

27 May 2026 · 57m · 21 chapters

The Athletic Football Show discusses “dart throws” from the 2026 NFL Draft—mainly Day 3 (with some Day 2) late picks—focusing on which rookies have a realistic path to playing time and potential impact.
Dave Hellman (host) and Derek Klassen (co-host). Both analyze draft fits and depth-chart openings.
Written by AI. May contain mistakes.
Exploring the significance of day three picks in the NFL draft.
“All right, Derek, a really perfect show for late May and a really perfect show for the two of us, because we're just going to talk about late draft picks that we can get ourselves really excited about.”
Discussion on Bryce Boettcher and his potential impact on the Colts.
“I've got so all right, word of warning, I cheated a little bit like I'm definitely I've got two or three situations where a team's collection of picks like they had two or three guys that got me really excited.”
Examining the Colts' overall draft strategy and the players selected.
“Obviously, Allen is the big ticket in that room, but I expect Betcher to play a decent amount this year.”
Analyzing the Colts' receiver lineup after the departure of Michael Pittman Jr.
“And it reminds me of has have you have you ever had your dog like root through the garbage or go to the bathroom in the house?”
Discuss the Colts' evolving receiver strategy and the impact of player size and speed.
“Do they want to get a guy like Deion Burks on the field and just be a little bit more vertical, a little bit more spread?”
Encouragement to join the show's Discord for lively football discussions and community interaction.
“As somebody who does sit on the right side of the aisle, it is extremely frustrating to see people within my own party continue to negate the effectiveness of clean energy.”
Explore various sneaky draft picks with a focus on linebacker performances and team strategies.
“So I'm just going to go ahead and get all the linebackers out of the way.”
Discussing the importance of linebacker positions in the Texans' defense.
“But I also think it's interesting, too, in terms of like philosophical approach for this defense.”
Analyzing Kamari Ramsey's potential roles on the Texans' defense.
“So speaking of that, we can actually stay in Houston.”
Drawing parallels between Kamari Ramsey and Jalen Kilgore's draft situations.
“Ramsey reminds me of another DB that we did talk a bit about heading into the draft.”
Discussing the transition challenges for Ramsey in the NFL's nickel position.
“And so I actually do think if you ask Ramsey to be more of a Jalen Petrie style nickel in the NFL, I don't know.”
Examining the depth and challenges of the Raiders' receiving corps.
“Some of this stuff, I think you could call wish casting, right?”
Exploring Malik Benson's fit and potential impact in a weak Raiders receiving group.
“And Naylor's not even one of them, dude.”
Analyzing Joshua Josephs' potential role and impact as an edge rusher for the Commanders.
“really have to guess about what he's bringing to your team.”
Discussion on the value of drafting specific pass rushers in the fifth round.
“And I'm just like, man, I don't know what to do with that.”
Analysis of quarterback Talon Green and his fit within the Cleveland roster.
“Over 4 million businesses have skipped the line with Stamps.com.”
Exploring the implications of drafting Cage Casey and his potential role.
“OK, I've got one and this is a little bit of ridiculous framing, kind of, but it is the reality of the NFL.”
Discussion on the Broncos' tight end selections and their strategic fit.
“So I'm assuming they are hoping that he can battle for potential reps there in the future.”
Explore the impact of the Broncos drafting two tight ends and their skill sets.
“I don't know about Justin Jolie and Dallin Bentley, but I really love the Sean Payton of it all where the Broncos made six of their picks on day three.”
Discuss Dallin Bentley's rise as a reliable receiver and tight end prospect.
“He's not like an explosive playmaker, or at least he didn't have a lot of explosive plays in college is what I should say, but he is a good athlete.”
Examine the trend of teams drafting multiple tight ends in the 2026 NFL Draft.
“If Sean Payton finds a way to use them quicker than expected.”

Get the gist, explore an idea or ask about something said.
On The Athletic Football Show: A show about the NFL, what are the key points of this episode?
Automatic transcript. May contain errors.
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1:21Derrik Klassen: Put a Pura home next to your bed, a Pura Home Plus in your open living room, and a Pura Home Mini in the bathroom, controlling them all seamlessly from the app. One home, one connected fragrance experience. Visit Pura.com slash whole home to get started. Welcome to The Athletic Football Show. I am Dave Hellman, and today we're talking dart throws, specifically late additions in the 2026 NFL draft. I think we'll say day three. We might've snuck a couple day two draft prospects in here, but for the most part, Derek Klassen and I today are taking a look at sneaky draft additions that we were really excited about.
2:01Derrik Klassen: It's easy to focus on the first round, the top 50 guys, and forget about some of the late picks that are made during the NFL draft. But every season we find somebody finds a hidden gem, a surprising breakout player on day three of the draft. So Derek and I wanted to go through day three, refresh ourselves on who was taken and maybe find some fits for late round draft picks. We're really excited to see in 2026. Really fun conversation with Derek and myself talking day three prospects. Let's get right to it.
2:43Derrik Klassen: All right, Derek, a really perfect show for late May and a really perfect show for the two of us, because we're just going to talk about late draft picks that we can get ourselves really excited about. Like real offseason sicko stuff, trying to find playing time for fifth and sixth round picks. What could be better?
3:00Dave Helman: Well, and this is better than doing it because we do a little bit of this during the draft, right? And like during day three right after. But a lot of that is usually like our favorite prospects. Where did they land? Oh, they're going to make it work by yada, yada. This is a little bit more like, OK, who are actually the players that have some sort of path to go and play? And also, I think that they can make an impact. So it's like a little bit of a different exercise that I had a lot of fun trying to go through. Like, where are the open spots for playing time? And like, who actually has an avenue to get onto the field early?
3:30Derrik Klassen: I've said this before, but it's also just a useful exercise to go back and look at everybody's draft class because especially remember we were live reacting to day three and we're talking about why is Garrett Nussmeyer falling and what's going on with this other guy how do you feel about that pick and eventually you just get to a point where you're tuning out the last 20 to 40 picks and you have no idea how everybody's class finalized and so to go back through everything and be like oh yeah I love this guy and I love that he landed in a place with a thin depth chart. This is perfect. So really useful exercise, just familiarizing yourself with a lot of draft classes in addition to looking for some for some sleepers here.
4:11Derrik Klassen: All right, I'm gonna throw it to you to get this thing started. I've got so all right, word of warning, I cheated a little bit like I'm definitely I've got two or three situations where a team's collection of picks like they had two or three guys that got me really excited. So all told, I've got as many as like 12 names worth going over. So I can I can go as little or as much as you want. But I'll let you start this thing off.
4:37Dave Helman: I mean, that's perfect, because I imagine we'll have one or two of these being overlapped anyway. I'm going to try to start with my guys where it does feel like there is a clear path to playing time. I'm going to start with Bryce Betcher, the Colts linebacker.
4:52Derrik Klassen: And OK, that's perfect. Like I was going to start with the Colts too. So, oh, shocker, the Tafts hosts overlap a little bit. I'm so surprised, but all
5:02Dave Helman: right, let's, let's start with the Colts. Right. And oh, shocker me starting with the linebacker. He will not be the only one by the way. So obviously they draft CJ Allen. He's going to be there starting Mike. I believe that that's kind of their plan there, but this is a very thin linebacker group in Indianapolis right now. There are other primary linebackers at Keem Davis Gaither, who is mostly there on, on the account of like, he is familiar with Luanna Rumo. They were together in Cincinnati. And so there's a little bit of that there. And so just based on that, it seems like there is at least a path for Boettcher to potentially be that linebacker too, if things go well for him in camp, if he plays well in the preseason.
5:36Dave Helman: But even beyond that, he is obviously their third linebacker and teams are playing a lot more base now than they used to. And so there's a decent chance that even if he doesn't steal that number two job, he is still going to be the third linebacker on the field. He's going to be the first guy getting reps if somebody gets hurt or if somebody needs a little bit of a breather, all that stuff. And so it just feels like, you know, we talked about it before the draft, especially after round one. This is a Colts team that the middle of their defense, the spine, linebackers and safeties, they needed so many and they went and in the second and third days of the draft threw three picks at it.
6:10Dave Helman: And so Betcher is the guy. Obviously, Allen is the big ticket in that room, but I expect Betcher to play a decent amount this year.
6:17Derrik Klassen: I don't want to give all my names away, but I mean, you mentioned you've got another linebacker. I want to talk about at least one other linebacker Boettcher and, and one other guy on my list just strike me as the quintessential. If this guy was slightly bigger, he would have never fallen as far as he did. Cause like you look at it, Bryce Boettcher's six, one in a quarter weighed two 30 at his pro day. He's not, he's not a small guy, but by NFL linebacker standards, like you'd prefer a little bit more size, a little bit more length, but the guy runs and hits everything. I mean, I think, I think he had 240 tackles over his final two seasons at Oregon.
6:54Derrik Klassen: And you see him consistently flashing all over their tape. So he winds up going fairly late in this draft. He was what pick 135. I think he could have been a higher pick than that.
7:08Dave Helman: If he were just a little more physically impressive. Agree. And also he's like, he's an interesting cat too. Cause I know Dane had had this, I believe in the beast that like, he was like a big time baseball prospect for a while. And so this isn't even necessarily a guy who's been like all football all the time, which those types of guys you wonder in the NFL. It's like, oh, do they have even a little bit more untapped because they're finally like, this is my career now. This is all that I have to do. And so I wonder about that with him. I also think that he's just like him and CJ Allen to me, I think in terms of like the pure sideline to sideline speed, I don't think is great.
7:42Dave Helman: But I do think both Betra and Allen see the game very well. And so I think to have like a young duo like that, where you're trying to get them in there together, potentially at some point, even if it's not this year for Boettcher, I think down the line, you hope that he could be one of your starters. I think that that's a really nice way to build the room.
7:58Derrik Klassen: This is all from Dane's beast, which is such a useful tool at this time of year. But Bryce Boettcher also played 500 plus special team snaps. He was a core guy, which linebackers have such a great body type because you can fill a variety of different roles, whether it's running down on kick team, blocking on field goal team. So I would expect right away he's a guy that the Colts can plug onto their special teams units and get use out of him, which just getting a guy into a game day jersey, if he is a day three rookie, getting him onto the active game day roster is a big deal. Like if you've got an obvious path to special team snaps, that's a great starting point.
8:37Derrik Klassen: And you can carve out a defensive role as you go.
8:40Dave Helman: So like they would obviously want more out of this pick. But if he is just a primary special teamer for them and their linebacker three for the duration of his rookie contract for a fourth round pick, that's a win every time, like every single time.
8:51Derrik Klassen: And like that's the baseline, right? And if he can grow into being a guy you can count on on defense so much, the better. So I laughed. I was definitely going to highlight Bryce Boettcher. But I just I love like almost everything the Colts did on day three of the draft. I mean, I really I love the Colts entire draft class. And it reminds me of has have you have you ever had your dog like root through the garbage or go to the bathroom in the house? And you're like furious at the dog. And then he does something cute like five minutes later. And you're like, no, no, stop. Stop that. I'm supposed to be upset here.
9:30Derrik Klassen: I'm supposed to be upset with you. Like, I want to be upset with the Colts because of the Daniel Jones situation and the corner that they've painted themselves into. And I really don't like a lot of the decisions they've made over the last year, year and a half. I love this draft class. Like, I can't stay mad. And the fact that they had such a good draft class without a first round pick is really fun to me. I think Boettcher's absolutely worth highlighting. We talked plenty about CJ Allen and AJ Halsey. I don't feel the need to do that here today. but specifically three picks they made on Saturday.
10:03Derrik Klassen: They restocked their edge room. And I love how they did it in as disparate a way as possible, because with pick 158 in the fifth round, they take George Gumbs Jr. out of Florida. And then with pick 214 in the sixth round, they take Caden Curry out of Ohio state. And you just couldn't ask for more different guys because Gumbs is almost six, five, two 45 big, long athletic guy. He ran a seven second three cone and has almost 34 inch arms. And he's just, he's all traits. He's all upside. I don't think he quite tapped into his repertoire during the course of his college career, by the way, was a wide receiver when he started his college career at Northern Illinois and is now an NFL defensive end, just to give you an idea of the sort of archetype we're talking about here.
10:54Derrik Klassen: And then Caden Curry had 11 sacks and 16 and a half TFLs for Ohio State last year. He's one of their most underrated players, but he's 6 '2 with sub 31 inch arms. So he's the classic all production. Don't really feel good about any of the measurables. And I just really love that Lou Anaruma was like, let's do both. Let's get the upside guy and the high floor guy and just figure it out and see what they give us.
11:20Dave Helman: And I like them constantly reloading here. Like, especially to actually approaching it this way, as opposed to how they had for really the last like five or six years where think about how many first and like second, sometimes third round picks they kept throwing at the edge room. And it just not a whole lot of those guys hitting there. And some of them have been OK. Like Quidipe was OK. Laitulatu, I think, has been solid. But like JT2 Amalo has not been like insane. Like a lot of these guys have probably not lived up to that top 50, top 60 billing. And so I kind of like that now they were like, listen, we have other issues to solve on defense.
11:51Dave Helman: but that's a room that you should always be trying to reload like at like tackle and edge you should pretty much just always be willing to throw picks at and so the fact that they looked at the fifth and like seventh rounds and we're just like you know what throw some extra picks at it and see
12:04Derrik Klassen: what happens i like that i think it's worth pointing out my expectations for a pair of late day three guys as rookies are not very high right but to your point this just isn't an edge room that has a lot of definitive roadblocks toward playing time. Like obviously Leo to lots who's there and you hope he continue continues to ascend and can be a foundational guy. But other than that, like you said, it's, it's a lot of draft picks that haven't panned out yet, or just a lot of guys that they haven't invested a lot of playing time. And so I'd be surprised if either one of these guys was a big piece of it as a rookie, but there's just not a lot there keeping them from advancing up the depth chart as they go.
12:44Derrik Klassen: And if I'm wrong about that, and one of them has a surprisingly great rookie season, that's a great problem to have. One more guy I wanted to mention from the Colts draft class. This is a few of these are just going to be guys I liked that landed places that work out. And Deion Burks at pick 254 in the seventh round. I really liked him heading into the draft. I thought he would get drafted a lot higher than this. he's a smaller guy, which I assume is part of why he fell. And obviously, and also just didn't have a ton of college production, but even at like 5 '10", 180, he's, he is a sturdier player than you would guess.
13:22Derrik Klassen: And he just has an insane amount of speed. Like he has real deal juice. Again, the Colts traded Michael Pittman Jr. I'm not expecting him to be a regular in the starting lineup right away, but I do think the, the receiver core is not thin, But there's just with the departure of Pittman, there's just enough attrition there that I got to believe Shane Steichen can find a use for a guy with speed like this, even if it's very, very sparingly to start.
13:48Dave Helman: Yeah, it's not super thin. They have some guys who have been there for a while, like Ashton Doolin has been in the building. Anthony Gould has been in the building. But there's a lot of like real snaps to be lost with a guy like Pittman being out of the lineup. And I also think with Pittman being out of the lineup, I wonder how different the offense just looks like. do they want to get a little bit more spread because they just don't have size now? Like, does Downs get a lot more snaps? Do they want to get a guy like Deion Burks on the field and just be a little bit more vertical, a little bit more spread?
14:15Dave Helman: That I'm curious about with their offense this year.
14:17Derrik Klassen: That is a really good point. Like, between Burks and Downs, how tall is Ashton
14:22Dave Helman: Doolin? Doolin's got decent size. He's like 6 '1", 215, but Anthony Gould is like one of those, you know, 175-pound track star type of guys.
14:30Derrik Klassen: Like, all of a sudden, yeah, like, you think of the Colts is having all these towering guys. And I mean, Alec Pierce is still there. Obviously, Tyler Warren is going to be a big part of how this looks. But yeah, all of a sudden, a lot more smaller, faster body types in the receiver room. Juice is going to be a theme for a lot of the guys that I zeroed in on in this exercise. And one that I wanted to highlight is for a team that I honestly have been worried didn't do enough on the offensive side of the ball. I've talked a lot about how defense heavy the Vikings draft class was at the top. And not interested in talking about that right now.
15:04Derrik Klassen: But one thing I was really intrigued by was a pick they made late on Saturday with pick 198, the Minnesota Vikings draft, DeMond Claiborne, the running back out of Wake Forest. And again, just trying to read tea leaves, obviously Aaron Jones and Jordan Mason are there, but for a team that didn't add much in the draft on the offensive side of the ball and really didn't add much in the way of speed and playmaking ability on offense. I mean, I know Juwan Jennings is a really, really good receiver, but not exactly a burner. I like the idea of adding a 4-3 running back to the equation in the Vikings offense.
15:42Dave Helman: Yeah, they don't have a whole lot of 4-3-7 speed anywhere. I mean, obviously, Justin Jefferson is a fantastic athlete. And, like, Addison is a nice athlete, but he's not, like, a super burner like that. Juwan Jennings, again, is more of a on third and seven, he's going to get to the sticks, we're going to pin it on him. like this really is a team that I think between it's funny now their their backfield overall if you include the quarterback has so much more speed than it used to obviously bringing Kyler Murray at quarterback and then potentially a guy like uh Claiborne at running back and like it's not even just that he's so different from Aaron Jones and Jordan Mason at this point especially Mason who is really kind of more just like a little bit of a thicker just kind of like zone-based mash type of running back neither of those guys are like so good that they are preventative of snaps for anybody like there's a chance that if they think that they can just get Claiborne on the field give them a little bit more juice that like by the end of the season he starts to become somebody who is not even just like kind of sprinkling into the rotation but
16:41Derrik Klassen: really starting to steal snaps from a lot of these guys he's 5 '9 188 and so I think that brings to mind a lot of the concerns you would guess a the vast majority of rookie running backs particularly ones that don't get drafted highly pass protection is going to be an issue and especially when you're 5 '9 188 i'd be curious to see what sort of situations the vikings are willing to put him on the field in and b there's just two established guys above him on the depth chart so again i don't want to get carried away here. I'm not if you're a fantasy football guy, like I'm not trying to tell you he needs to be a big time pick in your dynasty league or anything.
17:21Derrik Klassen: But the speed is evident. I do think that's worth noting when you're again, this is an offense that doesn't have much in the way of field tilting speed. Another thing I wanted to bring up, Derek, I again, this is exactly the type of thing you forget about when you're live reacting to day three of the draft, the Vikings traded up to get DeMond Claiborne. They traded a future sixth round pick to move up around and take him where New England was picking. So does that mean everything? Not necessarily, but if you target a guy like that and you're willing to invest future capital, I got to imagine you have some kind of game plan.
17:59Derrik Klassen: He was a college kick returner. He had 51 receptions as well. So maybe you have an idea for him as like a receiving back in passing situations. I don't know. But I got to imagine there's some sort of game plan here.
18:12Dave Helman: You would because that's the thing, like most six round picks, I think teams probably expect like six and seventh round picks. You're cutting them anyway. But if you think about it in the sense of like he is two sixth round picks, like they invested enough that they were like, we have to get him. Maybe the coaches do everything that they can to make sure he can get a chance. All right.
18:29Derrik Klassen: Plenty more sneaky draft picks for Derek and I to get to. But first, we're going to take a quick break. This episode is brought to you by Pura. Why limit your favorite fragrance to just one room? With Pura, you can build a whole home scenting system that moves with your day. Put a Pura home next to your bed, a Pura Home Plus in your open living room, and a Pura Home Mini in the bathroom, controlling them all seamlessly from the app. One home, one connected fragrance experience. Visit Pura.com slash whole home to get started. Look, I'm a sports media guy, and so that means I've got, I don't know, 20, 30 hoodies in my closet.
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21:09Derrik Klassen: 5th at 11 59 PM. I believe that's Eastern time. You can go on our discord and find all the details for this. We say it all the time, but if you haven't joined the show discord yet, I highly encourage it. There's fun, informative, intelligent, funny football conversation happening at all hours of the day. We got international fans galore in there. So there's, there's never a dead period. There's always something going on in there. And of course, in addition to talking ball, You can go get the details for our merch design contest. Make sure you go check it out. Please go join our discord. It's a ton of fun.
21:45Derrik Klassen: All right. Without further ado, we continue with our sneaky draft additions.
21:49Dave Helman: Derek, who you got next? So I'm just going to go ahead and get all the linebackers out of the way. My theme here, by the way, is like mostly not skill players. I have a lot of defense and I have one offensive lineman, but I, you understood the assignment. That's the whole point. We've got the perfect mix here. If you've got juice, I've got everything else here. So mine, obviously, I mentioned Bryce Betcher first with the Indianapolis Colts. And I think this player I'm about to mention has a slightly tougher path to play time. But there is an opening. Caleb Elarms Orr for the Buffalo Bills, I do think, has a chance to go and get onto the field.
22:24Dave Helman: Because, again, they have a situation where their linebacker, too, now is Dorian Williams, who has played decent in stretches as like a third linebacker, as a spot starter for the Bills. I think especially in 2024, he actually played pretty well for them. Last year was a little bit shakier, but he's at least a guy that has experience for them. So he will at least week one probably be their starter. But again, I think that third linebacker spot is open. Elam's or is he's like a little bit stiff as a mover, but he's the guy who can clearly run and he can hit. And so I think him potentially being like their linebacker three and some of those looks if they want to do that.
22:57Dave Helman: His competition for that is Joe Andreessen, who was an undrafted free agent for them a couple of years ago who I think has been solid depth but probably not the same level of athlete that I think Elam's or is and so if that's the way that this new Bill's defensive coaching staff wants to go I think he's got an opening there and so this is another situation where pretty clear path to some linebacker three snaps if the if the new defensive staff really wants to use him and then the door is at least open for him to earn like a true starting spot next to Terrell Bernard
23:28Derrik Klassen: my first note on Elam's ors film my my film notes from watching him two or three months ago whenever it was is just that his speed shows up very quickly on film it's like the first thing that you notice about him he's incredibly fast I didn't think he was a super confident coverage player but he had the speed to make up for it and then when you talk about just getting downhill and sideline to sideline. He's got it in spades. I think it's funny because in a conference, he was in the big 12. He played for TCU. And so he shared a conference with Jacob Rodriguez, obviously a phenomenal player, but it was Caleb alarms or who led that conference in tackles last year.
24:10Derrik Klassen: Like he was all over the place. I think he finished with something silly. Yeah, like 130 tackles and he played fewer games than Rodriguez too. So, I mean, the production is off the charts and I think A big part of that is his athleticism.
24:24Dave Helman: He's just, like you said, as soon as you flip on the film, that dude can just move. And he backed all of this up at the combine, by the way, like 95th percentile 40 yard dash with a 447. He had a really nice vertical jump. His broad was good. And so he's not like the biggest guy. He's measured in at 6 '2", 234 there. And so, but that's not bad. That's like Aziz Alshair, I think is almost the same exact size. He's like 230 ish pounds and he's a little bit shorter. And so it's like there are clearly guys who can play at that at that height. Like he's not going to be an issue at that size. And so I think between having adequate size, the speed that he has, you mentioned it like the reason he's not going to get immediate snaps probably is some of the coverage stuff I think is up and down.
25:06Dave Helman: And then I do think because he is a stiffer player, sometimes there are moments where he can't sift through trash the way that you want. But if he's just stepping downhill and hitting a guard, he is plenty, plenty, plenty equipped to do stuff like that. And so, again, I think that he could be their linebacker three right away if that's what they want to do. And then we'll just see how Dorian Williams plays early in the year.
25:27Derrik Klassen: OK, so as long as we're talking about linebackers, let's let's just I'll do my my other linebacker. And I I feel like we're about to fight. No, I just I'm just going to ask you right off the rip because I'm I'm very confident you're going to not be nice. But what are your thoughts on Aiden Fisher? I think he's fine, actually. he he's like he don't mind that he's undersized and not crazy athletic I'm shocked no for I think for I think my it depends on like what you're asking these guys to be right like if you're in
26:00Dave Helman: the second round and you're a little bit stubbier and you're not the greatest athlete I'm gonna have a little bit more questions but for like where he goes and for backup linebackers I actually do think it is important for backup linebackers to just know where they're at and play off of their blocks well. And I actually do think that Aiden Fisher did that pretty, pretty well.
26:16Derrik Klassen: So Aiden Fisher, Bryce Betcher was drafted 135, which I mean, fourth round pick is still a guy that I think you should at least have an idea of how this guy could start for you if you draft him in the fourth round. Aiden Fisher is a guy where like, if you just watch him at Indiana, he's all over the place. He's an incredibly smart player. He's an incredibly physical player. He works through the trash like a son of a gun. And if he was just a, I mean, he's, he's sub six one. None of his workouts are particularly impressive. Like he's, he's just a classic, really, really good college football player.
26:51Derrik Klassen: And you're like, ah, if you were bigger, taller, faster, you would have been a third or fourth round pick. And you just wind up falling where you do, which I believe was in the seventh round. Yeah. He fell all the way to pick two 43. Cause he's just not that physically impressive of a player, but Derek, he landed in Houston, which it does not work for his prospects of playing defense quickly because the Texans are obviously loaded. But I just get excited when a team like Houston drafts a defender I like where I'm just like, OK, if if the Texans and their big bad defense see something in this guy, then I don't feel crazy for thinking he's a really good player.
27:30Dave Helman: Well, actually, if there's anything I would fight you over and this is not even really a fight. I think they just did a really good job with this. I also like the other linebacker they drafted Wade Wood as out of Clemson. Yeah.
27:40Derrik Klassen: So that's my point is not only do they have, you know, Aziz and EJ speed and Toa Toa, they also drafted a guy above Aiden Fisher in this draft. So I'm not under any illusions. I don't think he's going to get a lot of early playing time, but I still think it's a vote of confidence in his ability.
27:58Dave Helman: It absolutely is in like Toa Toa's contract I believe is up after this year um I don't remember exactly what Aziz Alshair's contract
28:05Derrik Klassen: situation is but I do think that like Aziz just got his extension so that's right he did for the
28:09Dave Helman: long term um which he should be he's a very good player I actually side note I've been doing like just a little personal linebacker project of watching everybody and I'm currently on Aziz Alshair and it's you don't say just just you know making sure making my rounds on the linebackers this offseason. But I also think it's interesting, too, in terms of like philosophical approach for this defense. Right. Like even when they were in when Ryan's was in San Francisco, this was a team that constantly tried to reload at that position. And they had got success out of a lot of those like mid and late round draft picks like Greenlaw and Aziz Alshair were not high draft picks.
28:45Dave Helman: Fred Warner was a third round pick. And so this is a defensive staff and defensive mind in D 'Amico Ryan's that I when he wants to take a guy day three, I trust that he's got a plan for one of those guys and that he's going to do a good job of making sure those guys can be up to speed.
29:00Derrik Klassen: Henry Toa Toa is in the final year of his rookie deal, which it makes sense why the Texans would double up at the position there with two guys that could potentially grow into a larger role. Yeah, Wade Wood as a good shout as well. I think both of these guys will have opportunities down the line, maybe not as rookies. But like I said, I just I get excited when defensive minds that I think this highly of like the player that I like. All right.
29:25Dave Helman: Who's who's your next guy? So speaking of that, we can actually stay in Houston. And this one is less like I love this player and more. I think situationally, they're just going to have chances to get on the field. Kamari Ramsey, the safety.
29:42Derrik Klassen: Let's talk about Kamari Ramsey. I feel like he kind of flew under the radar in the pre-draft process.
29:47Dave Helman: He did. And he's as a prospect, he was tough for me because he was one of those like do it all safeties where sometimes he's in the box. Sometimes he's in the post. Sometimes he's in the nickel. And sometimes that's great if you're Caleb Downs and you're obviously incredible at all of them. Ramsey more just felt like he was like a bandaid at a lot of those positions for USC. And so I do wonder what his true NFL position is going to be. That being said, I think the safety three spot in Houston is kind of up for grabs anyway. they drafted Jalen Reed in the sixth round last year. I think he was up and down when he had to play.
30:21Dave Helman: MJ Stewart is a backup for them. I think he was up and down when he had to play last year. And then Jalen Petrie, God bless him. I think he's one of my favorite players in the NFL. But because of the way he plays as a car crash merchant, he just misses time. All of the like, every year he misses three games, four games, five games, whatever it's going to be. And so Ramsey is probably the immediate backup for him there. And so again, this is not necessarily like, man I love this player but it's the combination of you can see his utility over so many different roles this team has uh holes to plug at a lot of those roles again with backup safety and potentially backup nickel and then again if D 'Amico Ryan's drafts you I'm just gonna kind of immediately give the like eh maybe this guy's got a plan and likes and and he's better than I believe he he could be.
31:06Derrik Klassen: Ramsey reminds me of another DB that we did talk a bit about heading into the draft. And we also talked about him during the draft because he fell, but it's very reminiscent of Jalen Kilgore with Buffalo to me where he, he was a safety in 2024. People were very high on him as a guy playing back away from the line of scrimmage. USC used him a lot as a nickel in 2025, the same way South Carolina did with Jalen Kilgore. And I watched his tape from 2025. And I was like, Like, I love the athlete. I think he's a good football player. I'm not sure if this is what he should be doing all the time. But odds are an NFL team is going to have a different idea for him than just plugging him right in there and using him as a nickel almost all the time.
31:52Derrik Klassen: And so, yeah, like I like that line of logic where it's like, OK, the tape might not be amazing, but the caliber of athlete. I mean, Ramsey is he's six flat, a little over 200. He ran a four, four, seven. He's clearly a pretty good athlete. And yeah, D 'Amico Ryan's for sure. But Jim Leonard in Buffalo with Jalen Kilgore as well. I'm like, I trust that you have a vision for how you might be able to take advantage of a guy like this, even if watching him in 2025 didn't get me super excited.
32:24Dave Helman: I'm glad you mentioned Kilgore because the only reason I didn't is because I think I've brought him up. You're just like, I do that on every other show.
32:30Derrik Klassen: We don't have to do that right now.
32:31Dave Helman: Yeah, exactly. And I will say to if Ramsey has to play the nickel here, I actually do think that the nickel position in the NFL is a little bit more run and hit and like run defense focused than it often is at the college game because of the hashes and the way that teams are playing and all that stuff. And so I actually do think if you ask Ramsey to be more of a Jalen Petrie style nickel in the NFL, I don't know. Again, I don't know if it's my favorite thing in the world, but he is more than athletic enough to do it. I think he's an energetic enough tackler. And again, if D 'Amico Ryans believes it, I'm at least willing to believe it as well.
33:06Derrik Klassen: Regardless, it's such a good shout on your part. Basically, you're like the Texans play with so much reckless abandon that there's going to be opportunity for younger players. Jalen Petrie missed three games last year. He missed five games the year before that. So yeah, for the physicality that they play with, it is probably a pretty good bet that you're going to have to lean on some younger guys.
33:27Dave Helman: Listen, smashing helmets every week. you pay a tax, you pay a tax on it.
33:33Derrik Klassen: Some of this stuff, I think you could call wish casting, right? Where you're like, oh, there'll be injuries and this guy might have a path to the playing field. Or maybe if they're really amazing, they'll be able to supplant a more established player in the lineup. Like some of this, I will admit, is wishful thinking. My next guy, it's a lot less wishful thinking than some other places, because as we have talked about. The Raiders receiver core, as it stands right now, we are recording this in mid-May, so there's still plenty of time. If they were going to do something, I guess we'll have to wait and see.
34:14Derrik Klassen: I guess they could still potentially add a veteran. But as it stands right now, the Raiders have to have one of, if not the worst receiver core in the NFL in terms of proven production. Derek, were you aware, even with the addition of Jalen Naylor in free agency, the Las Vegas Raiders have two receivers who have ever had 500 yards in the NFL? And Naylor's not even one of them, dude. That's tough when you put it that way. Trey Tucker had a nice season last year. he went over 500 yards and then the other one is philip dorsett who's been out of football for two years and is back on the raiders roster as like you know he's trying to restart his career at the
35:00Dave Helman: age of 33 wow i wasn't even looking down to the third line of the r lads depth chart i was looking when you said that at the the first six guys which is a bunch of rookies it's a bunch of young guys and i was like there's no way jack besh had 500 yards last year who the hell else is it
35:16Derrik Klassen: So Trey Tucker's had two nice seasons for them. He had 696 yards last year. And obviously for the money they paid Jalen Naylor, obviously you're hoping that he's going to continue to ascend and play a way bigger role. That still leaves a lot up in the air in the, on the Raiders depth chart. When you're talking about proven receivers like Jack Besch, not writing him off, but we haven't seen it yet. You could say the same thing for Dante Thornton. Then you're talking about Derrick Young coming over from Seattle and 33-year-old Philip Dorsett. So I say all this to say, why can't Malik Benson step up and carve out a really nice role for himself on a new offense with a rookie quarterback?
36:01Derrik Klassen: He's got the speed to do it. Again, this is a bet on juice. Malik Benson's a 4-3-7 receiver out of Oregon. He was on a Big Ten team that played Fernando Mendoza multiple times last year. And really, this is more about opportunity than anything. Like you combine that speed and the production that he had on a really good college team with a will very nicely call it a thin receiver group. I don't know. I can talk myself into him doing something here.
36:29Dave Helman: But I like this because this is the perfect scenario where a mid-round pick would actually do something because some of these other rooms that we've talked about, it's like, yeah, they could supplant the guy who's like a replacement level starter, but he's been there for four years and he's actually gotten serious playing time for this team. That's just not the case with the Raiders. Like the Raiders kind of, you know, they pay Jalen Ahrler a little bit, but he's never been in that building. I don't know if they know what they want to do with him. Tucker is obviously the only guy that feels like established in like a clearly useful NFL player.
36:57Dave Helman: I think there's reason to be excited about Jack Besch. Who knows? I know they wanted to get Dante Thornton on the field last year, but that was a different coaching staff. Who knows what they're going to get this year. And so this really does feel like a room where Malik Benson as a young player is actually like on even playing field with other than Naylor, a lot of guys who were in their first and second year in the league.
37:17Derrik Klassen: My favorite thing about Malik Benson is you don't really have to guess about what he's bringing to your team. He played outside 80 % of the time in college. And according to Dane, he ran a go route on 26 % of his college routes. Like he's on the field to give you downfield speed. He's not a big guy. He's six flat 195. I mean, he's not small either. He's just not a super big player. But I think he plays with a surprising amount of physicality for that frame. Like he will go up and get the football downfield. And obviously he's got the speed to stretch the field, both vertically and horizontally.
37:58Derrik Klassen: Oregon used him plenty as like a jet sweep gadget guy, in addition to being the go ball guy. So he's got a very clearly defined role. You're not doing a lot of guesswork here. Just get out there. Even if you're just our favorite phrase, the sacrificial X, I mean, there's a, there's a place for that as well. So I, I don't know, I could see this. And, and I think now that I'm thinking about it even deeper, that skill set seems to fit well with Fernando Mendoza. Like when I think about Fernando, I think about his accuracy, the ability to put the ball wherever he wants it. And Malik Benson will go up and make you right.
38:32Derrik Klassen: I don't know. I think this could work.
38:34Dave Helman: And even Kubiak, like the last two stops, he's been used to having guys who can stretch the field for him. Obviously he had Shahid, they traded for him in Seattle, but when he was in New Orleans, they had him there. Chris Olave was a guy who could stretch the field. JSN has obviously become a guy who's been able to do that. And so obviously, but Benson is a little bit more limited in his ability to do that or at least ability to do other things beyond that. But I do think that this is a nice fit. And again, there's no clear guys who are stopping you from from actually getting on the field. I like this one.
39:04Derrik Klassen: Some of what we've said on this show has, like I said, it's been wishful thinking. Malik Benson, if he were to have a good training camp, I could talk myself into him being the guy, you know, as well as I do. in mid-August, we're going to be like, well, the report's coming out of Vegas or that he's like, Malik Benson's been running with the ones like three days in a row now. What's going on with the Raiders? Like I'm, I'm calling my shot that that at least feels plausible right now.
39:30Dave Helman: And I'll, to stick with the Raiders really quickly, this was not even a player I had on my list, but I think it does make sense. Mike Washington has the running back two here. Obviously, Gentry is, he's going to be the clear running back one. He's going to get 380 touches. somebody's got to be the backup running back and I don't think it's going to be Dylan Laube for a lot of these snaps and so Mike Washington like will be a useful and relevant player for this
39:52Derrik Klassen: Raiders team I totally forgot Roman Hemby wound up in Vegas as well so after all of that trying to forecast Elijah Surratt to the Raiders Fernando Mendoza gets Roman Hemby but I agree with you I think the incredibly fast guy that they drafted is probably first up to get those snaps all right Who's your next guy?
40:15Dave Helman: Let's see. Where do we want to go from here? Okay, I've got one more defender left on the board, and I'll go to him. Joshua Josephs for the Washington Commanders. In terms of immediate, like, you know, playing with the ones starting path, he's not going to get there. But lucky for him, this is a position where your number three, your number four, your number five guy, they get on the field a lot, especially in a Dan Quinn defense where they are trying to go through waves of pass rushers. And so I think last year, if I'm reading NFL Pro correctly, even the fourth edge rusher for Washington last year had 124 pass rushing snaps.
40:51Dave Helman: That was that was Preston Smith. And so obviously, I think, you know, Preston Smith at that point in his career, a little bit down on the downturn, it had been three years since he was like a really good player. Joseph is on the other end where he's they just drafted this player to go be an impact player for them. And so they've got away on the starting lineup. Dorrance Armstrong is a really good player for them. And so there's not immediate path to like, again, playing with the ones. But I do think for a defense that is going to have room to have pass rushing snaps on third downs and stuff like that, I do think Joseph's as their 245 pound buddy, just pin your ears back and go get them type of pass rusher.
41:28Dave Helman: I do like his ability to potentially have some impact as a rookie.
41:32Derrik Klassen: Player, man. Real, real bendy. And he's got an 84 inch wingspan. And you see it when you watch Tennessee, like very fun player.
41:43Dave Helman: He's this is like perfect landing spot for him, too, because I think he was a player where when I watched him, I was it was like, OK, the length and some of the athleticism and bend is like, OK, I can get there on how this could be a useful player. But he's a little bit undersized. You watch him against the run and it's just not a whole lot. And I'm just like, man, I don't know what to do with that. But again, in the fifth round, as an off the bench pass rusher in a Dan Quinn defense, it's very easy to see how the utility is going to like immediately play here.
42:12Derrik Klassen: I know that we're trending toward the run and that stuff matters in the big scheme of football. But in the fifth round, miss me with that. Go get the quarterback, big fella. Like I'm drafting you for one very specific trait. And if we can develop that, we'll worry about how useful you are on early downs later. Like that is absolutely worth the the buy. You know, I I use the phrase lottery ticket all the time, but it's so apropos. Like you're buying low. And if who cares if it doesn't hit, but if it does, then we're having a lot of fun.
42:45Dave Helman: I think it's funny, too, because this really is like them tripling down on what the edge room looks like, where it's like, oh, not the best run defender, man. He can get after the quarterback. Dorrance Armstrong, kind of a specialist pass rusher. Caleb on chase on. I think he gives you effort against the run, but he's a little bit undersized. He's a little bit more of a pass rusher. And then Joshua Joseph's just 245 pounds. Get off the edge. Get to the quarterback. They are like, this is it. This is who we are.
43:10Derrik Klassen: As someone who had a very up close view of the Dan Quinn Cowboys defenses, I'm having flashbacks a little bit. Yep. But it's really fun to watch when you're in advantageous situations.
43:22Dave Helman: If the offense gets back to rolling and they can actually like force teams into some shootouts and these pass rushers can get on the field. I don't know if I buy the vision, but you can at least see the world, you know, and that's enough.
43:33Derrik Klassen: I don't know if I buy the vision, but give a defense like that a lead. And it is a lot of fun to watch, but you got to give that defense a lead first. All right. A few more names to get to, but first we'll take our last break.
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45:22Derrik Klassen: All right, Derek, I'm going to start our final act with a really obvious one. Leave it to Tafts to do the most obvious selection of all of these toward the end of the show. But we should at least talk about one quarterback. And for a variety of reasons, I love the swing on tail and green for Cleveland at pick 182. Not just because, I mean, he's a crazy athletic guy. He ran a 4 '3", 6 '40". He jumped out of the gym. We know all the enticing stuff about Talon Green. But if you're looking for a team where a sixth-round pick at quarterback might actually have a shot to do something, I'm not trying to be a jerk, but Cleveland makes a lot of sense to me.
46:02Derrik Klassen: Deshaun Watson, we know what he looked like in 2024. Shadur Sanders, I don't think you can just assume he's going to give you a full season of starting play right off the bat in year two under Todd Monken. And so it's it's easy for me to imagine a situation where we're in like December and one of these guys is hurt and one of these guys hasn't played very well. And so you say, yeah, let's see what Taylor Green can do for a couple of weeks. And in that circumstance, in that context, I'd be excited to see it. I got to admit it.
46:35Dave Helman: Love this because it's one of the when you look at the quarterback room, it feels crowded based on like name power and draft capital, right? where it's like, okay, Deshaun Watson and all the money they're paying him, and then clearly trying to get whatever value they can out of that, which is kind of ridiculous at this stage, given what you said, how bad he had been the last couple times we saw him play. Shader Sanders, I don't think he showed enough as a rookie that you would want to immediately give him stars without him improving and winning that competition. And then Dylan Gabriel, third round pick, but clearly a Stefanski sort of guy, and I don't really expect Todd Monken to walk in and be super excited about that and so there's more of a path there for tailing green than it feels like like if you
47:16Derrik Klassen: just look at the names i said i wasn't trying to be a jerk and then i left dylan gabriel out of the the one who played the most but okay but number one i think it's a great shout that dylan gabriel what clearly looks like a stefanski pick but also dylan gabriel is the anti-traits quarterback whereas Talon Green is the pure traits quarterback and we should say go watch Arkansas like Talon Green he's a very enticing athlete he makes some incredibly fun plays the consistency is all over the map and if if he had a degree of consistency to go with all of this athleticism he would have been drafted so much higher than he was but again for a team that's probably drafting a quarterback in 2027, if they get to the end of the year and the record's not very good, like, are you going to let Dylan Gabriel be in the way of letting this very traitsy high upside guy get a shot?
48:13Derrik Klassen: Like, even if it doesn't look good, I, that, I, that doesn't hold water to me at all. I think if that is what winds up happening in Cleveland and you're just, you know, drawing out the string until we can draft a guy in 2027, you'd be crazy not to give this guy a little bit of run.
48:28Dave Helman: and I also think like he's one of those guys where it clearly is an athleticism play and it's a traits play and he's a project and all that stuff it it's I think he's less of like a mental project though like this was a this was an offense at Arkansas that did ask him to kind of run a lot of five-man concepts and there were a lot of guys out in the route he was reading one to two to three to four to five and it wasn't perfect but he has some sort of you know reps doing that whereas a lot of guys coming out of the college game don't he is more of a mechanical issue like I just think that he gets so it feels like every limb is going in every sort of direction at the same time type of thrower sometimes and I do think that when he has to step up in the pocket and get off of his platform a little bit he's a little bit uncomfortable trying to make some of those throws when he's on the move when he's sliding left whatever it's going to be but so if you can convince yourself that Mankin and the quarterback coaching staff can just button him up a little bit mechanically okay I don't know if he's gonna like blow your socks off as a rookie but he might give you better play, at least more interesting play than any of the other guys in the roster.
49:29Derrik Klassen: In my notes for trying to talk myself into this, I wrote, we trust and like Todd Monken. So give him training camp and a season to work on tail and green. Not trying to convince anybody that this will go well, but I'm just, I'm imagining Derek Thursday, week 15 preview. We haven't talked about the Browns in a while. and all of a sudden we're throwing them onto sicko street because we're like hey talon green's gonna play that's intriguing that's different than what we've been watching for the last five weeks that's
50:02Dave Helman: kind of where my head is with this i think that that's we're probably fast tracking there unless he's just like awful for whatever reason we're fast tracking to at least a couple of talon green starts and honestly if you're monken you just came from a spot where you saw what the quarterback run game can do for you you just had to install a bunch of this stuff into your playbook he might be looking at this quarterback room and being like, well, Watson doesn't give me that. Sanders doesn't give me that. Dylan Gabriel definitely doesn't give me that. Taylan Green, though, I don't know.
50:29Derrik Klassen: That's I think it's worth saying one more time, like Taylan Green is the guy that Monken was a part of identifying and bringing on to the team. And that stuff matters when you're considering the politics of deciding playing time. I will say I do like and trust Todd Monken enough to be intrigued by what Shadur Sanders could look like in year two, especially if some more of these draft picks hit and the Browns supporting cast looks a little bit better. But it's a long season is all I'm saying. And I won't be surprised if there's a stretch somewhere in the back half where this makes sense. All right.
51:04Derrik Klassen: Who's your next guy? OK, I've got one and this is a little bit of ridiculous framing, kind of, but it is
51:12Dave Helman: the reality of the NFL. So the Denver Broncos drafted Cage Casey in the fourth round. Now, I know their offensive line rocks. They are the best offensive line in the league. They were also the healthiest offensive line in the league last year. And the reality is that that is probably not going to hold. And so if I were to guess Cage Casey, a guy who played tackle in college, I think a lot of people expected that he's going to have guard versatility in the NFL if he needs to. I think it's very likely that he gets on the field this year. And if he maintains like a good level of play and make sure that Bo Nix is protected in the pocket and they can take some of the deep shots they want and the run game can continue to be what it wants to be.
51:51Dave Helman: I think that that's important for them, because even if you look at the second level of this Denver Broncos offensive line, it's not a lot of guys who have like a ton of good NFL snaps behind them. You know, some teams have like good NFL depth behind their starters. That to me is not super the case in Denver outside of maybe the center position. But that's so much more specific than guard tackle flexibility that I don't really like. It doesn't really apply to Casey anyway. It just feels like, again, this is like a mean and not the way that you want to frame this. But the reality is more injuries will probably happen for Denver.
52:24Dave Helman: This feels like a guy who can insulate them from worst case scenario.
52:28Derrik Klassen: I think this is a really good shout. And I mean, to be fair, we already saw this come to light last year. Obviously didn't stop the Broncos from being the one seed in the playoffs, but Ben Powers missed half of last season and Luke Wattenberg was banged up as well. So we guessed that health regression might come for the Broncos on the offensive line. It did a little bit, not enough to derail their season, but for a team that has so few obvious weaknesses, especially after the Jalen Waddell trade. I think this is a good shout that drafting a versatile player who could fill a few spots for you. I mean, if you're a team with Super Bowl aspirations, which I think the Broncos are, this makes a hell of a lot of sense.
53:12Dave Helman: And that's what it is. It's like, this is, it's not even just that they have Super Bowl aspirations. It's like so much of their success last year, right, was that the offensive line was just incredible. Like it just let them do everything that they wanted to do on offense. And so just making sure that if Quinn Miners misses four games or Mike McGlinchey misses a handful of games that they are rock solid without that because I think we've seen like think about to me the difference between the 2024 Bucs and the 2025 Bucs obviously there's some changes at play caller and there's a couple of different reasons they had injuries at wide receiver as well but the 2024 Bucs like mostly had their guys and those guys mostly kicked a lot of ass in 2025 it felt like every Bucs offensive lineman missed a bunch of time for a bunch of different reasons and they just didn't have the same depth that you would have wanted to kind of prevent them from from
54:00Derrik Klassen: some of those downfalls a big question here is and I mean he played tackle in college he projects as an interior offensive lineman in the NFL my only question is if he were to need to play tackle for a game or two or three in the regular season could he do that like could does he have enough wherewithal and know how to get by? Or is that just a non-starter? I don't know the answer to that question. I'm genuinely curious to see what it would look like.
54:29Dave Helman: I don't know either, but I at least like the idea of, again, because sometimes there are these guys where we all expect them to be guards in the NFL, but you draft them in part for, like, emergency scenario. Can he give me two starts here and it's not going to kill us? And I do think that he could do that.
54:44Derrik Klassen: This is not fair at all. I'm not comparing anyone to Zach Martin, who's one of the best football players I've ever spent time around and is going to be a hall of famer, but he was an all American tackle. He immediately transitioned to guard and it was like, okay, his NFL future is at guard. And then over the course of his career, there were a couple of times where necessity pushed him out to tackle. And it was like, I don't know, man, he looks pretty good here too. Like it's fine. I, again, one of the best players of the last decade, certainly not comparing them, But I'm always curious to see, because if you play tackle at a high level in college, again, like the the know how, the understanding of angles, I got to assume that can help you even if you don't have the physical traits to do it for at a high level for a sustained amount of time.
55:33Derrik Klassen: I don't know if that applies to Cage Casey.
55:35Dave Helman: Yeah, I don't know either. And the last thing I'll say, obviously, this pick wasn't just for this year. Ben Powers, he is in the final year of his deal. So I'm assuming they are hoping that he can battle for potential reps there in the future.
55:47Derrik Klassen: I really love that we were just two ships passing in the night on this show. We were just circling similar teams for different reasons, because I also wanted to highlight the Broncos. This is my last one. Yours is better because I think Cage Casey has a very obvious path to the playing field. I don't know about Justin Jolie and Dallin Bentley, but I really love the Sean Payton of it all where the Broncos made six of their picks on day three. And of those picks, they spent two of them on tight ends to fill out their tight end depth chart because Sean Payton just cannot get enough of some tight ends and the Broncos extended Adam Troutman.
56:29Derrik Klassen: So he's going to be there for the foreseeable future. but I believe Evan Ingram and Nate Adkins are both on the final year of their deal. So you bring in Justin Jolie and Dallin Bentley, both different sorts of skill sets, I would say. Like, I think Jolie is, he's, he's a good, capable, willing blocker, but I think you're drafting him more for athleticism and ability to extend plays down the field, get yak after the catch and be sort of a receiving tight end. I think Bentley, the idea would be he could be a more balanced guy. He's a better receiver right now than a blocker, but he's just he's a bigger body type than Justin Jolie.
57:11Derrik Klassen: But this just feels like a play by Sean Payton to fill out the depth chart, but also get ready for next year when these guys can hopefully step into bigger roles.
57:21Dave Helman: And honestly, even though those other guys are there like Atkins and and Evan Ingram, Evan Ingram is coming up on 32 and played about 30 % less snaps last year than he had at any point in his career. And that was not an injury thing. Like, he suited up for just about every game for the Broncos last year. And so I think they had obviously made the acquisition of him last year thinking that he would still have a little bit more juice. And he had moments, but I don't think was, like, some superstar. So them going and drafting Joe Lee, who I think is, like, in that similar mold, makes a lot of sense to me.
57:51Dave Helman: and then Adkins I actually really like Nate Adkins but he is a very specific like weirdly sized kind of put him at age he's going to block for you and not do a whole lot as a receiving tight end anyway so if they are looking for a little bit more pass catching stuff Adkins really is not preventing them he's a little bit more of like a short yardage clear like 22 personnel set sort of sort of player.
58:17Derrik Klassen: I wound up loving these guys, both of these rookies a lot when I studied the tight ends. Jolie is like, he's a good athlete. He's not like an explosive playmaker, or at least he didn't have a lot of explosive plays in college is what I should say, but he is a good athlete. He's a contested catch beast. Like he's going to catch stuff over the middle of the field. He'll fight off contact to make catches. And then Bentley wound up being one of my favorite guys to watch what a I'm fascinated to see where this goes because Derek he caught three passes his entire college career it's 25 by the way so like he's been out of high school for a minute he caught three passes up until well up until 2025 and then in 2025 he caught 50 balls for 700 yards and six touchdowns didn't have a single drop on the season And he was just a steady Eddie presence in Utah's offense, made a lot of fun plays down the field.
59:17Derrik Klassen: And I'm like, okay, is your, is your arrow shooting up? Or was this just the craziest aberration ever? And you're going to come back down to earth a little bit. I don't know the answer, but go, go watch Dallin Bentley for Utah. It's very fun. I'm excited to see what he can do from here.
59:34Dave Helman: You've sold me that that one is interesting. I didn't get that far with the tight ends, but I'm, I might go take a peek. I think he's, I think he's a really good player.
59:42Derrik Klassen: I not a, not a like perfect blocker by any stretch, but Dane and I differed on this. Like, I think he's a pretty good blocker. Dane, Dane thinks he needs to be more consistent. I liked what I saw. I'll, I'll probably defer toward the draft expert, but I don't know. I like the guy. I like both of these tight ends and I'm going to be, I'm going to be excited. If Sean Payton finds a way to use them quicker than expected. Do you have anyone else?
1:00:07Dave Helman: I'll throw one more out there really quickly. We can actually stay at tight ends. Obviously, the Jaguars got a lot of talk for drafting their first tight end, Nate Borcher, in the second round. They also drafted Tanner Kozio in the fifth round. And the only reason I think it's interesting is Kozio was a highly productive pass-catching tight end. He was a guy who played a lot of slot at Houston. he's you can even tell the way that he's built like if you look at if you just look at the dimensions on mock draftable or whatever he doesn't have like some sort of weird build one way or the other but when you just look at him he he looks more like a big wide receiver than he does a tight end and so I do think that that's interesting where this is a team that is clearly trying to invest at the tight end position but he's a guy who feels a little bit more like a flex player and so this is one where I'm not actually sure what the immediate impact is but for a team that seems to want to put more big bodies on the field and clearly has a plan drafting two tight ends.
1:01:04Dave Helman: I at least want to know what it looks like when they put these guys on the field.
1:01:09Derrik Klassen: You just made me wonder. I was looking this up while you were talking. I feel, I think four different teams doubled up at tight end, which makes sense when you consider how many came out in this draft. But the Jags drafted two, the Ravens drafted two, the Broncos drafted two, the Browns drafted two. Yeah, it's a good, it was a good year to need a tight end and quite a few teams that had a big need were like, let's just get two. What's wrong with that?
1:01:34Dave Helman: And like clearly different. Like obviously Borkutcher is a guy who is, I think, a little bit bigger, a little bit more. People think he's more of a true wide tight end. And Koziol is kind of the, I don't know, he's a big pass catcher. Let's see if he can block a little bit.
1:01:47Derrik Klassen: I love the renaissance that tight end is having. That'll be my new pet cause as we get to training camp 2026 is which of the second, third, and fourth tight ends are making an impression at their respective practices. Can't wait for that. But until then, that's all we've got. Thanks for watching some dart throws with Derek and I as we went through day three of the NFL draft. We will be back next time. Until then, appreciate y 'all. We'll talk to you soon. Thanks for tuning in. Make sure to hit that subscribe or follow button so you never miss an episode. If you enjoyed what you heard, please like, comment, and leave a rating.
1:02:23Derrik Klassen: We'll see you next time.
1:02:50Derrik Klassen: Thank you.
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1:03:55Dave Helman: speaking with Babbel today. Get up to 55 % off your Babbel subscription right now at babbel.com slash acast. Spelled b-a-b-b-e-l dot com slash acast. Rules and restrictions may apply.
Let's be honest, a lot of sixth and seventh round NFL Draft picks never come back into our consciousness after draft night...but a few are primed to actually make a difference for their teams in the 2027 season. Dave Helman and Derrik Klassen discuss the picks that could see the field and make an impact on this episode of The Athletic Football Show.
Timestamps are approximate:
0:00 Welcome to the show
3:11 Bryce Boettcher
8:35 George Gumbs Jr
9:18 Caden Curry
11:21 Deion Burks
13:33 Demond Claiborne
17:00 Merch design contest
18:24 Kaleb Elarms-Orr
21:43 Aiden Fisher
25:45 Kamari Ramsey
31:57 Malik Benson
36:28 Joshua Josephs
40:10 Taylen Green
45:47 Kage Casey
50:37 Justin Joly & Dallen Bentley
54:51 Tanner Koziol
Co-Hosts: Derrik Klassen and Dave Helman
Executive Producer: Michael Beller
Senior Producer: Katy Duffy
Social Producer: Scott Krinch
Follow Derrik on Bluesky: @qbklass.bsky.social
Follow Dave on Bluesky: @davehelman.bsky.social
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