2026 NFL Draft night two recap

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1:41Robert Mays: Welcome to The Athletic Football Show. I'm Robert Mays. Night two of the draft is in the books. If you want to hear about every single pick of the second and third round, you can do that. On The Athletic Football Show's YouTube channel. You can go back and watch the stream from last night. If you haven't watched streams at all, I encourage you to do it. We've got highlight packages for a good chunk of the players drafted. I'm not trying to pump us up too much. It looks pretty darn good. We really have increased a lot of the elements, the production elements of what this stream looks like over the last couple of years.

2:15Robert Mays: The behind the scenes people who I will absolutely be thanking more tomorrow have done a phenomenal job. And so I would encourage you guys to go check it out. Even if you don't normally consume the show on YouTube, it is just a different sort of product than anything else we've ever put in there. So if you want to see our commentary on any of the picks that your team's made, we did talk about every single pick that happened over the first two nights. Tonight, just a recap of night two. Our favorite picks, the biggest surprises, our favorite hauls, our favorite moment. Spoiler alert, Steve and Terrell going to the Falcons moment.

2:46Robert Mays: That was one of my favorite all-time draft clips that I've ever seen. We talked a little bit about our favorite hauls, the pairings we didn't know we needed, and then chatted about the veteran trades that happened on Friday during the draft to round things out. Me, Dane Brugler, Derek Lassen, Dave Hellman, breaking it all down. Let's get to it right now.

3:10Robert Mays: Night two of the 2026 draft is in the books. I would encourage you guys, if you want to hear about literally any of the picks, from the top 100. We've talked about every single one of them. There was a stretch where we almost missed a couple, but I got us there. And so if you want to go listen to any analysis about the top 100 picks, you can go watch our entire stream, four and a half, five hours on YouTube right now from nights one and two. So this is going to be a truncated version of that analysis. But again, every single pick has a reaction on the Athletic Football Show YouTube channel. So please go take a look at that if you want more in-depth analysis for whatever your team did on Friday night.

3:55Robert Mays: So let's get to just some categories, some way to bucket these picks, Dane, and just what we saw on night two of the draft. And let's start just with the best moment of last night, because I have an answer. I think we all kind of have a shared answer, something that we did not anticipate for a bunch of reasons. We just didn't think he'd be there in the second round when the Falcons were picking, but Avion Terrell getting picked by the Atlanta Falcons and hugging his brother in that moment. I'll remember that forever. I mean, that is a draft moment I will remember for as long as I do this. It's Hollywood script stuff.

4:25Like that's something. And I didn't, it never even entered my brain until about five minutes before the pick happened. As we were kind of going, I'm going through like, oh, who makes sense here? And I realized, shoot, Avion Terrell's still here. This, this would be awesome. And there's a seven year difference between the brothers. So they've never played together before on the same team until the NFL. And that's just an amazing thing. Avion Terrell to me is a top 32 player in this draft. He fell for a certain set of circumstances. The 40 was not great. Injury was a part of that. But so not only do you love it for the Falcons to get a player of this caliber at 48 overall, to pair him with AJ, his older brother, it's just, it's a feel good story that also makes a ton of sense football wise.

5:12Derrik Klassen: And you see a lot of these feel-good stories in the draft on day three when the stakes are lower. Like, this reminds me of a few years ago when Dallas took Deuce Vaughn. Yeah. And his dad, Chris, worked in the scouting department. Amazing moment. But that's a sixth-round pick. Very low stakes. Right. I mean, the stakes are higher, and it's a bigger pick. Avion Terrell is a hell of a football player. I don't care what the time on his 40 was. He's dealing with a hamstring injury. The guy can play. He forces takeaways. He's got attitude. I'd like if he had no relation to AJ Terrell, I would love that pick.

5:49Derrik Klassen: So for them to get him there and then also have that moment. Yeah. Like the blend of human interest plus adding a really good football player is really special.

5:58Dave Helman: Because it's an incredible moment anyway. When your brother's there, when you're getting drafted, like you're that alone is always going to be really cool. The fact that there's, even if we're not talking about like draft slots and all that stuff, there's 32 NFL teams. There's a 3 % chance that you two end up on the same NFL team. And the fact that I'm sure they thought there was like a small modicum of hope that it could happen. And the fact that it happens and they're going to play on the same team. And we talked about it during the stream. Schematically, it's an awesome fit. This is a defense that is very aggressive.

6:27Dave Helman: They let their corners trigger on the ball. That's what both of the Terrell brothers want to do. And so the fact that they're going to get to do it together is really cool. I mean, imagine some of the defense have gotten really good at celebrating. It seems like the last handful of years, being able to have two brothers go and celebrate a pick or two is going to be awesome.

6:43Robert Mays: I've been with players and they've gotten drafted. I've been in that room and it is an incredibly special moment, independent of any of these things. And I think there's a couple of different layers here. One, he slid a little bit. And so you have the disappointment of that and the fact that he lasted longer than he should have. And then for it to come all the way back around to this, none of that shit matters, right? None of that matters in that moment when you realize that you get to play with your brother. And not only, Dane, we were talking about it during the stream, are they seven years apart?

7:09Robert Mays: He idolized his brother. And so to have this culmination of everything you've worked for your entire life end in this way where now, not only have you reached the level that the person you grew up idolizing has reached, you get to go to work with him. There is something just incredibly cool about that. And you saw the emotions on their face when it happened. Like that realization of not only have I realized It's a lifelong dream. Now I get to go play football with my brother, who is the reason I started doing this in the first place. So that being just the fine point on the end of it in a way that no other NFL player we've ever really seen has had that happen to them.

7:47Robert Mays: Like brothers had played together, but not drafted onto the same team in this way. In the same position. It's truly just something that I'll never get over, just how cool that was in that moment. And so I wanted to sit with that just one more time after we talked about it a lot on the stream. Yeah, and I think to Dave's point about it, some of these storylines on day three feel manufactured for a television show, you know, and this was not that at all. It's, and Avion, he's the youngest of four. He grew up in a family of athletes. His two older sisters were college athletes. Obviously his older brother was accomplished at Clemson before he was a first round pick.

8:25And he started playing football because of his older brother. He wanted to be like AJ. and to it all come together full circle like this is it really it took a certain set of circumstances I really wonder how much they actually thought this was possible because I think even trail probably thought of himself as a first round pick this entire year and he knew that you know the the Falcons uh you know weren't gonna be maybe a realistic possibility and it And just, it's a good point by you, Roberts, how it's, from one minute, it goes from just the letdown of, hey, I'm falling. Why aren't teams calling me?

9:06And why aren't I being drafted? To go from that to the jubilation of going to join your brother is just awesome.

9:13Robert Mays: All right, let's get to some of the other picks that really stood out from Friday night. Let's talk about just your favorite pick of night two, your favorite pick of the second and third round. Dave, why don't you kick us off? What was your favorite pick of tonight?

9:24Derrik Klassen: I said at the top of the show, of the stream for round two, that I was enamored with so many of these edge rushers, and I thought a lot of them would go quickly. And they did. And I loved a few of them, but I got to start with one of the guys that I love the most going to a team where I just think it makes a hell of a lot of sense, and that's Baltimore snagging Zion Young, where they did. Just a player I think the world of, a guy who is just going to bring the attitude and the physicality and the effort to the defense. It fits a need for what Baltimore needed, getting in there with the 13th pick in the second round.

10:04Derrik Klassen: And it's funny, I'm talking out of both sides of my mouth a little bit because Baltimore is, they're so famous for doing this, of like letting the name player fall to their slot, and you just assume that it's going to be a big pick because they did it. but I think this is one that makes a hell of a lot of sense adding him to that pass rush in Baltimore and I love the player anyway. I would have been excited about the pick no matter where he went but for him to land there was exciting for me. That would have been on my short list for a lot of those reasons

10:34Dave Helman: and also I said a couple of times during our draft shows this year it's been frustrating that Baltimore had gotten away from this style of Ed Rusher and so to go back to him he would have been on my short list for that reason. my actual answer is Caden McDonald because that was probably the most irresponsible I got on the entire show that's also my answer they picked him and I was like they're going to be the best defense of all time and I still I like kind of believe that I just he is I think anytime we see these nose tackles we're just like oh it's just a guy who's going to command space but there are always a couple of them who do give you legitimate ability to like make explosive plays you know I think DJ Reader at his best was a guy like this Dexter Lawrence is obviously a guy like this and so it's a high bar but I think he does have that explosive ability in him and credit to the Texans for I think probably maneuvering it the right way because they could have taken Caden McDonald in the first round I think they did the right thing by taking Rutledge where they did because talking to some teams this morning they were ready to pounce on Rutledge like with the first couple picks in the in the second round so I don't think they would have had a chance at him but then they move a little trade up get ahead of the Giants and so I think they maneuvered it the right way with both Rutledge and then with Caden McDonald in the early second, that just makes a ton of sense.

11:48Robert Mays: That's one of mine. I just figured that adding that sort of skill set to that defense is one of the only things they didn't have. And my mind went to that place a lot over the last week or so as we were thinking about probably when we started the On the Clock show with the Texans and it was the first time I had really thought about all the options. Like those shows are fun for that reason. It's like, all right, here are the four different players that could go to Houston. What iteration of the Texans exists on the other side of those four players? And so thinking about defensive tackle, linebacker, just like what are the tiny little things that could, say, put that defense over the top, but they were already over the top.

12:20Robert Mays: But the two things that could just take it to a ridiculous level.

12:22Dave Helman: Over the top of the 2 ,000 Ravens.

12:24Robert Mays: Yeah, it's just like what could make this defense feel even more terrifying? And I think a guy like Cade McDonald with the skill set that he's bringing is absolutely one of those players. I kept hearing like, oh, he's not a fit for the Texans. I don't know. I think you drop him in there and it's, you're going to find a way to use him in a way that's going to make everybody else around you better. So, yeah, I agree with you. I like that as well. I'm going to go with, for my favorite pick, CJ Allen to the Colts. That was the pairing I didn't know I needed. There you go. Yeah. I mean, it's another player that probably went later than he expected to go.

13:02I thought if we heard this name Thursday night, I would not have been surprised. As a late first-round pick, He falls a little bit and right into the lap of the Colts, who obviously linebacker is a big need for them. And I think this is their Nick Bolton, their flow scrape linebacker who can read it and play physical. You worry about him a little bit in coverage, yes, but he understands how to play the position. The intangibles are off the charts. And so I think at that point in the draft to get him is a great fit.

13:34Robert Mays: And they got a fourth round pick back to move back six spots. And they came into the draft obviously with less draft capital because of the sauce Gardner trade. And so not surprising at all to try to see them accumulate more picks and to get an extra fourth and then to come away with CJ Allen, who clearly is just a massive, massive need. And you combine that, like you can throw AJ Halsey in there as like the other pick that you would like with the Colts. I mean, though, those two guys. And when you consider the state of that roster, they really, really needed players at those two positions. And so I think you have to feel pretty good about what the Colts did today, considering they didn't do anything yesterday.

14:07Derrik Klassen: I was going to say, it's like having to wait until Friday night to do anything because of the Gardner trade.

14:13Robert Mays: Funnily enough, my two picks I really liked is the team on the other side of that TJ Allen trade. I don't like everything the Steelers did tonight. But Jennings, Dunker, and Jeremy Bernard, based on what the Steelers have on offense right now, on multiple different levels. They needed a starting guard. you know dunker kind of gives them some flexibility after playing tackle in college you drop him in potentially as your starting left guard move a ton of the left tackle we'll see what a hana short does and how early he can play but you've got an offensive line that Dave said it last night baby we got us too going potentially with what the Steelers are doing over there like you throw a hand bone in there and then you get going hana chores the hand bone and so now we got a couple other pieces that we're adding to that so I like that a lot and I'm begging the Steelers to let me be excited about them.

14:58Derrik Klassen: I want you so bad. I'm trying to be so bad.

15:01Robert Mays: And it's funny because Bernard is not like an inherently exciting player, but when you combine him with what the Steelers have, I just, this is exactly what they needed last year. Like they just needed an adult professional receiver to play next to DK Metcalf. And now they have two with Michael Pittman. And so those two picks, just based on where the Steelers are on offense specifically, I really did like both of those. Yeah. And Dunker, they were able to get in the 90s. So just tremendous value with that pick. But I agree. Bernard might not be the sexiest, most exciting player. He's just a good football player that upgrades that receiver core.

15:40All right, before we move on, let's take our first quick break. You might think that the NFL season ends with the Super Bowl. Well, if you're in NFL media, that is not true. We've got the combine. We've got free agency. We've got the draft. It's really the end of April that we in the media aim for as the end of the NFL season. Some of you are going to be hearing this before the draft. Some of you are going to be hearing it after the draft. What I can tell you is that I am looking forward to that after part because it means that my wife and I can move on to a lot of the big spring cleaning projects that we have planned for our house.

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18:23Robert Mays: Let's get to our favorite hauls, right? So not just one single pick from tonight, But now we've got two days, 100 picks. Some teams have made upwards of five, six picks already. So, Dane, right now as you're looking at just an overall haul a team has made over the first two days, who sticks out to you? It's the Browns for me. The Browns are on the top of my list.

18:42Derrik Klassen: Yeah. I will say, I agree, they've made so many picks.

18:46Robert Mays: But even that, even beyond that, the Steelers have made a lot of picks too. I'm not in love with all those.

18:50Derrik Klassen: No, I think they're pretty clearly one of the favorites here. Obviously, we love what they did. This is my answer last night with Spencer Fano and Casey Concepcion in the first round. But then to come back and to get Denzel Boston with that first pick at 39, which you think about how that complements Concepcion, size, ball winner, you've sacrificed some speed. But I think that this type of receiver fits what they're looking for on the outside, an upgrade over Cedric Tillman. And then they come back at 58, get back into the second round and get Emmanuel McNeil-Warren, who we thought could easily have gone on the first.

19:30And in one of my mock drafts that I did when I had the Browns and Cowboys trading, so the Browns had an extra first-round pick, I had them go in to McNeil-Warren at 24 just because I knew they liked him. I never thought they'd have a chance at him this late at 58. So to get the safety at that point is awesome. And then Austin Barber, again, address the offensive line with as many just different opportunities as you can. they did it in free agency. They did it via trade. And now they did it twice in the top 100 with two versatile guys that can move around, do different things, and guys that are going to help you right away.

20:05These aren't projects. Talking about Spencer Fano and Austin Barber. These are guys ready to go out of the box. And that's exactly what they need.

20:13Robert Mays: Browns are at the top of my list. Another team I threw out there. I've got several just to, I knew we'd probably have a little bit of overlap. I really like what the Saints did. Damn it. That was mine. I really like what the Saints did. The Jordan Tyson thing, we talked about it last night. It's just one of those that, in every situation I'm not, if, fair or unfair, if Jordan Tyson, the Jets had traded back up in the top 10, Jordan Tyson was a Jet. I'm not sure I love it to the same degree as I do with him playing with Chris Olave. And I think Derek did a really good job of putting a point on it when they made the pick in the second round.

20:44Robert Mays: Kristen Miller, in this sort of defense and what they're going to ask of their defensive tackles and just, I'm going to eat blocks and glass and that is exactly what he does. And then Delp is, you know, Dave loves him for a reason. And I think that tight end room and Fant is there. It's a small deal. You put him with Jawan Johnson and you kind of add that more well-rounded skill set into that offense.

21:08Derrik Klassen: I don't know how many passes Delp will catch quickly, but he's going to do stuff for that offense. They just paid a running back a lot of money. Yep. A lot of reasons to love that.

21:17Robert Mays: I really, really like that collection of players. And the Browns are probably number one, but that Saints Hall was just, when I look back through them, it was surprising how much I found myself liking it and feeling good about it. Derek, what's your favorite Hall so far?

21:29Dave Helman: Yeah, those were a couple of teams that I thought about. I think for me, it's the Giants. And I think even if we were just narrowing this down to like which day two Hall did you like the most? My answer might still be the Giants. Like getting Colton Hood at the...

21:40Robert Mays: This is Malakai Fields propaganda. It is.

21:43Dave Helman: And it's also like, I liked Colton Hood a good amount. Like this was, I remember, you know, a couple of weeks leading up to the draft, It was a lot of either Seahawks fans asking me or going on Seahawks radio and stuff like, hey, who are they going to pick at 32? I was like, if Colton Hood is there, that feels like a steal. Obviously, he falls a little bit further than that to the Giants. But to me, he's a starting caliber cornerback. Like, I think he's physical. I think his click and close is really good. So I really liked them doing that. And yeah, getting Malachi Fields, like I just, I love that kind of player, obviously.

22:13Dave Helman: But I just think a guy who's like 6 '5". And the thing is, a lot of those guys who are a little bit too tall for their own good, they tend to be a little bit slow-footed. They tend to not have much bend in their hips. That's just not how I feel about Malachi Fields. I feel like he is pretty fluid for that size. I compared him to Kenny Britt on our live stream, and I feel that way. And that's not the most exciting player. But in the third round, you would take Kenny Britt's career every single time. And so I'm excited about what they did. And then obviously on top of the two top 10 picks they made.

22:44Derrik Klassen: I'll throw in one more because the Saints are my number one answer but sticking in the division and I'll admit sometimes it's just it's easy to like a class where you understand the vision and the Bucs are just trying to make it five years ago again like that's they got their ass kicking D end in the first round with Ruben Bain which was one of the coups of the first round and then they're like well we need a new linebacker who's going to hit the shit out of everything because Levante David's gone and we need a new big, fast downfield threat at receiver. So let's get Ted Hurst too. Like Jason Light was absolutely like, we just got to replace the legends that we've lost here over the last few years.

23:24Derrik Klassen: And it's easy to understand. There's not a whole lot of guesswork about what's going on there.

23:29Robert Mays: The 30 Rock bit that I love is they're talking about the priorities at NBC and there's a pie chart. And the biggest one is make it 1997 again through science or magic. Yes. But the Bucs off season priorities is make it 2021 again through science or magic.

23:41Derrik Klassen: Hey, those were some really kick-ass teams. I don't blame them.

23:45Robert Mays: I really like teams we said. Another team I'd throw out there, the Chiefs. I'm really interested in what the Chiefs did. My sort of delaying, you know, Peter Woods obviously is a swing, but I think a swing worth taking. And then to go back and get our Mason Thomas in the second round, I think those three players, you talk about seeing the vision and like what it could be for that defense and the pieces they need. I really am excited about them coming away with those three players.

24:08Derrik Klassen: I think there are edges I like more than our Mason Thomas, but what the hell do I know? I mean, he's got some serious juice, which you said, Robert, and if they're right about that, then it's going to work just fine. But it's, I mean, I'll say it one more time, just the gamut of edge rushers that were available on day two and the teams that took them and the visions they had for them. I can't wait to watch how that bears out for everybody.

24:34Robert Mays: The pairing you didn't know you needed, Dane, but now that you see it, you can't unsee it. What is that from day two of the draft? Aaron Glenn drafting himself in the second round with D 'Angelo Pons. It's just, I love that. A small feisty corner who has speed and will not lay down for anybody. I like the fit. I like how it kind of just encapsulates what they want to be on that defense. And so that's one I hadn't really thought too much about. But now that I see it, it's just perfect. I think mine is, and it's actually a player-in-player pairing.

25:14Dave Helman: For as long as he's on the roster, Jordan Brooks and Jacob Rodriguez is a pairing that I did not know I needed. Because I just, the Dolphins need so many things that I just did not think the linebacker was necessarily top of mind for them. Because Tyrell Dodson is not a fantastic player, but I thought he had probably the best year of his career last year playing next to Jordan Brooks. And so with as many other needs that they needed at, they needed guys at corner D line. You could use more offensive linemen, you know, skill player. Like they just, I didn't really think that linebacker was going to be top of mind for them.

25:43Dave Helman: And so for them to get a guy in Jacob Rodriguez who can run around in coverage a little bit, especially like man to man, I think he has that ability. He's a smart player. I think he doesn't really waste space when he's moving downhill in the run game. Pairing that next to, I don't know, the fifth or sixth best off of other off-ball linebacker in the league. I'm really excited to see how that one plays out

26:03Derrik Klassen: Dave what do you got I would have said this before the big news of the night which we'll get to before I even knew where Jonathan Grenard was going Jake Golday landing in Minnesota pairing somebody with the right coach in the right situation will make your eyebrows perk up because I like Jake Golday I know you've been really high on him this whole time I said on the stream he played edge earlier in college and he still kind of looks like an itch. And I'm nowhere near as smart or imaginative as Brian Flores. And so I'm kind of like, what do you do with this guy? And so he lands in Minnesota. I'm like, they've made a couple of those work.

26:44Derrik Klassen: Yeah, exactly. I'm like, oh, everything. Okay, Brian Flores, what do you got up your sleeve? And so for the Vikings to like him enough to take him where they did, knowing who is there and the type of fun stuff that he can use a player like that for got me really excited.

26:59Robert Mays: C.J. Allen was mine. I'll throw up Markel Bell going to the Eagles. If you're going to make a bet on a guy with that type of tools, and obviously no more Jeff Sotland, but still a couple guys who better to learn from than the tackles in that room already if he's a long-term succession plan for Lane Johnson. Logan Jones in Chicago just makes perfect sense schematically. That's one where I'm not at all surprised to see that one. This doesn't fit this category, but a team I do want to throw out after looking back through it because two of the guys they drafted are two guys I absolutely loved watching in the process.

27:32I like what the Raiders did. I was just thinking, I meant to mention them for favorite haul.

27:38Robert Mays: Stooks and Crawford, Lazune, being able to play a bunch of different positions for them. Stooks, I find such a fun player. And again, we've talked a lot about Kieran Crawford. He jumped out every single time I watch Kildrick Falk. He's a guy that I'm betting on what he's bringing in terms of the oomph he can give your pass rush. And so that haul from the Raiders, I really, really do like. And then, oh yeah, the quarterback. Yeah, that's right. Yeah. It's mostly, here, I want to be clear about this. I think one of the reasons that we do this is because so much of the draft is about being surprised, right?

28:12Robert Mays: Like, so much of the draft, and we talk about it with the pairing you didn't know you needed, or when we see a guy like Jordan Tyson, where now we have seen with Chris Lava, and it's like, oh, this makes sense in a way it didn't before when he was just like a theory. We didn't have to do that with Mendoza. There's no like your view of Mendoza doesn't change on draft night with every single other player. Your view of him changes. And so it's just not new or interesting and exciting. And so what else are you going to say? We've talked about his fit within the Raiders offense for two months. Like with all these other guys, we're getting to that conversation.

28:46Robert Mays: And so I do think there's a reason that a guy like that is under talked about when we're doing this sort of stuff. And it's not because Fernando Mendoza isn't worth talking about. It's because we've already had the discussion. Right. Right. And so just to be clear about that. All right, before we move on, let's take one more quick break.

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30:48Robert Mays: this one I think we're gonna have a lot of candidates your biggest surprise of day two of the draft Dane was who you can say more than one well I'll go positive and negative or just maybe not that uh binary but um I one of the more surprising parts of the of day two kind of in a good way was a tight end run like we Dave and I have talked about it for months about how strong his tight end class was. There's so many guys. I had draftable grades on so many of these players. And when would that run start? Would it be the third round, fourth round? It started in the second. And we ended up with, what, nine tight ends off the board total.

31:29And it just won after the other. And it felt like once somebody ripped the Band-Aid off, and it was Borkerker, who was the first one after the, you know, we thought Sadiq, we thought Stowers. and then that was kind of the band-aid off and then it just was downhill from there with all these tight ends. The other way was, so two players were drafted outside my top 200 and they were both receivers, Caleb Douglas and Zavion Thomas. Just seeing those two guys drafted as early as the top 100 was a surprise for me based off of where I had them graded.

32:06Robert Mays: I really, I love just, you just like pulling the reins back just like a tiny bit. It's as cruel as he's going to get here. It's 11.08. Anyone else would be punchy. They would let it slip a little bit. They'd be like a little bit crueler. They'd be a little bit looser. That's why he's the GOAT. Dane can just like just stop exactly in that moment of where I never would be able to. I'm not arrogant enough to think that I have both of those guys pegged to a T and there is absolutely a case that I'm wrong on both of them. but it's just it's still a surprise because even if I am wrong I just I didn't hear enough buzz about both of these players where I felt like you had to draft them where they did yeah so that's part of it as well just obviously migrate on the player but then also with some of these players I know teams are higher on them than me I didn't hear that type of buzz with these two guys all right you ready here's the coat okay we mentioned Valus Jones on the stream, that's fine.

33:04Robert Mays: If you guys want to do that, we can do that. None of it matters because Ben Johnson is there. That is my one thing. And this is just the case of like being a Chicago Bears fan right now. It's like everything that happened ever no longer matters.

33:16Dave Helman: So you are getting punchy because it's 11.15. Because of what happened.

33:20Robert Mays: The other thing is, and this is sometimes when one, even like when a front office has like a hot streak or like they're feeling themselves because of how something went. I assume a little bit of that is happening with the Bears drafting offensive pieces and after how it went last year. And so if the cost of letting Ben Shotson kind of be what he is, is that Ryan Poles has to like throw him a little nugget every once in a while. I'm like, you can have the 4-2 guy. I'm willing to live with it for now.

33:44Dave Helman: Even if it's indefensible on most levels. The Niners do it every year with a running back. Every single year, they just let Kyle Shanahan have his bone. And that's going to be that. And then he's going to call the third best offense in the league.

33:55Derrik Klassen: If you're going to do this, and Xavion Thomas would be my answer for this. there are other candidates, but I just, I, I, I was joking with Dane before we started up the pod. I tried my best not to mention him because he went to my alma mater and I didn't want to be a homer. And I just, even if I liked him, I liked him as like a fifth or sixth round guy. I just never thought he would go here. But if you're going to take this chance, chance, four to eight speed is a trait worth trying. And then I agree with you. Like Ben, Ben Johnson gives me more confidence than if somebody with a less good coach had tried this.

34:33Robert Mays: I don't actually believe that. I do. It's harder for me to get worked up over it because of the way the last year

34:39Derrik Klassen: has gone. No, I absolutely do. Xavion Thomas did, like, he lined up in the backfield a lot at LSU. They used him as a gadget guy. He can do all the jet sweep shit. Like, Ben Johnson's salivating, thinking about all the goofy reverse trick play bullshit he can do with this guy. And maybe it'll work. I'm at least, I'm

34:57Robert Mays: excited to watch him try it anyway my my real pushback to this is this team is not in a position where you can be adding like novelty pieces in the third round like this team needs corner depth this team needs defensive line help this team needs another receiver that's like a real receiver right I mean it's you right now you've got Rome and you've got Luther Burton and other than that like this is a spot that they traded DJ Moore away like it so there's just their roster is not in a position where I'm doing like finishing touches with third round picks, even if there is a little bit of part of me that does believe what I said about Ben Johnson.

35:33Derrik Klassen: I just got to believe who, what's their next pick? It's like 129 or something like that, right? Yes. So they're the 29th pick in the fourth round. He could have been that pick or he could have probably even been with one of the later picks. That's what trips me up. And I mean, I don't blame the Bears for getting their center i think you had to prioritize that that one even if it's a little bit of an overdraft we

35:56Robert Mays: talked about this on their board he's going to be significantly higher than he might be on other

36:01Dave Helman: teams boards because of what his skills see the path of starting with him yes sooner rather than

36:05Derrik Klassen: later yes i don't blame uh i don't but having said that i don't blame a bears fan for being flummoxed that no edge rushers were added to the team on friday night but in vin we trust even like

36:19Robert Mays: drafting Jennings Dunker in that spot and having like interior offensive line depth. That's something I prefer to do rather than drafting like a four to eight receiver. And like, listen, I hope I'm wrong, but that's, that's exact. Cause sometimes we do this, right. Where it's just like, they shouldn't have done that. And then you can't give me a tangible alternative. And it's just like, here's a tangible alternative. I would rather would have done this. My biggest surprise, I guess, I mean, maybe we shouldn't be surprised, but it's kind of like, I just it's hard to get on board with this like the Cardinals draft Chase Besontas in the second round where it's just like there it is good all right you went with the you had again you had the ice cream for dinner with with the running back now we're making some healthier choices here and then they come back and draft Carson back with the 65th overall pick and it's like why okay why what is he going to be for you with the 65th overall pick yeah I think part of the benefit of having a Jacoby Brissett and or Gardner Minshew is that you can survive the season.

37:16Robert Mays: You can be like, these are your quarterbacks for the, for the year. It's going to be ugly. F***ing deal with it. It's going to be ugly. Like this is a, we have to gesture at the idea of trying in order to appease like some weird idea of how we're supposed to attack this year. And I just can't get on board with that.

37:33Dave Helman: It's like letting everyone know that you're trying to solve quarterback, but it's like, we all know that you're going to do that next year. Like we, We just don't really have to do this song and dance, it felt like. And I even say that as someone who's probably the most optimistic on Beck here, but even then, I would have taken a pick like 90. That's the thing. It's fine to do that on day three, but to do that with a 65th pick, it's tough.

37:53Robert Mays: Let's play it out again. Would you rather have Kieran Crawford than Carson Beck? Yes. Of course. We said that in the moment. Especially for that team. Especially for where the Cardinals are in their roster construction and the needs elsewhere on that roster.

38:08Derrik Klassen: I've heard it kicked around a few times. in the lead up to the draft. Not from any one specific place. It's just an idea. Dane, I think you've mentioned something similar. Like the business aspect of this, selling tickets, selling jerseys, but also the idea I've heard floated around that the Cardinals are such a distant afterthought in arguably the most competitive division in the NFL. And these picks just feel like a desperate attempt to say, nuh-uh, we're here too. Seahawks and Rams and Niners be damned. Yeah, Carson Beck is really going to be the thing that does it. That is, I hope that is not any sort of real prevailing sentiment in that building because it's the type of thing that just makes you feel like your team is screwed as a fan.

38:55Derrik Klassen: Like if you're making decisions so that you're not an afterthought during what's obviously a rebuilding phase, that's brutal, man.

39:02Robert Mays: Watch this one, okay? Among all the tight ends drafted, several of them were overdrafted compared to what your top 300 looks like. Which of those picks do you see the hardest time for the vision the team has for the player coming to fruition? Gosh, trying to think of the pairings here. Borgature to the Jags, Marlon Klein to the Texans, Max Clare to the Rams, Sam Rausch to the Bears, Oscar Delp to the Saints, Will Kazmarek to the Dolphins, Eli Raritan to the Patriots? I mean, it might be Claire, just because of the bodies on that roster, in terms of him getting on the field quickly. I don't know, do you have an answer?

39:48No, I don't have an answer.

39:49Robert Mays: I was asking you because I wanted you to, I wanted you to be down on one of the tight end picks. I'm trying to accept you and dance in my head. He wants you to be mean. Yeah, no, I'm trying to think of like, because I think all of them you can understand. I mean, obviously the Dolphins, they needed to do something at tight end. And Kazmarek, I love that. We talked about Delp on the Saints and how that is a fit for an offense that they are trying to put the best roster around Chuck. Roush will be interesting with kind of what they want to be on offense. I don't know if I have a great answer for that.

40:25Is it Borkasher? I guess probably. For as high as he went? But if they draft him that high, I have to believe they plan on putting him out there from day one and making him a part of what they want to be there.

40:37Robert Mays: Do you believe he can be that? Do you believe he can be a tight end worth drafting as high as the Jags drafted him? I think it'll be tough to justify where they drafted him. That doesn't mean that he won't make an impact for that team. But because he was, what, drafted in the 50s? 56th, I think. 56th overall. Yes. One pick behind Gabe Ackes. That is someone that I think even at that point in the draft, you expect to be a key contributor to what you're going to be on offense. He was a higher pick than Burton Strange.

41:12Derrik Klassen: Barely. By like five picks. But yeah, that's a little surprising to me. No, it is. So I mean, I guess, yeah, that would be my answer in terms of where he was picked and just living up to that. But again, for them to take him where they did, they clearly have some type of vision for how he's going to fit into what they want to be.

41:34Robert Mays: Dirk, what's your biggest surprise? You haven't given us one yet.

41:36Dave Helman: Yeah, I just did not think Emmanuel Pregnant was going to fall as far as he did. Just because there were not a lot of like true guards in this class. There were, I think, plenty of guys that people thought were tackles in college. Ah, they're a little bit short-armed or, you know, maybe just their body type is going to move into inside. and a couple of those guys got obviously drafted between Basontes and Pregnon, but there really were not a lot of other true guard prospects to come off the board. And so I just did not expect him to last until 88. And I even say that as someone is, you know, I think Pregnon was probably expected to go somewhere between 30 and 50 if people were really putting money on it.

42:13Dave Helman: And so I had questions about him in that range, but I really did not expect him to be almost fallen to day three. I didn't expect that.

42:21Robert Mays: Very quickly before we get out of here, We had some veteran trades that also impacted the draft tonight. Two-thirds to the Minnesota Vikings for Jonathan Grenard from Philadelphia. The Eagles give him a four-year,$100 million deal with about$50 million guaranteed, which I want to actually look this up, Dave, while we're talking about this, but your initial thoughts about Grenard going to the Eagles in that deal.

42:41Derrik Klassen: My initial thought, really, and I brought this up on the stream, and we knew Grenard was for sale. We'd been talking about that for weeks, but the Vikings still dealt a really, really good player. I mean, we ranked the edge rushers not that long ago, or like we talked about the game-changing edge rushers, and Grenard for all of us was right outside that tier. Like not quite among like the top 10 or so guys, but maybe a rung or a rung and a half down. It's wild to me that the Vikings don't have a GM and signed off on a trade like this. I mean, clearly, if it's obviously they let go of Kweisi a while ago.

43:19Derrik Klassen: So I think like they were clearly comfortable with this to be shopping him the way that they were. But it's still interesting to me that you make a decision that big without like a decided captain at the helm, you know. And I assume, like I mentioned Jake Golday, like I would assume Brian Flores was relatively on board with this. You get an extra, you get it's a three next year and a three this year. So who'd they use that on tonight? The safety. Oh, Jacoby Thomas, who I love. So this is obviously a grand slam for the Vikings because they just drafted an all-pro safety. My reaction to this is, all right, Dallas Turner, step up.

43:58Derrik Klassen: That's a great point. And I mean, I'll be honest, he didn't even factor into my initial thoughts on that, which that's not great. And that underlines your point that now is the time if you're going to be that guy. We're giving you an opportunity.

44:13Dave Helman: And he was better at the second half of last season, but not anywhere near like this can be our best pass rusher. And so that from that perspective, I'm kind of questioning it. The them not having a decision maker thing necessarily. That one's interesting. It just kind of feels like the Garnard thing was just like the money for them was just going to be kind of weird trying to have to pay him. And so it seemed like that was almost pre-decided and pre-determined. I think getting two thirds back for him is a pretty good deal, though, for them. if they already kind of had predetermined that he was probably going to be gone.

44:45Dave Helman: I also don't think...

44:46Derrik Klassen: I mean, two-thirds for the Eagles. Just thinking, I mean, Jalen Phillips just became Will Kaczmarek, by the way. Like, that trades in the books now. And if I'm Philadelphia and I feel like I have a championship-level roster, we'll see what happens with A.J. Brown. I get that. But they drafted McKay Lemon. They drafted a receiving tight end. I'm doing that for a guy like Jonathan Grenard every single time if I'm Howie Roseman. And oh no, we gave up a guy, we gave up a blocking tight end on night two of the draft. I think they can sleep fine.

45:18Robert Mays: Well, the fun synergy in that is they're going to get a third round compact for Jalen Phillips. That's a great point. And so this is essentially them paying Jalen Phillips, but less. And the deal that he got, you mentioned this in real time, very similar to the O-A deal. And I'd rather have Grenard.

45:32Dave Helman: Oh, I think comfortably. Because he gives you more as a run defender. We can have him in Haba, who's the better pure pass rusher. I do think Grenard is a more explosive and violent run defender.

45:41Derrik Klassen: The reason I bring up the GM thing too is like the joke at this point is like, if Howie calls, maybe you shouldn't take it. Right. Well, who's hanging up the phone in Minnesota? Like who's even saying like, maybe this isn't a great idea. But that's a good point though, Derek, that their finances make this palatable. Even like they're aware he's a good player, but there are other reasons to do this besides that.

46:04Robert Mays: The other veteran trade tonight, Dee Winters going to the Dallas Cowboys for a fifth round pick. Cowboys picked up a couple extra fifths in one of the trades down that they made I can get the info on that here in a second

46:14Derrik Klassen: They picked up two fourths in the trade down that they did with Philly, they gave away two fifths That's right, when they traded up for Caleb Downs, so they got a fifth round pick

46:24Robert Mays: I think they have three fours, right?

46:26Derrik Klassen: They have three fours and they had three fives and I guess they're all gone now

46:30Robert Mays: So there you go, but that's fine They got a couple picks to move from 2023, this is one where it's not as exciting to me as the Jordan Brooks thing. I do think it is a worthwhile trade for Dallas, though. It's like we just needed like an adult to play linebacker for us.

46:45Dave Helman: It's a starting linebacker. And this to me, this happened really early on in the draft. Like I think only a handful of picks had went off the board. And so my initial reaction to this was you trade a ham sandwich for a guy like Dee Winters. He can start for us if we need him to. If someone we like is there at the back end of the second and we want to trade up or falls to our pick in the third and we want to take him and draft him to be our starting linebacker. Like if, you know, if CJ Allen had fallen a little bit further, if something like that had happened, then okay, a guy like Dee Winters doesn't stop you from making a move like that, but it gives you insurance that, hey, if there's nobody we like there, then we can go start him.

47:21Dave Helman: And so I do like the idea of Winters and Overshown. That's a lot of speed. We don't know what he's going to be, you know, whenever he comes back, if he can come back healthy. But I at least like that as like the spine of their defense was so bad as recently as a week ago. And so the fact that they've added some bodies there.

47:38Derrik Klassen: Jalen Thompson, Caleb Downs, D-Winners. It's a hell of a lot better than it was in February. I sure is. D-Winners started 17 games last year. He didn't. He had over 100 tackles. I think that's exactly what Dallas needed in just terms serviceable linebacker that is fairly durable, is someone that you can rely on. And for right now, that's an upgrade. It wasn't always good for sure. but I like he had moments and I think it was that ridiculous Bears game remember Bears Niners where the like obviously a lot of points were scored 50 yeah he like he got he was he played a great game that week I remember and like the Niners defense was obviously decimated like he definitely

48:21Robert Mays: had some good moments last season it's a it's a it's a creative solution to the problem that had arisen because they got priced out from their linebackers Kobe Dean got 12 million dollars a year and$23 million guaranteed to give up a fifth round pick. They're paying D winners$3.7 million this year. Like he's not as good a player as some of the guys that missed out on a free agency. But if you're trying to find like an acceptable and creative solution to the position they'd found themselves in this 100 % qualifies for Dallas.

48:46Derrik Klassen: Also a fun thing I just learned because it's happening on my timeline right now. Typically you love thinking about just the chaos of getting traded and like you have to move your life across the country. D winners went to TCU and is moving into a house in Arlington, Texas this weekend. So he's been waiting. He's moving into the Dallas area and when he gets the call that he's been traded to the Cowboys. So that's nice. He's a Texas native. So that's awesome for him. All right.

49:14Robert Mays: Serendipity. That is all we've got. If you want to hear more about truly any of the picks that happened on Friday night, that is available to you on the Athletic Football Show YouTube feed in our live stream from rounds two and three. We will be back today on Saturday going live near the end of this draft. Just be on the lookout for when that is going to happen. But we are not going to be live all day, but we are going to be live at some point on Saturday. So that information will be on our socials. It'll be in the Discord. So be on the lookout for that if you want to join us for our recap of day three of the draft.

49:49Robert Mays: For now, that's all we got. Appreciate you guys listening. We'll talk to you very soon.

50:08We'll be right back.

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