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Speaker 4: of the New England Patriots, and guys. Just over a
Speaker 4: week until the NFL Draft, We're kind of in silly season.
Speaker 4: I feel like this is when the rumors start to
Speaker 4: come out. This is happening, this isn't happening. But for
Speaker 4: the Patriots, Paul, it's all about shouldhar Sanders. Is he
Speaker 4: going to go in the top three and push either
Speaker 4: Abdul Carter or Travis Hunter down. We've been back and
Speaker 4: forth all spring with this and it sounds like Shoulder
Speaker 4: Sanders taking some meetings with the Giants, perhaps some interest
Speaker 4: out there in him that maybe should be intriguing to
Speaker 4: the Patriots.
Speaker 5: So you're saying there's a chance, you know, that's all
Speaker 5: anybody wanted, and you know, coinciding with that, you know,
Speaker 5: there's reports that Abdul Carter came to borrow and visit
Speaker 5: with the Patriots as well, so I think they're doing
Speaker 5: the due diligence. Obviously, it makes a lot of sense
Speaker 5: to know as much about those guys that you are
Speaker 5: going to have a possibility of selecting it for. You
Speaker 5: can't just assume that prospect X is not going to
Speaker 5: be available. You have to make sure you figure out
Speaker 5: who you know that you are interested in, and you
Speaker 5: know as much about those guys. Abdul Carter is sort
Speaker 5: of an interesting guy. I think it'd be a no
Speaker 5: brainer pick if he somehow slipped to four, much like
Speaker 5: I think the rest of the panel does. But you
Speaker 5: still want to know, you know, some of this off
Speaker 5: field stuff that you mentioned Silly season that's starting to
Speaker 5: pop up about all these guys.
Speaker 2: You want to learn as much as you can have.
Speaker 2: How do you feel about the roller coaster with with
Speaker 2: Carter this whole spring?
Speaker 3: Stilly season is right? I mean, we're at the point
Speaker 3: now where every team in the top three or four
Speaker 3: has picked everybody that they could possibly pick. You know,
Speaker 3: the Patriots have picked six different guys at this point.
Speaker 3: So I'll find out here soon enough. I think you know,
Speaker 3: with the Giants and Shador specifically, it's one of two things.
Speaker 3: Either this was their plan all along, that they were
Speaker 3: going to do some last minute homework on the top
Speaker 3: of the quarterback class, or as we like to say,
Speaker 3: this is when the owners tend to get involved in
Speaker 3: this process, and maybe you know, there's some push from
Speaker 3: upstairs to get involved at the quarterback spot. And the
Speaker 3: one thing I would just say with the Giants is
Speaker 3: you look at last year. Don't you think that there's
Speaker 3: a little bit of a remorse there that they didn't
Speaker 3: draft Pennix or bow Nicks or even JJ McCarthy even
Speaker 3: though he didn't play. I think all three of those guys,
Speaker 3: McCarthy maybe less so than the other two, showed some
Speaker 3: signs of starting quarterback potential and maybe even franchise quarterback potential.
Speaker 3: So if you're the Giants, you have to be one
Speaker 3: hundred percent sure that Shador Sanders is not going to
Speaker 3: be that To pass on him for the second year
Speaker 3: in a row, to pass on the quarterback, I think
Speaker 3: it's going to be tough for that regime if that's
Speaker 3: what they do now. At Abdil Carter just quickly it's
Speaker 3: a no brainer. If he's there at four for the Patriots.
Speaker 3: I think he's one of the best players in the draft,
Speaker 3: if not the best player in the draft. Certainly be
Speaker 3: at the cherry on top to your defense their deuce,
Speaker 3: and I think you'd look at a defense that's pretty
Speaker 3: complete at that point. I agree with Paul, though. There
Speaker 3: are some things with his football character that have come
Speaker 3: out with this foot injury as well that have come
Speaker 3: out that make a lot of sense to have him
Speaker 3: here and host him on a thirty visit, just to
Speaker 3: make sure that you get all those informations behind the scene.
Speaker 4: Yea, and that visits sports supposedly Carter visiting the Patriots
Speaker 4: earlier this week on Monday Batists break it down for me, though,
Speaker 4: Is this real? Like, I'm sick of going back and
Speaker 4: forth on Abdul Carter. I ruled him out early in
Speaker 4: the draft process. I'm like, I'm not gonna get my
Speaker 4: hopes up. But here we are and we're still being
Speaker 4: toyed with Is this real or is it?
Speaker 6: I mean, we've been going in waves of if it's
Speaker 6: gonna happen. I always said it was gonna be blessing
Speaker 6: if we get Travis Hunter or Carter. I've made my
Speaker 6: peace with Will Campbell, but I think there's a chance
Speaker 6: they're really like, it's real that there's a chance that
Speaker 6: the Patriots could end up with Apple Carter.
Speaker 4: What do you guys think though, as we sit here
Speaker 4: right now one week to go, what do you.
Speaker 2: Think is gonna happen here for the Patriots?
Speaker 4: I mean, I did my final mock draft spoiler alert
Speaker 4: check it out, Will Campbell. I just tried to hit
Speaker 4: it down the middle. I think it makes sense. Wasn't
Speaker 4: trying not to get crazy like Ashtrian Genty last.
Speaker 2: Time, Paul. But to me, at the end of the day,
Speaker 2: it seems like a pick that makes the most sense.
Speaker 5: So you let Evan beat you down, is what you
Speaker 5: So you're saying, what do I think the Patriots are
Speaker 5: going to ultimately do? Because I do not think that
Speaker 5: Hunter and Carter. I don't think there's much of a possibility.
Speaker 5: I think the Giants are sort of putting a sign
Speaker 5: up saying we're open for business if someone wants to
Speaker 5: come up. You know that the situation with the Saints
Speaker 5: and Derek Carr, maybe they think that they have them
Speaker 5: in a desperate situation now, I just don't see it happening.
Speaker 5: I don't see Sheda Sanders going in the top three.
Speaker 5: I think Carter and Hunter will be two three in
Speaker 5: some order. I would like to see one of the
Speaker 5: Georgia defensive guys, you know, Jalen Walker would be the
Speaker 5: guy that I would pick. But as I said earlier
Speaker 5: in the week, they do not consult me, and nor
Speaker 5: do I make the big bucks to make these decisions,
Speaker 5: so I can sit here and be wrong and not
Speaker 5: have any consequences about it.
Speaker 4: Good track history though with Georgia defensive players. I'm just saying, Paul,
Speaker 4: I think, do you think what's gonna happen?
Speaker 6: Yeah?
Speaker 3: I think you look at the top three as it
Speaker 3: stands right now, I would say it probably goes Cam Wore,
Speaker 3: Travis Hunter, Abdul Carter in that order. And the Browns
Speaker 3: feels like they've been gravitating maybe a little bit more
Speaker 3: towards Travis Hunter versus Abdul Carter in recent weeks and
Speaker 3: now leaves the Patriots in a spot where I feel
Speaker 3: like we all have known they will be in basically
Speaker 3: for months and have been trying to convince ourselves that
Speaker 3: maybe it's a possibility that Travis Hunter or Abdul Carter
Speaker 3: could be there for them. I look at the leveling
Speaker 3: off of the draft and just feel like all these
Speaker 3: players that you're talking about, Jalen Walker, Will Campbell, even
Speaker 3: Armand Membu or Mason Graham, they're all similar prospects in
Speaker 3: terms of talent level, and they have similar grades on them.
Speaker 3: So I feel like the need at left tackle is
Speaker 3: going to push Membu and Campbell to the top of
Speaker 3: the list, and if it whoever, whichever tackle they like better,
Speaker 3: and Mike Rabel and Elliott Wolf like better, is going
Speaker 3: to be the guy that they ultimately pick. And I
Speaker 3: understand a lot of people want to say best player available,
Speaker 3: best player available, but I can make a case for
Speaker 3: all of these guys being the best player available. So
Speaker 3: when that case, when that is the case, I would
Speaker 3: think positional value in need is going to end up
Speaker 3: being what trumps everything else. So I would say it's
Speaker 3: probably gonna be Will Campbell sneaky dark horse arm On Membu.
Speaker 3: But one of those two.
Speaker 6: Tackles, you got a sneaky dark horse teas, I think
Speaker 6: it's I've made my bed with Will Campbell, which isn't
Speaker 6: a bad thing. It's a pick and a player that
Speaker 6: you can play day one, and that's a win for
Speaker 6: me in the draft.
Speaker 4: All right, well, we got a jam packed episode here.
Speaker 4: We're talking about the wide receivers, the running backs and
Speaker 4: tight ends. Long positional preview, the first check out, Evans
Speaker 4: film review.
Speaker 3: What's up, everybody, It's Evan Lazard's the Patriots Countdown film Room,
Speaker 3: and today a really exciting position for you all. I
Speaker 3: hope you guys are looking forward to this one. The
Speaker 3: wide receivers in this year's NFL draft. We look at
Speaker 3: the top five. Yep, Travis Hunter. I have them as
Speaker 3: the number one corner and the number one receiver in
Speaker 3: this year's draft. But I also want to show you
Speaker 3: some film on to Tour Millan from Arizona teed really athletic,
Speaker 3: great body control, great size for the position. I love
Speaker 3: Luther Burden, I think everybody knows that, and Mecha Buka
Speaker 3: and Matthew Golden two really solid receivers as well in
Speaker 3: that twenty to forty range of this year's draft. But
Speaker 3: let's start with those top two guys. We'll break down
Speaker 3: the film on those guys a little bit here in
Speaker 3: a second, and this right here is just Travis Hunter
Speaker 3: at his absolute best and why I think he's the
Speaker 3: best receiver in this class for two reasons. Play speed
Speaker 3: ball skills. So we're gonna run the same concept on
Speaker 3: both of these examples, but we're gonna run it against
Speaker 3: man and we're gonna run it against zone. So up
Speaker 3: here at the top of the screen, if we can
Speaker 3: posit here for a second, we're gonna run these double
Speaker 3: posts here. We're gonna just clear out this side for
Speaker 3: Travis Hunter to come across on the crossing route and
Speaker 3: he's gonna get man to man coverage right there and
Speaker 3: then well you can see is he can run away
Speaker 3: from it and then he can go up and get it.
Speaker 3: So we're gonna show this play from the end zone angle.
Speaker 3: I want to show you how he high points the
Speaker 3: football and just his explosiveness from a vertical standpoint to
Speaker 3: go up and jump up and catch his football. So
Speaker 3: we're gonna run away from the man to man, get
Speaker 3: him in trail then positive right there, you can see
Speaker 3: those fantastic ball skills right here at the top. Just
Speaker 3: watch him go elevate for this football right over the
Speaker 3: head of the defender and bring it in with those
Speaker 3: strong hands. And then on this next play here, it's
Speaker 3: the same exact concept. So just positive right here for
Speaker 3: a second. We're gonna have the double posts here at
Speaker 3: the top, and then we're gonna have the crossing route
Speaker 3: from Hunter from the isolated side. This time, though, we're
Speaker 3: gonna get zone coverage. And I think an underrated part
Speaker 3: about his game, if we posit it right here, is
Speaker 3: that he has a really great feel of making himself
Speaker 3: quarterback friendly in zone coverages. So he knows that he's
Speaker 3: gonna get this clear out from the double post, and
Speaker 3: he's just gonna settle in this void and you can
Speaker 3: see Sadors running for his life and he just finds
Speaker 3: that soft spot and then look at the yak watch
Speaker 3: this move at the end, see you right, that's what
Speaker 3: he brings to the table with the ball in his
Speaker 3: hands as well. You have that ability to get open
Speaker 3: against zone and then run with the football. And the
Speaker 3: next one here with Ted McMillan, a different type of receiver,
Speaker 3: not explosive, not as dynamic. But what I think what's
Speaker 3: fun about Tet McMillan is his start stopability. He's got
Speaker 3: a great ability here to run these nine stop routes
Speaker 3: with just nine steps and then stop at the top
Speaker 3: of the route and watch how he can break down
Speaker 3: efficiency efficiently at the top. Make them respect that vertical
Speaker 3: stop down, create that separation, and watch this just turn
Speaker 3: right up the field. Make the defender miss for some
Speaker 3: easy yak. Now, what's fun about McMillan is that you
Speaker 3: can also move him inside. So he's a big slot
Speaker 3: or an ex receiver. So we're gonna move him inside
Speaker 3: on this possession and we're just gonna run the seam
Speaker 3: right up the middle of the field and just watch
Speaker 3: the catch radius and watch the size that he can
Speaker 3: play with right there, back shoulder seamball, just go up
Speaker 3: and get it. So we can move him inside. We
Speaker 3: can move him outside and then down on the goal line.
Speaker 3: Here he is against Hunter at the bottom of the
Speaker 3: screen from twenty twenty three. We're just gonna play him
Speaker 3: in isolation and we're gonna throw him the back shoulder
Speaker 3: fade on the goal line and watch this one handed
Speaker 3: catch by Tet McMillan. So you have size, you have
Speaker 3: body control, you have hands. He doesn't have that didynamic
Speaker 3: down the field speed like Travis Hunter does, but he's
Speaker 3: got a lot of really good qualities about him that
Speaker 3: are gonna make him a top ten pick. A couple
Speaker 3: of other thoughts on the rest of these guys. Luther Burden,
Speaker 3: I just love his game. Had a really good twenty
Speaker 3: twenty three season. Kind of took a step back last year.
Speaker 3: That's caused him to fall a little bit. But he
Speaker 3: is a three level separator right He can run at
Speaker 3: the first level, he can run deep, he can run
Speaker 3: with the football in his hands. He's just a burner.
Speaker 3: He gets open everywhere. Has a good frame about him
Speaker 3: as well. If you want that yards after the catch,
Speaker 3: that Deebo Samuel type of player. Luther Burden reminds me
Speaker 3: a lot of him coming out of college. Matthew Golden,
Speaker 3: we all know about the forty yard dash ran in
Speaker 3: the four two's plays to it as well. Great route runner,
Speaker 3: great speed, really separates at the top of routes. One
Speaker 3: of the best route runners in this class and probably
Speaker 3: the best all around wide receiver. A Mecca Abuka from
Speaker 3: Ohio State. A little bit older than some of these
Speaker 3: other guys, but he blocks well, He's tough, he goes
Speaker 3: over the middle of the field. He can run routes
Speaker 3: from multiple alignments. He just doesn't have a whole lot
Speaker 3: of flaws to his game. I wouldn't say that he's
Speaker 3: as explosive or as high end talent as some of
Speaker 3: these other guys above him, but Abuka is just a
Speaker 3: safe bet there early day, you know, late Day one,
Speaker 3: early Day two, somewhere in there. So those are your
Speaker 3: top of the wide receiver class. It's a decent class,
Speaker 3: not like last year, not as good at the top
Speaker 3: when he had those three big receivers and Harrison junior
Speaker 3: neighbors and a donsay, but I still think there's a
Speaker 3: lot of talent there for the Patriots at wide receiver.
Speaker 3: On days one and two, I expect him to take
Speaker 3: a player at that position at some point in the
Speaker 3: top one hundred.
Speaker 4: At long last, it's finally time to talk about the
Speaker 4: wide receivers, the running backs, and the tight ends. Guys,
Speaker 4: these are three positions we spend a lot of time
Speaker 4: talking about every single year.
Speaker 2: Each year the position seemed to change.
Speaker 4: A little bit though, and this year I'd say the
Speaker 4: running back class very strong. Wide receiver not as quite
Speaker 4: as top heavy as we saw last year, but probably
Speaker 4: some gems in there. And then the tight end class
Speaker 4: not as great as we certainly saw last year. I
Speaker 4: want to start off with a wide receiver, and I'm
Speaker 4: just going to throw Travis Hunter out there to start.
Speaker 4: He plays both ways, but if he was drafted by
Speaker 4: the Patriots fourth over Paul, He's probably.
Speaker 2: Going to come here and probably going to be a
Speaker 2: wide receiver out.
Speaker 1: Of the gate.
Speaker 5: Obviously, you love the athleticism, you love all the intrigue
Speaker 5: around him. I can't think of a guy like him,
Speaker 5: you know, in recent not even recent memory, any memory,
Speaker 5: a guy strictly coming into the league with this kind
Speaker 5: of versatility. I'm intrigued, like everybody else, with the idea
Speaker 5: of him committing to wide receiver and what he might
Speaker 5: be able to do. I know Evan talks about this
Speaker 5: a lot. He talked about it during the week on
Speaker 5: PU just how little time he gets to practice that craft.
Speaker 5: And people say, well, he's not a great route runner. Well,
Speaker 5: no kidding, you know, he doesn't spend a whole lot
Speaker 5: of time sort of you know, honing that skill set.
Speaker 5: So I am intrigued by what he could be in
Speaker 5: the NFL if he were to vote devote his time
Speaker 5: to being a wide receiver.
Speaker 4: What does it look like Evan, if he's drafted here
Speaker 4: going to be a wide receiver, what's that process look like.
Speaker 3: I think at first you need to have him dive
Speaker 3: two feet in with wide receiver and not put corner
Speaker 3: totally on the back burner, but at least focus one
Speaker 3: hundred percent on wide receiver to start, which I think
Speaker 3: is what the plan that Mike Rabel hypothetically laid out
Speaker 3: during the league meetings was, let's get let him master
Speaker 3: one side of the ball, and then once he gets
Speaker 3: to mastery level, then maybe we can start introducing the
Speaker 3: other side of the football. So the Patriots do draft
Speaker 3: Travis Hunter, I would not expect him to come out
Speaker 3: in Week one be playing seventy you know, snaps on
Speaker 3: both sides of the football. I think it's going to
Speaker 3: be heavily tilted towards one versus the other. But when
Speaker 3: I watch him play wide receiver, I just see a
Speaker 3: lot of the natural movement skills that tend to really
Speaker 3: translate to the NFL. Obviously, play speed, acceleration after the catch,
Speaker 3: ball skills, ability to change gears within the route to
Speaker 3: set up defensive backs, like all those different types of
Speaker 3: things that he does at an extremely high level is
Speaker 3: what all the top receivers in the league do at
Speaker 3: an extremely high level. So if you have it picks
Speaker 3: about nuance like that'll come, I think over time. But
Speaker 3: there's a he's built different, Like there's only so many
Speaker 3: people that move like that on a football field.
Speaker 2: Yea, Tsu, you're always on these wide receivers. I remember
Speaker 2: a probable.
Speaker 4: I always bring up t Higgins, but you always really
Speaker 4: watched the wide receivers.
Speaker 2: What do you think of Yeah?
Speaker 1: I love Hunter. It's crazy.
Speaker 6: You remember when he flipped from Florida State to Jackson State.
Speaker 6: It's kind of crazy to see a progression go all
Speaker 6: the way through his college career and then maybe he
Speaker 6: ends up being a Patriot. But I think so much
Speaker 6: emphasis is put on the defense during the free agency
Speaker 6: period that like, let's put him at receiver and then
Speaker 6: we can figure out what happens with the defense.
Speaker 1: I agree with having with that.
Speaker 4: So all right, I'm gonna throw a few more names
Speaker 4: out here just at once, and you guys can jump in.
Speaker 4: I see these as kind of the first second round guys.
Speaker 2: But the four guys Ted McMillan.
Speaker 4: Plenty about him, big tall receiver, contested catch guy, Matthew
Speaker 4: Golden really had a strong year.
Speaker 2: Fast ran a four two nine.
Speaker 4: A mechag Buka from Ohio State, probably the most pro
Speaker 4: ready polished wide receiver. Maybe not a standout in anything,
Speaker 4: but knows how to play, knows how to get open.
Speaker 4: And lastly, Luther Burden ran a four to four to one.
Speaker 4: He's another guy that you know, all these guys have.
Speaker 4: What's your flavor? You know, and Paul, I don't know
Speaker 4: who stands out to you of this group if any of.
Speaker 5: Those two, Golden and Burden would be my preferences. I
Speaker 5: like the idea of Burden. Now, he didn't have a
Speaker 5: great year at Missouri. Evan talks about, you know, the
Speaker 5: quarterback situation. He's a thousand percent right, so Missouri play
Speaker 5: a couple of times. They didn't have the same kind
Speaker 5: of production that he had the previous season. But I
Speaker 5: like the idea of his ability not just like not
Speaker 5: a pure slot but a guy who can play in
Speaker 5: the slot, a guy who can sort of play.
Speaker 2: Which the one Z, there.
Speaker 3: You go the ball, noa blanker.
Speaker 5: Yeah, you know that kind of versatility athleticism. I like
Speaker 5: Luther Burden a little bit, and I know that he's
Speaker 5: sort of falling a little. And that's why I've been
Speaker 5: watching him. There's some you know, some character concerns off
Speaker 5: you know, how much he loves football, how much he
Speaker 5: wants to compete and all. So that sort of drops
Speaker 5: into that second round category. I'm interested in that. Obviously,
Speaker 5: Golden ran the unbelievable forty time with the combine. I
Speaker 5: don't think he'll still be there in the second round,
Speaker 5: but Burden is a guy that might.
Speaker 4: Be Maybe Burden falls, but the other guys maybe in
Speaker 4: that as well.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I've always loved Luther Burden. I think Luther Burden
Speaker 3: to me is the third best receiver in the class.
Speaker 3: You know, I have a first round grade on Luther Burden.
Speaker 3: I think his year in twenty twenty three. You really
Speaker 3: have to go back and watch the year in twenty
Speaker 3: twenty three when he was more consistent and then the
Speaker 3: play around him was more consistent. And I just look
Speaker 3: at the way that he can really challenge the defense
Speaker 3: at all three levels. You can throw catch and run
Speaker 3: targets at him, you know, quick hitters over the middle
Speaker 3: and have him run with the football. You can also
Speaker 3: have him, you know, separate over the top. He's really
Speaker 3: good at double moves, deep crossers, things like that. So
Speaker 3: he's a complete receiver for that type of receiver, that archetype,
Speaker 3: that slot receiver. Mold I see a little debo in there.
Speaker 3: I know he gets a lot of Deebo Samuel comparisons,
Speaker 3: but I think he's a better downfield rut runner coming
Speaker 3: into the league than Deebo was. So I've compared him
Speaker 3: a lot to Zay Flowers throughout this entire process, and
Speaker 3: I just think that those two guys kind of in
Speaker 3: a similar mole would win differently at the same time,
Speaker 3: and I could see him in that category just quickly.
Speaker 3: On Matthew Golden, he doesn't really play to that time speed.
Speaker 3: Now he'll tell you that he wasn't asked to play
Speaker 3: to that time speed, So I guess maybe that's a
Speaker 3: little bit of a you know, hidden talent of his potentially,
Speaker 3: But I don't think he plays to four two eight
Speaker 3: four two nine. But he's a very good route runner,
Speaker 3: very angular, very good out of the top of the route,
Speaker 3: very good hands at the catch point as well. There
Speaker 3: have been and I know he's on the Patriots now,
Speaker 3: so it's fun to say there have been some Stefan
Speaker 3: Diggs comparisons with Matthew Golden, and I could definitely see that,
Speaker 3: but that's more of a intermediate route runner than really
Speaker 3: a true deep threat route runner that might every once
Speaker 3: in a while, you know, have that in his back pocket,
Speaker 3: but isn't his calling card or his carrying trade.
Speaker 5: I would just say, you know, on the field, he
Speaker 5: was in and out of games in the playoffs, and
Speaker 5: there was an enormous difference in the Texas offense when
Speaker 5: he was off the field. I'm thinking of the Arizona
Speaker 5: State game in particular, they were doing whatever they wanted offensively.
Speaker 5: I think he left that game for a period of
Speaker 5: time and that's when Arizona State made the run. So
Speaker 5: he's a guy who definitely made a big impact on
Speaker 5: his offense.
Speaker 3: Two really opposite like career arcs for Burden and Golden.
Speaker 3: Like Golden's the early breakout guys, true sophomore breakout Golden had,
Speaker 3: like all of his production is really in like four games,
Speaker 3: but they all came on the biggest stage in the
Speaker 3: college football playoffs.
Speaker 6: What stands out tot for those top guys, Well, listen,
Speaker 6: I like amigag Buka, just think about all the great
Speaker 6: receivers that have come from Ohio State, and Evan correct
Speaker 6: me if I'm wrong he is the record for receptions.
Speaker 3: Or yeah, well he's there for five years.
Speaker 6: Yeah yeah, but fair like that's a great receiver, that's
Speaker 6: been all of them, all of them. But he I
Speaker 6: think if he could maybe fall into that late first round,
Speaker 6: maybe early second round, that'd be a good a good
Speaker 6: shot there. I also want to talk about, maybe a
Speaker 6: bit later, Kyle william and Isaiah Bond Just too fast, guys.
Speaker 3: You got to get to that. We're gonna get to that.
Speaker 6: No, no, But Kyle Williams the one that stands out
Speaker 6: to me too just you know, not the greatest route runner,
Speaker 6: but he's very fast.
Speaker 1: Get the ball in his hand and see what happened.
Speaker 4: Yeah, you just stole my thunder there a little bit
Speaker 4: tea because I was going to talk about three guys
Speaker 4: a little bit later down and we can skip around
Speaker 4: a little bit. Please bring up you know, Jayden Higgins,
Speaker 4: Jack Besh if you guys want, But I just gonna
Speaker 4: throw out Jalen Noel, Isaiah Bond and and and Kyle Williams.
Speaker 4: Three guys who can all run, who are all fast
Speaker 4: and That's what I think personally, I want to see
Speaker 4: out of this draft is get maybe it did Day
Speaker 4: three guy, not Day three, third round kind of guy
Speaker 4: somewhere in that range. Doesn't have to be a high roundup,
Speaker 4: but just to bring this an element of speed to
Speaker 4: this team. I've been all over I mean Isaiah Bond
Speaker 4: since early. You know, he was at Texas, you know,
Speaker 4: with Golden and it hasn't quite lived up to that potential.
Speaker 2: But all these guys are absolutely is talent.
Speaker 4: Alabama guy, I mean ran a four to three seven,
Speaker 4: Noel ran a four to three nine. Kyle Williams not
Speaker 4: too far behind with a four to four to rowho.
Speaker 4: So for me, when I look at this wide receiver
Speaker 4: roster right now, those are the kind of guys that
Speaker 4: I'm intrigued in.
Speaker 2: Doesn't have to be a high round pick.
Speaker 4: I think those high round picks need to go towards
Speaker 4: offensive tackle and defensive end. But I think when we
Speaker 4: get to Day three, those are three guys that jump
Speaker 4: out to me as guys who have some speed.
Speaker 2: I know, Paul, you have a comment on those guys. Yes,
Speaker 2: somebody else.
Speaker 5: Haines is my you know, because I like the guys
Speaker 5: on the outside. I think that at some point. You know,
Speaker 5: we talk a lot about left tackle, and rightly so,
Speaker 5: about kicking the can down. They have not had that
Speaker 5: kind of guy in a while. The bigger guy. I'm
Speaker 5: a little intrigued by him. I mean, obviously this flaw.
Speaker 5: He's not a first round projection, so there's problems with
Speaker 5: his game, and there's going to be problems with these
Speaker 5: kinds of guys. Not probably as fast, is what you know.
Speaker 5: The guys certainly not certainly not as shifty as some
Speaker 5: of those smaller guys. But I think they have enough
Speaker 5: of the smaller guys. I'm looking for some size.
Speaker 3: Yeah, Jayden Higgins, his issues really are with speed and
Speaker 3: with separation down the field. I compared him to like
Speaker 3: Michael Pittman junior with the Colts, where he's going to
Speaker 3: really be like a big possession receiver. You know, you're
Speaker 3: not going to really get a ton of downfield stretch
Speaker 3: with him, but you're going to have those for some
Speaker 3: second level wins. Like he's really good at, you know,
Speaker 3: running slants in cuts, finding soft spots and zone coverage
Speaker 3: like that sort of thing. That's why a lot of
Speaker 3: people help project him to maybe move inside and play
Speaker 3: like a big slot role instead of a pure outside
Speaker 3: guy at the next level. Kyle Williams is interesting. He
Speaker 3: can play a little bit on the outside and he
Speaker 3: can stack over the top on go routes, so you
Speaker 3: see some of that release quickness and that ability off
Speaker 3: the line of scrimmage certainly with him. He's got good
Speaker 3: play speed, really good with the football in his hands
Speaker 3: if you want to scheme touch his for him and
Speaker 3: things like that. He's been someone that's I would put
Speaker 3: in kind of like the late riser category. He's twenty
Speaker 3: three years old, he had a little bit of a
Speaker 3: late breakout and has just kind of steadily climbed up
Speaker 3: the media boards at least during the draft process. But
Speaker 3: when we get into that Kyle Williams mold, it's kind
Speaker 3: of like a day two stack to me of you know,
Speaker 3: Jalen Noel, Kyle Williams, Isaiah Bond, and then Jalen Royals
Speaker 3: from Utah State. All four of those guys are kind
Speaker 3: of the same type of receiver. It's just a flavor
Speaker 3: thing of which one you prefer. I'm no guy Jalen
Speaker 3: Nole from Io State. I think he reminds me a
Speaker 3: ton of Tyler Lockett speed slot receiver, a really good separator,
Speaker 3: really good technician, but he has the speed to push
Speaker 3: it down the field. But if you had Kyle Williams
Speaker 3: as your guy in that stack, like it's it's pretty
Speaker 3: clustered together, So I wouldn't, you know, be too mad
Speaker 3: about that. But those four guys, if that, you know
Speaker 3: what Deuce was describing, and I agree just looking at
Speaker 3: the way they've moved throughout this process too. With the Patriots,
Speaker 3: it does seem like they're trying to get separators, which
Speaker 3: I think is is good. Like I think they are
Speaker 3: kind of trying to get away from, you know, the
Speaker 3: Jalen polk archetype maybe a little bit, and get guys
Speaker 3: that can really get open at the top of the
Speaker 3: route and down the field. And all four of those
Speaker 3: guys would fit that category.
Speaker 4: I'm just soon to jump in real quick before I
Speaker 4: go to uts, just because Jack Bash and Savior of
Speaker 4: Restrepplo Restrepber around four a five down and is pro
Speaker 4: day not good.
Speaker 2: Drop his status.
Speaker 4: Those are the guys I'm struggling a little bit with
Speaker 4: because I think I look at their personalities and they're tough,
Speaker 4: and they may catches and they seem like Rabel kind
Speaker 4: of a guy's But I don't think this is what
Speaker 4: this team needs right now. We got a bunch of
Speaker 4: those kind of guys, so I respect how those guys play,
Speaker 4: and I mean he can't of course. You know Jack
Speaker 4: Besh's story with his brother passing away, as you know,
Speaker 4: and then the performance he had in the Senior Bowl
Speaker 4: catching the last touchdown.
Speaker 2: Great performance. And you know you love how Reverstreppo.
Speaker 4: I loved him at the at the Combine too, just
Speaker 4: the way he talked about the studying and the time
Speaker 4: he puts in.
Speaker 2: But for me, I'm leaning more towards those speed guys.
Speaker 6: Yeah, I agree with you dudes. Ristreppo dropped down a
Speaker 6: little for me. I like Tess Johnson also, and then
Speaker 6: some really late round guys Jimmy Horn junior from Colorado.
Speaker 6: You know, I'm a coach, frime guy, but best guy there.
Speaker 6: I also want to throw out Rock Taylor. He was
Speaker 6: in my NCAA season, of course, but no, he's He's
Speaker 6: just a prototypical outside receiver. Good hands, can make a
Speaker 6: big play. So that might be like, you know, a
Speaker 6: seventh round pick guy.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I have a tough time, like you mentioned with
Speaker 3: you know, Betch and Alika alamnaer Tz, you know, Tess Harris. Yeah,
Speaker 3: like those guys, like I, I I don't know if
Speaker 3: they're gonna really bring like the game bake breaking element
Speaker 3: that this team needs. Like I feel like the Patriots
Speaker 3: need some special movers on the offensive side of the ball,
Speaker 3: like some real separators, some real speed to that position.
Speaker 3: Like some people think Betch is gonna be like a
Speaker 3: flex tight end at the next level. You know, I
Speaker 3: kind of thought of him as sort of like Juwan
Speaker 3: Jennings type, right, you know, like that kind of receiver,
Speaker 3: you know, a man or same thing. Like he's he's thicker,
Speaker 3: and he's got a really good, you know, play strength
Speaker 3: to him, and he's got some explosiveness, but he's not speed.
Speaker 3: You know, He's not fast down the field. And I
Speaker 3: think they are going to try to get some more
Speaker 3: of those guys. So just a couple of those guys
Speaker 3: on on late you know, later in the draft Day three.
Speaker 3: I mean, I've I've talked about Dante Thornton a lot
Speaker 3: from Tennessee. I like to call him the Joe Milton
Speaker 3: of wide receivers, Like he's one of those guys that
Speaker 3: if you just looked at the raw data and the measurables,
Speaker 3: you'd be like, how is this guy not like DK
Speaker 3: metcalf good, Like he's a freak. He's like six foot
Speaker 3: four two o five four three forty yard dash, just
Speaker 3: looks the part coming off the bus. But then you
Speaker 3: look at the box scorer and he's got like one
Speaker 3: catch for fifty yards and you're just like, all right, well,
Speaker 3: but he's really good at that one thing. You know,
Speaker 3: he's got one really good thing vertical speed and game
Speaker 3: breaking speed, and he's really good there. You know, if
Speaker 3: you want more of like the Patriot type, you know,
Speaker 3: the McDaniels type, Isaac Teslav from Arkansas reminds me a
Speaker 3: ton of like a little bit more souped up Jacoby Myers. Right,
Speaker 3: Maybe he has a little bit more burst and a
Speaker 3: little bit more speed, but he's that guy that's gonna
Speaker 3: play a lot inside and just be a you know,
Speaker 3: reliable for you in that spot. So if they're looking
Speaker 3: for that sort of Patriot old school archetype, you ever Strepo,
Speaker 3: you have him, Like those are those types of.
Speaker 4: Guys everybody else, Paulia that stood out to you and
Speaker 4: I can't believe.
Speaker 5: You haven't brought up Nick Nash. That just seems like
Speaker 5: a Mike do So special right there. You know, Jake Bobo,
Speaker 5: that's true.
Speaker 6: Where do you think, Kyle Phillips, where do you think
Speaker 6: the receiver pick would happen?
Speaker 1: Like you, I feel like if it's not in the second,
Speaker 1: it could.
Speaker 2: One of those two third rounders, one of those two
Speaker 2: one of the third rounds.
Speaker 4: Yeah, that's the sweet spot. They got two third rounders.
Speaker 4: There's usually a guy hanging around there. I mentioned the
Speaker 4: group that I like, but but yeah, let's uh well,
Speaker 4: let's move.
Speaker 2: On then, just one real quick on the receivers.
Speaker 3: Like on that note, I think this receiver class has
Speaker 3: kind of gotten a little bit of a bad rap,
Speaker 3: Like it doesn't have the top end talent that last year.
Speaker 3: Did you know there's no Marvin Harrison junior. There's no
Speaker 3: Molik Neighbors in this class. But to deuce his point
Speaker 3: the day to talent like there, if you just want
Speaker 3: to find a guy that can be a starting receiver
Speaker 3: and like the number two or a number three receiver,
Speaker 3: I think there's a lot of that in this draft,
Speaker 3: and it's kind of gets meaty there. I mean we
Speaker 3: just rattled off probably ten names of guys that fit
Speaker 3: that type. So I don't like totally sleep on this class.
Speaker 3: I feel like it's gotten a lot of crap because
Speaker 3: it doesn't have those, like you know, blue chip prospects
Speaker 3: at the top.
Speaker 4: Well, one class that hasn't really gotten a lot of
Speaker 4: crap is the running back class, which we'll move on
Speaker 4: to now, and I would qualify this as maybe a
Speaker 4: questionable need. We've heard a lot of talk throughout the
Speaker 4: spring from Mike Vrabel, from Robert Kraft that they're intrigued
Speaker 4: by this class they'd like to add back with some speed.
Speaker 4: I find myself I can't get a beat on this class.
Speaker 4: I've looked at a lot of these guys a bunch
Speaker 4: of times, and I think I just have a blind
Speaker 4: spot for evaluating running backs, maybe because.
Speaker 2: They all look pretty good to me.
Speaker 4: Maybe that's why I picked Ashton Genty in one of
Speaker 4: my mock drafts and made everybody very mad. But look,
Speaker 4: when we get into this process of watching prospects every year,
Speaker 4: I really enjoyed watching Ashton Genty.
Speaker 2: Now, is he the right pick for the Patriots is
Speaker 2: probably not.
Speaker 4: But when I look at the draft process as a
Speaker 4: whole when you have to sit down and watch guys play.
Speaker 4: I hadn't have a better time watching anybody than watching
Speaker 4: Ashton Genty just run through guys. And it got even
Speaker 4: better at his pro day where he looked like a
Speaker 4: mini Hulk out there. So he's the cream of the class, Paul,
Speaker 4: and after that, there are some good players. But let's
Speaker 4: allow ourselves to imagine what kind of player he's going
Speaker 4: to be in the pros. I mean some questions, of course.
Speaker 5: Jense just saying yeah, no, I think he'll be terrific,
Speaker 5: and I think he can catch the ball. And you
Speaker 5: brought up when you caused all the commotion in the
Speaker 5: first place, you brought up LT you know, And I
Speaker 5: don't think that you're alone. I think people look at
Speaker 5: that kind of versatility. I just think it's too high,
Speaker 5: you know, it's it's too valuable of a pick to use.
Speaker 5: But I don't do you guys have any doubt that
Speaker 5: he'll be a productive player in the NFL. I think
Speaker 5: you will be.
Speaker 4: No.
Speaker 3: I think it's just a question for me of how long,
Speaker 3: like how long is he going to have the shelf
Speaker 3: life for he has a little bit of where and
Speaker 3: Terry carried that offense at Boise State. I think that
Speaker 3: the biggest thing, you know, I don't really see uh
Speaker 3: Ladanian Thomlinson with him because Latanian Thomason, to me, like
Speaker 3: was a difference making pass catcher as well. And I
Speaker 3: don't know if gent at five foot eight, with that
Speaker 3: catch radius and with his just kind of lower center
Speaker 3: of gravity and skill set, is really going to be
Speaker 3: a guy that you're going to be like moving around
Speaker 3: the formation as a receiver and like trying to feed
Speaker 3: the ball to you like the Chargers did with the
Speaker 3: Danni and Thomlinson. So the comp that I've kind of
Speaker 3: come to with him is like, you know, a better
Speaker 3: version of Maurice Jones drew, like, you know, a low
Speaker 3: center of gravity, you know, explosive bowling ball type of
Speaker 3: running back. He's got great, you know, probably some of
Speaker 3: the best contact balance that you'll ever see in a
Speaker 3: running back that just bounces off tackles, runs through tackles,
Speaker 3: runs around tackles, just a constant tackle breaking machine. I
Speaker 3: think he had something like one hundred and sixty two
Speaker 3: for Smiths tackles last year at Boise State.
Speaker 6: I think he was almost a thousand yards after content.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, third, Yeah, so it's it's he's absolutely a
Speaker 3: blue chip prospect and extremely talented.
Speaker 6: Here's here's a question though, like we say Forrest too high,
Speaker 6: if we were at seven, like, is that do you like,
Speaker 6: is that a serious consideration?
Speaker 4: I mean, is Membo still there? Is Will Campbell's still there?
Speaker 4: But yeah, I mean I think we'll get to the
Speaker 4: tight ends in a second. I think Tyler Warren is
Speaker 4: probably worthy of that conversation as well. But as we
Speaker 4: get down here the list, and as you said, it's
Speaker 4: a very strong class. We've heard all ring that they're
Speaker 4: gonna be guys drafted throughout the all three days of
Speaker 4: the draft, where you'll have contributors coming and running back
Speaker 4: A'mrion Hampton probably the second guy saw comp to him.
Speaker 2: James Connor seemed about right to me.
Speaker 4: And and I just throw the two Ohio State guys
Speaker 4: out there, Henderson and Judkins.
Speaker 2: Some really good option run probably.
Speaker 5: Like Hampton's got good size and speed. So yeah, I mean,
Speaker 5: I think there's some intriguing prospects. I'm looking more for
Speaker 5: the old school, you know, Josh McDaniels is back. I'm
Speaker 5: looking for those Shane Vveren James White types, you know,
Speaker 5: probably a little bit further down. But these guys, I
Speaker 5: mean the two Ohio State guys in Hampton, I think
Speaker 5: these guys are all good players.
Speaker 1: I want to talk about that as well.
Speaker 6: Paul Chris and I did a joint mock and we
Speaker 6: were kind of between Devin Neil and DJ Giddens. DJ
Speaker 6: Giddens fits more in the receiving back role, but just
Speaker 6: very shifty. I haven't given up Hope. I'm Ramondre yet,
Speaker 6: so pair him get into with Ramondre.
Speaker 5: Devin Nils a football player, he can play.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think you know, when you start to get
Speaker 3: into Day two at the running backs, it's what kind
Speaker 3: of running back do you want to draft? Because there
Speaker 3: there really are a lot of different buckets that you
Speaker 3: can put them into. Do you want the early down
Speaker 3: Devin Neil type of running back that's gonna be sort
Speaker 3: of like a lead you know, Bell cow type, or
Speaker 3: are you looking for that Shane Vereen James White receiving
Speaker 3: back which we can get to some of those names.
Speaker 3: You know, I'm a big fan of Travon Henderson from
Speaker 3: Oklahoma Ohio State. I just feel like he's a little
Speaker 3: bit like Jamier Gibbs, like he's gonna have that kind
Speaker 3: of game speed and that kind of big playability. Judkins
Speaker 3: runs angrier and runs with a little bit more power
Speaker 3: and force. But Henderson is the is the explosive machine.
Speaker 3: You know, He's the big play machine. And then you
Speaker 3: start to get into the Giddons and the Nils and
Speaker 3: you know all that. You know, Scataboo, even like you
Speaker 3: get into that tier, those guys are like early down guys.
Speaker 3: Those guys are gonna be first and second down running backs.
Speaker 3: I tend to think they're going to go more towards
Speaker 3: the speed guys. Just from what we've heard them say.
Speaker 5: It sounds like even even Robber Kraft.
Speaker 2: A speedback.
Speaker 5: So I think you think you're probably onto something.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I can't get that out of my head. I
Speaker 3: don't think that that was a miss take. Like I
Speaker 3: think someone told him, not necessarily to say it, but
Speaker 3: like someone was telling him that information. So you look
Speaker 3: at the you know, the cluster of those backs maybe
Speaker 3: on early day three, you know, Burchard Smith from smu Wood,
Speaker 3: he Marks from usc LA, Quinn Allen from Sarahcuse, and
Speaker 3: Jayden Blue from Texas to me or like the fourth
Speaker 3: or fifth round sweet spot of receiving backs. Yeah, he
Speaker 3: fumbles a lot and he drops a lot of passes,
Speaker 3: so his hands aren't great bat but my goodness, can
Speaker 3: that dude run right?
Speaker 5: Absolute home run here?
Speaker 3: Yeah? So you know, watching him like linebackers like try
Speaker 3: to cover him on wheel routes is like, good luck
Speaker 3: with that, you know. So he's got speed. Brichhard Smith's
Speaker 3: a converted wide receiver, played wide receiver earlier on in
Speaker 3: his career and then moved to running back at SMU,
Speaker 3: so he can run routes as a receiver. Uh, and
Speaker 3: with great ball skills. Woody Marks is kind of like
Speaker 3: a little Dion Lewis type, right, you know, a little
Speaker 3: scat back that got good lower body strength and good jukes,
Speaker 3: you know, get on the juke stick and all that
Speaker 3: kind of stuff. The Quinn Allen's like it reminds me
Speaker 3: a little bit of James White, Like, you know, more smooth,
Speaker 3: quick than fast, a good blocker. I see a little
Speaker 3: bit of that. Like he's probably not a game breaker
Speaker 3: in terms of the speed, but he's got that ability
Speaker 3: to get open at the top of routes.
Speaker 4: I just got to get Damian Martinez in there. He's
Speaker 4: another one I enjoyed watching from Miami. Tackle breaker, chain mover,
Speaker 4: kind of guy, runs hard, those my style. I just
Speaker 4: I'm with you guys, though, I find myself wondering, like,
Speaker 4: what are they looking for? Are they looking for an
Speaker 4: all around back? Do we want to go back to
Speaker 4: having a big back and a catching back?
Speaker 2: Hard to say.
Speaker 6: I mean, you see all these teams are running back
Speaker 6: goes down and they're able to just plug and play somebody.
Speaker 6: But also Oli Gordon Oklahoma State thirteen touchdowns, eight hundred
Speaker 6: and eighty yards.
Speaker 5: Good player.
Speaker 6: Yeah, he got a little boxton in twenty four because
Speaker 6: they weren't as good team, but as twenty three tape
Speaker 6: was really good, so that'd.
Speaker 1: Be another player.
Speaker 5: But he basically was the offense. And sometimes, and I
Speaker 5: know Evan talks about the workload with some of those guys,
Speaker 5: But when you're the focal point. That's why genty I
Speaker 5: think was so impressive. When you're the focal point and
Speaker 5: you still find a way to crank out one hundred
Speaker 5: yard game after a hundred yard game, there's something to
Speaker 5: be said from that. You're not you're not sneaking up
Speaker 5: on anybody, You're not taking advantage of light boxes. Everybody
Speaker 5: is geared to stopping you, and you still produce those
Speaker 5: Those are the guys that can play.
Speaker 3: Yeah, Ali Gordon, if they're going to go for that
Speaker 3: early down running back, I think Oli Gordon might be
Speaker 3: their guy. Somewhere in the fourth round would make sense
Speaker 3: for him. Damian Martinez is another one of those guys
Speaker 3: in that mold.
Speaker 5: The couple of guys that I like that probably too
Speaker 5: rich for the Patriots, you know, like Dylan Sampson, Jordan James.
Speaker 5: I just probably too early because you guys are right,
Speaker 5: it's probably gonna be a day three.
Speaker 2: I think Jordan's back.
Speaker 3: Jordan James will probably go a little bit later.
Speaker 5: I like, I mean, I just like those organ guys.
Speaker 5: I don't know, it might be, you know, one of
Speaker 5: those things. It's kind of an irrational like you know,
Speaker 5: earlier when we were talking about wide receivers, Tease brought up,
Speaker 5: you know, the Ohio State guys and they have that
Speaker 5: they've hit. You know, it's like those those little guys
Speaker 5: from Oregon seem.
Speaker 2: To be good players.
Speaker 5: Yeah, yeah, they're not all the mo you know, physically,
Speaker 5: you know, they're not gonna you know, be the most
Speaker 5: imposing guys, but they find a way to produce. And
Speaker 5: I've watched Jordan and James a little bit. I think
Speaker 5: he could do some some of those things in the
Speaker 5: Josh McDaniels offense.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think he could be available on Day three, honestly,
Speaker 3: and and and be there for them. Dylan Samson's my
Speaker 3: one of my draft crushes out of this running back class.
Speaker 3: I love him. I think he might go right between
Speaker 3: pick thirty eight and pick sixty nine. And I just
Speaker 3: don't know how the Patriots are gonna, yes, second exactly
Speaker 3: how we're familiarow, yeah, how they're going to figure that out?
Speaker 3: Good joke. But he's he's awesome and I you know,
Speaker 3: really good runner. Kind of reminds me a little bit
Speaker 3: of Brian Westbrook back in the day, like good, you know,
Speaker 3: a good shifty runner. But but he's what I like
Speaker 3: so much about him is that he's really efficient, Like
Speaker 3: he's not just trying to dance to dance, Like he
Speaker 3: makes a cut and then it's up the fields, right,
Speaker 3: and it's really a fishing on the tracks. They don't
Speaker 3: really throw to their running backs much. Alvin Kamara, So
Speaker 3: like when you get to the league, I think he's
Speaker 3: going to be able to catch more passes than he
Speaker 3: did at Tennessee. I just don't know if the Patriots
Speaker 3: are going to be in a spot to take him,
Speaker 3: but they met with him throughout this process, and I
Speaker 3: think he'll definitely be on their board.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 4: Well, if I had to place a bet, I would
Speaker 4: say the Patriots are going to draft a running back.
Speaker 4: I think we just rattled off about twenty names. It
Speaker 4: felt like that all intrigued. So place your bets now.
Speaker 4: Running back probably going to get taken. And that leads
Speaker 4: us to our final positional preview here of the spring.
Speaker 4: It's the tight end position. Last year, I remember we're
Speaker 4: so all about the tight ends. It was a great
Speaker 4: class two years ago, felt like it was a great
Speaker 4: you know, there's always they always think this is a
Speaker 4: pretty good I'm pretty solid class right now, and I
Speaker 4: think for me, I wonder, you know, where are the Patriots.
Speaker 4: We brought back Aston Hooper, have Hunter Henry, two veterans there.
Speaker 4: You know, last year you brought in Jahean Bell as well.
Speaker 4: Developing behind the scenes, You've got Jack Westover in some
Speaker 4: of the I mean, you got a bunch of names
Speaker 4: in there to any of these guys intrigue them enough.
Speaker 4: Probably again and probably not at the top with Tyler
Speaker 4: Warren and Colston Loveland.
Speaker 2: Loveland with some injury issues, but.
Speaker 4: I mean Tyler Warren in a perfect world, he seems
Speaker 4: like an ideal kind of patriot, I mean, and do
Speaker 4: it all tight end.
Speaker 2: Brings a little swag to it.
Speaker 4: If you watch college football, which even I did this year,
Speaker 4: you couldn't miss him.
Speaker 2: He was outstanding.
Speaker 5: Yeah, he does a lot of things. Well, I've talked
Speaker 5: to some people that are familiar with the program, as
Speaker 5: you know, and they just they rave about him. You know,
Speaker 5: He's just one of those guys that just always wants
Speaker 5: to get better. He does a lot of different things.
Speaker 5: Play even played some quarterback. Obviously those are things that
Speaker 5: you're not necessarily going to ask him to do smart
Speaker 5: though in the NFL, but just it speaks to his
Speaker 5: versatility as an athlete. I'm not saying that I would
Speaker 5: take him with the fourth overall pick, but I think
Speaker 5: he's in whatever you want to say a dozen players
Speaker 5: that you put him in a bucket, and depending on
Speaker 5: what you need, you might say Will Campbell, you might
Speaker 5: say Jalen Walker. You might say Tyler Warren.
Speaker 2: He's that good.
Speaker 3: Yeah, he's probably one of the cleanest prospects in the
Speaker 3: draft period, just on the field, off the field work ethic,
Speaker 3: but also just the prospect himself. He does a lot
Speaker 3: of things really really well, and it kind of gives
Speaker 3: him like a nice floor of this is gonna be
Speaker 3: a starting tight end in the NFL. Do I think
Speaker 3: he's gonna be Gronk or Travis Kelcey or I mean,
Speaker 3: maybe not, but he's going to be a starting tight
Speaker 3: end in the league. And I think the best thing
Speaker 3: that he does to me, though, is his versatility and
Speaker 3: his ability to move around the formation. And those guys
Speaker 3: are interesting, but they're also you know, you have to
Speaker 3: have a plan, you know, of how exactly we're gonna
Speaker 3: make this guy a focal point of the offense. But
Speaker 3: certainly he carried Penn State's offense on his back last year.
Speaker 3: He was the focal point there. I like that. I
Speaker 3: like that he's already had that on his plate at
Speaker 3: that position. It's not always that way in college football.
Speaker 3: They'd often underutilize the tight end, but he was the
Speaker 3: offense at Penn State, so he knows what it's like
Speaker 3: to have to be the number one guy. I would
Speaker 3: say that in terms of his receiving ability. You know,
Speaker 3: he's got that gronk to him where he can just
Speaker 3: be a center on the basketball team and just out
Speaker 3: muscle you, whether it's at the catch point in the
Speaker 3: red zone, run people over after the catch. You know,
Speaker 3: he's a physical guy. He can do those types of things.
Speaker 3: He's got a little bit of burst in his routes.
Speaker 3: Probably not as much as Colston Loveland, but like has
Speaker 3: a little bit of that too. But I say the
Speaker 3: best trait that he has is that he's just a beast.
Speaker 3: You know, he's six six two and fifty five pounds.
Speaker 3: He can block. He's a very good all round player.
Speaker 2: Do you think he's anything on Loveland?
Speaker 6: Not much on Loveland actually, but I have no love
Speaker 6: for Loveland. But talking about the tight ends, Chris and
Speaker 6: I and our joint mock, we've had Gunner Helm in
Speaker 6: the fifth just kind of a do it all all
Speaker 6: around tight end. Evan had a Hunter Henry comp there.
Speaker 6: I don't think the Patriots are going to take a
Speaker 6: tight end too early, So maybe that fifth round is
Speaker 6: the sweet spot.
Speaker 1: A lot of athletes in this seat.
Speaker 2: I mean Mason Taylor. Of course, we know great geans
Speaker 2: for him, look like a he's a good player, you know,
Speaker 2: running a combine.
Speaker 4: I know he's kind of underutilized a little bit lsu
Speaker 4: a little bit of a projection there.
Speaker 2: I'm just throwing a few names out there. Elijah Royo
Speaker 2: coming off an acl Harrold fan and.
Speaker 4: Junior is another one I liked just you know, fifteen
Speaker 4: hundred yards ten tds this year.
Speaker 2: But all athletic guys. I mean, it seems that that's.
Speaker 4: Where I think I struggle a little bit with, Like,
Speaker 4: who do you get? I mean, is you're going to
Speaker 4: draft in the day two, day three tight end weapon
Speaker 4: good enough to knock Hunter Henry and Austin Hooper down.
Speaker 2: Hard to see that projection.
Speaker 4: That's why I'm a little bit lower on this overall class.
Speaker 2: For the Patriots.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm I'm kind of with you. I think it's
Speaker 3: a good tight end class. Certainly, those two guys at
Speaker 3: the top are really good prospects. And we talk a
Speaker 3: ton about Loveland. He's definitely in the donut right, He's
Speaker 3: definitely right there in the first round doughnut. But he's
Speaker 3: probably the closest thing to Brock Bauers in this draft
Speaker 3: in terms of the play speed and the dynamic route
Speaker 3: running ability, but he had the injury. He doesn't have
Speaker 3: the production that Tyler Warren had, but he's younger, and
Speaker 3: he's faster, you know, and he's more dynamic. So if
Speaker 3: there are teams out there that have Close and Loveland
Speaker 3: as the number one tight end over Tyler Warren, I
Speaker 3: won't be surprised at all. Like, I think there's definitely
Speaker 3: a case to be made. But to your point about athletes,
Speaker 3: like that's typically what translates at the position to the
Speaker 3: league is the raw athletes. It's one of those positions
Speaker 3: where like things like the combine is still holding up
Speaker 3: in terms of translation. So you know, Terrence Ferguson from
Speaker 3: Oregon had a great combine, had good college production. Was
Speaker 3: used more of like as like a safety valve at
Speaker 3: Oregon than a downfield receiver. But you think there might
Speaker 3: be some untapped potential there. You know, Elijah Royo, same thing,
Speaker 3: can't really block, but it can run routes and can
Speaker 3: make plays down the field as a receiver. And the
Speaker 3: gunner Heelm I comped to Henry because he's kind of
Speaker 3: more of like that old school, like, you know, just crafty,
Speaker 3: good at the top of the route, uses his body well,
Speaker 3: uses his physicality well. Can run the scene, but probably
Speaker 3: not his best thing, but he can do it. Blocking
Speaker 3: can do it. Not his best thing, but he can
Speaker 3: do it. I think that Gunner Helm's going to be
Speaker 3: a quarterback's best friend. He's going to be very quarterback friendly,
Speaker 3: big target in the middle of the field, and he'll
Speaker 3: help you move the chains.
Speaker 4: You know.
Speaker 3: Those other guys maybe a little bit more explosive. But
Speaker 3: if I had to pick one of these guys out
Speaker 3: of this group, you know, if you want to go upside,
Speaker 3: I'd probably say Ferguson probably has the highest ceiling just
Speaker 3: because the athletic profile, but Helm is probably the steadiest.
Speaker 3: Like he's probably the easiest to project.
Speaker 1: Else.
Speaker 6: I got Luke Lache, Lashie Lache. You just got shout
Speaker 6: out all the Iowa tight ends. I mean, it's a
Speaker 6: great program for that.
Speaker 5: You'd be wrong to overlook them. And you know another
Speaker 5: you know NFL name right in Ronde Gatston. You know
Speaker 5: the same kind of thing at Syracuse you.
Speaker 2: Always look for that.
Speaker 5: You know, we talked about Mason Taylor with the blood lines.
Speaker 5: It's a lot of bloodlines at that position. But I
Speaker 5: agree with you, Mike in terms of the Patriots. I
Speaker 5: don't think when you you have Hunter Henry and then
Speaker 5: you re sign Hooper, you're more than likely forget the doughnut.
Speaker 5: You're more than likely not really interested in drafting that
Speaker 5: position unless it's like a Day three flyer.
Speaker 6: Yeah. I think it's one of those things the way
Speaker 6: the board plays out too, Like if if a gunner
Speaker 6: Helm is there and like that's the best player, why yeah, he.
Speaker 2: Belt to offering, you know, just give us some time
Speaker 2: to development. Don't know, an athletic guy.
Speaker 3: It's tough to I've kind of cooled off on the
Speaker 3: tight ends a little bit for the Patriots because of
Speaker 3: the reasons that Paul brought up, Like it's already a
Speaker 3: position that's slow to develop as it is, and you
Speaker 3: have two really steady veterans and Henry and Hooper. So
Speaker 3: if there's your team like the Patriots, you want your
Speaker 3: early picks to play like you want those guys to
Speaker 3: have a path to the field and to play early
Speaker 3: and to contribute early and as good as you know,
Speaker 3: as appealing as some of these names are at tight end,
Speaker 3: Like if you draft Mason Taylor, who I think might
Speaker 3: be a really good player two to three years from now. Like,
Speaker 3: you're not really in a position as the Patriots to
Speaker 3: wait around for your draft pick in the top one
Speaker 3: hundred to make an impact, Like you need guys to
Speaker 3: come in that can help you today, you know, right now.
Speaker 3: And I just don't know if this group necessarily is
Speaker 3: going to do that for them unless they go like Warren,
Speaker 3: you know, in the first round, if they're going to
Speaker 3: really have that out of the group. So are you
Speaker 3: willing to just use a pick on a stash, Like
Speaker 3: are you willing to stash a Terrence Ferguson and develop him?
Speaker 3: Are you willing to stash Mason Taylor, you know, younger
Speaker 3: prospect and develop him and then kind of pass on
Speaker 3: having a top one hundred pick play as a rookie.
Speaker 3: I don't know if that's necessarily the best use of
Speaker 3: that asset.
Speaker 4: All right, Well, that's gonna do it for this episode
Speaker 4: of Patriots Draft Countdown presented by Bud Light. Just one
Speaker 4: week to go until the NFL Draft, But don't worry,
Speaker 4: We're gonna be back with one more live episode day
Speaker 4: of the Draft, one pm Eastern Time. Will be here,
Speaker 4: wrap things up, maybe do a mock draft, have a
Speaker 4: little fun trying to pass.
Speaker 2: The time before the draft that night. So we'll catch
Speaker 2: you then