Reese and Desist! The Winners and Woofs of the 2026 Draft

25:36Ben Solak:say you're but you're not so fine you're like oh crap it's third down he's walking up whatever oh by the way it's brian freaking burns and abdul carter and maybe even came on thibodeau's on the field and it's just like the nightmare fuel potential for that is tremendous we haven't even gotten to the part that he is a really good run defender and i and i and i really yes he's such a good tackler he's so strong um and that you know this giant's run defense was horrible last year with dexter lawrence by the way uh so i do it was clearly something they needed to address the linebacker position edmonds can play the mic so he's not taking on too much immediately i love it um malanoa too i think i kept saying this uh week on tv of the draft where i was like the giants need offensive line i feel like no one's talking about this and so for them to take mawanoa and have him play guard i think is absolutely the right thing to do and it's kind of crazy to me everybody was like they're fine fallay lay was starting ask the ravens exactly about that that's what my i kept on thinking like everybody who's a giants fan is talking about the arville reese pick everybody who is like a ravens fan who's kind of quasi following john harbaugh is like man this francis barry no pick is huge because they know about just Philele and the issues that they had at right guard last season.

26:58So I, I, I a hundred percent thought it was going to be, you know, with our first, our early round three pick, we are taking this solid guard out of Auburn to then fight for the job.

27:06Ben Solak:Like, you know, that's how the Ravens were doing it with Harbaugh's. They were constantly cycling middle round picks at guard to just go, all right, now we know I felt to us at 10, we're just going to grab him, kick him inside. And I go, okay. Now I know what's talked about as a tackle. He's playing guard for the giants. Reese was talked about as an edge playing linebacker for the giants because their positions feel different than what we were expecting a week ago. People are not talking enough about the fact that they got like just two stellar, stellar picks at great value. I probably would have taken Caleb Downs at 10 so I could just retool the Ohio State defense all over again.

27:35But I think now I know it's still an excellent pick. And then, yeah, they too. Colin Hood, corner out of Tennessee. Gives you the ability to press. He can be corner two for you early doors because you have Paulson Adebo. That's the best fit for him. Malachi Fields, big body receiver, skyscraper guy, X receiver. Needed that body type next to Darius Slayton. Before I mentioned, tier of gigantic fast guys there yeah so that's very good now it took till round six to get the defensive tackle in the building i'm not going to tell you i watched bobby jameson travis out of auburn he's a very important young man all of a sudden on so i do all the cool stuff we talked about on defense might never matter if they give up five yards of pop between the tackles so as long as they can figure out the defensive tackle issue uh you know the depth chart they have they have uh robertson harris they have darrys alexander who they drafted the third round last year as long as they get something there this defense can i think we can start to punch at a heavyweight

28:22Ben Solak:weight pretty fast i would edit what i said about fields he's not like hearst and lance yeah he's a four more of a he he's like um who would i compare him to in the nfl i i think he has the potential to be a number two i really do and i love the pairing with neighbor because he's not he's just size steady you know can work the 10 to 20 yard range um and they needed another their receivers so i did like that all right um we have time to do one more before the break let's do it all right i am up next so i did the browns i did the bucks i'm gonna go with the baltimore ravens oh yeah big fan i like this draft uh i pull up all the picks here before i get to it all right so uh the ravens saved everybody from going over on their mocks by taking you on it I was so I was so positive by draft day that they weren't taking him because everybody had it and that pick never works.

29:18And then actually did this time.

29:19Ben Solak:I saw like somebody do a like put up all the consensus, which apparently is like a hot topic these days of mocks. And it was like seven of the eight had you on it to the Ravens. So we don't really even have to talk about it. It was obvious need obvious fit, obvious immediate impact as a run blocker. Absolutely love it for them. But after that. Some really interesting players. So you took Zion Young, second round, pick 45. Yeah, so I don't think I talked about Young a ton when I did my defense pod with Dominique Foxworth. But he's a rusher out of Missouri and immediately comes in as a plus run defender, which, you know, Trey Hendrickson was their big signing, who's not a plus run defender, to put it lightly.

30:07Ben Solak:So while I do have some questions about Young, where his upside is as a pass rusher, I do think on early downs, his ability to help them stop the run is going to be really valuable. And I don't think he brings nothing. I think he has a potential to continue growing as a pass rusher. But I just think the fit with the group of rushers that they already have, Mike Green, Hendrickson, makes a lot of sense. And then they added two receivers. And what I love about this is there's some similarities to these receivers. And so they really just need one of them to work out. In the third round, they grabbed Jacoby Lane, the wide receiver out of USC.

30:43Ben Solak:And then in the fourth round, they grabbed Elijah Surratt, the wide receiver out of Indiana.

30:52Both big-bodied receivers who I think fill a real need in this receiving group when you look at it right now.

31:02Ben Solak:right and it's something that the Ravens are kind of constantly looking for is like just like size and red zone and and reliability at the catch point but I think the taking two picks on them and it's funny because I think there's some people who like Surat more than Lane and vice versa I like that idea of like let's just hope one of these guys works out and I don't know which one it'll be quite frankly like um you know I like Surat a lot watching Indiana like I was surprised by how much I liked him towards the end as a mid-round draft pick, of course. He really does catch everything now. Very accurate football's thrown his way.

31:39Ben Solak:But I do think that there's potential to me for one of these guys to break through. Yeah, and my guess just off of the intention, Declan Doyle, the new OC there, is they want to be able to involve a wide receiver in the blocking game more than they have previously. Baltimore just never cared about blocking at the receiver spot because we're going to be a Patrick Ricard team. We're going to be a two tight end team. And so we're not super worried about getting these guys in the fit. Declan probably wants to be able to run actual 11 personnel, modern 11 personnel, in which case like to me, especially Surratt is going to be able to play like some power slot stuff for you.

32:11Cause Surratt is like, you know, everybody watches the back shoulders and they're great. So that's really good. Like on a slant, like on a hitch, just like, all right, positioning the low post, keep the cornerback on my back and then make a catch through contact. Jacoby lane was not my guy in this draft. And so it's, that's, that's what limits me in terms of getting there on the Ravens draft. I just, for a middle third round pick, my opinion was a uh was tough for me i was surprised to see lane go that early i would have taken surat over lane straight out and so to get surat around later kind of alleviates it for me but i think right when you had like you know they had deandre hopkins wide receiver three last year they very clearly have wanted to get lamar a guy who can win a ball that hangs up there outside of the numbers and when you have lamar and derrick henry on the same team you're going to get heavy boxes it will happen and you're going to get single high so the idea that you've not yet been able to find in baltimore that outside receiver we're gonna have a one-on-one just throw a back shoulder throw a ball above the rim and let's get an explosive like that has been a frustration for years like okay you you're auto printing light boxes you're auto printing single high let's get a vertical ball winner and in both lane and surat lane because the dimensions then surat because it's the school the skills the toolkit you have two guys who are really good ball winners on the outside so i see the vision just uh lane was not one of my guys this year uh they also took a tight

33:21Ben Solak:end who I'm not going to pretend I watched yeah Hibner out of SMU have you watched him much I'm pulling I caught him on like ACC cross-watching film I knew he was a day three guy the tight ends all went in an order that I found peculiar and bemusing thank you to the Jacksonville Jaguars and then yes ever like everything that the entire again like the order in which the Titans were off the board was was amusing I will say the most Ravens pick of all time Chandler Rivers the defensive back out of Duke if you're a Ravens fan you haven't watched him Chandler Rivers film he's He is discount D 'Angelo Pons.

33:52He's ACD. Everything that everybody loves at D 'Angelo Pons on the playoff run, Rivers is doing the exact same stuff for Duke. This is a 180-pound hellcat, dude. He is a handful and a half. He's a lot of fun to watch.

34:03Ben Solak:All right. We got one more winner out of you. And this is an interesting one. I haven't heard this team talked about a lot. What are the bills for this one? Buffalo Bills. Yeah, Buffalo Bills. Listen, when you're bad at making first-round picks, what do you do? You trade back three times. You get out of the first round entirely. All right? Solve the issue by avoiding the issue. So I love the fact that they created a ton of draft capital in the middle rounds. The bucks started the draft, but I want to say it was two picks in the top one 30 and the end of the draft with four picks in the top one 30.

34:30So to me, they did a very nice job working the board. And then I thought, again, talking about the same strap, I thought they had doubles all the way down. So TJ Parker, the edge rush, try to Clemson. I was really interested if they would go edge or not because Bradley Chubb, Gregory Rousseau, you know, earliest traffic and Landon Jackson last year, Michael Hoyt is still on that team. You could have talked yourself into, we are fine. But the issue with Buffalo's playoff departures over the last several years, like, you know, Sean McDermott, Josh Allen, clutch plays over time. The main issue is they can never get after these passers when they get to the postseason.

35:01Their passers stable runs thin. They were always oriented on these big, long run defending guys. They didn't have enough juice. Now, Parker is bigger, longer run defending guy. But I very much appreciate the fact that they continue to invest at the edge rusher spot because I think that being able to generate pressure with four is the absolute go-to. a little bit further down the board. Jude Bowery, the tackle out of Boston college was a guy who I liked potentially as a developmental tackle. I think that that was a good thing for them. Skylar bell, the receiver out of Yukon is an extremely fun watch and has a Khalil Shakir level.

35:32Ben Solak:I just about to say, I, this to me felt a little bit like Shakir insurance because of his ability, the juicy brings you after the catch. He played outside and inside in college. I think in the NFL, to me, I always felt like his role is primarily going to be inside. So that was an interesting thing. Yeah. So Bell to me, right. Is that, but then also I think Bell has the potential to be a field stretching wide receiver three for them. He was a much better, deeper receiver than giving credit for UConn because Vignano, the quarterback there just cannot get the ball down the field. And so I bet you there's untapped potential.

36:02There was speed Jalen Kilgore, the safety out of South Carolina. It's funny. Kill their fifth round picks, Kilgore and, and Zane Durant, the defensive tackle out of, out of Penn state. So we are both like classic Sean McDermott guys. And they're just like, okay. So how much of a defensive change are we actually going to see? but I love both of those players. Davidson, I can do some was one of my favorite round two corners out of Ohio state. It was very surprising. Yeah. I was very surprised to get an outside corner because Hairston, I can do some Christian Bedford, ain't not, not one of those three to me can play the slot.

36:30I don't see a single one of them moving inside. And so is this a Hairston insurance was Harrison, a McDermott guy, and they kind of want to go a different direction. That was surprising, but I liked it. But no, some quite a bit.

36:40Ben Solak:Uh, interesting. Yeah. I, he didn't really jump out to me watching Ohio state too much. Uh, Went back and watched a little bit when I heard he might go higher. And I think, you know, he has the size. And I think, like, there's good reps on tape. But he actually reminded me a little bit. Sorry, Bill's fans of Kyrie times. Have I fallen for another grabby corner with length and with height? Who's to say? Just stop grabbing and they'll be fine. But I loved the Skylar Bell pick, which we alluded to. and um i think tj parker you know my affinity for i yeah i've talked about him i just think he's a really um high floor type edge i think you know questions may be about how good he can be as a rusher but i think he can play uh every down i think he can play immediately and to get him in the second round you know i thought he might go in the first round so i think that's great value with for buffalo after they traded down so much yeah they got caleb ellums caleb ellerms or the linebacker at a TCU as well in the fourth round with one of their tradeback picks.

37:43He's throw Bernard. They drafted so many McDermott guys, and I find that extremely funny defensively.

37:48Ben Solak:All right, let's take a quick break, come back and get to the Ty Simpson of it all. This episode is powered by GNC. You know, everyone's looking to draft that next game changer. Well, that's exactly what the drop by GNC is built for. It's where the top picks in wellness and performance get called up first. No guest work, just the best of the best. We're talking breakout formulas, rising brands, and can't-miss trends, all scouted by GNC's experts. So you're not scrambling to keep up. You're already on the roster. If you want first-round talent in your routine, don't wait on the clock. Check out The Drop by GNC, where what's next gets drafted first.

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38:56Ben Solak:To learn more, visit Thrivent.com. Thrivent, where money means more. I like things my way. My coffee, my schedule, and my treatment. So I talked to my doctor about self-injecting with the Vivgard Hytrulo pre-filled syringe, which contains F-Gartigamide Alpha and Hyaluronidase QVFC. It's injected under your skin subcutaneously. It means I can inject in my space on my time. It's my treatment, my way. Visit VivgardMyWay.com. That's V-Y-V-G-A-R-T MyWay.com. And talk to your doctor about Vivgard Hytrulo. Brought to you by Argenix. All right, we're back. uh so now we're gonna talk about head scratchers just things that made you go huh uh ben you can go first tease this just get just rip the band-aid let's do it ty samson went 13 to the rams i don't get it sean mcveigh looks sad why is this happening there are three levels to the psychodrama of the mcveigh stuff there are three levels to the ty simpson hmm i think the first level is okay let's say you love him let's say it makes sense let's say it's all cool you still should have traded back from 13 you still should not have stayed at 13 and taken a player who otherwise probably was going to go at like 28 manipulate the board get future picks don't just sit there and be like we're the rams we're never wrong bang 13 overall that's level one level two okay you're picking him at 13 you really like him you think he's great this is not really a developmental quarterback yes certainly he only played 15 starts yes certainly he could improve but developmental quarterbacks have physical tools and this guy has average physical tools i like i know that we get too tools oriented at times in the draft process and certainly at quarterback but if you just go and look at like who are the top six quarterbacks in the league lamar mahomes allen joe burrows the exception proves the rule justin herbert matthew stafford these guys these are guys who are 90th percentile in either like arm strength or movement skills if you are swinging for the fences at the matthew stafford era parent or i should say for the matthew stafford era parent you should be swinging for the fences you should be because you have some time to check a couple quarterbacks go for a guy with high level tools and this certainly wasn't the draft for it but that doesn't mean you just spin out into the ty simpson pick and and destin yourself to bo nicks hood that's level two and then level three is it's just not that good of a quarterback prospect that you drafted even 13 overall i have issues with the overall valuation i have issues with the prospect prototype the style which he plays with the tools question and then i have issue with how you manage the board and the fact that you just stayed there and picked him at 13 and said man So that's my thoughts on my Simpson.

41:25Ben Solak:Yeah. Everybody keeps bringing up Jordan love or everyone who's defending the pick. Okay. Which, which was one pick 26 that should be mentioned as well. But he was the archetype of what you were describing, right? He was toolsy and the thought was like, yeah. To me, it's funny though. Like the, the, when people bring that up, no one is bringing up the more recent example that I feel is a lot more analogous which is michael pennix which is a team that had a court veteran quarterback and vastly inferior one right and kurt cousins but also i find it more analogous because one it's closer in the draft slot and no one thought they were everyone was wondering who are they competing with for penics here who else is right like you know he wasn't um when we talk about like you know they'll say well if they really love ty simpson makes sense that's fine right like and it's possible that they see something that no one does but i think it's important to emphasize that others as you said didn't the rams reportedly wanted to trade down and couldn't find a partner in a moment where many teams we just talked about one of them desperately need quarterbacks the fact that they weren't competing with anyone at the moment is i would say a very important data point when we talk about this quarterback yeah because we don't know what you know we are all evaluating on our own we're bringing our own perceptions and we can talk about whether that we think he's gonna be good in the nfl or what a ceiling is whatever his flaws the outlier qualities i got into all of that when i took the quarterbacks but the truth is not there are many quarterback teams were not in here right who knows how what arizona would have done um but clearly i know something arizona didn't want to do which was trade above pick 13 right and that's and like there was the intimation oh the cardinals might move up but if the cardinals want to go from 34 to 12 let them are you out of their they want to move up 20 picks in the top of the first round let them mortgage the whole future for a one-off bet it could be the second coming of Peyton Manning fusion dance with Joe Marie Dan Marino like for that much that much uh resources putting that one risk right 49ers moving up for Trey Lance like let them because if they miss they miss dramatically and that concept of when we evaluate draft decisions there's two prongs there's how likely are you to be right and then there's what happens if you are right what is the value add if you got it correct this is the Jeremiah Love conversation oh he's the best player ever.

44:06He's going to hit. He's going to hit. He's going to hit. That's only one prong. The second prong is what happens when you are right. How much value did you add? And for the Rams, they can make an argument for the second prong. Oh, a developmental quarterback, rookie contract. We're ready to inherit from Matthew Stafford. But that first prong, how like is it that you're right that you valued Ty Simpson so much better than everybody else? I mean, you guys haven't, you guys haven't drafted a quarterback since 2016. It's been 10 years since you were in the quarterback evaluation trenches. Okay. It sucks out here.

44:32I'm not convinced as, as, as certain as you guys are,

44:35Ben Solak:you got this right yeah i mean it is a very bold bet on their evaluation of ty simpson and that it's different from the rest of the nfl's quite candidly they did the stats and bennett thing when they took bennett in round four everybody was like what and then they did it again i was like the rams haven't dropped like they did they drafted stats and bennett pretty freaking high honestly people were surprised um the other piece of what's so funny one more thing is i you know i I've seen another defense that, well, this was if they took McDuffie with their 29th pick, right? Because they had two first round picks.

45:08Ben Solak:So you have to add him to the draft class. And I've seen it mentioned, well, if they flip the picks and let's say pick 13 was McDuffie and 29 was Ty Simpson, people would feel better about it. Let me tell you, if they had traded pick 13 for Trent McDuffie and then give him that contract, people would not have been like, that's cool. Like that would have been a really significant move on the part of L.A. That's 2023 Lions. We always do. It gives to Campbell and branch, whatever, which is fair. That hope ended up going great for the Lions. So maybe, maybe you cope your way into a good, the other piece, the final piece of this is the opportunity cost of the player.

45:44Ben Solak:So, you know, they, they picked Ty Simpson, leaving the Kyle lemon on the board who went to Philadelphia as well as insert your receiver. And then, you know, Kenyan Sadiq, who ultimately was taken by the jets. They did take our, a tight end. you and I like Max Clare in the second round um so you think that between day one and day two Sean demanded a binky so hard that he got to draft the fourth tight end for 14 personnel I was on TV day two before the draft and the thing that multiple people said was well they're not done okay so if they trade for AJ Brown no I know but like they're you know it it was intimated that there might be another move for a big receiver, like a pickings or a Brown.

46:31Ben Solak:So, you know what? Like totally reserve the right to adjust our thoughts about the opportunity cost if that happens, but it has to happen first. All I'll say is this. I don't think like necessarily that, you know, Makai lemon is the difference between them and a super bowl. You know, you just don't know, but if it's December, I'm just telling you right now, if it's December and 34 year old Devante Adams pulls his hammy again, or God, you know, or Puka Nakua who takes a ton of contact is injured. This is a thin group. And that conversation will be had, uh, about whether or not they should have added receiver deaths because it is, you look at my real.

47:15I'll add my Rams question to that or my tackle question, excuse me, because they Rob haven't seen retires. Warren McClendon has been a great swing tackle for them. steps in the starting right tackle spot. So, okay, great. McClendon's been a great swing tackle. He's ready to start. If a Larrick or McClendon goes down, you have to start, you know, they drafted a rookie there in the third round, Keegan Trost. If you have to start, you know, one of your, your, your new OT three and Matthew Stafford with his bad back is getting hit three more times a game because you're tackled that. I will be there.

47:40Recalling Ty Simpson's clipboard holding and wondering how much it's helping the pass protection.

47:45Ben Solak:We do love Max Clare though. We love a Max Clare. 14. Big, big Max Clare podcast over here. uh i'll be i'm excited to actually see how mcveigh uses him too because he's not the same terrence fergus they took a tight end last year uh different very different player from ferguson i think claire he it's interesting because you and i talked about he's definitely not your like traditional inline tight end necessarily but i do think he has enough of a frame and enough blocking ability for mcveigh to put him in the backfield a bit more put him on the move i think I'm trying to think who do you think he'll be in the Rams offense who would you say he'll be used like thinking around the league I think he'll be the like he'll be the Tyler Higby ish tight end right in terms of how they used their tight ends whereas Higby gets more of the targets zero to 10 yards down the field Colby Parkinson is heavy block into play action 10 to 20 yards down the field Terrence Ferguson is like we line him up out wide and throw him the ball 38 yards down the field right and the thing about Claire and T-Ferg both is that they can get vertical right they're both good at tracking the ball on the seam like that to me is the is the connecting connective tissue that they very much want to be able to be 13 personnel and still preserve verticality so be able to run routes down the field i think claire and and uh uh t-fer both allowed them to do that i just like you know higby parkinson davis allen max claire terrence ferguson it's the funniest thing i've ever seen it really is uh yeah they are really leading into it all right i'll go next the arizona cardinals like what are we doing sure dude um so they take jeremiah love and and from what everyone says they also couldn't trade down they wanted to trade down all right they i will say i did like that they added chase besantus the guard out of texas a and m in the second round and then they take carson back in round three it's funny because there are other Caleb Proctor is an interesting pick in round four so it's not like they didn't add players who I think will be helpful I'm not like saying the whole draft is a wash but going into this year with Jeremiah Love and pretend like Carson Beck could start man you could absolutely start good in the sense that he is taking the snaps when I agree start as an as a you know Implying a level of play, I would take much umbrage with.

50:09Ben Solak:The Jeremiah Love pick is... It's not good. The whole point of taking a running back early is that you, while, yes, he instantly comes into the NFL with the most guaranteed money of any running back, the idea the case that i've been heard that's been said to me non-stop every time i've questioned whether or not jeremiah love should go in the top five is well you know he can come in immediately and because we see really working on this team who cares not know who cares that's that's and i don't like the way that sounded but on this team there's no benefit to having a running back be productive immediately does that make like it's not it's what second half leads are you protecting insulting away what passing game threat is softening the boxes for jeremiah love right the offense is incomplete the team is incomplete and accordingly it's hard for the running game to impact things much as a passing game or defense would they're not gonna without a quarterback they're not gonna be competitive for at least two years so you're destroying half of the contract that you're paying a premium for, and it's like, yeah, they have a ton of money and it's got to go somewhere, fine.

51:29Ben Solak:But when you are rebuilding team, this is the time that you're looking for the building blocks of positions where... They should have taken Arbel Reese. It's crazy to me that they didn't. And it's almost exclusively... Not exclusively. It definitely is influenced by the fact that they've been burned by hybrid linebackers before. yes i think like and like all right love is the highest guaranteed contract for a running back okay he is the seventh highest paid running back in football by average annual value okay people have heard this before well i don't think people fully like wrap their heads around with that is at pick three he's the seventh highest paid running back if he was picked seven to the commanders he'd be the 13th highest paid running back if he was picked 10 which i guess the bangles not going to do that but if he was picked 10 he'd be the 20th highest paid running back we're really talking Like, this is not like, oh, never draft running backs.

52:21Running backs don't matter. We are talking about the top five. Yeah, that was a moment for the nerds. And you and I, as like not people who code, but also not people who played football and are kind of somewhere in the middle here, when the nerds are like, hey, running backs don't matter. This is a pointless position. Never invest ever. You and I were very clearly like, no. Like, you good players at this position matter. They're going to impact the field. There is a Mendoza line. There's a water's edge. And three overall, which is the third best pick you could have, by the way, is too far. It is too far down the path of, well, we just go and we acquire good players.

52:54There is no such thing as a contending team without massive surplus value contracts at premium positions. It doesn't exist. It is a hard-capped league. Certainly the cap is rocketing up at unprecedented speed, but it is a hard-capped league. There is no way to build a contender, 53 contracts, unless you have a few really good players way cheaper than they should be. It's why the rookie wage scale exists, why it's so important to team building. The moment you have a third overall pick and use on a running back to pay making the seven-fives paid running back you are burning one of those and they are the

53:22Ben Solak:path to contention it is as simple as that yeah i i you just look at like i don't know i'm looking at francis mauno's contract and you know he comes in he was pick 10 and he's not in the top 15 for you know like i there's gonna be the 17th highest paid guard by like the march numbers i'm looking at sam hoppin by the way of penn he has a great one sheet of like where the contracts I'm getting those numbers so fast. Just the point we're making here is that if you take a running back early in the draft, not only are you sacrificing surplus value, but to really take advantage of the contract, you, you need him to be a contributor on a, you know, in a, like, and this is just doesn't make any sense.

54:04And before Cardinals fans, before you clip this in week seven, after Jeremiah love had an 18 carry 134 yard to touchdown day, we are, we are cognizant of the fact that those games will exist we are conscious of the fact jeremiah is very jeremiah loves very good he will have very good games we will enjoy them we will praise them it is still not ideal team building even if he has that game which i'm sure he does and i'm sure you're ignoring this right now in

54:26Ben Solak:the clip you if you're making that clip put put the record up with it yeah all right um uh you can go next all right i hmm a little bit at the bears pass rush because if you had made me guess the bears to first draft the positions i would have guessed edge and defensive tackle right where uh the montez sweat and dayo dangbo as a highly paid veteran duo on the edge but they have had disappointing play from both of those players oh dangbo obviously big contract missed a lot of time in year one there's a reason to be excited for year two but then even a defensive tackle you know grady jett was the addition last year didn't revolutionize the room the way they hope jervin dexter has come out to be a solid player it's a defensive line room full of like twos and threes and they really need a one they need a ringer they need a guy who knocks everybody down one role in importance and then this room would make a lot more set they were in the max crosby trade conversations accordingly they completely did not address the position right when safety dylan thenaman fell to them at 25 i totally got it i also would have made exactly that pick he's a great fit i think that's going to be excellent for them on the back end when logan jones is the pick there the center in the second round i thought that bradbury wouldn't stop them from taking a middle round center they went and they took the iowa guy for your starter zone background he's very much so a drew dolman type i totally get it but man the more and more we start trickling down and then you know like it goes to from defensible to third round sam roush third out of stanford xavier thomas lc receiver he's like a returner like two rounds earlier than i thought i was like all right you have lost me on the defending this approach this is the worst team last year in terms of overall team pressure rate it is very hard to figure out where the improvement is coming from save for like a big bet on internal development that i am quite dubious of i have a take on this okay because first of all it's tough because i like the players that they took and i also like you like you said when thenaman started falling when the the vikings took banks you're like of course you're going to take dylan theme like you need it's a need it's a great fit very reasonable perfect sense and also at that point you know like the way this edge draft shook out malachi lawrence went early to dallas and then it's like well they took the enemy instead of tj parker and our mason thomas and cash and i get it right he's a better player in in in some respects but um so i understand like the draft shook out the way it did and i think just at every position there wasn't a player they're excited like i looked like kieran cough crawford out of Auburn was one where I was like, okay, maybe in the third round, instead of taking Roush, you could try to, but then he got taken before him.

57:06Ben Solak:You know, so just, I just think the way, what happened to Chicago, I can so easily imagine this is like, they probably had a zillion edge rushers in the board and it just never felt like it aligned, like they would have had to reach or just a much better player in Thuneman's case. My take is I think they should have traded for Jonathan Grenard. And maybe they tried, I don't know, but, but. Inter-divisional, right. Makes it a little tougher. yeah oh right yeah of course right which if you're getting comparable offers as the vikings you're sending the philly yeah you're right go bernard would have been a really nice fit in terms of dennis allen you'd have some okay yeah but they probably wouldn't put it no that was a stupid take no no i i i would have made the call it's just you you never like you know questy was the guy who traded up or traded back with the lines let them trade up to go get jameson like the vikings were kind of open for business on inter-divisional trades i don't know if they would have remained so i always forget whenever i'm like getting excited about trade and then somebody it's always obviously yeah right yeah because i just don't think that way i'm like of course yeah um yeah i i don't know that i just maybe there's someone best if this then that like you know player they should have taken honestly is at 25 but if they had taken keldrick falk over thenaman i would have said you know i get that because i'm a big falk guy but you can argue fox not an immediate year one pass rush impact because that's not really how he played at auburn but I will say that like, you know, Falk lands with the Titans.

58:27So sick fit for him. I could see a world where Falk has like eight, nine sacks this season, just from like cleanup and tackle radius perspective. And then bears fans are hating their lives because that was a player was on the board for.

58:37Ben Solak:I think this team is going to be in the market for a pass rusher at some point. There is a secondary market of pass rushers, right? If they, you know, sign us on Reddit tomorrow, like I'll get it. It's just that, again, I think they're going to be very, I think they're going to be deep. Like they have Austin Booker. He's like a nice, you know, third round, uh third down pass rush specialist shamar turner was a second round pick for them a couple years ago they're kicking him to edge permanently he was kind of a bit of a tweener type so okay like they have dudes the problem is is that it's more of a stable than it is having that that elite you know guy who kind of dictates protection and so they're going to be like fine from a pass rush perspective all regular season get to the playoffs and get deleted by a team that's got a good five across because they just don't have a guy who wins one-on-ones like that

59:21Ben Solak:it's always tough when the team like drafts good players but doesn't draft such the glaring need and that's going to be the team I'm going to talk about for mine I really like the Raiders draft picks but I'm so bummed they didn't get a receiver yeah you were big on this free draft well I mean they need I okay so the draft the problem is I like all the play I talked about Crawford uh out of Auburn I like that they grabbed a train stooks I know is your favorite of yours it's safety out of Arizona should they were the Jermon McCoy team in the fourth round which please yeah be the risk-prone team take a shot Mike Washington Jr.

59:58Ben Solak:backing up Ashton Gentry is super fun I did there's these are good players but like please my quarterback he's dying like I just you know and they took Stukes and then Boston went one pick later to Cleveland. And then in the third round is when a bunch of receivers started going off the board. Antonio Williams, Kobe Lane, Chris Brazel, Hurst, Bell, Chris Bell. I just been like, this is not a good enough receiver group for your young quarterback right now. So I think like I, I was very suspicious pre-draft that John Spitek is the GM there. He had drafted two offensive linemen last year in Charles Grant and Caleb Rogers, who saw like no time.

1:00:41They're both third round picks. carol refused to play him and my expectation this year was that spite of the guy right screw you those are my guys i still believe in them and they weren't really going to invest in the offensive line at all now they go and they add tyler linderbaum and then they drafted a another third round guy trey zune who's like a tackle can move to center like five play guy it was receiver where where spite deck was kind of you know standing his ground because they had jack besh last year second round pick like never saw any time carol played dante thornton above him and so they add jaylen nailer and you know they do one late round pick at receiver and it's going to be okay it's going to be trade doctors got one job for sure nailer's going to have the second job because he was the new contract guy and that third job is going to be between probably be best and thornton right spy tech's two guys from last year so there's there was i think inevitably going to be some so there's such a big disagreement between spy tech and carol last year on the rookies there's inevitably going to be some like oh i don't need to spend a 2026 pick because i already spent a 2025 pick philosophy from from spy tech i think receiver is the spot where i trickle through?

1:01:39Ben Solak:I don't know. I just feel like if, you know, if, if it's so important to equip your rookie quarterback for success, that you're going to spend a zillion dollars on a center who we all agree is, you know, massively helpful, maybe also at a receiver. That's all saying so i think like let me let's ask this let's say mendoza has 28 targets a game 28 you know legitimate pass attempts per game how many total targets do you want going to your receiver room collectively relative to bowers mayor and genti right i think that that's probably the question to ask a lot because also like that's what mendo like when you think about mendoza and indiana and the kind of throws he liked to make and the like you know we're talking about surat but but Cooper Jr., the importance of having these ball winners on the perimeter.

1:02:34Ben Solak:Why would you not? I just don't. It turns out the whole league was lower on Boston than me, right? Because he fell out of the first. But God, that seemed like a hand-in-glove fit for what Mendoza likes to do, Ben. Yeah, I think that. I'm saying hand-in-glove. I promise that's the last time I say it. It's like the 20th time. I'm going to start saying it. I think the response from Spitek, and with Spitek, like Kubiak and Andrew Janoko, goes the oc there is we want to be a team that is 12 personnel like seattle was we want to play a couple receivers we want to receive us to be able to block for us and like we don't need to be a team that is a 65 70 target the receiver position we want to get the ball to bowers a lot genti in the passing game more um because the success they had doing that with the backs so we're just we're going to be a committee receiver room and like certainly they'd love to have their jsn but they don't have that guy on the board and they had to spend one on mendoza and so you know we'll get there when we get there and i think i i understand the vision because i do think that the offense is going to be so much different mendoza indiana where they are three wide rpo get the receivers the ball as opposed to here they're going to be a get the tight end of the running back the ball that's where their bread is buttered offensively i just think if you know your quarterback is so good at this thing i don't think you're wrong lean into it um okay let's keep again raiders fans don't yell at me because i well first of all they should call the cowboys about george pickens if that's a thing i don't know that's like many teams should do that but throw that out like i like a lot george pickens in vegas highly trustworthy i think that's a good idea uh george pickens just having a conversation with kurt cousins and fernando mendoza is the thing i would like to see i'd like to see that dynamic play out uh okay who's another team where you had some hoops listen the 49ers do this every year it's kind of boring at this point to talk about it but man uh we start the second round with the dijon stripling pick uh i like the dijon stripling everybody liked the dijon stripling nobody was really there on a 33 overall dijon stripling three again i don't mind when you draft relative to your board i do like when you manipulate and manage the board relative to your needs and maybe they knew something about the league's interest in stripling that i didn't but all day two we heard 19 teams are calling over the 49ers they want the pick the 49ers won't trade back and then so i'm like all right they're taking colton hood like you know they're taking like a guy who's like top of the consensus board like would go in the next five picks and instead it was dribbling which i think they needed to add wide receiver three and be ready for mike evans to be older and christian kirk to be older uh but dribbling is there romello height at the top of the third round was a little earlier than i expected edge out of texas tech but that one doesn't bother me too much kaylin black running back out of Indiana uh this is a non-combine invite they made him running back three he they drafted him at 91 overall which is the latest drafted running back three in modern draft era since 1967 so like at some point running back three was going to go and the 49ers said man given our history drafting middle round running backs we just have to be the team that starts this run we just have to get in front of everybody with Mike Washington still on the board with Emmitt Johnson still on the board We have to do the team gets part of everybody for black who is not a combine invite, which means that the league generally doesn't like him very much.

1:05:39This is a thumper. This is an Isaiah Pacheco type to, you know, Brian Robinson type to kind of be that running back to behind McCaffrey. But you would just think at some point, Kyle and John would have failed on Terry Davis price and on Trey Sermon and on Isaac Arendo and just said, you know what? We're not going to keep doing this. We're not going to keep falling for the same banana in the tailpipe. We are much better at handling this position in the later rounds. And in the veteran free agent market, we are not good at drafting his middle round guys. They'd never pan out for us. We don't even have that many snaps to give the guy because of McCaffrey.

1:06:12Let's go get like a guard or like an interior office alignment, actually be able to run the ball between the tackles this year. I black is going to bang his head into the same two and a half yard walls that Christian McCaffrey and Brian Robinson were this year. Cause this is not a team that is impactful moving guys off the line of scrimmage in the running game. So it's, it's very trite to make fun of the 49ers for drafting another middle round running back and doing it in like anti off the board fashion, but they keep doing it. And it tends to be a thing that if you criticize it, you look good in a couple of years.

1:06:41Ben Solak:so i don't know i know that's that right that's the thing about everybody always like points to the lions example like you can't criticize teams for taking their players on their board but there's so many examples of teams who do it and it doesn't work out and the niners have had some real misses right and stripling is a tough one too because like i don't know the second they drafted him everyone said of course oh he can block he you know he could do all he worked the actually i I think that, like you said, Mike Evans is probably the Mike Evans insurance is probably the right way to think about him.

1:07:13And Kirk is going to win your deal. And Evans is technically a win your deal with team options. So you want to have youth that can ascend into a starting role.

1:07:19Ben Solak:Yeah, like somebody who's going to get you yards after the catch. Somebody who's going to win with strength, you know, not an elite separator. It makes sense when you think about the team. but um you know i think that there were other needs that they could have addressed you mentioned colton hood i think something the niners that really hurt them was where they were picking and just the fact that every offensive tackle went early in this draft because and it's so funny but i felt this but i just double checked not a single offensive tackle went in the second round did you notice that yeah so it was it was the fall off at tackle for like leave respect was enormous and that's why you saw you know you're not sure went earlier like miller went earlier than expected like those guys those guys needed to get off the board when proctor went so high i was thinking to miami i thought oh this is going to send off a chain reaction from this point on because to miami they're very lucky they're dodging my my wolf hood are these wolves we're starting to call them wolves now anyway they did that and then they also got a bunch of players everybody loves to after that right yeah they got like the hipster favorites in addition to the crazy thing they kind of mitigated it to some degree they also added they get are they the chris bell team yes they were oh i mean they everyone was gonna love everything else they did i'll talk about that i promise with lance but yeah i think i think similar to there's a theme here right because this is a very thin draft there are teams that didn't really address the positions that they needed to because it's just the way I think the board shook out for them.

1:08:55Ben Solak:Not that the Niners needed an offensive tackle. I just think that they saw it wasn't in the offing. They start trading down and then they just took a bunch of non-consensus, like our pit players earlier than people thought they would. So. Oh, oh, oh, O 'Reilly. Check engine, ABS or maintenance light on. Take the guesswork out of your warning lights with O 'Reilly Veriscan. The service is free and provides a report with solutions verified by ASE-certified master technicians. And if you need help, we could recommend a shop for you. Ask for O 'Reilly Veriscan today. Oh, oh, oh, O 'Reilly. Auto Parts.

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1:10:16Ben Solak:But for the ones who always rise to the challenge, Grainger has your back. From professional-grade products you can count on to fast, dependable delivery, they're there to help you keep things running smoothly. Plus, their technical product specialists are here to help answer your toughest questions. And because Grainger knows safety is always a priority, they're committed to being your partner in protecting both your people and your facilities. Call 1-800-GRANGER Click granger.com or just stop by Alright My final one I just can't with Drew Aller, man I understand The Steelers felt They had to take quarterback And apparently, we talked about Garrett And us, you and I didn't, but Nate and I did We had him as, and Nate had him as quarterback I think most people had him quarterback three.

1:11:10Ben Solak:And apparently, I think the injury, this was one like Jermon McCoy, where the injury really scared people off. And he just kept dropping, dropping, dropping, and ultimately landed with the Chiefs, which is very funny. But so the Steelers, they take Iana Torr, which, by the way, that pick I really liked at right tackle as their right tackle of the future. Optics, brutal. Overall pick on a chalkboard, fine. Yeah, so the whole thing where the Steelers wanted Makai Lemon, and then the Eagles jumped them. Yeah. And then they were on the phone with him. On the phone with him. Took Yana Chor. We actually, in the live show draft in Pittsburgh, gave Yana Chor to the Steelers.

1:11:50I love it. I was big on, let's get a Broderick Jones replacement. Let's really finish this offensive line.

1:11:55Ben Solak:Double up. They took Jennings Dunker out of Iowa as well later in the draft. And Jeremy Bernard, he's actually, don't dislike that pick for them. I know I think after the lemon people found it to be kind of underwhelming like oh great you're taking like the most diet early but I actually think he could be pretty useful in this offense they need a guy who to work underneath and get open quickly and just and like a dirty work guy neither Metcalf nor Pittman I would describe as impactful blockers and I think that you always want to have at least one of those guys in your first three receivers I'm not hating on the whole oh man they're also the team that took wet uh wenjin the returner you took him like way older than people thought but yeah big special teams investment so like i there's a lot of things they did that i i don't dislike but i just don't see it with aller and third round is way richer than i would have taken him personally that's all if aller was going to be good in the nfl he would have been good at some point in college is my theory on football and quarterbacks and players is that at some point you have to have done it at a lower level at a high level for me to kind of believe in you actually really doing it at the next level the aller film is uh highly affected by pressure it is fearful of pushing the ball down the field the turnover worthy play rate is low in a bad way right where he just does not want to test coverage does not want to get something that might look bad on the the score sheet uh the mobility is present but it's not as impactful as it should be the live arm and the arm strength is present but it's not as impactful as it should be like this is a guy who has to get stripped down to the studs and then rebuilt in terms of how he thinks about quarterbacking in terms of, Hey, what throws do we make?

1:13:34When do we make them? What coverage are we willing to test? Is it worth it to throw the ball very far down the field? Like, it's just, he is a, he's a gardener Minshew in a, in a, you know, Josh Allen body. And like, that's just not to me a fun idea of like how long it's going to take for this guy to come along. Now McCarthy offense kind of cool for him because he wants to live zero to 10 yards down the field. And that's where McCarthy wants the quarterback to live. So I kind of get it from a scheme perspective, but I would not have been a guy that I was lining up to go get in this draft especially relative to some of the other like even like day three guys that went near Taylor Greens and Cole Payton's of the world I okay so I did a stupid trade earlier because it's

1:14:10Ben Solak:interdivision I would have been on the phone with the Eagles about Tanner McKee if I was the Pittsburgh Steelers absolutely and he goes Ben went and drafted Cole Payton somebody call me for Tanner McKee let's go quarterback factory pick 47 sure why not I mean I know I would have done it but it's gonna be aaron rogers man quarterback factory just producing top 50 picks with tanner mckee i just want better for steelers fans i want this because the the truth is this is a good football team and the i actually like i said like janitor was the right pick i think you know wait the opposite compass the right now the skill group is decent this could be a well obviously their playoff team last year but i like i do think this is the kind of team where like if a quarterback stepped in they could be competitive immediately i just drew allah doesn't make sense and you know i feel about running it back with you know whose name i've written down from a drew allah comp mason rudolph they just cannot stop drafting the exact same like it's just a late career ben into mason rudolph into late career rogers into will howard and aller just enormous statues who don't actually make throws with the arms they're purported to have okay as we as we wrap are there any other picks that you love so i'm going to do so if you're listening to this and you're like oh you didn't talk about the colts or the seahawks or whatever i'm going to hit every other team that i didn't talk about um on third wednesday sorry it's going to come out on wednesday second part of the week but is there anything that you want to highlight is something that you yes uh i was a fan of the patriots draft i thought they did a good job doing all like 2027 focus oh the drafts had attacked with the hatewell campbell no morgan moses is getting older like they just drafted for long-term development i thought that was good wikings draft i thought was very good uh kayla banks at 18 that was huge big consensus reach she's got a foot issue but they protected themselves with dominic orange later in the draft jay golday is like a perfect scheme fit especially losing granard they're gonna play him on the edge some thought that was very good people love the eagles draft i just was not a big lemon guy nor a big stowers guy they got them both i think in the right range it's just that Yeah.

1:16:19Those are the guys that I was taking my job on.

1:16:21Ben Solak:I think the Eagles thing is a longer conversation about what is his offense going to look like. Because the draft was like a statement I felt about where things are going and whether or not the quarterback can continue to evolve. But we'll have that conversation because I think it is really interesting. I found it very interesting. I love the Green Archery. I found it very interesting that Mannion goes from Green Bay to Philly. Philly becomes a lot more spread the wealth with their secondary pass catching options. They have like a ton of dudes now. The Packers consolidated, right? Romeo and Dontavian left and they added nobody.

1:16:53So the Packers are going to be a lot more siloed now. These are our guys.

1:16:56Ben Solak:They pay Jayden Reed during the draft. By the way, I think Lemon's usage, Jayden Reed, there's something there. Best moment of the draft was Avian Terrell getting selected. I was on television and so I couldn't do anything about it. And then I went to my car and I watched the social clip of it and I cried in a Wendy's parking lot. Good player too. Good pick. Yeah, like that wasn't, sometimes when you do the siblings you're like yeah that's very true no this is actually like but you're like oh we know why you're doing this like this is not a nepo pick he could have easily gone in the first round so yeah that's a fun one um i like those yeah the eagles are really interesting i think the chiefs are really fascinating by the way i i i just noticed this morning that emma johnson i missed that went to the chiefs that's fun and that's bus to uh seventh round for the chiefs which you know they're not gonna need a quarterback anytime soon but the camp like justin fields went five for 12 and then nussmeyer with a third team went like seven for eight and two touchdowns those are gonna be fun reports all right so like i said i am going to discuss the rest of the draft with lance on wednesday um but thank you so much to ben who has been covering the draft non-stop you can check that out on youtube right all three days uh two days we had day one and then day two was the the full stream yeah uh and go follow ben who who's now putting out more video content on Instagram.

1:18:14Ben Solak:Well, look at this. You got a little Chiron Benjamin. Thank you. Instagram and Tik TOK. I imagine as well. And you guys know where to follow my, I put some draft video reactions in real time on Instagram at the Mina Kime show account, including I got to break the Carnell Tate news to Dan Orlowski, which was very fun. Yeah. That was when that was the, we haven't even talked about that guy. I, I, yes, right. There's questions. I understand the criticism, but I I'll just, I'm going to get into this in more detail because it is fascinating. I don't hate the idea of paying a premium because of the importance of the quarterback and also the weakness of the group.

1:18:59Ben Solak:So it's funny because we have all of our love thoughts and then you see the exact alternative, which is like wide receiver at four in this draft. And you're kind of like, okay, like this is good, but also the Cardinal Tato 4 is Cardinal Tato 4. It's healthy. It's healthy, but also it is more, I think, made more sense than Jeremiah Love. So I'll get into it later this week. And they got Falk, right? So that's fun. Yeah. Yeah, Falk's a good pick. Nice little draft. Okay, we'll talk about that later in the week. Thank you, as always, to the folks at OMA Productions, Kirsten Sebecki, Owen Saylor, Jack Foster, Tucker Tashin.

1:19:29Ben Solak:Thank you to everybody in Pittsburgh. We had a ton of fun. I mean, I don't know why you watch it now, but it's online. Go back. Check it out. YouTube.com slash I'm many times. And I'll see you guys next week.

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