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TABLE TALK: NFL Draft Storylines! · The Philadelphia Sports Table | Philly Sports News & Views

0:28
Speaker 1: Welcome to Table Talk here at the Philadelphia Sports Table
0:31
Speaker 1: podcast show, the longest running weekly Philly sports podcast show in.
0:34
Speaker 2: The world, thirteen years strong.
0:36
Speaker 1: We're celebrating our thirteenth year here in the month of April.
0:40
Speaker 1: I'm Jeff Warren, and the NFL Draft is right around
0:43
Speaker 1: the corner. We've been diving into the NFL Draft of
0:46
Speaker 1: the past few weeks with some of the guests we've had.
0:48
Speaker 1: This week no different, and we're closing out our draft segment,
0:52
Speaker 1: and I should say, our Draft podcast before the NFL
0:55
Speaker 1: Draft this Thursday, with our good friend Mike Raymond from
0:58
Speaker 1: Fox Sports Radio of the Lehigh Valley. Been a good
1:01
Speaker 1: friend of the show for many years. Mike, my friend,
1:04
Speaker 1: thanks so much for taking the time.
1:05
Speaker 2: I appreciate it.
1:06
Speaker 3: It's almost a brand new league year, so I'm excited
1:09
Speaker 3: to talk about it. Yeah.
1:10
Speaker 2: Absolutely, dude.
1:11
Speaker 1: You've been talking a lot about this NFL Draft over
1:14
Speaker 1: the course of weeks now in Fox Sports Radio of
1:18
Speaker 1: the Lehigh Valley. By the way, folks, if you are
1:20
Speaker 1: watching on YouTube, you can see Mike's Twitter handle. He's
1:24
Speaker 1: also on various other social sites as well, Instagram, I
1:27
Speaker 1: know Blue Sky as well. At Mike Raymond LV for
1:31
Speaker 1: you audio listeners too. And you know, Mike's been putting
1:34
Speaker 1: out a dishing out some content with regard to the
1:36
Speaker 1: NFL Draft with a lot of other sports talk as well.
1:39
Speaker 1: But as we look at this draft, there are some
1:43
Speaker 1: folks who are diving into it saying, you know, a
1:46
Speaker 1: bit underwhelming at times. There are other folks that think
1:50
Speaker 1: there's some pretty good talent, maybe Day two type of
1:53
Speaker 1: talent that are going to make an impact in the NFL.
1:55
Speaker 1: Where are your thoughts on this right now, Mike, I think.
1:58
Speaker 3: You're finding that a lot of people are saying it
2:01
Speaker 3: lacks the punch of like, Okay, well, we know that
2:04
Speaker 3: next year is going to be the quarterback rich draft,
2:06
Speaker 3: and if you're looking to move on and get that
2:09
Speaker 3: next franchise quarterback, maybe next year is the time that
2:12
Speaker 3: you do it. You know, it looks no further than
2:14
Speaker 3: the Pittsburgh Steelers. They're going to have to, you know,
2:16
Speaker 3: come up with a contingency plan for Aaron Rodgers and
2:19
Speaker 3: so on and so forth. But like there's a lot
2:21
Speaker 3: of teams that are just kind of waiting around this
2:23
Speaker 3: year's draft, there's definitely some talent you can definitely go
2:26
Speaker 3: after you know, a lot of edge rushers early on,
2:30
Speaker 3: a lot of offensive tackles that your people are getting
2:32
Speaker 3: really excited about, especially in the first round, some playmaking
2:36
Speaker 3: wide receivers. So like I think there's if you look
2:39
Speaker 3: closely at certain position groups. Yeah, you might not have
2:42
Speaker 3: those big, flashy franchise quarterbacks that everybody likes to attach
2:45
Speaker 3: themselves with outside of maybe Francisco Men those at number one.
2:49
Speaker 3: But you know, you're talking about some guys that, you know,
2:53
Speaker 3: if you're looking to build up on edge rushers on
2:55
Speaker 3: an offensive line talent, this is a good draft to
2:57
Speaker 3: do that.
2:57
Speaker 2: Absolutely.
2:59
Speaker 1: Now, look before we get necessarily into the NFL draft,
3:02
Speaker 1: trades happen all the time in the NFL during the
3:05
Speaker 1: course of the offseason, and a trade that just happened
3:08
Speaker 1: within the past twenty four hours, want to get your
3:11
Speaker 1: thoughts on. I wasn't surprised because we know that over
3:16
Speaker 1: the past couple years, the New York Giants and defensive
3:19
Speaker 1: tackle Dexter Lawrence, it's just been going back and forth.
3:22
Speaker 1: I mean, this isn't something that just happened this offseason.
3:26
Speaker 1: It's been basically a two year process of is this
3:29
Speaker 1: guy going to be paid by the New York Giants,
3:31
Speaker 1: and the Giants are an interesting front office to say
3:35
Speaker 1: the least. And we now know Dexter Lawrence being traded
3:38
Speaker 1: to the Cincinnati Bengals, and the Giants are now picking
3:41
Speaker 1: twice within the top ten this Thursday Night. It's interesting
3:46
Speaker 1: how this may at some point effect the NFC East
3:49
Speaker 1: down the road. Philadelphia Eagles have been Division champs now
3:54
Speaker 1: over the past couple seasons, so obviously, being an Eagles fan,
3:58
Speaker 1: I'm interested to see what the New York Giants are
3:59
Speaker 1: going to be doing with these two top ten picks
4:03
Speaker 1: Thursday night. Mike, what are your thoughts on this deal overall?
4:07
Speaker 1: And and what's interesting to me is a team giving
4:10
Speaker 1: up the talent that Dexter Lawrence is. I mean, he's
4:12
Speaker 1: been to how many Pro Bowls at this point? I
4:14
Speaker 1: believe three four Pro Bowls at this point, and I'm
4:19
Speaker 1: just amazed that this team consistently, in my opinion, kind
4:23
Speaker 1: of fumbling the ball, you know, excuse the pun. I
4:26
Speaker 1: don't know, maybe they didn't. That's why i want to
4:28
Speaker 1: get your thoughts. I mean, who do you think potentially
4:30
Speaker 1: quote won this deal, Cincinnati Bengals or New York Giants.
4:34
Speaker 2: What are you thinking.
4:35
Speaker 3: So if you listen to the show A Happy Hour
4:37
Speaker 3: on Fox Sports Radio, I'm one of the regular co
4:39
Speaker 3: hosts and the other co host who I split the
4:42
Speaker 3: time with. His name's Connor and as a Giant fan
4:45
Speaker 3: through and through. He actually lives in Jersey, not too
4:47
Speaker 3: far away. I was actually with him when it happened.
4:50
Speaker 3: He came through the push notifications and he nearly lost
4:53
Speaker 3: his mind, like he blew a fuse. Yes, trying to
4:55
Speaker 3: enjoy his birthday and ultimately it didn't work out that well. So,
5:00
Speaker 3: you know, trying to kind of good dude. I'm sure
5:04
Speaker 3: he'll be resilient. But you know, the first thing that
5:07
Speaker 3: I thought of when we heard the news break was, well,
5:10
Speaker 3: this is a new era of New York Giants football,
5:11
Speaker 3: and even more so from the front office standpoint, because
5:14
Speaker 3: you talk about Joe Shane, the longtime general manager for
5:17
Speaker 3: the for the New York Giants. You know, he is
5:20
Speaker 3: still the general manager of this team, but it's a
5:22
Speaker 3: unique setup now with the new head coach and John Harball.
5:26
Speaker 3: We found out that as part of his deal, he
5:29
Speaker 3: has a direct line to ownership. It's not necessarily you know,
5:32
Speaker 3: Joe Shane and you know it doesn't necessarily have to
5:35
Speaker 3: go through that a layer there. And you know, I
5:39
Speaker 3: think this was a move that you know, from the
5:41
Speaker 3: top down, you're thinking John Harball, I want to establish
5:43
Speaker 3: a certain level of or just put his own stamp
5:47
Speaker 3: on it. I think I think he's a He's a
5:49
Speaker 3: disciplined kind of guy, and I just didn't think that
5:51
Speaker 3: maybe from an organizational standpoint, that they wanted to deal
5:54
Speaker 3: with the back and forth with Dexter Lawrence. I think
5:56
Speaker 3: they gave it a fair shot. You would have liked
5:58
Speaker 3: to see this happen when agency opened up and you know,
6:01
Speaker 3: maybe get a little bit more for him, but to
6:03
Speaker 3: still get a top ten pick out of it, I
6:05
Speaker 3: think you're getting something in return. And I think now
6:08
Speaker 3: it's on Joe Shane in the scouting department to come
6:10
Speaker 3: up with a really good plan to what you're going
6:11
Speaker 3: to do there. I don't think they'll be moving around
6:14
Speaker 3: too much. I would think you would pick both at
6:16
Speaker 3: both five and ten. And you know, I think when
6:20
Speaker 3: it comes to the Bengals, you had a situation where
6:24
Speaker 3: Trey Hendrickson's moved on, so you need another anchor of
6:27
Speaker 3: that defensive line. And now Cincinnati has that even though
6:31
Speaker 3: you could say, well, why didn't they just draft a
6:32
Speaker 3: defensive lineman, Well, night, there wasn't too many defensive tackles
6:35
Speaker 3: that you were going to be taking, you know, taking
6:37
Speaker 3: a ten there, so that it's not a rich defensive
6:40
Speaker 3: tackle draft. So the Bengals got a proven commodity. And listen,
6:43
Speaker 3: this is kind of in the same vein as what
6:46
Speaker 3: the Rams have done. The Rams have made one first
6:48
Speaker 3: round pick in the past ten years, so it's like,
6:51
Speaker 3: why not go for the proven commodity, you know on
6:53
Speaker 3: the defensive. You know, you could hope they get you
6:56
Speaker 3: get a deal and you know you have a young
6:58
Speaker 3: talent that you don't have to pay as much, but
7:00
Speaker 3: you know, top ten picks still get paid pretty well.
7:03
Speaker 3: So yeah, you're talking about, you know, just getting a
7:05
Speaker 3: proven come out again the defensive a defensive tackle with
7:08
Speaker 3: exter Lawrence, and I think that he has an immediate
7:10
Speaker 3: impact right there for Cincinnati and you're going to need
7:12
Speaker 3: it in that tough AFC North division, So I think
7:15
Speaker 3: it's win win for both. Now, remember the last time
7:17
Speaker 3: the Giants had two first round picks, it was Kevon
7:20
Speaker 3: Thibodeau and Evan Neils. You're going to need. You're going
7:23
Speaker 3: to need to hit a little bit better with two
7:27
Speaker 3: first rounds coming up here on Thursday.
7:29
Speaker 1: Absolutely, And look, there is another New York team, another
7:34
Speaker 1: New York football team. Some folks may have forgotten about them,
7:37
Speaker 1: but yes, volks, the New York Jets. Another team that's
7:42
Speaker 1: going to be picking high in this draft, like the
7:45
Speaker 1: New York Giants, But the New York Jets are picking
7:47
Speaker 1: number two overall, and from reports, it seems as though
7:50
Speaker 1: they're going to be prioritizing defense with the second pick
7:54
Speaker 1: instead of trying to get that quarterback of the future
7:57
Speaker 1: that they've been wanting and needing for quite some time.
7:59
Speaker 1: You mention, and not necessarily a quarterback rich class this year,
8:04
Speaker 1: perhaps waiting for next year to draft the draft that
8:06
Speaker 1: franchise quarterback of the future. Mike, how do you see
8:10
Speaker 1: the New York Jets approaching the number two overall pick
8:12
Speaker 1: this year? And I'm asking this specifically because look, frankly,
8:16
Speaker 1: not too many folks care about the Jets. They really don't,
8:18
Speaker 1: but because of the incompetence that we've seen year after
8:21
Speaker 1: year after year. But I think this is an interesting
8:23
Speaker 1: potential foundation for them, a foundational base pick that could
8:28
Speaker 1: lead to things in the future. Not a lot of
8:30
Speaker 1: talk is being given with the New York Jets this year.
8:33
Speaker 1: That's why I wanted to get into it with you here.
8:34
Speaker 1: What are your thoughts here?
8:36
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think the Jets, you know, nowhere to go
8:38
Speaker 3: but up after a three to fourteen season, and like,
8:42
Speaker 3: you know, we know that the name of the game
8:44
Speaker 3: is defense, and I think, yeah, you want to get
8:46
Speaker 3: a nice cornerstone piece for that defense, a gung cornerstone piece.
8:49
Speaker 3: To me, this is going to be the interesting part
8:51
Speaker 3: of the you know, the NFL Draft. You don't have
8:53
Speaker 3: to wait very late in the draft. It's pick number
8:56
Speaker 3: two because you know, if you're looking at potentially taking
8:59
Speaker 3: that edge rusher, which everybody seems to think the Jets
9:02
Speaker 3: are going to lean towards, is it going to be
9:04
Speaker 3: David Bailey or is it going to be Rvel Reese
9:07
Speaker 3: out of Ohio State. You know, I think a lot
9:09
Speaker 3: of people are pointing to David Bailey out of Texas Tech.
9:12
Speaker 3: You had a really, really great season last year, and
9:14
Speaker 3: you know, drawing comparisons to Nick Bonito six four, two
9:19
Speaker 3: d and fifty pounds, like he looks the part. He's
9:20
Speaker 3: probably the best player at that position. But you you
9:24
Speaker 3: look at Arvel Reese and the way he's kind of constructed. Yeah,
9:27
Speaker 3: he's a linebacker, but he's going to try to play
9:29
Speaker 3: that edge position, and he might be the best player
9:31
Speaker 3: in this draft defensively. You know, Jared Jeremiah Love might
9:35
Speaker 3: hold that title for the offensive side of the ball,
9:37
Speaker 3: but I think Rvil Reese, you know, you look around
9:40
Speaker 3: and see these players in this draft, I think he
9:41
Speaker 3: has a really good claim to be the top overall
9:44
Speaker 3: defensive player in this draft. So will will the Jets
9:47
Speaker 3: go Reese? Will they go David Bailey? I think that's
9:49
Speaker 3: the first fork in the road we see in this
9:50
Speaker 3: draft coming up on Thursday, and you know, I think
9:53
Speaker 3: they'll probably go David Bailey, But you never know. The
9:56
Speaker 3: Jets are just known to think back to the old Well,
9:59
Speaker 3: we could get Warrant Stapp, We'll draft Kyle Brady instead
10:02
Speaker 3: of tight end. Yes, we'll go We'll do that. So, yes,
10:06
Speaker 3: you never know what the Jets are they are going
10:08
Speaker 3: to do. And that's kind of why it's it's kind
10:11
Speaker 3: of like a soap opera. You kind of just show
10:13
Speaker 3: up and watch the drama.
10:14
Speaker 2: Absolutely, it's a great way to describe.
10:16
Speaker 1: It, Mike, and I think as we pivot to the
10:19
Speaker 1: offensive side of the ball and specifically the quarterback position,
10:23
Speaker 1: quarterbacks in this draft, most notably Fernando Mendoza, Ty Simpson,
10:28
Speaker 1: you know, Carson Beck out of Miami, of course, the
10:31
Speaker 1: guy we've been watching for years as Penn State fans,
10:33
Speaker 1: Drew Aller. These are the quarterbacks being talked about possibly
10:37
Speaker 1: making some sort of impact in the NFL in the future. Look,
10:43
Speaker 1: we've talked about Mendoza a lot over the past few
10:45
Speaker 1: weeks on this podcast platform, and there's a belief that
10:48
Speaker 1: he can be a franchise altering quarterback for the Raiders.
10:52
Speaker 1: I don't think that's necessarily disputable at all, But I'm wondering,
10:56
Speaker 1: how do you see some of these other quarterbacks really
10:59
Speaker 1: stacking up in terms of providing quarterback stability and really
11:05
Speaker 1: making a strong shift from the college ranks to the
11:08
Speaker 1: NFL ranks, which is extremely difficult, especially for a guy
11:11
Speaker 1: liked like we've been watching Drew Aller for for the
11:14
Speaker 1: past couple of years here, So, like, what are your
11:15
Speaker 1: thoughts on these other quarterbacks?
11:17
Speaker 3: If we're talking stability, you know, I'm hesitant to attach
11:21
Speaker 3: that word to Ty Simpson just because we've seen just
11:24
Speaker 3: too small of a sample size thus far. He looked Okay,
11:28
Speaker 3: he's playing at Alabama, and he played at Alabama in
11:30
Speaker 3: a down year. But you argue that Ryan Williams was
11:33
Speaker 3: supposed to be one of these best wide receivers out
11:35
Speaker 3: there didn't really turn out for him either. It was
11:37
Speaker 3: that Ty Simpson was that the Kaln de Boorr offense.
11:40
Speaker 3: You know, there's a couple different factors. It's been such
11:42
Speaker 3: a small sample size from Ty Simpson, from Kalen de
11:44
Speaker 3: Boorr post Nick Saban. So I don't know who to
11:46
Speaker 3: blame with that. That being said, I understand there's a
11:49
Speaker 3: little bit of hype around him and this might be
11:51
Speaker 3: the classic. You know, we don't want anybody else beyond
11:56
Speaker 3: Ty Simpson. So we're going to have to come up
11:58
Speaker 3: and you know, into the first round, on the back
12:00
Speaker 3: half of the first round and maybe take a chance
12:02
Speaker 3: on Ty Simpson in the best a scenario for Simpson
12:05
Speaker 3: would be that he has to go to a place
12:07
Speaker 3: where he does he can sit for a year or
12:08
Speaker 3: two and you know, do the Aaron Rodgers behind Bref
12:11
Speaker 3: barv and you know, let's let's see if he can
12:13
Speaker 3: fall into the right position. It's not like Fernando Mendoza's
12:17
Speaker 3: like he's going in week one. They don't even have
12:20
Speaker 3: like a backup contingency plan, like you are the starter,
12:22
Speaker 3: here you go and here's the keys in the car.
12:25
Speaker 3: I think Fernando Mendoza might have a little bit of
12:27
Speaker 3: growing pains. I think he's great in between the ears.
12:30
Speaker 3: But past Fernando Mendoza, I don't have a lot of
12:32
Speaker 3: confidence in the rest of the crop. There people say
12:36
Speaker 3: perhaps Carson Beck could be the best of the next tier.
12:40
Speaker 3: It's Mendoza clear the one A and then of course
12:42
Speaker 3: Ty Simpson like two, and then Carson Beck is the
12:46
Speaker 3: best out of what Drew Aller Garrett asmyer, right, and
12:50
Speaker 3: you know, I don't know Taylor Green likes. That's That's
12:55
Speaker 3: kind of where my head goes now in terms for Aler.
12:58
Speaker 3: This is the one thing that I will say for
12:59
Speaker 3: Drew a lot of experience, mixed reviews as to his
13:05
Speaker 3: development from the NFL perspective, how they look at his
13:08
Speaker 3: development at Penn State and who was responsible for the
13:11
Speaker 3: lack of development.
13:12
Speaker 2: So it's the lack of development, yes, right.
13:16
Speaker 3: But I still think his his traits, you know, with
13:20
Speaker 3: the height and the vision and the arm strength, like
13:24
Speaker 3: you can mold him into something. Now, will that be
13:26
Speaker 3: a starting quarterback in the NFL? I don't see that
13:29
Speaker 3: happening in twenty twenty six or even twenty twenty seven.
13:32
Speaker 3: But you know, if again falls into the right spot,
13:34
Speaker 3: he could potentially be a guy who could be a
13:36
Speaker 3: long term solution. Like I could see him being a
13:39
Speaker 3: Kirk Cousins, like when given the opportunity, like he understands
13:43
Speaker 3: the game in a way that people will really like,
13:46
Speaker 3: the coaches will really you know, gravitate to. So I
13:51
Speaker 3: think that Drew Aller could potentially be something. It's kind
13:54
Speaker 3: of on him at this point to prove his worth
13:56
Speaker 3: because the tape leaves something to be desired in certain areas.
14:02
Speaker 1: Yes, it absolutely does, dude. We've been watching him now
14:05
Speaker 1: for how many years? And and the real question is
14:08
Speaker 1: how coachable is he? I think at the end of
14:11
Speaker 1: the day, like for me, when I'm looking at Drew Aller,
14:14
Speaker 1: how coachable is he? And I actually don't think we
14:16
Speaker 1: even know at this point, Mike, I don't think we
14:19
Speaker 1: know that.
14:21
Speaker 3: I think I think his intention in his dedication would
14:24
Speaker 3: be that he would that he would invest the time
14:27
Speaker 3: necessary to be successful, whether that translates into success on
14:31
Speaker 3: the field. You know, I think he's going to need
14:33
Speaker 3: a lot of reps. Yeah, the under the right quarterback
14:36
Speaker 3: coach and the right offense to be successful.
14:38
Speaker 2: Absolutely.
14:39
Speaker 1: All right, folks, we are going to take a break,
14:42
Speaker 1: and then when we get back, we're going to talk
14:44
Speaker 1: about a lot more NFL Draft talk with certain teams
14:47
Speaker 1: may be doing in terms of their team rebuilds. But again,
14:50
Speaker 1: we are talking to Mike Raymond from Spock Sports Radio
14:53
Speaker 1: of the Lehigh Valley. Buddy promo some stuff out there
14:56
Speaker 1: before we go to break.
14:58
Speaker 3: Yeah, for sure. If you if you go out to
15:00
Speaker 3: our website, go to lv foxsports dot com slash Draft.
15:03
Speaker 3: We have a draft contest. You can win some gift
15:05
Speaker 3: cards to some local restaurants here in the Lehigh Valley
15:08
Speaker 3: and you can also see our draft board. We have
15:11
Speaker 3: an expert mock draft that we talk with different beat
15:14
Speaker 3: reporters and radio hosts and newspaper people from all the
15:17
Speaker 3: different markets in the NFL, and all of that content's
15:21
Speaker 3: available on our website and you can see who we
15:23
Speaker 3: talked to, who they picked in our expert mock draft,
15:26
Speaker 3: which will conclude on Tuesday, April twenty first, with the
15:30
Speaker 3: last two picks of the Patriots and Seahawks, the Super
15:33
Speaker 3: Bowl representatives. So we're almost all the way through here.
15:36
Speaker 3: But lvfoxsports dot com. You can get all of our
15:39
Speaker 3: local shows, all the podcasts there as well, so check
15:42
Speaker 3: it out ELV foxsports dot Com slash Draft if you
15:44
Speaker 3: want to get into the contest.
15:45
Speaker 2: There you go.
15:46
Speaker 1: NFL Draft is a fun time of the year, folks,
15:48
Speaker 1: And when we get back after this break, we're going
15:51
Speaker 1: to dive into more NFL Draft talk. Stick with us, right,
15:56
Speaker 1: We are back with our good friend Mike Raymond from
15:59
Speaker 1: Fox Sports of the Lehigh Valley. And as we know, Mike,
16:05
Speaker 1: drafts are so important building strong team in the future.
16:09
Speaker 1: A lot of NFL teams they want young guys. They
16:12
Speaker 1: want it for the contracts, they want it for the energy.
16:14
Speaker 1: They wanted to be able to mold certain players. It's
16:18
Speaker 1: not only a science. The draft is not only a science,
16:21
Speaker 1: but a lot of teams actually end up missing out
16:24
Speaker 1: on talent because it's not a perfect evaluation process. You know,
16:28
Speaker 1: it really is a gamble at times which teams picking
16:32
Speaker 1: which players because of need. Are are there teams that
16:35
Speaker 1: are just picking what they believe to be best available.
16:39
Speaker 1: It's it's always a fascinating process to me and how
16:42
Speaker 1: it has evolved over the years. That said, I'm wondering
16:46
Speaker 1: which teams, in your opinion, really need to have a
16:49
Speaker 1: solid draft to start shifting momentum for their team and
16:54
Speaker 1: their franchise over the next two years or so. I mean,
16:58
Speaker 1: for me, I'm gonna say now, I think the Carolina Panthers.
17:02
Speaker 2: Yes, they got to the playoffs.
17:04
Speaker 1: They play in a terrible division, they did not have
17:06
Speaker 1: a good record, But I think that they can shift
17:08
Speaker 1: some momentum for their team and franchise with this draft,
17:12
Speaker 1: in particular, where they could potentially be a threat in
17:16
Speaker 1: the NFC down the road. That's my team that I'm
17:19
Speaker 1: going to really be looking at from an overall perspective.
17:22
Speaker 2: What about you in terms of Yeah, what about you
17:24
Speaker 2: in terms of the team you're looking at?
17:26
Speaker 3: Yeah? Actually I was when I was going to answer
17:28
Speaker 3: this question. Initially, I was going to go in the
17:29
Speaker 3: same division with the New Orleans Saints or right in
17:31
Speaker 3: the year two of Kellen Moore. Tyler Shuck seemed to
17:34
Speaker 3: be you know, this unknown commodity when they drafted him
17:37
Speaker 3: last year and you know, when given the opportunity and
17:40
Speaker 3: he was inserted as the starter, there looked pretty good.
17:43
Speaker 3: And you can say, is that Kellen Moore's offense or
17:45
Speaker 3: is that the fact that they maybe got a steal
17:48
Speaker 3: last year in Round three? I say, yeah, so you know,
17:52
Speaker 3: think about that. You know, you know at New Orleans
17:55
Speaker 3: Saints start the year a little bit better, or maybe
17:58
Speaker 3: even start the year with Tyler Schuck onunder center. What
18:00
Speaker 3: is this team looking like? They finished six and eleven,
18:02
Speaker 3: but they had such a slow start. So I'm interested
18:05
Speaker 3: to see what the Saints do. I'm also interested to
18:08
Speaker 3: see a team like the Dolphins, who are in the
18:10
Speaker 3: midst of a complete rebuild. Uh. That is an interesting
18:14
Speaker 3: uh from starting quarterback all the way down, like Malik Willis,
18:19
Speaker 3: is he going to be anything to be to write
18:21
Speaker 3: home about? In Devon h Chan be the same running
18:25
Speaker 3: back you know known now that he is literally the
18:28
Speaker 3: feature portion of this offense because all the other wide
18:31
Speaker 3: receiver talent is elsewhere. You got uh, you know, no
18:35
Speaker 3: more Tyreek Hill, you got no more uh jala Jalen
18:38
Speaker 3: Watnall went out to Denver. So that's gonna be another
18:41
Speaker 3: one that I'm interesting interested for I would actually say
18:44
Speaker 3: the Raiders. But like the Raiders, I think took care
18:47
Speaker 3: of a lot of stuff in free agency and I
18:48
Speaker 3: think they've kind of set themselves up nice. Now that's
18:51
Speaker 3: a tough division to compete in, yeah, but I still
18:54
Speaker 3: think they did pretty well via free agency. And then
18:57
Speaker 3: of course, a team like the Arizona Cardinals, like post
19:00
Speaker 3: Kyler Murray, what are you going to do. What's the
19:03
Speaker 3: identity of this team? Can you build it through the draft? Yeah,
19:05
Speaker 3: you got Marvin Harrison junior, but Jacoby Brissetts or starting quarterbacks?
19:09
Speaker 3: So what are you putting around these guys to be
19:13
Speaker 3: a little bit more competitive in a division where you know,
19:16
Speaker 3: you have the forty nine ers Rams and the defending
19:18
Speaker 3: champions right in Seahawks, so you know those those bottom
19:23
Speaker 3: of those bottom dwellers. I always kind of gravitate too
19:26
Speaker 3: when it comes to the NFL draft, like how much
19:28
Speaker 3: of a difference can you make in one draft? And
19:31
Speaker 3: are you getting the value? Are you doing the best
19:33
Speaker 3: player available because you have a little bit more of
19:35
Speaker 3: a luxury there. You know, a team like the Buffalo Bills,
19:38
Speaker 3: like they have a pretty much complete roster, a franchise quarterback.
19:42
Speaker 3: They just need to put together on the field. They
19:44
Speaker 3: have the assets, but do they There's so many different
19:48
Speaker 3: missing assets from all the teams that I just met mentioned,
19:51
Speaker 3: So that's why it's a little bit more fun for
19:53
Speaker 3: me to watch like those bottom dwellers from last year
19:55
Speaker 3: and how they can rebound it and build their team
19:57
Speaker 3: for the future.
19:58
Speaker 2: Absolutely.
19:59
Speaker 1: Look, you just mentioned the team that I'm going to
20:01
Speaker 1: be fascinated to see what they do. Team you have
20:03
Speaker 1: followed closely over the years. That's San Francisco forty nine Ers.
20:07
Speaker 1: I mean, I look at this team. They've certainly made
20:11
Speaker 1: changes over the years, gotten rid of some talent. They've
20:16
Speaker 1: certainly added some talent as well, both on the offensive
20:19
Speaker 1: and defensive sides of the ball. I've looked at the
20:21
Speaker 1: forty nine Ers as as a as a franchise and
20:27
Speaker 1: a team that has been so injured over all of
20:30
Speaker 1: these years, and because of that, there has been specific
20:34
Speaker 1: retooling aspects.
20:35
Speaker 2: Of the team.
20:36
Speaker 1: Yet yet they still remain a relevant team that folks
20:41
Speaker 1: should keep their eyes out for. And a lot of
20:44
Speaker 1: that is because of Kyle Shanahan too. And I wonder
20:46
Speaker 1: how do you think the forty nine Ers front office
20:50
Speaker 1: and Kyle Shanahan. How do you think they're looking at
20:52
Speaker 1: this draft in terms of their team building for the
20:54
Speaker 1: future and hoping to stay relevant not only within the
20:57
Speaker 1: division but in the NFC in general.
21:00
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's interesting. A lot of things came into focus
21:04
Speaker 3: in the past twenty four hours now that they have
21:07
Speaker 3: Trent Williams locked up for the next two years. I
21:10
Speaker 3: know that John Lynch, the GM had made statements that
21:13
Speaker 3: he was confident that this deal was going to get done,
21:15
Speaker 3: but until the ink is dry on the paper, you
21:19
Speaker 3: still have that apprehension. But Trent Williams, you know, he
21:22
Speaker 3: hasn't been the healthiest, but when he is healthy, he
21:25
Speaker 3: is a freak athlete and he is one of the
21:28
Speaker 3: best offensive linemen in the history of this league. So
21:31
Speaker 3: that's a huge piece. My big concern this year is
21:34
Speaker 3: how diverse can the offense be because outside of Christian
21:38
Speaker 3: McCaffrey last year, who they worked and worked and worked,
21:42
Speaker 3: and even when he wanted to come out of the games,
21:44
Speaker 3: he wasn't coming out of the games because Kyle Shanahan.
21:46
Speaker 3: Maybe he wasn't getting the ball that play, but they
21:48
Speaker 3: needed the defense to respect the fact that he was
21:51
Speaker 3: on the field catching the ball. Running the ball whatever
21:53
Speaker 3: they needed to do. So. Can the addition of Mike
21:56
Speaker 3: Evans and Christian Kirk in the wide receiver room, you know,
21:59
Speaker 3: takes of the focus away from Christian McCaffrey. I hope so.
22:03
Speaker 3: And that gives brock Purty a little bit more, you know,
22:06
Speaker 3: more weapons to kind of feed the ball to. Can
22:09
Speaker 3: George Kittle stay healthy. He's still one of the best
22:11
Speaker 3: tight ends in the league when healthy. They brought back
22:15
Speaker 3: Jake Tongs at the tight end position. I think you
22:18
Speaker 3: got to figure out the left guard position, but I
22:20
Speaker 3: like where where they're at in terms of the rest
22:23
Speaker 3: of the offensive line. And then on the defensive line,
22:26
Speaker 3: they got to figure out how to get after the quarterback.
22:29
Speaker 3: I think there was like a total of twenty or
22:30
Speaker 3: twenty two sacks total for the year last year. That
22:33
Speaker 3: is unacceptable. Now, I understand Nick Bosa goes down with
22:35
Speaker 3: an injury. You mentioned the injury problems. And with this
22:38
Speaker 3: microphone and this laptop and my ears, I have too
22:41
Speaker 3: much electricity around me right now. And I'm I'm a
22:43
Speaker 3: typical forty nine er fan and I'm I'm so scared
22:46
Speaker 3: of what's going on in the clubstation. That's next to
22:49
Speaker 3: the practice. But I kid, but you know, they've just
22:53
Speaker 3: been snake bitten when it comes to injuries, and it's really,
22:57
Speaker 3: you know, hurting their chance is in a window where
23:01
Speaker 3: you have so many superstars in their prime but getting
23:04
Speaker 3: towards the end of their prime, especially when it comes
23:06
Speaker 3: to Trent Williams will be thirty eight in a month
23:09
Speaker 3: or so, So you know, you got to find a
23:12
Speaker 3: way to get after the passer. I expect if they
23:14
Speaker 3: don't go wide receiver first round, I expect them to
23:16
Speaker 3: go for a pass rush and they still need a
23:18
Speaker 3: little bit of help on the offensive line. But got
23:21
Speaker 3: to get Michael will Williams healthy. You got to get
23:23
Speaker 3: Nick Bosa healthy. And Drake Greenlaw is back in the
23:27
Speaker 3: linebacker corps after spending some time in Denver. It worked
23:30
Speaker 3: out well when he was there, you know, right next
23:32
Speaker 3: to Fred Warner, who is the best linebacker in this league.
23:35
Speaker 3: I'm not going to even want to argue when we
23:38
Speaker 3: fight me, fight me, he is the best linebacker in
23:41
Speaker 3: this league. But a lot of a lot of question marks,
23:44
Speaker 3: but some good solid cornerstone pieces still part of this franchise.
23:49
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think the forty nine ers should probably go
23:52
Speaker 1: pass Rusher. Given how the board looks, I think that's
23:54
Speaker 1: probably from a strategic standpoint, best best scenario for them.
24:00
Speaker 1: But as we're concluding our conversation here, I really just
24:04
Speaker 1: want to get some overall thoughts from you as it
24:06
Speaker 1: pertains to this draft. If you've been you know, I
24:09
Speaker 1: know you've been again talking about it a lot on
24:11
Speaker 1: Fox Sports Radio the Lehigh Valley been talking about this
24:14
Speaker 1: draft and the talent. Are there any hidden gems in
24:16
Speaker 1: this draft that you really have your eyes on, perhaps
24:19
Speaker 1: in later rounds? What are your thoughts?
24:22
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, it depends kind of what the need is, obviously,
24:25
Speaker 3: but we're talking the most important quarterback position here. I
24:30
Speaker 3: would definitely look at Illinois Luke Altmeyer. He's a guy
24:33
Speaker 3: that if you know, we watched Big Ten football all
24:35
Speaker 3: the time, Jeff, we know we've seen this guy. He
24:38
Speaker 3: could be that that that nice surprise at the quarterback position.
24:43
Speaker 3: Guys like Kate Klubnick, who we thought were gonna be
24:45
Speaker 3: one of the best players in college football going into
24:48
Speaker 3: last year. That's as kind of down and I like
24:51
Speaker 3: what I saw out of Luke Altmeyer at the quarterback position.
24:55
Speaker 3: I'll give you a homer pick in Kate tron Allen
24:57
Speaker 3: at the running back position.
24:58
Speaker 2: Yeah.
25:00
Speaker 3: Also really like Emmett Johnson out of Nebraska at the
25:02
Speaker 3: running back position. Now, those guys are definitely Day three guys,
25:06
Speaker 3: you know. I'm definitely thinking that's where we're going to
25:09
Speaker 3: end up there. Tight End Max Claire out of Ohio State.
25:12
Speaker 3: He's probably one of the top three on the board,
25:14
Speaker 3: but most likely a Day two or three pick, depending
25:18
Speaker 3: on you know. The rush on tight ends, I think
25:20
Speaker 3: it's really just Kenyan Sadik, who's a first round talent
25:23
Speaker 3: and in the first round out of Oregon. Yeah, and
25:26
Speaker 3: then it's kind of everybody else, people like the kid
25:27
Speaker 3: out of Vanderbilt, Eli Stowers. Yeah, so he'd be an
25:32
Speaker 3: interesting one. Yeah, there's those are a couple of guys
25:35
Speaker 3: that I off on my radar at this point. But yeah,
25:39
Speaker 3: on the offensive side, what I really want to see
25:41
Speaker 3: is where Benga goes Venga Yoana for Penn State. I
25:44
Speaker 3: think he's gonna be a first round pat talent, but
25:46
Speaker 3: he is the best guard on the board. Uh, And
25:48
Speaker 3: I'm really excited because he's going to be the first
25:50
Speaker 3: Penn State player off the board.
25:51
Speaker 1: I really hope it's not a crap team, you know,
25:53
Speaker 1: I just know I always I always feel that way
25:56
Speaker 1: with Penn State players, Like, please just don't go to
25:58
Speaker 1: a crap team where you're gonna lane anguish in your
26:01
Speaker 1: talent away because these certain teams just don't have a
26:04
Speaker 1: vision of what they want to do with certain talent.
26:07
Speaker 2: Got it. I hope he doesn't go to the Browns.
26:09
Speaker 3: I can see a world. I can see a world
26:11
Speaker 3: where he ends up in like like Detroit. Yeah, like
26:15
Speaker 3: somewhere somewhere in the neighborhood of like twelve to twenty.
26:18
Speaker 3: I can see him going, Yeah, you have the Panthers,
26:21
Speaker 3: like you mentioned, you have the Vikings in there, the Lions.
26:23
Speaker 3: So I think a couple of teams that could benefit
26:26
Speaker 3: from his services, or even just somebody like I can.
26:28
Speaker 3: I would love if the forty nine ers got creative.
26:30
Speaker 3: They have multiple fourth round picks. If you can package
26:34
Speaker 3: something together and move up the board to grab Venga,
26:36
Speaker 3: that would really take care of a position of need
26:39
Speaker 3: for my San Francisco forty nine ers.
26:40
Speaker 1: I tell you, it's gonna be fun to watch this Thursday, Friday,
26:44
Speaker 1: and Saturday, folks, the NFL Draft. Our friend Mike Raymond
26:48
Speaker 1: from Fox Sports Radio of the Lee High Value, my friend,
26:51
Speaker 1: thank you so much for taking the time to jump on.
26:53
Speaker 1: It's always great talking with you. Let's talk more football
26:56
Speaker 1: in the future talks.
26:57
Speaker 2: We can talk some.
26:57
Speaker 1: Other sports too, for God's sake, I always have you
26:59
Speaker 1: all talking football, but you're a plethor of not.
27:03
Speaker 3: I appreciate it. If you want to talk to baseball,
27:05
Speaker 3: I'm ready to go. NBA playoffs, I don't. I don't
27:07
Speaker 3: watch the NBA till the playoff time, so.
27:09
Speaker 2: I can't even do it. I can't do it.
27:11
Speaker 1: The Sixers Celtics nonsense has just it's it's enraged me
27:15
Speaker 1: to the point where I actually haven't we haven't been
27:17
Speaker 1: talking about the Sixers much on this podcast.
27:19
Speaker 2: I can't deal with it. I can't deal with it.
27:21
Speaker 3: Well, I was saying earlier today. You know, at least
27:24
Speaker 3: showel embiid isn't dealing with like a back injury or
27:26
Speaker 3: a knee injury this time. It's just regular appendectomy surgery.
27:30
Speaker 3: That's just you talk about the worst possible timing.
27:32
Speaker 2: Yes, absolutely, absolutely there.
27:35
Speaker 3: Yeah, Hey, we can talk Blue and White weekend that's
27:37
Speaker 3: coming on this weekend too. Who you want to bring
27:41
Speaker 3: me back on? Jeff I'm ready to talk.
27:43
Speaker 1: That's gonna do it for us here on Table Talk
27:46
Speaker 1: this week. Please share our podcast with your friends and
27:48
Speaker 1: family members who are Philly sports fans or sports fans
27:52
Speaker 1: in general. We thank you our listeners for being part
27:56
Speaker 1: of this online community with us and within this space.
27:59
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28:03
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28:06
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28:10
Speaker 1: threads at Philadelphia Sports Table, and over on Instagram as well.
28:15
Speaker 2: Take care and we'll catch you next time.