The sneakily fun 2026 WR draft class

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1:55Robert Mays: and watch the Comeback Podcast on HBO Max or listen wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to The Athletic Football Show. I'm Robert Mays, digging into some wide receivers today. It is a stacked wide receiver class, just in the depth of it. If you go look at Dane Brugler's top 100, I believe he has like 17, 18 guys in the top 100 at receiver. And there are just so many different flavors of player in this class. How you're going to stack up and rank the guys that are going to go from like picks 35 to 80, you could go in so many different directions. And so what we decided to do today with me, Derek Lassen and Dave Hellman was just do some superlatives, a couple of different categories and pick a player that we think fits that in this 2026 class.

2:43Robert Mays: Our favorite receiver, our favorite slot receiver, the guy that we're just out on a cost, biggest risk reward, favorite day to pick. So that's what we did today. We just ran through what is a very interesting, compelling, and kind of strange in a lot of ways receiver class, and just try to find out who were fitting answers to some of those categories. So let's dig into all of that with me, Dave, and Derek right now.

3:17Robert Mays: Digging into the wide receivers today on the Athletic Football Show. So it's a packed group. I was looking at the number just before we started recording, Dave. Dane has 17 receivers in his top 100. And I believe there are like eight to nine guys in his top 50. There's a ton of guys that we're going to see drafted most likely in the first two days of the draft when we're live from this space here in two weeks. So I'm excited to dig into this today.

3:43Derrik Klassen: Couple thoughts. One, I've never done a show like this with you and Derek specifically for draft. where like typically if we're arguing about players, you have an NFL body of work to fall back on, but this is just pure preference, baby. And then the other part of this is I think it's a very beauties in the eye of the beholder receiver class because like there just aren't those overpowering prospects. Like, you know, there isn't a Malik neighbors in this draft class. And so I think for the three of us potentially, but across the draft community, you see so much variation. And again, it just falls down to what do you prefer?

4:21Derrik Klassen: What are you looking for in a receiver? So I think there's some healthy potential for some conflict here.

4:26Robert Mays: We're doing a bunch of categories today, Derek. And one of the categories, I think that I was picking between two different guys. And I really can't imagine two more different players as my answer. And I think that's what type of receiver class we're talking about here, where for an answer to the same question, you can pick two guys who are on complete opposite ends of the spectrum, when it comes to what they're bringing to the table.

4:49Dave Helman: And like you mentioning, like where Dane has all those guys, I've watched probably like 15 of these receivers pretty closely at this point. At least like eight, nine, 10 of them are in the pick 40 to pick 80 range. Like it's all just that's the range where I want to take a wide receiver in this class. And it's a bunch of like you mentioned, a bunch of different body types and skill sets in that range. All right.

5:09Robert Mays: So we're going to hit about seven, eight different categories, do a little bit of wide receiver superlatives today. and let's start with a conversation that I don't think you have to have in a lot of other drafts just because sometimes it's a little bit more clear cut but in this one I do think it's worth a discussion who is your number one wide receiver in this draft class and as we get into this I just want to say at the beginning I'm you guys and your answers that to me is more important than what I'm bringing to the table here I do have answers to these categories but you guys have spent more time with these guys you've spent more time looking at these guys and so I will be part of this, but I also am here to just like make you to fight with each other.

5:44Robert Mays: So you give me Dave, your number one receiver in this draft class.

5:49Derrik Klassen: So probably in January, Dane tipped me off to the fact that Jordan Tyson's hamstring injury was going to be a bigger problem than we realized. And he wasn't going to be available for a lot of, if not all of the draft process. And the way I look at this, you tell me that I'm checking out, I'm putting a guy on the shelf, like not to write him off completely but I just got other shit to do if I can't evaluate a guy who's like actively part of this and so your attention is drawn to Carnell Tate and um and Makai Lemon obviously and so you go through all that you're focused on these guys so long story short for the purposes of this show I went back and watched like three Jordan Tyson games and it was the first time I really had eyes on him since during the season and I was like oh yeah this guy's the best receiver in this draft class oh wow i think jordan tyson is the best receiver in this draft draft class purely watching the games purely watching the games i think i would still default to carnell tate as the first guy i would feel comfortable drafting because the injury concerns are very very real jordan tyson has never finished a college season he tore his knee to hell in his year at colorado he needed a lot of time to recover from that missed a lot of his first season at Arizona State broke his collarbone in 2024 and this hamstring thing has been a real pain for him that is enough to scare the shit out of me to where I would be reluctant to make him my first pick at wide receiver but if you're just talking about watching the games I think Jordan Tyson's the best prospect all right before we get into this what is your answer Derek mine is Cardinal

7:24Dave Helman: Tate with a bullet like I just I think the tape and because here's why I fall for sometimes I have an issue of viewing wide receiver play through the lens of the quarterback. Cardinal Tate makes the quarterback's job so easy. He's in the right spot all the time, hands away from his chest when he's catching. He never gives up yards after the catch. He's a good job of like, I'm just going to get downhill. He just makes life easy on the quarterback and on the offense. And that's something that I always really appreciate. So I would agree that his ceiling isn't as high as a guy like Tyson. If Tyson's healthy, he can really roll.

7:58Dave Helman: And I do think Tate has like a high ceiling. I think Tyson's is probably a little better. I think my thing with Tyson, I think he's a good player, but I think I view him a little bit differently than other people. I think he is in college, he played a lot outside and he was like a big vertical guy. I like all his best stuff from the slot. Like he looks to me more like a Tyra Williams, like Chris Godwin, like your bigger type slot receiver. And I don't know if a team is going to draft him to be that, but that was a lot of my favorite stuff from him.

8:24Robert Mays: So here I, my answer is Carnell Tate as well. and I think for a lot of the reasons that Derek said like when I watch him I just think he's one of those guys where you watch him it's like I immediately understand what this is and what he's bringing to the table and the appeal of somebody like this and there are a couple different plays that come to mind but he made a play I believe it was in the Texas game where he runs like a deep comeback on the right sideline and he comes back like eight yards to the ball and plucks it away from his frame and traffic. And that's one of those plays exactly what you're talking about, Derek, where he is such a friendly receiver for his quarterback.

9:01Robert Mays: And I think you combine that with just how easily he wins vertically on some of these plays. Like he's not a burner, but I think we have plenty of evidence that you can be a really effective vertical receiver in the NFL without being like a four, four guy, as long as you tempo things well, as long as you do could work at the line of scrimmage. And I do think he is that sort of player. I do think he can threaten you vertically, despite not being somebody who has overwhelming time speed.

9:30Dave Helman: That's a great way to put it. And he's not like he's a little bit thinner for a guy whose size, he reminds me a little bit of like a bigger Devonta Smith. And the reason I think that he's my wide receiver one is like, I don't think he's one of those like alpha takeover a game wide receiver ones. But I don't think this class really has any of those. To me, Tate is the only guy where I'm like, he can be your number one, which is in the like Devonta Smith, like Jalen Waddell. It's like, ideally, maybe you would want somebody else to help him out, but like he can be your number one and he can be a good number one outside vertical, all that stuff.

10:02Derrik Klassen: So I would say, and for the record, I like Carnell Tate. I would take, I would draft Carnell Tate before Jordan Tyson, because I'm just really leery of the medicals. But I think my argument would be, and even if we agree, there's not a A plus number one, like elite wide receiver prospect. I do think Jordan Tyson is the type of guy you can build a receiver core around. Like I don't, even if he's great from the slot, like I don't really care about that. I think he's got the flexibility to do both things. He can do it at a high level. He wins at all three levels of the field. I mean, like it's weird to say because he spent so much time hobbled by this hamstring injury, but he can go downfield and get the ball just as well in contested and just beating people deep situations the same way that Carnell Tate does.

10:48Derrik Klassen: He wins underneath. He can take short catches the distance. He can create separation at will. Like he can do it basically whenever he wants to. And I think the only reason he didn't get the ball more often this past year at Arizona State, A, injury, because he just wasn't on the field as often as you'd prefer, and B, the quarterback play. But like go watch, and one of the games I watched in the lead up to this show was the Texas Tech game. and like, you know, they're paying a lot of attention to him. Sam Levitt's looking in a lot of other directions throughout the game. And then with the game on the line late in the fourth quarter, they just were like, what are we doing?

11:28Derrik Klassen: Jordan Tyson's over there. Let's get this guy the ball. And like all the way downfield, they're targeting him. He's getting separation up the sideline. He's getting separation short. He draws a DPI on a deep throw into the end zone and sets them up on the goal line to win the game. And it was just very, it was fun to see a team like have that epiphany of like, oh wait we have a top 15 pick on our team maybe we should get him the ball and I just I think the world of him other than the fact that he hasn't been able to reliably stay on the field so here's

11:55Robert Mays: my the reason I was saying that stuff about Carnell Tate being a vertical receiver is that I kind of disagree in that I don't really think Jordan Tyson is a guy who's going to threaten as a vertical receiver in the NFL because he didn't do it as often in college if you look at the numbers 18.6 % of his targets came with 20 or more air yards last year at Arizona State. His eight out was 11.7 yards, which is just not very high. That, well, 18.6 % number ranks like 190th among all receivers in college football. And when I watch him, I think the best stuff he does is in like the intermediate areas of the field.

12:32Robert Mays: It is. And he's really good at that. Like he isn't, the, and a lot of it's very exaggerated and I don't really know what to do with some of the things he does. explosive though it is there there are moments where like you like I can just see him us watching a game that's in Detroit or Atlanta or one of these places with that field turf and those pellets just spraying up as he's breaking off a guy like I can absolutely see that but I just wonder if he has that like vertical element to his game to an extent that it raises his ceiling as a player And so while I do think that there's a lot to like about him, I actually think his ceiling is a little bit more limited, despite just how explosive some of the movements are in other areas of his game.

13:20Derrik Klassen: I think he can do that. Maybe it's not his specialty the way that it's Carnell Tate's specialty. I also think we should address the elephant in the room, which is the guy where number four in Carnell Tate's offense that makes life easier on everybody else who we're going to be talking about next year. When we do this, we're not going to be saying, Oh, there's really not a number one receiver in this draft class. Cause Jeremiah Smith is going to be that guy. And the quarterback for Ohio state is also a very good player. Yes. And so not to, again, I want to say one more time, I really like Carnell Tate.

13:52Derrik Klassen: I think you can sort of put people into more specific roles in the Ohio State offense because of the gravity that Jeremiah Smith lends to everything. Whereas Jordan Tyson, he is the gravity in Arizona State's offense. I think there's plenty of examples of him winning downfield as a receiver on Arizona State's tape. it's I will admit to you it's not as it's not as fun or sexy as the way Carnell Tate does it I mean there are a few things more fun than the way Carnell Tate goes and snags a football and you know the number of big contested catches on his game tape is very very fun I will say I think that

14:29Robert Mays: that the role within the offense part of it and the Jeremiah Smith part of it that does alter some of the numbers I'm about to talk about but if there is one knock against Carnell Tate as being like a top 10 worthy pick. If you look at some of the metrics that often are associated with like big time receiver success moving forward, he was a 20th percentile player in targets per route run at Ohio State. Jordan Tyson was 97th. Like, and if we, if there is a thought that targets are earned to a certain extent, that is a huge difference between both of those players. And again, you can understand why you land in that place with Carnell Tate because Jeremiah Smith is on the other side.

15:06Robert Mays: But I do think it's at least worth mentioning. I will say, I think that with Jordan Tyson, he was going to be my answer to another category we're going to do, which is someone you're out on at cost. And if he's going to be the 15th pick, I think I'm out on that. Because I just don't know if his ceiling is high enough to justify that sort of pick on top of holding in the injury concerns. Like those two things combined, I'm just not sure I have the stomach for that, even if some of the stuff he does, the highlight reel stuff is really fucking impressive.

15:38Derrik Klassen: he's spoiler alert he's going to be my answer for that as well and like i said i mean incredible playing both sides here i love that again if i'm talking out of both sides of my mouth i'm sorry but like he can be a really impressive player and still scare the bejesus out of me and so like i i start to get interested in jordan tyson to a certain point actually i think at 15 though i'd probably be in because like if you're not if you're wide receiver one we're talking about you probably as soon as Cleveland at number six and all the way on down. I'm out on Jordan Tyson there. If you're telling me it's pick 15 or pick 16 or anywhere on down from there, I'm probably in, but it's also this draft class.

16:21Derrik Klassen: Yeah.

16:22Robert Mays: Being pick 15 in this draft class is probably a little bit easier for me to stomach, but you haven't, you haven't made peace

16:27Derrik Klassen: with the reality of this draft class. I feel like, but I think that's part of it. That's where we are.

16:32Robert Mays: As I actually think about it, like Keldrick Falk is Dane's 15th player on his big board right now. Like every single and that's not to be like just shit on Keldrick Falk. He has his concerns as well.

16:42Derrik Klassen: Like all the guys in this range do. There are no players that don't have concerns at the top of this draft with the. I think I said it on a previous show. Mendoza, I have no concerns. And Jeremiah Love and everybody else. There's a huge. Yeah, but attached to his name. It's just kind of where we are.

17:00Dave Helman: And again, with receiver at 15, there's so many guys, like I said at the top of the show, that I like between picks 40 and 80 that it's like, if I really like one of these edges or tackles or the safeties, it's like, I just I feel like I'm going to be able to find a receiver a little bit later in the next round rather than finding like as much of a quality at tackle or whatever it's going to be.

17:21Robert Mays: See, even with that, though, I do think I'm willing to concede, even if I have some concerns about Jordan Tyson, that what he is bringing to the table is different than the guys that you are going to draft from 40 to 80 in this draft. Even if there are guys that you like, the way that he moves into some of the things that he's bringing are different. He is a different tier of receiver, I think, pretty definitively than those guys you're going to be taking on day two. so I I get why you would look even at a deep receiver class and see a guy like this and just say I'm taking a swing like I just think that even with some of the downside concerns the upside concerns are worth it I just feel like me personally the upside is a little bit more limited than some of the ways I've seen it represented I would take Tate in the top 10 I'd wait a little bit on Jordan Tyson the Tate conversation and I think you guys did a good job of like laying this out.

18:13Robert Mays: And I think Derek's framing of him being more in that, like Devante Smith sort of range where you can have him be your number one receiver. Maybe it's not ideal. I do think that's what he is. And I think that a player like that is, you can take a player like that in the top 10. Like this idea of like, he has to be a number one receiver if you take him in the top 10. If I'm the Browns, it's going to be really difficult because of the state of their offensive line and just where you have to find those guys. But being able to just drop like a Carnell Tate level player that I think is just clean and safe and he's going to be productive and he's just going to be like part of a productive offense for a very long time it's incredibly tempting to do that like I would just be there'd be like alarm bells going off for me if I were the Browns at that spot so I do want

18:57Dave Helman: to clarify that because I think that's a really good point that like because I said with Lemon like the reason I wouldn't take him that high is that he can't be your number one receiver and I don't think a player like that can be your number one receiver whereas with Tate the distinction is like I would rather have someone who is more like an AJ Brown who is my number one receiver but if he's got to be my number one receiver we're okay like that's not going to be

19:18Robert Mays: an issue all right so Dave and I both have the same answer for who were out at out on a cost and that was Jordan Tyson who is your answer to that question Derek it's it's Makai Lemon I just

19:28Dave Helman: and I think he's a good player like I think he's going to be useful I just it's my guy I'm not taking that in in the top 15 and maybe not the top 20 i just like i think he's good like he will be useful but there's just not a lot of guys who are his size who are slot primaries who are like game-breaking players you you go ahead no you go no it's funny actually because we did this last week

19:54Derrik Klassen: and derrick gaslit me into going back and watching makai lemon like i was like do i have this all wrong am i am i too high on this guy just because the big the consensus big board says that i should be and so i spent i don't know an hour and a half re-watching a couple games and i was like no i feel great about this i i won't let derrick gaslight me he's incredible he's he's my best slot i i and i don't care he's my best slot like i'm not talking about that i'm not taking that

20:25Robert Mays: at top 20 that's my point Derek can't take that guy in the top 20 and and I what I feel like this

20:32Derrik Klassen: is outdated respectfully Derek like why do we care if a guy is a slot like in 20 I think that is a lot more replaceable of a skill set to me I don't think he I think that he's a good player

20:46Dave Helman: like I want to make clear that I don't think that he's like a fourth round player I would still take him like top 40 I don't know if I would take him top 20.

20:55Robert Mays: I have a weird question for you and this is just because it was somebody I was thinking about when it came to last year's draft and just the types of players I like do you think that Makai Lemon is a significantly better prospect than Jalen Knoll was?

21:13Dave Helman: I mean Knoll was better outside to me like he had a little bit more verticality than a guy like Lemon does and so I still probably thought that he was a worse prospect Like, I do think Lemon, his hands are better. He's tougher over the middle. I think he blocks better than a guy like Noel. But, like, I think it was a different calculation because Noel to me was like your speed three in a really, really good world. To me, I think they're just a little bit different.

21:34Robert Mays: I agree. That's fair. So, my stance on this is that in a world where JSN can be the offensive player of the year because of how offenses are shaped in the NFL right now, I do think that that casts a little bit of doubt on where the limitations are for a player like Makai Lemon because the idea of inside-outside is more blurred than it's ever been. I think in the current modern NFL environment, he can survive on the outside, and I do think he does enough. You go back and watch the Iowa game and some of the shit he's doing in the Iowa game. His ability to go get the ball, the fact that he does have a little bit of vertical juice to him, I just think he's such a winning player.

22:21Robert Mays: And I think that in the modern environment, his limitations matter just a little bit less that I would feel comfortable taking him again in the top 15 of like this draft. If the Dolphins were like, I'm taking him at 11, I think the only reason I would have issues with that is because an offensive lineman might be more valuable and more important to what they need right now. But it's more like that offensive system and their needed receiver. I wouldn't have any issue with that.

22:47Dave Helman: I mean I understand that and again it's not that I think he's useless outside either there are guys who are like his size issue or like his similar role who can play outside like Parker Washington plays like 45 % of his snaps outside still and is like a functional player I just I am constantly in the top 20 I want to hunt players who live outside win outside the numbers and if they can be useful out of the slot that's fine I just don't want to take guys in the top 20 who I don't think can live outside and he can be functional out there. And again, maybe that is outdated and maybe I have this wrong, but like I, I'm just going to build my football team in a little bit of a different way than that.

23:25Robert Mays: So Dave just said that I'm coming to grips with this, with this draft classes. Do you think you've come to grips with what this draft classes? So Akeem Mesidor is Dane's 19th player on his big board. Would you rather have Makai Lemon or Akeem Mesidor?

23:39Dave Helman: I would definitely rather have Mesidor, but I've watched over 50 players at this point. And I have at least 20 of them ranked higher than Makai Lemon. So, I mean, again, I think he's useful. I just don't. This is the other thing. It's not just that it's the slot stuff for me. It's that a lot of people seem to grade his film as like A+. I think it's more like B +, A-, like I think he's good. I just don't think he's quite that special.

24:06Derrik Klassen: That's a really interesting question because Mesidor has, he's so dominant at times and he plays such an important position. He's also 25 years old. And I definitely, I worry about the idea of how, how close to your ceiling are you? And what's it going to look like going against 28 year old pros, as opposed to 21 year old college sophomores and juniors. I'm taking Makai Lemon there. And I just, and there's, there's nothing wrong with the methodology. I just, I don't think I care about the stuff Derek just said he cares about nearly as much, especially again, like in this draft class where I'm not that sure of very many things.

24:50Derrik Klassen: I'll take a guy with this contested catch ability who can do this many things for your offense and can plug right in. And I've made this point a few times. I would probably be a little nervous if a team drafted Makai Lemon to be the center point centerpiece of their receiver core. But look on down the line and tell me what that landing spot is. Like, I don't think Cleveland would draft Mekhi Lemon sixth. It would make me nervous if Miami drafted him 11th. But look at all the other teams where he would plug in as a compliment to what's already there. And I think that's incredibly exciting. And I just I don't need him to be the centerpiece for me to feel good about this.

25:30Derrik Klassen: If he can plug right in and do his thing and make contested catches and be a little bowling ball with the football in his hands the way that he is. I think that's great. particularly I'm not saying they would do this I'm not it would be kind of surprising if they did but like if Makai Lemon got drafted 18th overall to Minnesota I can't sell you on that

25:49Robert Mays: that's not fun as hell no that's that that one and then the Rams at 13 I think is one where it's just like all right I can get behind this and I think I think in this draft specifically and the way in the things that we're talking about I think all of those things come together in a way that feels acceptable, Derek, because in the idea that he can't be the top receiving option in an offense in the same way that Carnot take hand, I think that's right. But I think as you get like outside of the top 12, that distinction maybe matters a little bit less, especially in what feels like a down draft.

26:23Dave Helman: I think that that's probably fair. And again, like 18 in Minnesota, like in my world where I say I won't take him top 20, when you give him to like the best play callers in the league, that probably changes my mind a little bit. But I think if I'm thinking about it like generally and holistically, I think part of the other issue here is like my appetite for risk at other positions is a little bit higher. So I'm willing to put some riskier prospects potentially above a guy like Makai Lemon. Like Monroe Freeling is not a perfect tackle prospect. I would take him before Makai Lemon because I think like I have an appetite for, you know, being able to take risks there.

26:56Dave Helman: Keldrick Falk, I like a little bit more than even Makai Lemon, who like his profile is a lot scarier than someone's like Lemons. But if I if I can get the upside of like that caliber of edge player, I'm just more willing to swing there. And so that invites volatility. I understand that. But that's kind of how I would prefer to do it.

27:11Robert Mays: This because I am fully, fully willing to admit, even as somebody who is like the furthest thing from a scout, my one of my issues with evaluating players is that when I watch a guy, my number one question is, is he good? and that is it's that sounds stupid but that's not always the most important question but that's always what i find myself consistently going back to is just like is that guy good and makai lemon's really good but that can cloud how you should think about a guy in this sort of process and

27:45Derrik Klassen: i'm willing to concede that it's funny though because i i think that explains the difference between me and derek very perfectly and i i call myself a coward all the time i'm i would way rather hit a bunch of singles and doubles, and eventually I'll luck into a higher caliber of prospect than be swinging for the fences, and the guy with all this athleticism and all this upside is just a guy after two and a half years. Like, that scares the shit out of me, and I would way rather default for the more proven, more easy-to-see commodity. And, like, part of being a good scout and being a good evaluator is identifying those guys where it's worth betting on their upside at the next level as an admitted non-expert at scouting, I would rather like stay out of those waters.

28:32Derrik Klassen: Like that's too deep of water for me. I like it over here in this shallow end.

28:35Dave Helman: And I get that because like, if I was ranking players purely on like, will he be as good as my draft pick? Or like, will he be like, he will just be a good NFL player, a seven out of 10. Makai Lemon would probably be like the eighth or ninth player on my board. Like I do think he will be a good and useful player. I'm just, the position he plays, the ceiling, my appetite for risk at other positions. It probably just knocks him down my board a little bit compared to other guys.

28:58Robert Mays: I like this because I also think it, when I conceive of Makai Lemon and I think about him, and I think about a team in the position like the Dolphins are in, and I just try to envision the Dolphins going from what they are right now to what they eventually want to be. There's part of me that thinks about a guy like Makai Lemon and can just imagine him being part of transforming an organization because you're finding winning players. And I go back to the first draft that the Lions had when they got Amon Ross St. Brown. But they got Amon Ross St. Brown in the fourth round of that draft, and they got Penny Sewell with the seventh overall pick.

29:34Robert Mays: And so it's easy to go to this place of like, man, just think about what Amon Ross St. Brown is for the Lions. But Amon Ross St. Brown being that for the Lions is possible in part and matters in part because they already had Penny Sewell with the seventh overall pick.

29:50Dave Helman: and and like he didn't even really become that until the second half of his rookie season like if you're just trying to project like what it would if lemon had like a similar rookie season like for a first-round pick that would be a little bit tougher like again it's this style of profile usually goes later in the draft because you're trying to thread a pretty thin needle and again that player can be good but you're threading a little bit of a thinner needle if we knew then

30:12Derrik Klassen: what we know now amin rossain brown would be a top 15 pick contrary to what derrick but you'd take

30:20Dave Helman: exactly and so that's my thing is that if we're doing the like we guarantee he's this at pick 15 like is my alternative that whoever i'm whatever tackle i'm taking at 14 is also the seventh best tackle like i would much rather have that in every scenario and i think i mean it's it it gets

30:37Derrik Klassen: tiresome to keep saying this but like the top of the 2021 draft was pretty special and this draft is not that. But it's not as if Amon Ross St. Brown went 22nd because the top of the draft was really good. He went in the fourth round.

30:49Robert Mays: He's got to memorize. There were 16 receivers in front of him. And I think it does speak to what Derek is trying to pick at here is that it's not that, again, the idea of if we repicked the 2021 draft, Amon Ross St. Brown would go in the first round doesn't discount the fact that players like Amon Ross St. Brown are available in the fourth round. And that's what Derek is trying to say. And I do think that that is a point worth making.

31:12Derrik Klassen: there are two to Derek's point and we can we'll talk about him but like on into day three there are there are guys that I feel really good about if you don't want to use that type of capital on

31:23Robert Mays: somebody like Mekhi Lemon the last thing I'll say about this is that Mekhi Lemon if you look at some of the numbers is just an insanely productive player too like some of the things in his profile are just statistical benchmarks that you can feel really excited about like him cracking that like 3.1 yards per route run number that he did this year. It was 3.13. That is an insanely productive season for a guy playing major college football. And so there are just a lot of other things outside of he's cool and I like him that lead you to believe that Makai Lemon is probably going to be a useful and productive NFL receiver.

32:02Robert Mays: Derek mentioned this. We're doing best slot as one of our categories. I think Makai Lemon was the answer for all of us. The other player I did want to mention here i do like omar cooper jr like i i don't i think that he's what he brings to the table what we did a series of videos that are going to come out next month and over the next week or so here next month it's already april they're gonna come out over the next week or so here and what i said about omar cooper jr is to me i think you can make an argument that he has the clearest utility of any receiver in this entire draft class. Like I know exactly what Omar Cooper Jr.

32:39Robert Mays: from Indiana can be for me from day one in an NFL offense. Like I'll be able to spit the ball out to him as a guy working on the inside and he will be a monster with the ball in his hands. He's incredibly tough. Like I just think that he's a useful NFL player that there's other guys that we'll talk about on day two that that useful is the word I would use to describe them, but I almost mean it pejoratively. I think that Omar Cooper Jr. has a higher gear to him than some of those players do. Like late in the first round, I think he is a very worthwhile draft pick.

33:11Dave Helman: It's just so easy to see how you would get like a very casual 800 yards out of him. Like he just does so many things well. He's like, he's not like a super speedster, but he's definitely fast. They'll put him like out. The only time they put him outside is when they want speed on the outside, which I think is pretty interesting. But he gives you that like the thing. And the thing that I appreciated about him again it goes back to the carnell tate thing a little bit omar cooper is so friendly to the quarterback the way that like he'll sit in zones and come back to the ball and ball away from it like catch the ball away from his chest he does a lot of that stuff really well so he to me is just like your classic goes at pick like somewhere between 25 and 40 and is like the second best rookie receiver and just has like a really really nice season that's exactly how i

33:54Robert Mays: feel and i mean he was so he lined up on the inside he was like a 70 slot player this year maybe even more than that. But in 2024, he did play on the outside. He moved inside this year. And so he's done it a little bit. When I was trying to find a comp for him, I think so many people have gone to Debo Samuel, which I think is crazy. Like Debo Samuel weighs 220. He's like a once in a lifetime sort of player in the NFL. And I don't think they're comparable as players or as prospects. And I even think that some of the deployment things put a little gray area here. He reminds me a little bit of like the way that DJ Moore should be used in an NFL offense.

34:31Robert Mays: He doesn't have the same level of verticality, like, and he is fast. But when you watch Omar Cooper Jr., one of the things that DJ Moore does well, even if I don't think he's a good, like, X on the ball receiver because of the press coverage stuff, DJ Moore is very capable, like, comeback runner, like on these vertical stem routes, he can do that. That's where Omar Cooper Jr.'s game is probably weakest. And so I think that there's some, like, there's some imperfections with that comparison. but I do think like the way I would want DJ Moore to be used as an NFL offense, where it's a lot of manufactured touches, even a lot of the, like the dagger completions that DJ Moore had this year, where he climbed the ladder to go get the ball from an outside alignment.

35:13Robert Mays: Omar Cooper jr. Can do that. Like, I do think that you can use him in some of those ways. And so that was the name I kept coming back to, even though as prospects and even the way that they are deployed and the way they line up is there are significant differences between them.

35:26Dave Helman: I like that though. And that's probably like best case scenario, like his tier of receiver that he ends up on.

35:31Robert Mays: That's an ideal outcome. If he ends up becoming that, that's like a super ideal outcome. I think it's like a diet version of that is probably the best thing he can end up being.

35:39Derrik Klassen: He's got some of the most impressive body control out of any of the receivers I've watched in this class, like his balance and the way that he can contort his body. I mean, the game winning catch against Penn state that I think everybody's seen by now is a great example of that. But even just some of the stuff he does along the sideline, like the way that he can shake off tacklers and gain extra yards while keeping his feet after contact and what I think for a guy his size he's got really impressive hands too like does like this and like the size of his hands and he just I mean he snags everything it's he's such a tough

36:13Robert Mays: player he's he's such a tough player and not just with the ball in his hands like in the air as well

36:17Derrik Klassen: and I just I really like that about him he's a very fun player and it's uh it was the other Indiana receiver Elijah Surratt that got a lot of pub over the first I would say like two-thirds of Indiana's season and by the time they were in the playoff it was like oh no number number three is where it's at like that's where Fernando's looking most of the time speaking of contested

36:38Robert Mays: catches the last thing I want to mention shitting on Jordan Tyson before we move on he has 11th percentile arm length when we talk about like his ability to like go get the ball as a vertical receiver so in my notes someone you're out at a cost is just below best slot so it brought me back to Jordan Tyson. So that's my one parting shot before we take our first break. Hating on my God. It's that time of year again for taxes. We all know the stress of the old way of filing. You send your documents off and then absolute radio silence. You're stuck refreshing your inbox and sending awkward, just checking in texts, wondering if they've even started.

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39:03Robert Mays: All right, I'm excited about this one. Next category, personal favorite pet cat from this wide receiver class. Derek, why don't you kick us off? Who's your guy?

39:13Dave Helman: Anyone want to take a guess on what kind of receiver it's going to be?

39:18Derrik Klassen: I wonder. My only question is if it's going to be one of the 6 '2", 220 guys or one of the 6 '4 guys.

39:25Dave Helman: It is one of the 6 '4 guys. And this guy, like, you have to get over a lot because he did not run really well. But just the player that, like, I really enjoyed watching was Malachi Fields from Notre Dame. He ran like a 4 '6", 1", which is obviously not great for 6 '4". 2 '18". I think when you're considering him not clearly a top 50 pick, I think that that's totally fine. But he blocks his ass off. And I think what was most impressive to me, and maybe this was because I watched him very shortly after Denzel Boston. Denzel Boston is obviously faster in a straight line. I find Boston a little bit stiff getting in and out of his breaks, especially on comeback routes, deep stops, all that stuff.

40:02Dave Helman: The way that Malachi Fields can just hit the breaks and come back for a guy who is almost 220 pounds is kind of striking to me. and I think that he just gives you a lot of that like you just get more sync and more explosion and more balance than a guy like that should get um and then I think he finds the ball down the field pretty consistently well so he is just my like if you are looking for your we usually use the term like Matt Harmon says sacrificial x is like a bad thing but I do think that he is kind of that like he's just gonna be our boundary winner every now and then I actually really like

40:34Derrik Klassen: what he brings do you like fields more than boston or is it just like at the price it's i think like

40:40Dave Helman: at the price like boston is a better player i think because of the long speed he obviously gives you a much higher ceiling i think he's a little bit more dynamic with the ball in his hands even than fields but again like for where fields i think is gonna go i just i kind of really like

40:54Derrik Klassen: a player like that i can get on board with that like if if boston's a top 35 pick and you can get fields like much later on day two or potentially even on day three. I get that. Who's your answer to this question, Dave? Your favorite receiver pet cat in this group? I have two and they both have the same name. But let's start with the first one because I had a front row seat to Des Bryan's prime and I'm going to be chasing it for the rest of my life. And that's Chris Bell out of Louisville. I mean, I know a lot of people compare him to AJ Brown. That's totally fair. But for me, and the play that really put him on everybody's radar was against Miami.

41:35Derrik Klassen: He catches like a four yard crossing route.

41:38Robert Mays: That's what it all is, unfortunately.

41:39Derrik Klassen: I don't care. I don't give a shit. I really don't. He's 6 '2", 222. Yeah, he's, he's, and he, he tore his ACL in November. So he didn't, we don't have any of the testing numbers on him. But people I've talked to have a high degree of confidence that this is at worst, like a 4-4-5 type of guy. He's a very explosive player. He is a very explosive player. He can jump out of the gym. He can be a contested ball guy. He's already he's also, you know, he had Tyler Shook in 2024. And in 2025, you could tell how frustrated he was by his own offense. Like if you just watch his tape, you can see him being pissed off every like third rep about what just happened.

42:19Derrik Klassen: But get him a four yard crossing route and he'll go 40 yards to the house and dust everyone. He can sky over the DB and bring in circus back shoulder balls. I don't think his route trees all that great. And I think he's got a lot of improving to do as like an overall receiver. But if that's your baseline, then I'm pretty pumped about it. And then the other one is Skylar Bell out of UConn, who just caught more than 100 passes for 1 ,278 yards and 13 touchdowns. And this is probably the most reckless thing I'll say on this show. It helps because he wears number one. but watching him i was just like oh this is this is jamar chase light this is this is just like a man this is a poor man's jamar chase he's he's six flat uh six foot 192 440 uh 4 440 41 inch vert like he's a freak athlete he's very he's explosive but he's very powerful and strong and watching him, I was just like, obviously he's not Jamar Chase.

43:25Derrik Klassen: He's not going to be a top 10 pick. I doubt he's going to be an all pro caliber player as a rookie, but he does all that same type of stuff. Like he can take it to the house. He can just body people out of the way. He can go up and get, he can high point the ball. I was just like, man, if I was trying to get Jamar Chase's skillset late day two, or even into day three, I'm all the way in on this guy. So I love both of the bells very much. Derek, how do you feel about that very aggressive comment that Dave just made?

43:50Dave Helman: that is very aggressive but listen if you're trying to chase like uh not to make the pun but like yeah chase chase but i was gonna say too like actually jamar chase falls into me like a very similar mode to like what to was where like it just like that style of receiver and i think if you're trying to chase that like skylar bell does make a lot of sense chris bell was one that we have another category here biggest risk big biggest reward he's my answer for that like he the upside is just like guys who are that big who run that fast they just don't make a whole lot of those but kind of to some of your points Dave like the route tree is a little fake he had the ACL injury that's a little bit tough um I will say though him being frustrated by the quarterback play he did take it out on opponents often he is a shit starter and I mean that absolutely complimentary like he just after the play during the play just constantly in people's faces and I

44:41Robert Mays: did kind of love that about him I get that with Chris Bell he almost was my answer to that question and I was going to compare him to another player that we're going to talk about a little bit later just as a way to kind of illustrate how different the flavors are in this draft class in certain ranges. I completely understand the appeal of a guy like Chris Bell. Like the size, he doesn't play quite as strong as a big player like that would lead you to believe, but the explosiveness is obviously there. The A.J. Brown thing, here's the only thing I'll say about this. I get the physical profile and the ability to take the ball to the house on a slant the same way that A.J.

45:16Robert Mays: Brown could. i think we forget that aj brown had 1200 yards and 11 touchdowns as a sophomore at ole miss no aj brown was a was a monster yeah yeah like the idea that sharing the field with like multiple other nfl players by the way and that's one of those where like when you look back on it's like how the did aj brown go in the second round of the draft like there was some and here's the one element of this and it was funny because i actually did this yesterday i watched chris bell And that was the first place my mind went, even not knowing that other people had done that. I think it's natural to make the comparison.

45:50Robert Mays: And so I went back and I started reading A.J. Brown draft profiles because I was like, OK, I understand what I think A.J. Brown is now. What did we think about A.J. Brown in 2019? And why was A.J. Brown a second round pick? And one of the things that consistently came up in A.J. Brown's draft evaluations, and it actually was part of our conversations about A.J. Brown for like his first couple seasons in the NFL. He was not a vertical player. AJ Brown was not a vertical player at Ole Miss. He played a lot in the slot. And even at, in Tennessee, his first couple of seasons, it was a lot of like underneath type yak opportunities and slants.

46:28Robert Mays: And then when he got to Philly, he turns into what he is now. And I think that expanded usage allows him to become one of the five best receivers in the league. And so I think the question is going to be with Chris Bell, same kind of deal. Like he was not used in that way a lot at Louisville. But he's obviously an explosive player. So the same way with A.J. Brown, where it was, it wasn't that he couldn't do it. It's that people weren't asking him to do it. Is that going to be a similar situation to what happens with Chris Bell? Because if the answer is yes, then the ceiling for Chris Bell changes even more on top of what he's already giving you.

47:01Derrik Klassen: And I think the extra wrinkle there is, I don't want to call it a pure redshirt year, because if he tours ACL in late November, I mean, you could have a shot to have a role as a rookie. but there's going to be some ramp up there. And I would guess you're going to miss some sort of time. Like he's obviously not going to be available for off season stuff. I would guess he misses some of some of training camp. I would guess he misses some games, but I, you can't put a number on that right now. But so with the developmental idea of this, that he's going to have to probably sit for at least a little while, you know, I hope the team that drafts him has a plan for developing.

47:39Derrik Klassen: It's way more about his talent than any sort of like refined aspect of his game that you see when you watch him. But the talent makes you sit up in your seat.

47:48Robert Mays: I will say, even if he wasn't asked to run like a super varied route tree, Derek, he he does move in a way where you think he could do a little bit more. He's a little bit better of a separator than some other guys with this physical profile. And even the fact that he's another one of those players who I lined up on the right side in a static way, like 90 percent of the time or whatever it was. that can be a red flag for guys but i think that again some of the things that you see for him he kind of steps outside of the concerns that typically align with that sort of player and so i think that what derek said about risk reward like he's absolutely a worthwhile answer to that question there is potentially like a massive pot of gold waiting for you at the end of the rainbow with chris bell but this could also go very poorly and i think to compare him to like a recent player

48:32Dave Helman: that was very similar. He has a very similar profile to like Xavier Leggett. That's the problem. But I think he's a better prospect than that. Like obviously Leggett went in the first round and Bell probably isn't going to partly because of the injury and all that stuff. But I think he's a little bit more of a complete and I think fluid player than Leggett was. Like Leggett was really big and explosive, but I feel like there's a little bit more flexibility

48:54Robert Mays: and balance to a guy like Leggett was so raw. He was so raw. Like it was a late breakout type thing. So I think that's a totally fair place to land. And I, I, Chris Bell is one of those guys that I think I would be willing to take a dice roll on Chris Bell on day two compared to some of the other quote unquote safer guys that are going to be going in that range.

49:14Derrik Klassen: Clearly I would be as well, but I just want, I wonder what the range is like, like how early you have to draft a guy like that, particularly with the added wrinkle of him not being ready to play today. You know how that affects his draft stock. What about the jets at 33? or 44 jets at 44 44 is ty simpson so we gotta we gotta put that we gotta put that off to the side uh i mean i'm really high on the guy but i would uh see landing spot matters so much to me like with the with the jets it's like all right who's getting him the ball like gino is not the long term guy there are you actually going to draft ty simpson i that would excite me less just because of like what's the long-term plan all right so look at the second round who is who are the teams

50:03Robert Mays: in the second round that you're like all right if chris bell lands here i'm in the jets is kind of

50:07Dave Helman: perfect though because like they need any type of body and also like 2026 is fake for them anyway so if he red shirts for most of it it's like okay that's kind of what i was thinking too there are

50:17Derrik Klassen: so many places i'd be down to have chris bell are you kidding me like obviously depending on what they do in the top five tennessee i'm i'm happy to have cam ward have that on his team um I'm not the first person to say this and I won't be the last, but isn't it, isn't it fun to try to do a Tyler Shook, Chris Bell reunion in new Orleans, like get him back with his guy. Like my only problem with that,

50:41Robert Mays: I was thinking the same thing is that I do want Tyler Shook to have somebody he could throw the ball to right now in 2026. Cause just for a young quarterback, I do want that guy. That's probably not how you should think about it. And I do actually think Chris Bell's skillset and what you get from Chris Olave is a pretty fun fit. If it were to work out, it to me, it's just a, I'm excited for the Saints right now, and I want to see it right now. And that's why I'm not the general manager of the Saints.

51:05Derrik Klassen: Well, and it's impossible to know this. You don't want to be reckless about it. Like, is Chris Bell ready by the start of October? Does he need more time than that? Does he need less time than that? There's really not a way to know the answer to that, but it would go a long way toward influencing my opinions.

51:23Robert Mays: My answer to this question of who is your personal favorite in this draft. I love Casey Concepcion. Yeah, it's a good player. I like him. I love Casey Concepcion. I just everything about him, minus the fact that he can't catch the football. I am a huge, huge fan. Okay. I think that stuff is overplayed a little bit. I'm being facetious. I obviously don't care enough about it to not have him be my answer to this

51:50Derrik Klassen: question. My cope about Casey Concepcion dropping the football is that he's such an explosive player, he's already thinking about getting to the house before he's got the football. And like, so if we can just take a beat, bring that bad boy in before you're worried about juking some guy out of his shoes, it'll be fine.

52:09Robert Mays: Drops are often not that important of an evaluation thing for receivers. We overrate them in terms of like how scary drops are. And I do think that you can be in a place where if you're constantly fighting the ball, it limits what your ceiling is there's a receiver and I think there's an argument to be made that he might be that sort of guy that he will consistently be somebody who fights the ball as he gets into his NFL career but it's not to a degree that scares me when you weigh it against the positives that he's bringing to the

52:37Dave Helman: table and my other thing with with a lot of the drops like yes the drop percentage is is concerning and it's tough to look at all that stuff but he still makes tough catches like there are times where quarterback throws it like low and at his knees and he just scoops it out of the ground through contact or you know somebody's kind of fighting him on a stick route and he still catches it when he's got two arms from the db draped over his back like he he's not a go up and win the ball t higgins guy obviously he's not that size but like in the areas that he's going to win which to me primarily is like the 2 to 12 yard range like really like all these in cuts speed outs all that stuff he makes a lot of catches there like that that can be pretty difficult like i'm not that worried about that aspect of his game i think he's more dangerous as a vertical player

53:20Robert Mays: than that would lead you to believe. Like, his time speed is not overwhelming, but he's one of those guys that he's faster than the corner covering him all the time. He has an incredible, the smooth acceleration that you see from him shows up in all these different areas. There was a catch he had against South Carolina, against Cissé, in like a very one-on-one press coverage moment where he stacks him immediately and starts pulling away from him down the field.

53:49Derrik Klassen: Was that the like really deep contested one? Yeah.

53:52Robert Mays: And makes it catch down the right sideline where it's just like, okay. And he does that decently often. And so it's the smooth acceleration, but he, his release bag is incredibly impressive. Like, I think you can make a real argument. He's the best separator among every single one of these guys. And then you combine that with the fact that Derek mentioned it. He's really good on some of those like in cuts. And like, I think in a lot of the guy I compared him to that, I think this is aggressive. and I think that some of the sliders need to be moved. But if you made Jalen Waddle like slightly bigger, but a little bit slower, that is how to me Casey Concepcion moves.

54:29Robert Mays: And I think that one of the reasons I, my mind went there is that I think his proper deployment in the NFL is exactly what Jalen Waddle was with the Miami dolphins, where he's a motion player. You get him on some of those big in breakers and digs. Like, I think he would be so good in that sort of role. And it's really easy for me to imagine him being that type of player.

54:52Dave Helman: Waddle's good. I imagined him more as like, what if Zay Flowers was bigger and a little bit more complete? But like that style of play where like vertical presence, but also a guy you can just run a shallow route, spit it out to him. He's going to make somebody miss. Like, I think he brings a lot of those elements to the game. I like him a lot.

55:07Robert Mays: When you see him like the punt return stuff and his vision in the open field. I just think there's so many different layers to like how he can be impactful for an offense and really the only knocks is that some of the analytical stuff is not that great like his yards per route run in certain like especially again zone coverage there are like some concerns based on some things that I had seen about how that profiles compared to other guys historically and then the drops like those are like the two things that I think potentially limit his ceiling just as a prospect overall but just watching him like what the tape says when you go back and watch four or five games of Casey Concepcion.

55:43Robert Mays: I just think there's so much to like about him.

55:46Derrik Klassen: Another guy nowhere near as, from what we understand, nowhere near as significant as Chris Bell's ACL tear, but he did have a knee scope this spring, which is why we don't have more testing numbers on him. I wouldn't imagine that affects his draft stock too much, but our conversation last week clearly made an impression on me because Derek got me to go back and rewatch Makai Lemon, And then I was watching Casey Concepcion and I was like, you know what? If you like, if you like him more than lemon, I completely understand why, like that is a completely defensible take. And it won't surprise me.

56:21Derrik Klassen: You know, he's, he's one of those guys where like, if, if he was, if he was pick 13 to the Rams instead of Makai lemon, would that shock me? Not really. But I also think he could be the fourth receiver off the board. I just am imagining him at like 26 to Buffalo.

56:37Dave Helman: that would be really really fun that would be a really good one

56:42Derrik Klassen: buffalo's i'm i'm so tired of falling in love with receivers in buffalo because i would love to see most of these guys in buffalo i want buffalo to hit on any receiver they take but

56:52Robert Mays: this is actually a really good thing so miami's picking at 30 right so instead of picking makai lemon at 11 if makai if miami can get spencer fano at 11 and casey concepcion at 30 is that actually the right way to approach the first round i like that more than drafting a receiver 11th

57:09Derrik Klassen: yeah for sure i think that's partially what derrick is trying to say i did it was it landing spot is so important for stuff like this and again like a team like miami i i don't think i would want miami to draft all right i mean if it was somebody insane like jamar chase that's a different story, but like, I wouldn't want Miami to draft a receiver like with a pick that big, almost regardless. I just think they got way bigger fish to fry than finding a receiver for the quarterback that we're not sure is going to have like a long, long-term future there. All right, let's take one

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59:52Robert Mays: All right, Derek already said his biggest risk reward was Chris Bell. Who's your biggest risk reward in this class, Dave?

59:59Derrik Klassen: Oh, mine were Jordan Tyson and Chris Bell. So I'm a little... There we go. I've been there, done that. Mine's Chris Brazl.

1:00:07Dave Helman: That's a good one. He is an intoxicating player.

1:00:12Robert Mays: That's one where, like... And this is... We do this too much, helmet scouting shit, but I do think it's worth mentioning in this situation. He could just be Jalen Hyatt. Just be Jalen Hyatt. It's very easy for him to just be Jalen Hyatt.

1:00:26Derrik Klassen: I'm, this is, this is toxic. You can call it lazy. You can call it whatever. I'm more than happy to let somebody find the next great Tennessee receiver. That's kind of what I'm saying. The track record's there. Like Jawan Jennings was a long time ago.

1:00:40Robert Mays: I'll say this. I think there are a bunch of different reasons that he could be a lot better than Jalen Hyatt was and better than a guy like Cedric Tillman was. He has way more juice than Cedric Tillman. and he's bigger than Jalen Hyatt. And I think when you watch him, there was a play he made against Georgia where he runs like a comeback on the right side and you see the flexibility on that sort of play. And what he does on some digs every once in a while that he's asked to run, he's not asked to do a ton of it, but you see the movement skills and the ability to throttle down. And that to me is a little bit different than some of the other Tennessee guys that we've looked at over the last few years.

1:01:18Robert Mays: And so you combine that those little tiny morsels, those nuggets that you can attach yourself to and seeing his game expand on top of the physical profile and the juice that he's bringing to the position. There's like a real chance that he's a monster home run. There's also a chance that he's a zero.

1:01:37Derrik Klassen: We led building the beast that week, the week after they played Georgia on September 13th. And that week we led the show with him because he caught six for 177 and three. I mean, the big play potential is undeniable.

1:01:52Robert Mays: And then that play that game, we have the big comeback. And then he runs a huge post where he's just like runs by a guy. I, I'm not sure. I think I might be in your boat here where it's like, I'm going to let somebody else potentially have the spoils of a guy like Chris Brazel. But at the same time, I understand the appeal. And it would be tempting in this range because there's no one else in this range that is providing you what a guy like this is when you look at the profile in Chris Brazel.

1:02:21Dave Helman: And when you're looking at all the like for me, like you look at Tennessee, it's like, OK, the route tree is always limited. The splits are so not NFL like such nonsense. They take plays off like they'll just like literally a calf the field will just like not be participating in. It's so so many of these like non NFL things. But then you watch how fast he is. that route he runs against Georgia, the way he just hits the brakes and snaps it off is like, okay, I get why people are really excited about that. I, to me, it's, and when you're picked, let's say he goes pick 55. I feel like that's generally the range that he gets kind of gets looked at and like mocked and ranked and all that stuff.

1:02:58Dave Helman: Could he be Christian Watson at pick 55? Yes. Totally. Like, I don't know if he's ever going to be like your star number one receiver, but can he be a good number two vertical type of guy for you? I think absolutely. Absolutely.

1:03:11Robert Mays: the Chicago bears had the 57th pick in the,

1:03:14Derrik Klassen: my God. So the guy, the guy with the biggest risk reward is the guy that you're talking into going. I'm just thinking about like that,

1:03:22Robert Mays: that skillset within their offense and like what they don't have, they, they still need a third receiver after trading DJ more. Like, and so it's that the, the, the version of it's Chris Broussel that works out. There is like a certain temptation of that. When you combine it with other skillsets within a receiving core, I wouldn't want to do it. I'm with you where it's like, I'm going to let somebody else do it.

1:03:43Derrik Klassen: But you picture the best case scenario for it.

1:03:45Robert Mays: It's like, oh, shit.

1:03:46Derrik Klassen: I'm just daydreaming about this big 6 '5 guy being on the other end of one of those 12 second Caleb scramble drill. It's pretty cool.

1:03:56Robert Mays: He is somebody that you have to have like a certain appetite to draft him in the second round. But I can understand a team looking at it and being like, fuck it. And so the next category we're doing, best day to pick. Here's the, and I was going to compare this guy to Chris Bell. But these are the different, in my mind, bets you're making in the second round. Just think about, like, the prospect of what Chris Brazel becomes in the best case scenario and the range of outcomes we're talking about here. And then compare him to Jeremy Bernard.

1:04:25Dave Helman: Very different. Whereas, yeah, Jeremy Bernard is good at kind of everything, but doesn't really stand out at anything. I guess he's kind of good with the ball in his hands, but not, like, super dynamic. He's tough, but, like, he just doesn't. you can't really see like what is the oh my god this guy's gonna change the offense he's just like a good plug him in and he'll be good whereas chris brazel might change your offense if he's if he's

1:04:46Robert Mays: good and that but i honestly think if i was picking a guy in the second round or just picking a guy on day two then i end is like best day two pick is i mean i'm just leaning toward guys are gonna pick in the second round because inherently they're better than the third round guys and so my mind as i kind of think that jeremy bernard might be like the best second round pick because I think he has the highest floor of all of these guys.

1:05:07Derrik Klassen: Listen, I drove a Toyota Camry for a long time. It never broke down. I never had to think about it. I it was just there and it got me where I needed to go. And I was never stressed about the car payment or the repairs or something crapping out on me. And I never felt very cool while I drove it. But who gives a shit if you're never stressed out about your car? That's Jeremy Bernard. He's definitely he's one. He's my answer to that. I also I'll throw some more love to Skylar Bell because I think the world of him. But Jeremy Bernard is just a safe, good football player. And that is not a perjury.

1:05:44Derrik Klassen: That is that's fine. That's it's great, actually. I think he will be I think he'll be quickly successful in in in most circumstances. And I would way rather just not be stressed out about it than try to get fancy with it and potentially screw things up. I just think he's Muhammad Sanu.

1:06:05Robert Mays: Like, I just think, I think that's like kind of what he is. Like, he's going to be a second round pick. He's going to come in. Muhammad Sanu is a third round pick, actually. I thought Muhammad Sanu is a second round pick. But that's just like the type of guy that I think he is, where he's just going to come in. He's going to be a contributing player to your offense. He's going to be somebody that can be your like number two and a half receiver for a really long time. And you just kind of know what he is.

1:06:27Derrik Klassen: Averaging 600 yards a year over the course of a decade long career. Not too shabby.

1:06:33Dave Helman: Two and a half is perfect. So I was going to say it's like low end to high end three. Good yak guy for you. Like that's kind of that's kind of the range of what you're talking about. He'll block. Like he'll block.

1:06:42Robert Mays: I mean, he doesn't like a little bit of everything. And it's just it is really funny that he is. He definitely is the Toyota Camry. And then I'm trying to think about what Chris Braswell is like. What is like a very fast car that will break down all the time?

1:06:56Derrik Klassen: I'm not a car guy. I'm not a car guy either. That's the wrong conversation to be having. yeah you go you go deal with the souped up sports car that you can't can't count on to go over a

1:07:10Robert Mays: pothole no thank you any other best day two pick answers from you guys we've talked about a lot of

1:07:16Dave Helman: our favorite day two picks already one other guy that i do really like in this range is jacoby lane the other usc receiver um he's like six four 200 pounds he's kind of a he's a glider for that size I think he moves really, really well. He's not as physically dominant in the air as you would expect for a guy that size. But I just think that he moves super well. He can win vertically down the field. I think the way that he snaps off some of his dig routes and some of his other curl routes and stuff like that. He does a good job of buying himself late separation there. And then the other thing with him, maybe this was anecdotal and just happened to be the three games that I watched of him.

1:07:52Dave Helman: He pulled so many DPIs. dpis like it was like once a half he got a dpi it was kind of incredible um and so i just he to me feels like a guy who could in the best case scenario be like a nice number two for you like i was actually talking to somebody on blue sky and they were like man i would love for the colts to pick him and i was like he kind of is like the perfect michael pitman role replacement of like your big z kind of slot can play x if he needs to sort of player i actually had another guy that i

1:08:19Robert Mays: was reminding me a little bit of michael pitman that we're gonna talk about in a second that i I think he has actually like, he can be better than Michael Pittman, but we'll talk about, there is somebody else I was going to mention in that vein. Let's do best day three guys. I'm still working my way through the day three receivers. And so you guys are going to have to carry this, but your best day three receiver, your favorite day three receiver is who Dave.

1:08:40Derrik Klassen: So this is a great illustration of what we were talking about. Cause I had Jacoby lane as a day three guy. And I don't know that Derek's wrong. He's not in Dane's top 100. Consensus is all over the board. The consensus big board, which is so useful for just sort of keeping an eye on stuff like this, has him at 112 across everybody's board, everybody's mock, whatever. So, yeah, he's like a fringe third, fourth round type of guy. I definitely like Jacoby Lane. It's it's a little hard to get all the way there with a guy that's just that like that profile is just wild, like six for 200 pounds. but man he's fun to watch and his stride is so impressive and you can just imagine him being like a red zone cheat code for the right team another guy and I actually I don't usually gravitate toward this type of player like small fast guy kind of bores me a little bit and I'm like ah been there done that like what are the odds that this is really going to be that fun But actually this morning I spent a healthy chunk of time with Dion Burks out of Oklahoma, which again, going back to the, uh, the consensus big board, he's 94th.

1:09:55Derrik Klassen: So again, fringe, maybe day two, maybe day three, whatever, but he's really fun, man. Like he's, he's five, 10, one 80. He ran a four three out. Yeah. I can't, I can't work with you, which what I'm trying to say is, I was with you before I started watching him, Derek. And he's just, I think, I think he breaks the stereotypes a little bit. I mean, the speed is undeniable for three flat jumped out of the gym at the combine with a 42 and a half inch vertical. So he's, he is a freaky, freaky athlete. Didn't get the ball that much at Oklahoma. Like he finished with 600 and something yards, but you watch that and John Mateer, their quarterback dealt with a hand injury and also the office crestfallen.

1:10:42Derrik Klassen: he he got off to a really nice start and the rest of the season wasn't so exciting but he's coming back so we can talk about john material another time but the oklahoma's offense very uh very uninspiring but this dude's his speed is just out of this world and like you you watch him he can just get past anybody effortlessly he can get behind the defense he can get separation whenever he wants to against anybody. And I think he's a stronger player than 5 '10", 180 would suggest. Like, he fights at the catch point. He can fight guys off. He can keep his balance and just maneuver his way through traffic.

1:11:23Derrik Klassen: I just, I spent like two hours watching him today, and I was like, I like this guy so much more than I thought when I just heard that he was small and fast. Derek, who's your favorite day three guy?

1:11:35Dave Helman: I had a couple. The Deion Burks one is interesting, Dave. I want to ask you, do you think he's like Taylor Gabriel or like Rashid Shahid? Like where on that kind of spectrum do you think that he would fall?

1:11:45Derrik Klassen: Rashid Shahid.

1:11:46Dave Helman: Okay. That's high praise.

1:11:48Derrik Klassen: It is high praise. I hate doing this shit. I mean, I just called Skylar Bell Jamar Chase 30 minutes ago. It's just, it's what it reminds me of when I'm watching them. I'm not trying to say any of these guys are going to hit these ceilings.

1:12:01Dave Helman: And listen, I'm a sizist, but like in the fourth round, at that point, like you're making some concessions for stuff anyway i can get behind these kinds of guys in

1:12:10Derrik Klassen: the fourth round i think i mean so deon burks he's he's got short arms and i think you will see that like i think his size can be an issue sometimes but i just think he can fight off contact better than you might think and he's a sturdy guy like you don't think of sturdy when you hear 180 pounds but i just think he's very solidly built for a guy his size he played out wide a lot at ou i I would guess he plays more slot on an NFL team. And if you're working inside with a little more room and smaller body types, I just think he could be really, really fun and dangerous. And yeah. And I mean, he's got that type of speed like Shahid where like he's, he'll get behind damn near anybody.

1:12:55Derrik Klassen: Like he just, he is a burner like that.

1:12:57Dave Helman: So that's a good one. Cause I'm going to go in kind of the opposite direction in the sense of like, I really like Texas tech receiver, Reggie Virgil. uh he is kind of like we have carnell tate at home type of type of player he has a very similar build he's like 6 '3 187 a little bit like i was gonna say another just all these all these all these big guys yep tall and skinny uh but it which is like built like tate ran a 4-7 or a 4-5-7 geez 4-7 would be terrible 4-5-7 4-7 stuff yeah 4-7 would be like you're undrafted 4-5-7 is like in the fourth fifth round we can live with that um but i just think like some of his snappiness as a route runner.

1:13:35Dave Helman: He's also, again, like Tate, he catches the ball so efficiently, just like tracking it, hands away from his chest, high points the ball really well when he has to, always comes down and gathers his feet really well and is like ready to go make a play. So he's never going to be like a game-changing player. Like I think the best version of what he's going to be is just like a solid playable wide receiver three for you who can play outside. But if you get that at pick 113, that's a pretty damn good outcome.

1:14:04Derrik Klassen: Can I give you one more who is like a day three deep cut? Of course. There's nothing fringe about this. He's 158 on the big board. I want you all to watch Josh Cameron at Baylor, if you haven't. I have not. I love him because he is everything that's weird about college football. I think you might hate it, Robert. He's 6 '1", 220, and he wears number 34. Amazing. disgusting so it looks like freaking zach charbonnet is lining up out wide i can't i'm

1:14:38Robert Mays: already out no i'm already out hit that i don't want a person with that level of judgment in my locker room he's so awesome he's so fun i can't trust the decision making but but he's a receiver though you kind of want a little bit of the you know no that's the wrong kind of crazy that's the

1:14:53Derrik Klassen: wrong kind of crazy i'm so out he's i just i think he's a fun player like he he plays like a running back with the ball in his hands he's he better he's a better route runner than his profile might suggest uh he's also he's he's a multi-year punt returner so like we're talking about a fifth or sixth or seventh round pick like you'd be drafting him to be a special teamer and like the last guy on your depth chart but like he's got the return ability and he's just he's a sturdy fun dude and he's like he's good at the iso ball stuff and like boxing people out and i just i love i love watching zach charbonnet play receiver at a high level it's really fun i'm not taking risks on

1:15:34Robert Mays: guys with those sorts of character concerns that's like i'm just not gonna do that did you guys have a favorite fit that you wanted to hit before we got out of here i've got a couple actually uh i've

1:15:44Dave Helman: got one in like the first round which is the easy one i think carnell tate to the chiefs like i've lobbied for them to like take a tackle but the more i think about like they need an adult in the room a little bit at wide receiver like they have so many of these like yak guys and fast and all this stuff and it's like can we just get a guy to win on a curl route all the time and I kind of like

1:16:05Robert Mays: him for that so I also had somebody to the Chiefs and I as soon as I thought about it we've been trying to put these like big bodied players on the Chiefs over and over and over again the entire offseason as soon as I thought about Denzel Boston to the Chiefs at 29 I couldn't stop thinking about

1:16:19Dave Helman: it you can sell me on that too I think that that's really if whoever it is to win on the outside I'll

1:16:24Robert Mays: take it I just couldn't stop thinking about it and that's also he's the guy that I do think there's a little bit of Michael Pittman to his game where he's a bigger body player, but he's not necessarily like a vertical burner, but there are so many plays like that. I think camera, which game it was where he just rips off like a double move touchdown from the slot. Like to me, he's just diet Drake London. Like he's not as explosive as Drake one. He's not as varied as Drake London, but I really like a lot of the stuff that Denzel Boston brings to the table.

1:16:49Derrik Klassen: I love Boston a lot. And I think he's such a better athlete than the current conversation about him suggests. And I love that. I love the idea at 29, because if I was a Chiefs fan, I'm ripping my AirPods out. If you're trying to give the Chiefs a receiver at nine, like, can we can Ruben Bain fall to us? Like, can we get something like that before we're worried about another receiver? That's what I would say.

1:17:12Robert Mays: Well, Cardinal Tate is big enough that Derek thinks he's worth taking there. And Makai Lemon doesn't deserve to live.

1:17:18Dave Helman: My contention is that the other Chiefs wide receivers should not stop me from taking a guy like Cardinal Tate.

1:17:24Derrik Klassen: Do a favor, Fit. so one very vague and broad I would just love any good slot player to land in Carolina take I don't care who it is it could be Casey Concepcion it could be Makai Lemon it could be one of the tight ends I just think it would be fun I kind of love Omar Cooper to Carolina

1:17:41Robert Mays: Omar I kind of love that what made me what made me think about this was our guy Jordan Reed who

1:17:47Derrik Klassen: was on the show this week reported that Omar Cooper was off to Charlotte to visit the Panthers like right after his pro day. So yes, that got my gears turning. I would love Omar Cooper. Oh man, I kind of love that.

1:17:59Robert Mays: That's like a skill set they very much could use within that offense. They do not have that. Oh, I'm into that now. And they have so many big guys.

1:18:07Dave Helman: Like to get a guy who's, you know, he's not like, he's not tiny. But to get a guy who's a little bit quicker, has a little bit more speed than like got like McMillan and Kobe and stuff like that.

1:18:15Robert Mays: He's kind of rich for Omar Cooper though, huh? Probably for me, I would not love that.

1:18:20Dave Helman: but they are in a position where it feels like they are like, we're doing whatever we think it takes to like jumpstart the offense. And so I don't know if I condone it, but I would understand how they arrived there. I'm kind of into that one. I like that a lot.

1:18:34Derrik Klassen: So another one that I wanted to shout, which is a lot more specific and we just talked about him. I would love it if with pick 49 or excuse me, 45 pick 45, the Baltimore Ravens draft Jeremy Bernard and like, stop stop with the vacillation between it doesn't always have to be a small fast guy or a super big guy like it doesn't have to be miles boykin or zay flowers like we don't have to have this crazy profile for a receiver you can just draft a good receiver who's gonna make lamar jackson look good

1:19:07Dave Helman: that would get me pretty excited i think that actually is the right approach because my my thing with the ravens i had the ravens on here too but both of mine it was malachi fields and

1:19:16Derrik Klassen: jacoby lane because we don't need to do this anymore you don't need this you're right you're right you don't have to keep doing this with baltimore just draft the boring good receiver

1:19:26Dave Helman: i i think you're i think you're right there's a part of me that is like dude if i could just see lamar jackson with a ball winner one time i'm like obsessed with trying to get there but bernard probably does make more sense i think that's good all right anything else any other

1:19:41Robert Mays: fits that's all i got did you have a fit i had denzel boston the chiefs 29 you said that i

1:19:46Derrik Klassen: As soon as I thought about it, I couldn't stop thinking about it. Oh, this came to my mind while I was finalizing my notes. This applies to anybody, any of the crazy fast guys. But in this case, since I was watching him, Denzel Burks, or excuse me, Dion Burks in New England. Sure. And like anybody that Drake may can unload howitzers to. This is Kyle Williams racer. No, he can still be there. He can still be there. We're just throwing numbers at the problem. You just got to make him compete now. Yeah.

1:20:14Robert Mays: All right. That is all we've got for today. We will be back on Monday with another mailbag. Sincerely appreciate you guys listening. Talk to you very 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. We'll see you next time.

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