Speaker 1: Alright, hello everyone, and welcome to the first edition of
Speaker 1: NFL Draft Trip will Take First edition twenty twenty four.
Speaker 1: We are, as always sponsored by UPMC. I'm Mike Pursuita,
Speaker 1: joined as always by Dale Lawley and Matt Williamson. We've
Speaker 1: been doing this for a while now, discussing an upcoming
Speaker 1: draft and how we think the pieces may fall into place.
Speaker 1: But we're doing things a little bit different this year.
Speaker 1: And one of the differences the opinions we are about
Speaker 1: to express, the wrong opinions that Matt and Dale are
Speaker 1: going to provide and the insight that will be forthcoming
Speaker 1: from me. It's all our own opinions. We are not
Speaker 1: trumpeting with the Steelers may or may not do. We
Speaker 1: are not, for these purposes, affiliated with the Steelers. This
Speaker 1: is three guys sitting around talking NFL Draft, so fellas,
Speaker 1: welcome back, ready to get at it. Let's just shout
Speaker 1: that they had us back our upsets in every draft.
Speaker 1: We're gonna start today with our mock first round, and Dale,
Speaker 1: you're on the screen first, so let's take a look
Speaker 1: at your picks one through ten. Anything on here that
Speaker 1: you had to wrestle with or that you think is
Speaker 1: I don't know, especially enlightening.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think the first five guys are pretty chalky
Speaker 2: when you start looking at mock drafts. Whatever order those
Speaker 2: guys go in. To me, I think one of the
Speaker 2: real wild cards in this draft goes at six tight
Speaker 2: end Brock Bowers, because typically you don't see tight ends
Speaker 2: go that high. But you can't just look at him
Speaker 2: as a tight end. You have to look at him
Speaker 2: as a pass catcher. And so to me, you know,
Speaker 2: I know the Giants that may not be a screaming
Speaker 2: need for the Giants another tight end, but you have
Speaker 2: to look at him like he's just a big wide receiver.
Speaker 1: One of the caveats that we decided on before doing
Speaker 1: this was we weren't including potential trades. So that being
Speaker 1: the case, I think the Bears are, you know, for
Speaker 1: our purposes, not trading their quarterback and not trading the pick.
Speaker 1: So if they end up with Justin Fields throwing, who
Speaker 1: better to be on the receiving end than Marvin Harrison
Speaker 1: junior guys, he is my head and shoulders best receiver available.
Speaker 1: And that's just the old eye test. Just watch some
Speaker 1: college football on Saturdays.
Speaker 2: What conference did he play?
Speaker 1: He played the Big Ten Conference. Yeah, just checking Drake
Speaker 1: May is my second quarterback to the Commanders, and I
Speaker 1: like him better than the other two. I might be
Speaker 1: a little bit on an island regarding that, but based
Speaker 1: on our no trade scenario and Harrison going one, I
Speaker 1: think the Atlanta Falcons would love this because Jade Daniels
Speaker 1: of LSU would fall down to the Falcons at number
Speaker 1: eight and the rest of it. As you said, Dale Chalking, Matt,
Speaker 1: let's take a look at what you've got cooked up
Speaker 1: for picks one through ten.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you mentioned the Falcons at eight, and this might
Speaker 3: be a little controversial as we sit here in the
Speaker 3: middle of February, but I think JJ McCarthy stock could
Speaker 3: really be on the rise in the media circles when
Speaker 3: he goes to the Combine. Really really good athlete, phenomenal
Speaker 3: in terms of you know, interviews, leadership, all that type
Speaker 3: of thing. But I do think the Falcons are going
Speaker 3: to be aggressive with the quarterback spot. So I didn't
Speaker 3: know exactly what to do with them.
Speaker 2: All right, Well I have. I mean, I think Terry
Speaker 2: and Arnold is the best cornerback in this draft. I
Speaker 2: think he's really good at twelve. Then you know, I
Speaker 2: got bow Nicks going to the Denver Broncos, and I
Speaker 2: think the reason I went with that, I think he
Speaker 2: kind of fits into what Sean Payton does offensively, getting
Speaker 2: the ball out quick, a lot of the shorter stuff.
Speaker 2: You know, It's what he ran with Drew Brees to
Speaker 2: a certain degree. So I just I don't know if
Speaker 2: he's the next best quarterback, but I think that's where
Speaker 2: a good landing spot for him. And then you know
Speaker 2: you're looking on down there love Jackson Powers Johnson the
Speaker 2: center out of Oregon, but he goes at seventeen, and
Speaker 2: then that means the Steelers get Cooper dejen do everything, cornerback,
Speaker 2: safety return guy.
Speaker 1: And you said do everything. You are not exaggerating.
Speaker 2: What conference did he play?
Speaker 1: The Big Ten Conference?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 1: I saw too much of that guy in Iowa City.
Speaker 1: Mike pursuits picks eleven through twenty out jump right down
Speaker 1: to the bottom. I have Jackson Powers Johnson coming to
Speaker 1: Pittsburgh with the twentieth overall pick, and Dale, I'm with
Speaker 1: you on bow Nicks. I got him going to the
Speaker 1: Raiders at thirteen. You had him to Denver at twelve.
Speaker 1: But I think he's gonna go higher than people think.
Speaker 1: I think they're gonna love what they see of them
Speaker 1: in the workout stage of this. And he's got some
Speaker 1: ridiculous statistics and I think he has the size and
Speaker 1: the experience. Quinnon Mitchell really interesting player to me. I
Speaker 1: got him going to Denver at number twelve, one of,
Speaker 1: if not the best cornerback available. Matt, what do you
Speaker 1: have in this particular third of the first round.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I have Geiton, who you had gon fourteen going
Speaker 3: to the Steelers. He looks like a left tackle, he
Speaker 3: moves like a left tackle. He actually looks like a
Speaker 3: power forward. He was really impressed with the Senior Bowl.
Speaker 3: He's really only played on the right side. Steers will
Speaker 3: figure that out. Powers Johnson's a guy we've brought up
Speaker 3: a couple times. I think he'd really stabilize that Jacksonville line.
Speaker 3: And then Byron Murphy I wanted to mention too. He's
Speaker 3: an extreme athlete. And you got to realize Seattle just
Speaker 3: you know signed or hired, you know, Baltimore's defensive coordinator.
Speaker 3: They won versatile, explosive defensive front guys. So I think
Speaker 3: that would be a good fit with the Seahawks.
Speaker 1: Still one more third to get to as we continue,
Speaker 1: taking a projection at the first round at Dale, your
Speaker 1: picks twenty one through thirty two.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean you start looking here and you're gonna
Speaker 2: get to Obviously, Cleveland does not have a first round
Speaker 2: draft pick because they traded that away. But then you
Speaker 2: look at the Baltimore Ravens and they take Graham Barton
Speaker 2: here at the thirtieth pick, and they get some offensive
Speaker 2: line issues there. Some of their guys are getting a
Speaker 2: little bit old Zeitler, They're one of their guards is
Speaker 2: a free agent upcoming. So I think it makes a
Speaker 2: lot of sense for them to take a guy in
Speaker 2: Barton who could play all over that line for them
Speaker 2: and just give them a little more versatility there. And
Speaker 2: you know some of these other picks you mentioned geton.
Speaker 2: I have him going to Dallas. We know Jerry Jones
Speaker 2: loves those Oklahoma guys. That would make some sense there.
Speaker 2: And then one of the other guys, Lad McConkie, going
Speaker 2: to Buffalo.
Speaker 1: That's a little at tension getting.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think he's going to maybe go a little
Speaker 2: bit higher than some of the draftnicks have him going round.
Speaker 2: They have him going early second round. I think he
Speaker 2: can sneak into that first round. He's really good and
Speaker 2: just he just does everything well and I like to
Speaker 2: like why to solve him at the Senior Bowl.
Speaker 1: Dale, you and I both have the same pick at
Speaker 1: thirty second overall, Keon Coleman going to the Chiefs. Really
Speaker 1: good athlete, played basketball as well as football at Michigan
Speaker 1: State before he went to Florida State.
Speaker 2: And he came to his census and transferred right there.
Speaker 1: Is I think if he'd had gotten to play in
Speaker 1: the college playoff, there'd be a whole lot more buzz
Speaker 1: about him than there is right now. But he's a
Speaker 1: big receiver who's incredibly athlete. Nothing really surprising in my
Speaker 1: twenty one through thirty one. I have a degene going
Speaker 1: a little bit lower than you guys at twenty five,
Speaker 1: but for the most part, and Matt He's will probably
Speaker 1: confirm the same. We've basically got the same names here,
Speaker 1: just in different order.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and actually with mine, I want to have the
Speaker 3: same spot with Baltimore.
Speaker 1: D got a twenty eighth.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean I want to mention that one too.
Speaker 3: Diggs's production really fell in the second half of the season,
Speaker 3: gave Davis is a free agent to be, so that
Speaker 3: makes a lot of sense to me. Well, you and
Speaker 3: I both had Darius Robinson going to the Ravens. They
Speaker 3: won versatility in that front. They want explosiveness, and he
Speaker 3: plays all up and down the line.
Speaker 1: He's the first guy to me. It will get to
Speaker 1: a number of these guys. But you look at him
Speaker 1: and you say, that guy's a blank a raven, and
Speaker 1: that guy's a raving that particular guy. But there will
Speaker 1: be some other players where we think, oh, so and
Speaker 1: so he should be a packer or whatever. Yeah, that
Speaker 1: guy's a Raven.
Speaker 3: I think, and then position, you know, positionally, at twenty nine,
Speaker 3: I feel really confident that that's going to be a cornerback.
Speaker 3: And there's a lot of them in this class that
Speaker 3: fit the mold. I'm not sure which one will end
Speaker 3: up at twenty nine, but they need a corner to
Speaker 3: put in extacidon.
Speaker 1: That's gonna do it for us. For this first edition
Speaker 1: of the NFL Draft Triple take Matt Williamson, Dale Lawley,
Speaker 1: and me, Mike Pursuda. We're gonna be cranking this stuff
Speaker 1: out between now and the actual NFL Draft, which is
Speaker 1: scheduled for the end of April. In Detroit, So you're
Speaker 1: gonna want to keep it here for well, just too
Speaker 1: many updates and insightful pieces of content to mention, But
Speaker 1: just keep checking back with Steelers dot com and all
Speaker 1: of your Steelers social media platforms and you'll find out
Speaker 1: what we think as the twenty twenty four NFL Draft
Speaker 1: approaches for Matt and Dale Mike. This has been the
Speaker 1: NFL Draft Triple Take, sponsored by UPMC