Speaker 1: On this episode of Ticket the Draft Podcast, we have
Speaker 1: Trevor Sikima from PFF in the house. He talks all
Speaker 1: rookies and how they're going to fit in the Commander's organization.
Speaker 1: He's reevaluating his draft grade. Did he bump it up?
Speaker 1: And it was already super high? And we talked Drake May
Speaker 1: versus Jayden Daniels. Is the debate already over about who
Speaker 1: was the right pick for the Commanders and we do
Speaker 1: bold predictions.
Speaker 2: It all starts right now. Welcome into the Ticket of
Speaker 2: the Draft podcast.
Speaker 1: I'm Logan Paulson here with Jessic Guy Jason, and shortly
Speaker 1: we'll have Trevor Sikima. He calls himself the lead draft analyst,
Speaker 1: but he does, like I think he said, like six
Speaker 1: or seven shows for PFF.
Speaker 2: He does a great job.
Speaker 1: Provides excellent insight on our draft class, what he saw
Speaker 1: from them in the preseason. It's incredible. His ability to
Speaker 1: recall information, watch all the NFL stuff while prepping for
Speaker 1: the twenty twenty five draft, It's incredible, man. He has
Speaker 1: great insight.
Speaker 3: Yeah, if you like college football, if you like rookies,
Speaker 3: if you like the draft process, leading and cleaning combine
Speaker 3: see Bowl. If you like football, you will like Trevor Sikama.
Speaker 3: He is he's so in it. Yeah, and I I
Speaker 3: wonder what he does when he goes home at night, right,
Speaker 3: Like how does he turn it off? Because that's all
Speaker 3: he does is football all the time. Like it's hard
Speaker 3: enough I think for me personally to keep up with
Speaker 3: what's going on with the Commanders plus the division plus
Speaker 3: a conference than the league. And he's like, oh, yeah,
Speaker 3: let's throw in another thousand prospects in college, right, let's
Speaker 3: do that. And he's he's so good at it.
Speaker 1: It's crazy doing an interview with him because like he's
Speaker 1: we were on a zoom, you know, and he's clicking
Speaker 1: in and out of screen so fast because he's checking
Speaker 1: all of his notes, he's checking PFF grades, he's checking
Speaker 1: like his grades on them from the previous year.
Speaker 2: Like he does a great job. It's incredible.
Speaker 3: You would think with somebody that I don't want to
Speaker 3: say spreads himself thin because he clearly has him he's
Speaker 3: able to keep.
Speaker 2: Up on it.
Speaker 3: But that's the thing you would think, like, oh, we're
Speaker 3: going to bring him on a Commander's show. This is
Speaker 3: like his fourth time. One friend of the pod now, right,
Speaker 3: But he's he's basically a co host. But you bring
Speaker 3: them on and you're like, oh, he's going to talk
Speaker 3: Commanders football, and you know how like national pundits be
Speaker 3: like they give you boiler plate answers. It not Trevor.
Speaker 3: He's in it, like he knows Dominie Campton, he knows
Speaker 3: Tyler just where it's like, yeah, you're right, as if
Speaker 3: he's been watching the practices like on the field with us.
Speaker 3: It's it's pretty crazy, but so stick around for him.
Speaker 3: But he's not the only thing and this is not
Speaker 3: the only thing, this podcast where you can get Commanders
Speaker 3: news and information. We have really ramped up the podcast
Speaker 3: basis here, yes we have and our YouTube shows. So
Speaker 3: I want everyone to know that, like this, this podcast
Speaker 3: comes out on the command Center podcast channel, right, So
Speaker 3: if you subscribe to Spotify, Apple wherever, right, you're gonna
Speaker 3: get this show on that And then we're going to
Speaker 3: release a couple other podcasts on this channel too, but
Speaker 3: eventually they're moving over to their own channels. So for insense,
Speaker 3: you like Get Loud with Jenks and Fred Smoot, they're
Speaker 3: gonna be on this channel for a little bit longer.
Speaker 2: But they're getting their own nice, their own.
Speaker 3: Things, so they can monitor their own content there they can.
Speaker 3: It's more interactive when you do it that way, right,
Speaker 3: you can respind the fans better that way. So we're
Speaker 3: moving most of our shows over, so we got get
Speaker 3: loud podcasts right.
Speaker 1: And so they so they will they will no longer
Speaker 1: be in this feed. Yeah, we'll be in their.
Speaker 2: Own again, move over eventually, so make sure be sure
Speaker 2: you go find them and subscribe if you like that.
Speaker 3: Same with Next Man Up. Next Man Up this year,
Speaker 3: Brian Coblet Junior will sit down with a current player
Speaker 3: and a legend and someone a part of the national media.
Speaker 1: And his first and his first show was Jane Daniels
Speaker 1: and and Doug Wall.
Speaker 3: His next show that comes out this week is I
Speaker 3: Believe It's.
Speaker 2: Louvu Okay Fletcher great so far.
Speaker 3: Adam Peters dude, Austin Eckler is going to be on one.
Speaker 2: Look at that?
Speaker 4: Wow?
Speaker 3: And guess who else? I don't know, Adam Schefter what yes?
Speaker 3: So like Mike Tarico is going to be on one.
Speaker 3: So like you want to listen to these, we've really
Speaker 3: we've really update this.
Speaker 1: So that's called Next Man Up. Next, so we got
Speaker 1: get loud, you got to go to your own get
Speaker 1: loud page, you got to go to the next man
Speaker 1: up least you check those out.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and then the final one.
Speaker 2: Which is which is the game plan? The game plan.
Speaker 3: We're on that. So that's our show.
Speaker 2: That's a show, but we're going to.
Speaker 3: Put that in podcast form for people because not everybody
Speaker 3: can watch the show that goes on WUSA nine or
Speaker 3: YouTube or whatever. So we're going to take that, put
Speaker 3: in podcast form and put it out. But what is
Speaker 3: the game plan? Logan?
Speaker 1: The game plan is just it's it's really it's a
Speaker 1: really cool show because it's me Brian Colbert sit down
Speaker 1: with Coach and we've changed the format this year and
Speaker 1: it's just a long form interview. It's fifteen minutes of
Speaker 1: Coach talking to us, and if you're watching the show,
Speaker 1: we also break down film with Coach where he's able
Speaker 1: to kind of talk about some techniques, a little bit
Speaker 1: of scheme stuff and and Dan just does such a
Speaker 1: great job with that. So it's been great to kind
Speaker 1: of happen.
Speaker 3: Yeah, every week you're going to get the Coach and
Speaker 3: it's fifteen minutes with the Coach. You and the coach
Speaker 3: and Bran Coilbert Jr. And like you said, there will
Speaker 3: be film that's not going to be on the podcast
Speaker 3: that doesn't make sense, but you could catch that on YouTube.
Speaker 3: But we'll make sure that the podcast has that full
Speaker 3: conversation and then sometimes an unedited version of it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, because when we cut for TV, we have.
Speaker 3: To make it for a cert time and sometimes these
Speaker 3: go over, so you might catch a few nuggets in
Speaker 3: there that don't make in one.
Speaker 2: What about like Booth Review? Where's that going to be?
Speaker 3: That's on Mondays? That's Bram and London. Huh, they're with you.
Speaker 1: On the side on Sundays. I'm on the sideline there indio.
Speaker 3: In the radio booth though, right, So on Mondays after
Speaker 3: the game, after every game, the two guys that called
Speaker 3: the game, Bram and London, they're going to recap it
Speaker 3: for everybody. That's Booth Review. That's another podcast toscription. Listen
Speaker 3: to all these podcasts.
Speaker 2: It's you can't get enough. You'll have a.
Speaker 3: Podcast every single day. If you're a Commander's fan, that's
Speaker 3: just Commanders Gut.
Speaker 1: And I think the cool thing about them is like sometimes,
Speaker 1: like with PFF, they do kind of a very similar
Speaker 1: show every single day and people like it because it's good.
Speaker 1: Of these are all distinct voices, distinct perspectives, diferent hosts,
Speaker 1: and different kind of narratives around the team. So that's
Speaker 1: all gonna be different. You gotta subscribe to all of them.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you gotta, you gotta catch it out. This is
Speaker 3: a lot of good stuff and uh, if you're a commuter,
Speaker 3: this is this is the way that, this is, this
Speaker 3: is the way to do it. Yeah, so make sure
Speaker 3: you find them on Apple and Spotify, wherever you get
Speaker 3: your podcasts. They're all out there. Okay, we got Trevor
Speaker 3: sickrama this ticket to the draft. We did a lot
Speaker 3: of pitching here, but we want people to know where
Speaker 3: this content is because we have a lot coming out.
Speaker 3: But I think it's time to get to uh yeah,
Speaker 3: I'm out of here. He uh. He really burns me
Speaker 3: pretty good on my take, right.
Speaker 2: But it wasn't a bad burn.
Speaker 3: But I gotta, you know what, I make a bold
Speaker 3: prediction that uh that Trevor is like, oh, but uh,
Speaker 3: but you know what, I think that I'm gonna hold
Speaker 3: the one to that prediction, and uh, I'm gonna box
Speaker 3: up some kool Aid some Commanders school Aid. Send it
Speaker 3: out to him and he'll be He'll get.
Speaker 1: We should cut that out and if it if it hits,
Speaker 1: you should just send it.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it'd be like take that, Trevor, all right, Yeah,
Speaker 3: So here he is.
Speaker 1: I'm logan Pulse Near with a special guest, Trevor Sikima,
Speaker 1: lead draft analyst for pff MAN. Thank you so much
Speaker 1: for joining us. Always appreciate having your expertise on the show.
Speaker 4: Okay's always good to be with you, my friend. Appreciate
Speaker 4: you having me on.
Speaker 1: So we're going to talk kind of like a draft
Speaker 1: retrospective here, I think. So let's start off with the
Speaker 1: easiest highest level. After the preseason goes through, you know,
Speaker 1: you see the rookies that made the team. How do
Speaker 1: you feel about your draft grade for Washington?
Speaker 4: It was a high draft grade. I really love this
Speaker 4: draft and I still do, right and I think that
Speaker 4: some of the players that you saw make this team
Speaker 4: and even some of the moves that you saw this
Speaker 4: teammate sort of reflect how high they are on a
Speaker 4: lot of these rookies as well. I mean you can
Speaker 4: point out, you know, them moving on from Johan Dotson,
Speaker 4: I wonder if a reason why is because they're high
Speaker 4: on what could be the potential of Luke McCaffrey and
Speaker 4: what he could potentially be in this wide receiver room, Right,
Speaker 4: I mean, do you make that move if Luke McCaffrey
Speaker 4: is playing a lot more poorly in training camp and
Speaker 4: in preseason than than what he what he ended up playing,
Speaker 4: which I thought was pretty solid for them. And so
Speaker 4: you know, you're just looking around the entire jet chart
Speaker 4: and it's obviously not a full on rookie class that
Speaker 4: you know everybody's going to start, but you either see
Speaker 4: guys who are stepping into starting positions early on or
Speaker 4: you could see past playing time for them within their
Speaker 4: rookie year. So I was pretty bullish on Washington's class overall.
Speaker 4: I still think it's a lot of players that they're
Speaker 4: going to utilize very very well. And I still feel
Speaker 4: that way now, especially after the preseason and seeing the
Speaker 4: final fifty three man roster.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and it's one of those things where it's like
Speaker 1: kind of like rebuild, retool. You know, rookies are going
Speaker 1: to play a big role in that group. And so
Speaker 1: another guy that I think is interesting is Brandon Coleman. Like,
Speaker 1: I don't know if we talked about a post rapt
Speaker 1: but where did you have him and what have you
Speaker 1: thought about I mean, he didn't play in the preseason,
Speaker 1: so I'll have to tell you what I think of
Speaker 1: his preseason. But what did you think of him in
Speaker 1: the draft process?
Speaker 4: No, I like Brandon Coleman. I really did. Now he
Speaker 4: was somebody who I thought it was. I thought it
Speaker 4: might take a little bit of time for him to
Speaker 4: be a starter at the NFL level, But when I
Speaker 4: watched him at TCU, like, I saw the starting caliber
Speaker 4: traits and this is somebody who I remember going on
Speaker 4: you know, some shows where you know, people covering the
Speaker 4: Commanders and they were saying, you know, like, oh, we
Speaker 4: wish you would have taken an offensive tackle earlier, Like
Speaker 4: fans are like, man, we really needed to take an
Speaker 4: offensive tackle a little bit earlier. And I went, you know,
Speaker 4: I know they they waited a little bit longer, but
Speaker 4: for the draft to play out the way that it did,
Speaker 4: I don't want to say they got like lucky, because
Speaker 4: I don't want to discount what a great job that
Speaker 4: they probably did in prep planning for this draft, but
Speaker 4: to have gotten the players they did earlier, Jadeen Daniels,
Speaker 4: Youreson Newton, Mike Sanders still, and then you still get
Speaker 4: Brandon Coleman where you did. That guy could be a
Speaker 4: starting offensive tackle for you at some point or just
Speaker 4: an overall starting offensive lineman for you at some point.
Speaker 4: So I think the tools are definitely there for him.
Speaker 4: I think the athleticism beside all this stuff. I really
Speaker 4: liked him, and I figured that he was going to
Speaker 4: be a mid round pick. And when Washington again was
Speaker 4: able to get him where they did, I thought to myself, Man,
Speaker 4: this getting Coleman at that point makes taking those guys
Speaker 4: that you already have in the draft even better because
Speaker 4: you didn't you didn't have. Now you don't have to
Speaker 4: sit here and go, oh, well, you know, we picked
Speaker 4: this guy, but we didn't get an offensive tackle the future.
Speaker 4: I think you still got an offensive tackle of the future,
Speaker 4: at least a guy who gives you that sort of potential.
Speaker 4: And any time you're outside of the top twenty or
Speaker 4: first round, I should say it's always sort of a
Speaker 4: coin flip or a risk anyways that these guys in
Speaker 4: the trenches are going to work out. So Coleman's a
Speaker 4: goodwin and I thought they got a really good draft
Speaker 4: value there with him.
Speaker 1: Yeah, he's an interesting guy because you know, in twenty
Speaker 1: twenty three he's playing a lot of guard and then
Speaker 1: in twenty twenty two played predominant tackle. So you're kind
Speaker 1: of like, why did you make the switch? But I think,
Speaker 1: like you said, the measurables, the athleticism, it's all there,
Speaker 1: just got to put it together. A guy that you
Speaker 1: did mention when you were kind of going through those
Speaker 1: high value picks earlier was a guy Mike Sandrastill, and
Speaker 1: he's just been tremendous in training camp, you know, playing
Speaker 1: the nickel, playing a little outside. He just has like
Speaker 1: kind of elite level intuition, which is pretty pretty fun
Speaker 1: to watch and see that kind of be executed in practice.
Speaker 1: What do you think of him and like, what is
Speaker 1: the expectation for him going to this season based on
Speaker 1: what you saw in college?
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean I think that he's also just an
Speaker 4: elite level competitor, right, Yeah, that when you get to
Speaker 4: high level where whether it's FBS or the NFL, sometimes
Speaker 4: fans think, oh, yeah, well, all these guys are competitive.
Speaker 4: Well I think that they're all competitive, but there's certainly
Speaker 4: a difference, and when you watch a guy like Mike Sandrusso,
Speaker 4: who it feels like he is playing every rep like
Speaker 4: it's just last. I mean, that just absolutely stands out
Speaker 4: for you, and it's why you prioritize a player like that, because,
Speaker 4: let's face it, san Rusol is not the biggest guy
Speaker 4: in the world. He's lightning quick, but he's also not
Speaker 4: the fastest guy in the world. So I'm telling you
Speaker 4: there's gonna be reps that you see this season and
Speaker 4: beyond where the quarterback puts the ball just out of
Speaker 4: reach of where his hand can get to even if
Speaker 4: he's close in coverage, or you might see a super
Speaker 4: fast NFL level wide receiver break away and be able
Speaker 4: to create a little bit of separation on him. You're
Speaker 4: gonna have a couple of those reps. But you still
Speaker 4: take this guy where you did in the second round
Speaker 4: because he does so much for you when it comes to,
Speaker 4: like you said, that competitiveness, that high football IQ, that
Speaker 4: those instincts that feel for the game that he already
Speaker 4: is displaying in training camp and preseason before he's even
Speaker 4: started his rookie year in the NFL. That's why you
Speaker 4: take a player like that. In on a Michigan defense
Speaker 4: that had some dogs this past year. They talked about
Speaker 4: Mike sand Rastill as the heart and soul of that team,
Speaker 4: and I think that that absolutely means a lot for
Speaker 4: a national championship, undefeated, number one in the country type
Speaker 4: of a defense. And so you take a player like that,
Speaker 4: and you love a player like that because he's going
Speaker 4: to be fearless in every single assignment that I think
Speaker 4: that he goes up against, no matter what receivers are
Speaker 4: going to be in the slot, and playing in the
Speaker 4: slot in today's day and age is really really difficult.
Speaker 4: You've got offensive coordinators who are going to be creative
Speaker 4: enough to put tight ends there, to put wide receiver
Speaker 4: ones there, to put all sorts of receivers of different
Speaker 4: shapes and sizes in those spots. And yet sand Rastillo
Speaker 4: is going to be up for whatever challenge dan Quinn
Speaker 4: puts before him. But I think that player and coach,
Speaker 4: this to me is a match made in heaven. So
Speaker 4: I love the landing spot of san Raso getting to
Speaker 4: play in this defense.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And I think one of the things you talked
Speaker 1: about there, which I love is competitiveness, you know, And
Speaker 1: I just for me personally, Like, how do you weigh that,
Speaker 1: like when you're doing your draft evaluation, because I think
Speaker 1: one of the things about Washington is like they didn't
Speaker 1: necessarily go for the most physically gifted guys. You kind
Speaker 1: of alluded to that there with Mike SANDERSO, but you
Speaker 1: went for the guys that were just like dog competitors.
Speaker 1: You know, like when you look at you know, Jane
Speaker 1: Daniels to John Nude and Mike sandersol Benson and they
Speaker 1: all have that characteristic as an evaluator, how do you
Speaker 1: weigh that? You know? Because again that's that's like you
Speaker 1: watch the film. The film is one thing, but understanding
Speaker 1: the person seems to be so important.
Speaker 4: No, it is, It's absolutely important. And you know, it's funny.
Speaker 4: I've been going to the Combine seven years in a row.
Speaker 4: I think was this this might this past combine for me?
Speaker 4: And you sit at those podiums and you listen to
Speaker 4: head coaches and you listen to channel managers and people
Speaker 4: from the beat. I don't blame for this. They always
Speaker 4: ask them this question. They're like, oh, you know, what
Speaker 4: are you here to see? You know, it's like, oh,
Speaker 4: what are you here to evaluate? And they all say
Speaker 4: the same thing. We're trying to find out what makes
Speaker 4: these players tick. It'll be some sort of words that
Speaker 4: basically describe that we are trying to figure out who
Speaker 4: these guys are as people as much as players. We've
Speaker 4: watched the tape, We've talked to their coaches. We're going
Speaker 4: to see them run whatever. We already know what they're
Speaker 4: basically going to run because they do a lot of
Speaker 4: intel on these players. They're trying to figure out who
Speaker 4: they are as competitors. Kind of what you're saying, and
Speaker 4: that's a major part of the draft process that for
Speaker 4: somebody who's on the outside looking in. I don't always
Speaker 4: get a chance to know that about every single player.
Speaker 4: But when I am able to find that out, whether
Speaker 4: it's through sources, you know, talking to some of their coaches,
Speaker 4: you know, maybe talking to a scout, or even just
Speaker 4: some watching them and how they play, it's something that
Speaker 4: you absolutely have to know. You know, when I'm building
Speaker 4: my big board, I have a numerical value for film
Speaker 4: grade that I give them, and the film is broken
Speaker 4: up into a lot of different categories depending on position,
Speaker 4: and when I'm putting together my big board, the very
Speaker 4: first thing that I'll do is I'll take all the
Speaker 4: positions and all their numerical grade that I'm able to
Speaker 4: give them through film, and I will kind of put
Speaker 4: that in a list and I will sort it, and
Speaker 4: then I will go through it and say, Okay, I
Speaker 4: gave this guy a certain film grade. These guys have
Speaker 4: the same film grade, but I'm gonna put this guy
Speaker 4: higher because of some of those X factors, that competitive
Speaker 4: nature what we have heard, and so it's something that
Speaker 4: is a luxury whenever I get to learn a little
Speaker 4: bit apart a little bit of a player's perspective and
Speaker 4: their scouting report, when I get to kind of build
Speaker 4: it out and shape it out in that regard, and
Speaker 4: that is the thing the scouting staffs, I don't know
Speaker 4: if I want to say, spend the most time on.
Speaker 4: But it's the most underrated part of all of this
Speaker 4: is fans. Everybody loves to talk about how high a
Speaker 4: guy jumps, or how fast he runs, or how big
Speaker 4: he is. Like NFL teams, they all know that same stuff.
Speaker 4: They're trying to figure out who these guys are underneath
Speaker 4: the helmet between the ears, if you will. So that
Speaker 4: is something that when you get to learn that stuff.
Speaker 4: It could be the difference of all right, I maybe
Speaker 4: had a third round grade on this guy on film,
Speaker 4: but he is somebody I want on my football team,
Speaker 4: So maybe you'll take them a little bit ahead of
Speaker 4: that as a luxury because you just need it.
Speaker 2: Well, it's interesting to that point.
Speaker 1: I still have a lot of friends that coach the NFL,
Speaker 1: and one of the things they say is, like, with
Speaker 1: the prevalence of PFF and the film that they're able
Speaker 1: to get and how they're able to sort the film,
Speaker 1: they don't really need the scouts as much for the
Speaker 1: film evaluation anymore. They need them for the character evaluation.
Speaker 1: And so I think it's great that you are kind
Speaker 1: of delving that too in your evaluation and trying to
Speaker 1: piece that together. Another thing, you know, we talked about
Speaker 1: Mike Sandmer still safety was a big kind of addition
Speaker 1: to this roster, and obviously they drafted Dominie Campton. Tyler
Speaker 1: Owens is another guy that kind of squeaked in there
Speaker 1: on the roster and had an absolutely marvelous preseason playing
Speaker 1: special teams. What are your thoughts on those guys, because
Speaker 1: they are kind of unique, you know, they are kind
Speaker 1: of bigger body, long, limb very I'm gonna say, dan
Speaker 1: Quinn esques type of safeties if you look at what
Speaker 1: they did in Dallas.
Speaker 4: Yeah, one of my favorite narratives or things to explore
Speaker 4: or watch for after the draft of any team in
Speaker 4: the NFL was what dan Quinn and the Washington Commanders
Speaker 4: were going to do with these safeties in particular, because
Speaker 4: remember it's not just Tyler Owens and Dominique Campton. This
Speaker 4: also came after you brought in Jeremy Chnn as well.
Speaker 4: So it's these hybrid players. And you look at, for example,
Speaker 4: what Jaron Curse was for the Dallas Cowboys defense, and
Speaker 4: in twenty twenty two and twenty twenty three, Jaron Curse
Speaker 4: had pretty dang good overall grades playing as this hybrid safety, linebacker,
Speaker 4: slot defender type of player. And dan Quinn already understands
Speaker 4: that mold. And not only did he bring in a
Speaker 4: player that could play that, like Jeremy chin, he doubled
Speaker 4: and tripled down if you will, drafting a player like
Speaker 4: Dominie Campton, who I read it made the team as
Speaker 4: a linebacker after playing safety. And you know, if you
Speaker 4: plug Dominie Campton's combine performance you know, if you could
Speaker 4: go to mock draftable and see sort of his percentiles
Speaker 4: of his athleticism when he's measured up against other NFL safeties,
Speaker 4: if you change that category to linebacker, all all of
Speaker 4: a sudden, his athleticism is movement skills goes to eightieth
Speaker 4: and ninetieth percentile and basically all athletic categories. So dan
Speaker 4: Quinn's trying to get the athletic advantage with him playing
Speaker 4: as so pseudo linebacker, with Bobby Wagner, with Frankie Luvu,
Speaker 4: with those kinds of guys. Tyler Owens is the same
Speaker 4: way a player who you know can really come downhill
Speaker 4: for it begin and ace on special teams because of
Speaker 4: his size and his speed and his strength combination, and
Speaker 4: obviously you throw that in with Jeremy Chin as well.
Speaker 4: I don't know exactly what it's going to look like,
Speaker 4: you know, I'm looking at the position pivots and the
Speaker 4: snaps of where they were aligned throughout the preseason, and
Speaker 4: it's just very versatile. Like it's a lot of the
Speaker 4: same stuff. A lot of it comes from them being
Speaker 4: box defenders. Especially for Hampton when I looked his up,
Speaker 4: they're playing him more as a linebacker, which totally makes sense.
Speaker 4: But he got guys like Chin and the guys like
Speaker 4: Owens who are playing more cider like free safeties. It's
Speaker 4: alot defenders and things like that. So it's very versatile,
Speaker 4: and I think that's something that Dan and Quinn really
Speaker 4: leaned into, is give me a lot of guys that
Speaker 4: can keep me as versatile and as multiple as possible.
Speaker 4: And I think that those are two players who I'm
Speaker 4: really excited to see Hampton specifically because I think he
Speaker 4: could be in that rotation. Owens maybe more of just
Speaker 4: a special teamer and can step up if somebody ends
Speaker 4: up getting hurt. But how they deploy those guys is
Speaker 4: something I'm really looking forward to watching this season.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean too.
Speaker 1: And I think it's not only you know with like
Speaker 1: Hampton and you know Owens, it's also like Kwon Martin.
Speaker 1: He can play Nickely can play safety, and so they
Speaker 1: have all this flexibility across the board. And he's a
Speaker 1: draft pick for last year obviously, but last, last, but
Speaker 1: not least, we got to save the best position for
Speaker 1: last and that's Ben Senate and he's just been a
Speaker 1: guy that's been super impressive to me through the process. Again,
Speaker 1: I lucked his film a lot, but I think the
Speaker 1: physicality that he plays with has surprised me a little bit.
Speaker 1: I knew it was a tough guy, but to see
Speaker 1: kind of what that brings. Did that show up in
Speaker 1: the evaluation for you at all when you were checking
Speaker 1: these guys.
Speaker 4: Out, Oh no, at one hundred percent? Did And you know,
Speaker 4: you look at Ben Sentet and I just kind of
Speaker 4: pulled up his measurables right here. You know, twenty eight
Speaker 4: percentile in height for a tight end, thirty ninth percent
Speaker 4: tile and wait, you know, twenty fifth percent tile when
Speaker 4: it comes to wingspan, and twenty third percent tile on
Speaker 4: arm length. Like he's just not the biggest dude in
Speaker 4: the world. Now, obviously he was able to move a
Speaker 4: little bit better. You know, his scores in forty yard
Speaker 4: dash and the vertical jump, like a lot of that
Speaker 4: was a lot higher because he's a smaller tight end.
Speaker 4: But when you turn on the tape and you go, okay,
Speaker 4: I'm probably just going to see you know, like more
Speaker 4: athletic tight end, probably going to struggle a little bit
Speaker 4: with contested catches. You don't want him on the line
Speaker 4: of scrimmage you don't really see that with his tape.
Speaker 4: I mean, he is a stick his nose in there
Speaker 4: whenever he needs to type of a player. And is
Speaker 4: he gonna, you know, blow somebody go get blow a
Speaker 4: defensive end off the ball when he's attached to the
Speaker 4: Lion scrimmage. No, but he'll give you absolutely his best
Speaker 4: that he can. And that's why they play him at
Speaker 4: full back, They'll play him in line, they play him
Speaker 4: in the slot. And so the slot value for Senate
Speaker 4: I think goes without saying what we've seen from his
Speaker 4: Kansas State film. But the reason why you draft him
Speaker 4: as early as they did in the mid rounds is
Speaker 4: because you prioritize everything that he could be for you.
Speaker 4: And again going back to what you said, maybe it's
Speaker 4: not the biggest dudes in the world. I mean, it's
Speaker 4: funny that I say it's not the biggest dudes in
Speaker 4: the world and they drafted Dominie Campton and Tyler Owens,
Speaker 4: who aren't like the biggest safeties in the world. But
Speaker 4: you know, some like Senate and Mike saying Rastill we
Speaker 4: mentioned and you know, even going to jers On Newton
Speaker 4: a little bit little undersized for a three technique defensive tackle,
Speaker 4: you don't care because you're getting the right guys in there.
Speaker 4: And I think that was just the theme overall this
Speaker 4: entire offseason for the Commanders is Hey, new ownership, new
Speaker 4: general manager, new head coach, knew everything, and they moved
Speaker 4: on from a lot of players, and they brought in
Speaker 4: a lot of players in free agency, a big draft class.
Speaker 4: They kept a lot of those guys because they're trying
Speaker 4: to change the core of this So Senate is another
Speaker 4: player who just feels like his presence is changing the
Speaker 4: core and the culture of this team for not only
Speaker 4: what they know his strengths are, but also some of
Speaker 4: those X factor parts of just being a damn good
Speaker 4: football player. So I think it's Senate it's going to
Speaker 4: get on the field quite a bit this year.
Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely, So Obviously we talked about the best position.
Speaker 1: Now let's talk about the most important position, which is quarterback. Obviously,
Speaker 1: I don't know how much you've watched Jane Daniels, because
Speaker 1: I know you got to watch all thirty two teams
Speaker 1: plus like a thousand draft prospects. So, but Jane Daniels
Speaker 1: in the preseason, what have you thought of him? And
Speaker 1: how does that compare to your evaluation, I absolutely loved it.
Speaker 4: What was it was the Miami game that he played
Speaker 4: the most? Is that correct?
Speaker 1: Yes? Yeh, look at you man. You watched all that
Speaker 1: film you can still remember it.
Speaker 4: So okay, there we go. So I was watching that
Speaker 4: Miami game and I was really impressed with Jaden and
Speaker 4: some people are gonna be like, oh, he was impressed
Speaker 4: with you know, the deep throw that he had. No
Speaker 4: beyond the deep drow. Actually, what impress me the most
Speaker 4: about Jade and Daniels is actually the sideline comeback throws
Speaker 4: that he had. I think he had a couple of
Speaker 4: them where you got to think about it. Put yourself
Speaker 4: in the shoes of a rookie quarterback number two overall.
Speaker 4: Pick you're coming in, you're saving the franchise. One of
Speaker 4: the most dangerous throws that you can throw is that
Speaker 4: comeback round because if you are late on it or
Speaker 4: if you miss it, those NFL corners they're gonna jump
Speaker 4: that immediately. They're gonna pick the ball off. And then
Speaker 4: if you pick off a comeback route, guess what, that's six.
Speaker 4: Nobody's catching you. It's gonna be a pick six. Not
Speaker 4: only is it a turnover for your team, but also
Speaker 4: you're giving the other team points immediately afterwards as well.
Speaker 4: To throw that route with pace, confidence and accuracy the
Speaker 4: way that Jaden Daniels was able to do against Miami.
Speaker 4: I went, man, I wondered if it was gonna be
Speaker 4: a little bit of a learning curve for Daniels going
Speaker 4: from college to the NFL, and how I don't want
Speaker 4: to say like friendly. His offense was at LSU, but
Speaker 4: it was very spread out, it was very spaced out.
Speaker 4: He had elite receivers, he had big time match up
Speaker 4: pluses that he could target basically on every single play.
Speaker 4: It was always just going to be different at the
Speaker 4: NFL level. But he was so confident in those throws
Speaker 4: that I went, I'm not gonna be worried abot confidence
Speaker 4: now going into the regular season. So we didn't see
Speaker 4: a ton of them obviously, but that game particular, I
Speaker 4: was even able to take away those little nuggets and say,
Speaker 4: I'm so excited to see what Jade Daniels is going
Speaker 4: to be right outside of the game.
Speaker 3: For this team.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And so obviously, like when you're doing quarterbacks, it's
Speaker 1: one of the most like talked about positions in the
Speaker 1: draft process, the big kind of talking point was Jane
Speaker 1: Daniels versus Drake May. Drake May preseason had some really
Speaker 1: explosive opportunities, but also showed a lot of what kind
Speaker 1: of I don't know, like what characterizes film in college,
Speaker 1: like a little bit inconsistency. Where do you stand on it? Now,
Speaker 1: how do you feel both these guys are going to
Speaker 1: be doing for their respective teams?
Speaker 4: Yeah, look, I think that New England's a tough situation. What. Yeah,
Speaker 4: it's going to be a tough situation for Drake May
Speaker 4: independent of the fact that he definitely has to get better.
Speaker 4: There's no doubt about it.
Speaker 1: I stop even one second. I think that's something people
Speaker 1: forget though. It's like it's the situation for the quarterback
Speaker 1: that almost leads to success, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: And like when it's a tough spot for him, it's
Speaker 1: you're not putting like the organizations out put him in
Speaker 1: in the best spot, you know what I mean?
Speaker 4: Yeah, no question about it. And of those three teams
Speaker 4: at the very top of the draft that we're going
Speaker 4: to select quarterbacks, the Chicago Bears, the Washington Commanders, and
Speaker 4: the New England Patriots, the Patriots were by far the
Speaker 4: least quarterback friendly situation that any of those guys could
Speaker 4: have gone to. So for May, you saw some good,
Speaker 4: you saw some bad from him the preseason, but I
Speaker 4: think most importantly, I think that you did see that
Speaker 4: confidence with him. Now they're starting Jacoby Brissett and a
Speaker 4: lot of people like, oh, just throw Drake May out there.
Speaker 4: They got to get their offensive line figured out first,
Speaker 4: and I think that at least Jacoby, as a veteran,
Speaker 4: understands how to maybe protect himself a little bit better
Speaker 4: than they would behind that offensive line. Is that you're
Speaker 4: looking to get better. They will start eventually for this team,
Speaker 4: but really that offensive line's got to get a lot better.
Speaker 4: Whereas Washington, Yeah, the offensive line wasn't as good as
Speaker 4: it could have been last year, but they've made some
Speaker 4: new additions. There's some new guys in there. I think
Speaker 4: there's some optimism that it's going to be a good group.
Speaker 4: And obviously you're playing with a quarterback who knows how
Speaker 4: to get the ball out of his hands pretty quickly.
Speaker 4: It's going to be a spread out offense with Cliff Kingsbury.
Speaker 4: So I think it's yeah, I'm not Gonna. I had
Speaker 4: Drake may A's QB two going into this class. I
Speaker 4: can't sit here and say that from training camp of
Speaker 4: the preseason, I'd flip it or anything like that, but
Speaker 4: it is something that I'm excited to see these guys
Speaker 4: play in their environments because I'll tell you I had
Speaker 4: may QB two. But of the landing spots where Jade
Speaker 4: Daniels realistically could have gone, Washington was one of my
Speaker 4: favorite for the reasons of the fact that I think
Speaker 4: that they're all in on making sure that they get
Speaker 4: good playmakers over the next couple of years. Cliff Kingsbury,
Speaker 4: I think his offense naturally is a good ushering into
Speaker 4: the NFL and a transition depending on how long he's
Speaker 4: the offensive coordinator of this team. I don't think it
Speaker 4: really matters because this first year, I think it's going
Speaker 4: to be an easier transition for him because of Kingsbury's
Speaker 4: experience in college playing in a very spread out offense
Speaker 4: like Jayden played in last year at LSU. So this
Speaker 4: is a really good landing spot for him. And yeah,
Speaker 4: I think it's That's kind of how I would see
Speaker 4: these two situations, and it's just too where I'm excited
Speaker 4: to see how it plays out for both of them.
Speaker 2: Yeah, one hundred percent.
Speaker 1: And you know, like it's if you had to change
Speaker 1: your take after a couple preseason games, I've been like, man,
Speaker 1: like you weren't very vindicated in your in your college takes,
Speaker 1: right because there's nothing that you know, it takes sometimes
Speaker 1: years to kind of figure out who the right guys are.
Speaker 1: But you know, for Jade and Daniel specifically, this is
Speaker 1: a commander's show. Obviously, what's your expectation for him? You
Speaker 1: already alluded to kind of like situation, how you think
Speaker 1: it's good here, Like, like, what's what's what's a productive
Speaker 1: year for him in your in your estimation?
Speaker 4: Yeah, honestly, Like I think that I've seen some projections
Speaker 4: with him, you know, like throwing for over four thousand yards. Obviously,
Speaker 4: I think that that'd be an excellent season for him
Speaker 4: if he's able to do that. I think more realistic
Speaker 4: Somewhere between thirty five hundred and four thousand yards is
Speaker 4: probably more realistic for Jaden. But really, growth is what
Speaker 4: you want to see from him. I don't think that
Speaker 4: it's necessarily like, oh, if he hits a certain amount
Speaker 4: of touchdowns or something like that. It's just more of
Speaker 4: is the NFL game a little bit too much for him?
Speaker 4: And I don't think that that's going to be the case.
Speaker 4: Especially the little hints that I saw this preseason. I
Speaker 4: hope that those are building blocks going into the regular season.
Speaker 4: But really what you want to see from Jayden is
Speaker 4: and I think the Commanders are going to be a
Speaker 4: sneaky team this year. I think that they're going to win,
Speaker 4: you know, somewhere between. I think six games is a
Speaker 4: floor for this team, but I think they could win
Speaker 4: anywhere from eight to nine games, depending on how well
Speaker 4: these new players are able to adjust. But I'm a
Speaker 4: big dan Quinn believer. I think the Cowboys are going
Speaker 4: to take a little bit of a step back. So
Speaker 4: I think the number two team in this division is
Speaker 4: a lot closer than people are given a credit for
Speaker 4: with the Cowboys and the Commanders. I promise I'm not
Speaker 4: just saying.
Speaker 2: That I'm on a Commander's show.
Speaker 4: I really do. I'm a big dan Quinn guy. I've
Speaker 4: been waiting for him to get another chance as the
Speaker 4: head coach, so I'm excited for him. But going back
Speaker 4: to Jayden, as long as the second half of this season,
Speaker 4: he's playing his best ball, right think about I don't
Speaker 4: know if it's going to be quite what Jordan Love
Speaker 4: played with last year. Becauld Jordan Love turned into an
Speaker 4: elite quarterback, but Jordan Love was still trying to figure
Speaker 4: stuff out in the first half of that season, and
Speaker 4: then the second half of the season when that continue
Speaker 4: what he was there, he just just absolutely took off.
Speaker 4: So what you really want is you want a solid
Speaker 4: offensive output year for him. Again, I think anywhere from
Speaker 4: thirty five hundred to four thousand yards, especially in this offense,
Speaker 4: that would be a really good season for him, especially
Speaker 4: if you can say at the end of the season
Speaker 4: December he was starting to really play his best ball.
Speaker 2: Yeah, no, I totally agree.
Speaker 1: As long as he's showing some type of consistent maturation,
Speaker 1: I think everyone's going to feel very good about where
Speaker 1: he's at. And obviously the Commander's moving forward. All right,
Speaker 1: give me your surprise rookie standout for the Commanders. Is
Speaker 1: there a guy you're like, Oh, I really liked him,
Speaker 1: people are sleeping on him, anybody like that.
Speaker 4: So we've talked about a lot of guys already, But
Speaker 4: I'm going to go back to Luke McCaffrey. I was
Speaker 4: quickly impressed with McCaffrey when I saw him at the
Speaker 4: Senior Bowl and how he was able to play another
Speaker 4: dude that's just tough as nails man. And again, I
Speaker 4: don't know, this is just a hunch. I don't have
Speaker 4: any sort of insight information here, but I don't think
Speaker 4: you move on from Johan Dotson when you do if
Speaker 4: you don't think, hey, you know what, we got guys
Speaker 4: in the building that we don't mind giving a shot too.
Speaker 4: Maybe they don't think they don't think McCaffrey is going
Speaker 4: to win, like you know, first team All Rookie or something,
Speaker 4: but at least saying, hey, we like what we've seen
Speaker 4: enough from this guy to where we're going to give
Speaker 4: him a shot. And I remember McCaffrey went into college
Speaker 4: football playing quarterback. He was a quarterback for Nebraska before
Speaker 4: he ended up transferring over to playing wide receiver when
Speaker 4: he was at Rice. And so he's already so nuanced
Speaker 4: I think for the position. Obviously, his dad being a
Speaker 4: longtime Super Bowl champion Nfler, and you know his brother Christian, Yeah,
Speaker 4: not bad football player himself, but I think that you
Speaker 4: look at McCaffrey's game, and it's already so mature that
Speaker 4: there's a reason why they think, hey, we can get
Speaker 4: this guy on the field. I think he could produce
Speaker 4: for us. So if I had like a surprising rookie,
Speaker 4: or like a bold take for a rookie, I guess
Speaker 4: I don't know how bold this is, but like five
Speaker 4: six touchdowns for Luke McCaffery. You know, let's get him
Speaker 4: in a lineup. You know, I think that he's got
Speaker 4: the opportunity to be able to do it. I look
Speaker 4: at McLaurin, he's to do it all wide super for you.
Speaker 4: I think Diami Brown is a really nice vertical threat
Speaker 4: for you old maids. The keys gives you a little
Speaker 4: bit of flash and some quickness to you. But McCaffrey
Speaker 4: as that big slot receiver I think could be a
Speaker 4: little bit of a mismatch every single week. So I'll
Speaker 4: say McCaffrey has a pretty good year.
Speaker 2: I like that. I like that.
Speaker 1: Our producer just guy Jason's what we call him on
Speaker 1: the show. Jason Johnson's his full name anyway, because we're not,
Speaker 1: you know, besmirching Jason over here. But anyway, he's his
Speaker 1: ball prediction is that Mike Sanders still is Defensive Rookie
Speaker 1: of the Year. And what would you say to Jason
Speaker 1: Jason's take on that.
Speaker 4: There's Unfortunately for Jason, there's a lot of really good
Speaker 4: d dressers from this class, and when you get sacks
Speaker 4: as a rookie, it's so easy to win that award.
Speaker 4: One is so tough to win that award anyways, as
Speaker 4: a defensive back, you just have to get a lot
Speaker 4: of interceptions. But in order for Sandrastille to win it,
Speaker 4: in my opinion, the PFF grades would have to be
Speaker 4: pretty high because I think people would have to recognize
Speaker 4: him as a really good run defender and sometimes those
Speaker 4: are like tough stats, like you don't really have those games.
Speaker 4: So I think that he'd have to be recognized as
Speaker 4: a really good run defender and then he'd probably have
Speaker 4: to have something like four interceptions.
Speaker 2: That's what he said.
Speaker 4: That's right, So it's like, so I think that he
Speaker 4: could be in the conversation. The problem is, I think
Speaker 4: layout to lotso for the Colts is probably gonna get
Speaker 4: like ten sacks, and so like, if somebody gets ten
Speaker 4: sacks as a rookie, they're gonna win the Award or
Speaker 4: you know, Dallas Turner's gonna get a lot of opportunities
Speaker 4: for the Vikings, and so I love for Mike, you
Speaker 4: Sirius to win it. It's just I don't know it.
Speaker 4: It's always very tough for a corner.
Speaker 1: It's an uphill climb for sure. Trevor, thank you so
Speaker 1: much for joining us. We always appreciate your insight. Like
Speaker 1: I would try to pub or promo all the stuff
Speaker 1: you've got going on, but I just feel like every
Speaker 1: time I talk to you, there's something new going on.
Speaker 2: So I let you handle that.
Speaker 1: You got new shows, new things are doing, So where
Speaker 1: can people find you?
Speaker 4: Yeah, we got a new content lineup at PFF this
Speaker 4: year that we're really excited about. It starts on Mondays
Speaker 4: in the afternoon when we are doing a grades release show,
Speaker 4: and so instead of like a you know, just like okay,
Speaker 4: we're gonna it's the way that we basically review all
Speaker 4: the games that happened over this past weekend, but we
Speaker 4: do it by exclusively revealing the grades there on the
Speaker 4: show that people can tune into and watch, and so
Speaker 4: we'll reveal the grades and then we'll kind of talk
Speaker 4: about the performances and how the grades got to where
Speaker 4: they worse. So I'm excited about that one. We've got
Speaker 4: a lot of other short shows where we'll be highlighting rookies, quarterbacks,
Speaker 4: trench players, little individual shows throughout the week, and then
Speaker 4: obviously our previous shows that we do on Thursdays, we'll
Speaker 4: be doing those as well, so I'll be in for
Speaker 4: all those shows. So hopefully people don't get too sick
Speaker 4: of my face and my voice this season. But we're
Speaker 4: really excited about how we're covering the league this year.
Speaker 1: And are you still doing your draft show. I'm sure
Speaker 1: you're doing that as well.
Speaker 4: I am, yes, NFL Stockey Change is still rolling myself
Speaker 4: and Connor Rogers, So again, you know to your audience,
Speaker 4: anytime you ever want to turn the page figure out
Speaker 4: what twenty twenty five NFL Draft might have for the
Speaker 4: Washington Commanders, come hang out on the NFL Stockey Change podcast.
Speaker 1: Man's busy Man. We really appreciate making time for us,
Speaker 1: Thanks so much.
Speaker 4: Sure appreciate brothers anytime.