Hour 1: Field Yates Talks Mock Draft, Chambliss Beats NCAA, & Olympic Sports We’d NEVER Try

22:53Rich Eisen:Sorry. I went full Joe Judge to start. You never go full Joe Judge.

22:57Field Yates:Has anybody uncovered how we landed there in this entire court? Yes, yes.

23:01Rich Eisen:He was put on the stand to talk about how Chambliss and how, you know, Chambliss apparently had respiratory problems a few years ago. And he was giving voice to a football expert, coach expert opinion on how a player does not perform well when he doesn't get a proper amount of sleep. And added that context on his own. So there you have it.

23:24Field Yates:Probably best to leave that one alone.

23:25Rich Eisen:Well, they should have had a mock court first before putting him out there. Maybe they did. So let's talk about your mock draft, Field Yates. How do you go about coming up with a mock draft so far out from an NFL draft?

23:39Field Yates:Yeah, I think, Rich, the further away from the draft we are, you're a little less focused on teams and needs and a little more focused in on, are we getting approximately the best 32 players into the first round? I'm not saying if you're a team that's got a quarterback, I'm going to give you a quarterback just because there's one deserving of going high. But if I'm sitting here saying to myself right now on February 13th that the commanders really can't take a wide receiver because they desperately need a pass rusher, well, we still have free agency ahead of us. And a lot of activity will take place between now and when the draft begins.

24:17Field Yates:And you kind of acknowledge along the way, too, that at some point in the first round, I would say maybe your 20 or so picks in, you realize that the guys who are taking 21 to 32 in your mock draft could easily be top of the second round players and guys that you had on the outside looking in could find their way into the first draft, first round of the draft. So it's people have to remind themselves, which they don't, as I have sometimes seen on the feedback from social media. It's like they're not exclusively for entertainment purposes. But if anybody were excellent at forecasting exactly how the draft would go, the draft would be a lot less compelling.

24:55Field Yates:So don't try to confuse this with an opportunity to bat 1000 on who's going to go and to which teams are going to go.

25:01Rich Eisen:Yes. So that's a very erudite way of saying it's a mock draft, everybody. It's like the yellow line on a broadcast. It's not official. So you do believe at the end of the day, the Raiders will take Fernando Mendoza. It's not going to be one of those referendums on if they're ready for him or not. And we'll discuss down the road as to whether he will start week one of the 2026 regular season for Clint Kubiak. But you think this is the pick field?

25:28Field Yates:Yeah, I think we're, I mean, Fernando could probably go house hunting right now in Las Vegas if he were so inclined. And the team can't speak to him about things like installing the playbook at this juncture of the pre-draft process. But I think between now and April, we'll hear Clint Kubiak continue to say things like there's lots of work to do. And we're still going through the process and all that. But I can't recall a draft probably since 2021 when Trevor Lawrence went first overall, when it was this obvious this far out who the number one pick in the draft would be. I'm not saying that teams weren't privately set on their certain guys at number one.

26:05Field Yates:And even in 2024, when Caleb Williams was coming out, there were people that had grown to think that Jaden Daniels was the best prospect in that class after his Heisman Trophy and dominant season at LSU. So obviously, Caleb did end up going first. And I think if we redid that draft right now, all three teams at the top would probably say they hope it goes exactly as it did in reality a couple of years ago. But this feels like, yeah, the draft begins with the New York Jets making their first of two first-round picks at number two overall.

26:33Rich Eisen:Okay. And so you chose the Jets to choose the Ohio State Arvel Reese. Yeah. I'm seeing that pretty much. This is in Sharpie right now that it's one-two, right? It's a good debate.

26:48Field Yates:I think it's a good debate here for the Jets between Arvel Reese and David Bailey because if you're picking number two, Obviously, you want to get a great player. No breaking news there. But I also think it's important that if you can find that cross-section of great player at premium position, that really matters to me. Like, I think there's a compelling case that Jeremiah Love, running back from Notre Dame, will have the highest grade amongst non-quarterbacks on a lot of teams' boards. The problem is, if you're picking second, you've got a lot of work to do. And getting a running back is not the way to get this franchise back on track sooner rather than later.

27:22Field Yates:So we're talking about guys that either pass protect or players that impact the quarterback on the defensive side of the ball. So Arbel Reese from Ohio State, sort of like what we have seen in recent years with Abdul Carter and Micah Parsons, not to the same degree. But both of those guys were stand up inside linebackers early in their college career who became pass rushers later in their college career. Reese was on that same track at Ohio State. He moved more to a predominantly pass rush role this past season with some linebacker snaps as opposed to the inverse in prior years. And he was actually a backup at Ohio State because they have so many good players, obviously, on that defense.

27:59Field Yates:And the breakout was worth it for him. He became one of the best players in college football. I don't think this is quite the same level of pass rush prospect right now as we saw from Abdul Carter a year ago. But has great athleticism, has all the measurables, has some production, high upside here. So if you're the Jets, you have the next two years with five first-round picks. As many high-upside players as you can get into the mix will help this thing turn around. They obviously have a lot of work to do, Rich. You know that. But at this point for the Jets, I'm not saying this is not aiming for a ground rule double, but I don't think there is a lot of bust potential here with Arbel Reeves.

28:38Field Yates:I think this is going to be at the very minimum, a very solid pro with potentially an excellent pro career ahead of him.

28:44Rich Eisen:Well, and here's the annual question involving a draft field is where do you take somebody in the draft at a position that's not usually drafted top two if they are the 100 % lock of the draft where there's no bust? This guy is just going to boom. And that's the question of Caleb Downs being a safety. And he is superb. You could make the case, you know, on that defense, no matter how great Arvel Reese looks or Sonny Stiles look, he's the guy. He's the straw that stirred that entire drink. And you have him fifth to the Giants, which is an interesting spot as well. I mean, that's pretty high for a safety, but that's about as high as you'll take one maybe.

29:32Rich Eisen:Yeah. Yeah. But he's so – right, 100 % him in love, you would say, of the top 10. you know they're not going to crap out yeah i'd be stunned i'd be stunned if caleb downs isn't a

29:47Field Yates:an awesome player in the nfl for a long time right uh there hasn't been a safety taken in the first 10 picks since 2017 when the jets took jamal adams sixth overall and there hasn't been a top five safety since the chiefs took eric barry i was actually back in my days working with the chiefs we took him fifth overall and uh barry went on to become the highest paid safety in the nfl for a period of time. Jamal Adams was eventually traded for two first round picks. So while the long term of Jamal Adams' career hasn't been what the Seahawks and maybe the NFL thought it would be when he was, of course, traded from the Jets, you know, he did at one point return a ton of value to the Jets after making him the sixth overall pick.

30:26Field Yates:I think Downs is a bit different because from a guy like Jamal Adams, Jamal probably was best, and this is reflected in the fact that he's become a linebacker now, playing in the box, like not the kind of guy you want patrolling the middle of the field like a center fielder. Caleb Downs this past season in Ohio State probably had more high leverage snaps as a box defender, kind of a strong safety than as a free safety, but we've seen that at prior points of his college career, both at Alabama and at Ohio State during that 2024 season, more so than 2025, that I guess no player is perfect here, but it's hard to find a real weakness in Caleb Downs' game, and when I put him fifth overall to the Giants, some of the feedback was, but we already have Javon Holland and we already have Tyler Newman, that being from Giants fans.

31:11Field Yates:And I hear you. And that's all well and good, but not this guy,

31:14Rich Eisen:this guy, I would tell Giants fans, don't you? Okay. Let's, let's be honest here. And, and, and someone like John Harbaugh knows what a safety like him can do from the back end of a defense. I mean, just take a look at the history of the Ravens defenses and, and what they could do. I I mean, he is all that. And then, interestingly enough, you got Tate as the, if I'm not mistaken, first wide receiver taken at seven. This is as high as I've seen him so far in mock drafts. And you got him going to Washington to pair up with their, I guess, the GOAT of the current Ohio State run of wide receivers, right?

31:53Rich Eisen:Like, to stick him there with McLaurin and get Jaden Daniels another weapon, it's got to be really enticing.

32:00Field Yates:yeah the commanders have already talked publicly about the idea of adding young pass rushers to their defense certainly could be in play at pick number seven overall right have a slightly better grade though on carnell tate and some of the players that are going to be considered amongst the past the top pass rushers like a reuben bain jr from miami so back to the point where we kind of started which is that like you're trying to get as many players as close to their overall grade as you can in a mock draft you know still two plus months out from the draft april 13th mock would look a lot different than a February 13th mock and you might have teams that are reaching a little bit more for needs as opposed to value here but Tate is a guy who you know it's become this would be five straight years now with an Ohio State wide receiver in the first round and he had to kind of wait his turn this past year it was Emeka Abuka who was drafted in the first round he was playing less snaps last year than he did this year in the case of Carnell Tate Jeremiah Smith was still the attraction for Ohio State but Tate averaged over 17 yards a catch didn't have a drop at all last year he's just a pro ready guy has some big slot snap exposure as well he's a player that I think right now you can you can count on him as your second wide receiver in Washington and right now also Devo Samuel is scheduled to become a free agent an aging player dealt with some injuries last year yes pass rush is a priority for Washington but I shouldn't we should not ignore some of the offensive needs they have because while Jaden Daniels and his play and his health will ultimately dictate the ceiling for this team, a lot went wrong beyond just not having Jaden Daniels last year, including the fact that they were consistently playing like practice squad players called up on Saturday afternoon on meaningful Sunday snaps.

33:40Field Yates:So Washington definitely needs to be mindful of some offensive playmakers.

33:43Rich Eisen:Field Yates here on the Rich Eisen Show and then wrapping up your top 10, what jumped out at me is going to be another inflection point that we're going to be talking about over the next few weeks is the Saints sitting there right in front of the the Chiefs and the whole sharpening in of Jeremiah Love to Kansas City could be completely short circuited by Kellen Moore saying you know what Kamara's getting longer in the tooth let's go and take him but you have Jordan Tyson of Arizona State going at eight why do you have that because that's going to be something I know on draft night as I'm sitting in Pittsburgh waiting to see if Jeremiah Love is going to go off the board just before the Chiefs or if the Chiefs are going to jump up because they might get a little twitchy about what Kellen Moore might do at eight they

34:29Field Yates:better not get too comfortable at number nine because you're right I mean you could make the case I think responsibly right now you could make the case for both the commanders and also the Saints at seven and eight to be real Jeremiah Love suitors just based off of where they're at commanders team that played in the nfc championship game last year right they're probably saying to themselves we're a couple of things going in our favor correctly from being a contender again this year and the saints playing the nfc south all bets are off when you play in that division right now and they won four of their last five games tyler shuck emerged as a player they think they can build a long-term future with going forward so new orleans by the way also gm'd by mickey loomis unafraid to do things uh audaciously during the draft process so if some people say taking a The running back eighth overall is an interesting idea for a team that won six games last year.

35:18Field Yates:Mickey Loomis probably relishes the opportunity to entertain those people. He is a special, special talent, is Jeremiah Love. I think if you were, again, I said earlier, if you're stacking just the grades, depending on what the scale is that these teams use, 1 to 100, 1 to 10, 1 to whatever it might be, Jeremiah Love's grade might be the highest of any player, along with Fernando Mendoza, in the class. He's an incredibly explosive player. He had back-to-back seasons with a 90-plus yard run. And the most intriguing part, and the reason why he has a chance to be of value at the first 10 picks of the draft, is that I think he comes in and he's immediately on the shortlist for best-receiving running backs in the entire NFL.

35:57Field Yates:B. John Robinson, Jameer Gibbs, Christian McCaffrey amongst the guys that lead the way right now. I think that Jeremiah Love has the skill set to kind of get into that category sooner rather than later. Notre Dame didn't just use him as a running back on screens. Like there are times where he's lining up in the slot and running actual routes to the point that you're saying to yourself, if you were number 84, as opposed to four and you made him do wide receiver Joseph, the combine, he probably looked just like the rest of those guys. He is definitely the X factor of the first 10 picks of this upcoming draft.

36:28Rich Eisen:And people might trade up to go get him, not only because he's that talented, but maybe to do everyone in the AFC West, if not maybe the rest of the NFL a favor and prevent him from going to Andy Reid and Mahomes coming back from an ACL of the chiefs. If you're like me and my family, you're all about creating amazing memories while on vacation. And for me, many of those have involved a home we found on Airbnb. We had such great experiences that whenever we travel somewhere new, we always check Airbnb first to find a place that fits our needs. The homes we've stayed in, comfortable, safe, private.

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38:12Rich Eisen:You know, that would be a wild pairing based on what you just said about how talented he could be to put him in that offense with Mahomes as his quarterback. And one last one for you, Field, before I let you go on your weekend. Ken, the second quarterback taken, and this is another thing we'll be talking about for the next several weeks. Who's it going to be and where's he going to go? It appears you've got Ty Simpson being that guy, and he goes to the Steelers who are, again, yet another year of us wondering, are they going to draft somebody again? The Kenny Pickett drafting, as we know, didn't work out.

38:51Rich Eisen:Why do you connect these two dots?

38:54Field Yates:Yeah, Aaron Rodgers returning would obviously kind of just put this plan or these plans to the back burner uh for pittsburgh and they may say let's just develop will howard for one more year but you know i'm i'm i'm mindful of some of the things that i've heard about will howard and how the steelers like his development i also recognize they took him in the sixth round last year right if they loved him that much as a prospect were they really going to risk it for five rounds and missing out on will howard so i'm not totally sold that they could go into the season with him as their starting quarterback so if rogers isn't back quarterback very much becomes front and center for Pittsburgh.

39:29Field Yates:Everybody around the NFL has opinions on the draft, Rich. Those opinions don't always matter because it just takes one team to take a player at a certain spot to make other opinions that you gather on a player rendered moot. But I do think that more people that I talk to think that Ty Simpson's probably going to settle in at some point in the first round. And that's in part because of the market he's in. It's a buyer's, excuse me, it's not a buyer's market for quarterbacks, right? There's very few available in the free agent market. And then in this draft class, if you're the Jets, Arizona at three, the Dolphins at 11, the Steelers at 21 with some other teams in between, like, are you sure you're going to have an answer if you just continue to wait and wait and wait?

40:12Field Yates:The answer is probably not. So I think the Ty, who's beginning part of last season, he had 21 touchdowns and one interception through the first eight games of last season. he looked like a guy that was going to go in the first 10 picks, is going to, in some people's eyes, outweigh the final month plus, where he was not nearly as dominant. His decision-making dropped off, wasn't quite as accurate. He was dealing with some injuries and wasn't quite as sudden. He's not a great athlete, but he wasn't quite as mobile in the pocket and outside of the pocket. But there's enough good stuff in the first half of last season that I do think he goes in the first round.

40:45Field Yates:And even if Aaron Rodgers does return, if I am the Steelers, I do think it's responsible to be looking at life after Aaron because he's 42. Even if he does return, are you certain that you're going to have this guy for the long term? Are you certain he's going to make it through an entire season? That's just the reality of dealing with the quarterback in his early 40s.

41:05Rich Eisen:Field Yates, I appreciate the time. Let's do this frequently over the next few weeks leading up to the draft in Pittsburgh. In the meantime, 3 p.m. Eastern every single day. It's called NFL Draft Daily. That's the daily portion of it at three Eastern later. You and the cast of thousands going full metal jacket on this year's draft. Thanks for the time field. Appreciate it. Thanks, Rich. You got it. That's field. It's everybody. Lots of food for thought again, inflection points in the draft, obviously first overall, what are the jets do second overall? Is there somebody that anybody covets to move up?

41:40Rich Eisen:Jeremiah love appears to be one of those guys. Could it be Carnell Tate as well? You know the Chiefs, he won't get past them, love. Nope. So do you want somebody who's Jameer Gibbs-like, Bijon-like? You better jump the line. So where is that inflection point? And if Washington's that team, do you go all the way to six? Which team is going to be holding cards? And where does Ty Simpson go if he is the second best? Or at the Combine in a couple weeks, will somebody start skyrocketing? We just know it's not going to be Trinidad Chambliss in the draft. We know that for sure. 844-204-RICH is the number to dial.

42:20Rich Eisen:Don't go anywhere. It's a what's more likely Friday here on the Family of Networks.

42:29Rich Eisen:The Rich Eisen Show, the podcast. Rich Eisen Show, 844-204-RICH is the number to dial. I'll take phone calls in a second. I'm really enjoying watching the Olympics as always, watching sports that I will never, ever take the time to sit down and just watch otherwise. I won't seek it out, won't find it, won't look for it. And if I find it, I'll be like, I got too many other things to do. Just because it's the Olympics, though, but parked on couch. And I'm watching these sports, and some of them I'm thinking to myself, there is no way on planet Earth would I even attempt to do this. or even have it creep into my head, how can I try it?

43:16Right?

43:17Rich Eisen:Are you guys going through the same experience? For sure, for sure. You know, we've been watching, you know, Mike on this side, we've been watching the skeleton the last couple of days. Okay. Now, dude, the luge, the two-man luge. Yeah. Is the sport that I would not try at all, ever. I mean, look at this. First of all, you're sitting on another person, or you're having another person sit on you, lay on you. And again, I know I'm probably without knowledge here, okay? And by the way, one of my favorite posts I've seen about two-man luges, it's called Seated Rivalry. But you're going, you know, junk first, down a billion miles an hour.

44:09Rich Eisen:does the top person have the ability to steer is that what it is no no hold on a second like you could see it does look like number 10 has his legs uh near what looks like you could steer is that a break does the bottom guy steer and the top guy break because there's got to be a process here man it's not like the top guy just lays down and trusts the process right who would you rather be and the two-man luge. Whoever's got the most control of the craft. Because this is, I see, they go so fast. It's nuts. You know what I mean? Like, again, it's a control issue, too. Like, the single luge, like, you know, you're in charge of the whole damn thing.

44:54Rich Eisen:There's teamwork. Bottom guy doesn't see, really. Like, you're not seeing what's going on. Jeez. I think for me, the one that scares me the most is the ski jumping. Oh, boy. So you're starting at the tippy, tippy top of this hill, right? Already heights are kind of an issue. You're looking straight down. Yeah. And you're going however fast. Oh, my word. And then you just launch yourself into the air, and you're just supposed to land gracefully. But this part must be exhilarating, though, right? I mean, I guess the, like, four seconds when you feel like you're flying is probably cool, and then you're like, oh, God, I have to get down safely.

45:30No thanks. TJ? Well, you hit it with the two-man lose, right? Because like you said, you're on the bottom. You're just there for the ride. Are you or are you steering? Steering in the white. You can't see nothing. You can't see. That's true. You're there. You're like, Jesus, take the wheel at that point. You're just laying there. Here's the thing, though. I mean, I'm going to be real with you. A lot of my people don't take part in these Winter Olympic sports. It's a little too cold, right? But if they did, imagine some of these brothers from the NFL doing speed skiing. If we could get him. Saquon Barkley?

46:03Come on, Saquon as a speed skater? I mean, Kenneth Walker. Aye, aye, aye. Do you know, have him as a speed skater?

46:10Rich Eisen:No, let's cross country. It's chilly out there. The speed skating is something I would try. Yeah. Because, again, I know it's very skilled, okay? I know what I'm about to say sounds ridiculous. We've seen you skate. Yeah, right. I know. You know what I mean? But I get better at it. Rich, that's so disrespectful. No, no, hold on a second. That was disrespectful. It's the truth. It's not good. Susie once took video of it and then sent it to you guys. It was terrible. Weren't you wearing jeans? It was not good. The whole thing was awful because we were doing it in the summer with the kids up there in Idaho.

46:48Rich Eisen:But these skaters, like, they put their hands behind their back, and it looks like they're like a nice little skate. Short track. Speed skating is fun. That's the smaller track. Sprinting. This one, it looks like they're in a nice stroke. Yeah, 10 ,000 meters. And curling. Give me a rock. I'll sweep it. Oh, curling. Give me a broom and a rock. I got that. Curling. That's kind of my speed. I don't think I could get all the way down to release the stone. You know? I'm kind of down with some old school biathlon. The Ridge Eisen Show Podcast. Shot clocks, big shots, upsets, aces, TGL playoffs are here.

47:24First, Atlanta Drive starts their repeat run against Los Angeles Golf Club. Then Rory's Boston Common Golf and Tiger's Jupiter Lynx face off in their playoff debuts. Who will advance? Keep up. It's playoffs. Tune in Tuesday, March 17th at 6.30 p.m. and 9 p.m. only on ESPN and the ESPN app.