hard to get too angry about the pick, but I do think it's fair to wonder about the process. There were some whispers. Ownership gets involved. Could they have backed off? Was there anything you heard like after the fact of like whether they just decided we're sticking and picking regardless? Or do you think there wasn't as much interest in that pick as maybe we thought? Yeah, I don't know what they had interest wise.

22:44I never found out like what offers would have come their way. But I did talk to somebody in the league who's very close with the head coach and said he would never take a right tackle over an explosive running back. And so that was just just point blank. Like he thinks that that's going to have way more impact on his team. And they'll find, you know, and they'll figure the thing out on the right tackle side. So that, you know, I heard that actually that was a conversation had the morning of the draft and talking with the with an executive that was tight with him. So that was that was an interesting way of looking at it.