Why we're planting our flags for these day 2 & 3 prospects

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1:43Derrik Klassen: Welcome to The Athletic Football Show. I am Dave Hellman. Robert Mays is out today, but never fear. We've got a loaded draft show for y 'all today. I'm usually joined to talk draft by the one and only Dane Brugler, and he joins me today. But in addition, we're bringing in Derek Klassen to round out the crew, an episode I'm really excited about. I think it fits Derek's skill set very, very well because we wanted to talk about our guys in this 2026 draft class, not the best players, not the players that will be taken first or at the top of the draft order. We just wanted to talk about the guys that we really love.

2:21Derrik Klassen: And we figured, you know, we could probably bypass the top 10, the top 15 types of prospects. Let's get into the little the nitty gritty of it a little bit more. Talk about some day two prospects, some back of the draft prospects, not the best players, not the players that are going to land in a specific place. just the guys that we love an opportunity for us one week before the NFL draft to plant our flag on the guys that we just enjoy the most really fun conversation myself Dane Brugler Derek Klassen talking football players let's get to it

3:04Derrik Klassen: well fellas I'm really excited for this show because at this point Dane and I have been talking prospects since August Dane obviously the amount of man hours are incredible what you've put into the beast and what you've been doing from a publicity standpoint going on to shows and talking about it over the last two weeks I'm sure you're ready for this thing to start next week. But until then. The draft was tomorrow. We mean next week. No, it's next week. You're not quite over the finish line yet. But that's why I'm happy for a little bit of a curveball because we've been doing this so long. I always want to guard against groupthink because you do such a good job of this.

3:46Derrik Klassen: And it's easy to go along with each other's thought process and the work that you put into it. what better way to mix things up than to bring on Derek, who is just never afraid to be an agent of chaos. As we're talking about our favorite guys in this 2026 draft class, the guys that we like the most Derek, I'm counting on you to like break up the group. Think a little bit.

4:09Dave Helman: I'm just for it. Cause we, people probably only know my takes on what we did the receivers. And then you and I, Dane did the edges with a Robert. And that's, I think that's most of what I've gotten out there in terms of like public draft takes out of outside of like a couple of social media posts here and there which before

4:26Derrik Klassen: we get into the nitty-gritty of it Derek and understanding you know nobody has watched as many prospects as Dane at least nobody that's not part of an NFL organization but having had a chance to look through all this and do a couple of shows and really get into it what what's your impression of this draft class and people talk about how unsexy the top of it is or you know it's it's not a great year in the first round however you want to take it good or bad what's your impression of this thing as we get this much closer to the draft so I think I'm actually a little bit closer

5:00Dave Helman: to something that you said a few weeks ago where it's like the draft class isn't really that bad I just think that so often we judge draft classes based purely on quarterback edge and then often wide receiver and wide receiver there's no Jamar Chase there's not even like a Jalen Wadwell type It's guys who are probably like a tier below that in terms of God. There's good players, but there's no that guy is clearly going to be my number one NFL receiver. There's good edge rushers, but there's no Miles Garrett. It's not Nick Bosa, Joey Bosa, any of those guys. And then the quarterback, it's a one QB class.

5:32Dave Helman: And like Mendoza is good. But again, even he's not like Trevor Lawrence. Like he's not like up in that tier prospect for a lot of people. And so I think when people look at like the premium positions, it gets knocked down. But there are tier one prospects at a number of other positions. Like, obviously, the linebacker, like top of the linebacker class is really good. Arvel Reese, I know I said the edge class is weird, but he, again, is a unicorn, which we've kind of talked about. Caleb Downs is a special safety prospect. Like, I think some of the D tackles and offensive tackles are actually really good, even if there's not like a superstar there.

6:02Dave Helman: So, like, the more I've filled out my draft work, I actually think it's like a pretty nice class. Good depth, right? I mean, and it's hard to judge an entire draft class, I think. But when you look at it position by position, you're OK. Yeah, quarterback and running back are light, but receivers deep. Edge is deep. Tight end is ridiculously deep. Safeties. There's some good safeties in this class. And so I was just talking about this with Nate on a different pod. But like, I think that there's going to be a lot of like that, that top tier of players in this draft might be a little bit light, especially compared to other top tens.

6:44But that second and third tier are pretty robust with just quality players. And that's going to make, I think, for some interesting moments on draft night in the 20s, the playoff teams in round one, and then especially on day two, where we've been mocking guys at certain points throughout the last few months. but obviously teams have their own grades and their own projections and I won't be I think we're going to have some surprises uh late first round early second round into the third round just because the there's just a big pool of players in that range and teams are going to be all over the map in terms of how they grade them I've been looking a lot at previous drafts

7:27Derrik Klassen: for various shows that we're doing various conversations that we want to have just going back over how things fell and who went in what order. And the more I do it, the more I'm convinced this probably won't be remembered as a generational draft or a crazy, you know, star-studded Hall of Famer draft like 2011 is the one that always comes to my mind when I talk about this. But the more I look at it, the more I feel like hindsight colors a lot of these conversations. And I just I don't think we're going to look back on this as an abysmal draft overall. Maybe the top 10 won't be as robust as some years that we've seen.

8:07Derrik Klassen: But I really I believe the quality is out there. And the purpose of this show is to plan our flags on a few guys we really, really like. An early flag plant from me is I just I think this draft is going to be just fine slash good. I just I really don't think it's going to be as easy to make fun of as as it is right now. It's it's kind of been it's been a pet peeve of mine over the last two months where people parachute in and they're just like, oh, this sucks. I'm like, no, it doesn't suck. It might not be 2011, but it's perfectly fine. That's fair. I mean, especially at those key positions to like edge, like receiver, like if you if you need those those positions in the draft, you're obviously going to have a little more favorable view as opposed to a team that's looking for a running back and a quarterback, right?

8:55So I do think that colors it a little bit. But yeah, no, I think we're all kind of in agreement there where this might not be an amazing draft, but it's far from a subpar draft.

9:06Derrik Klassen: So in the purpose of that, we're calling this my guys. And I charged everyone to just find a short list of guys that you really love. I think the one qualifier here is on this show, we're not really trying to talk about slam dunk top of the draft guys. Like we've we've done enough of the guys that are going to go top 10, even like top 15, 20. So I'm trying to limit the amount of conversations about guys that we know we're going to hear a call on Thursday night. But it's fair game after that. I didn't give any parameters. You can do as many day three guys as you want to or top 50 guys, whatever.

9:45Derrik Klassen: So let's start if we're doing my guys. And we're not doing slam dunks pick slam dunk picks. Let's start with fringe guys. Like if you've got a guy on your list that's somewhere in the like 25 to 40 range, maybe a fringe day one pick. Who's your guy? And Derek, you're the newcomer here. So I'll start with you.

10:08Dave Helman: Yeah, I've got two guys that I think fit into that exact range. And the first one to me is Peter Woods at Clemson. Like I know this is why I wanted you on the show.

10:18Derrik Klassen: Nobody likes Peter Woods anymore.

10:20Dave Helman: Dude, I think his balance is like genuinely special. Like I think it is unbelievable. And obviously it was a little bit better in 2024 than it was in 2025. They made him cut a little bit of weight, but I just think the way that he can like, to me, the, the, how you kind of a very good window into how well an NFL defensive lineman is going to hold up, especially in run defenses, like when he's got to get low and like almost to a knee or he gets knocked onto only one leg how well can he hold his balance I don't know if anyone in this class does it as well as Peter Woods like pound for pound and I know that he's like you can kind of see the explosive traits but then it doesn't always show up as much as you want as a pass rusher and I think that that can be pretty frustrating with him and that's probably why he's fallen off boards the way that people thought he was going to be compared coming into the year when he was like a slam dunk top five top ten pick but to me I just look at somebody with with his traits and think if he gets to the right team like I think he can be an absolute superstar and to me there was a little bit of like every now and then we get really good prospects who their program overall kind of falls apart in their given year and it hurts their draft stock and then they end up being a very good player um once they finally come out I kind of think both Woods and TJ Parker who I talked about on the Ed show is a guy that I really like I think both of them kind have suffered from that.

11:38I think that's fair. One thing that I liked about watching Clemson late in the year was TJ Parker kept, even though the season didn't live up to the hype and what we expected for TJ Parker, he kept popping for me. You know, just making plays and just being a presence where I just, I wanted to see that from Peter Woods more consistently. um but because yeah coming into the year he was my number one player in the draft like i was sure was i think this guy can be based on the talent that he put on the 2024 tape and thinking okay if he takes another step in 2025 where this this guy could be 80 jalen carter he can be something that is truly um you know how we talk even more impressive how we talked about you know byron murphy when he was coming out of texas but those guys like i think of byron murphy I think of him like ascending and just feeling good about where he was headed.

12:34Now with Woods, it's kind of the opposite where, I mean, he had 14 pressures this year, 14. And it's just, it's hard for me because I don't disagree with you. He's still in the 30s for me because the traits, I'm not just totally going to give up. But it's just hard for me to get there with him totally as a first round pick when it just, He left me wanting so much more on tape in terms of production. There's nothing about the testing that wows you. And part of that's injury related. So I won't be surprised when Peter Woods is the 25th pick or goes somewhere in the late first round. Because I don't think you're alone, Derek, in terms of there's too much talent in this body for me to just totally pass on him at this point in the draft.

13:26I just personally couldn't get there.

13:28Dave Helman: And I get that. Like if he, because of the production, because of the not ascending, like I totally get that. I think there are just some times where you choose to believe that whatever I saw from his best is what he can be. And I just, I think with a player like Woods, given how good some of the traits are, like I think he can be that. Like, again, I know I'm higher on him than a lot of other people, but like if I'm Minnesota sitting there at like 18, like I'm thinking about it because I just think that he, one, they'd need that position. But and to like, I think he fits what they do. Like, I just that's kind of to me, the range where I really started thinking about a guy like Woods.

14:02Derrik Klassen: Dan, can you map out for me how serious the injury issues are? Because that's I would I want to fall back on the traits, but we don't even have that much to go off of. Like, he didn't do all that much during the pre-draft process. Yeah. And I don't think it's anything serious. It was what a hamstring or something. It's not like a soft tissue thing. So, you know, not something that I feel like is going to linger. It's not like jeopardizing his availability. Yeah. Yeah, nothing like that. But he is tough because this is a defensive tackle class where I think a lot of teams need defensive tackles.

14:40They want those guys. But this draft doesn't have, in my opinion, like a slam dunk lock first round pick. You know, some teams really like Caden McDonald. Peter Woods has the talent. It just, you know, he leaves you wanting more. And so, but sometimes it makes sense to grade to the flashes. And when you grade to the flashes with Peter Woods, I get it 100%. It's just, I think some teams will, other teams won't when it comes to this player.

15:10Derrik Klassen: This is not the purpose of this show, but it makes perfect sense if a team wants to trade for Dexter Lawrence between now and the end of the draft, considering the top, like, five guys in this class kind of scare the bejesus out of you for one reason or another, whether it's injury, scheme, production. I think I'm colored by doing this through the whole process with Dane. I think Peter Woods was the first guy we talked about, Derek. Like, when we did our first show about, like, hey, who's good this year? Peter Woods started that show. and ever since you just I don't know you just add another reason to not like the guy and so for you to for you to stand firm on it maybe it's a classic case of like not overthinking it and like hey uh the the traits and the you know the potential at a position this important I could see why it's

16:05Dave Helman: worth taking a gamble on and I think to me sometimes it's like why were the lows what they were and I think with Woods it's a lot of kind of like you were saying Dane he kind of just leaves he wanting to me I don't think he makes that many mistakes like when I think of like a mistake making defensive tackle who had really good flashes it's like Robert Kimdiche was this way I think Javon Kinlaw was this way where it's like the explosiveness and their ability to get in the backfield was insane they were also kind of guessing or a little bit slow at times mentally and I that is not to me the issue with Peter Woods it's a lot of you just don't see the juice that he clearly has like actually show up in the backfield but I feel like when he's getting you know down he sees it really well like he understands like what types of uh like run concepts that he's getting like he to me it's not like a mistakes thing it's just like a why are you not tapping into your athletic ability thing which that to me is a little bit more fixable which maybe is like rose colored glasses being a little bit optimistic but I just do think that that stuff is a little bit more fixable I don't know it just it kind of bothers me that he has more rushing yard he had more rushing yards last year than pressures like i don't know that is on its face a bad stat for anybody yeah so just wanted to throw it out there i feel like when i throw out one of my guys on

17:21Derrik Klassen: this show it's just gonna be dane saying oh my god this guy again because he's he's heard me get excited about all these guys at one point or another but if i'm talking about like a fringe first round, maybe early second round guy. I'll keep going back to him. We don't have to spend a lot of time on it if we don't want to. I love Denzel Boston, man. And I'm happy to plant my flag because I've been sick of the slander this entire time. He's not Keon Coleman. He's not. And he's a perfectly good athlete. I know he didn't run. I don't care. He had a 6 '8", 3-cone at his size, which is almost 6 '4".

18:00Derrik Klassen: he put up a 37 and a half inch vert at his pro day. Like he is a good athlete. And when you watch him, he moves well, like he might not be a blazer, but he's not a slow guy. He's got strong hands. He catches away from his body. He's a willing blocker. I just, I don't really, I don't really understand the hate to be honest with you. And I think people are reluctant to believe in the bigger receiver. Cause, and I get it. But sometimes the cool high point red zone plays are they're not as valuable as they look on a highlight reel. But I just I think he's a better football player than that. And I don't think he's a bad athlete.

18:39And I think I think he's been not getting his due credit for most of this draft process. So what you're saying is he's your Laquan Treadwell.

18:50Derrik Klassen: Shut up. Hey, we don't know. All time. I only say greatest. My greatest albatross ever. You and I both, we both liked Laquan Treadwell. But no, I mean, I agree. I think he's better. Laquan Treadwell, who's still in the NFL, by the way, definitely did not have the career I was envisioning, but he's still playing pro football. I like Boston a lot more than I like Nikhil Harry or some of these other guys that have come through that just really struggle to separate. And not that Boston's going to be this top-tier separator in the NFL, but there's a lot more about his profile I feel more comfortable with.

19:25He's got that my ball mentality. He plays with physicality. The play strength shows. So he will use his body and, you know, shield the defender from the ball. I want to see him get a little bit better in terms of tracking the ball over his shoulder. But I think when the ball is in front of him, he can snare the ball, you know, away from his body and put it away. And I think it's fair to call him an underrated athlete. I think that not having that data point of the 40 yard dash, people will throw out just the word slow or whatever. I don't think that's the case. I just I think he's an underrated athlete at this point.

20:05Dave Helman: It feels like with those guys, the 6 '4", 210, 215, anytime that they're not Andre Johnson or Julio Jones, it's like, oh, they're not a good athlete. And it's like there's middle ground like you could be Cortland Sutton, right? Which to me, like, that's kind of a pretty good, that to me would be like a good outcome for a guy like Denzel Boston, where it's like Sutton is not like an exceptional athlete, but he runs well enough for that size. He can get in and out of his breaks well enough. And again, like you guys have mentioned, goes up and attacks the ball really well. So I think Boston was a guy I liked more than loved, but like he really is the only big bodied X receiver, like inside the top 40 that you probably want to take in this class.

20:41And if you wanted to play him as a big slot, I think he could do that. I mean, I just, yeah, I think that it'll be interesting to see how these receivers come off the board. Probably see five or six of them go in the first round. And if Boston's the sixth of six that gets drafted, I won't be surprised. But at the same time, if he goes to the Chiefs at 29, that can get me excited about what that could look like this year.

21:09Derrik Klassen: you don't have to love him as much as i do but i can't do the keon coleman stuff anymore it's that's it's just not true and i'll yeah that's that's where i come down on it i think he's a good player i if he falls out of the first round i don't think that would be terribly surprising but i mean i'm right there with you dan if he if he goes to one of these late round late first round teams that has a quarterback obviously i'm all in on that all right dan i think i know the who your answer for this is going to be, but let's put it out there one more time. There's only a week until the draft. I think there's...

21:47Most of my answers are day three guys and late round guys, but I did have two guys that would qualify for this bucket. They're both corners. Chris Johnson, San Diego State, and D 'Angelo Pons from Indiana. Both these players, I think, are going to be really good pros. Chris Johnson's a guy I liked over the summer and then in September, watching his tape against uh was it the cal tape and there were a few other ones where it's just okay i'm running out of reasons why this guy is not going to hit and be a good pro and i know talking to scouts they always mention his speed you know he might run in the four fives might be a four five five guy and um that was kind of the big knock on him and i don't like he made he didn't look like a burner on film but i also don't think he looked like he was slow uh and then he goes to the combine rips off a 4-4-0, and it's like, okay, now we're out of reasons why this guy can't be a really solid starter.

22:40Just a smooth player. The ball instincts are there. Played inside-outside in college. But he's a little slender, so not the most physical in terms of as a run defender, but he's good enough. He's going to get his guy on the ground. So I'm just a big fan of Chris Johnson. He's my corner three in this draft, and if McCoy's knee is that much of an issue, wouldn't be surprised if he's corner two. But I think he should be in that first round mix. And then D 'Angelo Pons, who the size is the size. But since he was at James Madison as a freshman, freshman All-American, this guy just produces. And I think, you know, we tend to push these guys inside because of their size.

23:20But his play style to me says he can stay outside. I have no problem with that. Now, there will be times where going up against a Denzel Boston style receiver, there's an obvious mismatch. And just in terms of size. But he's been undersized his entire life. And so I think that just accentuates his other strengths as a player. His read-react, his ability to click and close and make plays at the catch point, how physical and tough that he is. I'm just, I'm going to bet on the player. And there will be times where the size will show in coverage. But it's every other play that I think he's going to be able to make up for that.

23:58Derrik Klassen: Do you think, and obviously it would depend on the quality of player, But like, I mean, what I'm hearing from you in the case of D 'Angelo Pons is like, if you can make peace with the size, like the coverage ability, the ability to mirror, the ability to make it difficult to get open on this guy. Is it possible for that to override the length? Because like, I can understand the logic of, hey, one to three times a game, the length might be an issue, but 80 % of the time, this is going to be okay. And like that kind of bucks conventional wisdom. But the tape would tell you that maybe it's worth betting on in the case of a guy like this.

24:3980 % of the time, it works every time. I mean, that's like Pons is he's just a competitor. And every single snap, you just as a receiver, you just know you're in for a long day. And really, the only tape that you could really see the size disadvantage was against Jeremiah Smith, which but he does that to Jeremiah Smith does that to everybody. And I think with Pons, there's just a confidence, a swagger to the way he plays that it's just sometimes it doesn't always show up in maybe the testing or something you can quantify. But when you see it on tape, you just point to it and say, yeah, that's it.

25:17I know it. But he also has the production. That's the thing is the testing. OK, ran on the four threes. The production, he had multiple interceptions in each of his three years in college. Double digit passes defended. each of his three years in college. The tackle numbers are high. He gets busy as a run defender. So there's just enough where he's a top 40 player, in my opinion. And if he's stuck in the late first round, I wouldn't be shocked at all.

25:41Dave Helman: I think, like you said, Dane, my favorite trait about him is like he makes you earn it. And so he might have these limitations. He might have, you know, he can't get his hands on you as quickly as he wants. But every single rep, he's going to make you earn it. And that's just not true of even some of the other really good corners in this class. And so I think that like that is a nice feather in his cap.

25:59Derrik Klassen: One last question on this before we take a break, Dane, but mentioning and you've been on Chris Johnson this whole time. That's the guy that I was joking. I was confident you were going to say if there's consideration for him as CB2, like if teams just aren't comfortable with Jermaud McCoy's medicals. What do you think the potential ceiling is like? I mean, we're talking about him as a fringe first-round guy, and I take that to mean somewhere in the 20s. Is it possible he could go in the teens somewhere if teams really view him as CB2? I mentioned this earlier, how I think the back half of round one, I'm excited because I think we're going to have some pretty surprising picks just because this is a draft where that second tier and that third tier are all over the place.

26:57That first tier, say there's, I don't know, 9 to 12 guys just on an average from team to team. But that second tier, say it's 25 guys, the order is going to look so much different from team to team and what you usually see in mock drafts. So Chris Johnson, sure, if he went, I don't know, 19th to the Panthers, 18th to the Vikings. Would that be all that shocking? To me, I don't think so. But if you also went 31st or 32nd to the Seahawks, I think that's in the realm of possibility. So I'm kind of open for anything at this point in the back half of round one. I think it's going to make for a really exciting, as we are talking through it in live time during our live show, I think it's going to be a lot of fun just seeing how it all plays out.

27:48I cannot wait.

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30:32Derrik Klassen: all right in my imaginary my guys group i'm i'm calling this like the firm day two guys like let's call this the sweet spot between far enough from from pick 32 to not be fringe but still comfortably like top 100 players derrick again i'm i talk to day and every week i'm excited to hear from you i want to i want to hear what you have to say about this who's your number one guy

31:00Dave Helman: in this category there's a few i've got in this tier but i think the one that i like the most relative to like looking at consensus boards or danes boards or whatever it is jalen kilgore the nickel safety whatever you want to call him out of south carolina remarkable this is remarkable

31:19Derrik Klassen: you just you just watch 2025 tape and say i don't i don't care about this i like this guy I thought his 2025 tape is good. Like, I think that I want to be I want to be clear in case I'm aggravating anybody. It's not that his tape was bad. Dane and I had a whole conversation about this where he just played so much slot. I didn't know what to do with it.

31:40Dave Helman: So I actually think that if if he had to play slot 12 years ago, I don't know if he really fit like the mold for what the NFL was doing, where it was guys who are a little bit smaller, a little bit quicker, really guys who were like pure coverage guys. that's not always Kilgore like I think there are a couple of times when he's got to like turn up the field he can be a little bit stiff I think he's a good athlete but not probably as explosive as you want but I just think when we're getting to an NFL that is a little bit more willing to play these guys who are bigger bodies who are really good with zone eyes who can be good tacklers who are really smooth in space to me he checks all those boxes like I think his trigger is phenomenal.

32:19Dave Helman: And I also think with him, you see some DBs take risks based purely on the quarterback's eyes. Like they'll be just be jumping early just based on where the quarterback is and they'll end up at a position or whatever. And Kilgore will end up at a position sometimes. But to me, when I'm watching it, he's clearly guessing based off of like formation and tendency and what he's thinking he's getting with film study, which sometimes you're going to end up in the wrong spot. Sometimes you're also going to get to the spot before the receiver does and get your hands on a football. And I think that he does that enough times that I thought that that was pretty encouraging.

32:52Dave Helman: Athletically, again, I don't know if he's super explosive, but I think he's pretty smooth in terms of his footwork, his hips when he needs to be. So I liked the way that he moved around. So he's just a guy where I don't know if you can see superstar potential at any level, whether it's at safety or nickel, the way that we've seen some of these other bigger guys be able to do that but I feel pretty good about him being able to like play pretty solid football across the board and just be like a really really solid zone defender for you where where ideally are you playing him in the NFL I don't mind playing him in the nickel and like if you need to make him more of a box like you know down in the down safety I think that that's probably fine too but like I would be comfortable using him as as not exclusively a nickel but like I'd be comfortable playing him that way like he to me is like i think a guy who played safety and then transitioned down to the nickel and it worked for him and obviously he plays with a little bit more of his hair on fire so it's different was jaylen petrie i think that like that is something that like kilgore is capable of like being that level of of a nickel he's a really impressive like just height weight speed athlete um he's 210 pounds ran a 440 like the testing is awesome and i i think you're really encouraged by the fact that he uh stepped in from day one as a freshman uh i think it's actually because nick and worry got hurt and so they kind of adjusted things kilgore gets thrown in there he starts double digit games as a freshman and was a freshman all-american um and you look at the ball production and it's like okay the last three years he has eight combined interceptions and the ball kind of finds him and so there's a lot to like about his profile No doubt.

34:31My struggle with him is I guess I see him more as like he is a good athlete, but I think the functional athleticism I don't love in terms of him playing man to man and being a nickel guy. I see him more as in just my opinion. I see him more as a guy that I want ranging over the top and coverage where you are going to play him deep. And like I just there's no tape of that, though, where I can throw it on and say, OK, this is what he does. So the lack of functional control in his movements, I thought, gave some separation opportunities to receivers. And I think that would only be highlighted more against NFL level tight ends and receivers that he goes up against.

35:13But I say that while also saying this, I think this is a good football player. Like, I want to find a spot for him. I just think it's more going to be off the ball because I do like his trigger, like you said, where he can kind of read the field and use that speed, go and attack. I just there's no film of him doing it from kind of that deep alignment that I want to see. So I struggle with Kilgore a little bit, but I mean, ultimately, he ended up as like, I think, a top 75, top 80 prospect for me. But I won't be surprised at all if he goes a little bit sooner because you're betting on the ball production, the athleticism, and just the idea that maybe he does have a little more versatility than I'm leading on.

35:52Dave Helman: And like you mentioned earlier, like one thing that will play for me, especially at linebacker and safety, is like experience. Like if you can get on the field early at those positions, that to me says that like, all right, you're pretty sharp and like you kind of know what's going on, especially if you're around other NFL players. And so like it is like a weird projection trying to feel like fully comfortable projecting what he did onto what he might do in the NFL. But to me, he just like in every other way, checked all the boxes that I want. And I was like, that's I'll take that risk.

36:23Derrik Klassen: Jalen Kilgore is an attempt for me to learn my lesson as somebody who covers this stuff, because the tape, the tape's not bad. but I agree with Dane. Like there's just, it's a lot of tape of him doing stuff that I don't know if I'm going to ask him to do it in the NFL. And specifically the Texas A &M game is the one that we highlighted when we talked about it, where it's like, ah, Casey Concepcion in the slot is probably a mismatch for you. And that's okay. That's normal. That's what's supposed to happen. And so you watch, you watch his tape and you're like, I don't know if this is what I want you to be doing down in and down out in the NFL, but you're almost 6 '2", and you ran a 4 '4", and the fact that you can do some of that stuff is very encouraging.

37:09Derrik Klassen: So I'm comfortable making a bet that you can flourish in a different role and maybe with a more varied ask at the NFL level. Like, I don't think I would have liked him as much as I do two, three years ago, but I'm trying to learn my lesson that just because you don't see a guy do it on tape in college doesn't always mean like he's he's like he's clearly a good football player even if i would draft him to do something different in the nfl my guys i'm gonna do a twofer and i'm cheating a little bit because one of these guys is fringe but whatever dane two of my two of my favorite players in this entire draft class i think are gonna go early friday they play the same position not very far away from each other zion young and gabe ackis i just i love these guys both of them i think they're they're just like when you talk about having fun watching tape these are just two of the most fun guys in in this draft class in my opinion and it's it's what i think it's what excites me about this edge class is like yeah like arvel reese is a little bit of a projection there's not a ton of like high end edge talent at the top of the draft but there's just three or four guys like back into the first round into like the top 50 60 picks where I'm like don't tell tell me this guy can't be a meaningful part of a productive pass rush and yeah wherever you want to start with it I mean Zion Young is just a menace against the run I love the the attitude that he plays with and the like the violence that he plays with.

38:46Derrik Klassen: Akis is just his motor never stops. He's always active. He uses his hands really well. And I just I what I think Zion was he did he lead the SEC in tackles for loss, Dane? If not, he was up there. I mean, geez, he had a ton. Yeah, I think he led the SEC in tackles for loss and he was third in pressures and Gabe Akis led the Big Ten in sacks and he led Illinois in all pass rush production for the last like two years like the body of work is there they're fun to watch right now I don't know if either one of these guys is ever going to be like a 10 plus sack player but I don't really care the ass kickers right give me the ass kickers and I will say I I talk about Zion Young all the time it it's worth mentioning you know the the DWI in December and the altercation when he was at Michigan State.

39:39Derrik Klassen: These are things that NFL teams are going to have to evaluate and decide how much of a risk it is. I'm not blind to that. But if you're talking about a day-two value and just watching the guy play football, he's a blast.

39:55Dave Helman: Zion Young is a warrior, man. He has one of my favorite plays in this class against Bama. They were trying to pull a guard into him. Is that the course fumble? Yes, where he just dents right into the dude's chest, like opens up the gap. I was just like, oh, my God, if you could do that.

40:12Derrik Klassen: I listened to y 'all's Edge Pod and you were going on about Zion and I was like, yes, Derek, welcome to the movement. It's just so good. I mean, you just watch all of his run game reps against Caden Proctor and you're like, all right, yeah, he can hold up. Not a ton of deception to either of these guys as pass rushers. Like you kind of know what you're getting, but, um, yeah, I, and especially with Akis, he he's, I remember watching, uh, Johnny Newton back in the day, uh, back in the day, it was only a couple of years ago, but like as a freshman, Akis was standing out. He was announcing himself as the next guy on that Illinois, uh, front.

40:51And so the fact that his production got better every year, um, you know, the, the hand usage is really impressive to me. And so obviously not a surprise. He was a former wrestler, high-profile wrestler coming up in high school. Both these guys are just easy. Just feel like guys you want on your team. Like maybe you don't draft them in the top 25, but you hopefully can find a spot for them in the early second round or you just want them on your roster.

41:19Dave Helman: Can I actually, another quick my guy to like kind of segue off of this a little bit. Same team, Josiah Trotter is like my kind of linebacker. We talked about him earlier this week. yeah he's fun he he's I mean I guess my only issue is the coverage but if you're looking for a hammer looking for a nail I mean that's that's exactly what you want that's the thing like you gotta know what he is and like he's just the the space that he concedes in coverage he's not going to run with guys on like option routes and stuff like that that's not really his game but when I say my kind of linebacker like Juwan Bentley is my favorite kind of linebacker when he was playing really well I think Josiah Trotter can be exactly that which like you said Dane like hammer looking for a nail i think the fact that it's not just that he has that style which i obviously love the fact that he can hit as hard as he does and see it as well as he does at 20 years old i'm like man the the ceiling is is at least purely as a run defender is pretty damn high

42:14Derrik Klassen: that's where you're starting at i think i just had an epiphany about why i like day two prospects so much and it's just because it's like oh well they're flawed his coverage isn't great and i'm like yeah no shit he's gonna go 75th overall like so what it's just it's easier to let go of a guy's flaws if I'm picking him in the third round right there's flaws but there's something about him that you're just like yeah I want this guy on my team and I mean Josiah Trotter is the type of player and competitor that his dad I'm sure is very proud of right I mean just the way Jeremiah Trotter played in the league and um that that that is something that uh he was because he He started at West Virginia, goes to Missouri, and one year at Missouri.

42:59But he impressed enough where he's a first-team all-SEC player. And so, yeah, I think it's easy to like him. It's just you have to understand that on passing downs, you have to hide him a little bit, or you have to be comfortable with what you're asking him to do. He's a good blitzer, so you can kind of hide him in that way. Yeah, yeah. And so I think as long as you have a plan for that, without just completely taking him off the field in those situations. Yeah, I mean, I would totally understand taking him. I mean, I graded him as like a top 70, borderline top 75 guy. Or no, he was like 70 on my board, something like that.

43:38So I'm right there with you. It's just you have to be okay with the coverage stuff. So one of my day two guys along the lines of the edge rushers we were talking about, Kieran Crawford from Auburn, who is, again, you turn on the Auburn tape to watch Keldrick Falk, and then you come away talking about number 24. I wish they gave him more opportunities to get after the quarterback. He's clearly explosive. We don't have testing numbers for him, but he plays with the explosiveness that I think is going to translate well. He moves well in space. I was always taught that to judge an athlete on the football field is to really study him in space.

44:23How does he move? What's the change of direction like? What's the twitch? And I think with Keon Crawford, to me, I think that he checks a lot of those boxes that I'm looking for. So I had a lot of problems with that Auburn defense and the way they kind of deployed their best players. I wish Crawford had more opportunities to get after the quarterback because when he did, I thought it looked pretty appealing. Keon Crawford is like the video game

44:49Derrik Klassen: that's mocking you when you should be studying because you're watching Keldrick Falk and like you have to you're like I got to dial in like he doesn't really have the sack numbers Auburn scheme is weird I got to figure out how I feel about Keldrick Falk and then Kieran Crawford's over on the other side just like wouldn't you rather just watch all this fun shit instead this is right which actually here's here's what they call a tease guys when we get to our day three guys Kieran Crawford factored heavily for one of my day three prospects on the offensive line who we can get to right after this break.

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46:46Derrik Klassen: I won't leave you in suspense, guys. I'll just start off with our day three prospects. My guy, a guy that I've loved probably since November. And Dana, I'm honestly curious if you can help me out with why he's not talked about more. Maybe because we just don't have that many snaps of him playing his NFL position. but I mentioned Kieron Crawford because one of the only, one of the two sacks allowed last season by Trey Zune was to Kieron Crawford. And I get it. He's a college left tackle. I think there's 125 snaps of him playing center. So maybe people are just low on him because there's not that big of a body of work, but Trey Zune was an awesome left tackle for Texas A &M.

47:29Derrik Klassen: And you tell me he's going to move to center. I'm really excited about that. And I think he's going to be very successful as an NFL center. Yeah, I don't think you're wrong at all. I mean, I think he's just kind of stuck in that third, fourth round range where there's several centers. It kind of feels like they all are. That's where the whole center class is. That's what I'm saying. So, like, he's stuck with Jake Slaughter and Hesht from Kansas State and Logan Jones from Iowa. And it's just kind of which one do you prefer? but Zune's absolutely, he's in that mix right there. I had an NFL scout tell me that the coaching staff told him that, that Zune is the most pro ready lineman they've ever had that staff going back to, I think probably going back to Duke and, you know, before they were at A &M but he's just somebody that can handle realistically handle multiple positions.

48:26So you're going to, he's going to help you get the five best out there. Center is probably going to be his best position, but teams really believe he has five position flexibility. So in a pinch, he can go out and play tackle. He can play guard. That type of versatility is key. And so I, yeah, I think he's right there on the borderline. Like in my, my final top 100 or my final top 300, he's, he's somewhere high up there. He's like 102. So like right on the border for me.

48:53Derrik Klassen: I feel like you're, you're not drafting him to be a full-time tackle, but I really love that that's probably an option if you draft him. Like if Trey Zun just needed to handle right tackle for you for an afternoon, it might not be amazing, but you could ask him to do it, which is incredible. I mean, he was an ass kicker in one of the toughest conferences in America, and I think the two guys that gave him problems were probably Kieran Crawford And then very famously, Ruben Bain and Akeem Mesidor gave that whole Texas A &M line fits. But guess what? Those guys rock. Like, that's OK if you struggle with those guys, especially out on the edge where you're probably not going to spend as much time in the NFL.

49:38Derrik Klassen: I just I don't know. Plug and play is dangerous when you're talking about like a potential day three prospect. But I think his upside is so high moving inside. And like I said, I just I expect this guy to have a pretty long NFL career.

49:55Dave Helman: And that's not totally unheard of, too, right? Like the Packers all the time used to just take purely left tackles and then move them all over the line, including into center. Obviously, Barton did, you know, Barton was a different caliber of a prospect. But like there's some proof of concept that if you could do it, like NFL teams will give you a chance to go and do it. All right, Derek, what about you? Let's talk some day three, guys. We can actually, funny enough, stay at Texas A &M. And I have two here. One of them, I think more realistically, body type wise, actually has a chance to like surprise and be pretty good.

50:27Dave Helman: The other one, I just adore him. The first is the cornerback, Will Lee, number four. Anytime I am watching some sort of other offensive prospect, I'm just like, man, number four is just on these guys. And there are a couple of times where you can see some stiffness in his hips and he'll be a little bit high trying to transition in and out of breaks. But he's a guy who has like he's like six foot. He's really long. He ran pretty well, jumped out of the gym. Like he's just to me has a lot of the traits that you're looking for and is consistently a guy who to me had like pretty good reps when I was watching a lot of other offensive players or obviously some of the other defensive prospects that were on Texas A &M.

51:02Dave Helman: which speaking of the player that i know what he is and he probably won't be very good in the nfl i think tory and york's film is fun unbelievable like he's listen he's he's and here's i'll start with why it probably won't work he's like uh he's 5 '11 226 pounds obviously pretty small the other guys that are like 5 '10 5 '11 usually they're thicker so it's like michael kendricks was this way but he was 240. Blake Cashman was a little bit thicker. Chris Borland if we remember who was really good for a minute he was 240. Drake Greenlaw is 5 '11 but he's 240. But even the guys who maybe didn't quite get to like 240 in terms of weight they're usually longer.

51:46Dave Helman: Like Denzel Perryman is two full inches longer in terms of arm length. Nick Bolton in that same boat. Nekobi Dean even though he's a guy who's a little bit shorter and like not that thick he's got longer arms than a guy like Torian York. And so he's limited by all these things and he's not like an exceptional athlete. But when I watched the film in terms of linebacker know-how, like the learnable skills of the position, I think he's second only to Sonny Stiles. Like he truly understands the position at an extremely high level. It's just, he's just not probably built to be a pro. And so he's a guy that like I want on my roster.

52:22Dave Helman: I just, it's probably gonna be purely as your fourth linebacker. he's so easy to like i mean just and watching him at shrine bowl practices and then really appreciating his tape um i agree i mean he he knows how to play the position he knows how to play it at a high level um i think he's he's a future coach right like that's a guy that's gonna be and it might be sooner than he probably wants it to be like i don't know that he's gonna get drafted uh because of those limitations but the tape says he should be drafted the the the his mentality and the know-how says he should be drafted it's just the the lack of uh lack of inches at certain at certain parts like that's just it's gonna hurt him and I had far more strengths like the bullet points under his strengths are probably triple the number of negatives I have the bullet points under the weaknesses it's just some of those weaknesses are pretty important exactly that's the thing like there's not that many it's just they're so pronounced that it's like, what can you do?

53:25Dave Helman: And he's also a player that, you know, I mentioned all those other similar comparisons. The only guys who you can find who are very similar height, weight, and arm length are like David Long, who, you know, was a very specific type of player. Malcolm Rodriguez, who never was really able to crack like starting rosters. Ivan Pace Jr., who has been like kind of a fringe starting level player, but also in a very specific role. Landon Roberts maybe but even he was a little bit heavier like it's it really is hard to find like analogous cases for a player built like him but I just you watch him and it's like man if you could put him in Anthony Hill's body or something like that it's a top 15 pick but it's just that's not where we're at.

54:06Ivan Pace is who we brought him up right when we did yeah we absolutely yeah like to me like that's the most like he went undrafted and then he goes to the Vikings and he was an impact starter for them. Now, you know, we'll see York hopefully goes to the right spot and gets an opportunity. Hopefully he's got some staying power, but it's just, yes, these guys tend to get overlooked by teams.

54:28Derrik Klassen: Talking to scouts about Torrey and York was like finding out the tooth fairy is not real, you know, where they're just like, ah, yeah, sorry, man. That's, that's probably not a thing, unfortunately. But I, I, I absolutely see him as the type of guy where, you know, he hears his name called very, very late or has to sign undrafted. And he is immediately going to have so many fans among the fan base of the team that adds him, you know, where they're like, oh, my God, we got this guy in undrafted free agency. Our scouting department kicks ass. This is great. And hopefully he makes the most of that opportunity.

55:05OK, I'll go now. So day three, guys, I'm going to go with a couple of those Hoosiers. A lot of Indiana players are going to get drafted. My guy, Riley Nowakowski, got to talk about him. You got to bring him up on a My Guys show. Got to. He's just so useful, and I think that will continue in the NFL. Former walk-on, former linebacker, Wisconsin, didn't know what to do with him. Goes to Indiana, and he becomes this unsung hero of the offense where he's not getting any headlines, but he executes every single play, whether he's asked to be a blocker, he's asked to just work underneath and help move the chains.

55:45Goal line, they gave him a couple of goal line carries. He had two touchdowns as a fullback. So just the ability, and there's only so many landing spots in the NFL for a guy like this who's more of that H-back role, but I don't know. I just think he has staying power. I think he's going to be in this league for a long time and be just someone that's too useful to get rid of.

56:07Dave Helman: Do you have a potential comparison, Dane? Would it be somebody like Reggie Gilliam kind of in that mold? Yeah. Right. I think that's, that's, that's like, he's not quite use check, but similar in terms of role and Gilliam's a good one, but like how many teams realistically use that type of that have that role as part of their offense. It's just, it's, it's not many. And so fit and finding the right situation is going to be paramount for a guy like this, but I just think there's too much there. Special teams as well. So even if he's not a premier player on offense, I think special teams will keep him around.

56:44So Riley Nowakowski, someone I wanted to highlight, and then stick with Indiana, Kalen Black, the running back, who my highest-ranked combine snub at running back. He's a top-10 running back in this class for me. At the pro day, he tested really well, 4-4-5 in the 40, 37-1⁄2-inch vert. And he's somebody that just the legs just keep churning, the feet, turning it over, turning it over. I've talked to multiple safeties in this class. who specifically pointed out Black as the toughest guy that they had to tackle all year just because of how the motor keeps going, and he makes it a chore on defenders to get him to the ground.

57:24And so he's a no-nonsense runner, but good decision-making. Pass Pro shows up. Some of the backs in this class I think really struggle in Pass Pro. Jeremiah Love might actually be the best pass-protecting back in this class, which is kind of weird to say because usually the top guy, maybe that's one spot where he's missing, but love top pass catcher, top pass protector. Kalen Black's the other guy that finds a lot of success because that same thing I was talking about with him as a runner, that same effort, that same physicality, it shows with him in pass protection as well.

58:00Derrik Klassen: I'm glad we're taking some time to highlight Hoosiers who are not Fernando and the receivers because there are plenty of them. Like Pat Coogan is another guy worth mentioning who we haven't talked a ton about in this draft cycle. We've we have talked plenty about Aiden Fisher, but another good player who's probably going to get drafted on day three. There's there's more to it than just the who's your passing game for sure. No doubt. Can we go around, maybe do some like honorable mentions? Because I want to hear I want to hear more of your guys. I do have at least one more day three guys, so I would love to.

58:33I still got I got plenty.

58:35Derrik Klassen: I mean, you could do two hours if you want to. yeah go Derek throw one out there so one that we I already talked about this guy on the receiver

58:43Dave Helman: show but I really just think like once you get outside of the top 100 this is the guy that I want Reggie Virgil out of Texas Tech I think is just I just think that he's sweet like the the route running and the pluckiness that he has in terms of just finding the ball away from his body I said it on that show but like it reminds me very much of like Carnal Tate and obviously that's just a different caliber of athlete but just it looks like that when he's doing it he's also a guy that like he's played mostly on the outside he was 83 percent outside according to sis and some of their draft data um he's a guy who ran a lot of vertical routes so he can kind of be your like devonta smith could be this way on the outside chris olave is a little bit this way just in terms of that like skinnier guy who helps you clear vertically i think that he can do that he didn't run very well but i think he like strides well enough that he can do it and then And again, I think just his ability to like get in and out of zones when he has to, I thought was impressive.

59:35Dave Helman: And then he's also not that old. Like, Dane, you have this in the beast. He's newer to wide receiver, which usually guys who are like newer to a position, it takes them an extra year or two in college. But he's a four year senior, only 22 years old, like not a guy who's who's super old. And so I just for a lot of those reasons, I really liked him. He to me feels like this is going to not sound like the sexiest comparison. But from 2015 to 2018, Seth Roberts was like a really nice wide receiver three for the Raiders at a very similar build, like 6 '2", 195. And then the COVID seasons happened and he kind of like his career fizzled out.

1:00:10Dave Helman: But if you can find like a really solid 400, 500, you know, wide receiver three, 400, 500 yard wide receiver three in the fourth, fifth round, he to me is like a pretty good bet to be that guy. I like that.

1:00:23Derrik Klassen: Seth Roberts caught 183 balls over the course of his NFL career. Like, I did like, obviously the, the hope is you find Puka Nakua in the fifth round, but like that is a perfectly good way to use a day three draft pick. Absolutely. And there are two bigger receivers. I think in that fifth round range that I really like it, it's Reggie Virgil and Colby Young from Georgia. Both those guys I think are good, good values at that point in the draft. roll your eyes all you want, Dane, but I have to put it on the record a week before the draft for talking about my guys. Here you go. You already brought up Black out of Indiana, but let's talk Jonah Coleman briefly.

1:01:08Derrik Klassen: Let's just do it. I like him more than you do, and that's okay, but I'm sick of him being overlooked, and I assume it's because he's short and slow, which is a big, you know, it's a bad combination for a running back, but you love the Washington guys. I, you know, I, I was thinking that this morning, a number one, I went back and watched like two Jonah Coleman cutups this morning just to refresh myself. Cause I haven't needed to look at him recently. And number one, I was like, damn, why? Yeah. Like what's my thing with Washington this year? And then the other thing I was like, Oh look, there's Denzel Boston again, doing something bad-ass.

1:01:44Derrik Klassen: But I just, I think Jonah Coleman's awesome. And yeah, Like his speed is problematic. That's why he's probably going to be drafted on Saturday. We're not talking about a top 50 pick at running back, but I just love guys with good contact balance who like, don't go down on the first tackle attempt. And every time I watch Jonah Coleman, that's what he does. He's just a little bowling ball. He's got fantastic balance. He's, he's either going to make the first guy miss. Cause I think he's got good change of direction or he's just going to stay on his feet when that first guy dives at his ankles on top of that for how small he is he is a good blocker like you can find plenty of reps of him stonewalling guys in the hole and i think what goes underrated with him it's easy to look at college running backs and be like oh he needs to work on on his abilities as a receiver jonah coleman caught 87 passes in college and one funny thing that i noticed while i was re-watching him demond williams did not always make life easy on him like he was he's firing lasers at this guy from like point blank range and like just just not a whole lot of touch to speak of and he's catching it anyway and usually doing something with it after the catch so he's undersized he's kind of slow I understand why he's going to get drafted where he gets drafted but I think he's a good football player I mean he is it just the lack of juice bothers me and that's why he's a four five fourth round pick fifth round pick for me as opposed to where would you take him top 100 like probably not but you influence me so heavily I have to admit you know like I've spent eight months talking to you I don't don't let that be a case I'm I mean hey I'm wrong plenty if I was if I was the Seahawks and I still needed a running back when I had paid like at pick number 96 absolutely I would take him for sure I would And Mike Washington's more exciting because he is so fast.

1:03:44Derrik Klassen: But if fringe top 100, I'd pull the trigger for sure. Can I give you another running back? Yeah, sure. We'll call him a running back, but Eli Heidenreich from Navy. You're drafting him because of what he does as a pass catcher. His ball skills are so impressive. Six foot, 200 pounds. He's grouped with the running backs, but really he's more of a weapon with how you're going to use him out of the backfield. You think of that Navy offense and it's, you know, that option offense, but he's the most prolific pass catcher in that program's history. So I just, I, it, then the testing was phenomenal. He ran in four, four, four in the 40.

1:04:26Then at the pro day, six, five, five in the three cone, which is just blows my mind. Pretty gnarly. Yeah. So I, I just, to me, this is a guy that's going, if you, hopefully he lands in the right spot where they're going to use him the right way he's not a full-time he's not a quite a full-time running back not quite a full-time slot receiver somewhere in the middle some some type of tweener but I just I don't know I'm gonna find a way to really use

1:04:51Dave Helman: this guy's strengths I I actually do have one more and this is not a player that I studied by himself but I was watching his teammate it kind of like you were talking about with the Like you go in to watch Keljic Falk and then Kearon Crawford pops. For me, it was watching Emmanuel McNeil Warren and watching both of the Toledo corners. I think they're guys that are probably not going to go before the fifth round or whatever. And one of them, I think number three is a little bit stubbier. And so he's probably going to be a little bit not going to make it in the NFL as much. But Andre Fuller, he's six foot, 200 pounds, ran a 449.

1:05:28Dave Helman: like he to me was consistently sticky in coverage tackled really well which I think especially if you're going to be a late round corner like to be able to stick on the field as like a potential run defender I think is really helpful so he was just a guy where again you're watching all these like star first round top 50 prospects and then you notice their teammate it's like okay that that says something and Fuller to me was one of the guys who popped. Toledo I don't know they just find those dbs uh it's just that they've got a history of it and yeah it's going to continue in this draft it's possible they're going to have three defensive backs drafted and probably another one that's going to be a free agent um so it's pretty impressive we don't have to plan out future

1:06:08Derrik Klassen: shows right now day and i know you're ready to be done with this draft but let we got to talk over the summer about like identifying the next toledo guy or the the g5 guys that are hanging around Well, Jason Candle's at UConn now, so maybe we shift to UConn or, you know, I don't know. Because that's a big loss for Toledo. But the magic will keep going. Can I mention a few more here? Yeah, of course, Dane. Michael Heldman from Central Michigan. Now, he's a seventh-round guy, combine snub. But the way he played this year for Central Michigan, he just beat up on some Mack tackles. in a big way. And he tested really well, 6 '4", 270, 40-inch vert, 4 '7", 0 in the 40.

1:06:56So I think Michael Heldman is one of those guys that is easy to overlook, but in the late rounds, I'm definitely rolling the dice on him. Wide receiver, Cyrus Allen, Cincinnati. he's my top combine snub at wide receiver 5 '11", 183, Texas A &M transfer, who I think there's a lot more talent there than what we had a chance to see at A &M or Cincinnati. So I like his chances. Lance Mason from Wisconsin, another late round borderline guy from, you know, transfer up from FCS. But he's just kind of solid all the way around, like not the biggest, not the most explosive player, They're not the strongest, but he's kind of good across the board.

1:07:47And so I don't know. I just feel like if he sticks and makes a final roster, I won't be surprised. So I like him quite a bit.

1:07:55Derrik Klassen: I do want to throw out for the record a couple more, just so that I have them for my own satisfaction. But I love Jacoby Thomas. I continue to love Jacoby Thomas. day and if he's your 11th safety i mean and it is a loaded safety class but like if that's the caliber of player i can find at like the 11th safety somewhere on day three i just i love a safety who hates the other team it's it's my favorite uh and dallin dallin bentley like among the day three tight ends he was probably my he was probably my favorite like day three tight end at the University of Utah. And let me throw in, oh, I gave this one to Derek when we did Receivers Day, but you weren't on that show.

1:08:43Derrik Klassen: My gigantic running back-looking receiver, Josh Cameron, down at Baylor. I just love a receiver who wears 34 and posterizes people. I can't wait to see where he goes. Yeah, 220 pounds of him. It's awesome. I just love a weird football player. yeah he i i struggle with him a little bit just because i obviously there's a for a guy that's 220 pounds he runs like he's 220 pounds and that's always worries me a little bit in terms of separating and things like that but yeah on day three of the draft i'd yeah i'd love to take a swing on him that that makes sense um one guy that i two guys i i didn't mention in the day two category but i just want to mention them keante scott from miami i mean you said you said jacomi thomas gotta say kante uh i mean the way right after that louisville game we talked about him on uh building the beast the next uh the next week just he's a linebacker in a corner body and there's some there's some holes in his game when you're talking about going in reverse and being a true nickel but as a downhill player man he's he's so much fun so explosive one of the best blitzers in this class just regardless of position um so really like him and then at linebacker Keyshawn Elliott um who I don't know why he's not liked more um he tested well he's a good athlete he's a former quarterback uh in high school he was part of the same uh recruiting class as Diego Pavia in New Mexico State then he transfers to Arizona State and I to me this is a he's got starts NFL starts in his future I just think he's a really well-rounded linebacker Arizona State with a just sneaky under the radar draft class I feel like like Max Max see a not chores getting some pub as we get closer to this thing but keith abney flying under the radar a little bit uh and i would argue i understand it because of the injuries but like jordan tyson flying under the radar a little bit for my money as well so working out today for teams not gonna test but he's running routes so hey that's something something to keep an eye on until thursday which dane i believe is this your last show until you join us in chicago um it is and um we got a whole week planned i mean we've got the live get together on tuesday uh with fans which is going to be fun i think we're doing a show wednesday like there's just it's it's going to be a crazy week and i the week of you always start hearing more and more things and it's like okay we got to weed through this what's the bs what's actually am i believing so the knowledge we have now compared to a few days from now is going to be really interesting which we will be able to parse through it all together.

1:11:26Derrik Klassen: Really looking forward to that. Dane mentioned the meet and greet and yes, we will be live Thursday and Friday during the NFL draft. Not to mention a recap on Saturday, Dane, myself, Derek, Robert Mays, the great Bruce Feldman. We're going to have a loaded show. Cannot wait to finally get into this, but for now, that's all we got. We appreciate y 'all and 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. We'll see you next time.

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