Latest / Know Your Personnel Pod / KYP - Ep#6 - Top 10 Mock Draft, Maxx Crosby, NFL Free Agency & Do The Cowboys Have a Plan
Transcript
- Nathan Hawthorne: is insane. ⁓ Are you kidding me right now? ⁓ my Okay. ⁓ Ladies gentlemen, wow. Welcome to episode six of KYP, AKA the Know Your Personnel podcast. I can't fathom what I just saw, what just came across my desk, perhaps the hottest thing I've seen in years. Jarod McInroy: Bruh, what? Nathan Hawthorne: The Ravens, the Ravens just backed out of the trade for Max Crosby? What is that? Also, I'm here with my co-host, Jared Mackamor, as you can see, we are absolutely ⁓ befuddled, if you will, about what's going on. Okay, Ravens just backed out, what's happening? It looks like you're reading it, what's happening right now? What's going on? Jarod McInroy: Yeah. I'm trying to find anything I can at the moment. I'm not seeing any details or anything regarding why this is happening. ⁓ This is, yeah, I don't know what to say right now. All I can see is just the headline that ravens are out. So I don't know what fell through ⁓ or what transpired to make that happen, but, hmm. What do we think? Nathan Hawthorne: This is... Dude. I'm seeing, was this a rogue? Is this a like a rogue notification? Like something that accidentally went live later? Because I can't find anything else on this. Jarod McInroy: I'm seeing it on ESPN from Adam Schefter at 5 p.m. Pacific, which means 11 minutes ago. It was just fired off. So ⁓ I'm guessing he got the inside scoop and there's details to come. don't quite know, but ⁓ that's crazy. We were just going to talk about the impact of Max Crosby moving on to the Ravens and them having to give up two first round picks for him. Yeah, I mean, the deal sounded great from both sides. Nathan Hawthorne: Right. Ray. Wow. Jarod McInroy: So that's where I'm really interested to ⁓ maybe there was an issue with this physical. I know he's had some injuries that he's been dealing with. We kind of had the issue at the end of the season where he wanted to play and the Raiders shut him down. ⁓ So maybe there is more ⁓ lingering pain that we aren't aware of or ⁓ strain on. I forget which injury it was that he was even dealing with this time around, but ⁓ that's tough. mean. That's what happens when you have an injury prone guy who, ⁓ and I don't want to label anyone injury prone, but ⁓ somebody who's dealt with a lot of injuries. Let's just say. I don't know. Nathan Hawthorne: Yeah, what would have prompt that unless somebody called and you know called the Raiders and said hey, I've got a deal I can beat that right because tomorrow you can't sign contracts officially until tomorrow the new league year March 11th, right? You can't sign these things Right, know. ⁓ yeah. Mmm. That was really dumb to say. Yeah, what would have caused this? Jarod McInroy: Well the issue is this is the raiders or the ravens are backing out. So. So from their perspective... Again, it's gotta be something to do with his health, would assume. And again, I guess there's no point in speculating, because we'll get some news here pretty soon. ⁓ Weird, weird. Don't know what to say. Nathan Hawthorne: Yeah. Well, listen folks, stay locked right here and we will have all the news on Max Crosby as this scene develops. More information coming to you guys here midway through this episode. regardless, again, welcome to episode six of the Know Your Personnel podcast. Again, I'm Nathan Hawthorne here with Jared McEnroy. You saw the reaction live to Max Crosby. What else are we going to go over this episode? Jarod McInroy: going to go over. It's going be another just heavy NFL episode. The new league year just started. People are signing left and right everywhere. And ⁓ we're going to get into a few free agent signings that we liked a lot, a couple that we think aren't really needle movers and kind of confused us. ⁓ And then we'll get into a little mock draft also. We'll do little top 10, keep it light, and kind of see what the draft might look like now that a few people have been signed and some holes have been filled. Nathan Hawthorne: Yeah, absolutely. Let's get right into it. So let's talk about these. Let's talk about these free agents. The first one I want to talk about is Alec Pierce resigning with the Colts for four years and hundred and sixteen million dollars. What are we doing? What are we? What are we? What are we doing? This feels like Blazers. What was it? Twenty sixteen signing Evan might have been sooner than 2016. Maybe 26. It's like signing Evan Turner. Jarod McInroy: Yeah. Mm-hmm. Nathan Hawthorne: or like extending Myers Leonard. Alan Crabb, just you go down the list of contracts where it's where do we see the value? You know, if I'm a hedge fund manager and I'm looking at this, I don't know where the value in this signing is. And it's no disrespect to Alec Pierce. I think he's an excellent athlete. Obviously he's got a highlight reel of just catching bomb after bomb, touchdown after touchdown. But if you're talking about top 10 in the NFL money at the wide receiver position, Jarod McInroy: How about Alan Crabb for $17 million here? Nathan Hawthorne: I don't see how we are paying that money to Alec Pierce. Again, not trying to be insulting to the guy, but goodness gracious, you're getting paid more than AJ Brown. You're getting paid more than Garrett Wilson. You're getting paid more than ⁓ who just resigned with the Steelers. You're on par with George Pickens and his one dude. Are we saying that these guys are at the same level of talent and ability? And last year, if you want to look at a body of work, barely over 1,000 yards and six touchdowns. Jarod McInroy: Yeah. Nathan Hawthorne: I don't see the value. What do you see? Jarod McInroy: Yeah, I don't really understand it either. It almost felt like the rest of their options kind of just got taken off the board and they got desperate because ⁓ when looking at their offense right now, they're depleted. They got rid of Michael Pittman Jr. over to the Steelers. ⁓ They were already pretty thin at wide receiver anyways. We kind of talked about their sauce gardener trade also. ⁓ that they don't really have too many options and again you need somebody to throw the ball to and when you have a successful season like last year you don't want to desperately move into a rebuild so you start paying some guys more than they probably should be paid just to make sure you have somebody worthy of running out there and they kind of fell victim to a market where no one really chose Indianapolis so it's strange it's definitely strange to give a guy like that that much money. Nathan Hawthorne: I mean, yeah, it's just strange and again, it blows my mind. And you're right, you gotta run somebody out there. I just, wouldn't have gone that aggressive. Especially if you knew that you were gonna dish Michael Pittman. Like they must know something we don't about Alec Pierce. And unless he is the second coming of Adam Thielen in Minnesota, I just don't see how this ends well. I don't see how this ends well. Jarod McInroy: He could be. Nathan Hawthorne: And so now you've got Alex, Alec Pierce, you've got Josh Downs, injury prone with his ankles, concussions as well. You got Pittman out the door. I'm, I'm concerned for now who Daniel Jones throws the ball to if he's even healthy. So again, Shane Steichen, I don't know, you know, if you're on the same page as the GM or what's going on, but that seat to me just got even warmer. Unless you've got some crazy plans for the draft. I don't, I don't see it. You're bet more money than Amon Ross St. Brown. Then the Sun God? Come on, cousin. Jarod McInroy: Yeah. This, this is the move that is, I really want you to follow me here on, think Stiken's ⁓ room for error is, is wider than you think. I don't think his seat is as hot. think it's lukewarm. I think they're both on the same page of, Hey, this roster is in a weird spot where we need to shuffle a few pieces. And this might be a year, two year project to kind of. reshape what we look like as a team. And then from there, we'll see where we're at. And that's when his seat might get hot. I think at the moment, they're just, they're trying to make something work ⁓ again, when they're just, they're out of options. And all of a sudden all that talent and all that building they did in Indianapolis is just gone all of a sudden. So ⁓ look, look, look for them to draft wide receiver this year. There's a ton of talent. ⁓ Nathan Hawthorne: but they're not picking until mid-second round. You gave away your first round pick last year to get Soss Gardner and that kind of blew up in your face. Unfortunately, I still think that trade was worthwhile. Jarod McInroy: Yeah. Yeah. We talked about this is a wide receiver heavy draft. There's going to be some good dudes to fill some spots down there. then ⁓ again, this is why I said it's probably going to be a couple year project because then they'll come back next draft. They'll have some picks and they'll be doing the same thing. So also don't forget they got Tyler Warren last year. He's a guy you can get the ball to and always rely on. So seeing his development will be important as well. And then Yeah, maybe they'll find a diamond in the rough somewhere in some of this free agency. don't know. We'll see. Maybe. Yeah. Nathan Hawthorne: Are they going to call on Steph on digs? Are they going to call on Tyreek Hill? Some of these other guys who haven't been signed yet? Who knows? ⁓ Yeah, just it didn't make sense to me. Resigning it made sense, just not for her top 10 wide receiver in the NFL money. Man, do you got? What other sign? Because I got to get off this topic. Jarod McInroy: Mm-hmm. First up, let's get this out of the way. The Miami Dolphins sign, Malik Willis to three years, 67 and a half million. It's almost as if I saw it coming. I'll tell you what, I'm coming today with a new perspective. Let me tell you what it is. Picture a sign right here. Picture a sign right here that says, Nathan Hawthorne: I can't wait to hear how you spin this. Jarod McInroy: Malik Willis is number one fan I'm bought in. You know how I am with my team. I will support anybody. ⁓ Anybody we signed. Here's the thing. And this is what I talked about ⁓ last couple of episodes with the Dolphins and I'm not going to get too much into it, but we need to commit to a direction. So we went one way. We decided we're going to go give this unproven 26 year old quarterback who is, has a ton of raw talent, but hasn't proven himself in the NFL yet. We're going to give him 20 something million a year. Um, we're already just eating money, paying two of $56 million to not play for us this year. And then another 45 next year to not play for us. Um, and we decided to pay another guy to play quarterback. So, um, here's the deal. We, we have a lot of talent. We've talked about it. We have Jalen Waddle, Malik Willis, Devon Achan. Our, our offensive line is shaping up a little bit. Um, again, We'll work on our defense, but ⁓ we got to commit. And that means we need to make sure this O line looks better, whether that be at the 11th pick, whether that be signing a couple of guys in for agency. ⁓ But then we also need to commit to getting at least one more weapon. We've been, I don't know if he officially has come back, but Darren Waller is either already signed to a one year or they're working on another year contract. So I'd like to see us go get another tight end. To maybe fill a fill a hole there whether it be in the draft or ⁓ one of these guys that are still out there Hey again, it's it's showing commitment. We we decided we're gonna do this soft rebuild where Malik will see there goes out and balls out and all of a sudden we already have our quarterback and we have him for What would be cheap money if he if he pays off? I mean 22 million Isn't bad for a good starting quarterback but it's terrible for a bad starting quarterback. So it's gonna be very reliant on how he shows up, but I wanna make sure he has the pieces to succeed to do it. ⁓ That's where I'm at with it. What do we think? Give me some unbiased opinion. Nathan Hawthorne: It's te- yeah. It's expensive. Yes, it would be very expensive for a poor quarterback, but I will say this in light of trying to change my perspective as well. Yes, you're already paying to a yes, you're getting yourself further into this quarterback hole paying that much money to Malik Willis. But here's the deal. If somebody knows his ability, it's going to be Jeff Hathley. He was the ex defensive coordinator over with the Green Bay Packers. So he's bringing Malik Willis with him with that understanding of, I know what this guy is capable of. I've seen it in practice. I've seen him prepare. Maybe there's a little bit more to him that we haven't seen yet, right? And once you've been behind ⁓ Matt LaFleur for a little bit, not saying Jordan loves the guy you're going to learn from. I think their games are two entirely different games. But maybe he got a little bit of quarterback rehab, that love that he wasn't getting in Tennessee. And he's going to show something here, right? You know that he's at least going to be mature. You know, he's not going to be, what do want to call it? He's not going to be careless with the football. He's going to take care of it. That's certainly what he did in the limited number of snaps he got in Green Bay. So there's some potential there. I'm going to be optimistic. But if this goes south, that's a lie. It's a lot of money. Jarod McInroy: It's gonna be a tough two years is all I'm gonna say because his guaranteed money will be out by next year and to his money will be gone by next year. So we're pretty much committed to being in a tough spot for the next two years ⁓ financially. ⁓ Which in a rebuild or soft rebuild ⁓ is not too bad because you're gonna be picking a lot. A lot of your team's gonna be rookies and that means you're not gonna be paying them a ton of money. So they're gonna be cheap. So all a sudden we're going to have a lot of money coming off the books three years from now. So it's not the worst position to be in. But yeah, like you said, our GM came from Green Bay as well. So they've seen this guy. I don't think they would come put their brand new jobs in jeopardy by signing him if they didn't believe in him at least a little bit. So I'm going to trust them. I'm going to trust the new regime. ⁓ And we're going to see what happens. I might even buy a jersey. see. Nathan Hawthorne: might even buy a jersey. Just to stay on the topic of quarterbacks, and I know we don't want to spend a ton of time on this guy, but Geno Smith, the Jets working on a trade to bring Geno Smith over, kind of in the same situation where you're going to get a guy who's capable of playing NFL football, but what is he really going to do to change your franchise? Geno Smith coming back maybe gives you some maturity, a guy who can physically throw the football well, which you have severely lacked for the last several years, but it just... It feels weird to me. You're going in this direction of trying to be new if you're the Jets. You're the new head coach, Aaron Glenn. This is your second year. And you want to retread Geno Smith? I just don't see how that makes a ton of sense. I mean, I think you're gonna win more games probably than you did last year just by having Geno Smith. I think he's gonna win three more games for you. But are you even in a situation where you wanna win games again yet? Obviously you have to for your job, but both of these just feel so overly safe. And at a certain point you gotta be safe, right? You gotta protect your job you just got. But it just feels really safe. Jarod McInroy: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I think they went the route of where committing to not going quarterback in the draft. We'll see, maybe a late round or something, but we're not going early on with a, ⁓ Ty Simpson or, ⁓ one of those guys early on. And I think they, they wanted to pick a guy that they could move off of next year and not have to sell it to the media. They wanted an easy, we brought him in, gave him a chance, didn't work out. Now we're going to go draft a quarterback. So. And again, it's one of those the jets are gonna take time. So is losing games that bad? Nathan Hawthorne: If you're the Jets, yeah, because you've been bad. You've been nothing but bad. Jarod McInroy: Tank. I get that. but all of a sudden you have the pick of the litter, the number one pick next year in one of the best quarterback drafts anticipated in the last decade and maybe in the decade after. That's not a bad position to be in. Nathan Hawthorne: Right, so why sign Geno Smith in an attempt to win more games if you want to make sure that you have the pick of the litter? Jarod McInroy: They're not, but that's what I'm saying is they're not signing him to win games. I don't know if you saw him in ⁓ Las Vegas, but I don't know if you saw him the year before in Seattle. The guy is a turnover machine. If you want to talk about a drive killer, that's the guy you go to. Sometimes the best pick is the obvious pick. Go get the guy who you know can lose games. And that's that. don't know. That's all I got for you on Gino. Nathan Hawthorne: Yep. Alright, I mean, I get that. Jarod McInroy: ⁓ Tell me a little bit about this Mike Evans thing. I see he signed with San Francisco. ⁓ From my perspective, I'm looking at a wide receiver corps that they've had issues with in the past. Debo wasn't happy with his role. ⁓ IUK has been trying to force his way out for two years now. And then they go get ⁓ old man Mike Evans who swears he has some tread left on the tires. What makes sense of this for me? Nathan Hawthorne: The money's not the issue. Three years, $42 million for a wide receiver in today's age is, that's a bargain deal. Just ask Alec Pierce. My concern is that you've doubled down. You've doubled down on being old and injured. And that's my concern. Joanne Jennings, Ricky Pearsall, injured. Brandon Iyuk, who was injured, sat out last year. He's not coming back. Christian McCaffrey, he might be injured, he might not be. You're not really sure. Brian Robinson Jr. injury prone running back. you've got all the George Kittle, another one of your pass catchers in and out of games with injuries. So you've just added another pass catcher who could miss six, seven games next year. And is he going to be a great target for Brock Prudy when he's healthy? Yes. Is he going to be able to be schemed open in ways he hasn't been before in Tampa Bay? Yeah, absolutely. I see him having a number of touchdowns, a great red zone threat. But again, my concern is just, is he going to be available when you need him to be? You know that the Niners have a physical practice schedule. Is his hamstring gonna be able to hold on? That's my biggest concern. Again, it's not the money. It's not understanding how he fits into the offense. He's gonna be valuable. There's no doubt about it. It's just, is he and is the rest of this team gonna be healthy? That's my biggest concern. Jarod McInroy: Yeah, I and and you didn't even mention brock purdy not being someone who's healthy so Yeah, yeah, yeah, but now I mean I I agree I think It's it's really tough though because when when you have a problem you're looking to solve there's always usually an answer but the injury bug isn't really a problem you have an answer to ⁓ like you can go get a durable guy and all of sudden he becomes Nathan Hawthorne: No, they got Mac Jones though. I ain't even worried about it. They got Mr. Mac. Jarod McInroy: An injury-prone guy and it's there's who knows what it is. It's it's bad luck ⁓ If you will I think you can scout some some guys and you can watch film and look at years of what they've been doing in the NFL and Decide that maybe that's not someone you Yeah, maybe that's not someone we want to go target. I don't know but It's it's a tough problem to solve I I don't have the answer for you Nathan Hawthorne: It's a power plant next to your facility. You Jarod McInroy: Usually that answer though is trying to make your team younger Somebody who hasn't been hit as many times as some of these other guys that you're going out and getting ⁓ So it's interesting to to shift to somebody who? ⁓ has been around for a while, but He's you know, he's almost guaranteed a thousand yards for you he's almost a sure thing every time and and if Brock Purdy's who everybody says he is then Nathan Hawthorne: just about. Jarod McInroy: ⁓ he should have no problem getting in the ball ⁓ again all of my brock pretty rare one of these one of these episodes ⁓ don't know when it'll be but it won't be this one ⁓ Nathan Hawthorne: Well, I'll tell you what, just say a prayer for Mike Evans and his hamstring with that power plant in Santa Clara. That's all. Jarod McInroy: Okay next ⁓ Okay, we'll talk the next ⁓ next quarterback on the board to a talk of I lo going to the Falcons and I'm sure you're probably expecting me to Crap all over this, but I'm gonna be a positive guy today. I've been positive about the Malik Willis one earlier You know, so we're gonna hop over to we're gonna hop over to to I'm a new new guy today Nathan Hawthorne: Take us to who's next. Look at this guy. Jarod McInroy: I don't know if there's a better fit for him to go and try and revive his career. And there's, there's multiple reasons for this. One being you get to go play in a dome. He's clearly been terrible in bad weather games forever. Now it's the narrative, but I mean, these narratives don't get built off of nothing. He has been horrific, ⁓ in cold weather games. So, not to mention you're in a dome. You're also in a division where you have another team that has a dome, um, Tampa, good weather, Carolina, usually fairly good weather, pretty rainy, but overall pretty warm. So, and the other part of it is you have weapons. So you have people you can dish the ball to. Um, and they're all used to catching passes from a lefty from the last year. Um, so maybe there's something there. Um, but yeah, I mean, you got Bijon Robinson who Clearly he can do it all he can catch passes he can give you relief in the run game And that they always have a good one-two punch. I know they just lost Algear, but I'm sure they'll refill his spot with somebody new ⁓ And then you know Kyle Pitts We we've obviously seen him ⁓ Be good sometimes be bad bad sometimes, but he hasn't had somebody consistently throwing him the ball. So ⁓ maybe an accurate ⁓ well timed quarterback might be ⁓ the thing he needs to really take off. Drake London, obviously insanely good. So the team is ⁓ an ideal fit. Now we got Stefanski coming in. ⁓ It's going to be a new system. ⁓ Things are looking bright in Atlanta and I think that was the perfect fit for him. ⁓ Now the last piece of the puzzle. Go get Dylan Gabriel and let's just make this a lefty quarterback room. And everybody's catching from lefties. Nathan Hawthorne: Everybody a lefty. Yeah, you know what? I do actually like this four to a What I like is that with Kevin Stefanski, you know, you're getting a run first offense They're gonna want to run this offense through Bijon They're gonna want to run it through whoever that second running back is that they ultimately decided to bring in to back him up Like you said with the loss of Tyler Algier, you've got excellent weapons on the receiving side I'm sure that they'll be looking in the draft to kind of bolster that as well. Defense is strong Like, ⁓ Raheem Morris, I think did a great job of building up that defense. So you're going to have support there. Stefanski run first. And it's another timing based offense ⁓ where Tua can play, hit his drops, hit his steps, get the ball out quickly. A lot of play action, a lot of ⁓ similar stuff that you've seen. him do in Miami. He'll be doing now in Atlanta with Kevin Stefanski. Probably a little bit less motion. But yeah, he doesn't have to change aggressively the way he's going to play. He gets the opportunity to do something similar and something he's familiar with. So I think things have the potential to look good, but hopefully he's not in his head early if things aren't clicking right away. Jarod McInroy: Yep. Yeah, and it's it's a wide open division like it's it's as wide open as any division in football tampas looked bad last year and The year before I think was the year that they they did pretty pretty good But even then they weren't that dominant. ⁓ the saints are a mess The tyler shuck, I I don't see him being the guy there. ⁓ so they'll probably waste a couple years on him ⁓ The Panthers are looking very promising. They've made a lot of moves that ⁓ I think are going to make them a better football team, but ⁓ it's wide open. ⁓ tell me about the Cowboys a little bit. I know you got something to say about Jerry Jones. Nathan Hawthorne: Yeah. Listen, and I'm one of the biggest, you know, anti Jerry Jones guys. I'm a big let football guys do football things. I love that you're the owner and I love that you love the team, but it might be time to pass those things along in terms of some football decision making, but maybe he had a plan. All right. The Cowboys got two first round picks. You've traded for Rashawn Gary. You got Kenny Clark, who I think ended up performing a lot better than people thought last year in the trade with Micah Parsons. You've got Solomon Thomas. You've resigned Quinn and Williams. All of a sudden your defensive front looks really good and really dynamic. That's a positive. You've resigned George Pickens. George Pickens, again, an excellent receiving target. You've still got him and you've got C.D. Lamb. I think that's great. And again, two first round picks this year. Now you can go out and get Thenemann to start helping that back in the safety from the University of Oregon. This could turn around really, really quickly for the Cowboys. I know last year they had a stretch where they were playing good football, especially offensively. That was against some bad teams, right? They started playing some good teams and things really didn't look good. But again, if you can get some pressure on that other team's quarterback and have a strong front seven, starting with that front four, it's gonna be a problem for other teams to be able to get in rhythm. And again, you add a few other guys on the back end and the back end gets healthy from last year, this Cowboys team could be a lot better. although Rashawn Gary wasn't necessarily a Jarod McInroy: right. Nathan Hawthorne: free agent signing, that combined with resigning George Pickens, you've got Javante Williams extended. I'm shocked and I'm surprised and kind of looking at this, probably like every Cowboys, this is our year. It's not your year, but it's not your year. But it's not gonna be as abysmal as it was and honestly, depending on how the Eagles kind of shake out, this division could be pretty open. for the Cowboys here. you can split with the Eagles, you might be able to win this NFC East division. Jarod McInroy: Yeah, ⁓ I think it's it's gonna be interesting to see how the commanders come back ⁓ especially with ⁓ Daniel's getting ⁓ Getting healthy again, but the Eagles they certainly look different than they did the two years ago this last year they kind of showed that they're human and Dallas puts up a lot of points man. They make these games competitive and they look a lot better than than they have in years past and Yeah, they, they could be, they could be a dominant team, but what we need to see from Dallas this year, again, we've talked about bolstering the defense and finding their defensive identity again, but they need to look like a dominant team. Like they always, every time they run out there. And I think it comes down to, I don't know what it is about Dak and seeing him go out there and play, but it's like, he's a guy who wants to play schoolyard football, go score a bunch of points, but there's not the like. Dogging him when you look in his eyes like I'm gonna go win this football game and he seems almost like complacent when they're they're losing like it's fine Whatever, we'll go get him again, which is a great mindset to have but at the same time There has to be someone in the building that's saying this is not what we're gonna settle for and this is not what we're built to be ⁓ Just just look at the passion in which George Pickens plays football with man, like say what you want about him and his Nathan Hawthorne: Mmm. Jarod McInroy: ⁓ his personality the do it wants it they need a lot more Nathan Hawthorne: Yeah, no doubt. It does start with the quarterback. He's known for putting up stats and kind of crumbling in the moments that matter most. Maybe this is the year he gets over the hump. But probably not. But probably not. Probably not. ⁓ I know there's a couple guys that we have this year where they're free agent signings. They're good signings on paper. Good signings for fantasy football. Jarod McInroy: Maybe he needs to want it. He needs to want it. Nathan Hawthorne: if we're being honest, but don't necessarily move the needle. The first one I kind of want to talk about is Rashid Shahid being re-signed with the Seattle Seahawks. can't, how much did they pay him again? Oh my gosh. Yeah, was it three years, 51 million? Or is it two years? Yeah, three years, $51 million. Jarod McInroy: 51 million. Nathan Hawthorne: for a kick returner? Jarod McInroy: Okay, he's not a kick returner. He's in here's what I'm going to say before we get too far into this. You are a guy who prides yourself on on on loving these, these gadget guys. You talked about the Amon Ross. You've talked about the Debo Samuels. He's all over the place. You put them in the backfield. You can put them everywhere that the guy can fit. It's a, it's a plug and play. Yeah. It's, it's the end of rounds. It's the running your routes. It's catching anything. It's Nathan Hawthorne: I don't love gadget guys, I'm aware of gadget- D'oh, don't call Amon Ra a gadget guy. but that doesn't matter. Jarod McInroy: It's, it's about being the home run threat at any given moment, but also at the same time, let's not sit here and pretend like Rashid Shahid isn't a solid second option to JSN. He's probably a better third option. I agree. But again, it comes down to you. It comes down to you have to, you have to run out a team that you're comfortable with. You don't their team is already looking very different from last year They've they've lost a few guys on defense they've lost canine like there's there's a lot of ⁓ a lot of change going on with the Seahawks so Having some stability and again when you have a team like this, that's so well-rounded who says they can't go draft or wide receiver ⁓ Who knows maybe he is the third guy and their second guy they're gonna be paying next to nothing It's all relative to how much are you paying on your receiving core and are you comfortable with your receiving core for Sam Darnold? Sometimes you have to look at it from a zoomed out lens and that's all I got for you. Don't talk crap on your cheat sheet. Nathan Hawthorne: I like the continuity. I like what Clint Kubiak, I think, pushed for, because he was with the Saints with Shahid, gets to the Seahawks, says, hey, I want my guy. I know how dynamic he is. Utilizes him to make a number of big plays in the postseason to help win you a Super Bowl, right? So could this be a sign of trade to the Raiders? No, I'm trolling. That's not realistic. But again, you've got Cooper Cup, Jackson Smith and Jigba. Honestly, AJ Barner is probably my number three target. I don't even. They have to be going for a wide receiver. I just think $51 million is expensive. Again, I like the idea of the continuity. I like what he's been able to bring to the team, but $51 million feels like a lot. But to your point, they're not paying a ton of guys a lot of money yet. Like think about some of their other stars. Like you're moving on likely from Tariq Wolin, ⁓ Leonard Williams, your edge player, Byron Murphy. He's not up for his renewal yet. Like some of your best players you don't owe a lot of money to yet. Jarod McInroy: so Nathan Hawthorne: So it doesn't necessarily hurt that much to go three for 51. I'm a stingy guy. I just feel like that's a lot for a guy, especially if like you said, he ends up being that third option. Again, it keeps him on the team. I can't think of anyone else other than maybe Kavante Turpin, who is as electric, especially in the new age of special teams in the NFL right now. So maybe you're talking me into something a little bit more. Jarod McInroy: Well, he's not a needle mover, yes. He didn't move the needle, but he didn't move it back either, okay? I think he moved it to the right, in the right direction. Nathan Hawthorne: But here's the deal, the segment is, it didn't move the needle. Yes, there it is. He kept the Super Bowl Champions needle right where he had impacted it before, but he's just taken up a little bit more money. Jarod McInroy: And it is tough though, because all the people they lost got really expensive. And that's what happens when you win a Superbowl. It's the same way you get all your coaches poached. Boye Mafay went and got a bag from, I think it was the Bengals. Like you said, they're going to lose Wolin. think Wolin actually just got signed today to the Eagles for one year 15. I ⁓ don't know if that's solidified or not, but. ⁓ Nathan Hawthorne: Yeah bro, have fun in that division. Jarod McInroy: Yeah, but regardless ⁓ and then they lost Kobe Bryant as well. There's some guys leaving the team and you don't want, when you're trying to run it back, you don't want your team to look too much different, but at the same time, you can't afford to pay everyone. Like it's just, it's not realistic, it's not feasible and you want to bring back the people that are most important to you. So they saw value in him. They brought him back. Next name up, Isaiah Pacheco to the Lions. Talk about someone that's just, I don't know how that moves the needle. Am I missing something? Nathan Hawthorne: I mean, if you talk about changing pace, I mean, you're going from 99 speed to probably 75 speed. It's a true change of pace running back here. I like his physicality. And we talked about this briefly when we were recording our walk and talk. If you guys haven't seen that, go ahead and hop over to the Instagram. Check out our walk and talk session, by the way. He's just... He didn't look great coming back from injury. He's got a full off season to rehab and perhaps get some speed and some of his lateral quickness back yet. But if you're talking about a compliment to, to Jameer Gibbs, it's not going to be anywhere close to David Montgomery. And you certainly got blessed with that. It's not often that you're able to assign a guy from another team who's been a veteran in the league and be able to have that kind of one-two dynamic punch. just outside of pass protection, maybe they're a little bit worried about their offensive line. That's really the only benefit I see. He's not necessarily great in the screen game. Even in between the tackles, if the hole's not there, he's not necessarily patient in finding and creating. ⁓ He can break a few tackles, but we know he runs harder than it looks. He's actually running. You know what I mean? He does run pissed off, and I'm sure he'll have a few goal line punch-ins, and maybe that's their goal this year. Jarod McInroy: Your ass pissed off. Nathan Hawthorne: Kind of treating it like the Jameson Williams that they had a couple years ago when it was him and Swift so Maybe maybe that's the maybe I'm sorry Jamal Williams Jameson Jamal. Yeah, maybe maybe the leader of the village of the hidden trees. Maybe that's what they're going for it was Jarod McInroy: Yeah. Yes, Jamal Williams. Yep. What do you have like 17 touchdowns with the Saints something like that that right before they they went and got him so they were like they were pretty convinced like this is Nathan Hawthorne: No, it was with the Lions. It was with the Lions. They just kept giving him every goal line. They kept giving him every goal line carry inside three yards. Bring in Jamal. We're going to go and get him to the ball here. It was crazy. Jarod McInroy: ⁓ maybe it was. Yeah. Something crazy. Yeah. But no, I, I, I'm right there with you. So with, when you have a guy like Jameer Gibbs, right? You think of your say, Kwon Barkley, your, ⁓ Christian McCaffrey, the, do it all guys who are actually game changing running backs, the Devon A chance. you have to have a power guy who's going to come in and do the dirty work, but also just, just run the ball. That's, that's the goal is just. get carries that are important carries, but also are carries that they don't have to then take. If you're not healthy, you're not going to be able to do that. All of a sudden we're on a third, fourth string running back that are hardly even worth being in the league and they're not going to fill that role. So it was a weird signing to me because you would like to pair him with somebody that is a sure fire option, maybe like a Rashad white. don't know. Like somebody who you can. Nathan Hawthorne: Best available right now, by the way. He's still out there, best available. Jarod McInroy: That would have made more sense. know that like, so that would have made a lot more sense to me. I don't know. It didn't quite make sense. ⁓ in the grand scheme of things, it certainly doesn't move the needle anyway. And again, we get back to a team that struggles with injury and you go get a guy who's just coming off a big injury. So, yep. Speaking of running backs, ETN goes to the Saints, a team that has Alvin Kamara went and signed ETN to a whole lot of money. Nathan Hawthorne: It feels like their intent is to move on from Alvin Kamara, but I could also see them keeping Alvin Kamara and having a nice one-two punch with the two. I know that Kellen Moore loves his running backs and he loves his receiving running backs. He did that great with Saquon Barkley in Philadelphia. And while I don't think Travis Hitean is quite ⁓ as dynamic as Saquon, he's nothing short of electric. The dude can move and he's got a lot of juice to him. So I do like that for him. just... Jarod McInroy: Yeah. Nathan Hawthorne: Yeah, it doesn't really it doesn't really change this team. And we know that this team across not just their injuries, but the aging of this roster and how expensive it has been in that death trap that they've been in over the past four or five years. It's been tough sledding for him. So hopefully this year, you know, he's not asking for an early exit. But yeah, it's just it's not going to really change their team when there's not enough support around him or just around the roster in general to really making any changes like are you trusting Tyler Shuck for sure? Are you gonna roll back out Spencer Rattler? And I think that's the bigger question. He's a nice piece to have. I just think you're missing about 15 other pieces before you go add a premium running back and free agency. Jarod McInroy: No. Yeah. And if they do keep Kamara, all of a sudden you're spending like $25 million in your running back room. ⁓ so it's no, it's a tough sell, especially when you have ⁓ a roster that's just, again, we're talking about a team that's depleted. They, when you have a good run, you have to retool and they didn't replenish all of the people that they've lost over the years. They had Taryn Matthew at one point, you know, Nathan Hawthorne: not the place you want to spend it in 2027, 2026. Jarod McInroy: They just lost Cam Jordan, so we don't know if they'll look to fill his role. Like there's, there's a lot of holes in a lot of places. ⁓ you know, Michael Thomas was good there forever. and yeah, they got Olavi, but that's not, that's not slam boy. ⁓ so yeah. And then, and then the obvious one is the quarterback position. They haven't been the same since drew breeze and, ⁓ they went and got Derek Carr that. Nathan Hawthorne: Slant boy. Jarod McInroy: didn't really pan out ⁓ the way they probably thought it would have. ⁓ And then early retirement, obviously. So they probably were just shocked by that rocking their team and they haven't fully recovered. they gotta make some moves that make more sense than spending $25 million on running backs. I don't know. Nathan Hawthorne: Yeah, and hopefully, hopefully just having Kellen Moore in the building again for a second year is going to help with things. Like you said, once once Sean Payton moved on and then you moved on to Dennis Allen, they just hung on to Dennis Allen for far too long. And I can't remember the name of the general manager as well, but it just seemed like they they had this little bit of a friendship league stuff that I talk about where the relationships in the building are so good. You keep thinking like minded, you keep thinking you can find a way out and you can't. And then all of a sudden you're looking at your franchise like Jarod McInroy: Yeah. Yeah. Nathan Hawthorne: You know, we were, uh, we were gunning for the NFC every single year. We were winning our division almost every single year. We'd been to a Superbowl and won a Superbowl. And now all of a sudden, you know, after the Minnesota miracle where, um, Stefan Diggs catches the ball and then you had what happened? was the past interference call. I think like that all of a sudden just things imploded and, uh, yeah. Where do you go from here? I guess spending, you know, $13 million on Travis CTN is the way to go. Jarod McInroy: Yeah, we'll see how it works out for them. And then another one, you wanted to talk about this one and we can discuss it a little bit, but Isaiah likely goes to the Giants and you don't like it. Quickly tell me why so then I can respond to you. Nathan Hawthorne: We'll see how it works out. I just, I mean it's cool, but again, like talking about moving the needle, you had Darren Waller, who's probably in his prime was a better version of who Isaiah likely is and was. Like I just don't think that he does anything other than catch passes for you, which is the objective, right? You want a tight end who can catch passes and catch touchdowns, but did you win a lot of games? You had, you know what I mean? Did you win a lot of games with Darren Waller? No, you didn't. I just think bringing him in doesn't really do anything for you. You know what I mean? But again, I look at Harbaugh and say, ⁓ well, I like tight ends. I'm going to go try and bring the guy that I had in Carolina. I get it. It makes sense. think he's going to be a reliable. I don't even know if a reliable target. I think he's going to be a solid target for Jackson Dart. You hope Malik neighbors comes back healthy. Jarod McInroy: Okay. Nathan Hawthorne: I just I don't know if I would have spent my money there Jarod McInroy: Yeah, here's the difference with that one versus the other teams we were talking about. We were talking about teams that are in very pivotal parts of their ⁓ roster construction that they needed a needle mover and they could have spent the money in better ways. The Giants don't really have many places where they need to put that money. ⁓ Obviously they have a rookie or a second year now quarterback. A second year running back that's on their roster. We'll see how Scadabow does coming back. ⁓ And then they have a defense that's loaded with studs. mean, they got Abdul Carter, they got Dexter Lawrence, they got ⁓ Javon Holland in the secondary. They're gonna probably, I mean, we'll get into who we think they'll draft, but if he's there, they'll probably end up with one of these defenders, probably Caleb Downs. ⁓ Their defense is looking good. So why not go get, I always, I always think a young quarterback needs somebody who's sure-handed and will be a safety blanket for him, a safety net, that's going to be Isaiah Likely for Jackson Dart. ⁓ Now, the issue is will he look ⁓ with lot higher volume of targets than he's probably used to over the last few years? Hopefully, he it, but time he's gotten the ball thrown his way, ⁓ one can make big play that changes the game, but also... ⁓ Why not? Why not? Is it really hurting you that bad going and getting a tight end for your quarterback? Nathan Hawthorne: It's not hurting, I'm just saying it didn't move the needle. I don't look at the Just Giants team, but this is the conversation. His signing did not move the needle. Jarod McInroy: But they don't need a needle moving move at this point. But again, I bring back I disagree. I think it did move the needle I think it moved it in the right direction for this team in that offense You got Malik neighbors. We'll see what he looks like coming back. Yeah, you Need they just lost who they just they just lost wide receiver. Who am I missing? Nathan Hawthorne: I don't know, but they re-signed or they brought back Slayton and Hodgins and they still have Hyatt. Jarod McInroy: Wondell Robinson. Nathan Hawthorne: ⁓ he went to Tennessee? Jarod McInroy: Yes. Yep. Okay. Nathan Hawthorne: ⁓ no. I hadn't seen this yet. Because I think when we were talking about some of the new coaches in the coaching carousel, this hadn't been decided yet. Matt Nagy is the offensive coordinator. ⁓ my goodness. For the New York Giants. ⁓ no. Jarod McInroy: for what? Nathan Hawthorne: New York, what have you done? Matt Nagy, the guy who torched the Kansas City offense? Jarod McInroy: Okay, anyways, so we knew this. Stop, we knew this. Wondale Robinson goes to Tennessee. ⁓ They need guys to throw the ball to and why not go get Isaiah, likely? I don't know. No, chill, chill, chill, Nathan Hawthorne: You know what I'm gonna go on a rant. I'm tired of this, you gotta run somebody out there. If I hear that or anything adjacent one more time I lose my cool. Jarod McInroy: I know, that's what I'm saying though. That's what I'm saying is these are guys that you do. You do. He moved the needle. He moved the needle. This team without Isaiah likely versus the team with he moves the needle. That's all I'm saying. We'll move on. What's next? ⁓ can I talk one more before we get into the mock draft here? I want to give a quick shout out to the Las Vegas Raiders. I like what they got going on over there. Nathan Hawthorne: You gotta run somebody else. Don't move the needle. They're guys that don't move the needle. Let's let's talk our mock draft because I know Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, let's talk about it. Jarod McInroy: One of the more underrated names I saw at the wide receiver position, because you're assuming they're taking Mendoza. So we're talking, okay, we need to fill out this roster. Let's put some people around them. They go get a center, probably one of the best centers in the league. They go get Lindnerbaum. They get Quay Walker for their defense. They get N'Kobe Dean. ⁓ They they're signing guys left and right and then they go get Jalen Naylor from ⁓ Minnesota who I like I've always liked I thought he runs Chris routes. He's He's a guy you can put in the slot, but also at the same time He's gonna go get a deep ball in in three years 35 million. It's pretty cheap ⁓ So and we've ⁓ okay We've complained about them not having guys to catch the football and they're their wide receiver room. Honestly looking really weird Nathan Hawthorne: That's a great deal. That's Shaheed money right there. Jarod McInroy: Like it just has never made sense. Like I don't really know. ⁓ ever since, Mari Cooper left, it just, it was weird. They, but take a step back. Now you got, ⁓ Ashton Genti, you got, ⁓ Brock Bowers, you're going to have Jalen Naylor. ⁓ again, that's another team that I'm thinking is probably going to go receiver in this draft at some point. ⁓ things are shaping up. Things are shaping up in Las Vegas and they're gonna, they need to use these picks well, but shout out to them and some of these free agent signings. like what they're doing. Now let's move on to the mock draft. Nathan Hawthorne: Yeah, well speaking of the Raiders, just to close them out completely, so we're seeing it was indeed a failed physical. That is confirmed for Max Crosby. That is why the Ravens backed out of the deal. I'm curious of other teams are picking up the phone and saying we don't care about the failed physical. We know he'll be fine come, you know, season, but you know, what do they do now? And I guess we can. Jarod McInroy: ⁓ yeah. And he could still go to Baltimore. It could just be they backed out of the deal they agreed on and maybe the deal looks different. ⁓ But yeah, I think, I think he's still going to get moved. We'll see. Nathan Hawthorne: Mm-hmm. Yeah, at this point, the hay's in the barn on that. He's gonna be out the door. All right, mock draft. Now I know we saw this not exactly the same as far as these top 10 picks. So we're gonna go over our top 10 picks and we're gonna do this in kind of a unique fashion. All right, so we have gone odds and even, one through 10. Jared's got the even picks, I've got the odd picks, and we are going to go through a mock. Any other context you want to add here before we rip into this thing? Jarod McInroy: Two things we're gonna add. One, we're assuming that nobody makes any trades. So we're not doing any trade up, trade down. The picks are, the top 10 solidified. Let's assume they all make these picks. The second thing I wanna say is we've had some disagreements, so maybe this isn't exactly how I think my top 10's gonna look. So I'm gonna pick my even picks based on who's on the board and who I think fits there. Let it rip. Nathan Hawthorne: All right, let's get it going. We got number one Las Vegas Raiders. I think this is a no-brainer. They're gonna go Garrett Nussmeyer number one overall. No, I'm trolling. This is gonna be Mendoza. This is gonna be Fernando Mendoza. Jarod McInroy: You got number one. Garrett Nussmeyer. You're putting your whole reputation on the line for Nussmeyer. ⁓ Nathan Hawthorne: Now he's gonna look great in the second round. ⁓ But Las Vegas Raiders are gonna go for Mendoza. It's kind of a no-brainer, there's no other context to add. They got rid of Geno Smith, they're creating the space for him to come in and run Klink Kubiak's system to a tee. I like it, I love it. And we'll see, and we'll see if he kind of adapts that throwing motion a little bit. Gets a little bit quicker and a little less, I don't know, over the top. But I've got faith, I've got faith in what Blimp Bubiak is gonna put together. Jarod McInroy: No. Yeah, I like it. think everyone agrees with that one that And I think everyone's gonna agree with the second one. Whoever's whoever's picking two. They're probably taking our Valerice. It's it's a best ⁓ Best player available type of situation and if it's the Jets, I think they will take him to I think they'd be happy to have him on the defense again It's a guy who? ⁓ Can work in different? ⁓ Different roles whether that be rushing the pass or he's really good ⁓ covering the run. He can even drop in coverage a little bit, not the greatest, but when you have a freak athlete, they're easy to teach. So ⁓ it's our, our Valerie's number two. Nathan Hawthorne: Yeah, I don't disagree with this, but I had kind of like a little one-two action here between him and David Bailey. And then also, as we know, if you guys tuned into ep... If we tuned into episode five, you know that the New York Jets are on trade down alert. So while we're taking this again right here, as it is, know that they might trade down. Arizona Cardinals, this is gonna be the biggest stretch, I think, of the draft here. Jarod McInroy: Hey, you got odds, I got evens. They are. Nathan Hawthorne: Because there's so many talented defensive players. A lot of these offensive tackles and guards are getting changed. And I think about this through the lens of who's the new head coach, Mike Lafleur. What has he done already in free agency? He's signed Tyler Algier, and they restructured James Connor. OK, they've got their running backs. They want to build in the trenches. They want to bolster up that offensive line for whoever is going to be quarterback. Jacoby Brissette sounds like they're sticking with him. They're going to go with Francis Mawigoa. They're going to go ahead and get themselves an interior offensive lineman and they are going to get rolling running this football. That's that's who I think. I know I know you've got some thoughts and opinions maybe. Do you think it's Jeremiah Love? Do you think they're going to they're going to reach for him? Jarod McInroy: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I just, No, I don't, I don't, I think, ⁓ Nathan Hawthorne: And it wouldn't be a reach, by the way. Jarod McInroy: No, no, it certainly wouldn't. just, don't think the Cardinals are in a position, ⁓ to afford to go and get a running back when again, like you said, their O line is, isn't good. So, I mean, you go in, in these early years, you go put a running back like that, that you're spending your number three pick on, ⁓ behind a bad O line. That's an injury waiting to happen. So I, I don't think so, but I am more inclined to think they go defense. Assuming that these next few drafts you're gonna have a tackle you can go after but these are we're talking about Defend We're talking about defensive ends. We're talking about edge rushers a safety we're talking about generational talents. These are People we haven't seen in drafts prior and may not see drafts moving forward certainly outside of the top three so Whatever You picked him, you got evens, odds I got evens. No, no, no, no, that's who you picked. Nathan Hawthorne: I'm just gonna add just a little bit more just to context. So you you talked about generational safeties, right, in players. So they've got the Buddha Baker. That's a generational safety right there. He's still on the team. I don't know how he hasn't requested a trade out of there over all these years, but shout out to him. You've got Denzel Burke, a great corner. And also you've got Josh Schwett as your pass rusher. So I'll just, I'll throw that out there. Jarod McInroy: Yeah, he should have been out of there a while ago. He would look great next to Bayley, anyways you picked you picked the the tackle If I'm if I'm four and I'm the Titans and those three guys are off the board. This is where love goes I think it's They can afford to to go get themselves the running back of the future to pair with cam ward ⁓ He's not making it further than four if he's not gone at three. He's gone at four and he's going to the Titans Nathan Hawthorne: That is, that is true. Yep. And if he ain't gone a four, he's gone a five. And if he ain't gone a five, he going a six. And if he ain't gone a... No, yeah, I agree with that. Partner up with Cam Ward, like you said. ⁓ Make this offense dynamic, right? Brian Dable has to be licking his chops to have another Saquon Barkley-esque guy, right? He's like, ⁓ man, I'm gonna love this for my offense ⁓ coach behind the one and only Robert Sala, best hire of the year. I love that for the Tennessee Titans. Jarod McInroy: Yeah Nathan Hawthorne: ⁓ Up next, picking number five, ⁓ I think New York Giants are going go Caleb Downs. And my whole deal was ⁓ they were going to go somebody from Ohio whether that was going to be Arville Reese, Sonny Stiles, or Caleb Downs. I think it's going to be Caleb Downs. ⁓ Listen, their front ⁓ is already strong. They've K-Bond Tibbido. They've Brian Burns. ⁓ You've got Dark, second to second, Dexter Lawrence, right? Jarod McInroy: Sexy Dexy. Nathan Hawthorne: Like they've got plenty of guys on that defensive front. Now you need some guys on the back end who are going to be able to cover offense. They've already signed Isaiah like least another offense is going to be absolutely no, but I think Caleb Downs is going to be the best play for them. You get yourself a generational safety and you again, you get Jackson Darts some help, right? You want that defense to be doing all the churning, all the moving that way. He doesn't have to have as much pressure to score points. I like to move Caleb Downs. Jarod McInroy: Fantastic. Yeah, and don't forget Abdul Carter. They got guys on that front. So you go and lock up the back, lock up the back with Jevon Holland and downs. That's a scary one too in the safety position. Yeah. So if you're taking downs at five, I think it only makes sense that Bailey finally gets taken off the board at six. And I don't think he's the sixth best player, which is crazy. I think any given draft, he's a one, two. Nathan Hawthorne: Abdul-Kar- ⁓ my gosh. It is serious ballhawk. Yeah, you got ball hawks. Jarod McInroy: at worst three and that's the beauty of this draft. So if he's there at six, the Browns are taking him. This is where we disagreed. I liked his fit with Arizona better, ⁓ if he's, if this is how it's shaken up and he's there for the Browns, they're going to start rebuilding. And in important parts, their offense obviously has got no identity. They have holes to fill. think taking an offensive player ⁓ would honestly. not make much sense because if you go and get a good defense and you really, really start to build something on that side of the football, then it's easier to fix the offensive side. going and pairing someone on the other side like him from Myles Garrett, you got those two coming at you on both sides, all of a sudden we're talking on defense. So I think Bailey goes six if he's still there. Nathan Hawthorne: Yeah, I like that spot for David Bailey and it's strange to say that he could fall in the draft. Honestly, I kind of saw him at number two to the Jets over Arville Reese for a lot of the same reasons. Like you just get a freak athlete of a guy who can play a multitude of positions, whether he's on that edge, drop back in coverage. You can sneak him interior if you're trying to get a unique look on the pass rush. Just great. ⁓ Up next at number seven, I think the Washington commanders have decided to go offense here. You got to keep your superstar, Jaden Daniels, happy. And you're going to go out and you're going to get yourself Carnell Tate. And I think you have to get Carnell Tate. And here's why. Do I like the idea of pairing him with Scary Terry? Yeah, I do. But Scary Terry doesn't really want to be in the building. I don't think that he finishes the season with the Washington commanders. I think he's on his way out the door. You've already, like, there's been so much tension and conflict of last year, whether you were going to pay him or not. Jarod McInroy: Hmm. Nathan Hawthorne: And then it finally comes through and then he's got this injury and he didn't play throughout all the games. I think that he's just on his way out the door and you have to again, keep Jayden Daniels happy. I know that Dan Quinn wants to fix the defense. So you signed a defensive end, you signed a defensive tackle, you signed a ⁓ corner all in this first day and a half, two days of free agency. You got to go take care of your quarterback, make sure he has a legitimate weapon to keep him happy. Otherwise you're going to see a lot of what you saw last year. not a lot of separation and Jayden Daniels struggling to find somewhere to go with the football. Jarod McInroy: Yeah. I, and I'm not certain of Debo Samuel's future there right now. I don't know if he he's officially resigned or not, but I know they were talking about potentially bringing him back. He might be gone. ⁓ that, yeah, when you have a young quarterback, you have to make sure you're constantly replenishing their weapons. So if it's not, if it's not Tate, it's Tyson, whichever they prefer between the two, ⁓ Jordan Tyson from Arizona state. It's, it's gotta be Cardinal Tate though. Nathan Hawthorne: Kind of like, it's gotta be, but I wouldn't be upset if they went with Tyson. Tyson's just got a little bit, he's just got a bigger frame. You know what I mean? He's just got that bigger frame. But we digress. Jarod McInroy: Yeah, it could be one or the other. They're interchangeable. Yeah, for sure. So, gets taken off the board. This is where I'm at a 50-50 because for the same reasons, let's say you believe in Shuck, let's say whatever, you're paying a bunch of money to the running back room now. The Saints, ⁓ this is where, let's say, Cardinal Tate gets taken, maybe Jordan Tyson goes and you get another weapon for him, but I don't think that will be the case. mainly because they're losing Camp Jordan. So now you gotta go get, and again it comes down to who's also best available. And I think this is where if Ruben Bane falls, and again we're talking about players falling, like the people above him, yeah. Exactly, so if Ruben Bane's there, he's a no-brainer to just step in and fill that role and all of a sudden, ⁓ just be a young Camp Jordan there to. Nathan Hawthorne: Some elite guys. Somebody's gonna have to. Somebody's gonna have to. Jarod McInroy: pick up where he left off and your pass rush is all of a sudden solved. So Saints take Ruben Bane at 8 of these. He's there. Nathan Hawthorne: Yeah, I think that a lot of this draft is going to come down to who is the head coach and kind of what they're looking for this year. Right? Is he more defensive leaning guy? Is any offensive leaning guy? And of those coordinators who kind of has a little bit more say in what's going on. Yeah, I don't mind Ruben Bane. And again, it kind of if he's falling to you at eight, you're certainly not upset. Number nine with the Kansas City Chiefs, knowing that they've also got to pick a little bit later in the draft, I believe 29 courtesy of the Rams. They're going defense here and they're going to go with the best corner, Mansour Delane. I have from LSU. I think Kenyon Siddique would be an excellent weapon to have for your team. There's no doubt about it. Travis Kelce is on his way out the door. ⁓ Kenyon Siddique can block. He's way stronger pound for pound than you think he is. And obviously he's got the speed and his catch radius is ridiculous. I like all the things about Ken Yonstadik, but my problem is, is you dished Trent McDuffie to get yourself another first round pick, and then you also lost Jalen Watson in free agency. So you've lost two of your back end guys. I think that you immediately have to replace it with somebody who you think is going to be another all pro caliber player. And that's where I think Mansoor is going to be the direction that they go. Jarod McInroy: Yeah, that's what you think. No, and here's the thing is logically like obviously, right? They go and they they replace them with the best corner in the draft and I hear you. I totally hear you. ⁓ But at the same time, we've seen what Spags does best and that's crazy blitz packages to get pressure on the quarterback and they're not super true. Nathan Hawthorne: Yeah, I know you've got thoughts. I'm heard. A lot of corner blitzes. Jarod McInroy: But also at the same time, he's good at disguising a secondary that's not as good as everyone thinks they are. And I think Andy Reid has a lot of pull, man. And if you dangle Kenyon Sadiq in front of him, ⁓ I think he's thinking we can find a corner somewhere else. I don't know. But logically, and again, you got odds. You think it's Delaney, it's Delaney. But I just, I don't know, man. I find it hard, this is one of those, again it's weird because you want to think they're going to take the best player available. ⁓ and he might be the best player available, at the same time, if you're thinking defense, Sonny Stiles is still there. They could go there. Why would they go ⁓ corner in your eyes for fit versus taking best player available at Sonny Stiles if you're going defense? Nathan Hawthorne: I think you're going with a corner because of what you need from the disguising of the coverage and the athleticism that it takes to do that, right? In order to disguise a coverage, you have to be playing a position or look like you're in a position that you're not and then finding your way back into it. And also part of what makes those pressure packages so great is being able to cover and cover sticky right at the start of the snap. Cause if the pressure doesn't get there, are you safe on the backend? I want my guy one-on-one. Right? If the pressure doesn't get there, then he's winning his rep and he's not letting that ball get thrown right over the top of his head. You know what saying? That's why I would go there. And again, I'm not, I think Sonny Siles is great, but they've still got, ⁓ they've got Nick Bolton, right? They've already got Nick Bolton. They've got Drew Tranquil. Like I think they've already got linebacker talent. And I think that their need is more on that backend with the corner than it is, you know. Jarod McInroy: Alright, I hear you. I hear you. Nathan Hawthorne: But they could, but they could also and hear me out. You've still got pick 29. You're going to have Concepcion available later. You can get him another wide receiver weapon because also we don't know what's what the deal with Rashid Rice is going to be. Is he going to get suspended? Receiver could be a good could be good. Jarod McInroy: Yeah, it's true. receiver might be a good fit for him too. And I hear you, whatever. Yeah, no, I hear you. So here's the thing. If that's the next pick, I then struggle for the Bengals because you think ⁓ next available, next best is, it's gotta be Sonny Stiles. He's not dropping out of the top 10, right? But then they go and they lose Trey Hendrickson and you really think... Nathan Hawthorne: He's probably not. Jarod McInroy: They have to, and again, it's one of those weird drafts, but you got this six, six, 300 pound, Keldrick folk, who's an absolute animal on the edge from Auburn. It's hard to think that he doesn't get picked here if he's there. And it's, hard to make it. You can make a case for both of them, but, ⁓ I think the Bengals would go Keldrick folk. And I think his draft stock is going to continue to rise as we get closer to the draft. ⁓ So we're going to go, we're going to wrap up the top 10 bangles take, Keldrick Folk. And that leads me to. We gotta talk about the, we're gonna do 10, we might as well do 11, because the Dolphins got the 11th pick. Sonny Styles, welcome to Miami. Nathan Hawthorne: Okay before... ⁓ Sonny Stiles would certainly be on his way to Miami. And think about it, it would work, right? You've let go and you've released Bradley Chubb, you've got rid of Jalen Phillips. I mean, you need a pass rusher. Or not necessarily a pass rusher. think, you know, Sonny Stiles can rush the pass, he can rush the passer. But you need somebody on that defense who's gonna be an electric headhunter. Sonny Stiles would be your Jarod McInroy: I love it. No, he gets after the quarterback, Yeah. And also we haven't been dominant at linebacker for, I don't even know how long I, I can't remember the last, Zach Thomas in like the early two thousands, but I'm not like, would be thrilled if it played out like this. And trust me, we have holes, our cornerback room, our DB room is terrible. ⁓ and Jermod McCoy could be, if he stays healthy, he could be an absolute animal. looks like a Jalen Ramsey prototype, like I would love to have a guy like him also, but give me Sonny Stiles. Let's recap the top 10 here for the listeners. We're Raiders, Mendoza 1, no brainer, Jets, Arvel Reiss 2, ⁓ Cardinals. I'll let you take the pronunciation on this young man's name. I don't want to butcher it. Nathan Hawthorne: Woo. Recap. Francis Maregoa. Jarod McInroy: Yes. ⁓ Offensive tackle out of Miami. Absolute animal. I think he's at this point clear number one on the O-line. So don't mind it. We're going number four. Titans taking Jeremiah Love. The Giants taking Caleb Downs at five. Browns, David Bailey six. Commanders, Cardinal Tate seven. Saints, Ruben Bain at eight. and nine the Chiefs go, Mon-Sword to Lane. Interesting. And then the Bengals wrapping up the top ten with Falk out of Auburn. Nathan Hawthorne: This is gonna look, it could look similar, but it could also look so different. It could look way different. Jarod McInroy: Fun, I like it, that was good. That's a good top 10. And it could look very similar. It could be we could be off we could and we'll revisit this when the draft comes around Nathan Hawthorne: Right, and part of what's being off, right, is we see things differently. So we might be taking a player from the other person that one and two and three and four, you know? So it'll be interesting. Jarod McInroy: And trades will happen and you have to operate under the assumption that they won't for these mock drafts, but they will. It'll look different, hey. ⁓ Nathan Hawthorne: I think it's going to be crazy this year. I think that phone line will be buzzing, no doubt. I think that's going to do it for today. That's a thick episode right there of a lot of NFL football. Are you going to watch the first major of the year there? Kind of switching to golf here. Are going to watch the first major? Jarod McInroy: Yeah, it's gonna be fun. I'm excited. first major. ⁓ Nathan Hawthorne: Cause it's the players this year. Did you see them recruit Scotty? His interview's like, yeah, it provides a test that not many other courses... They got him. Jarod McInroy: Yeah, the big... gosh bro just I can't do it with this and trust me I've said it like TPC Sawgrass is a great venue the players is a fun tournament whatever it's just a boring course man there's nothing and maybe it's challenging I get that but challenging isn't always entertaining ⁓ you make the green super fast there's a lot of runoffs you get penalized and ⁓ tough chipping lies like sweet Nathan Hawthorne: Look, these guys are so good it doesn't even matter. Jarod McInroy: Congrats from art from a viewing perspective that I feel like that's where these golfers get very locked into this ⁓ What they find challenging in their golf game. They assume it directly translate to ⁓ Being good for the viewer as well and making good golf content for them and it's not always the case and sawgrass is Pretty much the the number one example of that Nathan Hawthorne: Amen. Couldn't have said it any better myself. Well, folks, what do mean, hopefully he plays? ⁓ yeah, with the back injury, that's right. I think that's why he WD'd. He knew it was this week. It was a minor tweak in the back. was like, I just want to be good for next week. Jarod McInroy: Hopefully a row place. back injury. It's not looking good. Which by the way, and we can talk about this more at a later date, but what a slight on the Arnold Palmer invitational that was. You're saying your tournament isn't worth the damn. I got the players next week. Especially from a former winner. Nathan Hawthorne: Yikes. Yikes. think. Yeah, and again, it's Arnold Palmer you're talking about. It's it's I mean, obviously he's not there, but just to the estate, what an insult. Rory McElroy, we're going to fry for that. Rory McElroy. Wow. Leave it, leave it up to Team Europe. But ladies and gentlemen, that's officially going to do it for episode six. Jarod McInroy: I know it. Yeah, maybe that's the headline. Team Europe is against the Arnold Palmer Invitational. Nathan Hawthorne: of the Know Your Personnel podcast. I'm Nathan Hawthorne. This is my co-host Jared McEnroy. Thanks for hanging around with us. We are on YouTube. We're on Spotify, Apple Podcasts. Anywhere there's podcasts, you can find us. Thank you so much for tuning in, and we'll see you next week with where Max Crosby is headed. Jarod McInroy: See ya.