Speaker 1: Well everyone, and welcome to another edition of the NFL
Speaker 1: Draft Triple Take, presented by U P M C. Mike
Speaker 1: pursued at Dale Wally and Matt Williamson. We are your
Speaker 1: Triple Take threesome. We've been doing this for years now,
Speaker 1: so you probably know the drill by now. We take
Speaker 1: a look at the NFL Draft position by position leading
Speaker 1: up to the NFL annual event. And when I say
Speaker 1: leading up to it, we started this stuff, I don't know,
Speaker 1: a month six weeks ago. We still got a month
Speaker 1: to go, give or take. We'll drop in some mock
Speaker 1: drafts here and there, just to kind of throw your
Speaker 1: curve ball every now and then. But we are on
Speaker 1: round two, or in the middle round two of our
Speaker 1: position previews and the way that works. Rather than give
Speaker 1: you a top five, we give you a riser, a faller,
Speaker 1: and a sleeper. And one of the themes uh during
Speaker 1: our recent programs has reared its ugly head again. You know,
Speaker 1: I like it when we all have so many different
Speaker 1: to talk about it figure, you know, different guys see
Speaker 1: things differently. It's not always the case. And Matt Williamson,
Speaker 1: you and I have been agreed of late and we're
Speaker 1: gonna do it again our riser cadet from from Washington,
Speaker 1: great minds. And I made this excuse for myself when
Speaker 1: we recorded the running back trip will take the second
Speaker 1: one that when we did the first one, I wasn't
Speaker 1: in the deep end on running backs yet because the
Speaker 1: Steelers have taken Najy Harris well the same as kind
Speaker 1: of true on tight ends, and so I've done a
Speaker 1: lot more ought and research since we got together the
Speaker 1: first time to the rank tight ends. And I think
Speaker 1: he's my number one now. Yeah, I mean I'm this guy.
Speaker 1: I mean six five, yeah, big time. I think he
Speaker 1: was fifth or six for me either. It was a
Speaker 1: just miss, but he's my favorite now. They asked him
Speaker 1: to block a lot at Washington. I think he was
Speaker 1: a four year starter. The yeah they do that, they're right.
Speaker 1: I mean he's going to block and so he doesn't
Speaker 1: embarrass himself in that regard. And I think he's the
Speaker 1: best separator of this group, you know, like Trey McBride's
Speaker 1: a good player and he was my one before. But
Speaker 1: everything's a contested catch. This guy gets open. Yeah, he's
Speaker 1: really rising. He may end up being the first one pick.
Speaker 1: I know he's been reportedly a very popular guy. A
Speaker 1: lot of teams are scheduling pree draft visits with this kid.
Speaker 1: And I think the Washington thing. You know, certain programs
Speaker 1: produce a certain kind of guy, and it's pretty consistent.
Speaker 1: And a Washington tight end or a Washington dB. I
Speaker 1: think you know what you're getting. At least you got
Speaker 1: maybe a little better idea than than uh, with anybody else.
Speaker 1: So yeah, I'll put it. I'll put a arrow pointed
Speaker 1: up next to Kate. Thank goodness, guys, I started writing
Speaker 1: up Kate Oughton when I did mind, I said, you
Speaker 1: know what, that's gonna be too chucky. I'm gonna go
Speaker 1: with somebody else, and so and so I did. I
Speaker 1: went with Daniel Bellinger at a San Diego State and uh,
Speaker 1: he's six five to fifty three, was in the top
Speaker 1: five essentially and everything, uh testing wise at the combine
Speaker 1: ran a four six three forty. That made me go
Speaker 1: back and watch him again. And I'm not gonna say
Speaker 1: this guy could be George Kittle, because Kittle all he
Speaker 1: did was blocked in college. All this guy, this guy
Speaker 1: blocked a lot in college as well. They didn't throw
Speaker 1: in the football. But then I watched him in the
Speaker 1: drills and things that at the combine and I'm like, oh,
Speaker 1: he heat moves pretty well. And I went back and
Speaker 1: watched some more game taping him. He only had sixty
Speaker 1: eight career catches. Kittle was very similar because they just
Speaker 1: they had T. J. Hawkinson as well. He was, you know,
Speaker 1: Kiddle was the blocking tight end. It was a Kidd
Speaker 1: with Hockinson at that time or somebody else younger than end.
Speaker 1: A lot of tight ends there, you know, And I
Speaker 1: just like this guy's athletic profile. He's big, he blocks,
Speaker 1: and I think he's gonna be a guy that goes somewhere,
Speaker 1: probably a lot sooner than I thought, you know when
Speaker 1: we started this process. Yeah, let's keep it with you
Speaker 1: because you and Matt are in agreement on the faller. Uh.
Speaker 1: Matt's already uh in previous shows, UH established that he's
Speaker 1: less than impressed with Texas A and m' what's coming
Speaker 1: out of the station. Uh. And you're gonna pile on
Speaker 1: a little bit, aren't you. Yeah. I don't know what
Speaker 1: was going on with the track down there, but Jalen Widermeyer,
Speaker 1: who was number three on my initial list, ran a
Speaker 1: five oh three forty. Yeah, at six five pounds and
Speaker 1: if you remember both of the Georgia defensive tackles at
Speaker 1: the combine ran you know four seven eight and four
Speaker 1: eight oh and everybody's going crazy. Uh A tight end?
Speaker 1: Who's that slow? I don't think there's been one drafted
Speaker 1: in quite some time. Now you turn on this guy's
Speaker 1: tape and it's like, okay, you know, he gets open,
Speaker 1: he does a lot of the stuff that you want
Speaker 1: to see, but I can't get past the five oh
Speaker 1: three forty. I mean that that's super slow. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: Dye just expand on that. I actually looked into it
Speaker 1: a little more like what tight ends it ran over
Speaker 1: A five did get drafted, and it's guys like Nick Boyle,
Speaker 1: you know, big time blockers that are two pounds. And
Speaker 1: he's not that he's not a very good blocker, Like
Speaker 1: he's not real explosive. The forty time was really bad,
Speaker 1: but his jumps were just as bad. And I don't
Speaker 1: care what the track is. So he's kind of just
Speaker 1: a monotone athlete that doesn't stand out as much as
Speaker 1: he should. Yeah. I kind of used the measurables to
Speaker 1: identify my follower as well. Uh, Jake Ferguson from Wisconsin,
Speaker 1: who I was pretty high on watching a lot of
Speaker 1: Big ten football, and then, uh, you know, when you
Speaker 1: start boiling it down at Indianapolis, Now you know four
Speaker 1: eight one isn't awful, but it was ninth among tight
Speaker 1: ends in Indianapolis. It wasn't though it wasn't, but I
Speaker 1: had Ferguson in my top five in the initial look
Speaker 1: at the position. And if he's gonna be the ninth
Speaker 1: fastest guy, he did fifteen reps on the bench press, Uh,
Speaker 1: thirty one five on the vertical. This is the guy
Speaker 1: wh's got an athletic background, multi sport background, and he
Speaker 1: looks athletic on tape. Kind of similar to uh, Kiren Williams,
Speaker 1: the running back from Notre Dame, who we discussed on
Speaker 1: a recent episode here. Uh. Yeah, as good as they
Speaker 1: look in college. When you start lining them up with
Speaker 1: the rest of the draft eligibles, there's a significant difference.
Speaker 1: Some down grading. Jake Ferguson from Wisconsin, Uh, just a
Speaker 1: little bit, Matt uh tell us about Gelanti Woods are sleeper. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I kind of thought we might all have him as
Speaker 1: the riser. I mean, he's six seven, just a smidge
Speaker 1: under two hundred sixty pounds, was not a big name
Speaker 1: two months ago leading into this process. Goes to the Combine,
Speaker 1: runs a four or six one at six seven, and
Speaker 1: his jumps were great, long arms, real freaky athlete, and
Speaker 1: much of his career, even going back to Oklahoma State,
Speaker 1: he was just a big in line blocker and he's
Speaker 1: fine doing those things. But well, unleash him. Yeah, let
Speaker 1: him go down the field. I thought I just had
Speaker 1: to make sure he was, you know, in this conversation,
Speaker 1: because he's a name everyone needs to know. They I
Speaker 1: like the guy you included as well. Uh, good hustle
Speaker 1: going outside of the Indianapolis. Uh well, if you're Mike,
Speaker 1: if you watch the pit pro day, you saw a
Speaker 1: guy that Kenny Pickett was throwing to a lot without
Speaker 1: his shirt on. If if I looked like that, I
Speaker 1: wouldn't wear my shirt either. Talking about Lucas crawl at
Speaker 1: six six to fifty six, uh tight end ran a
Speaker 1: four or five four or forty. I didn't think he
Speaker 1: was anywhere near that fast. I thought he was a
Speaker 1: pretty good prospect. I was kind of surprised he wasn't
Speaker 1: invited to the Combine. But not only did he have
Speaker 1: that four or five, four or forty vertical. I mean
Speaker 1: he was across the board in like the top above
Speaker 1: and and a lot of those statistics for the tight ends. Uh.
Speaker 1: You know has a baseball background as well as it.
Speaker 1: Was drafted by the Giants, transferred to pit from Florida,
Speaker 1: so he was initially a Florida recruits. There's a lot
Speaker 1: there to like, and he showed up a lot in
Speaker 1: the fall to absolutely I think he really helped himself
Speaker 1: with this pro day. My sleeper is one of my
Speaker 1: favorite players available in this draft for a lot of reasons.
Speaker 1: And I'm not sure he's a tight end, but he
Speaker 1: worked out with the tight ends in Indy, so uh
Speaker 1: here he have gotten to Michigan State, Yes, he did.
Speaker 1: Connor Or Hayward five eleven, two thirty three. I think
Speaker 1: he's much more a fullback slash h back. But he
Speaker 1: has been a running back at Michigan State. He's been
Speaker 1: a tight end. He's been a special teams guy. He's
Speaker 1: just a football player, man, he just makes places. I've
Speaker 1: seen this kid go eighty yards for a touchdown against Maryland.
Speaker 1: I was actually there in the stadium in Maryland. Steelers
Speaker 1: were playing the Ravens. The next day, I was there
Speaker 1: with two or three thousand other really interested people watching
Speaker 1: Michigan State playing Maryland. I wish you had better bloodlines, though, Mike, Well,
Speaker 1: you know the other than iron head Hayward and Damn Hayward.
Speaker 1: He does not much to go there. Uh. A couple
Speaker 1: of years ago, the pandemic year, he scored two touchdowns
Speaker 1: against Michigan and then most recently in the Peach Bowl
Speaker 1: against pitt I know, you guys remember this catch. He
Speaker 1: went up in the end zone during Michigan State's come
Speaker 1: back and gets drilled into spleen or the ribs, comes
Speaker 1: down with the ball touchdown. Uh. Just I really like
Speaker 1: his toughness. I really like his ability. Is Daniel Jeremiahs
Speaker 1: has to play above the rim at five eleven and
Speaker 1: the background that Matt made reference to. You know, I'm
Speaker 1: a big fan of guys who, uh, their dad played
Speaker 1: her coach, their brother played her coached, or is in
Speaker 1: the league. Now. I think it's really advantageous. And I
Speaker 1: think Connor Hayward's gonna end up on a roster somewhere,
Speaker 1: and I think he's gonna make a few plays every week.
Speaker 1: Great one, Yeah, He's one that every time Matt and
Speaker 1: I do a mock draft on the Drive. On the Drive,
Speaker 1: we always take that seventh round pick and say, Okay,
Speaker 1: Connor Hayward, that's just just pencil it in. He really is. Uh,
Speaker 1: he's fun to watch. He's a good story and uh,
Speaker 1: we'll see what that gets him. That's gonna do it
Speaker 1: for our further review on tight Ends, I wanna remind
Speaker 1: everybody that, uh, this show and all shows like it
Speaker 1: can be found on all of the Steelers social media platforms.
Speaker 1: We're gonna cranking out these positions previous. Hey, sometimes we're
Speaker 1: gonna agree, sometimes we're not. Uh that's just the way
Speaker 1: it works out. But uh, we've got it covered from
Speaker 1: every angle of trust me on that one. Thanks for
Speaker 1: tuning in and finding us wherever and however you found us.
Speaker 1: Until the next time. For Matt Williamson and Dale Lolli,
Speaker 1: I'm Mike Pursuona. This has been the NFL Draft Triple Take,
Speaker 1: presented by U P m C