Latest / The Sean O'Connell Show / Ryan Fowler recaps the NFL combine, How much did Spencer Fano and Caleb Lomu help themselves (?) + more

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Ryan Fowler recaps the NFL combine, How much did Spencer Fano and Caleb Lomu help themselves (?) + more · The Sean O'Connell Show

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Speaker 1: You tune to the Sean o'connells show for the Murdoch
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Speaker 1: Chevrolet Studio of ESPN seven hundred am.
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Speaker 2: Sweets candy all right engine closer to the end of
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Speaker 2: the show. But Ryan Fowl or NFL Draft analyst at
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Speaker 2: the Draft Network, kind of have to join us to.
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Speaker 1: Talk a little football. Ryan, welcome to show. How are
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Speaker 1: you doing well?
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Speaker 3: Appreciate having me on.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, thanks for taking the time. I know this is
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Speaker 2: a busy, busy time of years. We've marched closer toward
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Speaker 2: that NFL Draft and we're coming right off the combine. Obviously,
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Speaker 2: people around here are pretty dialed in on Spencer Fano
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Speaker 2: and the performance that he had as the Outland Trophy winner.
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Speaker 1: He was great on the field.
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Speaker 2: We thought that his athleticism would translate well at the combine,
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Speaker 2: and it looks like it did. What's the scuttle butt
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Speaker 2: about around Spencer fanal right now when it comes to
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Speaker 2: this upcoming draft.
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Speaker 3: Yeah, you really hit the nail on the head there, Sean.
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Speaker 3: I think overall, when you watch Spencer Fono move right,
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Speaker 3: the foundation of any offensive lineman really all football starts
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Speaker 3: with footwork and the way that he moves. Whether he's
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Speaker 3: playing tackle long term or his career, or playing guard,
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Speaker 3: or even some teams requested to see him snap at
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Speaker 3: center after his workout. He's going to be a high
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Speaker 3: level player early on in his career. The ability to
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Speaker 3: mirror different body types, whether he's facing the guy at
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Speaker 3: tackle that's two hundred and forty five pound Michael Parsons
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Speaker 3: or a guy that's you know, Miles Garrett at two
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Speaker 3: hundred and seventy five plus pounds, those types of body types.
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Speaker 3: I think, overall, everything on the tape showcase the high
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Speaker 3: level mover in a high level technician with what he
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Speaker 3: does in his hands, mixing up different level looks as
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Speaker 3: far as his vertical setting guy as he jumps setting guys,
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Speaker 3: and then he just checked off those boxes. Not only
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Speaker 3: on the field, but really the biggest thing is really
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Speaker 3: at the combine is just behind the scenes, right learning
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Speaker 3: who these players are as young men coming into a
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Speaker 3: community wherever, whoever that organization is. I think Spencer as
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Speaker 3: far as the guy says a high level character, I
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Speaker 3: love the game of football, very high level. Just this
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Speaker 3: individual overall, I think everything for him was going to
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Speaker 3: the combine to where he could have sat out, he
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Speaker 3: didn't have to participate, but he showed up, he competed,
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Speaker 3: and for me, really solidified himself as what he should
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Speaker 3: be a top fifteen, top fifteen pick in his class.
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Speaker 2: So I wanted to ask you about that, that part
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Speaker 2: you just mentioned there, the choice to participate or to
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Speaker 2: sit out. We're seeing more and more a lot of
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Speaker 2: elite players feel like they don't have to and they
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Speaker 2: don't right. Teams will evaluate them through individual workouts, for
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Speaker 2: pro days whatever. For somebody like Spencer Fono, who is
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Speaker 2: debatably tackle number one Francis Mongoha in that conversation as well,
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Speaker 2: he went measured, interviewed, did not participate in the drills.
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Speaker 1: Spencer obviously did do.
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Speaker 2: Teams or the league in general view those two things
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Speaker 2: with a significant difference. Or is it just kind of
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Speaker 2: like personal preference and will take you whichever.
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Speaker 3: You do kid, Yeah, nowadays a little bit. It is
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Speaker 3: a personal preference. I mean, you think you could look
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Speaker 3: to Jeremiah Love right running back from their name arguably
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Speaker 3: be the premier player in this class, and he runs
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Speaker 3: four to three. He didn't have to do anything the
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Speaker 3: rest of the day. He could have sat out and
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Speaker 3: just stayed on his phone if he wanted to, you know,
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Speaker 3: but he goes and does all the positional drills. You know,
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Speaker 3: that's something there to where you for some scouts to say, look,
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Speaker 3: we're happy you competed. We didn't want to see it
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Speaker 3: hurt yourself out there, but happy that you did. I
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Speaker 3: think nowadays, you know, overall, there's so many guys that
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Speaker 3: are in these players' ears, and he used to be
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Speaker 3: just hey, fifteen years ago, you get an invite Indianapolis,
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Speaker 3: you're showing up and you're competing no matter what, you're
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Speaker 3: doing everything. You know, guys don't even do the three
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Speaker 3: cone drill. You got receivers like Makai Lemon saying, hey,
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Speaker 3: I'm just going to do the gauntlet and I'm not
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Speaker 3: doing anything else. You know, you got guys that are
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Speaker 3: not even at the combine that would have loved an
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Speaker 3: opportunity to go there and compete. So when I think
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Speaker 3: of it from a league perspective, it is a pick
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Speaker 3: and choose as far as if you're an organization that
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Speaker 3: really values those types of things. But I think in
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Speaker 3: this situation, when you're talking about Fano, when you're talking
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Speaker 3: about now, you know what, when you're even talking about
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Speaker 3: the larger lands of this offensive tackle class where bottom
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Speaker 3: line found there's not a lot of peer offensive tackles
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Speaker 3: in this class, and they're trying to see guys in
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Speaker 3: front of them and confirm those athletic and tangibles. I
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Speaker 3: think in this case where you don't have a class,
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Speaker 3: what is a Joe Waltz at the top where he's
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Speaker 3: a solidified OT one they wanted to see. Now we
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Speaker 3: know out there on the field. They've been talking a
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Speaker 3: few scouts this week that were upset that he was
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Speaker 3: not out there and then on the contrary, happy that
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Speaker 3: Fano went out there and did everything that he needed
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Speaker 3: to do. So it really is up to the player
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Speaker 3: and their respective camps of doing what they want to
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Speaker 3: do at the Combine. But I do feel like as
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Speaker 3: these years go on, it's just unfortunate that even though
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Speaker 3: you do get an invite to Indy, it's more so
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Speaker 3: focusing on the interviews than rather coming out and participating
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Speaker 3: in the on field and testing portion of the drills.
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Speaker 2: Well, Fano's the headliner and he has been all year,
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Speaker 2: but right behind him has been Caleb Lomo and obviously
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Speaker 2: book ended on the other side of that Utah offensive
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Speaker 2: line all year and some offensive line experts you talk
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Speaker 2: to say like he actually might have as high of
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Speaker 2: an upside or even higher upside because of his past
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Speaker 2: sets than Spencer does. And he also performed well four
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Speaker 2: nine to nine in the forty and tested well.
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Speaker 1: They jumped basically the same.
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Speaker 2: I mean, they're mirror images of one another personality wise,
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Speaker 2: sometimes too. Caleb lomo is, like I said, he's not
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Speaker 2: the headliner. He's not going to be in that top
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Speaker 2: fifteen conversation, but he is in the first round conversation.
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Speaker 1: How much did he help himself?
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Speaker 3: I thought he helped us up a bunch. You mentioned
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Speaker 3: the four nine nine they build to get out in space.
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Speaker 3: I think Caleb. As far as looking at this tackle
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Speaker 3: class where really a lot of the focus right now.
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Speaker 3: Sean is on Monroe Freeling from Georgia, Maxihanachure from Arizona State,
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Speaker 3: and that back end of round one, I think Caleb
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Speaker 3: Lomu absolutely should be in that category. Even Caden Procter
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Speaker 3: of course from Alabama, whether he just tackle, whether he's
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Speaker 3: a card at the NFL level. But for Caleb, I
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Speaker 3: think his best football is two to three years, four
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Speaker 3: years down the road. I think he still has room
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Speaker 3: to add muscle mass, and they've been talking to some
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Speaker 3: teams in the process. That's what they've mentioned. They think, hey,
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Speaker 3: this guy can come in with two years at left tackle,
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Speaker 3: playing some high level ball and a good conference and
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Speaker 3: a well coached offensive line group opposite of Sensafono, and
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Speaker 3: the guys can come in and compete right away again
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Speaker 3: and having that trajectory with player development that goes overlooked
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Speaker 3: every single year on him out of the position that
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Speaker 3: you're drafting. So Caleb for me is absolutely a late
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Speaker 3: first round prospect. Interested to see what offense he lands in,
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Speaker 3: but I think is a big, physical player that can
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Speaker 3: win a to B in the ground game. And also
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Speaker 3: you mentioned his past post sets where just he arrives
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Speaker 3: with poise, he got really good hands. The athleticism continues
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Speaker 3: to evolve, and as I mentioned, he's going to get
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Speaker 3: stronger as he fills into his body. Very interesting young
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Speaker 3: player that think is going to have a heck of
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Speaker 3: an NFL.
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Speaker 2: Careerdallan Bentley went as a tight end and he had
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Speaker 2: a great year for Utah after kind of waiting in
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Speaker 2: the wings and sitting behind some higher profile players at
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Speaker 2: the university. He had a great final season, and he's
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Speaker 2: a much more traditional big body tight end than like
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Speaker 2: brand Keithy, who will have to figure out what his
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Speaker 2: future looks like. And you know, he he tested really
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Speaker 2: really well, high relative athletics score, good forty, good vertical,
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Speaker 2: strong guy, all this stuff, and I know that he's
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Speaker 2: nowhere near a Day one guy. But with this tight
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Speaker 2: end class this year, and I mean Sadik running a
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Speaker 2: four to four, it's ridiculous, right, but he's like, you know,
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Speaker 2: down's two hundred and fifty five pounds and you can
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Speaker 2: put his hand in the dirt at the end of
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Speaker 2: the line and he's going to block his butt off
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Speaker 2: for you What did teams think of guys like him
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Speaker 2: and him specifically right now?
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Speaker 3: Yeah, this is a very deep height end class twenty
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Speaker 3: seven tight ends. We're invited to Andy, and I was
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Speaker 3: glad to see Dallan run the timey Dave right excellent
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Speaker 3: ten yards split as well, also put up I believe,
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Speaker 3: twenty four reps on the bench, which showcases his strength,
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Speaker 3: and he tested well on the broad and the vert
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Speaker 3: to showcase that explosiveness. Now, the guy only had three
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Speaker 3: catches in his first two seasons out there in Utah,
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Speaker 3: so He's really still probably relatively unknown to the public eye,
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Speaker 3: but for scouts, this is the guy I think that's
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Speaker 3: going to probably go maybe even late third round, early
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Speaker 3: portions of the fourth because of his athleticism, the projectibility
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Speaker 3: that you do have in his game. Because you mentioned
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Speaker 3: the blocking ability, that means, hey, he can come in
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Speaker 3: and play in line and scoot out to the perimeter,
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Speaker 3: or he can kind of change the math if you will,
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Speaker 3: offensively versus defensively to where you have to bring in
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Speaker 3: another athlete on the field. Because he's not a four
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Speaker 3: to eight runner. He's a low four to six guy.
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Speaker 3: You could CLASSI pay him basically as a four or
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Speaker 3: five guy, and when he gets the pads on, he'll
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Speaker 3: go through you, around you, or even over you and
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Speaker 3: have that type of athleticism. I mean, I posted a
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Speaker 3: video on my ex a few weeks ago Sean of
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Speaker 3: Gallen doing a backflip at two hundred and sixty two pounds.
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Speaker 3: Now there's some scouts out there not going to say, hey, look,
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Speaker 3: we're just going to draft this guy because you can
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Speaker 3: do that, But that does showcase the type of athleticism
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Speaker 3: and potential projectability that this kid has as a potential
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Speaker 3: tight end two or tight end three for an offense somewhere.
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Speaker 3: So I'm very interested to see where he lands, what
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Speaker 3: type of offense, and do that prioritize twelve or thirteen personnel,
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Speaker 3: And if they do, I think he's someone's going to
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Speaker 3: outplay his draft staf Very quickly.
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Speaker 2: We're talking up coming NFL Draft with Ryan Fowler Draft
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Speaker 2: analyst b Yu obviously had a lot of attention here
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Speaker 2: even on the home of the youths as well. They
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Speaker 2: had a great football season and Jack Kelly, one of
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Speaker 2: their linebackers, despite injury, was pretty productive this past year.
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Speaker 2: And then he goes out to the Combine and shows
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Speaker 2: off I think for some surprising athleticism. We knew he
9:21
Speaker 2: was a really good player, but I mean he had
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Speaker 2: like a thirty seven inch vertical if I'm not mistaken,
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Speaker 2: ran incredibly well, and I think helped himself, which is
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Speaker 2: always what you're out there to do.
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Speaker 1: In Indianapolis. What were you hearing about Jack Kelly?
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Speaker 3: Yeah, I don't even like Jack Kelly. Last year, you know,
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Speaker 3: I was hoping he was going to come out, and
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Speaker 3: I was talking even some teams last year say hey man,
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Speaker 3: this guy can probably sneak into later portions of day two.
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Speaker 3: You know, it goes back and has another year. He
9:47
Speaker 3: just really fits that modern day type of defender within
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Speaker 3: the front seven to where he could play some edge,
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Speaker 3: he could play some off ball backer. He's two hundred
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Speaker 3: and forty pounds. So is he going to be that
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Speaker 3: guy that lives on early downs against the run off
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Speaker 3: the edge. No, but he can be a guy that
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Speaker 3: can play that even in the same draft the Harold
10:04
Speaker 3: Perkins Junior type, the RVL Reef type, to where you
10:06
Speaker 3: are versatile in what you do along the front seven.
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Speaker 3: You mentioned the athleticism. You know, he had a seven
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Speaker 3: to one to two cone drill as well as far
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Speaker 3: as the guy that can change direction and work out
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Speaker 3: in the open field. So Jack Kelly probably still met
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Speaker 3: day three bucket. Kind of a tweener if you will,
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Speaker 3: if you want to play the negative type of things
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Speaker 3: with him, play Devil's advocate. But overall, it's a very
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Speaker 3: productive football player with a ton of experience, a guy
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Speaker 3: that loves the game, high character player, a lot of
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Speaker 3: great things from his camp, from teams in the interview process.
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Speaker 3: So I think early portions of day three is when
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Speaker 3: to expect Jack Kelly's name to come off the board
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Speaker 3: as a versatile hybrid piece of in a front seven.
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Speaker 2: Uh, just give me a guy with the from the
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Speaker 2: combine or whatever other reason where you just did in love
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Speaker 2: with this person. Do you think they're going to be
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Speaker 2: a great NFL player. We've seen some of these combine
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Speaker 2: warriors that don't work out. We've seen some guys who
10:54
Speaker 2: are insane numbers translate very directly onto the field. Who's
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Speaker 2: someone that is jumping out at you for whatever reason?
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Speaker 3: Yeah, I'll say positively. I think I look at a
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Speaker 3: couple of the tackles, you know, I think Monroe Freelands
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Speaker 3: from Georgia or Kaden Procter, him coming in you I
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Speaker 3: had three fifty two under three to sixty was a
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Speaker 3: huge thing with him, you know, it was a big,
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Speaker 3: massive physical player. But I think both those guys really
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Speaker 3: showcase themselves well. Even Dylan Dynaman from Oregon to safety.
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Speaker 3: I don't think he gets out of round one. I
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Speaker 3: think on the opposite side of the coin, no, Sean.
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Speaker 3: I look at two guys. One is Denzel Boston, the
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Speaker 3: receiver from Washington. I'm just much lower on his ability
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Speaker 3: and the reason why I say that he's a big,
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Speaker 3: physical target, but the explosiveness that I didn't see on
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Speaker 3: tape is the exact sort of things I didn't see
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Speaker 3: at the combine, even in testing and even an on
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Speaker 3: field drills behind the scenes, like I've not seen it
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Speaker 3: a lot with him. Toy, you go to the NFL
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Speaker 3: level and you're going to face guys have thirty three
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Speaker 3: and darms on the outside. Can you get off the
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Speaker 3: minus scrimmage? I like that you're six three sixty four
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Speaker 3: to go up and play the fifty to fifty ball
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Speaker 3: and be a red zone threat, But ken you do
11:52
Speaker 3: the little things? Can you separate on third and four hitch?
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Speaker 3: And a divisional ballgame in November? I don't know if
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Speaker 3: Denzel Boston is going to be a guy I would
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Speaker 3: rely on to do that right now. Now that's not
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Speaker 3: to say I don't like the guy, but I still
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Speaker 3: think he's the second round pick more so than a
12:04
Speaker 3: top fifteen to top twenty pick in his class. And
12:07
Speaker 3: then also on the defensive side of the ball, Keldrick Faulk,
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Speaker 3: I still think probably he's going to be a top
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Speaker 3: twenty five selection in his class. But when I look
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Speaker 3: at his body type, I think there's a lot of
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Speaker 3: baby fats along his body. I know he's still going
12:19
Speaker 3: into himself, but I wanted to see a little bit
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Speaker 3: more as far as the explosiveness, the bend and versatility
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Speaker 3: on his tape and even in the drills in Indianapolis,
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Speaker 3: as far as that flexibility and explosiveness around the corner
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Speaker 3: to who killed that they do with the big guys.
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Speaker 3: He's a big, young kid, But overall, I just wanted
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Speaker 3: to see more explosiveness on tape that Warrence. If I'm
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Speaker 3: a GM to say, look, we're going to draft this
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Speaker 3: guy in the top fifteen and he's going to be
12:42
Speaker 3: a guy that's maybe here for the next eight to
12:44
Speaker 3: nine years in multiple contracts, I just don't see that
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Speaker 3: right now. With Keldrick Fault from Alburn.
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Speaker 2: There was some conversation around the combine itself. You know,
12:54
Speaker 2: Jags didn't go, Rams didn't go. The fact that you
12:59
Speaker 2: know some of the top players are not participating anymore.
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Speaker 2: You need to change the invite process to only people
13:05
Speaker 2: who do plan on working out. Do we see any
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Speaker 2: significant changes moving forward with the combine itself.
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Speaker 3: I think there has to be, and you know we've
13:14
Speaker 3: seen the last few years of the Big Twelve right
13:16
Speaker 3: having their own pro day, a lot of guys doing
13:18
Speaker 3: their own separate workouts. You know. As I mentioned earlier, Sean,
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Speaker 3: I would love to see everybody that gets an invite
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Speaker 3: to show up and compete. I think there may be
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Speaker 3: some changes. I don't know exactly what those are, but
13:28
Speaker 3: as far as the larger landscape of it, if guys
13:30
Speaker 3: just don't want to go to India and compete, they're
13:32
Speaker 3: just not going to. So I think that's going to
13:33
Speaker 3: be also a question to the agent as far as, hey, look,
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Speaker 3: we get an invite, we'd like to see your guys,
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Speaker 3: will we show on the compete? And I think that's
13:38
Speaker 3: stuff that happens behind the scenes more so than large
13:41
Speaker 3: scale changes here over the next few years.
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Speaker 2: Ryan, thank you so much for joining us today. I
13:47
Speaker 2: know it's a busy, busy time of year. Let's check
13:49
Speaker 2: in again right around the draft.
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Speaker 1: Okay, absolutely sounds good.
13:52
Speaker 3: Thanks all with Sean.
13:54
Speaker 2: Ryan Fowler, NFL and college football analyst Draft Insider, formerly
13:59
Speaker 2: with Commanders.
14:01
Speaker 1: He hosts Commanding the Huddle.
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Speaker 2: Really dialed in not only on the players from Utah
14:07
Speaker 2: and from BYU and from the Big Twelve, but Evan
14:11
Speaker 2: around the country