Latest / Sports Avenue Twisted Podcast / Episode 75 Part II feat. The Draft Professor - NFL Sleeper prospects, Reuben Bain Jr. Situation, Buffalo Bill Draft Status

Transcript

Episode 75 Part II feat. The Draft Professor - NFL Sleeper prospects, Reuben Bain Jr. Situation, Buffalo Bill Draft Status · Sports Avenue Twisted Podcast

0:01
I mean, I mean, it's interesting, right?
0:05
Because The thing is like the way these drafts are going and
0:08
we want to talk about some stuff like teams that are willing to
0:12
trade up like at this year's draft too, right?
0:14
Like, I think that also comes up as a factor like when you go and
0:17
get guys like, let me ask you this then when you look at the
0:21
teams that are in in this year's, who could you see trade
0:26
up for those type of players? Because there's four teams that
0:30
don't have a first round, right? And I think it's a Colts, that
0:35
Falcons, the Packers and the Jaguars.
0:39
I think if I'm missing any other team, just mention that.
0:41
But like, who would you say would trade up for like certain
0:44
players for certain situations? Yeah.
0:48
So one of the questions that I have been asking analysts for
0:53
the last several weeks is where is the cornerback cut off for
0:58
day one impact? And then the second question to
1:03
ask after that is what teams need a corner bad enough that we
1:10
know that they are going to need to take one in the top 50,
1:14
right? So for example, Dallas, I don't
1:19
think Dallas can come out of the Top 40 without a corner.
1:23
And Dallas is 2 first round picks.
1:27
But at that pick 20, there may not be a corner we're taking,
1:33
right? So if Dallas doesn't get a
1:35
corner at pick 12, and there's only two corners that are likely
1:40
worth pick 12, and that's Mansour delaying and Jermont
1:43
McCoy. But then there's a teardrop
1:46
within the talent level and there's about four corners in
1:50
that next tier who are all probably not going to make it to
1:54
pick 40. Those four corners would be
1:57
Avion Terrell from Clemson, Chris Johnson from San Diego
2:03
State, Keith Abney from Arizona State.
2:10
And then some people are saying D'Angelo Pons would be a day one
2:13
impact. I'm not ready to buy into that
2:16
fully, but even Colton Hood from Tennessee would enter it this
2:21
discussion, right? So now you have a conversation
2:24
about D'Angelo Pons is probably the best corner in the third
2:29
tier. But if you look at the Abney,
2:33
the Chris Johnson, the Avion Terrell, the Colton Hood, if a
2:39
team needs a corner, those are corners.
2:41
Whether you play press man or zone, they're going to be able
2:44
to help you. Right now, some of those corners
2:48
might be better at one skill than the other, but in general,
2:53
what makes those four corners relatively unique is they're
2:56
going to be able to play in any defense.
2:59
So what I think we're going to see is there be a lot of trade
3:06
ups for corners from pick 26 to pick 32.
3:13
Ask yourself who's picking at 33, who's picking at 34, who's
3:21
picking at 35, and who's picking at 36?
3:26
And do those teams 33 through 36 need a corner?
3:31
And if your don't have your drafts order handy, that's the
3:37
Raiders, The Jets, the tight, all of them need a corner to
3:45
come in and play week one. They don't have enough corners
3:49
on their roster. OK, Miami also needs day one
3:53
impact on corners. But Miami also has the 30th
3:56
overall pick, which I'm expecting to be one of these
3:58
corner. But teams are going to see that
4:01
Miami needs a corner and they're going to trade up in front of
4:05
Miami to go get them. So figure out what corner Miami
4:10
likes and if you like that corner too, come up to pick 26
4:15
and draft Avion Terrell, I can give you a Brandon Beans phone
4:20
number. So so you guys have seen, right?
4:26
You guys have seen like there's a number of people that are
4:29
mocking a corner to the Bills of 26, right?
4:32
Jeremiah has done it, Kuiper's done it.
4:34
You guys have all seen that, right?
4:35
Yes. OK, So what does that tell you?
4:39
Because I think the three of us are all Bills fans, right?
4:42
We know Buffalo is not drafted in the corner, right?
4:44
No, we have Harrison and. Not at all, no.
4:49
No, it's not happening. Like the three of us know it's
4:52
not happening. But So what Kiper and all of
4:55
them know is that Buffalo's having talks.
4:58
Because even Seattle, if Seattle decided they needed a corner,
5:02
would trade up to Buffalo to go get one.
5:05
But again, if the Titan, do you guys think the Titans can win
5:10
their division next year? No, I don't think so.
5:13
I think it's better. Yeah, I don't.
5:15
I don't see it. Who do you think is winning the
5:18
AFC South? I still think, I mean the Texans
5:24
defensively alone can win the but.
5:27
Like, what is the real gap between the Titans and the
5:30
Texans? And that's a serious question.
5:34
Yeah. I mean it's the defenses.
5:36
I mean a big part of the def the Texans identity, right.
5:41
If you look at the and that's a big part, right?
5:45
So if you can tackle the Texans running back and right, meaning
5:53
that if if you just look at what the Titans need to do on
5:55
defense, the Titans may be a corner away from winning their
6:00
division, right. I mean, the Titans like all of a
6:04
lot of corners this offseason. So their corner room is in
6:07
transition. But you know, a draft professor,
6:10
we have people on from every team talking about their needs.
6:13
The Titans need more than one corner everybody.
6:17
And if the Titans I think are like 35 in the draft order, they
6:22
would have to leap The Jets and leap the Raiders to go get their
6:26
tight end or excuse me, to go get their corner.
6:30
So Titans this brief trade up with a team like Buffalo to get
6:36
ahead of Miami drafting a corner.
6:40
Some people think the Patriots may need a corner.
6:45
I don't think that's the Patriots biggest need.
6:47
I think wide receiver and edge an offensive line or bigger
6:50
needs. But against that would mean
6:53
that, well, if the Patriots want to get an offensive lineman,
6:56
they would be able to trade down.
6:59
And as long as they didn't trade down that far, if they wanted to
7:02
get like a lineman, like pregnant, they would be able to.
7:06
So I could I could see a lot of trade UPS to get ahead of the
7:14
second round teams that need a corner.
7:17
I also think there will be a run on offensive tackles between 20
7:21
and 40. So if a team needs an offensive
7:25
tackle, they don't have a lot of choices.
7:29
So like for example, Arizona is picking at the top of Round 2,
7:36
that's a really good spot to get an offensive tackle.
7:40
So if Carol or if Carolina got to remember which team I'm
7:45
talking about, if Arizona doesn't take an offensive tackle
7:48
with the third overall pick, teams will want to get ahead of
7:53
Arizona so that they can get an offensive tackle before they do
7:59
So like there's a there's several teams like if you look
8:03
at like what are the critical needs on their roster, right?
8:07
Cardinals need edge and offensive tackle.
8:11
So if the car Cardinals go offensive tackle round one,
8:18
somebody's going to want to trade up in front of Arizona to
8:21
get the edge, right. So no matter what way you look
8:24
at Arizona's roster, they have two very critical needs at
8:27
offensive tackle and edge. Teams will trade up to move
8:31
ahead of them in Round 2. So, you know, that's the way
8:37
that we study the draft at the draft professors.
8:39
It's not just looking at the players, it's also making sure
8:43
that we're in tune with what do teams need to come out of their
8:47
first two rounds with. And then that's where you start
8:51
looking. Then who's going to trade up?
8:54
Because at corner and offensive tackle, there's not enough good
8:59
players there to drop to player 50.
9:03
So if you're, you know, if you're sitting there drafting in
9:06
the 40s, you may want to move up.
9:09
And it's worth giving up a round three pick.
9:14
If you guys look at the 2023 draft, look at the third round
9:21
picks, it's a who's who of nobody did anything right.
9:29
That's what Buffalo got. Dwayne Carter.
9:32
It wasn't like there were a lot of really good third round picks
9:36
that year. I'm just saying.
9:39
So if you have to give up a third round pick to go up into
9:44
round one and get yourself a corner, take your second and
9:47
move it all the way up into round one to go get a corner,
9:51
that's going to be a really good move because this draft just
9:57
doesn't have the talent in late round two and round 3 to justify
10:04
holding on to those picks. So I think we're going to see a
10:07
lot of third rounders traded in this draft.
10:12
I do want to talk a bit about this whole Ruben Bane situation.
10:16
You saw what happened back in 2024, and, you know, the NFL is
10:20
investigated and, you know, there was a similar player
10:23
that's been in that situation. And I wonder if Ruben Bain
10:26
dropped. Well, he was projected to go #1
10:29
early in the season, but he's considered probably the third
10:31
best for, well, I mean, depending on how you break up
10:35
with Arvel Reese, with David Bailey and Keldrick Falk, right,
10:39
and Hakeem Mazdor and TJ Parker, of course, right?
10:43
But like, how do you, how do you look at all this?
10:45
Because like, could you see that situation fall?
10:48
And then maybe there's a team that could, if he ends up
10:51
falling down to a draft, let's just say I don't know, the
10:54
Bills, I don't know, or a team that would go down, would you
10:57
still take a chance at Bain? I think Ruben Bain won't drop
11:04
past Dallas. The 12 I'm Dallas needs a lot of
11:08
defensive help and Bain's worth the risk.
11:15
So it sounds like most NFL teams knew about this, but somebody
11:22
leaks that report just in case teams didn't know about.
11:28
So the teams that probably leaked the report on Ruben Bang,
11:33
I would vote it's the Bengals at 10 or the Cowboys at 12.
11:38
Maybe the Chiefs leaked it. They're picking nines.
11:45
So that story was leaked to try to get Bain to drop to those
11:49
teams. So it's one of those three teams
11:51
that leaked the story because they want Bain to drop.
11:55
I don't even think Bain gets to the Chiefs.
11:59
Like if you want Reuben Bain, I think you have to go trade up to
12:02
get it. But I think one of the one of
12:06
the teams like the Chiefs, let's say they really like Reuben
12:09
Bain. He would be a really good fit in
12:11
that stagnola defense. They want him to drop.
12:14
But in order to get him to drop, you have to leak a story about
12:17
him, right? Like I I think that's pretty
12:21
much how that whole thing goes, went down.
12:24
But I don't think it's going to affect NFL teams evaluating him
12:27
very much because they already knew.
12:30
That's the reason why I don't think it matters.
12:32
I think the NFL teams already. Sort of all the players and
12:37
positions that we've talked about so far, who are some other
12:41
sleepers at some positions maybe we haven't talked about that
12:46
that you really like in this year's class so you think could
12:48
be a football players. Yeah, so I think there's going
12:52
to be a story after day three of the NFL draft that more tight
12:58
ends got picked than running back.
13:01
The last time that happened, I believe was two.
13:05
It was either 2005 or 2015. This class doesn't have a lot of
13:13
great tight ends in it, but what it does have are your tight end
13:19
twos. There's going to be a lot of
13:22
tight ends. Like if we were to look back
13:24
four years from now, six years from now, who in this draft is
13:28
still in the league? I'm going to bet there's going
13:31
to be more tight ends in the league than there are in any
13:34
other position from this draft class.
13:38
So Kenyan Sadiq from Oregon is probably going to be the first
13:41
tight end off the board. Very good athletic ability.
13:47
There's some drop concerns with Sadiq, like he's not where Brock
13:51
Bowers was or I'm trying to think there was another type.
13:56
Oh, Kyle Pitts. He's not a Brock Bowers or Kyle
13:58
Pitts, but Sadiq is probably going in round one.
14:02
Like in some of my favorite landing spots form would include
14:05
the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. I could also see a team like the
14:09
Rams really liking Sadiq. You know, he would be a dynamic
14:13
weapon in that offense. So Sadiq, I think that's a name
14:18
everybody's talking about. But then there's a group of
14:20
tight ends behind him, which would include Oscar Delp from
14:24
Georgia, Joe Royer from Cincinnati, Max Claire from Ohio
14:29
State. Those three guys are three down
14:32
tight ends. You can use them in line.
14:35
You could split them out wide. And if I were to say they're
14:38
going to have a career like Dawson Knox, right?
14:41
So that's Oscar Delp, Michael Trigg, Trigg Less.
14:45
I wouldn't put Trig in the same category, but Oscar Delp, Joe
14:49
Royer, Max Claire, those guys are all going to be tight ends
14:54
that you can use the block on running plays, give you the six
14:57
man surface on running plays. You're going to be able to use
14:59
them in the passing game. They're not going to be
15:02
anybody's all pro tight end. They may not even be your team
15:05
starting tight end, but they're going to be an NFL tight end.
15:10
They're not going to lead your fantasy football team to a
15:13
title, but they're going to help your NFL team win football game.
15:17
There's a few other kinds of tight ends like Michael Trigg
15:20
from Baylor would be like a big athletic slot now trigger some
15:25
off field stuff that is concerning.
15:29
So I don't know that Trigg is going to get drafted as high as
15:33
this tape indicate. Eli Stowers from Vanderbilt,
15:38
he's a big slot wide receiver, but he's listed as a tight end.
15:42
Daquan Wright from Ole Miss, Again, an athletic tight end.
15:47
Eli Raritan from Notre Dame has a significant injury history,
15:53
but an NFL team is going to draft him.
15:54
And if he can get past his injuries and actually stay on
15:58
the field, I think Raritan's going to be in the league for a
16:01
while. DJ Rogers from TCU had a
16:05
breakout year. He even got a Senior Bowl
16:10
invite. He was not on anybody's radar in
16:13
September. I remember watching the TCU
16:17
game. I believe TCU open the season
16:18
against North Carolina. And I'm like, who is that TCU
16:21
tight end? He keeps blocking people.
16:24
He's running, He's catching everything that was thrown to
16:27
him. I'm like, who is this guy?
16:30
Because we covered TCU over the summer, DJ Rogers didn't make
16:34
our list. But all of a sudden in
16:36
September, we got DJ Rogers making Bill Belichick really mad
16:42
on the other North Carolina sideline.
16:44
So, you know, that gets your attention, right?
16:47
So, you know, so we've been tracking DJ Rogers at the Draft
16:51
Professor since September, got a Senior Bowl invite.
16:55
I don't know if Rogers gets drafted, but he's going to make
16:59
it into a camp. And I love what one of the draft
17:03
professors, EJ, said about DJ Rogers.
17:06
I don't know why you stayed at TCU, but there's something here.
17:12
So, you know, he had offers from bigger schools, but he chose
17:17
TCU. Like, he had offers from SEC
17:21
schools like Oklahoma, and he chose TCU so that, you know,
17:27
this is a really good athlete, really good prospect.
17:31
But the TCU offense didn't do Rodgers any favors.
17:35
Justin Jolie from NC State. NC State was one of the most
17:41
scouted schools by the Buffalo Bills.
17:45
And I can tell you NC State doesn't have a lot of prospects.
17:48
And Justin Jolie did come in for a 30 visit, right?
17:53
So why is Buffalo interested in a tight end like Justin Jolly?
17:58
Is that because even though they've given Kincaid his fifth
18:02
year, there may be a reason we have an extended Kincaid, right?
18:09
So OK, got to look at Jolly, a couple of other late round tight
18:13
ends. I definitely want to give a
18:14
shout out to, I think Sam Rash of Stanford also enters into
18:18
that tier of he's going to be a tight end in the NFL for a long
18:21
time and Stanford is really good history of developing NFL tight
18:25
ends. Roush isn't going to, he's not
18:29
going to be your Brock Bowers or your Kyle Pitts, but he's going
18:32
to be that tight end that starts 17 games for you, catches 34
18:36
passes in the year and just stays on the field and helps
18:39
your team win. So shout out to Sam Roush and
18:43
then Jaron Cannock from Oklahoma.
18:46
He's a really good story. So Cannock, if you would have
18:51
talked to me 12 months ago, I would have told you, is he a
18:55
linebacker or is he a tight end? So he played linebacker at like
19:01
225 lbs. He didn't see a lot of snaps at
19:09
linebacker for Oklahoma. Like he's not one of Oklahoma's
19:12
best linebackers, you know, because they got some guys that
19:15
have made it into the NFL and stuff at linebacker already,
19:18
right? But Cannock was playing behind
19:21
him and he switched to tight end halfway through his junior year.
19:28
And after his senior year, we're like, well, that was a good
19:31
experiment. I want Cannock on my 90 player
19:36
roster guaranteed, so if he doesn't get drafted, I want
19:42
Brandon Bean to go out and get Jaron Cannick, the tight end
19:46
from Oklahoma. Buffalo scouted Oklahoma as much
19:49
as it's scouted NC State, so Buffalo knows about this guy.
19:55
So he would be a potential Reggie Gilliam replacement
19:59
because he's only 225 lbs So that's not going to last in the
20:03
NFL at tight end. But he could be a fullback, he
20:07
could be a slot wide receiver. And what he will also do is play
20:12
every special team snap that you have.
20:16
So he'll have a path to the 53 simply because, hey, if my sixth
20:21
string linebacker is the same as my starting fullback and is also
20:26
the guy that's going to play 15 special team snaps a game,
20:31
that's I want him on my roster right now.
20:36
I hope he doesn't have to play that much linebacker.
20:39
But you know, if you need a linebacker to get you out of the
20:43
game, the guys played it in the SEC, right?
20:48
So Jaron Cannock from Oklahoma, that's your 5 minutes of fame.
20:54
And there's some other guys late round at tight end.
20:56
Dallin Bentley from Utah, Nate Borkercher from Texas A&M, Josh
21:03
Cuevas from Alabama, Lance Mason from Wisconsin, Riley Noakowski.
21:09
The tight end from Indiana would be another full back.
21:13
Max Bredesen, the tight end from Michigan would be another full
21:17
back. Will Kazmerek from Ohio State
21:20
would be a really good blocking tight end.
21:22
So if a team's looking for like the next Jackson Haws, Will
21:25
Kazmerek or Tanner Koziol or Tanner Arkin, Tanner Koziol from
21:31
Houston, Tanner Arkin from Illinois.
21:34
I think this tight end class has a lot of players that are going
21:42
to make their fans happy, not because they won them fantasy
21:47
titles, but because these tight ends are going to help you win
21:49
football games. Now, all of us here are Bills
21:53
fans and I figure we'd throw in this question here because just
21:58
because, you know, just, you know, of our own personal
22:02
interests, I guess. But you know, this is a pivotal
22:06
draft for the Bills and Brendan. They fired McDermott, they
22:09
promote Brady to head coach, they bring in Pete Carmichael,
22:12
junior ZOC, although radio still call the plays.
22:16
They go out and get a wide receiver.
22:17
So you don't need a wide receiver in the first round
22:20
anymore like most were mocking to us.
22:22
And So what position do you think that they attack and
22:26
target in the first round? Do they trade back?
22:28
Even if they do trade back, what's a position that makes
22:32
sense for Buffalo? Because like you said earlier,
22:38
cornerback isn't really, you know, something that they kind
22:42
of need, right? But and what other positions
22:46
could you see Buffalo targeting in this draft?
22:48
And what are the most important needs in your opinion?
22:55
So nobody's allowed to call me during the draft because if
22:59
Brandon B needs to call me and ask me for advice, I need that
23:04
line clear. And here's the advice I would
23:07
give him. Don't stop at one.
23:12
I want 2. I want 2 wide receivers.
23:17
I want two corners. I want 2 linebackers.
23:23
I want 2 defensive lineman. I'm up to 8 positions.
23:27
I want one safety. I want one full back.
23:33
I don't think 2 offensive lineman can make the roster.
23:36
So I'm just going to say I want one offensive line.
23:39
And if I added all of that up, I think I just gave Brandon Bean a
23:43
shopping list for 11 things. So if Brandon Bean can find a
23:50
way to bring 11 prospects in, that can make the roster at
23:55
those positions. So I think Buffalo's going to
23:57
keep 6 wide receivers and I think we have room to draft 2
24:02
and keep both guys that we draft.
24:05
I think that's very within reason.
24:08
I also think we could draft two corners and both make the team
24:14
linebacker. Depending upon what kinds of
24:17
linebackers the team wants. I think we could draft 2 and
24:21
both could make the team. I think we could draft one nose
24:26
tackle and this draft has a lot of really good nose tackles on
24:32
day three. So the favorite is Cole Brevard
24:35
from Texas. So he is a draft professor
24:38
favorite. We're actually going to be
24:40
talking about Brevard on our Bills podcast in an hour and a
24:44
half. But call Brevard.
24:48
I would love as a nose tackle and then I would like to get one
24:51
edged player now. So then the way I stack those
24:56
needs is I would say who do we need to play early?
25:04
So if Casey Concepcion or Omar Cooper Junior are there, they
25:08
pick 26, I would have to be convinced to trade back.
25:15
And if somebody would have to convince me really hard, like
25:19
how far are we moving back? Can I still get Kaden McDonald,
25:24
for example? So if the trade back got us
25:28
Kaden McDonald, I do the trade back.
25:34
But if Concepcion or Omar Cooper Junior are there, I would take
25:39
both of them over Lemon. I would take both of them over
25:41
Tyson, right? Like it's Tate, Concepcion, Omar
25:50
Cooper Junior and then we can entertain a trade back.
25:54
But those three guys have to be gone before I really think hard
25:59
about the trade back. But once we trade back, I think
26:04
the needs are relatively equal. Now I realize we need a starting
26:10
nose tackle, but we don't need a starting wide receiver.
26:15
But I would argue that wide receiver is a bigger need than
26:18
A2 down nose tackle because we can get a Cole Brevard and round
26:23
four or five, but we are not going to be able to get an Omar
26:27
Cooper junior, a Casey Concepcion, a Bryce Lance or a
26:35
Ted Hearst in round 4, right? Like I want one of those four
26:41
guys to be a Buffalo Bill that I just mentioned, Ted Hearst,
26:46
Bryce Lance given to me in early round three.
26:49
Give them to me. You're right around pick 65 or
26:52
70, right? That's where that's where I
26:55
would be. That's where I wanted to go.
26:57
Take that wide receiver. If we settle for Skyler Bell,
27:01
I'm OK with that. But I would rather have Lance.
27:05
Lance, he's a big body guy that runs a 43 Ford, right?
27:11
So he's just a super athlete. You know, the the comps to
27:17
Christian Watson, that's more than helmet scouting.
27:21
Those comps hold true. So Bryce Lance is a healthier
27:27
version of Christian Watson. So like, I would love that in
27:33
early, early round 3. But again, like so.
27:40
And then the other thing is that the success rate on edges in
27:44
rounds one and two is 13 percent, 1/3 percent, 13.
27:53
So Buffalo has its starting edges and you need to take a 13%
27:58
swing, right? But I'm going to call it a 13%
28:04
swing because there's a better than not probability that
28:08
Brandon Bean is going to miss in the pic.
28:12
So what he should do is next year draft another edge and the
28:15
year after that draft another edge and you keep taking 13%
28:19
swings until you hit right. And like I get into like all the
28:27
probabilities of success in the draft.
28:29
And basically I want to formulate a draft plan that
28:32
gives me the highest probability of success at the highest number
28:36
of picks, Meaning that if Brandon Bean can make.
28:41
So like I outline needs where we need 11 picks or we need 11
28:45
players. If six of those 11 are starting
28:50
games for Buffalo in Year 3, that's a good draft.
28:56
Now, that doesn't mean that they're leading us to a Super
28:59
Bowl in 2027, though. The players that are leading
29:03
Buffalo to a Super Bowl in 2027 are already on the roster.
29:10
You should be drafting saying where does this roster need to
29:13
be in three years? The other thing that I'm going
29:18
to give Brandon Bean advice on is that Brandon Bean already
29:25
knows that next year's draft is loaded.
29:29
It's loaded in all caps. It will be the best draft class
29:35
of the last five years, I think, right?
29:38
If Brandon Bean wants to go get a wide receiver, trade up Julio
29:43
Jones style, go get one next year.
29:46
If he wants to trade up for an edge, there's going to be a lot
29:49
of edges that are worth trading up for.
29:51
Go get one next year. But in order to do that, you
29:56
have to draft this year knowing you have to fill the roster
30:00
holes for two years in one draft.
30:03
That's why I say draft 11 guys that can make this roster.
30:07
So when we're sitting here 12 months from now, we're not
30:12
worried about swing tackle. With the departure of Vandemark,
30:16
we know that we have a swing tackle that's healthy, right?
30:22
We're not worried about the departure of Osiris Torrance
30:25
because we've already drafted a guard.
30:27
We have to draft one this year. We're not worried about nose
30:31
tackle because we drafted one. We're not worried about edge
30:33
because we draft one. We're still going to draft
30:35
another one next year, but we're not worried about it because
30:38
there's depth at the position. We're not worried about a whole
30:41
corner because we drafted 2 of them.
30:44
We're not worried about the safeties that leave after free
30:48
agency because I believe four of the safeties in camp are all in
30:51
one year contracts because we drafted 1.
30:56
So like my entire advice to Brandon Beam would be draft 2 of
31:01
nearly everything so that when these 11 to 12 guys make the
31:07
team coming out of training camp and 12 months from now as we're
31:12
entering the 2027 draft, which is loaded, go get your guy.
31:20
Go trade up into the top 10 and get Dylan Stewart.
31:24
Trade Rousseau, trade your first round pick, trade your second
31:27
round pick, and let's go get Dylan Stewart and say welcome to
31:30
Buffalo, right? Dylan Stewart meet Drake.
31:34
May like every freaking snap, Dylan Stewart meet Drake.
31:39
May you know, like we got to make that happen, right?
31:42
Yeah. And with that being said, we
31:48
want to ask you positional player questions that could be
31:53
sleepers in this year's draft. And we just want to ask for each
31:57
position. And it doesn't have to be long.
32:00
You can even elaborate about it. But like, let's start off with
32:03
this position running back. Like who would be the sleeper
32:06
that team should keep an eye on? Well, I think it's Roman Hemby.
32:10
He's the one I have my eye on. He's going to go on day three,
32:14
but we're wherever he lands, I'm almost going to put him on my
32:18
dynasty roster. If I can get him in round 3,
32:21
great. But I might even take him in
32:22
Round 2 and I don't even know where he's.
32:25
I don't even know what team is drafting Hemby.
32:27
But that's how high I am on when he when Hemby gets a shot to
32:31
play, he's going to do well. So Roman Happy would be my
32:34
sleeper running back. My sleeper wide receiver would
32:37
be Deshaun Stribling from Ole Miss.
32:40
Again, day three guy. It wouldn't shock me if he goes
32:44
round 3, but I think he's more likely to go day three at tight
32:49
end. DJ Rogers is my favorite
32:52
sleeper, but there's a chance he doesn't get drafted.
32:56
I would say Sam Roush or Justin Jolly would be my sleeper tight
33:01
ends. My sleeper quarterback will be
33:04
Sawyer Robertson. I won't quit him at corner.
33:10
Some guys I have my eye on. Daylin Everett from Georgia,
33:13
probably going on day 2. Wouldn't surprise me if he is
33:18
the first corner taken on day three.
33:21
Will leave the third from Texas A&M.
33:24
Similar story probably goes on day 2.
33:27
Wouldn't shock me if he's the first corner off the board in
33:30
day three to Carrio Davis, same story.
33:35
I think he goes round two but there's good like if he's still
33:40
there on the board when round four goes, Davis isn't going to
33:44
get through the 1st 10 picks around 4.
33:49
And the reason why I say that is these coroner's all have
33:52
textbook NFL measurements and they're tested at the highest
33:57
levels of college football. So they may not have the best
34:00
film, but they have all the measurements that NFL teams
34:04
want, so they're going to get drafted based upon the
34:08
measurement. Davis and Igmanosum from Ohio
34:12
State would be a similar discussion at corner.
34:14
Those are all going to be like round three or day three guys.
34:17
I think it's safety. This is an awesome safety class.
34:23
There is on average about 60 defensive backs get drafted
34:29
every year. So 33 of those are usually
34:33
corners. So that leaves room for, you
34:36
know, another maybe 17 safeties and 10 guys.
34:41
Are they a slot, a nickel? Are they a safety?
34:45
Are they a corner? But there's usually a between 55
34:47
and 60 defensive backs drafted. We're going to see a lot of
34:51
safeties come off the board this year.
34:53
And day three, Bud Clark is an older prospect from TCUI.
34:58
Think he's going to end up going day three.
35:01
My favorite is Jalen Husky, the safety for Maryland.
35:05
So Husky started as a corner, was converted to safety, and has
35:11
the athleticism to play single high.
35:14
So wouldn't shock me if he goes day 2.
35:18
But if Buffalo can land Husky round 3 or 4, I will.
35:23
Absolutely love that fit and he would be awesome to pair with
35:28
Colt Bishop. Robert Spears, Jennings would be
35:32
a sleeper safety for day three and he's out of Oklahoma going
35:38
through the rest of the position list.
35:40
So defensive line, I mentioned Cole Brevard.
35:42
He would be my sleeper defensive tackle at edge.
35:49
This is a really good edge class.
35:53
It's good in that if you're picking anywhere in the top 125,
36:02
you're going to get yourself a player that's going to get you
36:04
some snaps, right? Like, we're not talking about
36:08
your drafting an All Pro in Round 4, But if you can get
36:11
yourself a Jack Sawyer in Round 4, Jack Sawyer's an edge.
36:16
It's going to play in the NFL, you know, for seven to 10 years.
36:20
If his body holds up, he's not going to be an All Pro, he's not
36:23
going to get the sack numbers, but he's an NFL edge.
36:27
This draft has a lot of those guys.
36:30
Two guys that are going to be drafted either really late or go
36:35
undrafted are from Florida. One of them is Tyreke Sapp, the
36:40
edge from Florida. The other is George Gums, the
36:43
edge from Florida. So 12 months ago we were
36:47
propping these guys up in summer scouting.
36:51
We were expecting really good things and Florida just sucked
36:55
this year. Like Florida had levels of suck
36:58
that we didn't know they could suck that bad.
37:01
OK, I know, I know. And we said the same thing about
37:05
Clemson, right, Right. Clemson really bad, right?
37:08
But George Gomes and Tyreke SAP, they're, you know, approximately
37:14
the same size as Rousseau. Those edges get drafted.
37:19
SAP can play some three tech, he could play some 4I, he could
37:23
play edge. So he's he's again.
37:27
So from a body size, he's one of the guys that's going to be, you
37:30
know, like is he a 3-4 defensive end or A43 edge?
37:34
You know, those types of things going to be able to set the edge
37:36
against the run. Those guys are going to have NFL
37:40
careers, even if they're not drafted.
37:44
I think whatever team they go to, they will eventually find
37:47
their way onto the 53. So wanted to give a shout out to
37:51
those defensive tackles, linebackers.
37:57
This is a decent linebacker class, but I also find it
38:04
interesting that there's a number of teams that need
38:06
linebacker, like Tampa Bay needs more than one, Dallas needs more
38:14
than one. The Giants need a linebacker.
38:17
The Saints need a linebacker, right?
38:19
So there's a lot of teams that need a linebacker.
38:22
There's also a lot of linebackers that are probably
38:25
going to be taken on day one and two.
38:27
One of the problems with linebacker when you're
38:31
evaluating it is probably the position where the college game
38:38
and the NFL game are like 180° apart.
38:44
So a lot of linebackers in college are allowed to play
38:48
downhill. And what we mean by that is a
38:52
linebacker in college can move forward.
38:55
A-Team may only have three down lineman, and they're blitzing a
38:58
linebacker on every play. The linebackers playing
39:00
downhill, they're allowing the linebacker to go forward.
39:02
If you're a Bills fan listening to this, that's the scouting
39:05
report on Dorian William. He plays really well going
39:08
forward. When Dorian Williams gets to spy
39:11
Patrick Mahomes, Dorian Williams looks like an effective NFL
39:16
player. If Dorian Williams has to
39:19
backpedal, we have a problem. And most college linebackers
39:27
don't have to backpedal. So that's the right.
39:32
What you're looking at on tape is not what you're going to ask
39:34
him to do in the NFL. So it's all projection.
39:38
So taking a linebacker high is risky.
39:42
I would rather Brandon Bean just keep taking round 4, round 5
39:48
picks at linebacker every year and find the next Milano that
39:53
way. Then try to take a risk on like
39:56
a Josiah Trotter in the top 50. Because Trotter, look now this
40:02
defense is designed to let linebackers go downhill.
40:05
So I have a high amount of confidence.
40:08
If Trotter was in the Bills defense, he would be successful.
40:13
But in general, linebackers, it's difficult to project
40:17
college, the NFL, like one of the best linebacker prospects,
40:19
Jake Gold Day from Cincinnati, he played nickel cornerback.
40:26
So he's listed as a linebacker. I mean, he's 63200 and 40 lbs.
40:31
He was playing nickel corner his junior year at Cincinnati and
40:36
even his senior year, they still had him playing slot more than
40:39
50% of the time. But he's a linebacker, right?
40:44
He's a linebacker when you look at your roster.
40:47
But his playing experience, is it nickel?
40:51
You're going to hand him a starting linebacker spot if you
40:53
draft him in round two, right? I mean, his athletic ability.
40:59
And like, he was running with Ryan Williams, who's if you
41:03
don't know who Ryan Williams is, you're going to hear his name
41:07
early in the 2027 or 2028 draft. He's the wide receiver from
41:12
Alabama. Gold Day was running with
41:16
Williams step for step and pass cover.
41:20
OK, that's a good right. That's a player you want in your
41:23
room. But that doesn't mean you want
41:24
to hand over the keys to your defense to him, right?
41:30
It's going to take time because you're asking him to do
41:32
something different in the NFL than he did in college.
41:36
So some sleeper linebackers. I like Aiden Fisher from
41:39
Indiana, one of the best coverage linebackers in the
41:41
class, Caleb Elarms or from TCU. And Kendall Daniels is a safety
41:52
converted to linebacker from Oklahoma.
41:55
Has a relatively high missed tackle rate.
41:59
But I think Daniels, if he gets whatever training camp Daniels
42:05
goes to, whether he's undrafted or drafted, I think his special
42:10
teams ability is going to get him on a 53 player roster
42:13
eventually. So those are some linebackers
42:16
that I think are sleepers. And from an interior offensive
42:21
lineman standpoint, I want to give a shout out to Kaden
42:25
Barnett, otherwise known as the vanilla gorilla from Wyoming.
42:30
So one of the draft professors was actually doing some research
42:33
on Jerry Ostrovsky's son, and Owen Ostrovsky played against
42:38
Kaden Barnett and the film pop. So draft professor was talking
42:42
about Kaden Barnett in October. The rest of the draft world
42:46
caught up to us in January. So those are some sleepers for
42:50
you. I want to end this off the part
42:54
of the show off with this question and I know we're
42:57
looking like next year. So I caught the way, way, way,
43:02
way too early 2027 class. Who do you have as as your top
43:08
five players in that class as of right now?
43:12
Oh, so that's that's dangerous. I'm going to say Colin.
43:17
Simmons Very dangerous, right? So Colin Simmons is is an edge.
43:22
Dylan Stewart's an edge, Jeremiah Jeremiah Smith from
43:28
Ohio State, wide receiver, Pam Coleman at wide receiver.
43:35
And then, oh, I'm Leonard Moore, the coroner from Notre Dame.
43:40
I'll go with those is the best 5.
43:43
But I don't have enough thorough grading to know if those like.
43:49
If you ask me the same question in 10 days, I might give you a
43:51
different answer. So, so so which which players
43:55
are are you liking in that class then I guess?
44:00
So the challenge is a lot of the players that we know about are
44:05
players that went back to school.
44:08
So Oregon has a center, Iapani Lulu.
44:13
I would have I would I had him shocked as a pick to the Lions
44:18
in round one until he chose to go back to school.
44:21
So I upon a Lulu. So already I can tell you the
44:24
center class next year is going to be better than the center
44:26
class this year. And this is a pretty deep center
44:29
class just because lululu is better in my opinion than any
44:33
prospect except possibly Connor Lou in this class.
44:38
Wide receiver looks to be loaded with a lot of legit top 10
44:44
caliber talent. So I mentioned Jeremiah Smith, I
44:47
mentioned Cam Coleman, Deuce Robinson from Florida State's
44:51
another one to keep an eye on. But draft professor will be
44:55
covering all of this starting in May.
44:58
So starting in May, draft professor will cover, you know,
45:02
who are the top wide receivers in the Big 10?
45:04
Who are the top wide receivers in the SEC?
45:06
We'll break that all down in different in different podcasts
45:10
because the advantage of doing it that way is in the same
45:14
podcast that you get the top guy, you're also going to find
45:17
those round five to seven sleepers because there's a lot
45:20
of times the good players we find in the summer, even if they
45:25
fizzle during the college football season, those become
45:29
the late round picks of the subsequent NFL tray.
45:33
So we have a pretty good process that we follow and that the same
45:37
way that I can tell you about George Gums and Tyreke Sam,
45:42
that's the same that you're going to find the same
45:43
information out on Draft Professor podcasts in May and
45:46
June. Jim, we appreciate you doing
45:50
this, man. Another year, another draft
45:53
coming up in pretty soon. And you know, like we said,
45:58
couldn't have a better guy than yourself.
46:00
And where can we find you? In social media and everywhere
46:03
else? Yeah.
46:06
So thank you for asking and Rocky and Rob thanks for having
46:09
me my social at NFL draft fanatic.
46:15
No, I am fanatic. So NFL draft fanatic No, I am
46:18
fanatic on both YouTube and Twitter.
46:23
So what you end up getting on Twitter is daily draft content.
46:28
So every day Draft Professor has podcasts that you can see on
46:34
YouTube, typically at 7:00 PM and 9:00 PM Eastern.
46:38
And a lot of that podcast content makes its way into the
46:42
Twitter feed. There will be other draft and
46:45
football takes on the Twitter feed as well.
46:49
And you know, part of what we do at Draft Professor, there are 40
46:53
people that help Draft Professor put out daily draft content.
46:58
So a portion of the Draft Professor feed is promoting the
47:03
work of the 40 people around me because those guys are just
47:07
doing excellent works. Yeah, you guys, what you guys
47:12
have built there at the draft professors just it's amazing,
47:17
man, what you guys do year round.
47:19
So keep up the awesome work and we're just we were honored to
47:23
have you on today, man. It's always a pleasure.
47:26
And we're, you know, the draft around the corner.
47:29
It was the best time to have you on and thanks again, man.
47:34
It was awesome. We had a great time.
47:37
Oh guys, thank you so much for having me and until this time
47:41
next year, see you guys soon. Well, well, we'll try to get in
47:45
your show too, right? Hopefully.
47:47
I know that you always do these everyday.
47:50
I see you on Twitter like you just go on live on these streams
47:54
and you said you got you got one a little bit an hour away.
47:58
But we will place the description below where you can
48:01
find Jim Wickens AKA the NFL Draft Professor.
48:04
But till next time, take care, be kind to each other.
48:08
Signing off for the Sports Ave. Twisted podcast on Tuesday,
48:12
April 14th, 2020. 6.