Speaker 1: From the King of sports Books comes the Key Sports
Speaker 1: podcast Unleashed, presented by the MGM. Here's your host, Jana's
Speaker 1: Pampas and Olivia Arlan Decker. Welcome to Unleashed, brought to
Speaker 1: you by bet MGM boy. The NBA playoffs are in
Speaker 1: full swing. What a good first round too. We've got
Speaker 1: a lot to talk about there, and the NFL Draft
Speaker 1: is finally here. If you're listening to this, it's probably
Speaker 1: Thursday morning. I hope you're on your way to work.
Speaker 1: I hope you are getting ready for all the action tonight.
Speaker 1: We are going to get you ready with our guest today,
Speaker 1: it's Connor Rogers from Bleacher Report and Pro Football Focus.
Speaker 1: Last week we had Mike Renner from Pro Football Focus.
Speaker 1: We got you covered. You can get all the insight.
Speaker 1: He's got a big board with over three players on it,
Speaker 1: ranking players by position. It's color coded, it's gorgeous. It's
Speaker 1: a work of art. He is going to help us
Speaker 1: get ready. And if you listen to our show, I
Speaker 1: assume that you already know this, but you can bet
Speaker 1: on the NFL Draft, and we're gonna get you set
Speaker 1: there too, because at the end of our show, as always,
Speaker 1: we bring in bet MGM betting expert Peter Andrew to
Speaker 1: guide you in the right direction there. This episode is
Speaker 1: very thorough. Guys, this one has got you covered. Honest.
Speaker 1: I just worry a little bit whenever we bring on
Speaker 1: an NFL guy. How many questions are you going to
Speaker 1: ask him about your giants? I think last week I
Speaker 1: asked all the questions that I had about the giants,
Speaker 1: So I don't want to be redundant, but it will
Speaker 1: come up. I will ask, but you know if he
Speaker 1: answers before I ask, all I need to know is
Speaker 1: are we getting some big boys? And that's it. We
Speaker 1: need some big boys. Everyone knows what we need. Last
Speaker 1: week we joked about it. Look, we may just have
Speaker 1: to go to all the Buffalo Wild Wings, all the
Speaker 1: restaurants where all the big eaters go, and just pull
Speaker 1: someone out of their chair and throw them in front
Speaker 1: of Daniel Jones. Whatever it's gonna take to give that
Speaker 1: guy a couple of seconds to throw to Shepherd. That's
Speaker 1: all we need. So give us some big boys. Baby. Now,
Speaker 1: you know, if you go to like any restaurant in
Speaker 1: the state of Wisconsin, we can find a couple of those.
Speaker 1: I know you like to poke fun. At Wisconsin, we
Speaker 1: don't get many meals. Yeah, look, male or female. I
Speaker 1: just came from Madison. Hey, I'm just saying I set
Speaker 1: you up. Yeah, you set me up for that. I mean,
Speaker 1: you know, we're America. We like to eat, so I mean,
Speaker 1: and I'm for gender equality. Whatever it takes. Just give
Speaker 1: me three pounds and put it on the line. Ye,
Speaker 1: who's your cousin? He said, might be available, Vasili vasili,
Speaker 1: But you know, like we said, I don't know. I
Speaker 1: don't know if his lungs could handle it. But look,
Speaker 1: if need be, I'm in New York. I like to eat.
Speaker 1: I'll blow up and put a helmet on me. Throw
Speaker 1: me out there. I'll pretend you're pregnant. Maybe we'll both
Speaker 1: go on the line. Hey, now you've crossed it, that
Speaker 1: I've crossed the line. Yeah, pun intended. Pun intended about
Speaker 1: going on the line because I crossed it. Oh God,
Speaker 1: you're lucky Sam's out here. He'd throw a swing at
Speaker 1: that one. I'm just saying, I remember what it's like
Speaker 1: to be pregnant. Not me personally, but I remember my wife.
Speaker 1: She definitely like to eat a little bit. This is
Speaker 1: your time to eat. This is your time to eat
Speaker 1: and not be And you know what, you haven't eating
Speaker 1: at all. You look great. You're trying so hard. You're
Speaker 1: digging out of that hole, aren't you. I'm doing what
Speaker 1: they call damage control. I am my own publicist right now.
Speaker 1: You're honest here, do you want to go right into
Speaker 1: bad beat? Yeah? Well, now, while I'm trying to dig
Speaker 1: myself out of this hole, I basically saying Olivia is
Speaker 1: eating too much. Bad Beat of the Weak. Let's talk
Speaker 1: about someone who suffered a tough loss this week. His
Speaker 1: name is Tim Tronzo. He's the winner of our bad
Speaker 1: Beat of the week. He had a same game parlay
Speaker 1: with the Vegas Nights San Jose Sharks that looked like
Speaker 1: it was about to cash big. Vegas had a two
Speaker 1: goal lead with two minutes to go, six seconds left
Speaker 1: in regulation, and that's when things went downhill. Vegas let
Speaker 1: up two goals, including the time goal with less than
Speaker 1: a second left, then lost one doughnut in the shootout.
Speaker 1: Bad news for your bet, my friend. But good news, Timmy.
Speaker 1: The good news is you are the winner of our
Speaker 1: bad Beat of the week and you are getting one
Speaker 1: hundred dollars in bet MGM site credit coming straight to you,
Speaker 1: my friend. So hopefully that eases the pain a little bit.
Speaker 1: I hope you can. It rubs a little Icy Hot
Speaker 1: on it for you. Not promoted, just say now, yeah,
Speaker 1: I hate when I give a company free promore. Don't
Speaker 1: do that. Yeah, send us money, Icy Hot, you give
Speaker 1: shock enough. Put in your venmo right here. Yeah, I'll
Speaker 1: put my venmo right there. Icy Hot sent it to
Speaker 1: my account. Now there's last week. Want to talk about
Speaker 1: this week? From fans running on the court to Ben
Speaker 1: Simmons staying off the court. So, Olivia, you know what
Speaker 1: it is. It's time for Rush to unleaved. It's time
Speaker 1: to unleash. I wanted to do that understated. I love
Speaker 1: every week to do that different. That was understated. Oh
Speaker 1: that was understated. You know what's not understated is my
Speaker 1: opinion on this last week. I unleashed on the Celtics
Speaker 1: fans who I thought were out of line to Kyrie
Speaker 1: Irvan and might have deserved the double bird. I didn't
Speaker 1: so much say that, but it was kind of implied.
Speaker 1: So I'm not encouraging bad behavior, but I just thought
Speaker 1: there are a couple of Bostonians who might have deserved it.
Speaker 1: And it's happening again this week in other sports. What
Speaker 1: is going on? We have fans going absolutely crazy, running
Speaker 1: on the court, getting into it with players. And then
Speaker 1: when I just tapped out when I saw this had
Speaker 1: gone too far, was someone instigating it with Mike Tyson
Speaker 1: on an airplane. So first of all, we had, I
Speaker 1: believe our third protesters stormed the court at a Timberwolves game,
Speaker 1: And if you aren't familiar, their whole stick is. It's
Speaker 1: a group of animal rights activists who have an issue
Speaker 1: with the chicken farm that the Timberwolves owner, Glenn Taylor owns,
Speaker 1: and the way the farm killed chickens who had a
Speaker 1: bird flew outbreak. The organization deems it an ethical and
Speaker 1: I'm not taking a side on either of that. I'm
Speaker 1: not touching that one with a ten foot poll because
Speaker 1: those animal rights activists are very passionate group of people.
Speaker 1: And these protesters have glued themselves to the court, handcuffed
Speaker 1: themselves to the hoop, and most recently, one dressed as
Speaker 1: a referee and her plan was to eject Glenn Taylor
Speaker 1: from the game. Now points for creativity, it's clever, it's ballsy.
Speaker 1: That was until she got tackled and ejected by arena security.
Speaker 1: You just you can't make the shift up. Then there
Speaker 1: was an incident at the Yankees game on Sunday. Cleveland
Speaker 1: Guardians outfielder Stephen Kuan crushed into the outfield wall trying
Speaker 1: to make a catch right. Fans started yelling while he
Speaker 1: was getting checked on, and you know, make sure he
Speaker 1: was okay. His teammate outfield or Miles Straw came to
Speaker 1: his defense. But boy, that's when things got interesting as
Speaker 1: Straw climbed the outfield wall and had words with fans.
Speaker 1: So after the Yankees hit a walk off for the win,
Speaker 1: the fans just pelted the field with garbage and bottles
Speaker 1: and all the like. I gotta say it was a
Speaker 1: very ugly, embarrassing scene. After the game, Straw called the
Speaker 1: Yankees fans classless in the worst fan base on the planet.
Speaker 1: And Jannie, that's your team, that's your squad. Were you there?
Speaker 1: I was not there. I am highly disappointed in the
Speaker 1: Yankee fan base. Jesus, I'm sure brutal. You've got to
Speaker 1: be though, that's so, that's so embarrassing. Yeah, and this
Speaker 1: is like coming on the heels of the Boston incident.
Speaker 1: With Kyrie. I think I unleashed last week on Boston fans,
Speaker 1: and this is karma coming back to haunt me because
Speaker 1: this was much uglier than what Kyrie was dealing with.
Speaker 1: So I have no excuse. I gotta say, Yankee fans
Speaker 1: can be horrible, especially those Bleacher monsters back there. You know.
Speaker 1: It's not making a good case for drinking at games. No,
Speaker 1: And that's the whole thing about baseball games. They're so long,
Speaker 1: they're usually you know, in the middle of the day,
Speaker 1: you're with all your boys, you're having a good time.
Speaker 1: Like I only go to baseball games to drink. I
Speaker 1: don't really enjoy baseball's sport. I've been very honest about that.
Speaker 1: I like sitting in the sun and having a beer,
Speaker 1: but I would never throw my trash at a player.
Speaker 1: And do you remember, like after COVID, when fans were
Speaker 1: allowed back at games and no one knew how to
Speaker 1: act right. Every woman crazy at games, college games, pro games, everything.
Speaker 1: There were all these fan incidents. But this weekend has
Speaker 1: gotten really bad. But the craziest thing I've seen involving
Speaker 1: a fan was up in the air. We got our
Speaker 1: maskless privileges back, So everyone should just got our face
Speaker 1: priges back. We could go raw daddy, now we can
Speaker 1: breathe raw daddy. We should all be celebrating, like this
Speaker 1: is what we've been wanting for two years. But instead,
Speaker 1: someone on a Jet Blue flight turned it into a
Speaker 1: Jet Blue fight. As there was video and pictures of
Speaker 1: a passenger who got into it with Mike Tyson. Mike Tyson,
Speaker 1: who is a character and itself, let alone a champ,
Speaker 1: just don't mess with the man. It's like poking a bear.
Speaker 1: It's literally poking a bear or so. Yeah, he threw
Speaker 1: a water bottle at him, and all of a sudden,
Speaker 1: ironed Mike cat enough and we got the real life
Speaker 1: Mike Tyson's punch out. And I just think this guy
Speaker 1: had it coming. One of my favorite musicals, you honest,
Speaker 1: you know I'm a big musical theater Junkie is Chicago
Speaker 1: and one of my favorite songs in it is he
Speaker 1: had it coming. And this guy did this was crazy.
Speaker 1: I don't feel bad for him at all, Like, don't
Speaker 1: do that, talk about someone who probably had a few, Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: put them all in time out ground him. It's this
Speaker 1: is really I think I'm hoping this is all post pandemic.
Speaker 1: Just kind of pent up people have. You know, they've
Speaker 1: been on break from being socialized and we're getting back
Speaker 1: into society. And this ends soon because I don't think
Speaker 1: it's a coincidence that these are all happening back to
Speaker 1: back to back to back. Hopefully this dies down. Do
Speaker 1: not do not provoke Mike Tyson if you see him
Speaker 1: out there. He's a retired boxer. He's all chilled out now.
Speaker 1: He likes to smoke weed. He's like Confucius all the
Speaker 1: time on Twitter doing you know, tweeting all these sages tweets.
Speaker 1: But make zero mistake about it. He's a kid from Brownsville, Brooklyn,
Speaker 1: and if you keep pressing him, you're gonna find out.
Speaker 1: Active full round Tyson, You're gonna find out. So there's
Speaker 1: nobody who's siding with that kid. And and the common
Speaker 1: theme everyone who's been harassing these athletes are drunk. So
Speaker 1: let's just legalize marijuana and that's it. They should only
Speaker 1: serve marijuana at these games and it'll be chilled out. Yeah,
Speaker 1: except baseball, where where maybe they should give them riddling
Speaker 1: or cocaine just to make it exciting. Can you imagine
Speaker 1: I'm joking I'm bet, I'm gm I'm joking. I know
Speaker 1: this this I'm going I'm crossing the line of the play.
Speaker 1: I'm really I'm dancing on the wire. Yes, okay, that's
Speaker 1: that's why they hired you. Right, Let's let's talk about
Speaker 1: Ben Simmons a little bit. Everyone's talking about it, but
Speaker 1: I want to throw my two cents into the pot
Speaker 1: because my take is a little different. I think what
Speaker 1: we have here is another example of the spell that
Speaker 1: dating of the Kardashians can put on you. I don't
Speaker 1: know what is going on, but any time any one
Speaker 1: of these athletes comes in contact with one of those women,
Speaker 1: their lives in their careers just fall apart. I mean
Speaker 1: it seems like they love like guys who are like
Speaker 1: borderline role players, emerging as stars the Tristan's, you know,
Speaker 1: and then they just fall apart. Ben Simmons was a star,
Speaker 1: but now he's scared to play. I don't know what
Speaker 1: is going on. I don't know what kind of which
Speaker 1: powers these ladies have, but I think it has something
Speaker 1: to do with what's going on with Ben Simmons. Now
Speaker 1: you know how much I hate Boston, all right, I'm
Speaker 1: a New York Yankees fan, it's just part of the tradition.
Speaker 1: But I gotta say congrats to the Celtics for taking
Speaker 1: out the brooms and sweeping KD and Kyrie. This has
Speaker 1: got to be embarrassing for Katie and Kyrie. I mean,
Speaker 1: let's just think about it. One guy is talked about
Speaker 1: as being better than Lebron. The other guy thinks he
Speaker 1: doesn't need Lebron and that's why he left. This is
Speaker 1: not a good look. This is not a good look
Speaker 1: for that argument. Look, I know they had a lot
Speaker 1: of problems this season. They weren't on the court at
Speaker 1: the same time for a lot of the season, and
Speaker 1: everyone's familiar with the Kyrie not playing the first thirty
Speaker 1: seven games. Then the organization says you can't play on
Speaker 1: the road either if you can't play at home, and
Speaker 1: then of course Harden didn't work out and Ben Simmons.
Speaker 1: But still, when you have a healthy Katie and Kyrie
Speaker 1: on the court, you're expecting they're gonna not get swept
Speaker 1: at least. So this is a bad, bad look. But
Speaker 1: let's focus in on Betty Simmons. I mean, it's really
Speaker 1: become a joke on the internet now that everyone's joining
Speaker 1: in going he's gonna be ready for Game one on seven,
Speaker 1: He's gonna be ready for game one in the season
Speaker 1: of I mean, who knows. He's getting paid a lot
Speaker 1: of money. Think it's over a hundred million dollars and
Speaker 1: he just says his back hurts or whatever. Nobody knows
Speaker 1: what's going on. He was supposed to be ready for
Speaker 1: Game four and all he is is out there in
Speaker 1: an outfit looking like he's sitting He's it's fashion. It
Speaker 1: just looks like he's just sitting there in fashion week.
Speaker 1: He's getting ripped by everybody. I don't know what is
Speaker 1: going on with Ben Simmons, but I think we need
Speaker 1: to really start looking at the Kardashians and try to
Speaker 1: find out. There needs to be an NBA rule put
Speaker 1: into effect where if you are an athlete in the NBA,
Speaker 1: you cannot date a Kardashian. It's got to go in
Speaker 1: the contract. It has to go in the contract. This
Speaker 1: is the third NBA player we've seen who just falls
Speaker 1: apart after they come in contact with those witches. So enough, Okay,
Speaker 1: Halloween's over, go watch hocus Pocus instead. That's my advice
Speaker 1: to any NBA play here. I really crossed the line
Speaker 1: this episode. I just called him witches, but why not?
Speaker 1: I have no explanation for this other than a spell.
Speaker 1: I mean, can you explain what's going on with Ben Simmons?
Speaker 1: What injury can he have that is keeping him off
Speaker 1: the court this long? There's no conceivable injury. There's nothing.
Speaker 1: Be honest, I cannot tell you that. I'm not a doctor,
Speaker 1: but I am a spectator with a lot of opinions.
Speaker 1: And I do think if he wants to dial down
Speaker 1: the negative convo around him, he should just wear something
Speaker 1: so normal to these games. He's drawing so much more
Speaker 1: attention in for dressing so extravagantly and sitting on the
Speaker 1: bench and watching his team lose, And I think sportsmanship
Speaker 1: that just kind of looks bad. It's just a bad look, Like,
Speaker 1: just show up, man, if you're not gonna play, just
Speaker 1: show up and don't cause any more attention. And I
Speaker 1: don't know where your team issued sweats, I don't know.
Speaker 1: Don't wear all that nonsense. It's bad luck, I think.
Speaker 1: But good unleashed boy. You hit on like five different
Speaker 1: points there. I was taking notes and drawing a diagram.
Speaker 1: It is I'm telling you, this is the weirdest story
Speaker 1: in sports that I can remember. It just doesn't make
Speaker 1: any sense. So that's why I'm saying. It's got to
Speaker 1: be a curse put on him by those witches. That's
Speaker 1: all I'm saying. I kind of hope none of the
Speaker 1: Kardashians listen to our show. We don't know, We have
Speaker 1: yet to confirm. You know, what can you do? And
Speaker 1: next thing you know, I'm going to divorce my wife
Speaker 1: and I'm gonna be sitting on the bench on this podcast.
Speaker 1: Your comedy career would go downhill. If that is what
Speaker 1: would happen. Oh my gosh, Well that was good. Hey,
Speaker 1: let's get back to NFL Draft. Let's leave the NBA
Speaker 1: alone for a minute. Let's leave the Kardashians alone for
Speaker 1: a minute, and let's get into the draft and bring
Speaker 1: on Connor Rodgers. Okay, let's bring in our guest on
Speaker 1: the eve of the NFL Draft. He's made as my
Speaker 1: draft and checked it twice, probably a couple more times.
Speaker 1: The host of NFL Stock Exchange for Pro Football Focused
Speaker 1: and lead draft analyst for Bleacher Report, Connor Rogers is here. Connor,
Speaker 1: thanks for joining, Thanks so much for having me. Happy
Speaker 1: to be here, happy to rip up that mock draft
Speaker 1: at least eight more times before Thursday in the countdown
Speaker 1: goes on the clock. So here we go, right, And
Speaker 1: not only that, I feel like everyone's going to be
Speaker 1: ripping up their mock draft when it's all said and done,
Speaker 1: because no one seems that confident in their draft picks.
Speaker 1: How confident are you in your mock draft? Oh, this
Speaker 1: is the worst year I can remember, honestly, because it
Speaker 1: starts at number one, right. I think that's the hardest thing.
Speaker 1: For so long I was set on Aidan Hutchinson going
Speaker 1: first overall in this draft, and you know, for the
Speaker 1: longest time I kind of put aside the Trayvon Walker
Speaker 1: rumors and now it's you have to buy in a
Speaker 1: little bit. So I think the unpredictable nature of the
Speaker 1: number one overall pick kind of sets everything else in line.
Speaker 1: The good thing is it's going to be some kind
Speaker 1: of combination at one and two, whether it's Walker first
Speaker 1: and hutch second or reversed. And then after that is
Speaker 1: where it gets really fun. The drafts in vegases year,
Speaker 1: which gives it, of course an extra layer of excitement.
Speaker 1: But if you were given an all access pass to
Speaker 1: any team's draft room this year. Who's would it be.
Speaker 1: It's a great question, and I think it has to
Speaker 1: be one of the two New York teams right just
Speaker 1: because it's unprecedented to see a two teams picked twice
Speaker 1: in the top ten and two teams that really gotta
Speaker 1: get it right. And I know that's kind of cliche
Speaker 1: to say. You have the Giants starting with the new
Speaker 1: regime and Joe Shane, I think they'll be a little
Speaker 1: bit more flexible in terms of willing to move one
Speaker 1: of the two picks to get later capital for two
Speaker 1: thousand twenty three if that opportunity presents itself. And then
Speaker 1: a New York Jets football team that has to start
Speaker 1: winning games under Joe Douglas. He's done a nice job
Speaker 1: making trades, he's done a nice job acquiring the picks,
Speaker 1: but none of that matters if you're constantly losing on
Speaker 1: the field. So they know how much four in ten
Speaker 1: means to them. There's a lot of different combinations that
Speaker 1: both of those teams can go. So I would love
Speaker 1: to see the arguments between the offensive staff, the defensive staff,
Speaker 1: and the front office evaluators in both those war rooms
Speaker 1: right now. Connor you have picked a bone here with you, honest,
Speaker 1: good one. Got a Giants fan on our hands, yeah,
Speaker 1: we do. But first, I definitely want to focus on
Speaker 1: the Jets because they've had four top ten picks in
Speaker 1: two years, Zach Wilson, Barrett Tucker, four picks in the
Speaker 1: top forty this year? Are they running out of excuses?
Speaker 1: The Jets? I mean, should they just should they be
Speaker 1: sent down like they do in soccer in Europe? I mean,
Speaker 1: they gotta get it done right, and this is the relegation.
Speaker 1: Is that the relegation? It's God, it's tough. Yeah, that's
Speaker 1: how most of us know it, right, man, it's crazy, right.
Speaker 1: I mean, I think the reason why they're selling themselves
Speaker 1: on some hope is that Robert Salis still knew there.
Speaker 1: But I'm Joe Douglas's terms. The first draft does not
Speaker 1: look good. The second draft it's early returns. But that
Speaker 1: one does look good. And it's all gonna matter what
Speaker 1: happens with Zach Wilson, So every other pick that it
Speaker 1: looks like a hit, it's still gonna focus on the quarterback.
Speaker 1: I mean, you're right, you gotta get this right. And
Speaker 1: it's not just four in ten it's thirty five and
Speaker 1: thirty eight. Those don't need to be developmental players, don't
Speaker 1: need those need to be two starters. Whether they get
Speaker 1: better at safety, lin acker, wherever it may be, they
Speaker 1: need to upgrade at starter level positions, not deaf pieces.
Speaker 1: So they need to hit on not just day one,
Speaker 1: but on day two as well. And with the Giants,
Speaker 1: I mean, I'm hearing they want an offensive tackle at five,
Speaker 1: but maybe trade back at ten. They need more assets.
Speaker 1: They're in salary cap hell, the worst in the league.
Speaker 1: What are you predicting they do? Maybe not with that
Speaker 1: first pick, but that second. Yeah, I feel like this
Speaker 1: is uh, you know, jenxing myself by saying this, But
Speaker 1: I feel like they're actually one of the more easier
Speaker 1: teams to figure out in terms of at least the
Speaker 1: position groups. They want to go at five, it's gonna
Speaker 1: be the best offensive lineman available now, whether Ikey Aquanu
Speaker 1: is gone, Evan Neil is gone, that it'll be Charles Cross.
Speaker 1: I think one of the two are there. I don't
Speaker 1: think it will be there. I don't think he makes
Speaker 1: it pass the Jets at four, maybe the Texans at three.
Speaker 1: I think the Giants would love to have Evan Neil
Speaker 1: from Alabama at five, and then once again that consolation
Speaker 1: prize being Charles Cross That is not a bad consolation prize.
Speaker 1: So they're kind of zoned in on getting an offensive
Speaker 1: lineman who will play on the right side, Andrew Thomas
Speaker 1: will stay on the left side. Then you look at
Speaker 1: that other pick and you're absolutely right, they're gonna answer
Speaker 1: the phones. They're gonna look at if anyone wants to
Speaker 1: come up jump Atlanta for the first wide receiver to
Speaker 1: come off the board. Maybe we have the shock of
Speaker 1: the draft and a quarterback sneaks in that top ten.
Speaker 1: We'll see about that. But if they can't get out
Speaker 1: of that pick or they don't like the offers on
Speaker 1: the table, I think they're looking at the cornerbacks something
Speaker 1: on defensively, Sauce Gardner at corner. I think Derek Stingley
Speaker 1: is a little bit more of a long shot. Jermaine Johnson,
Speaker 1: the pass rusher from Florida State, that would be his
Speaker 1: range at well. Maybe a Cabon Thibodeau slide begins and
Speaker 1: the Giants are willing to end that slide. But Sauce
Speaker 1: Gardner would be the top player I would project in
Speaker 1: that spot. He's a scheme fit with Wink Martindale, and
Speaker 1: he's a top ten overall player in this draft. So
Speaker 1: you're saying the Giants you're gonna do good. I mean,
Speaker 1: you know, I appreciate that they're gonna have a word.
Speaker 1: That all you heard, that's all I hear. I look,
Speaker 1: I hear what I want to hear when it comes
Speaker 1: to the Giants. That's just how it goes every year.
Speaker 1: It starts off optimistic. Me and my wife we put
Speaker 1: on all our Giants attire and then we burn it
Speaker 1: halfway through the year. So yeah, it's it's what we
Speaker 1: do every year. But halfway through the year is pretty good.
Speaker 1: I mean for me, I grew up in a Jets
Speaker 1: household and we don't usually make it halfway through the year.
Speaker 1: So take that one and run with it. Yeah, okay,
Speaker 1: Well you're right. The only people who I feel worse
Speaker 1: for a Jets fans. So, I mean, it's been bad
Speaker 1: New York. We you know, the Giants have one recently,
Speaker 1: So I feel worse for you. That's that's rough being
Speaker 1: a Jets fan. Yeah. New York football is in a
Speaker 1: special place right now, and I know the Bills are
Speaker 1: in New York. But it's just not it's just not
Speaker 1: New York football to us. You know, down in the
Speaker 1: New York City area, they're in their own universe. Nothing
Speaker 1: against Buffalo, but they don't count as New York football
Speaker 1: being successful. Now they're Canadian. I consider them. They didn't
Speaker 1: know how that worked. I'm in Midwestern I didn't know
Speaker 1: how you New York people decipher. Your team's very complicated.
Speaker 1: And I mean the Jets and Giants play in New Jersey,
Speaker 1: so that's the Buffalo fans rebuttal to them being not
Speaker 1: a New York team. The bottom line is nothing. It
Speaker 1: hasn't been good for the Jets and Giants. Seriously, the
Speaker 1: credit to the Bills fans has been very, very good
Speaker 1: for them. Yeah, it's true. Let's talk quarterback. Is Kenny
Speaker 1: Pickt the safe play if you were drafting the quarterback
Speaker 1: and see the most NFL ready? Yeah, I mean the
Speaker 1: problem is how far does that get you? Right? Honestly,
Speaker 1: when you look at it, it's just a matter of
Speaker 1: is he on the tier of last year's guys Lawrence Wilson, Fields,
Speaker 1: Lance and even Mac Jones. He's not even there, right,
Speaker 1: So it's a matter of you could draft him, you
Speaker 1: could play him now. He's an older prospect to believe
Speaker 1: will be a twenty four year old rookie. Use that
Speaker 1: pit for a long time, and to his credit, he
Speaker 1: figured out, I just see the ceiling. With Kenny Pickett,
Speaker 1: everything works out. You love everything around him, you love
Speaker 1: what he's done, and come in and thrive and understad
Speaker 1: of the offense. As Derek Carr, who's fine. There's nothing
Speaker 1: wrong with Derek Carr. But how many times do you
Speaker 1: hear a guy get drafted as the first quarterback off
Speaker 1: the board in the draft and everybody says the end
Speaker 1: of the spectrum that everybody's celebrating at is Derek Carr.
Speaker 1: They usually like to throw comps of Rogers, Mahomes, crazy
Speaker 1: things like that. So he's a fine player. He's not
Speaker 1: your traditional first round quarterback, but he is the high
Speaker 1: floor of the quarterback class this year. Yeah, but a
Speaker 1: lot of people still like Molik Willis to go before him.
Speaker 1: He's got a cannon, He's a dual threat. He might
Speaker 1: have more upside, may not be as ready. How do
Speaker 1: you think his skills translate to the NFL? Or is
Speaker 1: he kind of a project? The traits are incredible. He's
Speaker 1: got a big arm, he's got a thick build that
Speaker 1: he can take on hits when he wants to be
Speaker 1: a runner. He's got really good vision as a runner.
Speaker 1: It's very underrated. He can make every throw. We all
Speaker 1: know that, I think, and this is the case for
Speaker 1: all these guys. It's not just Maliqu Willis. It's Desmon
Speaker 1: rit Or, it's Sam how it's Matt Corrall elevated. They
Speaker 1: need to start throwing with anticipation. They need to get
Speaker 1: comfortable working through progressions over and over again. Not just
Speaker 1: to play here, a play there. Malik Willison needs seasoning,
Speaker 1: He needs to marinate a little bit, and a lot
Speaker 1: of these guys do. But Malik is the home run
Speaker 1: swing in this class right if you're getting up to bat,
Speaker 1: and home run swings are what keep jobs. Joe Burrow
Speaker 1: obviously was number one overall pick. But the guys you've
Speaker 1: seen the playoffs are Josh Allen, Joe Burrow, Patrick Mahomes.
Speaker 1: These are top tier premium quarterbacks. Those are the guys
Speaker 1: that are going to continuously be there. Lamar Jackson is
Speaker 1: going to be back there an m v P previous years.
Speaker 1: So when you look at it in that regard, Malik
Speaker 1: Willis needs time, but at least the end of the development,
Speaker 1: the highest point for him is a premium starter. How
Speaker 1: far back does your draft prep go? Do you like
Speaker 1: have a personal database notes on these guys going back years?
Speaker 1: I mean when do you start watching them from pre school?
Speaker 1: I mean, how do how do you do it? Yeah?
Speaker 1: So I start the end of May every single year
Speaker 1: like an absolute sick Oh. I have an Excel sheet
Speaker 1: in front of me that end of May, after the
Speaker 1: declarations and everything is cut to four seven players. I
Speaker 1: ranked about three hundred ten. So you start at the
Speaker 1: end of May. You gotta have a summer, like you
Speaker 1: have to have a summer at some point. I think
Speaker 1: my family doesn't see me enough as it is. So
Speaker 1: you try to get fifty to a hundred done over
Speaker 1: the summer. And those are the premium guys. Those are
Speaker 1: maybe the top seniors that you know are in the draft,
Speaker 1: the juniors that are gonna declare barring an injury or
Speaker 1: a meltdown kind of season. So if you can go
Speaker 1: into the fall over youse, give yourself three months to
Speaker 1: go through fifty to a hundred players, you have a
Speaker 1: good baseline. You obviously go through it throughout the entire season.
Speaker 1: December is full throttle. December is where you're trying to
Speaker 1: get this thing up to. Obviously three hundred players ranked
Speaker 1: all the way throughout the spring, and that's the end result.
Speaker 1: It is, uh, almost a year round. I would say
Speaker 1: eleven months. Come, Jean. If you did hear him say
Speaker 1: before we started recording that he has a girlfriend. I'm
Speaker 1: not so sure now that I've heard your schedule. Are
Speaker 1: you shirk on her? Does she exist? We'll see after
Speaker 1: the draft. We'll see after the draft. This is the
Speaker 1: third draft she's been through with me, so we're at
Speaker 1: the point where it's like, you know, we know what,
Speaker 1: we know what this is. It's absolute mayhem and then
Speaker 1: and then may I'm a human again. For a couple
Speaker 1: of weeks right between your met s obsession and the draft,
Speaker 1: you're just you're a busy man, my man. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: keep him busy. I'd go crazy if I didn't. It's
Speaker 1: some are slow. I'll admit that. Some are slow. It's
Speaker 1: that's a good good life of being an NFL draft
Speaker 1: analysts full time. Right? Did you draft her first round?
Speaker 1: Second round? Your girlfriend? What did her look like? Number
Speaker 1: one overall pick is the safest answer you can give
Speaker 1: you if you give anything else in that you're in
Speaker 1: dear deep trouble here. Okay, it's not a Kenny Pickett
Speaker 1: high floor. It's not a Malique Willis long term trade.
Speaker 1: I like that. This is the Blue Ship Prospect generational whole.
Speaker 1: I'm picturing your Valentine's card saying that too. This is
Speaker 1: getting very sappy. This is Yeah, she's at work today.
Speaker 1: I'm working from home. She won't know about this podcast,
Speaker 1: so you will. Speaking of number one overall pick. No
Speaker 1: one knows who the Jags are taking their GM. Trent
Speaker 1: Balky said this week that they're down to four players.
Speaker 1: Now what I hear when I hear him make that
Speaker 1: public comment is that they're trying to lure someone to
Speaker 1: trade up, that they're not married to anyone at that
Speaker 1: top spot. But I'm also hearing that not a lot
Speaker 1: of teams are looking to move up. What are you
Speaker 1: reading between the lines from Jacksonville? And they're gonna have
Speaker 1: to make a choice, And I really do believe they're divided,
Speaker 1: and it's almost unheard of, right, I mean, how many
Speaker 1: times do you get to seventy two hours before the
Speaker 1: draft and you look at it and you go out,
Speaker 1: we don't know who we're gonna take, And maybe they
Speaker 1: do internally, but a lot of the things I hear
Speaker 1: is that it's truly torn. You have a GM that's
Speaker 1: infatuated with a player like Travi on Walker that is
Speaker 1: all projection. The college production was not the typical makeup
Speaker 1: of forget and number one overall, pick a top five,
Speaker 1: top ten pick. Then you have an owner that understandably
Speaker 1: he is reading everything and everybody's saying, take Adan Hutchinson.
Speaker 1: It's the safest thing on the board. And then he's
Speaker 1: probably sitting there going why aren't we taking Adian Hutchinson?
Speaker 1: And then you have a Super Bowl winning offensive coach
Speaker 1: that watched the film from last year and goes, this
Speaker 1: offense is horrific. We need maybe a tackle or something
Speaker 1: like that. So I really think they're divided. I don't
Speaker 1: usually buy into things like that that's close to the draft,
Speaker 1: but I think they're divided. At the end of the day,
Speaker 1: the GM is the one with the roster control, which
Speaker 1: is why Treyvon Walker is the big time favorite to
Speaker 1: go number one overall. Right now, how about the Lions
Speaker 1: at number two? Last week we had Mike renneran he
Speaker 1: told us he thinks they're taking a quarterback Malik Williams
Speaker 1: from Liberty. Obviously his level of competition, it's hard to judge.
Speaker 1: What do you think about Malik Willis? How do you
Speaker 1: think his game will translate in the NFL? And you
Speaker 1: think that the Lions are gonna take him? I think
Speaker 1: it's gonna take some time, right, he really does need
Speaker 1: that season. And I think when it's all said and done,
Speaker 1: in the right situation, if he goes to a Pittsburgh
Speaker 1: Steelers and sits behind Strabisky, they got weapons, they got
Speaker 1: Nasey Harris, that's a situation where he can succeed. Now,
Speaker 1: I don't think he goes number two overall to the lines.
Speaker 1: I think the lines are sitting there essentially playing the
Speaker 1: game of Traymont Walker goes number one, we will sprint
Speaker 1: in the Aidan Hutchinson card. I think they've felt that
Speaker 1: way going back all the way to November or December. Guys. Now,
Speaker 1: if Aidan Hutchinson goes number one, I think they'll gladly
Speaker 1: take a Trayvon Walker level player and just say we
Speaker 1: need to build a defense. I think what a lot
Speaker 1: of people don't realize is and people don't have to
Speaker 1: agree with this. I maybe I don't. They do like
Speaker 1: Jared Goff. They're not scrambling at quarterback, whether that's right
Speaker 1: or whether that's wrong. They're paying him a lot of money,
Speaker 1: at least for this year. This is not a good
Speaker 1: quarterback class. Taking one at number two is gonna be
Speaker 1: a reach, no matter how you slice it, for what
Speaker 1: a guy is now or for what he could be.
Speaker 1: And there's no job security issues there. They're on five
Speaker 1: year deals there in year number two. They could be
Speaker 1: bad again this year and they're still gonna get the
Speaker 1: draft next year in a much better quarterback class. So
Speaker 1: I don't think they take Malik Willis. I think they're
Speaker 1: gonna take a defensive, you know, trenches kind of player
Speaker 1: to build on their foundation and the look to move
Speaker 1: on from golf maybe after this season. Now, that was
Speaker 1: a pretty hot take from Mike Renner last week. So
Speaker 1: I've got to ask you, what is some wild prediction,
Speaker 1: some hot take you have for this draft. Wow, Well,
Speaker 1: I think I don't know if this is even a
Speaker 1: hot take anymore. I think the run on wide receivers.
Speaker 1: I think we're gonna have five go between about picks
Speaker 1: eight through fifteen, which is an unheard of run on
Speaker 1: wide receivers. That's just essentially wide receiver after wide receiver.
Speaker 1: You have Atlanta at eight. I think the Eagles would
Speaker 1: like to come up from fifteen if they can. That's
Speaker 1: always gonna be a little difficult. The Jets at ten
Speaker 1: are looking at wide receiver, Washington at Elevin is looking
Speaker 1: at wide receiver. You just go down this s board
Speaker 1: these teams, the Texans at thirteen and it goes back
Speaker 1: to the even the Saints at sixteen, and they have
Speaker 1: two first round picks now, so they're looking at wide receivers.
Speaker 1: So I think that's one that people keep comfortably thinking.
Speaker 1: One will be there for Green Bay at twenty two,
Speaker 1: or one will be there, you know, at twenty eight
Speaker 1: or twenty nine for the Chiefs. If you want one,
Speaker 1: you better be in the top fifteen because I think
Speaker 1: the run is going to get absolutely crazy. And then
Speaker 1: the last one is I think Trevor Penning is going
Speaker 1: a lot earlier than wherever people have him right now,
Speaker 1: which is crazy. And FCS tackle a little bit older
Speaker 1: of a prospect, a great athlete, but another guy that
Speaker 1: needs some development. I think the demand for offensive tackles
Speaker 1: is so high that we're gonna see three and the
Speaker 1: guys who talked about earlier at Kwanu Cross Neil, they're
Speaker 1: gonna go in the top seven picks of this draft,
Speaker 1: and that's gonna push Penning up potentially into the top
Speaker 1: sixteen of this draft. I've got to ask, speaking of
Speaker 1: wide receiver, and this is kind of not a wide receiver,
Speaker 1: what does he call himself a running receiver, a wide back?
Speaker 1: Deebo Samuel. There's a lot of news and we are
Speaker 1: recording this Tuesday morning. Something may be wrapped up by
Speaker 1: Thursday of him wanting out of San fran But John
Speaker 1: Lynch says he doesn't imagine trading Deebo Samuel. Do you
Speaker 1: think this week we will see some action. We saw
Speaker 1: the video of him at the club saying he doesn't
Speaker 1: want to stay. What would be a good fit for
Speaker 1: Diebo Samuel? Well, when it comes down to it, there
Speaker 1: are really three teams I think that you've see in play.
Speaker 1: Maybe or it starts with the Jets because they have
Speaker 1: the most draft capital out of everyone in the money Olivia.
Speaker 1: It's so hard this time of year to move a
Speaker 1: guy that is getting twenty million dollars a year because
Speaker 1: everybody spent their money already, they're spending. Spree is gone.
Speaker 1: Nobody has cap space left. There's only a handful of
Speaker 1: teams that do. Then that team has to have the
Speaker 1: draft capital to convince the Niners to move him. So
Speaker 1: when these things come up so late in the off season,
Speaker 1: it's not good for anybody to be completely honest with you.
Speaker 1: So that's why the Jets are at the forefront of that.
Speaker 1: They tried to trade for Tyreek Hill and we're gonna
Speaker 1: pay him twenty five million year. It didn't work, so
Speaker 1: they're obviously all over the wide receiver market once again.
Speaker 1: The Eagles are looking at wide receivers. You know, the
Speaker 1: Packers need a wide receiver. Although the Packers didn't pay
Speaker 1: Davante Adams, So are they gonna go trade for Deebo
Speaker 1: Samuel and other The Niners gonna keep Deebo Samuel in
Speaker 1: the NFC. That seems kind of crazy to me as well,
Speaker 1: if they even move him. But to answer your question
Speaker 1: on the flip side, why there could be action this week,
Speaker 1: I mean, the Niners got to make a decision. If
Speaker 1: he's dug In, and you need to find out for
Speaker 1: for absolutely, for certain, if he's dug in that he's
Speaker 1: never coming back to play for your franchise. Don't you
Speaker 1: need draft assets right now to help tray Lance for
Speaker 1: next year who's going to essentially be playing his rookie season,
Speaker 1: his first year as a full time starter. If you
Speaker 1: trade him over the summer because he's not coming back,
Speaker 1: you get picks for two thousand twenty three. Those don't
Speaker 1: help your two thousand twenty two season. This is a
Speaker 1: win now football team under Kyle Shanahan, so I wouldn't
Speaker 1: be surprised if these next forty eight hours get a
Speaker 1: little crazy. What about Baker Mayfield? I know the Browns
Speaker 1: are gonna have a hard time trading him right because
Speaker 1: of the money? Are they gonna Are they basically gonna
Speaker 1: hardball someone into forcing them to give away draft picks?
Speaker 1: I mean, what's the situation? Where is he headed? How's
Speaker 1: that going to turn out? I think the only way
Speaker 1: the Browns can unload that money is if they attach
Speaker 1: a draft pick with him. Which is the last time
Speaker 1: I think we saw this. It was a brock Osweiler
Speaker 1: situation a very long time ago. It's basically the contract
Speaker 1: is so bad and the player is not in demand
Speaker 1: because of that money that the team acquiring him really
Speaker 1: just wants to pick that comes with him. They'll eat
Speaker 1: the money for a year on the roster, maybe give
Speaker 1: him a shot to play. And you look at teams
Speaker 1: that are kind of influx at quarterback teams that are
Speaker 1: in a situation that he's not coming in to be
Speaker 1: the guy, but he's also not coming in to make
Speaker 1: things complicated around the certain starter. Right so, Seattle, they
Speaker 1: don't have a defined answer at quarterback Carolina at the moment.
Speaker 1: Although are you really gonna pay Sam Donald and Baker
Speaker 1: Mayfield to combine almost forty million dollars to be your quarterbacks?
Speaker 1: That's insanity, absolute insanity, Although it's the one we hear
Speaker 1: all the time. Honestly, the hard truth is with Baker
Speaker 1: Mayfield right now, he is not an in demand asset
Speaker 1: for the NFL, and that might cost the Browns to
Speaker 1: be able to unload his money. Does he just maybe
Speaker 1: end up staying on the Browns they can't move him.
Speaker 1: There's a chance, but I don't think I think both
Speaker 1: sides would say stay home. I just imagine Baker Mayfield
Speaker 1: and DeShawn Watson in the same training camp in Cleveland.
Speaker 1: It would be mass chaos. It would be a circus
Speaker 1: like we've never seen before in an NFL training camp.
Speaker 1: I may sound naive here, like I'm still holding out hope,
Speaker 1: but I have a hard time leaving Baker Mayfield doesn't
Speaker 1: have a starting job on one of the thirty two teams,
Speaker 1: And like you mentioned Seattle, wouldn't you take a Baker
Speaker 1: Mayfield over Drew Lock. I know Drewlock has upside, We've
Speaker 1: seen him play great in Denver, but I still feel
Speaker 1: like Baker's the star and I would like to think
Speaker 1: that he would have the smarts to reinvent himself wherever
Speaker 1: he goes next. Don't you think there's some truth to that?
Speaker 1: I do, And it kind of goes back to our
Speaker 1: debot conversation, right when you get this late in the
Speaker 1: off season, how your market just gets devoured and it's
Speaker 1: you know, we could say what we want about Baker Mayfield,
Speaker 1: what he says on Twitter, Instagram or anything like that.
Speaker 1: It's not right how this has been handled, because if
Speaker 1: they knew, they were always looking to upgrade from the
Speaker 1: absolutely beginning of the off season, I think the Washington
Speaker 1: Commanders would have taken Baker Mayfield over Carson Wentz a
Speaker 1: million times over. I think there's teams that we're looking
Speaker 1: for a solution at quarterback, even if it's a stop
Speaker 1: gap option, a bridge for a year or two. They'd
Speaker 1: rather roll the dice on Baker Mayfield. They went out
Speaker 1: and got guys that costs a lot of money, They
Speaker 1: gave up draft picks, they made moves already where it
Speaker 1: was too late. And now I do agree with Olivia.
Speaker 1: I think Seattle, I mean, how do you even sell
Speaker 1: that that Drew lock is going to be the starting
Speaker 1: quarterback there? That's a scenario where it does make sense
Speaker 1: for Baker Mayfield. And maybe the teams know, like a
Speaker 1: Seattle knows that nobody else is really active for him.
Speaker 1: The longer you wait, the cheaper the price gets, or
Speaker 1: like I said, maybe you can get a draft pick back.
Speaker 1: But yeah, I'm with you. When Baker Mayfield's healthy, and
Speaker 1: he was not last year, he is one of the
Speaker 1: best thirty two quarterbacks in the NFL. I think that's
Speaker 1: a pretty easy answer. Back to Malik Willis for a second,
Speaker 1: Peter King doesn't even have him going in the first round.
Speaker 1: Is that crazy? I mean, he's a dual threat. The
Speaker 1: liberty level of competition is the only question. What's your
Speaker 1: view on that take? I'd be surprised. I think the Steelers,
Speaker 1: not only I think take him at twenty. I think
Speaker 1: they explore options to make sure they get him earlier
Speaker 1: if they have to. They just don't want to give
Speaker 1: up a lot to get him. Nobody wants to give
Speaker 1: up a lot to go up. I would be very
Speaker 1: surprised Malik Willis on day two, to me is a
Speaker 1: situation that has not been in my head since I
Speaker 1: left the Senior Bowl in January, after he had a
Speaker 1: great week there and hearing all the teams how much
Speaker 1: they loved sitting down talking to him. So that would
Speaker 1: be a big surprise to me, just because you have
Speaker 1: a lot of teams that can take a guy sit
Speaker 1: him for a year. I mean, I don't even think
Speaker 1: it's completely out of line that if he made it
Speaker 1: all the way to the end of the round, why
Speaker 1: would Tennessee not think about sitting him behind Ryan Tannehill
Speaker 1: for two years or something along the lines of that.
Speaker 1: There's just a lot there where, there's a lot of
Speaker 1: homes from Malik Willissippi slides. Don't see him getting past Okay,
Speaker 1: we asked Mike this last week. We talked a little
Speaker 1: bit about it, of the crazy investigation that scouts have
Speaker 1: to do to look into these players to make sure
Speaker 1: they're getting a clean cut guy. As we know that
Speaker 1: doesn't always pan out. But what's the craziest story you've
Speaker 1: heard of a question asked in draft interviews or some
Speaker 1: kind of deep dive into an individual. I think the
Speaker 1: most ridiculous one that's been overused to the point of
Speaker 1: just being absurd is when they ask you if you're
Speaker 1: a cat or dog. It's one of those things where
Speaker 1: everybody thinks the right answer is dog for obvious reasons.
Speaker 1: And then sometimes they ask favorite color. And I don't
Speaker 1: think they do it for a reason. I think they
Speaker 1: do it to get the prospect to think and see
Speaker 1: how he reacts and if he just answers the questions.
Speaker 1: So draft interviews are absurd. They are not made for
Speaker 1: public consumption, I think at this point, and that's why
Speaker 1: you don't see much of them ever. Shot by teams,
Speaker 1: aired by teams. When they're leaked by teams, they get
Speaker 1: more and more ridiculous. It's gotten better, I would say
Speaker 1: since I started doing this. But it's mostly just mind games.
Speaker 1: It really is. At the end of the day, you
Speaker 1: don't have There's a lot of teams that will sit
Speaker 1: down and just want to know about you, how you work.
Speaker 1: Sometimes they want to talk to you, not about you,
Speaker 1: they want to talk to you about your teammates because
Speaker 1: they're gonna find out the truth from the guy you
Speaker 1: played with. Rather you can sit in there and lie.
Speaker 1: So it's either mind games or it's just background work
Speaker 1: on somebody else, or it could be true questions as well.
Speaker 1: So it's it's kind of ridiculous. And now it's in
Speaker 1: person again. Let's not forget it used to be on
Speaker 1: FaceTime during the pandemic, where it was almost useless for teams.
Speaker 1: Is there any underdog who you got your eye on,
Speaker 1: who's just gonna make a splash that nobody's talking about,
Speaker 1: is gonna get drafted and just so prize everyone or
Speaker 1: undercat undercat yeah, undercattered. Yeah, that's a good one. If
Speaker 1: we want to go deep cut here, I mean we're
Speaker 1: talking player one fifty on the board. Villas Jones from Tennessee,
Speaker 1: an explosive returner and explosive receiver. He tested really, really well.
Speaker 1: There's always that one guy, and a lot of it's
Speaker 1: you know, the fantasy community hyping him up training camp, preseason.
Speaker 1: There's always that one guy that has to sit there
Speaker 1: first two days of the draft. His name doesn't get
Speaker 1: Everybody goes home from the draft party or on the
Speaker 1: couch by yourself with the cell phone in the agent
Speaker 1: And I think Vellis Jones is someone that doesn't go
Speaker 1: in the top one hundred picks of this draft and
Speaker 1: really sticks on the back end of a roster and
Speaker 1: by year two can be a legitimate playmaker in this league.
Speaker 1: So he's somebody that I would gladly stick my name
Speaker 1: on and say, this guy is athletic. Tennessee's quarterback situation
Speaker 1: and passing offense was not great. That held him back,
Speaker 1: and once again he's just been underutilized and I think
Speaker 1: he'll exceed his draft expectations. Be honest, if you were
Speaker 1: a draft prospect, would you want to be in person
Speaker 1: at the draft or would you want to be home
Speaker 1: in case your night goes horribly wrong? Now, I want
Speaker 1: to be there. I want to be there in person. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I want to be there in person. I think you
Speaker 1: have to soak it in right now. I've been in
Speaker 1: Vegas with the honest and he'd get one of those
Speaker 1: big tall Dacris and he'd be sitting there and and
Speaker 1: there might be a problem, but I think you'd have
Speaker 1: a good night either way. Yeah, either way, I'm drinking.
Speaker 1: So that's what it is. It's just am I drinking
Speaker 1: because I'm happier? I'm drinking because I'm sad, But I'm
Speaker 1: drinking either way. Yeah, it's an experience of how do
Speaker 1: you pass it up right at one time for work?
Speaker 1: I was in Vegas for eight days and by day
Speaker 1: five you're just sitting in the sports book watching baseball,
Speaker 1: Like how much longer can I actually survive in this place?
Speaker 1: But the draft prospects for most of them, hopefully it's
Speaker 1: just one night at that point. To the bartenders probably
Speaker 1: don't believe that you're there for work anymore either, No,
Speaker 1: not at all. I've been there too. Yeah, well you're
Speaker 1: a Bets and Jets finch, so there's probably a lot
Speaker 1: of bartenders that know you buy a first name basis
Speaker 1: right when you Yeah, yeah, I would say that. I
Speaker 1: mean in my neighborhood joint here, it's uh, you know,
Speaker 1: for Jets games. I don't even stomach going out. That's
Speaker 1: not off the table. That doesn't happen for the New
Speaker 1: York Mets. Absolutely, it's uh, you know, how many rounds
Speaker 1: can you go through? They usually blow it at the
Speaker 1: bullpen as well, so you sit through extra innings. It
Speaker 1: could be a costly tap. Oh man, that was a
Speaker 1: lot of fun. Connor, you gave us a lot of
Speaker 1: good insight and laughs. Thanks so much for joining us.
Speaker 1: Thanks so much for having me. It was great. I
Speaker 1: hope you guys enjoy the draft. You can follow Connor
Speaker 1: Rogers on Twitter at Connor J. Rogers. Enjoy the NFL Draft,
Speaker 1: and thanks again for being here. Okay, now let's bring
Speaker 1: in bet MGM betting expert demand the Ledge into himself,
Speaker 1: Peter Andrew, Peter, welcome. Let's start talking all this movement now.
Speaker 1: With the NBA playoffs, I mean, it seems like all
Speaker 1: the organizations adapted to the long season by resting guys
Speaker 1: to try to avoid injuries so everyone could be healthy
Speaker 1: for the playoffs. And boy did that not work. I mean,
Speaker 1: we got Booker down, Joel embiid his finger, He's it
Speaker 1: looks like he can't catch the ball. What kind of
Speaker 1: movement are we seeing now with the odds now that
Speaker 1: Joe embiad is hurt, Bookers down, yeah, so and Beads
Speaker 1: the probably the biggest one. He's down to eighteen and
Speaker 1: one Finals MVP. I mean, not only is it the injury,
Speaker 1: I mean that's a series now by the way, I
Speaker 1: apologize too quickly last week. We'll get into that at
Speaker 1: some point, but fractors are back. But I mean yesterday's game,
Speaker 1: I mean he I think he took fifteen total shots,
Speaker 1: did not look like himself. He's down to eighteen and one.
Speaker 1: Booker who seemingly could be back within a week. He's
Speaker 1: dropped down from a four to five to one to
Speaker 1: nine to one, so you're still seeing a decline there.
Speaker 1: He's actually even with Chris Paul right now in terms
Speaker 1: of finals MVP and then stock rising. Jayson Tatum, no doubt,
Speaker 1: unbelievable series. You know they were talking about it on
Speaker 1: the broadcast. You know, he was a great shooter last
Speaker 1: year and now he's become just an amazing player because
Speaker 1: he plays defense. A couple of steals, I mean, he's
Speaker 1: he's in every play and that that was the difference
Speaker 1: between the Celtics team and the next team that Katie
Speaker 1: turning the ball over NonStop, not playing team defense. So
Speaker 1: the Celtics are hot right now and for good reason. Yeah.
Speaker 1: So that's the only series that's wrapped up, But we've
Speaker 1: got great Thursday NBA action that could do the same.
Speaker 1: Two desperation games three, two series leads as the home
Speaker 1: teams try to even it up. Stay alive, Stay in it.
Speaker 1: Also two small spreads Vegas thinking these games will be
Speaker 1: close one and a half point games. We have the Sixers,
Speaker 1: who are the favorite in Toronto, and the Mavericks, who
Speaker 1: are the underdog in Utah. What's the safest bet here?
Speaker 1: With two small spreads, I'm going both dogs, Okay. I
Speaker 1: mean I would love to pick the Jazz on Thursday,
Speaker 1: but they got absolutely smoked in Game five. So I
Speaker 1: mean what they losing by thirty five points, the team
Speaker 1: look all out of scene. Donovan Mitchell looked terrible, and
Speaker 1: then you had on the other side don Chittz Brunson.
Speaker 1: I think they combined for like fifty seven points between
Speaker 1: the two of them. I mean, I think you just
Speaker 1: have to roll the hot hand and kind of gonna
Speaker 1: kill them while they're down. And just end the series.
Speaker 1: If this was a close game going back home, I
Speaker 1: could see the Jazz maybe taking it and forcing it.
Speaker 1: But Dallas looks too good, and I think importantly the
Speaker 1: Jazz just looked too bad. They just completely all over
Speaker 1: the place. I mean, I think Chuck called it out
Speaker 1: like four or five times on the broadcast to just
Speaker 1: missing the open past, just trying to force things next thing,
Speaker 1: you know, five defenseman just crowding him in paint. Never
Speaker 1: gonna win like that. And Dallas is a pretty capable team.
Speaker 1: I think they can score and kind of different areas.
Speaker 1: So I think they wrap it up and then, like
Speaker 1: I said, Raptors. I mean, while things didn't look too
Speaker 1: hot the first couple of games, I think they're coming
Speaker 1: back with a little bit momentum. I think importantly Sixers
Speaker 1: just having trouble closing games out. I think they at
Speaker 1: least forced to seven. Destible again can't play because of
Speaker 1: international COVID vaccination restriction whatever it is, So I think
Speaker 1: they take care of business forces seven. I think Sixers
Speaker 1: end up taking in seven games, but I think it
Speaker 1: should be a good one on Thursday. There how about
Speaker 1: one more dog? Do you think Denver gets one more
Speaker 1: game against Golden State in Golden State, do you think
Speaker 1: they close it up? I think it's over, Okay. So
Speaker 1: now over to the NFL Draft, which begins tonight Thursday.
Speaker 1: So exciting and there's been a lot of movements since
Speaker 1: last time we talked to Pete last week when Aidan
Speaker 1: Hutchinson was the favorite for first overall pick. We just
Speaker 1: had Connor Rodgers on. He was just telling us that
Speaker 1: even he's changing his tune a little bit, Trayvon Walker
Speaker 1: is now expected at bet MGM and other books to
Speaker 1: be the first overall pick at minus two to five.
Speaker 1: What do you think? Yeah, this is very much dictated
Speaker 1: by sharp or smart money. We've been seeing a lot
Speaker 1: of it. Yeah, and as a whole you'll hear this
Speaker 1: from lots of operators. But we'll have low limits on
Speaker 1: NFL Draft for these reasons. There's so much uncertainty. There's
Speaker 1: obviously news that can leak, and that's why we try
Speaker 1: to protect ourselves a little bit. But Jags love the upside.
Speaker 1: I think they look at Hutchinson as the you know,
Speaker 1: the quote unquote safe pick, whereas Trayvon Walker has extreme upside,
Speaker 1: So I think they end up taking him if you
Speaker 1: can catch the price at mins two twenty five, I
Speaker 1: think it's worth it. It's laying a bit, But as
Speaker 1: you get closer and closer to seven eight o'clock, I
Speaker 1: think you're going to see that price go to four
Speaker 1: hundred five hundred the market eventually to close. So you're
Speaker 1: not getting a bad deal right now versus where it
Speaker 1: could end up. But really interesting because you probably still
Speaker 1: look at those three d n s as probably first
Speaker 1: three picks. The order can certainly change. Obviously the potential
Speaker 1: of a trade coming in there could impact things, but
Speaker 1: I think Walker one is is now the hot move. Okay.
Speaker 1: I don't usually give betting advice on this show, and
Speaker 1: I really shouldn't. I am a journalist first and foremost
Speaker 1: not a betting expert. However, I've got a little something
Speaker 1: here I want to share because Trent Baky, the GM
Speaker 1: of the Jags, is saying that they've narrowed down their
Speaker 1: first pick to four players, and we can know clearly
Speaker 1: that those four players are Walker, Hutchinson, Equanu, and Evan
Speaker 1: Neil from Alabama. We know that those are the four
Speaker 1: players that they're circling. So here's my take. If you're
Speaker 1: looking at Hutchinson, Equanu and Neil, who are all plus money.
Speaker 1: Why not just leave Walker alone and take the value
Speaker 1: put some money on the other three, knowing that that's
Speaker 1: seventy chance that one of them is gonna go Pete,
Speaker 1: are you with me? I am not, because one there's
Speaker 1: a bit of margin built into these for that reason
Speaker 1: that you probably won't come out net positive. And there's
Speaker 1: always that smoke in mirrors kind of kind of thought
Speaker 1: that bulky may just be throwing a curveball. So, oh
Speaker 1: my god, I can picture it happening, but I can
Speaker 1: also the same time see something getting completely shaken up. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I don't know, man, See I guess you're honest. That's
Speaker 1: Pete saying stay in your lane, Olivia. Yeah, a little bit. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's what I heard that. That was the subtext to that.
Speaker 1: That's all I heard was subtext there. He was like, Okay,
Speaker 1: why don't you simmer down? Now? He could have just
Speaker 1: said simm it down. Yeah, he says, wait, when's your
Speaker 1: maternity lead? I want the political and nice route instead.
Speaker 1: Do you see any quarterbacks going or just two Detroit? Oh?
Speaker 1: It's tough because it all depends on what happens leading
Speaker 1: up to Thursday with the six picks, So there's a
Speaker 1: lot of rumors around Baker going to Carolina. If they do,
Speaker 1: then obviously then you look at them taking a guy
Speaker 1: like Charles Cross taking an offensive lineman to protect him.
Speaker 1: But it's all hypotheticals at that point. So six was
Speaker 1: the spot for a quarterback, but now you obviously take
Speaker 1: that away. I don't see anybody else coming in unless
Speaker 1: you get to Houston, which I think is somewhere around fourteen.
Speaker 1: You have scenes with a couple of picks that maybe
Speaker 1: they go the route of a quarterback to, but other
Speaker 1: than that, there's really not much. So it's all dependent
Speaker 1: on the trade market and then what happens from there.
Speaker 1: Baker's I think the number one that's going to go
Speaker 1: if there's a trade. Does Jimmy end up going somewhere
Speaker 1: to I don't know, No one knows, but that's why
Speaker 1: I've said, you know, I was talking to you guys
Speaker 1: about this. I take the overs on pick it in
Speaker 1: Willis on where they go. I think right now they're
Speaker 1: set like pick its twelve and a half. I don't
Speaker 1: see him going under that for right now. I think
Speaker 1: he goes fourteen fifteen, sixteen, and then maybe to the
Speaker 1: Lions at thirty two and that last pick. All right,
Speaker 1: now you have it. Okay, I like that, And as
Speaker 1: I'm perusing bet MGMs draft options for betting, that is
Speaker 1: kind of a fun one to do. Of just over
Speaker 1: under Again, I'm not I assume everyone listening knows all
Speaker 1: about how to bet on the draft, but I also
Speaker 1: assume that we have some newbies who states just got
Speaker 1: legalized and get to see all this for the first
Speaker 1: time and do all this for the first time. It's
Speaker 1: so much fun, especially in a draft that has so
Speaker 1: many question marks. Why not have a little fun with it, Pete,
Speaker 1: leave us with one really good bet that you would
Speaker 1: put your money on that you are going to put
Speaker 1: your money on. Yeah, I've already done it today. Jamison
Speaker 1: Williams under twelve and a half, so for him to
Speaker 1: be picked eleven, tenth, nine, so on. For those newbies
Speaker 1: that are coming in, I see Jets have four and ten.
Speaker 1: Jets are probably going to go to the corner route
Speaker 1: at four, but at ten they need wide receiver help.
Speaker 1: And then you have eleven Washington. Who's gonna need help
Speaker 1: other than McLaurin especially, you're bringing in Carson Wentz, Jamison
Speaker 1: Williams for everything that happened in his injury. Everybody's saying
Speaker 1: he's making unbelievable progressed on it. You don't just let
Speaker 1: that value go away. A guy like that go to fourteen, fifteen, sixteen,
Speaker 1: and then if you're that team, he always goes to
Speaker 1: a Patriots or competitor. So I think you have to
Speaker 1: take a shot at him at ten or eleven if
Speaker 1: you're either Washington or the Jets, and maybe one of
Speaker 1: them or Garrett Wilson goes off the board quick at seven,
Speaker 1: and then that forces teams to trade up because you've
Speaker 1: seen one of the two guys that's arguably the best
Speaker 1: wide receiper in the draft go. So I think that
Speaker 1: starts to shake things up a little bit. And we've
Speaker 1: seen it, you know before, Henry Ruggs goes early a
Speaker 1: couple of years ago, the market completely collapses and everybody
Speaker 1: getting taken immediately. So really interesting to see what is
Speaker 1: with wide receivers. But love under twelve and a half
Speaker 1: for Jameson Williams, and I think it's close to you know,
Speaker 1: normal money. I think it's like minus one thirty right now,
Speaker 1: So you're not laying too much to to make a
Speaker 1: good amount. Okay, I like that one, Pete. You've got
Speaker 1: us already. Man, this is gonna be a good one,
Speaker 1: really fun, unpredictable NFL Draft. Place your bets at bet MGM.
Speaker 1: Make sure you follow at bet MGM on all social
Speaker 1: media channels so you can keep up with our draft coverage.
Speaker 1: Thanks so much, Pete. Thanks guys,