Welcome into another edition of Road to the Draft. Casey Phillips here with staff writer Bree Dix. We're so close I can almost taste it. It's almost here. The draft is next week. After what feels like eons of talking about all these people, and I'm sure you all the mocks, which I mean we are culminating for you in a
beauty here. We have the fitted the mock, the full mos all bucks, all bucks, all the rounds that we've done a lot of these first round mocks, and we've talked about a lot of what the other teams are going to do. Now that we're so close, we're focusing on bucks and Bucks only. And we know we've seen in recent years that that first round super important, but man do we find some gems in other rounds. Yeah, So we wanted to make sure we highlighted all of it.
So this is the look at all the people here that Bree has mocked us. So tell me what stands out of you about the will start kind of just the first round dive into our first round here, and I think that that position is probably going to surprise some people.
Yes, I know everybody might be in chaos mode right now. Seeing a non defensive player in the first round. But I just kind of get a feeling that this could be a potential foreseeable way that this draft goes. And look, the Bucks have put themselves in prime position by the additions they've made throughout the off season, whether it was at outside linebacker bringing in Hassan Reddick they resigned Anthony Nelson, or at inside linebacker bringing in Anthony Walker Junior kind
of opposite Levante David. Then you also have Servassier Dennis. So I mean, certainly need to add some depth at corner, some depth of safety. And yes, the Bucks obviously need to load defense and that will be a big priority
in the draft. But rather than reaching for a defensive player, if whoever is that top player available that's on their board, who is the best If it is a receiver that is available at nineteen, Jason, like Todd Bowles have been very adamant that there is no position, there is no player that would be off the board, and wide receiver certainly plausible. So with a guy like Matthew Golden, the receiver from Texas, Okay, the clicker, I got this. Oh hey, he is a speedster ran a four two nine forty
at the combine, which was the fastest among receivers. The guy that has that fluidity you know, in and out of breaks can create separation on the posts with the corners, with kind of the his alterations at the stem with the brakes. But he's just the guy that I think could really add another dimension to the Bucks receiving room.
And of course it's loaded. You have Mike Evins, you have Chris Godwin, you have Jayalen McMillan who came on last year and emerged, but adding in this speed element that he could bring in, just his feel for defensive backs and how to create leverage and kind of altering the tempo a little bit, and just how fluid he is on the comebacks of curls. I think he's a prospect that a lot of people are excited about and could feasibly. I mean, he could go top fifteen, he
could be there at nineteen. But he is a player that I would not be said about the Bucks taking, even though it did feel very weird and I felt like I compromised my moral code a little bit by going with a receiver in the first round, but that's just kind of the way things fell and then in the second round, I have the Bucks taking insidelinebacker Demetrius to Night Junior, so.
He probably noticing a little bit more normal position to what a lot of people were mocking rarely for the Bucks.
So you went out on down Bucks fans. The wide receiver you're inside linebacker may not have been gidd Campbell, but you get Demetrius to Night Junior in the second round. And I really like the way that his skill set kind of compliments that of Levante David, who's kind of known as being one of the best off wall linebackers in the NFL, known for, you know, being that zone buster, kind of a racing tight ends over the middle of
the field. Brought in Anthony Walker, which he's also known for kind of mitigating those passes over the middle of the field, and Savasi Dennis also made a big impact
in those passing situations on third down. So with Demetrius Knight, his big thing is the downhill trigger, the straight line speed, the closing burst on blitzes, and is kind of that hard hitting tackler and so I think he would be a good compliment to bring in in his the way that he's able to understand protection schemes, the timing of blitzes is really advanced, and he may not be the best coverage player, but he does have really good awareness
in zone at kind of mitigating some of those things underneath. So I think he would be a fun addition for Todd Bowles to utilize on the defense, and then in the third round have the Bucks getting their cornerback in Noel Williams, who Todd Bowles has talked at great lengths about wanting ballhawks at every single level of the defense, and that is the name of his game. He has
outstanding ball skills. The FBS in interceptions in twenty twenty four with seven had the fastest backpedal at the combine, so really really controlled to the top of routes and then also sets a really good edge against the runs. So I really really think he could be a fun addition to that sounds great to this cornerback room.
And again a couple of positions that Bucks fans have been thinking about of the highly likely ones of looking at defense, looking at some of the depth as we discussed this, and of course on Insider this week, we're going to go over some of the depth at certain positions, and I know inside linebacker and corner are going to be some of the ones that we definitely talk about, right.
And I mean they did bring back Bryce Hall added some elements, but I think you know a lot of Bucksperiens are hoping you and I, hey, I double dipped a corner, you know, And I think if less You're taught us anything, it is that you can never have too many corners, that you can never.
Have too many ten years I've been here, that is the most frequently said thing by Scott Smith. You can never have too many carters. So in honor of him not being here, we still wanted to get his phrase.
Scott Yes. And then next up the Bucks going with an edge in David Walker from Central Arkansas. And again really big thing with him was production. He was a three time consensus All American and just to note, he posted eighty two and a half tackles for loss and thirty nine sacks over the previous war seasons.
Not bad.
That is absolutely absurd and certainly has the numbers. And then he dropped more in twenty twenty four, so seventeen percent of his snaps came on passing downs, so kind of showcased his well rounded ability, which we all know that Todd Bowles likes to move guys around, so to be able to see him have that element. But also he's able to kind of mix up his rushes with strength with power and kind of adding in some of
the speed stuff and has a powerful punch. So I really think that the production is there for him and kind of adding him into the rotation with hasan reddick
with Yaya Diabi. So I was a big fan of his production, and I think he can end up being a huge deal in this draft that you get in kind of the middle rounds with the production that he was able to put up, So it's gonna be interesting, all right, next up and that kind of headlines, and then we had in the fifth I went with another corner in ZAWF Frasier and then in the seventh the Bucks get their safety.
I think if you look at this, based on all the mocks, all the things people have talked about, this makes so much sense from a again depth and position standpoint of addressing some of the needs while also still being able to do a best player available if you believe that that is Matthew Golden at wide receiver at that position. I think that makes a lot of sense.
It hits a bunch of different things, and I think that would it would be really interesting to watch, especially in some of these later rounds, being able to get multiple corners where you talking about just more depth, more people, because you never can have too many, right, So I like it. Look at you.
I like that and the you know, the versatility too for a lot of the guys that can do multiple things. Speed is the name of his game. But also a guy like Crawford, I mean you had him playing nickel, he lined up in the post at free safety.
You know.
So being able to get guys that can do different things make an impact on special teams. You know, you can never go wrong with having that versatile guide that can do a lot of different things for you. I mean, heck, we saw Christian Izzian playing horner of this last year, which she hadn't played since high school. You know, so having guys that can do a lot of different things can kind of round out that depth chart.
So all right, well that's it.
You heard it.
One week left essentially until the draft, we were coming down to the wire. Here we have full coverage of it, of course, on our Bucks website and all of our social media, so make sure you're staying tuned for all of that leading up to next Thursday night,