Latest / Sports Avenue Twisted Podcast / SATP Ep.36 feat. Bill Sparks

Transcript

SATP Ep.36 feat. Bill Sparks · Sports Avenue Twisted Podcast

• 0:27
  Welcome to another division of the Sports Ave.
• 0:29
  Twisted podcast. We have a guest here today who
• 0:32
  covers the Browns. Sparks, welcome to the show.
• 0:37
  Just let the world what you do when everything else.
• 0:41
  Yeah, so as he said, my name is Bill Sparks.
• 0:43
  You can find me on the socials at Spark scouting over on X Sub
• 0:48
  Stack, Instagram, TikTok cover mainly NFL draft content with a
• 0:54
  specialized focus on the Browns, but I cover all 32 teams top to
• 0:57
  bottom. This past class was my 10th year
• 1:00
  covering NFL draft content, so this was a a nice class to
• 1:05
  change the pace of it. Like we talked about before the
• 1:08
  show kicked off, it was a it was an exciting weekend for folks in
• 1:12
  and around the Cleveland area. You know it, it started off
• 1:14
  strong for us and they kept going all weekend long.
• 1:16
  Seems like we were the the bell of the ball, as they would say.
• 1:19
  So excited to come chop it up with you guys tonight, both in
• 1:23
  NFL Draft and Cleveland. So I'm excited to get in here.
• 1:26
  In addition to that, not only can you find me over on X at
• 1:29
  Spark Scouting, but I am a writer and analyst for the Right
• 1:31
  Way Sports Network. That's twsn.net.
• 1:34
  You can find all of my written content there as well.
• 1:37
  Thanks for joining us, man. It's you were highly recommended
• 1:41
  by Jim Wickens, one of our prior guests.
• 1:44
  So it's very exciting. You know, with the draft just
• 1:47
  wrapping up this weekend, It's it's we're really excited to
• 1:51
  have you today. We're excited to get in tucked
• 1:53
  some Browns football and and other draft stuff.
• 1:55
  So thank you for joining us today.
• 1:58
  Yeah, happy to be here. Let's let's dive on in.
• 2:01
  Let's chop it up. All right, the first question I
• 2:04
  want to ask you is the blockbuster trade with the
• 2:06
  Jacksonville Jaguars. When we looked at the reports
• 2:10
  that there were initial thoughts that the Browns were willing to
• 2:14
  trade down and get some capital in return and sure they did.
• 2:19
  Jaguars ended up getting the second pick, the 4th pick, which
• 2:23
  was pick number one O 4 and the 6th pick, which was picked 200.
• 2:28
  And the Browns ended up trading down to get the 5th pick, the
• 2:31
  126th pick, the 3rd 36th pick. So they had two second round
• 2:35
  picks and more importantly, I think the bigger capital is the
• 2:40
  the first round pick of next year's draft.
• 2:42
  But what were your initial thoughts?
• 2:43
  What was on your mind when you saw that process?
• 2:46
  Yeah, so the initial thought was, you know, you hate to.
• 2:49
  Pass up on a blue chip guy like a Travis Hunter or an Abdul
• 2:52
  Carter, You know, in a class that didn't really have blue
• 2:55
  chip guys, Those were probably the two, maybe three if you want
• 2:58
  to throw Ashton Genti in there. But possessional values says
• 3:01
  running backs really aren't blue chip anymore in the league.
• 3:05
  To be able to walk away with the 5th and the 36th pick in of
• 3:10
  itself would have been a success.
• 3:11
  But to get a first round pick in 2026 from a Jacksonville team
• 3:15
  that still does have issues? Yes, they added Travis Hunter at
• 3:19
  wide receiver and quarterback, but this team still has Trevor
• 3:22
  Lawrence as their quarterback. And while I fully expect this
• 3:26
  Jaguars team to be better than they were last year.
• 3:28
  There's no guarantee that they're going to be a playoff
• 3:30
  team. Yes, you're playing in the AFC S
• 3:32
  where it's kind of the worst of the best.
• 3:36
  Best of the worst in everything in between, you know, when you
• 3:40
  look at your quarterbacks in your division, it's Anthony
• 3:42
  Richardson, it's CJ Stroud and it's a rookie and Cam Ward.
• 3:45
  So somebody's got to win the AFC S, but I'm I'm not sold that it
• 3:50
  could be Jacksonville. So if for Cleveland to get that
• 3:52
  picked, it's a potential to be a top 15, top 13 selection in
• 3:56
  addition to their own. So to be able to get that in of
• 3:59
  itself. And then you trade down to five
• 4:01
  and you get Mason Graham, who was probably the safest prospect
• 4:04
  of any prospect in this top 10 based on what he would give you
• 4:07
  as a pass rushing defensive tackle, as what he would give
• 4:10
  you as a run stuffer, You know, a a solid pros pro for the next
• 4:15
  10 years. He's a Christian Wilkins type of
• 4:17
  guy. So to get that at 5:00 and then.
• 4:19
  You know, with the 36th pick, you add in Quin Shawn Judkins,
• 4:21
  which the Browns team needed to revamp the running backroom.
• 4:25
  It's probably a little early for Judkins, but he fits the power
• 4:28
  running style that they want to get back to in Cleveland.
• 4:31
  So being able to get all of that, like we talked about
• 4:35
  before the show started, if you told me we could have gotten
• 4:37
  Mason, Graham, Quinshawn, Judkins and a first round pick
• 4:39
  in 2026 from a team that's not guaranteed to make playoffs, I
• 4:42
  would. Have probably told you to seek
• 4:44
  mental and medical help because you were out of your mind.
• 4:48
  So I I graded an A for the Browns and and Jacksonville.
• 4:52
  Didn't do too bad either when you walk away with a blue chip
• 4:55
  or like Travis Hunter, let's not lose sight of that.
• 4:58
  I I'd probably give them ABB plus range because yes, you are
• 5:02
  giving up a first round pick next year to get it when you
• 5:06
  still have issues with your roster.
• 5:08
  But taking the swing like Gladstone did, I applaud it.
• 5:11
  Be aggressive. Go get your guys.
• 5:14
  As you mentioned with with that 5th overall pick, you, you guys
• 5:19
  took defensive tackle Mason Graham out of Michigan.
• 5:24
  You kind of touched on some of the positives that he brings.
• 5:27
  Can you tell us a little bit more about him and and what are
• 5:31
  your thoughts on the pick and are you excited about the pick
• 5:35
  or you just just tell us a little bit more about Mason
• 5:38
  Graham as a player? Yes, so with Mason Graham, this
• 5:42
  is a guy is one of the best. He's the best defensive tackle
• 5:44
  in this class and and for Cleveland, yes they had Malik
• 5:47
  Collins and yes they had Michael Hall junior who's currently
• 5:50
  injured. But in the in the wide 9 zone
• 5:53
  scheme of Jim Schwartz, he wants to be able to push the pocket up
• 5:55
  the middle while the edges run on the.
• 5:57
  Outside the Miles, Garrett's the try on Shuinkas.
• 6:00
  And we just didn't have that difference maker in the middle
• 6:03
  getting a guy like Mason Graham. His biggest issue is his shorter
• 6:06
  arms, which is going to cause him to lose some leverage
• 6:09
  battles against some longer armed guards in the league.
• 6:12
  But a guy who could come in get you 5.
• 6:16
  Four or five. Sacks get you a lot of tackles
• 6:18
  up the middle and stuff. A lot of runners.
• 6:21
  It like I comp, like I said his comp for me is Christian
• 6:24
  Wilkins, which if you take that. At 5, is it a little bit high?
• 6:27
  Yes, but in a class that doesn't really have that top tier talent
• 6:31
  like we talked about, I mean, I, I was on the more positive side
• 6:35
  with 19 first round grades. And most people I talked with
• 6:39
  had between 8:00 and 10:00. And he was one of those first
• 6:42
  rounders across the board. So to get a guy like that at 5,
• 6:47
  the only other conversation I would have had would have been
• 6:49
  Ashton Gente just. Because of the need of running
• 6:52
  back, I understand that not all teams will value the running
• 6:54
  back position in the same way, which he went to the very next
• 6:57
  pick in the Raiders at six, so. Again, he was a trend.
• 7:01
  You know, he he was a generational talent and I hate
• 7:04
  using that word because we always talk of generational
• 7:07
  talents, but he was a guy I compared to Ladainian Tomlinson
• 7:11
  in terms of his vision and his. Burst and his.
• 7:12
  Speed and his ability to move with the ball in his hands.
• 7:15
  So if my choices are a a Christian Wilkins, a defensive
• 7:19
  tackle, or in a Ladainian Tomlinson, a running back, I'm
• 7:23
  fine with either of those at pick 5 because I also have a
• 7:26
  first round pick coming next year on top of my original.
• 7:30
  And it's one of the things that we don't talk about enough.
• 7:32
  This Browns team was more than likely never going to.
• 7:34
  Pick a 2. They are feeling the effects of
• 7:37
  losing those three first round picks for Deshaun Watson and
• 7:40
  this the cupboard was bare. So you have to trade down,
• 7:43
  accumulate and acquire additional talent and they did
• 7:46
  that this year and going into next year.
• 7:51
  Let's talk about the player who's been talked the most
• 7:53
  during the draft, and that was Shadur Sanders.
• 7:56
  A lot of people thought that he was going to get picked in the
• 7:59
  first round. That didn't happen.
• 8:01
  Then people thought that he was going to get drafted in the
• 8:03
  second or third round. That did not happen.
• 8:05
  He ended up drafting in the fifth round, pick 144.
• 8:09
  And some people were skeptical about the way he was, the way he
• 8:15
  is. But as a player you know he
• 8:16
  played with for his father in Colorado, how do you see the
• 8:22
  process with shudder standards with the Browns?
• 8:27
  Yes. So I he shoulder Sanders was my
• 8:29
  14th overall prospect in this cycle.
• 8:31
  He was my quarterback to firmly behind Kim Ward, but he was that
• 8:35
  that last of that top tier of quarterbacks because when you
• 8:38
  watch him, he throws with timing and anticipation.
• 8:40
  He has an NFL arm and can make all the throws you need, but
• 8:43
  he's not going to have a cannon. Strapped to his shoulder.
• 8:45
  But that's not his game. It's to throw with timing and
• 8:48
  anticipation. And then Kevin Stefanski's
• 8:50
  offense. That's what he wants.
• 8:51
  He wants. He wants what I like to call a
• 8:53
  subway quarterback. That's when the train leaves the
• 8:56
  station, everything is running and humming like it should.
• 8:58
  When the train pulls into the station, everything is running
• 9:00
  and humming like it should, and Shooter Sanders did that
• 9:03
  perfectly. The the concern and the reason
• 9:07
  that he fell from, from my analysis, is that he and his
• 9:13
  team around him tried to play their hand and played it too
• 9:17
  soon. When you're going into a class
• 9:21
  that doesn't have a lot of top quarterback talent but has a lot
• 9:25
  of talent in other positions, teams are just as easily going
• 9:28
  to say we'll get you later. We'll get a quarterback later.
• 9:31
  We're going to take a top to your edge.
• 9:32
  We're going to take a top tier defensive tackle.
• 9:35
  The one thing that did? Surprise me, though, was the
• 9:37
  Giants trading up for Jackson Dart rather than shoulder
• 9:40
  Sanders because I have a significantly lower grade on
• 9:43
  Jackson Dart. He grades out as a day three
• 9:44
  prospect for me. I think the fact that Shudder
• 9:48
  still landed in Cleveland, it is the perfect landing spot for him
• 9:51
  because there is no pressure as a fifth round selection because
• 9:54
  the quarterbacks ahead of him are Joe Flacco, Kenny Pickett
• 9:57
  and Dylan Gabriel, who was a third round selection.
• 10:00
  And I'll cover him in a minute. But there's no pressure on him
• 10:04
  to come in and be the Savior. Whereas if they took him at two
• 10:06
  or five overall, the world is on his shoulders to be the savior
• 10:11
  for Cleveland football. So I think it's the best case
• 10:13
  scenario for him. He was also one of the biggest
• 10:16
  losers of the weekend because when you're projected to be a
• 10:18
  top ten, top 15 selection and you fall all the way to 144th,
• 10:22
  you're losing a significant chunk of change.
• 10:25
  But I think he still. Comes out a winner based on his
• 10:27
  landing stock. I wanted to ask you, there have
• 10:32
  been a lot of talk, you know, on social media, just little
• 10:36
  reports coming out here and there about and you're hearing
• 10:40
  words like prima Donna, the worst, worst interview we've had
• 10:50
  ever. Are there any character concerns
• 10:56
  that go with him and do you think that this process will
• 11:00
  humble him in a sense to where he comes to Cleveland and he
• 11:04
  works his ass off for you guys? Yes.
• 11:07
  So you hear a lot of that. You have to understand who who
• 11:10
  his father is and was. And Dion, there's the story of
• 11:15
  of Dion meeting with the New York Giants and they gave him a
• 11:17
  playbook to read and recite. And he told him, what pick are
• 11:19
  you? 10th?
• 11:20
  I'll be gone and chose not to do it.
• 11:22
  That that's his DNA. By that same token, he also is a
• 11:27
  player who knows his own work. He says this is the player I am.
• 11:31
  This is. Who I am.
• 11:32
  This is what I'm going to be. So when you hear some of the
• 11:35
  stories about anonymous GM says this or anonymous quarterback
• 11:39
  coach says this, I take those with an absolute grain of salt
• 11:42
  because as far as I'm concerned, if you're willing to report on
• 11:45
  something like that, you should be willing to stand behind it.
• 11:48
  But to say I'm not going to go on the record it, it feels like
• 11:52
  a throwing shade when you don't need to throw it.
• 11:56
  Now for him to land in Cleveland is 144th overall pick.
• 12:00
  And to be drafted to Cleveland even after they took another
• 12:03
  quarterback ahead of him, I think that's going to put a
• 12:05
  serious chip on his shoulder and he's going to come in and he's
• 12:07
  already said it. He's going to come in, he's
• 12:09
  going to work hard, he's going to do everything he can.
• 12:11
  He's going to meet with the veterans and see what they need
• 12:14
  from him and talk to them about their processes.
• 12:17
  So I think this process kind of humbled him in that aspect.
• 12:21
  I think the biggest thing if, if you're watching as shudder, if
• 12:25
  you're watching as an NFL prospect and you see what
• 12:27
  shudder Sanders has gone through, the one thing he didn't
• 12:30
  have was an NFL agent. An agent set the table for him.
• 12:34
  His his team would gas him up. Yeah, you're going to be top
• 12:37
  two, top three, his father, yeah, top three, top ten.
• 12:41
  But he didn't have that agent in his ear saying, hey, teams are
• 12:44
  starting to sour on you. Let's dial it back.
• 12:47
  Let's let's be a little more professional in those interview
• 12:50
  rooms. Let's let's put the phone away.
• 12:51
  Let's so let's not be on FaceTime.
• 12:53
  Let's let's dive into a little bit more preparation.
• 12:56
  So that would be if I'm an NFL prospect in the 2026 or 2027
• 13:01
  class, making sure that I have a support system of guys who are
• 13:04
  going to have my back no matter what.
• 13:06
  But I have that one person that says, when everyone's saying
• 13:09
  you're great, this person saying, yeah, you're great, but
• 13:12
  you have X that you need to fix. Absolutely, man.
• 13:19
  I couldn't agree with you more. You guys, with your second round
• 13:24
  pick, you mentioned you took a running back and Quinn, John
• 13:27
  Judkins, and you doubled down in Round 4, taking another running
• 13:32
  back from Tennessee and Dylan Sampson.
• 13:37
  Where does everyone else on the team lie when it comes to the
• 13:40
  running backroom? How?
• 13:42
  How how set are you guys going forward?
• 13:45
  Is there a chance that they bring Nick Chubb back on a one
• 13:49
  year deal? What I want to say is what what
• 13:52
  kind of questions you have going forward about about the running
• 13:58
  back room and, and, and where do you see this going forward?
• 14:02
  Yeah, no, absolutely. So going into the draft, the
• 14:05
  running back room was was. You know Pierre.
• 14:07
  Strong and Jerome Ford, both of which were on short term deals
• 14:11
  with Cleveland. So they needed to get an
• 14:13
  upgrade. Nick Chubb still hasn't resigned
• 14:16
  and and you know, by all accounts says health is going
• 14:18
  well as rehab is going well. But there's is there a guarantee
• 14:21
  that you're going to see the Nick Chubb of old?
• 14:23
  Absolutely not with that. Injury that he had so getting
• 14:27
  not only one but 2 running backs and the 2 running backs they got
• 14:30
  are are completely different in the aspect of Judkins is more of
• 14:34
  a power NS downhill runner and Dylan Sampson is a speed speed
• 14:39
  speedster shift ear pass catcher style of running back to be able
• 14:44
  to rotate in and out and. Keep both of them.
• 14:45
  Fresh now, would I lie and tell you that I wouldn't want Nip
• 14:49
  Chubb back? Absolutely not.
• 14:51
  But I think now it's the team doesn't have to bring him back.
• 14:55
  They can bring him back if the contract is right.
• 14:58
  They can bring him back if the fit is right, if the health is
• 15:02
  right. Too many times we see NFL teams
• 15:04
  and NFL franchises get caught up in the emotion of the business.
• 15:08
  Oh, he's a, he's a locker room leader.
• 15:10
  We got to bring him back. Oh, he's the heart and soul of
• 15:12
  this team. We got to bring him back.
• 15:14
  Not mentioning that he's had injury issues, not mentioning he
• 15:17
  just had a catastrophic knee issue, not mentioning, you know,
• 15:20
  other teams. He's 40 years old.
• 15:23
  It's now a can he help us win? And if he can, let's.
• 15:28
  Bring him in. If he can't help us win, we
• 15:31
  don't have to bring him in. So in addition that this running
• 15:35
  back class was so deep, this was probably one of the most
• 15:37
  historic running back classes that we saw.
• 15:41
  Any team that took 2 running backs in this class would not
• 15:45
  blink twice with how deep it went.
• 15:48
  There were guys in rounds 456 and seven that in a standard
• 15:52
  class would be picking in the top 100 because of how talented
• 15:56
  they were, but the overall talent of this class just pushed
• 15:58
  those guys down 4. I'd like to talk about the the
• 16:04
  remaining picks of date for the Browns.
• 16:07
  You mentioned about the the rest of the guys.
• 16:09
  You talked about Stewart Sanders, you talked about Mason
• 16:11
  Graham, talked about the 2 running backs.
• 16:13
  I'd like to talk about Carts Schwerzinger line back from UCLA
• 16:20
  and Harold Fanning junior from the tight end.
• 16:23
  I think the the Carson pickup was was a bit of a steal.
• 16:26
  He should have been a first round pick.
• 16:28
  Talk about him and talk a bit about Harold.
• 16:31
  Yeah, so I agree with you. The Carson Schwesinger pick was
• 16:34
  an absolute steal. He was my linebacker #3 behind
• 16:37
  Jaylen Walker and Jihad Campbell.
• 16:39
  Yeah, I think Carson should have been a first round pick.
• 16:42
  When you look at the Browns, you don't know what you have in in
• 16:45
  Jeremiah. Wusu Koramoa's health, you don't
• 16:47
  know where he's at. You know, by all accounts, he's
• 16:50
  on schedule. We still don't know what that
• 16:52
  schedule is. So to get a guy who is just a
• 16:56
  true tackling demon in Carson Schwesinger, there's concerns he
• 17:01
  was a one year starter at UCLA. So is this the the end of his
• 17:04
  production or are we just ramping?
• 17:05
  Up to it. I think this is a guy who, you
• 17:08
  know, does everything. He checks every box.
• 17:11
  Pass coverage, he got it. Run support, he's got tackling,
• 17:14
  he's got it. You need him to go out into the
• 17:16
  flat and cover. Running back or tight end, got
• 17:18
  it. He'll check every box for you.
• 17:20
  And when Jeremiah Wusu Koramoa does come back full health, you
• 17:25
  now have both of those guys in the middle of your defense that
• 17:28
  will create havoc for opposing offensive lines.
• 17:31
  Because you imagine a defense with Miles Garrett, Michael
• 17:36
  Hall, Junior Mason Graham, Carson Swessinger, Jeremiah Wusu
• 17:40
  Koramoa all in the the front seven.
• 17:43
  I'm not even to the back end of the defense where you have
• 17:46
  Denzel Ward and Martin Emerson and Greg Newsome and Greg
• 17:50
  Delpit. That is a, A historic level
• 17:54
  defense in terms of pure talent. So I, I love this West in Japan.
• 17:59
  I, I, I get why they had to make it and I know there's some folks
• 18:03
  that aren't happy about it, I think.
• 18:04
  It's an A plus. Flipping the coin, Harold Finn
• 18:08
  and junior, very young tight end, I think he's not he's not
• 18:12
  even 21 years old yet. So he's still got a lot of room
• 18:15
  to develop a high volume, high production guy at Bowling Green.
• 18:18
  And when you're looking at smaller school prospects, one of
• 18:21
  the things that I asked, do you perform well against the top
• 18:24
  town? You watched his game against
• 18:26
  Penn State. They had no answers for him.
• 18:29
  They could not stop him in any way, shape or form.
• 18:32
  You know, the the big thing is he runs very clunky.
• 18:38
  And you saw it at the combine when he ran the gauntlet drill.
• 18:41
  His his running was very clunky. But that's not an issue.
• 18:47
  If you get the ball in his hands and get it to him in space, you
• 18:50
  can see him cause problems. And in Cleveland, they're going
• 18:54
  to run a lot of 12 personnel, a lot of 13 personnel.
• 18:57
  So they're going to have him in and Joku on the field at the
• 18:59
  same time. So asking a defense to cover
• 19:03
  both of those guys is going to be very difficult to do.
• 19:06
  Again, that is another A pick for me in Fannin because you
• 19:09
  have a young tight end who can produce, who has very good
• 19:13
  hands, a willing run blocker. He's not going to like the world
• 19:16
  on fire but a willing run blocker and with Ninjoku in the
• 19:20
  final year of his deal. If you moved off of Ninjoku and
• 19:24
  banning your tight end one next year I wouldn't be that you re
• 19:27
  sign in Joku. You now have two top tier tight
• 19:30
  ends for the next 5. Years in Cleveland.
• 19:34
  There was some talk prior to the draft about Greg Newsome and O
• 19:40
  Obo O Kumwanku. Am I saying that right?
• 19:44
  Yeah. Obo or wrong quote.
• 19:45
  We just call him Obo. Obo, OK, there was some talk
• 19:49
  about those who being on the trade block, but that was prior
• 19:52
  to the draft when it was kind of, you know, implied that you
• 19:56
  might take Travis Hunter and and you know, so are those are those
• 20:03
  two names would you assume are they still are those are they
• 20:07
  still on the block? Are they still looking to trade
• 20:09
  those players or what's going on with that whole situation there?
• 20:15
  With those two, it's the if the price is right, they're movable
• 20:18
  and Greg Newsom, if you move him, it saves $13 million on
• 20:21
  this team's cap, which with the Deshaun Watson deal, anywhere
• 20:24
  you can save cap is much appreciated.
• 20:27
  The the reason that I don't think Newsom has moved is they
• 20:30
  didn't get a. Corner in this year's draft,
• 20:32
  they didn't get a Travis Hunter or they didn't get a later
• 20:35
  corner like a Jacob Parrish and Upton Stout, a nickel corner to
• 20:38
  replace him. So I don't see him being moved
• 20:42
  unless an offer comes up that they can't pass up.
• 20:45
  There's been a lot of rumors about Jalen Waddle being
• 20:47
  available. If if Miami called up and said,
• 20:51
  hey, Jalen Waddle for Greg Newsome and some pick swaps here
• 20:53
  and there, the Browns would entertain it.
• 20:56
  Agbo is a little bit more of a we're more likely to let him go
• 21:00
  because they do have some edge depth.
• 21:03
  Obviously, we talked about it. Mason, Graham in the middle.
• 21:05
  Malik Collins in the middle. Joe Tryon, Shoyinka, Miles,
• 21:09
  Garrett, Alex. Right, Isaiah McGuire.
• 21:12
  There's a lot of depth there that you can let Ogbo walk.
• 21:15
  But again, it's going to be it's going to be for a player.
• 21:18
  It's not going to be for a package of picks at this point.
• 21:21
  If Cleveland moves either of them, it's going to be player
• 21:23
  for player swap or player and picks for player and picks.
• 21:29
  So the Brows made the playoffs in the 2023 season and 2024.
• 21:35
  It just didn't go their way at all this this past year.
• 21:39
  What went wrong with the team and what were the question
• 21:43
  marks? I know that Ken Dorsey was the
• 21:45
  OC and and they had to fire him and we went through it as Bills
• 21:49
  fan. So so you guys know, what's
• 21:51
  what's that like? And you know, Mike Vrabos was
• 21:54
  there and now he's with the head coach of the Patriots.
• 21:57
  Like, how would you look? How would you look at that 2024
• 22:00
  season and just just what went down so bad overall?
• 22:05
  The big concern is twofold #1 it was the quarterback position in
• 22:10
  in in the NFL. You can you A good quarterback
• 22:13
  can mask a lot of deficits. You guys see it in Buffalo with
• 22:15
  Josh Allen, Patrick Mahomes in Kansas City, Lamar Jackson and
• 22:19
  Buffalo. Feel even further out Justin
• 22:21
  Herbert in Los Angeles and Joe Burrow in Cincinnati.
• 22:25
  A good quarterback will hide a lot of deficits.
• 22:27
  When you don't have that good quarterback play, you now have
• 22:30
  to get top tier play every other position on the field.
• 22:34
  With injuries that mounted up along the offensive line,
• 22:37
  injuries that mounted up on defense, the fact is this
• 22:40
  coaching staff, it was too many cooks in the kitchen.
• 22:42
  You had Ken Dorsey wanting to run his style of offense, Kevin
• 22:45
  Stefanski wanting to run his style of offense, which are two
• 22:48
  fundamentally different styles. The spread style for Ken Dorsey,
• 22:52
  where is, you know, Kevin Stefanski is more of a W West
• 22:55
  Coast zone read type of offense. You know, kind of more play
• 22:59
  action, run the ball 40 * a game.
• 23:02
  So trying to merge both of those together in one season and one
• 23:08
  offseason was never going to work.
• 23:11
  And I think that's why the team said, OK, we've got to
• 23:13
  completely revert back to what we know.
• 23:17
  In addition to that, Jimmy Haslam, he said it this
• 23:19
  offseason that the Deshaun Watson trade was a big swing and
• 23:21
  a miss. They know that it was a failure.
• 23:24
  I, I don't, I applaud them for taking the swing because anybody
• 23:29
  who was anybody when Deshaun Watson was there, when you saw
• 23:31
  what he did in Houston, it, when quarterbacks like that become
• 23:34
  available in trade, it never happens.
• 23:37
  So when you do, you have to take a swing.
• 23:40
  And at the time, Baker Mayfield was not the answer that he is in
• 23:43
  Tampa Bay. He was still young, he was still
• 23:45
  immature. You know, there were games where
• 23:48
  he completely threw us out of it.
• 23:50
  You look at the, the Green Bay game on Christmas Eve where he
• 23:52
  threw 4 interceptions. He was not the finished product
• 23:57
  that he is in Tampa Bay right now.
• 23:59
  So ultimately, I think that's where it went wrong, was that
• 24:03
  this team tried to do too much too quickly.
• 24:06
  It all fell apart. And then normally you can kind
• 24:10
  of mask that with good quarterback play when Deshaun
• 24:13
  Watson, you know, didn't provide that and and was historically
• 24:16
  anemic. And that's putting it politely.
• 24:19
  This team had. Nowhere to go, but So I think if
• 24:23
  you're a Browns fan, you have to be extremely positive now with
• 24:26
  the quarterbacks that are in the building.
• 24:28
  Joe Flacco, Kenny Pickett, Dylan Gabriel, Shuder Sanders.
• 24:32
  Because they're going to raise the floor.
• 24:35
  Do they raise the ceiling? Remains to be seen, but they're
• 24:38
  going to raise the floor from a three win team to a potentially
• 24:41
  6 or seven win team, especially with the.
• 24:43
  Talent they've added on the defensive side of the ball as
• 24:46
  well. It's a great segue to the next
• 24:49
  question I wanted to ask you was about the quarterback room.
• 24:53
  You, like you said, you got 4 quarterbacks, 5 including
• 24:56
  Watson, he's heard. But I mean, like, is this going
• 25:03
  to be a legit competition between those four guys for the
• 25:07
  starting job this year? You know, there's a lot of
• 25:11
  questions is Dylan Gabriel get a get a legit shot, which is
• 25:15
  should there say, is this going to be a bona fide competition
• 25:18
  between all four guys this year? So I would tell you right now
• 25:23
  it's going to be a quarterback competition, but I wouldn't
• 25:25
  expect that all four guys are not a part of it.
• 25:28
  I would strongly believe that Joe Flacco or Kenny Pickett get
• 25:33
  moved. It's going to depend on the
• 25:35
  offer they get. If if somebody shows up with a
• 25:37
  with a sixth round pick for Kenny Pickett, he's gone.
• 25:40
  Sixth round pick for Joe Flacco, he's gone.
• 25:42
  The two that will be a part of the competition are Dylan
• 25:44
  Gabriel and Shoulder Sanders. Just because Gabriel, like I
• 25:47
  talked about, he fits what Stefanski wants and so does
• 25:49
  Shoulder Sanders. But both of them are
• 25:52
  quarterbacks that you can develop and their third and
• 25:55
  fifth round picks that the pressure is not on them to
• 25:57
  succeed. You know, you look at starters
• 26:00
  last year in the NFL that were quarterbacks that were outside
• 26:03
  the first round, Dak, Prescott, Rock Purdy, Jalen Hurts.
• 26:08
  It was few and far between if you weren't.
• 26:10
  Picked in the first round and you were starting quarterback in
• 26:12
  the NFL, so I fully expect there to be a open competition.
• 26:18
  What I don't see happening is all four being on the roster,
• 26:21
  because right now you can stash Watson on the PUP list, but
• 26:24
  eventually you're going to have to make a roster spot for him
• 26:26
  somehow, whether that's as the emergency third quarterback or
• 26:29
  however you have to do that. That would mean either Dylan
• 26:33
  Gabriel or Shudder Chanzer's make their way to the practice
• 26:36
  squad. And I can almost assure you that
• 26:38
  if either of them make their way there, some team is putting in a
• 26:41
  claim. It may not even be a team that
• 26:43
  needs a quarterback now. They could need one in two to
• 26:46
  three years, but they're going to put in a claim.
• 26:47
  So ultimately I could see probably Kenny Pickett being
• 26:51
  moved to maybe in Atlanta, maybe to a Las Vegas teams that need
• 26:58
  kind of an existing backup quarterback.
• 27:00
  Atlanta, yes, has Kirk Cousins, but I I would ultimately expect
• 27:03
  Kirk Cousins. To get shipped out to Pittsburgh
• 27:06
  and then Kenny Pickett replaces him in Atlanta.
• 27:10
  Vegas is another one. You have Geno Smith, but you
• 27:12
  don't really have a young guy behind that.
• 27:15
  You know, Joe Flacco, I could see him being moved.
• 27:18
  If a team wants to take a gamble on an experienced starter as
• 27:21
  their backup, you know that Miami has another one right now.
• 27:24
  They're backup quarterback situation is Zach Wilson and
• 27:27
  Quinn Ewers. And do you really want your
• 27:30
  quarterback backup room to be those two guys when you have a
• 27:34
  quarterback who struggled to stay healthy in his career?
• 27:37
  Maybe the Saints too. Maybe they.
• 27:39
  Maybe the Saints too. If you're not sold on Tyler
• 27:42
  Shuck being the opening day starter, you could go there as
• 27:44
  well, right? So the next question I want to
• 27:49
  ask you is about the Miles Garrett extension.
• 27:51
  There was, well, he did say that he was, he requested to trade in
• 27:57
  his side of things, but ultimately he ended up getting
• 28:01
  the extension and and it was a big one.
• 28:03
  It was a really big one. So he got 4 for one.
• 28:05
  Sixty 123 + 1,000,000 dollars guaranteed money.
• 28:09
  I mean, the last Browns player that started his career and
• 28:12
  ended his career with Joe Thomas.
• 28:13
  I mean, I mean, how big of a player he is?
• 28:16
  How much impact does he provide for this organization?
• 28:20
  Yeah, he it's a huge impact. You look at his career, he's
• 28:24
  only had one season where he did not have double digit sacks and
• 28:28
  that was his rookie year. Rookie year he had 7 sacks.
• 28:31
  Ever since then it's been double digit.
• 28:33
  If he had been traded, it would have been for a astronomical
• 28:38
  package that would have reset this team and probably set them
• 28:41
  up in a better position at the same time.
• 28:45
  If you trade him, it would have been a RIP this thing down to
• 28:47
  the studs because the other veterans, the Denzel Ward's, the
• 28:50
  Greg Newsome's, the Jerry Judy's, the David and Joko's,
• 28:54
  they would all want out because they would know this is the
• 28:56
  sinking Titanic. So I I think it was the
• 29:00
  ultimately the right move to re sign Miles to the long term deal
• 29:04
  and get him back in Cleveland. And I think Miles also knows,
• 29:08
  you know, there was a lot of issue with how he approached it,
• 29:11
  you know? Say, hey, I want to trade.
• 29:14
  Team says no, here's an extension offer.
• 29:16
  He goes on radio row at the Super Bowl and says, I want to
• 29:19
  be traded. I want out of here.
• 29:20
  I want to go to Washington. I want to go here, there, here,
• 29:23
  there. Someone got in his ear and said,
• 29:27
  hey, this is not the way to go about it.
• 29:28
  And when you look at the agency that represents him, it's Clutch
• 29:30
  Sports, which is the same agency that represents LeBron.
• 29:34
  LeBron. James, while that may fly in the
• 29:36
  NF in the NBA, he doesn't fly in the NFL because any player who's
• 29:41
  ever played in the NFL will go on an interview and tell you no
• 29:44
  one is bigger than the shield. And that's why just a few years
• 29:48
  ago, when Lamar Jackson wanted to go out there and get his, you
• 29:51
  know. His record-breaking contract and
• 29:53
  no one wanted to pay it because they knew Baltimore would match
• 29:57
  it. It's the same scenario here.
• 29:58
  No one is going to want to trade for you because know that they
• 30:02
  know #1 they're going to have to give up exorbitant capital to
• 30:05
  get you. Then number 2, they would have
• 30:08
  had to pay that four year, $160 million deal to you, effectively
• 30:11
  crippling any team they could build.
• 30:13
  So I think ultimately him remaining in Cleveland is the
• 30:17
  best case scenario for both parties, both him and Cleveland.
• 30:19
  And I think he understands that what they're trying to do here,
• 30:23
  they understand that the Watson train was an abject failure by
• 30:26
  any stretch. So trying to rectify that and
• 30:29
  get back to a position of Cleveland Brown playoff
• 30:31
  football. With the fantastic draft you
• 30:34
  guys just had, what are what do you think some of the
• 30:38
  expectations for the Browns are in 2025?
• 30:41
  Do they continue to rebuild? Do they continue to trade
• 30:44
  certain guys? Do they continue to kind of
• 30:47
  tinker and tweak their roster? If not, how can they remain
• 30:51
  competitive in the AFC North? Yeah, ultimately with the AFC
• 30:56
  North, you look at the division, you have a division that has Joe
• 30:58
  Burrow and Lamar Jackson, and you're already behind the 8 ball
• 31:01
  there. You know, obviously Pittsburgh
• 31:04
  has quarterback questions of their own.
• 31:06
  Mason Rudolph, Will Howard, Aaron Rodgers, Kirk Cousins.
• 31:10
  What are they going to have? You know, is this the final year
• 31:13
  of Mike Tomlin? You know, if if, for example,
• 31:16
  Pittsburgh comes out goes 500 or under again, could we see Mike
• 31:19
  Tomlin fired, you know? For Cleveland, the expectation
• 31:23
  should be to improve. You know, going from three wins
• 31:28
  to seven or eight, That's a that's a good season.
• 31:31
  That is a good season. There's still a lot of issues
• 31:33
  with this roster. The offensive tackle depth needs
• 31:35
  work. They need a second wide receiver
• 31:38
  behind Jerry Judy. Right now they have Deonte
• 31:41
  Johnson, but we don't know whether we're going to get the
• 31:43
  sane Deonte Johnson or the insane Deonte Johnson.
• 31:48
  Behind him you have Cedric Tillman and Jamari Thrash, young
• 31:50
  guys who showed promise, but they are young guys still
• 31:54
  developing. So you know, if if Cleveland
• 31:57
  snuck in as a wild card team, absolutely perfect season, I
• 32:01
  think that's probably the ceiling of what this team can be
• 32:04
  because if they get in as the seven seed or even the six seed,
• 32:07
  I think every Browns fan would be happy with that.
• 32:10
  But I think ultimately. The ask has to be improved on a
• 32:13
  three win season to get to 7-8, maybe even nine wins this
• 32:18
  season. Since you mentioned some of the
• 32:23
  the wide receivers, how would you look at the offensive core
• 32:26
  of this team? Judy's by far the best player
• 32:29
  probably offensively on this team.
• 32:32
  And you got Cedric Tillman, David Bell, like you said, you
• 32:35
  guys just signed Deonte Johnson, You guys drafted a couple,
• 32:39
  couple wide running backs. You still have Jerome Ford and
• 32:43
  Pierre Strong. And then you got David Njoku
• 32:46
  right as the other tight end. So how do you look at that?
• 32:50
  Why the core itself? Wide receiver, running backs,
• 32:53
  tight ends all together? Like, how do you look at it?
• 32:57
  So I think the big thing that you have to ask is First off,
• 33:02
  the offensive tackle position. You know, you look at the
• 33:04
  offensive tackles that we have. You know, with the Juan Jones
• 33:09
  and and Jack Conklin, two guys that are often injured, if they
• 33:12
  can stay healthy, this team's going to go much further.
• 33:14
  And then obviously they, you know, they signed, you know,
• 33:17
  Cornelius Lucas. He could be the swing tackle at
• 33:20
  left tackle or right tackle as well.
• 33:21
  The interior of the offensive line is getting old.
• 33:24
  Wyatt Teller, Joel Betonio is likely in his last year, so
• 33:27
  you've got to prep for life after him.
• 33:29
  So this offensive line has aged. So you need to get some young
• 33:32
  talent infused in there. You look at the past catchers.
• 33:35
  We kind of already talked about him, but it's Jerry, Judy, it's
• 33:37
  Deonte Johnson and then it's a bunch of younger talent who's
• 33:40
  going to step up, who's going to emerge the the running backroom,
• 33:43
  Quinn, Shawn Judkins, Dylan Sampson, you know, Jerome Ford,
• 33:46
  Pierre Strong. We talked about it.
• 33:47
  They're on short term deals, probably gone after.
• 33:49
  Next season. So who's going to be that third
• 33:52
  running back, that rotational piece that that home run hitter?
• 33:56
  You know when you look at tight end, it's it's in Joku and it's
• 33:59
  it's fan. Yes, you have Blake Whitehart
• 34:01
  behind him, but he is a tight end three through and through.
• 34:05
  You do not ask Blake Whitehart to do anything outside of catch
• 34:07
  two or three thousands a game. So there's some pieces here and
• 34:11
  if you have a quarterback who can help elevate some of those
• 34:15
  pieces, whether that's Flacco, whether that's Pickett, whether
• 34:18
  that's Gabriel or whether that's Sanders, if they can elevate
• 34:21
  some of these pieces, this can be a top 16 offense in the NFL.
• 34:27
  And when you look at the defensive side of the ball that
• 34:30
  this team's going to have in terms of like we talked about
• 34:32
  Miles, Garrett, Malik Collins, Mason Graham, Michael Hall,
• 34:37
  that's going to be a top three defense, a top three defense in
• 34:40
  the top sixteen offense is going to win you a lot of games.
• 34:43
  Now when you get against the Cincinnati's and the the rate,
• 34:46
  the Baltimore's and the Kansas City's and the Buffaloes and
• 34:49
  it's shoot outs, you're going to struggle to keep up and keep
• 34:52
  pace. But this team should beat some
• 34:55
  of the. More I call bottom dwellers of
• 34:58
  the NFL. 2020 you hired Kevin Stefanski as your head coach and
• 35:07
  and five years and going on five years a long time for the for
• 35:11
  the life of a head coach in the NFL these days.
• 35:14
  So but what are your thoughts on the coaching staff?
• 35:18
  You guys do have a lot of good coaches.
• 35:21
  What are your thoughts going into the season?
• 35:23
  You know, your five Stefanski's tenure and how do you see things
• 35:29
  going for this, for this this regime per SE?
• 35:34
  So I can, I can tell you that hands down, this is probably the
• 35:37
  best regime that this team has had.
• 35:38
  And people don't want to hear that because five years, one
• 35:42
  playoff game, one playoff win. But Kevin Stefanski's a two time
• 35:46
  coach of the year. He took this team to the
• 35:48
  playoffs. With five quarterbacks and one
• 35:51
  of those was PJ Walker and that's not talked about enough.
• 35:55
  Ultimately, I think this coaching staff and this GM are
• 36:00
  in lockstep with each other and Andrew Berry has done things
• 36:03
  with the cap that we only see guys like Howie Roseman do.
• 36:07
  So to to be able to put those two guys together and then have
• 36:10
  an owner like Jimmy Haslam, owners get a lot of a bad rap.
• 36:14
  Owners get a lot of a bad rap for interfering, for meddling.
• 36:17
  I mean, look at Jerry Jones and Dallas.
• 36:19
  Who is the de facto GM? And the owner.
• 36:22
  Jimmy Haslam for the most part says I'm going to stay out of
• 36:26
  it. I mean, there's times with the
• 36:28
  Deshaun Watson deal, he said, hey, I will pay whatever it
• 36:31
  takes to get him here, guarantee whatever and I'll pay it.
• 36:34
  You know, there's rumors out there that he told the team to
• 36:36
  trade up and go get shitter Sanders.
• 36:39
  I don't believe that. I, I, I don't believe that for a
• 36:42
  second because when you look at Jimmy Haslam, he's left Andrew
• 36:46
  Barry and Kevin Stefanski to say you are the football guys.
• 36:50
  I trust your decision making. What probably happened was the
• 36:54
  conversation of Andrew Barry saying, hey, the value of
• 36:57
  shoulder Sanders here in the fifth round is too good to pass
• 37:00
  up. Should we go get him?
• 37:02
  Stevanski saying he's a great fit for my offense, let's bring
• 37:05
  him in. Haslam saying, does he sell
• 37:08
  tickets for us? Yes, go get him.
• 37:11
  And that's what happened. So I think this regime, people
• 37:14
  don't want to talk about it enough, but this is probably the
• 37:16
  best coaching staff and front office regime that this team's
• 37:18
  had in a while. And unless the wheels completely
• 37:22
  fall off and you pitch another two to three to four win season,
• 37:25
  I expect them to be here next year as well.
• 37:30
  Since you mentioned about Jimmy Haslam, believe he was the
• 37:33
  minority owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers, became the owner in
• 37:36
  2012, then you know, it hasn't been much of a ride for him
• 37:41
  since he's become owner of the Browns.
• 37:43
  And and I know that, you know, they they've been having
• 37:47
  quarterback issues. They've been trying so hard to
• 37:50
  to get a franchise quarterback and they traded for one, they
• 37:53
  draft for one. I mean, you could say it all
• 37:55
  together. They drafted Shadeur Sanders
• 37:57
  like as the owner itself. Like, what would you do in that
• 38:01
  process if you're Jimmy Haslam? I mean, if you're an owner, the
• 38:06
  big thing you have to talk about when you're looking at
• 38:08
  Cleveland, who's trying to build a new stadium, you want a
• 38:12
  winning team, but you're also trying to sell PS, LS and
• 38:15
  tickets for that new stadium. You're trying to get that
• 38:17
  funding off the ground. So if you can get a player that
• 38:21
  adds value off the field by any means necessary, you're going to
• 38:26
  do that. Does a defensive tackle at 5th
• 38:28
  overall do that for you? No, but getting a 2026 first
• 38:32
  round pick and giving this team hope.
• 38:35
  That will do it. Does taking Dylan Gabriel in the
• 38:38
  third round do that for you? No.
• 38:41
  But taking Sugar Sanders in the fifth round certainly does.
• 38:44
  So when you're an NFL owner, that's that's your big thing.
• 38:46
  It's it's not making sound football decisions.
• 38:48
  It's financial. And the good thing about Jimmy
• 38:51
  Haslam, too, is that he has deep pockets.
• 38:54
  He is willing to pay. He he does not care about money.
• 38:59
  What he cares about is a return on investment and then also
• 39:03
  looking like one of the smartest investors in the business.
• 39:07
  So that's why it was so shocking to me to see him own up to the
• 39:10
  Deshaun Watson debacle and not throw Barry or Stefanski under
• 39:14
  the bus and terminate him. But the fact that he owned up to
• 39:16
  it was just, it was shocking because it's a stark contrast
• 39:19
  from owners we've seen in the past.
• 39:21
  But I think Haslam knows that as he's trying to change the game
• 39:24
  when it comes to NFL ownership and it's why he's not well liked
• 39:27
  amongst other NFL owners. You hear the stories all the
• 39:29
  time about how other NFL owners hate that they fully guaranteed
• 39:33
  Deshaun Watson's contract. But I don't think Haslam cares.
• 39:36
  He, you know, he's the owner of all the pilots and Flying J's.
• 39:39
  And when you're in the business world, you have to be a little
• 39:41
  ruthless. And he's OK being that ruthless
• 39:43
  if he sees a return on investment.
• 39:45
  And I think that's why we saw the shooter, the shooter Sanders
• 39:48
  pick because, you know, 144th overall.
• 39:52
  It at minimum, you sell jerseys and you sell tickets.
• 39:56
  I mean, you look at it on nflshop.com, you look at the top
• 39:59
  three jerseys that were on the website after the NFL draft.
• 40:02
  It was Cam Ward, it was Travis Hunter, and it was sure Sanders.
• 40:04
  And Sanders didn't even have a number yet.
• 40:06
  So I think Haslam knows that getting Sanders in the building
• 40:09
  adds value to the team, even if he never plays it.
• 40:12
  That. I wanted to ask you about since
• 40:16
  let's dive into the rest of the 2025 draft and in your opinion,
• 40:21
  which teams in your opinion benefited the most from this
• 40:24
  draft? And who are some players that
• 40:26
  you that you liked on those teams that you feel benefited
• 40:30
  greatly from from from their selections in the 2025 draft?
• 40:35
  Yeah. So I'll start.
• 40:36
  I'll start in the AFC West in the Las Vegas Raiders.
• 40:38
  They crushed it. I mean, John Spytech in this
• 40:41
  first draft just crushed the Ashton Gente, you know, is the
• 40:44
  first round selection. I talked about him in the lead
• 40:46
  up to the. Show, you know, a generational
• 40:49
  talent at running back, and I use that word very lightly when
• 40:52
  I've compared him to Ladainian Tomlinson and you get him at 6th
• 40:55
  overall is just excellent. Talent.
• 40:57
  But then you then you add, you know, wide receiver, you add
• 40:59
  Jack Besh, who's solid sure handed route runner, and then
• 41:03
  Dante Thornton junior, who just takes the time.
• 41:05
  Drop off of a defense and it just blows by people, especially
• 41:09
  at six foot. 5 Giving Geno Smith those pass catchers, you know,
• 41:14
  and then you know up front they get serious about the offensive
• 41:17
  protection with Colton Miller adding Caleb Rogers and Charles
• 41:20
  Grant. You know, and and on.
• 41:22
  Defense, you had JJ Peggis, Tonka Hemingway, Darien Porter.
• 41:27
  It was solid depth and rotational pieces.
• 41:30
  They had one of the best drafts of the weekend that people
• 41:32
  aren't talking about. Another one I'll.
• 41:36
  Mention, you know, as as far as an excellent draft of the
• 41:39
  weekend is the Seattle Seahawks. You know, I I know interior
• 41:45
  offensive line is not a sexy selection in the first round,
• 41:48
  especially when that. Interior offensive line comes
• 41:50
  from North Dakota State but I mean Gray Sable was one of the
• 41:53
  best offensive lineman and mobile at the senior bowl and
• 41:57
  and played all 5 positions exceptionally well.
• 42:00
  You know, even took snaps at center, you know, Nick M and
• 42:04
  Warrior in round two. You know, I had a mock to round
• 42:06
  one in Seattle, giving Seattle their version of Kyle Hamilton
• 42:11
  in the Pacific Northwest, bringing back the old Legion of
• 42:14
  boom. You know, just an excellent
• 42:16
  selection there. And and then you know, we have
• 42:18
  to we have to have the conversation, of course, about
• 42:21
  it. You know what they added at
• 42:22
  tight end and Elijah Arroyo and Robbie Oots, you know, a very
• 42:26
  good pass catching tight end, a very good blocking tight end.
• 42:29
  And then, you know, we talked about the signing of Sam
• 42:33
  Darnold, but they had a Jalen no row who could be their future
• 42:37
  franchise quarterback in the third round.
• 42:40
  So getting all of that value out of one draft.
• 42:43
  I think Las Vegas, I think Seattle crushed it as well.
• 42:46
  You know, you, you look at another team, the Chicago Bears,
• 42:49
  when you get a, a tight end prospect and Colston Loveland,
• 42:53
  who I, you know, I've had as my tight end too, but compares very
• 42:56
  well to a Pat Fryer move. And then you turn around and get
• 42:59
  Luther Burden, the third, who was my wide receiver 1.
• 43:02
  And that's with Travis Hunter being a full time corner, a guy
• 43:06
  I've compared pretty well to Percy Harvin.
• 43:08
  Those, you know, you get those two guys offensively, you know.
• 43:11
  And then you add a big, bulky tackle like Ozzy Torpio, Kyle
• 43:16
  Manonga, A bruising running back to help, you know, take some
• 43:19
  rotation off Swift. I think those three teams, I
• 43:21
  think the Raiders, the Bears and the Seahawks.
• 43:24
  I think they crushed it this weekend.
• 43:30
  What do you think about what do you think about the team like
• 43:33
  the the Bills, you know, they didn't draft a wide receiver and
• 43:38
  you know, you saw what Brandon Bean said about the whole
• 43:41
  process. And you know, they looked at the
• 43:43
  AFC championship game and they drafted nothing but defense,
• 43:47
  right, Overall. And I know defense is much
• 43:50
  needed too, right? So what Like, what do you look
• 43:53
  like? We'll look at a team like the
• 43:54
  Bills, like just strictly drafting defense itself.
• 43:59
  I think, I think the Bills had a very good draft.
• 44:02
  It's not going to blow the doors off of anything because it's not
• 44:05
  if the defense isn't as sexy as offense in the NFL draft,
• 44:08
  Anybody who who watches the NFL draft, who analyzes it, looks at
• 44:11
  it. Defensive picks are not as sexy
• 44:14
  as offensive skilled positions. But when you get out of guy like
• 44:17
  Landon Jackson, who was being mocked in first round scenarios
• 44:22
  at pick 72, Dioni Walker, who entered the season as defensive
• 44:26
  tackle #1 on my big board at 102 overall, Jordan Hancock, Dorian
• 44:31
  Strong, you know, there's talent up and down this defense.
• 44:36
  And then you throw in Maxwell Hunter, they, they had a lot of
• 44:40
  defensive revamp. My only question mark coming out
• 44:43
  of the Bills draft was the selection of Jackson Hawes
• 44:47
  because he's more of a blocking tight end than he is a pass
• 44:50
  catcher, and it just seems like a stark contrast from what
• 44:53
  they've drafted in the past. Like the Dawson?
• 44:55
  Knox's of the World. And it's not to say that HAWS is
• 44:57
  a bad pick, it was just more of a confusing pick if anything.
• 45:02
  You know, I would probably rate it somewhere in the C to C plus
• 45:05
  range. I put a grade on it, but all the
• 45:08
  other selections were very good selections and, and the Bills
• 45:12
  had probably one of the better drafts when you look at total
• 45:15
  class top to bottom. But the Halls pick and then
• 45:18
  obviously TJ Sanders went a little higher than I had
• 45:21
  expected him to. You know, I had him closer to
• 45:24
  the third to fourth round. Obviously the Bills take him in
• 45:27
  the second round. So they they loved what they saw
• 45:29
  on him. But I, I think overall, the
• 45:32
  Bills, they did really good. And I saw what being said about
• 45:36
  a pass catcher. He's right and he's not right.
• 45:40
  He's right in the fact that you don't have to go out and get
• 45:42
  past catching weapons when that's not your offensive style.
• 45:46
  You know, your offensive style is you're going to take the deep
• 45:49
  shot when it's there, but you're going to use the run game to
• 45:52
  build that. You're going to use play action
• 45:53
  to build that. You're going to get the, you
• 45:55
  know, get your quarterback moving in space to help create
• 45:57
  some of those odd sense of structures.
• 45:59
  And Caden Prather out of Maryland, you know, 64 to 12:00.
• 46:03
  That's nothing to shake a stick at.
• 46:06
  Yes, you would have liked to see a wide receiver before in Round
• 46:09
  7, but it's not the end of the world because there are still
• 46:12
  UDF as and ultimately they're also going to say, hey, the guys
• 46:17
  we've got in this room, they're going to compete with each
• 46:19
  other. You throw in a guy like Dawson
• 46:21
  Knox at tight end, you throw in the running back depth that they
• 46:24
  have. They don't really need a true
• 46:27
  wide receiver one when you have all this.
• 46:29
  Other talent around him. No, you're not.
• 46:32
  You're not wrong about that. I mean, even he said they gave
• 46:35
  up. They scored thirty points in I
• 46:38
  think like a consecutive game. So offense wasn't really much of
• 46:41
  an issue. It was a lot to do with defense.
• 46:43
  And yeah, what Beam was saying. But how would you look at the
• 46:47
  the rest of the NFC conference, the AFC conference?
• 46:51
  Sorry, overall you, we talked, you already talked a little bit
• 46:55
  about the North. How would you look at the rest
• 46:57
  of the divisions in the AFC as a whole?
• 47:00
  Yeah, so I. I talked a little bit about the
• 47:02
  North. Obviously when you look at the
• 47:04
  draft, I think I think the as sad as it is to say the the
• 47:08
  worst draft of the weekend is in the AFC North and it was
• 47:11
  Cincinnati. You know, Shamar Stewart is a
• 47:14
  very good athletic prospects, but he is an athletic prospect
• 47:18
  that's raw, very good run defender.
• 47:20
  He's going to raise the floor there but doesn't have a whole
• 47:22
  lot in the way of pass rush. And then, you know, you take 2
• 47:25
  linebackers in the span of two rounds.
• 47:29
  Ultimately, the two of them do two different things.
• 47:31
  One's a bruiser, 1's a more pass coverage guy, so I get it there.
• 47:34
  But still a lot of question marks in Cincinnati.
• 47:39
  You make your way down the list, you know, Indianapolis and the
• 47:42
  AFC S, you get a guy like Tyler Warren as your top selection for
• 47:46
  Anthony Richardson. I think ultimately it's a A put
• 47:51
  up or shut up year for Anthony Richardson because they signed
• 47:54
  Daniel Jones for, you know, fully guarantee, you know, they
• 47:57
  signed him for a contract that if he hits every bonus, it's $13
• 47:59
  million. That's not backup money, that's
• 48:02
  starter level money. And then you take a swing.
• 48:05
  Late on, a Riley Leonard who is a guy that operates in the same
• 48:09
  fashion as Daniel Jones and Anthony Richardson.
• 48:12
  That is a fail safe if if Richardson fails to pan out.
• 48:15
  You know, Houston had another, had another draft that I kind
• 48:19
  of, I won't say, kind of questioned it a little bit, but
• 48:23
  it it was a little bit questioning, I think.
• 48:27
  You know obviously the the 1st 2 selections, Jaden Higgins,
• 48:32
  Orionte Ursari, you got a pass catching weapon for CJ Stroud
• 48:36
  and you get a left tackle prospect to help protect the
• 48:38
  man. But then going back to wide
• 48:41
  receiver again when there were other bigger needs, Woody marks
• 48:46
  as a pass catching running back, older prospects trading up to
• 48:51
  get him. Very kind of shook my head about
• 48:54
  it. Graham Mertz as a quarterback
• 48:57
  prospect, as a developmental quarterback prospect is probably
• 49:01
  the probably hands down, probably the worst selection of
• 49:04
  this draft. And I, I hate saying that
• 49:06
  because you know, nothing against Graham Mertz, but it's a
• 49:09
  guy that's been injured, hasn't really developed to this point
• 49:12
  and I don't see him developing on an NFL roster.
• 49:15
  So. You know, you look around that
• 49:17
  and then you, you know, you look at the AFC East, you know,
• 49:20
  another team that you know, everybody talks about and you
• 49:23
  guys know about them pretty well as the New York Jets.
• 49:26
  You know, I, I think The Jets. Had one of the better drafts in
• 49:30
  this class. You know you look at their first
• 49:31
  3 picks. Armand Membu as a right tackle
• 49:34
  prospect and solidifies the tackle prospects.
• 49:36
  Mason Taylor has the security blanket for Justin Fields and
• 49:40
  Azaria Thomas is a quarterback. Two to play opposite of Sauce
• 49:45
  Gardner. The the one head scratcher is is
• 49:48
  Arian Smith who was the 4th round selection.
• 49:50
  I had a seventh round grade on him, closer to UDFA than
• 49:53
  anything. I thought it was a major reach.
• 49:56
  But I get the vision. There is a lot of speed.
• 50:00
  But I mean, when you have 10 drops and 79, you know, 79
• 50:03
  opportunities, there's some serious work to be there
• 50:07
  developing wise, but. I think ultimately when you look
• 50:12
  at this, you look at the AFC. In a wrap around.
• 50:16
  The teams that went into the draft that were already great,
• 50:20
  Kansas City, Buffalo, Baltimore, they did what they always do.
• 50:28
  They were the great teams that just somehow figured out know
• 50:31
  how to do this thing. And then the also rans the lower
• 50:35
  guys, the the Colts, the Texans, The Jets, some of them figured
• 50:41
  it out, some of them didn't I, I think.
• 50:45
  The AFC as a whole, the floor got raised, but I don't see very
• 50:49
  many teams that raised their ceiling outside of the select
• 50:52
  few. With everything we know after
• 50:58
  the draft and it's early, I mean camps haven't even started yet,
• 51:01
  but how do you how do you see the competitiveness between the
• 51:08
  AFC as a conference in the NFC is a conference and has the
• 51:12
  landscapes, has anybody done anything in this draft to change
• 51:16
  the landscape of of that conference or or even in their
• 51:20
  own division? So there's still a disparity
• 51:25
  between the two conferences. And I hate saying that, but when
• 51:27
  you have probably four of the top 6 quarterbacks in the NFL in
• 51:32
  the AFC in Lamar Jackson, Josh Allen, Patrick Mahomes and Joe
• 51:36
  Burrow versus the NFC has Brock Purdy and Jalen Hurts at the
• 51:40
  top. There's still a huge.
• 51:42
  Disparity between the two conferences and there will be
• 51:45
  until there's quarterback talent added.
• 51:47
  And yes, you've got guys like Dak Prescott, Matthew Stafford
• 51:50
  that are above average quarterbacks, but they're not
• 51:53
  those top tier. Put them on any team.
• 51:56
  They're winning 10 games type guys.
• 51:59
  So I think. There's still a disparity
• 52:01
  between the two conferences and I think the AFC is going to
• 52:04
  continue to be the premier conference until the NFC catches
• 52:08
  up in quarterback talent. The good news is if some of the
• 52:14
  NFC teams fall off the next two quarters, the next two classes,
• 52:18
  2026 and 2027, are very deep for quarterback talent.
• 52:21
  So we could see that disparity close very quickly.
• 52:24
  But I think if you're looking at the two conferences, you you got
• 52:27
  to put your money on an AFC team winning the Super Bowl for
• 52:29
  probably at least the next two years.
• 52:34
  Since the 2025 draft is done now we look forward to the 2026
• 52:40
  draft and you know, there's reports out there that Arch
• 52:43
  Manning could be projected the number one pick in next year's
• 52:46
  draft. I know it's too early to say,
• 52:48
  but if you look at the draft class, I mean it's pretty much
• 52:52
  quarterback driven, but you got, you got a few guys out there as
• 52:55
  well like Caleb Downs and and Isaiah World.
• 53:00
  And I mean we talked about those guys.
• 53:02
  And if there's any other names that I didn't mention talk
• 53:05
  about, I know you, you tweeted early about that, so you can
• 53:08
  elaborate a little bit more about what you tweeted earlier
• 53:10
  today. Yes.
• 53:12
  So I I dropped a tweet of of some really hot names to to.
• 53:16
  Follow, you know, for my guy knew, you know, guys, we talked
• 53:24
  about it. Arch Manning's probably not
• 53:26
  coming out in 2026. When you look at the Manning
• 53:28
  family history and how they stayed in school for years.
• 53:31
  I I strongly struggle to see Arch Manning come out unless he
• 53:35
  was the national championship and a Heisman, and even then I I
• 53:39
  still wouldn't see it. But they're still talent in
• 53:42
  this. Class, you know, Aiden Childs
• 53:43
  out of Michigan State, very toolsy, traitsy quarterback and
• 53:47
  like a Jaden Jordan love, excuse me, you know, Fernando Mendoza,
• 53:51
  that I you, you know, very calm, cool and collected pocket
• 53:55
  passer. You think like a Case Keenum
• 53:57
  type of guy. CJ Baxter from Texas as a
• 54:00
  running back. Wide receivers, you've got Eric
• 54:03
  Singleton, you've got Jordan Tyson, Eric Singleton from
• 54:06
  Auburn, Jordan Tyson from Arizona State.
• 54:09
  You've also got Kevin Conception from Texas A&M as well, which I
• 54:12
  put a cut up earlier on X at Sparks scouting on his.
• 54:17
  Brett Norfleet, a tight end from Missouri.
• 54:19
  You know, 6 foot 7. Just an absolute athlete.
• 54:22
  You know, the offensive tackle class next year looks
• 54:24
  significantly deeper than this year's class.
• 54:26
  You know, when you look at the top half, Utah has Spencer, you
• 54:30
  know, Spencer Fanu and Caleb Lanu, you know, and Francis
• 54:34
  Malagoa from Miami. Those are three guys that would
• 54:36
  probably be in the top 10 of this year's draft in terms of
• 54:39
  their pure talent. And then you look to the
• 54:42
  defensive side of the ball. The Godfather Dante Corleone,
• 54:45
  defensive tackle from Cincinnati.
• 54:46
  Amari Campbell, the linebacker from North Carolina, so.
• 54:51
  This year's class was what I called a starter draft.
• 54:55
  You get a lot of good starters, a lot of long term starters, but
• 54:57
  it didn't have that top tier talent.
• 54:59
  Next year has that top tier talent.
• 55:02
  Next year has those guys that are going to shine.
• 55:05
  Even if Arch Manning doesn't declare, even if Lenora Sellers
• 55:08
  doesn't declare, there's guys up and down the board at
• 55:12
  quarterback, wide receiver, offensive tackle, edge.
• 55:17
  Those are the big key positions. Some of the.
• 55:20
  Positions are going to be a little bit down.
• 55:21
  You know, when you look at running back, it's the Jeremiah
• 55:24
  Love show from Notre Dame. There's guys like I talked about
• 55:27
  CJ Baxter who compete for that running back one, but it's it's
• 55:30
  really Jeremiah Love and friends.
• 55:33
  You know, you, you look at, you know, defensive tackle, like I
• 55:36
  talked about Dante Corleone, there's some other guys, Peter
• 55:38
  Woods from Clemson, Jahim Otis from Colorado.
• 55:42
  You know, if if you need a corner next year, it's probably
• 55:45
  not the class for you, you know, to carry O Davis from
• 55:47
  Washington, Malik Muhammad from Texas, Jermaine Matthews from
• 55:51
  Ohio State. There's some there's some good
• 55:53
  guys, but they're not, you know, game changers.
• 55:56
  They're not Travis hunters. They're not Will Johnson's,
• 55:58
  they're not and Morrison's they're not game changers.
• 56:01
  You know, obviously we talked about a Caleb Downs, the safety
• 56:04
  from Ohio State, Dylan Theeman, who went from Purdue, now at
• 56:07
  Oregon, another very good safety.
• 56:10
  I think All in all there, you know there's going to be a
• 56:13
  significant amount of talent and I think that's why we saw teams
• 56:16
  like the Browns and the Rams be more than willing to trade back
• 56:20
  to get a first round pick next year just based on the sheer
• 56:22
  talent of the class alone. I just want to add one more
• 56:26
  thing. No, for 2026, like we know that
• 56:29
  it's a deeper class compared to this year.
• 56:31
  The Browns already have one pick for next year.
• 56:34
  The Rams already have one pick for next year.
• 56:36
  Could we see more of that the next?
• 56:38
  I know 2027. I know it's way too early to
• 56:41
  say, but there's some big names are going to come out as well.
• 56:43
  Let's just say if Arch Manning declares by 27, because we also
• 56:48
  have the wide receiver from Ohio State and the wide receiver from
• 56:53
  Alabama, right? So those two guys are going to
• 56:56
  probably come out of the 27th draft.
• 56:57
  Like could you see teams more trading could end up trading
• 57:02
  more into the 20 sixes and the 20 sevens?
• 57:05
  I, I could because, you know, like you hit on it.
• 57:07
  If Arch Manning goes back to school, he's coming out in 27.
• 57:10
  Lenore Sellers would be 27. DJ Lagway from Florida, another
• 57:14
  talented quarterback prospect, You know, Jermaine from Ohio
• 57:18
  State, Ryan Matthews from Alabama.
• 57:20
  I mean, that's, that's right there.
• 57:22
  That's a top five that teams would trip over themselves to
• 57:25
  get. So I think we're going to see
• 57:28
  teams in the back half of round one trade out and try to get
• 57:32
  picks in 2027. I think the teams that are
• 57:34
  picking in the top half of the draft, I think they're going to
• 57:36
  stick and pick because the talent is going to be there this
• 57:38
  year. But it would not shock me if
• 57:41
  teams said hey, week seven, week 8 trade deadline, they go to a
• 57:47
  team to trade someone, sell someone off to start a rebuild
• 57:51
  and say hey, we need a 26 or a high 27 pick to make this move
• 57:55
  happen. Wanted to just kind of backtrack
• 58:01
  that 2026 class. Hearing a lot of names for
• 58:04
  offensive tackle like Francis might go up kid Kaden Proctor
• 58:08
  and Spencer Fano. Is is is it a good class for
• 58:13
  offensive tackles next season too?
• 58:16
  Absolutely. If this year's class was a bit
• 58:18
  of a down class because the guys at the top had major question
• 58:21
  marks. Will Campbell with his arm
• 58:23
  length? Armand Membu, could he flip over
• 58:25
  to the left tackle? You know, Ariante Ursuri wasn't
• 58:29
  as fluid as you would like from a tackle prospect.
• 58:31
  But you look at next year's class, the guys you named, Maui,
• 58:33
  Goa, Lomu, Fanu, Kaden Proctor, that's four guys right there.
• 58:39
  That's first round. Talent.
• 58:40
  And as you move further down the board, there's other guys.
• 58:43
  Isaiah World from Oregon, Xavier Chaplin at Auburn, you know,
• 58:49
  Auburn's got some depth at tackle with Xavion Miller and
• 58:51
  Mason Murphy as well, you know, and there's other guys.
• 58:54
  Jennings Dunker from Iowa. There is a.
• 58:58
  Lot of talent at the offensive tackle position in the 2026
• 59:02
  class. Not as much on the interior, but
• 59:07
  if you need a bookend tackle on the left or right side, you're
• 59:10
  going to find your guy in 2026. So is there any final thoughts,
• 59:18
  final any, any news that you'd like to, to to throw in there?
• 59:22
  Any hot takes, any cold takes, Anything you want at all with
• 59:26
  everything we've talked about today?
• 59:28
  Anything you wanted to add that you haven't added yet?
• 59:31
  Yeah. So I'll add in a couple.
• 59:33
  You know, the biggest hot take is I.
• 59:36
  It's not really a hot take. I don't think Arch Manning is
• 59:39
  going to declare. But I will tell you this, if
• 59:43
  Lenora Sellers does declare, he would not be my quarterback one,
• 59:48
  it would be Aiden Chiles from Michigan State.
• 59:51
  The arm talent that he possesses, the athletic ability,
• 59:55
  he's got some issues with consistency and accuracy, but
• 59:58
  you see all the things that you saw with Jordan Love at Utah
• 1:00:01
  State. You see an Aiden Chiles.
• 1:00:04
  In addition to that, you know. I think the Big 10 as a whole in
• 1:00:09
  terms of their conference with quarterback talent is stacked.
• 1:00:13
  Drew Aller, the aforementioned Childs, the aforementioned
• 1:00:16
  Mendoza, Luke Altmire from Illinois.
• 1:00:19
  You know, if if Julian Sayin shows up as a as a quarterback
• 1:00:23
  prospect, he would be closer to 2027 class.
• 1:00:26
  But I think we're starting to shift more towards the Big 10.
• 1:00:30
  And obviously there's other guys.
• 1:00:32
  Niko, I am Maleva at UCLA, Dante Moore, Oregon.
• 1:00:36
  I think if you are a team that needs a quarterback in the 2026
• 1:00:41
  class, you need to turn on Big 10 country because you're going
• 1:00:44
  to find one, you're going to you're going to blink and you're
• 1:00:46
  going to find one. The the second kind of hot take
• 1:00:51
  I would say is I fully expect at least four wide receivers to go
• 1:00:56
  in the top 15 of. Next year's class, when you look
• 1:00:59
  at guys like Kevin Conception from Texas A&M, Nick Harbour
• 1:01:02
  from South Carolina, Eric Singleton from Auburn, and then
• 1:01:06
  maybe even a Cardinal Tate from Ohio State or Antonio Williams
• 1:01:10
  from Clemson, there's going to be some serious talent at wide
• 1:01:14
  receivers. So if your team needs a pass
• 1:01:15
  catcher like Buffalo or like Cleveland, you're going to find
• 1:01:19
  it in spades at the top of the draft next year.
• 1:01:24
  Let me ask you one more question, since you're talking
• 1:01:27
  about next year's draft class. If you had to make a prediction,
• 1:01:31
  a bold prediction, who are going to be the five worst teams
• 1:01:34
  heading into 2025? If I had to make a prediction, I
• 1:01:39
  think the five worst teams are going to be the New Orleans
• 1:01:41
  Saints, the New York Giants, New Orleans Saints, New York Giants,
• 1:01:53
  Indianapolis Colts. I don't think The Jets are going
• 1:01:58
  to be that bad. I think they're going to be bad,
• 1:02:00
  but I don't think they're going to be that bad.
• 1:02:01
  So Saints, Colts, Giants, Raiders, and then the fifth one,
• 1:02:10
  this is a bit of a sneaky 1. I think it's going to be the
• 1:02:14
  49ers. I think the wheels are going to
• 1:02:17
  fall off of that thing. And I think everything that
• 1:02:19
  Shanahan's tried to build, they did not have a great draft.
• 1:02:22
  They were probably one of the the worst drafts of this weekend
• 1:02:26
  and I think the wheels are finally going to fall off,
• 1:02:28
  especially if they have to pay Brock Purdy $60 million.
• 1:02:32
  There's just not going to be enough talent out there to help
• 1:02:34
  support him. I could see the wheels falling
• 1:02:38
  off in San Francisco and then picking in the top five next
• 1:02:40
  year. Well, since you mentioned about
• 1:02:43
  the 49ers, like what do you think about kiddo getting that
• 1:02:46
  substantial amount of pay? It goes back to what we talked
• 1:02:51
  about earlier, making decisions because they're sound financial
• 1:02:53
  decisions and not thinking with your heart.
• 1:02:56
  I get why they paid him. He has been the rock solid
• 1:02:59
  cornerstone of that team for years.
• 1:03:01
  And I have the love for George Kittle as well.
• 1:03:03
  When I first started, he was one of my big hits in the draft.
• 1:03:07
  Everybody said it was a fifth, sixth round guy.
• 1:03:08
  I said he should have been a top ten talent in that year's class
• 1:03:12
  and then I was vilified for it. And that one, that one's pinned
• 1:03:16
  up on the wall. That was pinned up on my wall of
• 1:03:19
  I got that one right. I get why they paid him.
• 1:03:23
  When you have a guy like Brock Purdy, you want to give him all
• 1:03:25
  the weapons that you can give him and give him that
• 1:03:27
  familiarity. Paying him as much as they did
• 1:03:31
  at the age of his career. I could really got to question
• 1:03:36
  it. I, I, I don't hate it, but I
• 1:03:38
  certainly don't love it. You could have told me they
• 1:03:41
  could have drafted a tight end. They could have taken Tyler
• 1:03:44
  Warren in round one this year as a replacement for George Kittle
• 1:03:48
  and I. I wouldn't have blinked an eye.
• 1:03:52
  Let's just say if the wheels fall off for the 49ers, like do
• 1:03:56
  you think John Lynch's job is in jeopardy?
• 1:03:59
  Like you said, Kyle Shannon, probably his job would be in
• 1:04:01
  jeopardy as well. And let's just say if they were
• 1:04:04
  to have assets to trade and they did, they have significant
• 1:04:08
  amount of assets to trade without questioning, like could
• 1:04:11
  you see like a Nick Bosa get traded?
• 1:04:13
  Could you see like a Fred Warner get traded?
• 1:04:15
  Could you see like a Brady now you get traded?
• 1:04:18
  Like those are the questions you have to ask yourself.
• 1:04:20
  What do you think about that? Yeah, I I think if if we get to
• 1:04:24
  a point. Where the 49ers are in serious
• 1:04:27
  jeopardy before the trade LED line.
• 1:04:29
  It's going to be like one of the old furniture stores fire sale.
• 1:04:31
  Everything must go and they're going to be throwing everything
• 1:04:34
  out the window. Nick Bosa, Warner, IU, you know
• 1:04:38
  they're going to, they're going to throw everything out the
• 1:04:39
  window. And it would not shock me if
• 1:04:44
  both of them were retained even with a bad season.
• 1:04:47
  But I will say this, if one goes, they're both going.
• 1:04:50
  They are a package deal. If Lynch goes, Shanahan is out
• 1:04:53
  the door with them. If Shanahan goes, Lynch is right
• 1:04:55
  behind it. I, I think if the wheels
• 1:04:58
  completely fall off and, and they're picking in the top five,
• 1:05:03
  I think what they have to do is they have to sell everything
• 1:05:05
  off. Strip this thing down, let Purdy
• 1:05:09
  walk, don't sign into the $60 million deal and then come back
• 1:05:13
  in in 2026 and thankfully you get a guy at the top of the
• 1:05:16
  class who could be your quarterback on the future.
• 1:05:19
  Whether that's a Garrett Nussmeyer, whether that's a Drew
• 1:05:21
  Aller, a Clay, a Kate Club Nick at Lenora, Sellers, Aiden
• 1:05:24
  Childs, whoever, who's who. But I think if the wheels fall
• 1:05:29
  off of the 49ers, which I I would highly expect them to with
• 1:05:34
  just when you just look at how that team is built, it's an
• 1:05:37
  older team, it's an expensive team.
• 1:05:40
  And that's even before they're paying Brock Purdy.
• 1:05:42
  They pay Brock Purdy and the purse strings get tightened
• 1:05:45
  significantly in terms of ownership and being willing to
• 1:05:49
  pay those types of upfront costs.
• 1:05:52
  So I. Think if we get to a point.
• 1:05:53
  Where we're at Week 7 and the 49ers have one or two wins,
• 1:05:58
  you're going to hear a lot of phone calls coming out of the
• 1:06:00
  Bay Area about X player is available, X player is available
• 1:06:04
  and people are going to start getting.
• 1:06:07
  I have one more question for you.
• 1:06:08
  What are your thoughts on Colson Loveland versus Tyler Warren in
• 1:06:12
  in the draft aspect? I know a lot of people had Tyler
• 1:06:15
  Warren as their number one tight end.
• 1:06:17
  I believe Colson Loveland was taken before him.
• 1:06:20
  So what are your thoughts on on on on those two players or is it
• 1:06:23
  just like splitting hairs? Yeah, so I had a bit of a gap
• 1:06:27
  between the two. Tyler Warren was my 6th overall
• 1:06:30
  prospect. Colston Loveland was my 28th
• 1:06:32
  overall prospect, but it's two different.
• 1:06:35
  Flavors of tight end Tyler Warren I look at like a Jeremy
• 1:06:37
  Shockey type of guy He can do it all for you.
• 1:06:40
  He. Can, you know, pass catch with
• 1:06:42
  the best of them? He's athletic, he's a willing
• 1:06:44
  blocker. He can do anything.
• 1:06:46
  You're going to ask him to do? Colston Loveland on the other
• 1:06:49
  hand is more of a pass catching specialist with the ability to
• 1:06:55
  be athletic and the willingness to run block.
• 1:06:57
  So if you told me that Colston Loveland went over Tyler Warren,
• 1:07:01
  I would ask you who took him. And if you had set a team like
• 1:07:04
  the Bears, wouldn't doubt it at all.
• 1:07:07
  He's the perfect guy for Ben Johnson.
• 1:07:09
  If you would have told me a team like Indianapolis wouldn't doubt
• 1:07:13
  it at all because Indianapolis loves athletic tight ends who
• 1:07:16
  are good pass catchers. If you told me a team like.
• 1:07:20
  San Francisco. Now I have a question about
• 1:07:23
  that. But depending on who picked
• 1:07:25
  them, it's like splitting hairs. We appreciate you doing this
• 1:07:32
  episode, Bill. Great information, great
• 1:07:35
  insight. You're very good at this, so we
• 1:07:39
  appreciate you doing this. Where can we find you in social
• 1:07:42
  media and everywhere else? Yeah, absolutely.
• 1:07:45
  So you can find me over on X, excuse me a little under the
• 1:07:48
  weather. You can find me over on X Spark
• 1:07:51
  Scouting as well as The Right Way Sports Network.
• 1:07:54
  That's twsn.net. Thanks for joining us today,
• 1:08:00
  man. This is awesome.
• 1:08:01
  I hope you feel better, man. Say you're under the weather.
• 1:08:04
  So I hope you feel better. But yeah, I'm glad you you
• 1:08:10
  agreed to join us today with, you know, you not feeling up to
• 1:08:14
  it, right? I'm feeling well.
• 1:08:15
  So it's it's awesome that you joined us.
• 1:08:18
  I had a great time. Rocky had a great time.
• 1:08:20
  It was it was awesome to have you.
• 1:08:22
  Hope we can have you back again in the future, man, that'd be
• 1:08:25
  awesome. Yeah, absolutely.
• 1:08:26
  I'd love to come back on and chop it up with you guys.
• 1:08:30
  Like I said, feel a little under the weather tonight, but
• 1:08:32
  wouldn't have missed this for the world.
• 1:08:33
  I always love chopping it up. On the 20/25/2026 and NFL Draft
• 1:08:37
  as a whole. We will place the description
• 1:08:42
  below where you can find Bill Sparks, but till next time, take
• 1:08:45
  care, be kind to each other. Signing off the Sports Ave.
• 1:08:49
  Twisted podcast on Tuesday, April 29th, 2025.