Building the Beast: Dane Brugler's end-of-season mock draft

0:28Welcome to an all new episode of Building the Beast. let me stress very preliminary first round mock draft for 2026. That was the meat of today's episode. Dana and I working through the top of the draft, the top 10, what might happen with the quarterbacks. We included some trades just for the intrigue of it all, as well as looking at what prospects might be available later in the first round for the playoff and championship caliber teams as they turn their focus to the draft. On top of that, took a look at championship weekend in college football, Ohio State's playing Indiana. Alabama's playing Georgia.

1:03Don't need more of a primer than that. Loaded episode. Let's get to it.

1:11All right, Dane. Well, as we are recording this, it hasn't, this mock draft, which we're about to preview, has not hit the interwebs yet. It's not available for public consumption. So I don't know. A, how did you sleep putting this together? Because we've been joking for two months about what a pain in the ass the top of this draft is. And how are you going to sleep tonight knowing that you're going to wake up to people's opinions about it? Which is worse, I guess. I think it's in a spot where I feel good about it, comfortable. I think as long as I can defend every pick, which that's what it comes down to, as long as there's logic and thought-out reasoning behind every single pairing in this mock, I feel 100 % comfortable with it because it's obviously been doing this a long time.

2:00People will disagree no matter what just because they maybe don't like the player. Maybe they want to go in a different direction in terms of the position that their team drafts. I just, you know, I think a few ground rules we need to remember with this is the first round is not reserved for your team's biggest need. That's not how this works. That's not how it ever plays out. and then obviously things are going to change here over the next month as the draft order comes into picture and you know we get the underclassmen deciding whether to come out go back quarterbacks couple important dominoes there but no I overall I feel good about how this mock draft played out and maybe you can say I cheated a little bit but trades were part of this and i because look you want to do mock drafts as realistic as possible and the way the current draft order is you have two teams picking one and two who are not going to be drafting a quarterback and so it is unrealistic to think that they're going to stick and pick especially in this draft where there's no miles garrett you know there's no bosa there's no like clear cut this guy has to be the number one pick even if there are quarterbacks on the board so in this scenario I did go ahead and do trades at the top.

3:18And just because again, I think the point of this is to make it as realistic as possible with what we know right now, buddy, please cheat as much as you want. Do anything to give yourself a little bit of a leg up because trying to do a mock draft on December 3rd is like trying to find a needle in a haystack that is on the back of a moving semi truck that's going down the highway at 75 miles an hour and just stuff's flying everywhere. You're trying to keep your balance. I mean, the season's not over, so we don't even know the draft order as of yet. We're just working off of current standings. We don't know who's going to declare for the draft, so you don't know the talent pool.

4:01Obviously, free agency hasn't happened. We have no idea, so please bear in mind, this is a thought exercise more than anything, but I am excited to do it because we did, we talked about the same thing with your top 50. We've been talking about these prospects. We've been trying to get an, uh, an, an angle, an idea of what the top of this class looks like. And if you're in a position to do a mock draft, we can kind of sort out the pecking order and, and how things might fall. So yeah, so that is the point more so than to predict who's going to wind up on your team at the end of April, which feels like a lifetime from now.

4:39Okay, so it's worth repeating. If you're listening to this, that means it's Wednesday. Dane's mock will have hit the athletic. You can go find it on the website, on the app. Please go take a look. Tell us what you think. But let's start it out, Dane, as you alluded to. If the season ended today, the Tennessee Titans and the New York Giants would hold the first two picks in the draft. And those teams don't need quarterbacks. So at the top of your mock draft, you've got a double trade situation, which we have seen before. The Tennessee Titans trading down with the Cleveland Browns to get the number one overall pick, as well as the Las Vegas Raiders trading up with the New York Giants.

5:23With Fernando Mendoza and Dante Moore being the one to at the top of this draft, as it stands. you are an expert on all things Cleveland and Ohio. So let's start there. You alluded to this when we talked about the top of the draft a couple of weeks ago is this feels like a year where Cleveland could go for broke in the draft, trying to solve this quarterback issue and, and trading up for, for, for Fernando Mendoza would be doing just that. I mean, with two first round picks in this draft and the state of the quarterback playing Cleveland, they're going to be aggressive in this this offseason in terms of finding an upgrade at quarterback um they traded back in last year's first round so they could be in position this year to go get go get their guy uh dylan gabriel shador sanders neither stop please neither have done anything to make you believe that maybe we'll give this let's play out give it give it a chance not happening okay like this is they are going to be aggressive going to get a quarterback and in this scenario the browns are currently picking fifth they could be on the outside looking in they have every reason to be aggressive go get their guy last year they saw it as one quarterback draft they had the number two pick team at number one needed a quarterback nothing they could do this year they're probably not gonna have the number one pick but the team likely to have number one pick doesn't need a quarterback so they will be willing to deal and i did go with fernando mendoza because i think it's a very logical fit when you think about this coaching staff that maybe this coaching staff won't be here so again another domino that could change things but you know when i talk to scouts about fernando mendoza the two comps that come up the most are jared goff and kurt cousins and you know guys that aren't gonna wow with their velocity you They're good athletes, but not great athletes.

7:19What separates them is the football intelligence, pre-snap, post-snap, the way they can layer throws. They can, especially with Mendoza, he's not an amazing athlete, but he has just enough mobility where he avoids sacks at a very encouraging rate. And so I think for a lot of the reasons, if this coaching staff, mainly Stefanski, if he's still back with the Browns, they're really going to like Mendoza for a lot of the same reasons. They like Dylan Gabriel, except Mendoza has better physical traits and higher upside. So I do like the fit here with Mendoza to Cleveland. Now I'm eager to see, and we'll talk about the conference championships later, eager to see how he holds up against that Ohio State defense.

8:02That'll be very telling. But right now with where we stand, he is the clear favorite to be that first quarterback draft. And it's rare that we see the number one pick dealt. It just rarely happens. It's even more rare we see the first two picks dealt, but it happened not that long ago, 2016. Jared Goff, Carson Wentz, both were drafted by teams that went up to go get their quarterbacks. I think we could see history repeat itself, especially if Dante Moore declares. And that's going to be a big domino here because he's 20 years old. We know NIL will be there if he wants to go back to school, especially at Oregon.

8:40So, you know, there are reasons for him to go back. but now especially with will stein his offensive coordinator leaving to take the head coaching job at kentucky that could be a needle mover for him in his decision making process how far oregon goes in the playoffs maybe that's a decision making uh or something that will affect his decision making as he decides what to do but if he does come out i think he's gonna go in the top five picks and i have the raiders trading up to number two go get their guy i mean like i don't think anybody disagreed with what the Raiders did last offseason trading for Geno Smith.

9:14It sounded like a sound, thought out decision at the time. It just hasn't worked out. And it's not just Geno Smith to blame for that. But the Raiders need to find a long term solution here. And if that means trading up two spots by jumping over the Saints to go do it, I think that they could potentially be in play for them. one thing I forgot to mention among the 10 million variables that make it hard to do an exercise like this is coaching and front office changes. I mean, we don't know right now who's even going to be making these calls, which that's, I thought about that when we got to the number two pick, I mean, number one, overall, if it is the Titans, and we talked about this before, I just can't imagine a world where Tennessee makes that pick where even if you're not impressed with cam ward, it would be hard to imagine pulling the plug on that after one year when the general manager looks like it's going to be the same guy and you have so many other needs.

10:14Cleveland has the two first round picks. So that makes a ton of sense in your mock. You have Tennessee picking fifth and 26th overall. So I think if you're a Titans fan desperately trying to upgrade the talent around Cam Ward, that sounds incredibly enticing. Interesting to think about it for the Giants, where if you are a new general manager, if Joe Shane is out in New York when all of this is over and you have the confidence that you're going to have a couple of years to pull this off, trading out of that spot sounds amazing. I wonder if it's Joe Shane, if you're a little more desperate to add a top tier talent to your roster.

10:54Now, the other component of that is just, is there a guy like that worth taking? Maybe it's Arvel Reese, but that, unfortunately, or maybe fortunately for the Giants, is the one position where you probably don't need to stand in there and make a pick. So I am intrigued by the options there that are available to the Giants. And if a quarterback-needy team wanted to come up, I think it makes a ton of sense. And I love where they wound up in your mock at four overall. Maybe Carnell Tate doesn't seem like a top-five type of receiver, but with the talent in this class and knowing that Malik neighbors is coming back to that giants offense, that, that got me pretty excited.

11:36That's a, that's a heck of a duo for Jackson dart to move forward with. Uh, if, if that's the way it played out. Well, and I struggled with the giants more than probably any other team when they were picking at two, if they're not taking Orville Reese, who I've been saying for a long time is the best player in this draft. If they're not going Orville Reese, which I agree with you, I don't think they would, who else are they taking at two is it it's it's probably either receiver or maybe the top tackle on their board spencer fano uh possibly uh you know we'll see what they do at right tackle uh in in the offseason so it's the giants are in a weird place where there's not a clear-cut corner or offensive tackle where it's a no-brainer stick and pick at two so they're a little bit tough where moving back to four, you know, you're not moving back very far, but it's a little more tenable to take a Carnell Tate at that point where, and again, we've talked about this all season.

12:34The top 10 of this draft is just not very top heavy. It's not, you know, the difference between pick at five and 25 is not, the gap isn't as big as it has been in past years, in most years. so in this draft I think we're going to hear the words trade back from every single fan base every single fan base is going oh we'll just trade back trade back I nobody is going to want to trade up except for maybe one or two of these teams who are looking after the quarterback so I think if the Giants have a chance to move back two spots still get probably the player they would have taken it to I think that'd be a a no-brainer situation for them pick up another pick in the in the process.

13:16Um, but yeah, I think this is going to be one of those drafts where quarterbacks are going to go early. If Mendoza comes out, if Dante more comes out, and then after that, it's going to be an unpredictable top 10, uh, for a lot of reasons. I think there's, you know, for example, Caleb downs, uh, Jeremiah love, you can make the argument are two of the three best players in this draft, just full stop two of the three best prospects, but running backs and safeties don't go top five in most years. and for a lot of teams. And so the situation for each one of these teams has to play out where they're going to feel comfortable taking that position this early.

13:53In this draft, neither of those two players went in the top nine, which a small part of me died because I hate dropping those guys because they're such good players. But when you look at the commanders at six, I would love to give Jeremiah love to the commanders at six. can they with so many needs on defense and you know could they really do that i mean i i think jeremiah love is worth it i think if you come away from this draft with the most explosive player sign me up and put him the same backfield as jayden daniels i i mean that's something i can sell to ownership and my fan base now would they do it i i'm not i'm not as sold i think there's a better chance they would go with a defensive player um you know a lot of these teams the jets the Cardinals like you they have so many other needs and other spots that it's hard to make the argument to go with a running back or a safety that early but again these are two of the three best players in the entire draft and it wouldn't surprise me if they went fourth or if they maybe fell out of the top 10 top 12.

14:58Based on everything we've said your top 10 kind of follows the logic Obviously quarterbacks are going to go high. And then four of your top eight are edge rushers, which is like the one thing where if you need a guy at the top of this draft, you probably feel good about your options. Arvel Reese, Arvel Reese falling to the saints outside of needing probably a quarterback for the future. If they were the third overall pick, I mean, if Arvel Reese falls to the third team, no matter who it is, that's going to feel like a coup for whoever's sitting in that three spot. Keldrick Falk going five. In this case, it would be to the Tennessee Titans.

15:37Reuben Bain going to the Commanders. And David Bailey climbing up into the top 10 after the season that he's had at Texas Tech. That does feel like, for all we've said about the premium positions lacking those sorts of players, I don't feel that way about Edge Rusher. And I'm not trying to compare them to other years or say they're on par with Miles Garrett or Aiden Hutchinson or some of those guys that have been at the top of other drafts. But if you root for a bad team and need defense, you're going to have a chance to get some quality edge rushers. It looks like guys with promise, you know, Keldrick Falk, he's not had maybe the season.

16:17A lot of us expected him to have a six, six to 70. And the way that he was used, I mean, he's a four. I lined up inside the tackle quite a bit. Like he wasn't asked to just be a strictly a lineup on the edge, go get the quarterback type of guy. It's he's one of the youngest players in the draft. It's very similar to Mikel Williams in last year's class. And Mikel went, I think, 11th. And so Keldrick Falk is going to be somewhere in that top 10 conversation. Reuben Bain, we've talked about how he's not universally loved just because he doesn't. He has got a little bit of a unique body type, shorter arms.

16:51But, you know, Dan Quinn's going to love this player. The get off, the power that he plays with. The fact that, you know, he's just as good against a run as he is. He is getting after the quarterback. He had a really good game against Pitt in the regular season finale. Is that the last time we're going to see Reuben Bain in a Hurricanes uniform? Maybe. If it is, he went out in a big way. And then David Bailey, who I think he's beat up on some pretty bad tackle play this year in the Big 12. He's also had good games against Utah, who has good tackles. Arizona State's got good tackles. So he led all of FBS in the regular season in pressures and sacks.

17:30And so he's going to have that juice off the edge that I think is going to speak to a lot of defensive coaches. Jonathan Gannon being one of them in Arizona, you add him to that front seven and, you know, to see how they've tried to build that front seven. I think that'd go a long way. Jordan Tyson going number seven overall to the New York Jets in this mock, which puts two receivers in the top 10 of this draft. Tyson gave it a go in the rivalry game against Arizona. He ultimately, it looked like he aggravated the hamstring issue that's been plaguing him for the second half of this season. He wasn't able to finish the game.

18:08Is it mainly injury concern with Carnell Tate being the first guy off the board over Tyson? Is it just because Tate's been that awesome, which for the record, I think that he has. But I was curious there with Tate going four and Tyson going seven, both to the New York teams, fittingly. but I was curious about how that stacked up, what you thought about that. I think that's a big factor here with Jordan Tyson. And the fact that he's missed, it's like what, 38 % of his team's games the last four years because of injuries. It's something that has to factor in. And I think when he's healthy, when he's on the field, it reminds me so much of Stefan Diggs, his ability to create space and then be a ball winner at the catch point.

18:53I think a lot of teams could use that. including the jets you put him opposite Garrett Wilson. I understand like the quarterback position is very much in flux for 2026. And the jets have the ammo to go get a quarterback in this draft if they want to, but there's also scenario. And we've, we talked about it before. There's a scenario where they look to build up the roster and then target a quarterback in 2027 in that class. So, you know, I think there will be, whether it's the Raiders, the saints, the Jets, there will be teams in the top 10 this year that realize, you know what, we're just not going to get our quarterback this year.

19:28We're okay waiting. And, uh, look, you know, 2027 supposed to be much better. Uh, time will tell if that plays out, but teams are always scouting ahead and the Jets could be one of those teams that are, uh, maybe forward scouting to 2027 when it comes to the quarterback. One more fun thing I wanted, we'll say two more fun things before we take our first break. a the la rams i i like that you're on board with me zigging when everybody thinks they're gonna zag and taking spencer fano if i mean if you get the first offensive tackle in the class at nine overall yeah the the long-term outlook outlook at quarterback doesn't get any clearer but we don't know matthew stafford's future as of right now i if you were able to add a talent like that outside of getting your quarterback of the future.

20:20I love that call. The Rams offensive tackles, both getting a little long in the tooth, particularly Rob Havenstein. So I think that makes a ton of sense. And then finally, okay, 10, 10 is not too far of a fall for Caleb downs, especially if he gets to go play in Ohio for a team that desperately needs any sort of help whatsoever on defense with the Rams. I will say I was pretty impressed with Warren McClendon filling in at right tackle. And that's fair. Again, he's played well over the course of three or four games this year. That's against the Panthers. And like, so I think the competition has helped.

20:57If he finishes in a strong way, then maybe the Rams aren't looking at a right tackle in the draft. But with what we know right now, yeah, I think final makes a ton of sense for the Rams. And then, yeah, I think really 10 and 11 Caleb downs to the bangles. And then Jeremiah loved the Vikings. Again, these are two players are two of the best players in the entire draft. Just we're talking position value as the reasons why they could still be available here. You know, teams in front of them not wanting to invest top 10 capital or top eight capital into into those positions. I don't agree with it with these two players, but it's at least a realistic scenario.

21:35and you know with even with Caleb Downs like the Bengals they're one of those teams that I can think could look at a safety and be like safety in the top 10 yeah I don't know like I just I wouldn't surprise me at all but he instantly upgrades the talent in the back end of this defense and then just the disciplined culture that he would bring to this that unit to me this is a don't overthink it Cincinnati like if he falls to you at 10 don't overthink it and then with Minnesota, they need, you know, I don't know. We'll see what happens with the quarterback situation. Like I don't see them just punting on JJ McCarthy after this season that they need to do something, whether that's, you know, doing something even more on the offensive line.

22:17I don't know what that would be, but adding a Jeremiah love, adding a weapon like that to that backfield, man. I mean, that would be, that would be something that helps the quarterback that helps everybody else in that offense. And I think would be tremendous value if you're getting Jeremiah love, outside the top 10. All right. I was going to do this on the other side of the break, but you played my hand by taking my talking point right off of my notes, as you so often do. But it's very similar to what we talked about with Jeremiah Love to the Giants a couple weeks ago. I get it. Jeremiah Love's incredible.

22:53It can be hard to justify what most people view as a luxury pick when you have such other big problems. And let's just be brutal with it. JJ McCarthy has, has struggled enough that I think it's at least a fair question. And I hear you like, you don't have to cut him or send him out of town. He's you drafted him. He's on your team for two more years at the minimum, not saying you have to do anything rash, but if you're picking 11th and spoiler alert, Ty Simpson also goes in your first round at 14 overall to the Pittsburgh Steelers, which that makes a ton of sense. if you're the Vikings and you have a shot at a tie Simpson, a, I think that's really interesting.

23:36And B, if you're not interested in drafting him, what else have you done at quarterback? Let's take it back to the Raiders trading up for Dante Moore. If they were to do that, does Gino Smith become available in a trade? And is that something a team like the Minnesota Vikings should be interested in? could getting Mac Jones out of San Francisco be something that you try to do? It's hard for me to believe, even if you don't want to give up on JJ McCarthy, it's hard for me to believe that you could pass up on a, on a guy like Ty Simpson, unless you have done something else during the pre-draft process to cover yourself.

24:16That's all I would say. And I mean, based off of how JJ McCarthy has played, Hey, that's absolutely fair to just bring up the conversation about what are the Vikings going to do in the offseason to be better at quarterback in 2026. It can't be as simple as, well, let's just stand pat and hope that the quarterback gets better. But I don't think it's as rash as we're moving on from McCarthy. And it's just there's so few options. I mean, are you really going to trade a third-round pick to go get Mac Jones? you know like Gino is if I'm the Raiders I'm not trading Gino because Dante Moore is 20 years old and I'd love to have a veteran ready to go from day one and then you mix Dante Moore in when he's ready to go so I don't know that there are there's a clear-cut answer with what for them to do that's why I think Jeremiah Love he helps your quarterback he helps everybody else on that offense by both with what he does catching the football at the backfield and then what he does obviously as a runner so i think that would be part of my answer to help the quarterback is adding a dynamic weapon like that you are leaving the draft with the most explosive playmaker in this draft class a guy who has higher draft grades than ashen jenty did last year and he went fifth overall so i i think with love you know we can talk about obviously the positional value and all that especially for this team i think that my they're in a tough place at the quarterback position and so love to me would be part of my answer to hopefully the picture looking a little bit more clear next year.

25:50I hear you. And it's not a knock on love. I think we haven't played the conference title games, but I think I would vote for Jeremiah Love for Heisman if I had a vote, which to be clear, don't yell at me. I don't even have one. So don't worry about it. But I love Jeremiah Love. Pardon the pun. I just we did this thing with the Vikings having the best supporting cast in football this year. And, and I know the offensive line was banged up for a lot of the year, but they have, they've had enough that we should have seen more from the quarterback position. And I'll just, I'll say this. It can't be what it was this year where you're basically handing the reins to JJ McCarthy and there's not a ton in the way of competition for him in training camp.

26:35Like you got to do something to foster that. And yeah, I mean, that's a good point about Gino potentially being a mentor for a young quarterback. quarterback so maybe he's not available I don't know I don't know the answer that's for the Vikings decision makers to figure out but if you're not going to draft a guy in the first round this year you got to do more to to bring in somebody who can push JJ McCarthy or or potentially start if this doesn't get any better all right we while we were going to do that on the other side of the break anyway so we just got that out of the way now we will take a quick break we will be back with the bottom half of Dane's first round mock right after this.

27:16All right, Dane, just looking once you start with like picks 12 and down in this first round mock, I'm not going to go through every single selection. And I would encourage you to go look at it if you want to go see every selection. But my main takeaway here, just looking at the names that are available to the teams in these positions, is if the top 10 is kind of a pain to figure out because it's just not that sexy type of year where Jamar Chase and Panay Sewell and Devontae Smith and Micah Parsons are all going to get drafted highly, that might be a little disappointing for the teams at the top of the draft.

27:55But the fun thing for us is a lot of good teams are going to have a shot to draft guys that are not substantially worse than the top of this draft, I would guess. Like, just looking at this, the Carolina Panthers taking Peter Woods at 15th overall. The Kansas City Chiefs picking 13th, by the way, which is just weird to see. Obviously, it can still change, but that is very strange. The Kansas City Chiefs getting Kenyon Sadiq as a Travis Kelsey heir apparent at 13th overall. The Detroit Lions, we've talked a lot this year about Caden Proctor not really living up to the hype as the potential OT one in this draft.

28:37And that's totally fair. And clearly, I don't know that people would be excited to draft him in the top five of this class. The Detroit Lions getting Caden Proctor at 17 on a team that already has good offensive tackles and he can join that program with their offensive line coach and develop there. I'm a hell of a lot more excited about that than I would be about Caden Proctor as a top 10 pick. So it feels like there's some really good value in the back half of this first round. Well, the lions aren't drafting a tackle. They're drafting tight end. So, I mean, that's, he showed Dan Campbell, the clips of Keaton Proctor catching a swing pass or that's a great point.

29:20Yeah. It's going to be an easy Brad Holmes is, he's not even gonna show him any offensive line clips, just show him the clips of him in the backfield or him. I mean, that's all he has to show Dan Campbell. What do they call that package? Duncan? Yeah. they're just going to show him the Duncan package and be like, all right, we got our new goal line plays. Let's go. Yeah. Be the heir apparent to Taylor Decker eventually while also helping out, you know, giving you guard depth in the meantime. And then also, you know, some of those goal line packages. I mean, that's, I don't know to me. I think I really liked that fit with Detroit.

29:51Yeah. But I think your overall point though, I think is spot on. Like you're looking, I'm looking at some of these names in the back half around one and it's like, okay, Sonny Styles and Caden McDonald and uh Makai Lemon like there are a lot of players that won't go in the top 15 that are still really good and so if I'm a playoff team I'm feeling pretty pretty confident about how this first round could play out and there's not that huge gap between the top 10 to 12 players and then who you're getting later on um I think one of my favorite fits really it's two of the two of these receivers uh where they're going in in the back half of round one the playoff teams the buffalo bills at 21 uh i know you'll like you love this one right uh denzel boston i mean i think if the bills could like uh use him now for this playoff run i it would just be a perfect fit whether he's an x whether you know he's that big slot uh for buffalo using that frame tracking the football winning uh you know the way he can win outside of his frame with his hands Denzel Boston I love that fit in Buffalo and then with the 49ers if Makai Lemon makes it to the 49ers Kyle Shanahan he he wouldn't be able to help himself he would run that pick in so fast um and you know he's 5 '11 195 pounds not the biggest guy but he's so manipulative as a route runner and strong at the catch point after the catch you know we're the almond raw same brown comparisons we're gonna hear those quite a bit I think the 49ers would run to the podium in that situation going back to Boston I was curious about this and I like him a lot as a player if you're a Bills fan listening to this I got to imagine you're thinking okay well we just drafted the big contested catch receiver in Keon Coleman and he did have he had a touchdown against Pittsburgh the other day but it's safe to say that it's not going the way that you would prefer so is this just replacing that decision saying like, all right, let's just try it again.

31:53Or I mean, I guess maybe compare those two guys as prospects a little bit. Like what would Boston bring to an offense like that? That's tried this before. I mean, I think you're just, you're bringing competition into a wide receiver room that needs help. And you have a specific window right now to win with one of the best quarterbacks on the planet. Maximize it. Do everything you can to put the best offensive product out there. Maybe that's drafting an offensive tackle here and making sure you have depth at those positions that have been banged up this season. There's a lot of different ways they could do it, but adding in Denzel Boston, who, yeah, even though he is the size of a prototypical X, he could be your big slot.

32:37I mean, you can move him around a little bit And, you know, I think be creative with how you're going to have him impact this offense. So to me, I mean, whether they're ready to move on from Keon Coleman or not, I think Denzel Boston is still a fit with what they want to be and how they can really maximize this window with this quarterback. It's just like I said, there's there's so many names here where they get a lot more exciting when you're talking about them as mid round picks to teams that have infrastructure and aren't trying to start a rebuild or retooling a roster. I mean, Francis Maui Noah to the Houston Texans, obviously a team that should be seeking to upgrade its offensive line.

33:21The Philadelphia Eagles getting your guy Vega Ione out of Penn State. Yeah, like with the struggles they've had on the offensive line this year, knowing of knowing that that Lane Johnson is in the twilight of his career, knowing that you've kind of struggled replacing Makai Becton this season. It's a lot of resources to spend on your offensive line, but the Eagles are proof positive of how good that can look when you hit on those sorts of picks. So I love that decision. I just think I think the Cowboys Cowboys fans would probably throw a parade if CJ Allen out of Georgia was available for them to pick at 27.

33:57There's there is value all over the place here starting. Yeah, I would say starting around pick 12. I just start to get a lot more excited than I thought I would based on how we've talked about the top of this draft. One draft pick is not going to rectify all of the Eagles' run game woes, but you add an athletic mauler like Ioane, that's going to help. I mean, Tyler Steen's been up and down. They have to be concerned about Landon Dickerson's long-term durability. As much as I love Landon Dickerson as a player, they have to be concerned. So, yeah, and you're right. A first-round pick is a lot to spend, but this team has never been shy about spending early picks on offensive linemen.

34:41So that's something that, you know, we could see play out. Yeah, I think that CJ Allen, if you're the Cowboys and you can come away from the first round with Sonny Styles or a CJ Allen, you feel good about that. The linebacker play in Dallas has been pretty abysmal this year and you have to get better with with two first round picks. You have a chance. I mean, there's a very high chance to go defense with both picks. And so whether that's corner and linebacker or edge rusher and linebacker, I think there's a, the common theme I think will be linebacker. If one of those guys is available to them, Casey Concepcion to the Titans.

35:19So part of that trade back from one is getting Cleveland's pick at 26, which originally belonged to the Jaguars and to get a guy like Concepcion who, so Titans go, they could go receiver at five and, you know, Colonel Tate was off the board in this scenario that could go Jordan Tyson, but they wait. take the edge rusher at five, get the receiver here at 26. And I, you know, I think this is helps your quarterback get better. Casey concepts you on a guy who is so good with the catch and run. He's top 10 nationally and yards after catch per reception. You know, they don't really need a special teams, but he can give you that as well.

35:56So I think that's a good fit. The Ravens a little bit earlier at 19, they go Caden McDonald, that five Ohio state players in the top 20, by the way, which would tie the record for most picks from a single program in a top 20 of a draft. And the way Caden McDonald played all season, but then especially against Michigan, I mean, he was, you can't move them. And if you give them, if you just a single block, he will shed the block, discard guys, make plays against the run, very, very dominant up front. And that's exactly what the Ravens could use. I was going to point that out. If you didn't going through your mock, I write things out for my own notes to help me remember them better.

36:37And I was like, damn, I keep writing Ohio State over and over and over again, which if you've watched him play, particularly on defense this year, I don't think that's terribly surprising. One more, one big thing I wanted to hit. I did, I mentioned him, but I guess he deserves a little bit more shine on his own. Ty Simpson, we gave him the kiss of death ever since we just heaped praise on him. It just hasn't been as pretty as we would prefer. And it's not over yet. It looks like Alabama is going to make the playoff after surviving the Iron Bowl. So he will have at least one more big opportunity to show his stuff.

37:16But you've got him going 14 to Pittsburgh. Makes a ton of sense for a variety of reasons. I am curious, though, A, how much does this downturn since early November weigh for you? And B, what type of feedback do you think he's going to get? Again, we've done this a hundred times. He hasn't started very many games in college. There's not a long list of players that have come out with so few college starts and gone on to really successful NFL careers. Let's just say hypothetically that it doesn't look better when Alabama gets to the playoff. Could this be a situation where he returns to school to get that stuff under his belt?

38:00Or would you imagine like the mid first round is his floor as a prospect? How are, how are we feeling about that right now? I mean, I think it's fair to call him a wild card because he's, you know, we we've laid it out before he, he graduated from college before he ever threw a touchdown pass. You know, he's 23 or he turns 23 years old this month. He's just a very, it's a very unique case. And so how will, I really thought the iron bowl and how it played out against Auburn would give us an indication maybe of all right he's gonna go back or okay he's ready to go pro and it was really a mixed back I mean I think if you watch if you just watch the three touchdown passes that he had uh especially that first one where he's falling backwards and that beautiful touch pass in the back of the end zone I mean you you want and then the third touchdown which was on fourth down late in the game to kind of seal it you you watch those three touchdowns and you're like all right sign me up for Ty Simpson but then you watch the body of work throughout the game And it's like, okay, well, you know, and part of that was the pass rush.

39:00He had a tough time negotiating that, but Ty Simpson will have a big decision just like Dante Moore after this year. And the way the sec title game plays out, the way the playoff plays out, I'm sure that'll go a long way to help determine what he does. But, you know, if you were the Steelers, this might be best case scenario. Cause once again, it's a, they're going to find themselves at a quarterback crossroads in the off season with, okay, what is our best option here? Is it trying to go the free agency route again, the veteran route? Or do we go the Kenny Pickett route where we have a pick somewhere in that mid first?

39:37And this is where Mac Jones went. And like I said, Kenny Pickett, Bo Nix, guys that have obvious warts, but you could probably still win with them in the right situation. And so I think Ty Simpson could fall in that category as well. And so if you're the Steelers picking somewhere in that mid first Simpson falling to you might be best case scenario. It's a weird spot to be as an LSU grad to now be very invested in the success of the Alabama quarterback. And I find myself I'm not I am not selling my stock, by the way. I still love the guy. I'm curious to see. I'm curious to see how this plays out.

40:18and maybe it wouldn't be a bad idea for him to return to school and have a shot to be the slam dunk, like no question about it, contender for number one overall pick. Or maybe there's enough here that it's worth going now. Kudos to you for, yeah, my apologies for forgetting Alabama's going to play Georgia. So he's actually going to get at least two more opportunities to show his stuff. Go figure. with all the upheaval in the SEC this year and all the out-of-nowhere success stories like Texas A &M and Ole Miss. Of course, we get Alabama-Georgia one more time for the SEC championship. So big opportunities for Ty Simpson to show exactly what his ceiling might look like as a prospect if he does, in fact, come out this year.

41:07Speaking of, that is a fantastic tease for our next segment. We're done with the mock draft. If you want to go look at the rest of Dane's first-round mock, You can go find it on the athletic.com. When we come back from this break, we're going to preview conference championship weekend.

41:23All right, Dane, just a handful more very big games before we get the college playoff format announced on Sunday. Where else do you start? It's, it's weird though, man, like for us as draft evaluators, is this, is this not a perfect situation? Number one, Ohio state, number two, Indiana, Saturday night, Fernando Mendoza going against the Ohio state defense. But as a college football fan, it is kind of weird to just be like, yeah, but what are, what are the stakes here? Like what exactly, what comes out of this? Cause I just, I don't believe that either one of these teams is even going to fall out of the top four.

42:03Like I think Indiana and Ohio state are both going to get buys in the playoffs. So we're, we're really, we're, we're playing for maybe the Heisman trophy for Fernando Mendoza chance to stay unbeaten. And don't get me wrong. It would be great for Ohio state to continue this repeat bid without a loss on their, on their resume. But in terms of actual stakes, it feels a little bit lacking, but Hey, for those of us that care about this from the NFL draft prism, watching Mendoza go against this defense. I mean, that's worth the price of admission alone, honestly. there are so many nfl draft storylines in this one i mean so many guys worth watching um you know what did we talk about last week would be the key from michigan to upset ohio state it was the pass rush from derrick moore jay sean barham they combined for zero pressures and so testament to ohio state's offensive line give them credit um i think it's going to be similar in this game where indiana has to put pressure on the quarterback julian's saying he's going to find success through the air if you give him even a little bit of time so can indiana get pressure um and i think that on offense i think when we think about the indiana offense we immediately think of fernando mendoza and obviously good reason for that but there's only one big 10 team that ranks top 10 nationally in rushing that's the hoosiers uh roman hemby uh borderline draft pick um caelan black uh michigan was able to find some success against uh the buckeyes on the on the on especially early in that game really not in the second half at all but early in that game they did find some success Ohio State I mean you expect them to get that buttoned up but Indiana's offense it's so much of the success they have through the air comes through that RPOs all the runs it's all paired together and so having success on first and 10 so it's second and five that's a big part of the formula for the Hoosiers to win this one and win the Big Ten title.

44:03But yeah, there's so many individual matchups. Arvel Rees, Sonny Styles, Caleb Downs, working downhill to limit the run. On the outside, Igben Osen versus Eliza Surratt. I mean, talk about two competitors who win with physicality. This one, that will be a dogfight. That will be a lot of fun. Omar Cooper Jr., Jermaine Matthews, that'll be a good one on the inside. in the trenches kenyatta jackson he had his way with michigan's left tackle how will carter smith hold up uh the hoosiers left tackle that'll be a fun one we mentioned katie mcdonald uh earlier at the nose and how important he's been to ohio state's run defense pat coogan he's a veteran center uh he's faced this ohio state team before he was with notre dame last year and so coogan's a guy trying to get the draftable territory big test for him in this one uh indiana's d 'angelo Ponds is one of the best cover corners in college football.

44:58Probably going to sneak in that day two range as a prospect, but he's five, nine, 170 pounds. How will that size show up against Carnell Tate, Jeremiah Smith on the outside? But like you said at the top, ultimately I cannot wait for this matchup to see Mendoza, how he does against easily the best defense. He'll see this season. The closest thing he'll see to an NFL defense. We saw it earlier in the year against Penn state, against Oregon. And probably the two best defenses he faced this year, he was a little bit up and down for most of that game. Now, at the end, he just called game and put it away.

45:33But it wasn't all just clean for him the entire way. So how he does against this Ohio State defense will be a lot of fun to watch. And you know, it's anybody, any team that's considering Fernando Mendoza, you know this will be an automatic watch when teams are in the war room, they're watching tape. This will be a must-see for any team. considering this quarterback. I mean, and you could say the same thing about Ohio State, right? We talked about it heading into the Michigan game. Outside of Texas, the schedule kind of leaves you wanting if you want to see them going up against the best of the best.

46:09You can say the same type of stuff about Indiana. Obviously, the road win against Oregon looms very, very large. Mendoza was not fantastic in that game, though. And other than that, you're probably talking about the comeback against Penn State, the game against Iowa. This is a huge opportunity for him. I mean, you just said Ohio State might tie or set the record for first round picks in a draft. They're going to have, my God, how many guys total are going to get drafted off this Ohio State team? This is going to be the go-to tape when you want to see what Fernando Mendoza is all about. And like I said, I think that is an easy headliner, even if there are 15 other things worth watching.

46:51I do just want to point out, though, I think it's easy to lean toward all of this NFL talent on Ohio state's roster. And I know the transfer portal means that teams are vastly different from year to year, but Indiana was hanging with these guys until a Carnell Tate punt return last year. And the score wound up, excuse me, I'm sorry, Caleb downs, excuse me, wound up looking a lot more lopsided than it did through like half of that game. So I think Indiana can hang with these guys, even if I would pick Ohio State to win. Yeah, I think Aiden Fisher, I saw some of his comments during the week, and he said how they're going into this not feeling like an underdog.

47:33They're feeling like, oh, this is like two Big Ten powers clashing. And I think it does feel like that. Indiana has earned that respect where they are – they're not just a fun story anymore. They have the talent to go up against anybody in the country, including Ohio State. And this will be a fun one because, you know, if you look at tickets for this game, it's cheapest tickets like 400 bucks because the games in Indianapolis. Very close. There's a lot of Indiana fans that are going to see their team in a Big Ten championship game for the first time ever. And it's it's going to be in Ohio State.

48:08Their fans travel really well, obviously. And so they often will, you know, show up and command most of the attendance in these conference championship games, bowl games, playoff games. Not in this one. Indiana is going to be well represented by their fans. And this is a team that definitely deserves our respect. I don't think either way, whoever wins this game, I do not expect this to be a blowout. It should be a close one all the way through. That's the nightcap. In the middle of the day, we get another version. of Georgia, Alabama, which narratively from a college football perspective, maybe you're getting tired of it.

48:47But again, this is a this is a game full of NFL prospects. I think it's very fitting beating Georgia early in the year was one of the games that kind of put Ty Simpson on the map. You watch him in that game against a defense loaded with NFL prospects and think, oh, there's something to this guy. Now you get a chance to do it again in a marquee matchup with playoff seating on the line. We've talked about the NFL prospects on Georgia's side of the football before. Do you think it's worth shouting out? You mentioned your guy Monroe Freeling out of Georgia on last week's episode. You snuck him into your mock draft as the number 32 overall pick.

49:26So something worth watching as well going against Alabama's front. I just, this doesn't need to be sold as anything other than you can count on each side of the ball having a handful of NFL players. Yeah, no doubt. And I mean, I did sneak him into the Freeling into the mock to the Patriots at 32. I mean, the Patriots new motto, it should be just all over the building is just protect Drake at all costs. All right. And so drafting an offensive lineman, whatever, sign it, do it. Eugene Monroe has actually played pretty well this year, but just add a young understudy into that mix who can potentially take over in the future.

50:05But yeah, okay, over the last 11 games, what do you think Alabama's record is against Georgia? The last 11 times you guys have matched up, what would you guess? Oh my God, it's probably... Mr. SEC. It's... You said 11 games? It's probably like... Last 11 games. It's probably 8-3 or 9-2. close 10 and one i mean it's it's been that lopsided for alabama it's the one thing kirby can't do except ironically they they beat him in a national title game yeah it's the one exactly so if you're gonna have the one if you're gonna do it do it when the stakes are highest but yeah i mean this is this is the matchup that kirby smart can't quite get a handle on and and this one's important because if you if georgia loses this game maybe they probably don't have a first round by and like I think I think you're absolutely right Ohio State Indiana the loser of that game is still going to get a buy so it doesn't feel like you are you know obviously you want to win the Big Ten Championship but it doesn't feel like that much of a it's not much of a penalty to lose that game whereas with this one if you're Georgia and you lose you could lose that first round by and you'd have to play in the first round and you know it It does feel a little bit more of a penalty where you have to play an extra game on your hopeful, hopeful journey to the championship game.

51:29And obviously, if Alabama were to lose, they're definitely not getting a first round by. So, yeah, the stakes do feel a little bit higher for this one. The latest edition of Tide Dogs. Anything else strike your fancy from championship Saturday? Obviously, Texas Tech is playing BYU in the morning game. We've talked plenty about the Hosses on the Red Raiders roster. I think, for right or for wrong, and I'm willing to have my mind changed, but I just know the Red Raiders handled BYU like two weeks ago. It wasn't that long ago that we played this matchup. Am I not giving this enough credit?

52:11No. I mean, obviously, like you said, we saw it play out on the field. I mean, this is another opportunity to watch David Bailey, Ramon Ohio, that defensive line,

52:25Jacob Rodriguez at linebacker. For BYU, the guy that I'm most interested in is the running back, L.J. Martin. And Texas Tech just shut him down. And he had like 35 minutes to L.J. Martin. He's been a really good back this year. It just didn't happen against the red Raiders. The chance to maybe get some payback. That's BYU's best chance to Texas tech. Not sure it's going to happen, but you know, Martin's probably one of the few prospects on BYU that I think is worth getting excited about. I'm going to do my favorite thing in the world and put you on the spot because you are the draft, the draft guru.

53:07What should I be watching if I want to tune into Duke, Virginia or at least have it on on another quad box during the Ohio State Indiana game uh so I mean two players for Duke who I I really like as prospects uh Chandler Rivers the corner um and the common theme with both these guys is they're very much undersized uh Chandler Rivers is 5 '9 185 pounds um but he is really competitive he's sticky in coverage um think like a Meek robertson like that style of corner who i love him he's undersized there's no way around that but exactly a guy that you really appreciate a player because the way he plays yeah size of the size of the fight in the dog not the size of the dog in the fight you know no of course and rivers is one of those guys where you're going to d 'angelo ponds for indiana another one of those guys where you he's not gonna hit the thresholds that a lot of teams have at corner but the way he plays the the competitive fire, the tape, it's, it's all just check marks in the right, in the right boxes.

54:11So Rivers is a good player. And then on, on the offensive line at tackle Brian Parker, who again, undersized, he's not going to be a tackle in the NFL, probably a center only, but if he declares, I think he'll, he has a chance to be one of the first safety or safeties first centers drafted a guy that doesn't have the position flex as like Graham Barton did coming out of Duke, but I think that you feel good about him having starter potential at the center position in a center class that doesn't really get you too excited. Always something to watch and there will be plenty of it on a loaded championship Saturday.

54:49We will be back next week to recap it, talk over those games, look at the college football playoff bracket, see what's ahead for whichever prospects are still playing when all of this shakes out. Until then, we really appreciate it. Make sure you go check out Dane's mock draft, please, over at theathletic.com. And we will chat with you all real soon.