And now Move the Sticks with Daniel Jeremiah and Bucky Brooks.

What's up, everybody.

Welcome to Move the Sticks DJ here.

Today's episode is one that we do each and every year.

It is the conference call that I have with the media ahead of the Combine.

We're just fielding a lot of different questions draft related.

It's one of the It's actually one of my favorite days of the year because it really is like a kickoff of draft season with all the different topics that get presented.

So we clip off a chunk of it for you here on the show, and you know, I encourage you to check out the combine.

It is right around the corner.

This is just a little primer for you.

So here's a portion of my media conference call.

Our first question comes from Nate Davis with USA Today.

I'm just gonna ask obviously, started with the quarterbacks.

Seems like Caleb is kind of the number number one guy regardless of who might take him.

But just looking at the back of the past couple of years, just kind of wanted to get your thoughts on maybe him versus the field kind of given particularly how last year played out and some others.

Yeah, no, it's a it's a good question.

This is you know, it's a it's a good quarterback draft hate Caleb to means the top guy, and when you look at him specifically and his evaluation, try and stack him up with guys from the past.

I think just talent, if we're just looking at just pure talent, you can put him up there with really any of the guys we've had, just in terms of you know, arm strength, athleticism, the creativity he has, the playmaking ability that he has.

Now he's not as he's clean or as polished as some guys we've had over the last few years.

Obviously Stroud was kind of ready made and just came out there and hit the ground running.

I think there's still, you know, some more growth and some cleaning up to do with Caleb's game, But talent wise, it's it's pretty special.

I've you know, I've made the comment about him and you're going to have Patrick Mahomes's name come up, and look, you don't want to can here's somebody the best player on the planet.

But just in terms of how he kind of plays with the creativity and a low flare and in all the different types of throws he can make in terms of driving the ball, layering the ball, extending plays, all those things.

There are some similarities there.

Pat needed some time to clean some things up and got a chance to sit for a year.

Obviously, I don't think Caleb's going to be afforded the same luxury in that department, but I think you can, you know, put a plan in place where you put more on his plate the longer that he goes.

But at my home situation at Texas Tech, I thought was very similar to caleb situation at USC.

I think people have to get it out of their head, you know, comparing you know, Caleb and Heaven.

In your mind, this is like the Matt Lioner at Reggie Bush USC days.

Those days are long gone.

Pat's last year at Texas Tech they were one hundred and twenty eighth and scoring defense.

This year USC was one hundred and twenty first, So he was constantly chasing points and I thought that led to some of the bad habits that creeped in a little bit this year.

But you know, one of the numbers on him, the other one is he lost eight games at USC.

They gave up an average forty three points in those games.

He was twelve and zero when they managed to allow less than thirty four points.

So it's tough to play quarterback when you're chasing points like that constantly.

Thank you.

Our next question because of Justin Rogers with the Detroit News.

Danielle wanted to get your thoughts on the possible edge barket.

You know, the end of the first round emulation to Detroit lines obviously needs someone to compliment Hutchinson with some pass rush potential, and specifically with with Darius Robinson that spot.

You know, he's been a popular pick to the line some of these early projections.

Is there no pass rush ability with him to justify this first round buzz he's been getting since the Senior Bowlers, This evaluation more on his floor than his ceiling.

No, I think there's pass rush there.

You know, he's he was kind of in that tough spot where they were trying to figure out what Missouri is he going to be an inside guy or outside guy because he's bigger.

You know, Cam Jordan's the name that you throw around there just from a body type wise.

I remember watching Cam Jordan at Cal work out with the skill guys and run with the skill guys because he was such an athlete.

You got a guy who's two hundred and eighty six pounds that can really move like that, And I thought, he's just he's better as a fit on the outside, standing up on the edge.

He can rush through your chest with power.

He can really close from the backside.

I just thought the kind of the wider alignment with him really helped unlock him.

And you saw that at the Senior Bowl.

So he feels to me like somebody that's going to go somewhere in the twenties more than likely.

And I think that's you know, he's worthy.

He's got the ability to go in that range.

Thank you.

Our next question comes from he Orlando Ledbetter with the Atlanta Journal Constitution.

What's your assessment on brock Bowers.

I listened to your podcast yesterday but to get a feel for it.

But what were you since he may go as the top Georgia recruit this year.

Yeah, he's tough.

He's easy to grade.

I mean, when you watch him, he's super easy to grad.

He's one of the ten best players in the draft.

He's size wise, speed wise, I think is gonna be very is going to favor Kittle.

You know, when you look at him.

I think once we get a chance to see him, I don't think we'll see him do much at the combine.

I think he might be one that's waiting until the pro day.

We'll have to wait to see on that one.

But similar size, similar speed, plays with just tenacity, especially with the ball in his hands.

That's where he's at his best in the run game.

You know, he can get into guys, he can finish him.

You know, he's not the tallest, not the longest guy, so there are times he's not able to quite do that.

But you know, everything he does separate easy.

He can go get it, he can climb the ladder and go up and get the ball, and then really the run after catch stuff is what makes him special.

The challenge is then figuring out where does he go in the draft.

And I think when you look around the league and you see most of these top tight ends that have come on Day two or even beyond that, teams are now saying, okay, we can find that other tight end.

Maybe we don't get the top guy, we can get a really really good player who might end up being the top guy without having to pay that premium.

And I also think that the Kyle Pitts thing, you know as Kyle Pitts's talent as any tight end that I've ever evaluated.

And you know, it's just you're still dependent on the position of the quarterbacks, so depending on what you can get out of them.

So that couple with the money difference, the savings you get by taking a premier position in the top ten, it's tough to place him to know how high he's going to go.

Thank you.

Our next question comes from Ryan Dunleedy with the New York Post.

We wanted to ask Giants specific I know in your mox you can't do a here, not doing trades, but to get Jadeen Daniels or one of the top quarterbacks, how likely is it the Giants would have to trade up from six and how urgent do you view them getting one of these top quarterbacks versus addressing the busy later given the Daniel Jones situation and what I've heard about maybe the twenty twenty five quarterback class not being quite as strong as how do you view the Giants quarterback situation and the need to trade up if they want a top guy.

I'm glad you mentioned next year because that's something when I talk to guys around the league that they've done their homework on next year's class.

I haven't had a chance to watch many of those guys, but there doesn't seem to be as much excitement at this point in the process about next year's guys.

So I think that could lead to some actionspur some action for these teams to try and either take one where they are, maybe even be aggressive and go up and get one.

I pulled up the chart and kind of ran the numbers of what it might look like if they were going to go from six to three, adding in the fact that there's a little bit of a premium you have to pay, so for the Giants to get up to the third pick you're talking about the sixth overall pick this year, you're talking about your second round pick thirty nine this year, your second second round pick this year at forty seven, and next year's two really would cost you three two s two this year and one next year, which is as a steep price to pay a little bit of a premium there.

But you know you could you could get up to three with the ammunition that they have and get that done.

So I would not rule that out.

I know you've got one more year of Daniel Jones before they could kind of get out of that contract, but I think that would be something that would be very much in play.

Thank you.

Our next question comes from Rich Simini with ESPN.

Hey, DJ, you mentioned the offensive tackles at the top jet related question at number ten.

How do the top few tackles separate in your eyes?

And also who do you think is their most most likely option at ten?

Uh?

Well, yeah, they're all different flavors.

They're all really talented.

When you look at that top group of guys, really, I would say you're talking about Alt, Fashanu, Fuaga, Latham.

I would think those are, you know, pretty unanimous, whatever order you have them, those are kind of the top four guys.

I don't think that Alt will be there because I think he's the cleanest of the bunch.

He's huge, he's long, he just keeps getting better.

He doesn't get beat.

It's not you know, he's not the most dynamic athlete.

He's not an elite elite vendor, but he doesn't get beat and just plays with without standing awareness and he can move people in the run game.

I think he'll be gone.

I think then you start getting into the possibilities for the Jets.

You know, you've got Fashanu from Penn State, who's you know, massive, has the ideal frame, ideal length.

The Ohio State game this year was kind of the one that people will point to where he got in some trouble where his eyes were kind of in the wrong place and he gave up his chest and got bold and moved around a little bit.

But really, you know, on the whole, I think his tape's pretty solid and he'd be he'd be, you know, plug and play there.

I think you play on the left, can play on the right.

Fuaga is a really really clean player for me, he has played on the right side.

I don't see, you know, really why you'd want to move him.

I think he's plug and play is the right time.

He could play guard if you needed him to.

But just really consistent, quick feet, really explosive and dynamic when he gets into guys.

He's got some nasty to him, plays with good temperament, So that to me is like the plug and play.

He's got a home at right tackle and off you go.

I have him as the second lineman on my list.

And then JC Latham from Alabama was a big time recruit.

He's got a lot in his body.

I mean he's huge, three hundred and thirty plus pounds.

He's got torque and power, especially in the run game.

He can anchor all day long.

He had some issues more so than the other guys with just you know, some of the games and stunts and twists that they saw.

I thought his eyes were a little bit late and he got a little bit of trouble with that.

So he would be the fourth guy for me in that mix.

But I would say Alt gone.

Fashanu probably is gone.

But that's why I think it could come down to Fuaga versus Latham with that selection.

Our next question comes from Ben stand Aid with the.

Athletic obviously with Washington at too, a lot of questions about what quarterback they might be looking at.

How do you factor in, like with Cliff Kingsbury, as you know, seeing.

One of these quarterbacks and include a G.

McCarthy if you want.

Along with Caleb, since he knows him, which of those guys you think maybe fits best for him?

And does that does that matter really for what they're going to do here?

Well?

I think Cliff, I think Cliff can uh kind of use what he has and and and adjust a little bit with his offense.

I don't think it's super super rigid, but I know, over everything else you talk about, uh, you know, guys that can get through things quickly and get the ball out and uh and get it out accurately.

So uh, you know, I think you can.

You can look at all these guys.

I think all three of them would fit.

I don't think that there's anybody you look at between those three and say there's you know, Cliff couldn't work with them.

I think you just get you know, you get mobility with all three.

You get guys that are all three of them, by everything I've been told, are really really bright, really really smart guys.

So to me, it's more about kind of the ceiling of them of what you think they can be.

And you know, Drake may with just having a little more you know, prototypical size and plan in kind of a rugged division, I think that might be more of a more of a you know, a decision making point more so maybe than the offense would be the you know, the location and the division and playing outdoors in Washington, So that to me would lean a little bit more towards Drake May maxt.

Question comes from Angelique Shane Gillis with the Detroit News.

Thanks so much, Daniel.

I cover Michigan football, and I was just wondering what has maybe changed your perspective on JJ McCarthy and when you look at the eighteen Michigan guys, is there anybody else that really intrigues you going into this combine?

Thank you?

Sure.

Yeah.

I feel like I've been watching Michigan for like the last two weeks just whatever position I go to, there's more and more Michigan guys to watch.

But with JJ, I've staid he's an acquired taste, you know, because when I watch him, when you first of all, you're watching TV and you're like, gosh, they don't really ask him to do much, right, They run the ball, they play great defense.

He just kind of he'll manage the game and kind of get him through it and make a couple of plays here or there.

But when you dig into the tape and you really watch it, and then you watch on you know, third downs where they've got to throw the ball and they do put the ball in his hands, you know, there's a lot to like with him.

He's got a really really, you know, quick mind.

He's got a quick release.

Just everything he does real smooth.

I wrote in my notes that the guy he never gets bored with completions, So you know, we're some other guys in his class get in trouble, big play hunting.

He's gonna if you're gonna give him, you know, check downs or give him completions, he's just gonna He's never gonna get bored taken those.

But he can rev it up.

He can't drive the ball and the seams, he can extend plays, keep his eyes up, you know.

I kind of when I finished up watching them, I was like, gosh, who is he remind me of?

And I thought, man, there's there's some elements of Alex Smith coming out of college where Alex Smith had a simil or build, played the game from the shoulders up really well, and was pretty athletic to get make some plays.

So that was my comp there.

In terms of the other Michigan guys, I'll give you three that I really like.

Junior Colson, the linebacker who I think is one of the best linebackers in this draft, is a plug and play guy.

Roman Wilson, who reminds me of Jaden Reid from the Packers is just really dynamic and was awesome at the Senior Bowl.

And then Mike samrstill know the nickel who just makes all kinds of plays, had six picks.

It's supposed to be a great leader.

From everything I've been told, you can really find and play the ball, and I think might be a little bit faster than people expect.

So those are three that I'm really high on.

Next question comes from joey Epstein with Yahoo's Scores.

Hi, DJ, thanks so much for doing this.

When we look at the Super Bowl this year, Brockford and Pat a very different draft pass to that stage.

I'm curious, more broadly, how you think the evaluation of quarterbacks has changed over the last ten years or so for yourself in the industry, and if there's a quarterback or two in this year class that speaks to that change.

That's a great question.

I think.

I was talking to a general manager the other day and I said, I think that maybe the only thing harder than playing quarterback in this league might be evaluating quarterback coming into this league, Because every time you think you've you've got an answer, you've got some things figured out.

You've got the formula something, you know, somebody comes out and flips it on its on its head.

So it's it's something you're always trying to learn.

I think kind of it goes in little waves and and right now it seems to be there's a there's a lot of talk and chatter about guys that have experience and have played a lot of games and rock parties kind of the poster child for that.

But guys that have been in college for a while, you're not going to get the time to develop in the NFL that maybe you would previously.

Because the financial commitment isn't as big.

It's easier for teams to cycle through guys.

Throw them out there for two years.

It doesn't work.

We can flush them and go on to the next one.

So you want them once they get on the field, and they have to get on the field early to have some more experience under the belt.

And that's been something I think people have given more credence to the last couple of years, is the guys who have some starts, which in this draft it's interesting because you've got you know, Nix and Penix who have just played a ton of football, and people can talk about where the ceiling is for these guys, or you know how much growth is.

These guys are ready to play.

They're going to step in and have a chance to start right away, and it's not going to be too big for him because of all the experience that they have.

So that's kind of one of the trends.

I would say that that's come up a lot lately.

Next question comes from Mike Verrell with the Seattle Times.

Hey, DJ, I wanted to ask about just the big group of University of Washington guys and specifically, you know, you've talked very highly about Rome and Fatano being a first round guy, but anybody else in that group.

You mentioned Penix, but anybody else in that group has kind of jumped out to on tape.

Yeah.

I mean, I'm sure we'll get to Rome and some of these other receiver discussions later.

But he's my favorite player in the draft, so huge fan of his.

You know you talked about Fatanu.

He's my sixteenth player, Penix.

We've mentioned Polk would be the next one in nine for me.

He's got some inside outside versatility.

I thought he's got excellent catch radius, he can go get the ball.

He's got some crazy acrobatic catches.

You know, the forty will be big for him, just you know, the top end speed is maybe a little bit of a knock there people interested in seeing that.

But just a playmaker.

I'm a fan of his game.

And then the next two guys.

You know, Trice is as a real gifted edge rusher.

I don't think he's the most you know, dynamic or explosive, but just he's just a really really skilled rusher who's been productive.

He just knows how to play.

Is really good with his hands.

Not gonna wow you with his bend on the top of his rush, but he can just kind of pry that outside shoulder and uh and go win.

And then the one that was a little bit of a surprise to me, who I didn't know much about before I watched him, was Dominic Campton, the safety.

I know he's in his sixth year, a little bit older that this guy's got really quick eyes from the middle of the field at safety, He's physical, he'll come downhill, shed blocks.

You know, he's a little bit late to find the ball in man coverage, but zone coverage he sees it really really well.

So he's one I think he'll run.

I think he'll run pretty well too.

I think he could be like a fourth round pick.

But those are those are the next guys for me.

Next question comes from Nick Cosmeter with The Athletic I.

Covered the Broncos and recently Sean Payton said the number one thing he's looking for is quick processing, both out of the huddle, at the line of scrimmage and then of course when the play begins.

But he also added that it's the most difficult thing to evaluate.

Why is that still the case, even given the proliferation of scouting departments, cognition tests, and different abilities teams have.

Why is that still such a kind of an elusive thing to capture.

Yeah, I mean it's darn near impossible.

You know, you do your best try and figure it out, and you try and watch guys, and you try and see and follow their eyes and how they're getting the one to two to three and how quickly they're doing that.

But without knowing you know, how they're coached and what the scheme calls for them to do, it still makes it a little bit difficult.

And in the college game, you can you can win a lot of games on first red throws.

You know they spread people from seed to sign Shining Sea, you know, pre snap where you're going with the ball and you and you deliver it and you can you can win games and get a bunch of big plays that way.

So it's a little bit of a different game.

Uh.

And in that regard, I think there's something too, you know, not expecting that immediately once they get to the NFL too.

I think there is some room to improve there, so you know, you can bake in some easy completions for guys early in their careers as you're trying to put more on them in terms of the processing.

But I'm with him, it's a it's an essential part of the position, but it is something that's that's not always easy to find.

Next question comes from Bob mcmannamon with the Arizona Republic.

Questions about the Cardinals at number four and the receiver situation.

Obviously, Marvin would be the guy up there there, we think.

But if he's not, you sold that Rome or Maleak is a value pick at for would you go with one of the tackles.

I would take?

I would take one of the white outs.

Personally, I think I think if you just look purely off of grade and not you know, positional value.

I tweet this out the other day.

I think you could make a case the three highest graded players in this draft are those three receivers.

They are outstanding.

I think they're all going to be number one guys where they go.

So you get different flavors.

You know, with Marvin, you kind of get, you know, the big power forward.

Who can you know, who's got some really good quickness for a big guy and really tracks of all extremely well.

Uh Dundas is going to be two hundred close to two hundred and twenty pounds.

I think you're going to see him run in the low four fours and who's got unbelievable tracks, skills to go up and get it and combat catches physical Like if you're in Arizona and you see him, I think you'll see similarities to Fitzgerald just in terms of how he attacks the ball and goes and gets it and then Neighbors is just like a stick of dynamite.

I mean, he's super, super explosive.

Just get the ball in his hands and let him go.

I think there's more to him in terms of our rout runner.

I think he'll get more opportunities to show that at the next level.

But he is ultra ultra explosive.

So to me, I think you need some firepower.

If you're the Arizona Cardinals, you need some guys who can go get it and go make plays when you look at it.

I was pulling up their numbers here at twenty sixth and passing yards per game, twenty fourth and points per game.

Let's get some firepower.

I'd love any of those three guys.

Thank you.

Next question comes from Jordan rodrigj.

Thanks for doing this every year.

So generous to do that with us.

I appreciate that kind of asking More broadly here, when you have scouted or talked with scouts who have evaluated left handed quarterbacks, whether it's college level or in the NFL, is there anything that sticks out in those conversations that scouts have to do differently in the visual part of study, And is there anything you see offenses do to turn sort of that visual anomaly into a schematic advantage.

Oh, that's a great question.

I've never been asked that question for Jordan the uh.

You know, one of the things we've always said is that like with left handed quarterbacks, you have to be patient with with when you bring them in.

You have to be patient with your receivers just because of the adjustment it's going to take just with the spin, so you'll have some drops.

It's a little bit unusual for the white outs to get used to it, but you know, it doesn't take too long and then you can you can be good there.

I would say from a schematic advantage, you know, I would say, you know, it just depends on on some teams.

Are some quarterbacks are really really comfortable booting to their natural hand, so to the right side, most right hand quarterbacks, they're going to be able to deliver the ball in more areas, more locations when they're going to their natural side, as opposed to some guys going left.

You got to really crank your shoulders around, and then some guys actually aren't comfortable unless they flip.

So I would imagine that if you have a left handed quarterback, it just maybe opens up that other side of the field where most defenses are kind of accustomed to seeing that go one way.

It can kind of mess with your eyes a little bit.

If you were going to be able to boot left a little bit more than you would to the right, so that would be off the top of my head.

You know.

One of the things with the we think about Penix this year is a left handed quarterback.

It's he's unique because he's a little high cut and he has a like a three quarter arm slot delivery.

So not only is left handed, looks a little bit different.

Now were the ball's coming out and he kind of hangs on his back foot, it just it It looks unusual, but it's it's really really snappy and whipping the ball jumps out of his hand.

But I think it kind of takes a well tojust your eyes when you're watching it.

Thanks DJ.

Next question comes from Howard asking Howard, you may ask you a question.

It's just a specific question to the Eagles.

For for the Eagles, uh, they need a linebacker among other things on defense clearly, and the people in Philadelphia are enamored with Jeremiah Trotter for obvious reasons, because it's because it's it's that obviously played here.

Where do you project him?

And I saw your mock draft and it doesn't have him in your in your first round.

How good is he and where do you project him?

And what do you think the Eagles will do with that pick in the first round.

Yeah, does Mike Schmid's kid have a kid come to the baseball draft here too?

Can we to solve all all the problems in the whole city here?

To me?

To me, he's look, he's a good player.

I don't think he's a first round pick.

I'm curious to see how fast he's gonna run.

His game is more about things which obviously are very crucial and very important at the linebacker spot.

But you know, when I watched him, he's a little bit undersized, He's got really good eyes.

He'll you know, he he sifts and sorts and he'll fill physical.

He can thut off blocks, which you don't see a lot of guys take on.

I just thought the speed in the range was just kind of so so.

So if he if he runs well, yeah, and then I think he can really help himself.

I think he's more where I have more in the third round personally.

But shoot, he goes out there and moves around really well, and and uh it kind of aces the rest of the tests here.

I think you'll find his way into potentially into the second round and the linebacker draft.

That's really it's not a great off the ball linebacker draft and.

The Eagles first round pick as you project.

Oh Eagles first round pick before free agency, Howard, Let's uh.

I mean, I just I think when you look at what's gonna be there, I think the value is probably going to be at the corner position.

I think there'll be some good corners there.

So I think I haven't taken real straw from from Missouri to me.

I would.

I would love it if somehow you can get Quennon Mitchell, but I think he's he's probably after the Senior Bowl and the tape that he's put out, he's probably gonna be long gone.

All right, let's take a quick break and we'll be back right after this.

Our next question comes from Eric Smith.

Hey, DJ, thanks for doing this.

With the Chargers at five, it seems like they could have some option there.

But what's the scenario you see where they could actually trade down from that button?

Well, I think if you're the Chargers and you want to trade down, you're praying that the fourth quarterback emerges from now to the draft.

You know, I think when it's all said and downe it feels like it to me that you're going to have the three quarterbacks go one, two, three, you know, when we get down to it, whether that's with you know, New England taking one or either them or Washington trading out somebody coming up, But it just feels to me, you know, talking to people around Lake, that seems to be the expectation.

So if you're looking at who you're going to trade for, well, I don't think you know.

Because there's those three top receivers, I don't know that anybody's coming up for one of those guys.

The tackle depth is really good, So even though you've got players worthy of trading up for, there's so many of them that I don't think that would be the case.

I think you're rooting for J.

J.

McCarthy.

You know, you're looking for McCarthy to meet Bonix.

You need another quarterback, and if another quarterback can merge us through the process, then you're looking at kind of that sixth pick with the Giants, the eighth pick with the Falcons, those viewed as quarterback potential teams, then they'd be sitting in a pretty good spot for somebody trying to come up, which would be pretty nuts if for the first five picks for quarterbacks.

But I don't think it's out of the realm of possibility.

Next question comes from Michael middlehurs Sworts with the USA Today.

I wanted to get your take on what you think about how this quarterback class measures up in terms of depth for starting caliber guys.

If you can't get Caleb Williams and you're a team in that range of Commanders to Broncos or Raiders and you have to supposedly settle, how confident can you be in finding a high quality starter from the next level of guys from May down to maybe later options like Bononix and Michael Pennox.

Yeah, I think, you know, I really think that Bonnix is going to be a starter pretty early on.

I catch the guys started sixty one games, played really well last year.

He's accurate, he makes good decisions, you know.

You know, people can talk about the ceiling upside.

I think his arms a little bit lighter than that.

Maybe give him credit for he just executed the offense as it was designed there.

And I know some people get hung up on what happened with him at Auburn, and it's like, man, you know, we've seen so many examples of quarterbacks shining at their second spot, and I actually think you know him and Panics.

Both those guys going through adversity and their first stop I think is good for him wherever they land.

But yeah, I know, I think I think there's those six guys.

I think, are you know, have starting potential.

So I think there's you know, I don't you know where If you have a guy you think he's the twenty eighth player on your board, the twenty seventh player on your board, and you're picking twelve or fourteen and you need a quarterback, it's very easy to talk yourself into that.

Next question comes from Andrew Callahan with the Busts and heralding.

Hey, DJ, it's good to speak with you.

Thanks is always for taking the time.

I know we're asking you a lot about evaluating players here, but I wonder if you could give a scouting report on an executive, Elliott Woolf taking over in New England.

What do you know about what he values, what his.

Process is like with the Green Bay background, and how do you see the Patriots philosophy changing under his leadership.

Well, you know, I don't know him personally.

Well, we were scouting on the West Coast together a million years ago gosh, it's probably been twenty years now.

So you always watch people, scouts, we know, you all kind of know who everybody is, and you pay attention.

He was always some way that worked hard.

Obviously, when you have the family history that he does, it have been easy to maybe try and coast a cruise.

He never did that.

He started at the bottom, he worked his way up.

He kind of grinded through it.

In terms of how it can change, I would say the Patriots were maybe one of the more niche drafting teams in the league where they catch you off guard a little bit because it was so obsessed with fit that they might take a guy two or three rounds before anybody else in the league would take them.

And they don't really care because they're just winning trophies every year.

So they could be a little bit outside the lines, a little outside the norm with some of that stuff.

I don't think Elliott will do that.

I think you look at the Green Bay history, you know some of the track record there.

You look at offensive linemen that are versatile.

You look at wide receivers who have kick return background that are really really good after the catch.

You know, those are some of the traits that just jump out to me from the from the Packers and the way they've done things forever, and how he would have been trained up just you know, from his dad.

So I think those would be a couple of the changes.

Next question because from Mike Kay, Hey, DJ, thanks for doing this.

I'm just curious.

I know Drake Mays your second quarterback and fourth over prospect, but what can he do during this draft journey to maybe solidify that stance.

In terms of Drake solidifying it or helping himself for the process, you know, one of the things with him, well two things.

I'll give you one thing physically and then another thing he can do.

But the one thing physically, and I know in talking to his quarterback coach David Morris, who does a really good job.

You know, I thought there were times this year compared to last year, he got a little elongated, a little long with his delivery.

I know they've been working on that.

So that would be the physical thing.

I'm looking forward to seeing whether that's at the combine or his pro day, just seeing if he's been able to tighten that up a little bit.

And then the second thing is going to be just meeting with teams.

I think it'll be helpful for him to explain some things because when I watch the tape, I have questions of just man, he gets a lot of unblocked pressures and there doesn't seem to be answers, whether that's, you know, a hot route, whether that in terms of what they're doing protection wise to help him out.

That's something when you're watching tape.

I'm watching it.

Go man, I would love to sit down with him and kind of go through this and say, what, you know, have they did they give you the answers?

Here?

Is this something you could have done?

Here is this something on the outside that wasn't corrected.

I don't know.

I just feel like there's a lot of times where I'm watching him with pressure in his face and I freeze it and I'm like, I don't know where the heck he's supposed to go with this thing.

So that'll be something that he can help himself just by being able to go through that tape and explain it to teams.

But the ability, you know, the size, the arms, strength, the athleticism, the playmaking stuff, that's all, it's all there.

Next question comes from Dave Briquette with the Detroit Free Press.

Hey DJ, good to see as always.

I asked this just because it's a copycat league.

But you know, the Lions were maybe a little bit unconventional last year, going running back, linebacker, tight end, safety, early positions down the pecking order, and.

All those guys had pretty pretty good rookie years.

What impact, if any, do you think that could have another teams or decision makers, like, will there be a Lion's effect where teams say, you know, screw the positional value or traits or whatever.

And I'm just you know, what matters is what I'm getting now out of the draft.

I'll I might surprise you with this answer.

I don't think there's going to be any any copycat here because well, I think we've focused so much on them, you know, taking those you know, quote unquote non value positions, but we've ignored the fact that, yeah, when you built, when you've already built the foundation, then you can go do that.

I mean, that's that draft was successful because of what they did, what Brad and those guys did previously to build up the line of scrimmage on both sides.

You know, they had the quarterback in place.

They hit on a home run on the wide receiver, so the expensive premium positions, they'd already built the foundations that freed them up.

It's a huge advantage over the rest of the league.

Where you can take you know, the running back, you can you know, obviously a tight end hits a home run, you can take off the ball, linebacker, you you can do those things once the foundation is built.

I still think personally the right thing to do is to build the foundation and then you can go do what the Lions did last year.

But I'm not so certain that as great as those players were, it was awesome that you would have seen them flourish and shine as much as they did if they didn't have the quarterback in place and the offense and the defensive line of place.

Next question comes from Arnie Stapleton with the Associated Press.

I wanted to now that we've hit full throttle, so to speak, on the transfer portal in college.

I'm curious it used to be that if a player had multiple schools, multiple coaches, it was red flag for the talent evaluators, and wondering is that diminished entirely?

And then secondly, does the nil sort of give talent evaluators another inflection point.

You can kind of see how a kid met a handle fame and fortune before they even get to the pros.

Yeah, I think there's good sides to it.

I think you brought up a great point there at the end one of the you know, there's two things.

If you look at players that you miss on, I know you always I always go back.

There's always plenty to choose from the guys that I missed on over the years and try and self scout and when you talk to teams and get information on maybe why it didn't work out.

Two things happen a lot are they don't know, they don't know how to handle adversity, and then other thing is sometimes they don't know how to handle you know, money, fame, all all that kind of stuff that goes along with it, all the distractions that money can can bring.

So now you're getting a chance to, uh to see them in that situation basically be a professional before they even get to you, and see how they how they handle themselves.

So I think that can that can be a plus.

The transfer thing in terms of impacting guys in grades, No, I mean that that's it's not really an issue anymore.

I know Once upon a time you could say, oh I didn't work out here or there.

It would come up in draft meetings.

But I mean, I'm getting to the point now where I'm old enough to remember when I first started in three that I remember discussions in the draft from about a player having tattoos, and I think about how silly that is when we fast were twenty years ago.

So yeah, some things become less and less important and nobody really cares about the transfer thing anymore.

Next question, because from James Crapia with The Oregonian.

Thanks Danael.

Wanted to get your perspective on a couple of the underclassmen for the Ducks who are in this draft, and Troy Franklin and Jackson Powers.

Johnson obviously was terrific as a starter this year, but just had the one year as a starter.

You saw that you had them in their top fifty.

For you, what do you see from those two guys?

Yeah, it's fun, fun guys to study.

And with Franklin, look, I gave him a good grade to my first listings my thirty ninth player.

I liked them a lot, but I think I'll end up coming up on him because I just finished you know, going through all these guys for the combine, and I saw a lot of corners with a lot of blood on their hands.

Courtesy of Franklin.

I mean, he just runs by everybody so big time, big time juice, tall, lean, explosive, he can beat press with his quickness.

He's cleaning out of rakes for a for a taller guy.

It's just it is.

It's fun to watch him really track the ball and go get it.

A big time home run hitter.

So I think he's I think he'll go twenties to thirties.

He's gonna he's gonna go somewhere in there.

I expect he'll probably run really fast and Indie, we look at the center Jackson powers Johnson.

It's hard to find guys that big that can move like that.

You know, three hundred and thirty four pounds.

You can't get through him.

He just kind of catches guys and absorbs them and pass pro He's quick to the second level.

He's really good on combo blocks.

He's got some nasty to him.

He's a bulldog, got some realpe, some snap and some pop in his hands.

He was having a great week until he got nicked up at the Senior Bowl too, So you know, I think he's I think he's gonna find his way into the to the bottom portion of the first round.

He's too clean of a player, and it's just somebody that can anchor your offensive line for the next decade.

Next question comes from E.

J.

Smith with the Philadelphia Inquire.

EJ, you may ask your question.

Hey, Jay, appreciate you doing this.

As always, the Eagles going to the offseason pretty sparse at running back.

Who are some of the guys potentially on Day two that you maybe think could like at least come in, like as a featured role type of type type of back.

Yeah, I think Day two is the is going to be the running back day.

I'm curious to see.

I'm i have a little bit of a theory here because I've got about six to eight running backs that are very closely crated.

I don't have any of them up to where we had Bijon or Gibbs last year, like with with those types of grades, but six to eight really solid players.

I wonder if we're going to see a game of chicken in the second round where teams are saying, well, we've got the grade to take this guy here, but we don't want to be the first one in line.

We just need to make sure we're not the last one in line.

So does that push the running backs down?

Maybe we could get to you know, the bottom of the second maybe even the top of the third round.

And then once the first one goes, I think you'll see all these guys come off the board.

But some of the names, you know, Jonathan Brook's coming off injury from Texas, He's he's talented as any of these guys.

My two favorites are Jalen Right from Tennessee, who's just real springy and juicy, you know, stop start, quickness, home run, hitter, finishes runs, he can get skinny through the whole really really quick feet.

He's two hundred and ten pounds, so he's got a little bit of size to him, enough size to him, but he's probably the fastest, the most explosive of all these guys.

And then Marshawn Lloyd from SC two hundred and seventeen pounds reminded me ironically of DeAndre Swift that was my comp form, but patient, he's explosive.

I think he'll run really well in Indianapolis as well.

Kind of an aggressive attacking and running style.

But those are two of my favorites, along with a little bit undersized version there.

Bucky Irving, who reminds me of Devin Singletary.

Ultra quick, full speed, change of direction stuff, very elusive.

He caught fifty eight balls too, so good in the past game.

So those are my three favorite guys just in terms of watching him.

Ray Davis from Kentucky estimated from Notre Dame, Braylan Allen from Wisconsin, Trade Benson.

Those guys are all in that mix together.

Next question comes from Jonathan Alexander with the Houston Chronicle.

I'm curious, as I'm sure you've talked to, like many people around the league, I'm curious why you felt like, looking back, so many people had Bryce Young number one over CJ.

Stroud considering the years.

I know a lot of factors involved in the years.

That they had, But what do you feel like people were kind of low on CJ.

Stroud And do you feel like at all what happened will kind of change the perspective of teams as they evaluate these quarterbacks.

Yeah, you know, to me, it's hard.

It's hard to uh, it's hard to figure it out.

Every year.

You can say some years it's a smaller guy that's better, other years the bigger guy.

Some years it's a big school guy.

Some years it just it changes all the time.

But with CJ, you know, I knew he was a really gifted thrower.

Like just the combine last year, I said, it was as good a COMBA session as I've ever seen it from a quarterback.

Always on balance, every type of throw, always using the amount of pace on the ball that's necessary, not more, not less.

It just he was he was outstanding as a thrower.

I thought with him, you know, prior to the Georgia game, it was okay, well, can he create is you know he's kind of a stationary guy.

Can he create uses athleticism?

And then the Georgia game showed you in that game absolutely he could do that.

But then outside of that, I to be able to play as fast as he has is I don't know that I've ever seen a rookie come in and see everything so clearly and play with just ultimate confidence.

I've never you know, I don't know that I've seen a rookie do that and trusting what he sees like that.

So he to me, I don't know if if if anybody could predict it, it would be that good, that fast.

So that was you know, congrats to the Texans.

They hit an absolute home run.

And then with br hey, let's be let's be a little bit patient here.

I know it didn't look good last year.

But with quarterbacks, you think about the things you'd love to have in place.

We always talk about the three p's.

You know, you want protection, you want playmakers, and you want a play caller.

Well, he had a bunch of different play callers.

His protection wasn't very good, and they don't have much in terms of playmakers.

So let's let's let some some improvements take place in Carolina before we cast him off.

So I'm still, you know, bullish on him and excited to see him get a little bit better opportunity.

Next question comes from Adam Beasley.

J How you doing man?

Good byte?

So I wanted to ask you about the Dolphins are twenty one.

I see you have an edge rusher for them.

What's your philosophy?

I'm taking them in the twenties.

You're not going to have obviously the clearest prospects you had earlier in the draft.

Would you go with a solid just plug and play type or would you look for upside in that range.

Well, to me, you're the You're the Miami Dolphins.

You were right in the smack dab in the middle of your window.

So yeah, man, to me, you can look at upside.

You know, guys that are ready right now.

I would probably look you know, I always think about what Ozen used to used to always say, let's just hit doubles in the first round, they'll strike out.

I think I'm in the Miami Dolphins.

I want somebody to come in and can help me that I, you know, feel as a rock solid player ready to roll right now.

That would be, you know, kind of the area that I'd be leaning to if you have a choice between player A player B.

I might be a little more conscious of the floor just you know, just personally where they are, and a lot of times those high floor picks end up being really, really good players.

Next question comes from Antoine Staley.

Hey, DJ, I want to ask you about the Jets and just kind of day two what they're looking at.

Obviously they don't have a second round pick due to Aaron Rodgers, but just the potential target she might see for them because they need wide receiver help, maybe some safety, defensive tackle, and maybe some depth on the offensive line too.

Yeah.

I mean, I look, everybody's talking about Jets.

Do you go wide out?

Do you go tackle?

With that first pick?

I know one thing, if you can get the tackle, I feel a lot better about the third round wideouts than I do about the route the third round tackle.

So that to me would make that I would lean more in that tackle direction early.

Because in the third round you got some really really interesting guys.

You know, Malachi Corley from Western Kentucky's got you know, big time juice, big time run after catch stuff.

He is a is a total stud.

You've got Roman Wilson from Michigan who can fly.

Talked about him a little earlier.

Ricky Piersoll from Florida, who's just a real loose, fluid, excellent route runner, and you know, got some insane catches they won't Agains Charlotte, he might have the catch of the year of all these guys in the draft.

His catching Charlotte's ridiculous, but real quick, real fast, and can make some things happen after the catch.

I can go on.

I mean, there's there's a bunch of wide receivers.

Every year we do this, every year we talk about this.

It's a really really intriguing mix of white outs.

So in the tackle whiteout discussion, I think if it's close, you go tackle early.

He can come back for the white out safeties in that third round range.

You know, you've got Javon Bullard from Georgia, good player.

We'll see what happens with with Jayden Hicks from Washington State.

If he runs well, he'll he'll probably be gone by then.

But you also have like Malik Mustaffa from from Wake Forest, Take Smith from Georgia.

There's some interesting guys, some interesting safeties.

I don't think it's a great safety class.

I don't think we even have one.

Uh you know, maybe maybe Nuban goes in the top fifty from Minnesota in the second round.

Back man, we might not have a safety in the top fifty picks as possible.

Next question comes from Matthew Paris at The Times picking you and Matt you may ask.

You a question, Hey, DJ, just going back to the tackles, what do you think makes a good like day one starter at tackle and with the Saints, you know, missing on maybe Trevor Penning with Latham, is there any concern they are given the what you mentioned earlier with kind of his eyes, and it'said that he might not be a day one starter at tackle.

Gosh, you know in terms of you know pin specifically, you know he was he was so over aggressive, and I think sometimes you struggle with guys like that where the over aggressiveness itself can get you in trouble and then you get inside your own head and you're trying to pull back and now you're you're laid on things.

So now he was kind of a tricky one there.

But you know, I with offensive tackles, you start with the feet.

You know, do you have the feet can get yourself out of a out of a bad situation?

In other words, can you know you get beat?

Can you recover enough to stay attached, whether that's inside, whether that's outside.

You know that type of you know that, that type of athleticism and footwork is kind of like the baseline.

If you can't do that, you probably can't play it.

Can't hold up there.

But the other thing is, you know and can you can you really sit down?

Can you can you can you hold your own against power?

Because in the NFL you're going to see power rushers every week.

And then your eyes, as you mentioned, you know, and are you able to see things clearly?

Especially now, I think you're going to see even more of it with the you know, kind of the complexity in the college game of the Michigan defense, the complexity of the Ravens defense.

In the NFL, everybody's copying those schemes, which really really challenges the eyes and the communication of the offensive line.

So those, you know, those skills I think are probably gonna be even more important issue than they've been in the past.

Next question comes from Tom Krasovich with the San Diego Union reviewing Daniel.

When you look at Michael Pennix's playoff games, you know, against Texas, he has so many beautiful throws, and then we saw hit him against Michigan like a different guy.

If you could break down those two evaluations from an NFL perspective and how it would affect you if you were one of those teams looking for a quarterback.

Yeah, I mean, look, the semifinal game was awesome.

I mean, he moved around better in the pocket than I had seen him previously, which was good to see.

I mean, he threw some speeds in that game, just you know, backfoot in or he just kind of hangs on his back foot and the ball jumps out of his hand.

But I, you know, I think, to me, he's he's outstanding on over the top kind of those those touch throws down the field, deep ball throwers beautiful.

He can really drive the ball, especially the perimeter.

I thought that the thing that showed up in the in the championship game or one, they hit the stuffing out of him, so they got to him.

I thought that kind of rattled him a little bit.

From that standpoint, I didn't think the pocket movement was, you know, as good as we saw in the previous game.

And then I think he, you know, the throw that I want to see from him is just that kind of up and down throw.

Can you get it up and over and get it down, which requires a lot of touch and a lot of feel.

You know, that's something that's not really his strength.

So those would be the you know, the different examples of those two games.

But from a scouting standpoint, I think you're looking at saying, Okay, how do you if you're going to take him, how do we put an offense around him that makes sense and it fits him.

And you know, hey, i'd want an offense with a lot of drive throws you get under center, play action, driving backs, pushing the ball vertically down the field.

I think he goes to a team with a really good run game.

I think, you know, off of play action in a vertical passing game is probably going to be his best fit.

Next question comes from Ben Villin with the Boston Globe.

Hey, Dan, thanks to much for doing this today.

Great to hear from you.

Curious but curious about the Patriots at number three.

Seems like a tricky decision because of the wealth of options that they have.

If you're the Patriots, you just take whichever quarterback falls to you, or do you really consider Marvin Harrison or one of the wide receivers.

You know, I think obviously you know, they'll do their homework and all the different options there.

To me, it would be tough to pass on a quarterback.

Just you know, you're not guaranteed to be up here.

Again, there's no guarantee of what future years, what it looks like at the position.

I think you've got, You've got three guys that are worthy of consideration there.

I just I go back to it.

I think we might even have talked about this personally, but just being in that stadium last year, it was kind of I didn't recognize it.

Obviously the team wasn't wasn't good, but there's been so much energy and juice in that building every other time I've been in there, and it was just so flat and it was it wasn't a it wasn't just a bad team, was a boring team.

Like there's just no juice, no excitement whatsoever.

And I look at whether you know whichever one's there, if it's any of those top three quarterbacks, those guys that bring so much energy and life to your to your franchise, it just feels right.

You've got new leadership in place.

It's kind of like this whole new, whole new chapter for the New England Patriots.

So theyre thirtieth in yards per game, tied for last, and points per game.

I love Marvin Harrison Junior.

I love him.

He is a great player, but it would be hard with where their positioned at that put where they're set up right now with that position to pass on quarterback.

Thanks man.

Next question comes from Q Myers.

Q.

You may ask you a question DJ.

With that being said about the Patriots in there at number three, if they chose to trade back in a team that the Raiders that's in there at thirteen try to make that huge move all the way up there, what would that cause?

All right, I think I've got that for you.

We ran the numbers on some of these trades.

Four oh, this would be this would be the Raiders.

Let's see here.

Yeah, the Raiders go up to three.

So here's your cost for the Raiders to go up to three.

It would be the thirteenth overall pick.

It would be your first round pick and third round pick in twenty five, and your first round pick in twenty six.

So yeah, not cheap.

A couple ones, well, thirteenth this year and then two more so, three total ones as well as a third round pick.

Which, man, if you love a quarterback and he can be your guy for the next decade plus, you know I could I could get behind.

That's we'll talk about this at the combine on the coverage when we do some of these quarterback chats.

The track record of the quarterbacks that got traded up for has not been good.

There's usually a reason why teams are willing to move off that spot, and that hasn't traditionally voted very well for the teams.

That regressive coming up for guys.

So one thing to keep in mind.

Man, if you love it and it's a bold move, but I don't know who their quarterback is right now, So if they don't land somebody in free agency, maybe that even makes them, it makes them more inclined to go do that.

You also have the you know, you have the Antonio Pierce connection with Jadan Daniels at Arizona State, so I'm sure they'll know him extremely well.

All right, Well, there you go.

There you have it.

That was my conference call, always a long one, but do always enjoy getting a chance to chop it up with the media.

As we head towards Indianapolis, I want to remind you the Combine kicks off Thursday, February twenty ninth with defensive Linement at linebackers.

That is at three pm Eastern on NFL Network and on NFL Plus.

And we will be here with move the sticks coming your way here shortly, we'll have we'll have Combine reaction, have all the news the scuttle buck coming out of Indianapolis, and we have all your draft needs covered right here, so appreciate you hanging with us and we'll see you next time on move the sticks.