Latest / Disguised Coverage / Buffalo Bills Draft Board Part 4: Special Edition feat. Dane Brugler | DC
Transcript
- 0:00It's thirty eight. All Bills can win In here, Wake puts it down.
- 0:03The kick is on the way and dock m the bell? Good one?
- 0:07How the hell that one home? How one? They were a party
- 0:14one, not party way? Incredible? Why not combat by my bell?
- 0:19Jacksonville's perfect record on the line right here, quick kicking, look excited.
- 0:31Touchdown Kyle Williams touchdound amazing, unbelievable. They puttied william Who's hats to full
- 0:55back and he scores a touchdown. It's wealthier to face tackle. What's good?
- 1:15Folks. Welcome to a special edition of Disguise Coverage. I'm your host,
- 1:19Anthony Prohaska. Find me on Twitter at pro Underscore, Underscore and cutting.
- 1:23The regular intro a little bit short today as my guest has blocked off
- 1:27some time, and I want to be very respectful and cognizant of that time
- 1:32because he does not have a lot of it when this time of the year
- 1:34rolls around. And that is because my guest in this special edition of Disguis
- 1:38Coverage is one of the pre eminent voices in NFL draft circles. He authors
- 1:42the most comprehensive draft bible each off season that is filled with the most detailed
- 1:47and complete player evaluations, metrics notes. You folks know it as the Beast.
- 1:52And with that being said, my guest on this special edition of Disguised
- 1:55Coverage is mister Dane Brugler, NFL draft analyst an expert for the Athletic Dane,
- 2:01I was telling you offline before we got started. I know how busy
- 2:04you are this time of year. Thank you so much for taking the time
- 2:07to join me. Welcome to the show. I appreciate the hell out of
- 2:08your work, as I know millions do. Thank you for being here.
- 2:12Oh, it's my pleasure. This will be a lot of fun. We're
- 2:16getting close, right, We're almost to the point where we're going to be
- 2:19reacting the picks. We're almost there, and I think we're all ready for
- 2:23that, but not quite yet. We're still kind of doing our predictions and
- 2:28figuring out what makes the most sense, what's going to happen our projections.
- 2:32But yeah, this will be fun. Yeah. And I've always feel like
- 2:36there's certain landmarks in the off season, like the Senior Bowl hits and then
- 2:39the Combine and the Pro Days, and I feel like The Beast is kind
- 2:43of one of those last pieces, because it's usually coming out like two two
- 2:46and a half weeks ish or sometimes three before the draft, and that's like,
- 2:50I feel like that signals the home stretch, and then everybody starts flooring
- 2:53it trying to get everything in and of course like flip flopping on rankings and
- 2:57projections and be it super detailed about you know, I do it as well.
- 3:00I know you do it to a degree, and'll be like, man,
- 3:01should I really have this person corner one or corner two? Is this
- 3:05person really gonna be seventeenth or eighteenth? And like it's fine, you just
- 3:07like just live with your rankings, trust yourself, and go from there.
- 3:10Dane will jump right into it. Wide receiver has been actually a talk of
- 3:15this draft class in general, but especially for a team like the Buffalo Bills,
- 3:20especially after the trade of Stefan Diggs. One of the aspects I've talked
- 3:23about on this show and on Twitter a bunch of this offseason, even before
- 3:27the Stefon Diggs trade, was the Bills need for more of a true X
- 3:30on the roster, building that quote unquote basketball lineup at wide receiver. And
- 3:35right now they've got more point guards and two guards and they've got Matt Collins,
- 3:39but trying to find more of that X. And a lot of the
- 3:43conversation for fans has centered around more of the Day one guys like Brian Thomas
- 3:46Junior, falling, ad Mitchell being there, some likes or dislikes for him,
- 3:51Xavier lok aat Keon Coleman thoughts in that range. But you know,
- 3:54aside from the guys in and around the round one conversation, who are some
- 3:59potentials for you that you think can be found on day two and or day
- 4:02three in this draft? Yeah, I don't think there's a lot of them.
- 4:06You know, obviously, if you're if you're a true X, you're
- 4:10going to be in demand. There's a reason for it. You know,
- 4:14you can beat press, you can win one on one, you can win
- 4:16at different levels of the field. There's going to be a short list of
- 4:23those guys. And if we're talking outside of round one, outside of the
- 4:28names that you just mentioned, I think one of the first names that comes
- 4:31to mind is Brendan Rice from usc who you know, good sized athlete.
- 4:35He's six two and a half two hundred and ten pounds, ran right around
- 4:41four or five oh and the forty so not amazing speed, but respectable speed.
- 4:46And when you watch him, he does win deep. He does have
- 4:49maybe some deceptive speed, vertically strong hands. He can win through contact.
- 4:56Rarely saw the ball hit the ground when he was targeted. This past year,
- 4:59he's he got that focus that does a matter if he's open or if
- 5:02the contested window, he's able to make those catches. I thought he got
- 5:08better as a route runner in terms of his tempo is pacing. So I
- 5:12think there's a lot of things that you look at with Rice, with the
- 5:14size, the athleticism, the catch point skills, the developing route running,
- 5:18and you think, Okay, this guy. I understand that he gets a
- 5:23lot of pub because of his last name and who his father is. For
- 5:27those who don't know Jerry Rice, perhaps you've heard of him, is his
- 5:30father, But you know, I think that there is more to this player
- 5:35than just the bloodlines. You know, there's a lot on film that you
- 5:41can point to and say all right that will translate to the next level.
- 5:46A lot of touchdowns, a lot of first downs. There's a lot of
- 5:49things that if you're looking for that potential X outside the top fifty picks,
- 5:56Brendan Rice would be on that short list of guys that potentially fits that mold.
- 6:00There's so many conversation pieces I think around a lot of the potential exes,
- 6:04again going from the first round guys even to someone like Brendan Rice,
- 6:08for some of the points that you think Rice needs to improve on to go
- 6:12from being in that conversation of like, oh, this guy has some things
- 6:15that we like to becoming more of like a regular every down NFL player and
- 6:18hitting that kind of ceiling. What do you think he needs to do to
- 6:21work on that? For me, some of it is really kind of playing
- 6:24up to that physicality and some of the aspects at the catch point. But
- 6:28for you, you know, where does that's like what does he really need
- 6:30to hone in on to kind of take that next step and elevate to more
- 6:32of a consistent player. Yeah, no, there's no doubt. I think
- 6:35you hit the nail on the head in terms of using that size to his
- 6:40advantage to being more reliable as a fifty to fifty guy. You know he
- 6:45in terms of boxing out and timing his attack to the ball, I think
- 6:49he has the focus to do it. It's just a matter of timing and
- 6:54gain body position. You know he has that physicality in him. It's just
- 6:58let's see it consistently. You see it here and there, and there's something
- 7:02to be said about when you see it on film. Once you know he
- 7:04can do it, it's just a matter of consistency at that point. And
- 7:09that's why you have coaches. That's why you know you have position coaches,
- 7:12something for all these guys to work on. And again we're talking about a
- 7:16potential third maybe even early fourth down pick or fourth round pick, so you
- 7:23know you're taking a discount for some reason. There's a reason he's not going
- 7:28to be a top fifty pick, and so you have to sacrifice something.
- 7:30And with Brendan Wright, I think that's definitely part of it. He's not
- 7:34the best separator in terms of short area burst and stinking his weight and snapping
- 7:41off and maybe a ninety degree cut, things like that where he's good but
- 7:45not great in that area and NFL corners you can be able to get a
- 7:47beat on him and not going to create a ton of separation. We talk
- 7:53about with the X receiver, how important is to get off the jam.
- 7:57That's something. Another area where you know he has the physicality is just let's
- 8:00see it. Let's be more efficient with that physicality and you know what,
- 8:03we know that you can out muscle guys, but let's see you get rid
- 8:07of that that that that contact quicker and get into your route, get down
- 8:13the field. So yeah, he's there's certain parts of his game that are
- 8:16still working progress. But again we're talking about a third or fourth round pick,
- 8:20and you're sacrificing something with those guys, And for Rice, it's just
- 8:24a matter of continuing to grow and develop. Yeah, absolutely spot on.
- 8:28And he had a couple of moments. And I was down in Mobile for
- 8:31the Senior Bowl and he had a couple He had a couple of great reps,
- 8:35especially on Day one and Day two where he just didn't finish. But
- 8:39as the week went on, I thought he kind of got more consistency.
- 8:41And I remember, you know, talking about releases for him. I think
- 8:45on day two to start the day, they were working and he was working
- 8:48against press. I forget who was against. He used that two hand kind
- 8:50of gangst release and just chucked his man one quickly and I was like,
- 8:54oh, yes, like play to that size, play to that length,
- 8:56use it a bit more. He is also fighting it rightly or wrongly uphill
- 9:01battle because everyone's going to be like, yeah, but you're not your dad,
- 9:03or yeah you're dad, and I just the mental aspect of having to
- 9:05work through that. But you know, he had a tremendous player to be
- 9:09here where he is real quick. You know, we don't have him completely
- 9:11listed in our notes. I mentioned him briefly. We want to get your
- 9:13thoughts. Keon Coleman is I think a polarizing player for a lot of fan
- 9:18bases. Now. I think people convolude the slow forty time with him being
- 9:24unathletic and more of a plotter. I know, not everyone watches tape or
- 9:26analyzes things. What are your thoughts on Keon Coleman in terms of what he
- 9:31is and what he potentially could be? Yeah, I think the four to
- 9:35six kind of you know, and his report stands out and just blinking lights
- 9:39and that's what people gravitate towards. But man, he is. He is
- 9:41a really athletic player, and he played for coaches though in Michigan State basket
- 9:46you're not bad athletes don't do that, yep. So sure, yeah,
- 9:50he has size. That's his bread and butter. Winning at the catch point
- 9:54that's what he does best. But he is a really good athlete, and
- 9:58you know, like the combines the great example, you watch him run a
- 10:01forty, he runs a four six one, and you're like, eh,
- 10:03okay, you know, like I thought I was hoping you'd get to at
- 10:05least in the four five, even though I knew he wasn't a burner.
- 10:07But then you watch his gauntlet and you're like, all right, I'm right
- 10:09back in that ball. If he's running in a straight line, the strides
- 10:15are perfect, the ball is stiff as soon as it hits his hand,
- 10:18it's not moving, it's not going anywhere. And so it's just you have
- 10:20to understand the type of receiver that he is and be okay with that.
- 10:24And as long as you don't need a guy that's gonna win vertically with four
- 10:28four speed, that this guy has a lot of what you're looking for as
- 10:33a pure possession threat, but really athletic, big man who can be a
- 10:39possession threat. So the body control, the ability to contort his body and
- 10:43make these catches that a lot of receivers aren't making. There's value in that,
- 10:50and it doesn't matter if it's a high trafficked area if it doesn't matter.
- 10:52He's wide open and he does have a little bit after the cat,
- 10:56or more so than I think the four six would indicate in terms of creating
- 11:00after that catch. So there's and we have to remember too, this is
- 11:03a player that has been a dual sport athlete his entire life up until really
- 11:09the last eighteen months twenty four months, and so the ability to work on
- 11:15football year round. Moving forward, he's going to get better. He is
- 11:18going to continue to improve as a route runner, as just the overall nuance
- 11:22of the position. So I'm very encouraged by Keon Coleman. I understand some
- 11:28of the separation stuff people aren't thrilled about. I get it. But if
- 11:33my quarterback feels comfortable throwing the spots, Keon Coleman can give you that where
- 11:37he's going to be in the right spot at the right time and he's going
- 11:39to go get the football. So even if he doesn't get into that first
- 11:43round, this guy shouldn't get out of the top forty picks, and I
- 11:46think if he does, a team's going to get an outstanding value. It's
- 11:50funny how the combine and you know, this is probably better than anyone like
- 11:52how the combine can change narratives on players positively or negatively, and Coleman,
- 11:58for me as an example, like coming into the combine but even still coming
- 12:01out of it, like my biggest concerns were more of his route running refinement
- 12:05in polish, like the lack of sharpness or suddenness, and there's some sloppiness
- 12:09to his routes, and he wins really with that athleticism, that size,
- 12:15and then coming out of the combine, it was just like, no,
- 12:16he's slow, He's slowly slow, and I feel like it's I'm not concerned
- 12:18about the lack of athleticism necessarily. And you watch him return punts, you
- 12:24watch him operate on tunnel screens, and you see the lateral agility and the
- 12:26footwork and the feet. He's got a couple of nice pieces too. I
- 12:30was watching yesterday against wake Forest. He scores a touchdown, breaks a tackle
- 12:33from Kayling Carson on a quick little route and as he's catch, yeah,
- 12:37yeah, it was a good corner, and he as he's catching it,
- 12:41he's immediately turning that left foot almost like a drop step that you would execute
- 12:45over the middle when you're facing the quarterback sitting over the ball and he opens
- 12:48up that hip and it changes that angle on Carson immediately, and then with
- 12:52his size he's able to break it. There's so many little things that speak
- 12:54to his athleticism, what he can do with the ball, and then obviously
- 12:58separating get the catch with the hands and size and athleticism. But yeah,
- 13:01every time I get asked, people are like, well, you think he's
- 13:03slow, and I'm like, I'm not concerned about that. I'm more concerned
- 13:05about the route refinement and what he can be with that. But you know,
- 13:09time in and time out, we see it every year, the combine
- 13:11changing narratives positively and negatively potentially for players. Let's step away from wide receiver
- 13:16for a little bit. And when it comes to the Buffalo Bills, and
- 13:20I'm sure for a lot of teams in general, but the Bills have been
- 13:22known to be one of those kind of like teams that go the best player
- 13:26available route in rounds, even if it doesn't necessarily align with their perceived biggest
- 13:31needs. Is there a Round one graded guy or guys for you that isn't
- 13:35a wide receiver that you think could potentially slide in round one and be that
- 13:41best player available that might muddy something up for a team like the Bills at
- 13:45twenty eight or in the twenties in general, where sometimes guys fall and teams
- 13:50have their boards and they're like, well, we didn't think this guy was
- 13:52going to be there, let's jump on them. Are there any Is there
- 13:54any particular guy or guys that fall into that category for you? Sure?
- 13:58And I've think that's a smart way to draft is Yeah, obviously the Bills
- 14:03need to address the receiver position, but you let the board fall to you,
- 14:09and if there's a higher graded player on your board, which there's a
- 14:13decent chance that could happen, you have to stay true to your board.
- 14:18And I think when you look at the defensive line, every team is looking
- 14:22to get add more depth on the defensive line. But if one of those
- 14:24guys were to fall to you, maybe he say like a Jared Verse from
- 14:28Florida State, I mean sixty four to two hundred and fifty five pounds,
- 14:31so so much power coursing through his body and the energy that he plays with
- 14:37the hands, how violent they are and not just violent, but theirs skills.
- 14:41He understands what he's doing out there is to understand the speed to power
- 14:46and how to knock away the hand of blockers and just really just break down
- 14:50the rhythm of what the blocker's trying to do. He has a good sense
- 14:54for that, and he's a really good athlete as well. So if Jared
- 14:56Verse were to fall a little bit in a draft, he be someone that
- 15:00I think, you know, okay, ideally we're drafting a receiver here,
- 15:03but you know what, we feel really good about the receivers and getting the
- 15:05second round a third round, so let's let's get the impact pass rusher here.
- 15:11I wouldn't Eve say the same thing about Byron Murphy, who's the top
- 15:13interior defensive lineman in this draft. Another guy where you love the violence,
- 15:18you love the power that he plays with, but he's also skilled and he
- 15:22could play. He's very good against a run, very good rushing the passer.
- 15:26There's just a lot of twitch in his lower body, more so than
- 15:30any other interior defensive linment in this class in my opinion, and so defensive
- 15:35line especially. And then also when you look at the secondary and you know
- 15:41whether it could be corner, it could be safety. Okay, well,
- 15:43who's the guy that could maybe play both? Cooper Degene and if Cooper Degene
- 15:48were a fall a little bit, which is not likely, but it's possible
- 15:52because there's a lot of split opinion on Cooper Degene. I know one team
- 15:54does a third round grade on him, another team views him as a top
- 15:58twenty guy. But you know, if they go in a different direction,
- 16:00who knows, like this is Cooper de Gene is one of those guys that
- 16:03is not And look, the word consensus should never be used in any draft
- 16:07conversation. There's no such thing. Every team views these guys a little bit
- 16:11differently. But some view Cooper de Gene as an outside corner, a do
- 16:15everything guy. Some view him as a true nickel. Others believe the safety
- 16:19and I think that he has a little bit of everything where he can play
- 16:25on the outside, he can play on the inside, he can play safety.
- 16:26It just depends on what you want. And we know what the Bills.
- 16:30They could use a secondary depth all over the place, and so a
- 16:33guy like Cooper Degene that brings you that versatility also going to make plays on
- 16:37special teams. He'd be a tough guy to pass on if we were to
- 16:41fall a little bit. I like that answer because it fits something I've been
- 16:45saying on this show for the past couple of weeks, with Corner just being
- 16:47kind of like a sneaky need for the Bills. They chose to restructure Rasseul
- 16:52Douglas this offseason instead of extending him. He's a UFA next year. Right
- 16:56now, even for twenty twenty four, you're looking at Rasul Douglas, Ristrom
- 17:00Benford, who's been a steal but who gets hurt a bunch, and then
- 17:03Kyrie Reelam is your Corner three, who really hasn't panned out the way you
- 17:07wanted to, and you're sitting there at the back end a round one.
- 17:10And if Cooper Degene falls, or maybe they get past the size concerns and
- 17:15they like Nate Wiggins, or maybe kol Aid mckinstrey's the guard, maybe something
- 17:18crazy happens and for some reason Terry and Arnold falls. But Corner is a
- 17:22sneaky need for this team given what they're what the position group looks like in
- 17:26twenty twenty four, but then especially in twenty twenty five, where right now
- 17:29Douglas is gone, you could use a guy this year that could be or
- 17:32CB three or potentially CB two if Benford gets banged up waiting in the wings
- 17:36to take over for Douglas. When it comes to Cooper Degene, do you
- 17:38see him, I know you mentioned he has a little bit of everything for
- 17:41me. He not that he's like an enigma to me, but he's so
- 17:45athletic and he moves so well. But then I also find like his lack
- 17:51of suddenness and almost like he's like stiff or tight hipped at times, and
- 17:55I've seen it sometimes impressed man, and it worries me with some of how
- 18:00he's been run by by wide receivers in the Big Ten that aren't necessarily like
- 18:04the caliber of athlete or receiver that I would expect that to happen with.
- 18:07But he can function a corner legitimately. Do you I know you get some
- 18:14inklings here and there. Do you see somebody using him as a jack of
- 18:17all trades? You think that's where he's best suited, I should say,
- 18:19Or do you think kind of put him at one of these spots, let
- 18:22him hone his craft, or do you try to take advantage of the full
- 18:26gamut when it comes to the skill set that he offers. Yeah, and
- 18:29that's when I hear people get upset about others calling him a safety or they
- 18:37like I he can do at all. So I'm not gonna really try to
- 18:42pigeonhole him as only this or only that. I really feel like he can
- 18:45help you out on the outside. He can help you out of safety,
- 18:48help you out in the nickel, as an inside corner. Whatever you want
- 18:52him to do, he can do it. But I agree with you what
- 18:52you're saying. His reaction burst is average, and you know that's something for
- 19:00corner that is obviously not ideal. And so at the top of routes he
- 19:04could be a half beat late getting out of his break and going and attacking.
- 19:11But I think it's interesting when you know it was the pro day,
- 19:15how he because he had that late pro day he had outstanding forty yard dash
- 19:21and vert and everyone, oh top twenty picks. Well we knew he was
- 19:25fast, like I don't. That wasn't the question. It was more of
- 19:26the change direction and some of the you know, short area agility, which
- 19:32he did not do, which I don't necessarily count against him. He working
- 19:36back from a broken leg, he didn't have time enough to train for it.
- 19:40And so you know, I'm not going to say he's necessarily hiding those
- 19:42times. I'm not saying I'm gonna say that, but on Tajo Kanti's average
- 19:47reaction burst, and that is for me why he ended up. I mean,
- 19:51he's he was always in the mid twenties. For me, kind of
- 19:52at the prospect, I couldn't go much higher than him. I really like
- 19:56Cooper Gene, I love him on my team, but I I do think
- 20:00that, yeah, there are concerns to his game that you know are you
- 20:03have to understand what some of those concerns are before you draft them. Absolutely
- 20:08very well said I Also, I find the Byron Murphy one. We'll move
- 20:11on to our next topic, but Byron Murphy has intrigued me so much ever
- 20:15since watching him going into the Senior Bowl and then him basically kind of like
- 20:19opting out the night before. Him and Graham Barton were so disappointing to not
- 20:22be able to see them in person, and for me it kind of like
- 20:26locked that. I know what Murphy's reported kind of not participating in the Senior
- 20:30Bowl was, but for me, it just came off very much like his
- 20:33agent being like you're going in the first twenty, like we got you,
- 20:34you don't need to do this type of thing. And but if he he's
- 20:38so intriguing as a prospect, especially for a Bills team that you know Sean
- 20:42mcdermot's quote is the defensive line is the engine of the defense. And again
- 20:45a lot of teams fall into that category, so you have someone like him
- 20:49where to fall potentially, actually real quick liea to lat to the medical aspect.
- 20:53Does is it too much of a red flag? Are you too concerned?
- 20:56Because you watch the tape and it's tremendous what he does as a pass
- 21:00rusher, the length, the hand usage, the technicality is it. Does
- 21:04it concern you? Do you think it's a red flag that pushes him down
- 21:07in the first round or maybe even out of it because it's it is serious
- 21:11and because he was forced to going medically retire at one point, I believe,
- 21:14and it's a serious fusion that he had going on in his spinal cord.
- 21:18Yeah, no doubt. And obviously there's much smarter people than me that
- 21:21can talk about the medical part of it, and those are thus on the
- 21:23outside. We're reacting to what we're told more so than having actual medical information.
- 21:30What I've heard is a lot of teams have cleared him more so more
- 21:33than I thought would, and so I would have a hard time seeing him
- 21:37fall too far. You know, you look at the Rams at nineteen,
- 21:40the Dolphins that twenty one. I mean, I think I would have a
- 21:45hard time seeing him fall too far because I've heard a lot of good things
- 21:48about teams clearing him. Not everyone, but I've heard enough teams clearing him
- 21:55that I think I would be surprised if he fell outside of the top twenty
- 21:57five. Very fair, Very fair. All right, our last segment here,
- 22:02let's talk about some of the sexy stuff for Bill's fans and some specific
- 22:04names that continue to crop up in the Round one conversation or just the draft
- 22:10conversation in general for the Buffalo Bills. So we're gonna have some ceiling and
- 22:15floor discussions for some wide receiver targets. Let's start with Brian Thomas, junior
- 22:18wide receiver from LSU six three, two hundred and ten pounds, runs that
- 22:22four three forty. The acceleration when the ball is in the air is just
- 22:26next level, like he has an if you can have another gear besides already
- 22:30running a four to three, like he's able to kick into that. What
- 22:33do you think his ceiling and his floor is given the size, the weight,
- 22:37the frame, the speed, the traits, but then also some of
- 22:41the I guess lack of refinement to the technical aspect when it comes to a
- 22:44route three piece. Yeah, and you know, the best flying twenty at
- 22:48the combine. So to what you're speaking of winning down the field, I
- 22:52think his ceiling is kind of a faster version of T Higgins where you know,
- 22:57he can win vertically, but he can also be a ball winner.
- 23:02I mean, he can win at different points of the field. It's just
- 23:04a matter of development. And you know, Brian Thomas is still a young
- 23:07player, former basketball player, focused athlete, So ceiling a faster version of
- 23:12te Higgins floor. I think probably somewhat similar to like you know, maybe
- 23:18like a Jonathan Mingo who big, fast, but you know, fully struggle
- 23:23to separate in college, struggle to separate with the Panthers. You know,
- 23:27rookie year was not promising and the Panthers drafted him with a high pick in
- 23:32the top fifty. But to me, Brian Thomas has so much ability that
- 23:37I see him going to be much better player than that. But if we're
- 23:41talking about just pure floor, I think at the worst he'll be kind of
- 23:45what Jonathan Mingo brings. I hope he goes to a team that allows him
- 23:48to potentially early on, just not to oversimplify it, but hey man,
- 23:53just go be big and fast, and we're going to develop that route tree
- 23:56overall in terms of its diversity or in terms of its tech, thecality because
- 24:00he does have, like you, for a guy that big, who flies
- 24:03like that and who has that size and frame, he is able to sink
- 24:07his hips and he has enough lower body like flection where he can get in
- 24:10and out of cut so and I also wonder too with college offenses, like
- 24:15how much of it is like absence of evidence is not evidence of absence type
- 24:18of things like what he's being asked to do versus what he can do,
- 24:22because he has so many traits and pieces that you can't teach, which is
- 24:25why he's so high on so many guys boards ad Mitchell similar conversation. Another
- 24:29bit of a polarizing guy depending on who you ask, the lack of effort
- 24:33at times or sometimes the kind of I don't know, comfortable trot that he
- 24:40puts out there when he's stemming his routes and things like that. But he's
- 24:41got explosion, he's got some great highlight work, his ability to win at
- 24:45the catch point and play big, but he doesn't always play big. Again,
- 24:48a bit of an enigma at that spot. Ad Mitchell ceiling floor for
- 24:52him as well. I do think that ad probably has the widest range between
- 24:59the floor and the ceiling because I could see him really hitting and being you
- 25:03know, my comp my maybe most optimistic comp as Chris Henry and the late
- 25:07Chris Henry, who you know, people remember how good he was, long,
- 25:11loose, limber, really athletic, can win all over the field.
- 25:17He could be that type of type of playmaker. But I also think that
- 25:21he has a pretty low floor, and so for his floor, I'll go
- 25:23like a Denzel Mims, who you know, there's there was a lot of
- 25:26lack of daisical parts to his game that worried you, but had so much
- 25:30speed and ability that you could understand why teams were lured in. But obviously
- 25:34it didn't work out, and I think a lot of those issues crept up
- 25:40that could potentially be issues with the With Mitchell. You never know, just
- 25:44depends on where he ends up in the situation. But I do think it's
- 25:47a wide range between the ceiling and floor for that player. He's so interesting
- 25:52with just again the explosion in the plays of the catch point, and he
- 25:53can win it all three levels underneath, intermediate and deep with speed or separating
- 25:57at a catch point. But then you just see, yeah, some of
- 26:00the things that you really don't like. And I also wonder how much of
- 26:03it is accepted and kind of not necessarily coach at Texas, but allowed.
- 26:07And we see some guys take routes. I mean it happens with Xavier Worthy.
- 26:10We've seen it have on Margaret Harrison Junior. You see with Brian Thomas,
- 26:12guys that aren't necessarily going one hundred miles an hour one hundred percent at
- 26:15the time. But it's just a bit of a different feel with a d
- 26:18Mitchell. Second. Last guy we want to talk about here, Lad McConkie,
- 26:22someone who lit up the Senior Bowl. The tape is tremendously impressive.
- 26:25He goes out runs a sub four four forty kind of puts himself in another
- 26:27stratosphere of conversation. What are your thoughts here ceiling it for for mister Ladd
- 26:32McConkie, this is gonna be unfair, but I'm gonna I'm gonna say a
- 26:37ceiling is like an Antonio Brown, Like wow, okay, the inside outside
- 26:41versatility, the ability to catch and run. I mean, I again,
- 26:47we're talking ceiling. We're talking if he everything goes right, he stays healthy,
- 26:51he hits, everything goes right. That's what type of player we're talking
- 26:55about. And I understand that's lofty, but hey, that's that's ceiling.
- 26:59Now. The chances of hitting that feeling probably not super high, but I
- 27:03at least think that he has that type of ability because he is super talented.
- 27:07I do think it's a relatively high floor too. For his floor,
- 27:10I went with the kind of like a Randall Cobb type of player who you
- 27:14know, went to a good situation obviously in Green Bay and you know worked
- 27:17out for him, but maybe not as not as much of a playmaker as
- 27:23maybe you know you're you're looking for in an offense, Randall Cobb floor being
- 27:30more of a complimentary piece more so than a featured part of the offense.
- 27:33So I'm very optimistic about his floor. But I also think that the ceiling,
- 27:41if he hits, everything hits right, I think it was pretty special.
- 27:44I second, the notion on that floor completely just he he enters the
- 27:48league without even seeing a snap in the NFL, and nothing is a guarantee
- 27:51in the NFL, regardless of who you are. But he enters the league
- 27:55as such a professional route runner already with his movement and his under his understanding
- 28:00of how to manipulate defenders, combined with how he actually moves the ability to
- 28:04do it mentally and physically, it gives him that high floor. And Yeah,
- 28:07I don't know how much in terms of a true one he can ever
- 28:11be given, like his size and frame and who and what he is,
- 28:15But like you said, that floor is so intriguing. Last one, a
- 28:18little bit of a different conversation when it comes to this ceiling floor conversation versus
- 28:22someone like Lad McConkie. Mister xavierly get six foot over six foot sixty one
- 28:27two and twenty plus runs that four to three sets the world on fire one
- 28:32year of production, his age, A lot of different conversation and context pieces
- 28:37when it comes to him ceiling and floor for mister Xavier get out of South
- 28:40Carolina. Yeah, and the ceiling I think is some a style of a
- 28:42DK Metcalf type of player because he's not the size of a DK Metcalf,
- 28:48but you kind of see some of the similarities with the way they move the
- 28:52pure straight line speed, and even though he does he's not the same size,
- 28:56he's still a really good size receiver. And so some style of a
- 29:00DK Metcalf, I think it's the ceiling for a floor, maybe like a
- 29:04a bigger version or a thicker version of like a Diami Brown who a lot
- 29:11of verticals at North Carolina, and so far with the Commanders that hasn't really
- 29:15worked out in terms of him becoming that splash player like leg. I mean,
- 29:21he has that vertical ability. He can win deep. Get him on
- 29:23our runway so he can take those crossers and make something happen with the straight
- 29:27line speed. But you know, if can he not expand his route free
- 29:33enough to be more than that, is he going to be over reliant on
- 29:36those runway routes. And if he is, and if he's in a certain
- 29:38situation he's going to be, it's gonna be hard for him to break out.
- 29:42And so I do think that the ceiling floor is pretty pretty diverse for
- 29:47him as well. Yeah, he's one I know you mentioned it for a
- 29:49d Mitchell leg That is one for me that I think the spectrum of where
- 29:53he could be floor versus ceiling, I think is massive given the traits and
- 29:56the tools, but also some of the more technical regular pieces. Dane,
- 30:00we're gonna get you out of here, and we're going to end this episode
- 30:03here just in case people don't know who you are and what you do.
- 30:06Floor is yours, anything and everything you want tell everybody about it. Well,
- 30:11I find all myself at the Athletic especially the Beast, which is out
- 30:12right now. Just need a subscription and it's included, so no more.
- 30:17There's not a more comprehensive guide out there. I promise you if you enjoy
- 30:21the draft as a casual, as a die hard, there's something in here
- 30:23for everybody, you will not be disappointed. With over two thousand or almost
- 30:29two thousand players in there, all the NFL verified testing, over four hundred
- 30:33reports, So, like I said, a little bit of something for everybody,
- 30:36absolutely tremendous. It is a go to for anyone and everyone who cares
- 30:40about football and who has anything to do in terms of one little thought in
- 30:42their mind about the draft. That's going to do it for us hearing this
- 30:44special episode. Folks, if you're on YouTube, please drop a light on
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- 30:56Hope you and your family and friends and loved ones are all doing well,
- 31:00staying safe, be kind to one another, take care of one another,
- 31:02godspeed, and as always go Bills