Speaker 1: Welcome to Commanders Today podcast. I'm Julie Donaldson. Today we
Speaker 1: are talking depth. Washington has found value in late round
Speaker 1: draft picks over the past few years. Safety Cam curl
Speaker 1: went two hundred and sixteenth overall in twenty twenty and
Speaker 1: Terry McLaurin went seventy sixth overall in twenty nineteen. Logan
Speaker 1: Paulson joined me to talk potential targets in the later rounds.
Speaker 1: Let's talk a little bit about that. You already mentioned
Speaker 1: some of the names here, but what is the philosophy
Speaker 1: when you go in this and you get past that
Speaker 1: first round, Because we've been hearing a lot of talks
Speaker 1: about how this draft has a lot of good depth
Speaker 1: in it. Yeah. Absolutely, it's one of the deepest drafts
Speaker 1: I've seen a while. I think the top ends not
Speaker 1: super great, and that's why everyone's trying to get into
Speaker 1: this middle of the draft rounds two to six, two
Speaker 1: to five, And I think one of the things is
Speaker 1: you just got to find quality starters. And in this
Speaker 1: year that's especially important because there are some quality people
Speaker 1: at different positions right like linebackers, a big need for
Speaker 1: the Washington ball team. There's some really quality linebackers later
Speaker 1: that people don't know about, Troy Anderson, Muma from Wyoming.
Speaker 1: All those guys very very talented. But they'll be there
Speaker 1: potentially in the third round. And that's well, but you
Speaker 1: mentioned the third round. We don't have a third round
Speaker 1: pick because of the Carson Wentz trade and that's also
Speaker 1: where you got Terry McLaurin a couple of years ago.
Speaker 1: So there's some good studs that could come out there.
Speaker 1: Will they be available maybe later out of the third
Speaker 1: round or I mean Washington still could make a move
Speaker 1: to get there somehow. That's the question. That's that's what's
Speaker 1: tough about the draft in terms of evaluation, right is
Speaker 1: everyone kind of frontloads all the resources and said these
Speaker 1: are the best guys, and then where you really got
Speaker 1: to make your money is in that kind of fourth, fifth, sixth,
Speaker 1: seventh round. And it's you know, like you said, there's
Speaker 1: all these guys that have come out of those drafts,
Speaker 1: Chrit cam Curl, all these different positions, and that's where
Speaker 1: that talent evaluation process really comes into focus. And can
Speaker 1: they can they find those gems in the rough there?
Speaker 1: How hard is that to kind of get evaluating at
Speaker 1: those later rounds because a lot of it too is
Speaker 1: as we hear a lot of you know, the coaches say,
Speaker 1: it also depends on who is making the moves ahead
Speaker 1: of you. Yeah, so you're constantly having to adjust as well. Yeah,
Speaker 1: one thousand percent. And the other thing is, like all
Speaker 1: these guys that are still around in the third, fourth,
Speaker 1: fifth rounds, they have some type of issue, right, you know,
Speaker 1: maybe they're not the fastest guy, they're undersized, they're oversized.
Speaker 1: There's a guy, Daniel Filey from Minnesota, six nine, four
Speaker 1: hundred pounds. How does he play in an NFL game? Right?
Speaker 1: He might slide just because he's too big. Right. There's
Speaker 1: a quarterback from a small school in Texas ran an
Speaker 1: excellent forty yard dash line. But as a converted wide receiver,
Speaker 1: can you take that talent? Can you mold that talent?
Speaker 1: Can you develop that talent? And I think the coaching
Speaker 1: staff here is shown they can do that. Take a
Speaker 1: little bit pressure off that evaluation process. Yeah, Well, the
Speaker 1: building has been certainly busy buzzing around. And if everybody
Speaker 1: says it is, it's the time to get ready for
Speaker 1: the draft. And so evaluations are going on. They have
Speaker 1: been going on even before we got to the offseason.
Speaker 1: They're out there looking at some of these guys seeing
Speaker 1: who could add. Are there positions you'd like to see
Speaker 1: them target when you get to later rounds or can
Speaker 1: you still take best available then? Yeah, I think you
Speaker 1: always want to kind of keep best available in mind.
Speaker 1: But as you get deeper to the draft, I think
Speaker 1: you fall in love with guys and I think you
Speaker 1: know the needs you have kind of elevate that best available,
Speaker 1: right because they can impact your team more so, I'd
Speaker 1: like to see them target offensive line depth. Defensive line
Speaker 1: depth in recent weeks has become a bigger issue for
Speaker 1: this team. Say, always secondary depth, especially if there's some
Speaker 1: studs out there athletically that you can buy in kid
Speaker 1: from Houston, he's five eight, really really talented player, but
Speaker 1: he might be there, right can you fit him in
Speaker 1: this scheme? That type of stuff. So just kind of
Speaker 1: that philosophy that engaging with that I think is important.
Speaker 1: Five eight my height. If I'm flat footed by the way,
Speaker 1: which I'm cheating a little bit, I have to, you know,
Speaker 1: not look too too far up on you. After looking
Speaker 1: at the late round picks, we play the little game
Speaker 1: of this or that and Now let's get to that
Speaker 1: eleventh overall pick, and I'm going to give you a
Speaker 1: couple of players to choose between. We're gonna call this
Speaker 1: game this or that. I give you two guys we're
Speaker 1: going to start on offense at eleven overall. Maybe add
Speaker 1: a little help to Terry McLaurin out there. Couldn't be
Speaker 1: one of his guys from Ohio State as well. Would
Speaker 1: you go with Garrett Wilson or Drake London from USC? Yeah,
Speaker 1: these are two of my favorite receivers in this class,
Speaker 1: but I have to go with Garrett Wilson. He's just
Speaker 1: kind of my number one just because he's so technically sound,
Speaker 1: excellent footwork, home run hitter, love him and what he
Speaker 1: had over a thousand yards at Ohio State and twelve
Speaker 1: touchdown as well. How about if we go to the
Speaker 1: guys that would be challenged with defending against the wide receivers.
Speaker 1: Let's go to a couple of dbs, Kyle Hamiltons or
Speaker 1: Sauce Gardner. Yeah, again, two outstanding football players. I like
Speaker 1: Kyle Hamilton's physicality, but I think Sauce Gardner has more upside.
Speaker 1: It's a mandamand corner, excellent footwork and I love the
Speaker 1: competitiveness with which he plays the game. Yeah, both of
Speaker 1: them had three interceptions. Yeah, I like those picks. Yeah yeah,
Speaker 1: but you know, sauce Gard did give up touchdown last year,
Speaker 1: So there you go. And how about if we go
Speaker 1: to the unit in front of them, the linebackers, Devin
Speaker 1: Lloyd or Nakobe Dean isn't really that close for me.
Speaker 1: I'm a Devin Lloyd guy. I got Devin Lloyd pajamas.
Speaker 1: I'm super fired up about him. He's a physical, outstanding
Speaker 1: football player. Love watching him play. I need to see that.
Speaker 1: I don't really need to document that. How about this
Speaker 1: burgundy are gold? Uh? Burgundy? I guess I like red burgundy.
Speaker 1: I guess I don't know. I might go gold. But
Speaker 1: then that way, we just compliment each other because we
Speaker 1: are the Burgundy and Gold. For the Latea's Commander's Draft coverage,
Speaker 1: be sure to tune into Washington Football Today weeknights five
Speaker 1: thirty and ten pm on NBC the Sports Washington And
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Speaker 1: Thanks for listening.