Welcome back. I'm a staff writer reporter Breed Dix here with senior writer and editor Scott Smith. We're in the Buck Studio presented by Ticketmaster for this week's edition of To the Draft.
This is the mic draft I just put up yesterday. Yes, and I'm glad you're here because you did one the week before, so we can kind of compare notes a little bit as we go along. So two weeks earlier, I was still pounding the drum on the Titans are gonna sign a veteran starter, They're gonna take a generation of talent and worry about the quarterback of the future next year. That has become increasingly clear that that's not true. They have not signed any veterans starter. They're not even
apparently trying. They're clearly set on cam Orton. I think you'd find nobody that disagrees with that at this point. So cam Or to the Titans to start the draft. Is that what you did as well?
Yes? Okay, I feel like there's not a whole lot of consensus in this draft, but it seems to.
Be this one is now Caim Moore, yes, is going to Nashville now, eagle eyed observers would think that we have our board wrong here, because you know, the Browns are two and the Giants are three. But in my most recent draft, I made a trade with the Browns trading up one spot to the Giants to make sure no I mean the Giants trading up on spot to make sure nobody else jumped them because they wanted to
get quarterback should Or Sanders. You know, it's the ever, it's the always truism of the draft that the quarterbacks rise, and you've seen Shoulder sanders supposed draft stock go up and down in recent weeks, but it only takes one team to really want him, especially at the team near the top that really needs a quarterback. Now, I made this trade, full disclosure, right before they did the Russell
Wilson signing. They already had. They already had James Wilson, They already had James Winston, but he signed for what is clearly backup money. But then Russell Wilson signed. He's obviously going to be their starter this year, and so that might make me a little less sure they're going
to trade up a spot. But I still think that neither of those signings takes them out of the quarterback of the future conversation because Russell Wilson's only under contract for one year and it's middling starting money, so he's clearly a bridge quarterback. I can still see them going for the quarterback of the future and the Browns trade down and get Abdulla Carter. Okay, okay, So filled in
some of these others. I wanted to point out number six because I think this is becoming I've done it two drafts in a row, and I think he's becoming a popular pick. Ashton Genty, Boise State running back, really dynamic talent, right like, one of the best, maybe the best running back prospect to come out since Saquon Yeah, depending on how you feel about John Robinson. This is a team that got their new quarterback in Geno Smith. They've got some nice weapons, they have Brock powers, but
they had the worst running rushing attack in the league. Yeah, so you apparently had a slightly unusual pick.
I did, right, Mine was a little bit of unorthodox, but I kind of similar with what you did with the Giants. I went ahead and still did Sedor Sanders going to the Raiders after the Yes, but Geno Smiths thirty five years old. I think, you know, they have to look at the future, and I think it's been kind of noted and well documented Tom Brady's relationship and kind of been that mentor to Sanders. So if Pete Carroll, if John Spytech like his ability, and I think he
can kind of be that developmental prospect. So I still like him going to.
The Well, then where did you put Ashton Genty?
I had him going to the Bears at number ten. I think they have kind of bulked up the interior of the offensive line. Should get a guy to kind of take some of that pressure off Caleb Williams and kind of reinvigorate.
All Right, I can see it. I really could see Ashton Genty going to a whole lot of different places in this range. Right here, I think his stock is now, yeah, that's the most common one, right but I think at this point a lot a lot of mincrafts are having
him go before Dallas, even as a shot. The reason I wanted to highlight Dallas's pick is because I gave them g had Campbell, Ghid Campbell, the Alabama linebacker, And the reason I point that out is I think that's a guy that the Keneers would be interested at nineteen, but I have not done a draft in weeks where he's still available at nineteen. So and what did you do here for the Cowboys?
I had the Cowboys since Gent was already off the board, I had them taking Luther Burdon, ok, kind of adding another target for DK Prescott. And I think Missouri kind of used him their offense to kind of build off of his yards after catchability. And I see the Cowboys kind of diversifying his usage a little bit, and I think he could be a good compliment to Ceedeland.
Right, Okay, cool, moving on down a little bit. The reason I wanted to point out this pick, this is another trade we had to trade in my MIC draft. We had to trade here, so you'll see those two aren't in the normal order. The Cardinals seeing Will Johnson fall a little bit trade up to make sure they get their guy. And here the Rams traded from twenty six with Seattle up to eighteen, and they want John Barron.
And to me, I think the reason being there is after Will Johnson and Johnny Barron and Travis Hunter, if you count him as a quarterback, I think there's a gap between that and the next group of cornerbacks, and so they make the bold move to move up here to get the guy rather than wait for whatever falls to them. I think Jahday barn is a great player, and I point this out because that's a guy I
would love to see the Buccaneers get at nineteen. But well they don't hear because and I honestly, the Rams or any team that is trading up to eighteen to take a guy like Johddy Baron is probably thinking, hey, he could go at nineteen. So that's why I think
that would happen. And now we get to the Bucks pick, and that is for me Donovan as a rock up Boston College ed rusher, I love the idea of us getting an edge rusher in the first round, particularly if Johnny Barn and Jihad Campbell are already off the board.
This is a guy with lots of production and if it gets down to it, if you ask me Todd Bowles, Jason Light, all of their people working for them, when it comes to the idea of production versus like raw skills, like a Shamar Stewart kind, I think they would tend to lean towards reduction. Now we know that Mike Green had seventeen and a half sacks. He had sixteen and a half sacks last year, twenty one tackles for lost
three force fumbles. This is a guy that had the production and then he went to the combine, and he did quite well at the combine, particularly in the three cone drill and the short shuttle drill, and those are measuring both like your acceleration and your change direction and your quick you know, short space speed, which is what you need out of a pass rusher. Right, So that's why I think you look at him. He's six two eight, he says he can probably get up to two fifty
five and still play the same. There may be a little bit of a question about how well he sets the run against the edge against the run, but you know, in our rotation, we already have a couple of guys that do that well, like yai Ya Diyami, right, and Anthony Nelson. I'm talking about the edge guys, okay. So if you could throw a guy in there that maybe need to work on his run defense a little bit, but he's a pure pass rusher, I think there's room
for that in the Buccaneers edge roch rotation. Now you add him, you got Hassan Redick, and you've taken what was as Todd Bowles himself has pointed out a couple times already since the season, they need to get more pressure off the edge, specifically and when only rushing four. So you've taken a spot that was a bit of a weakness for the Bucks last year and now maybe you can turn it into a strength. There's I always loved the idea of these double dips at positions or
in free agency in the draft. So you got Hassan Reddick and now Donovan as a Rock. Now you had a draft a week before. Who did you guess?
So I kind of had the same theology when I did mine. And I don't think you can have too many edge rushers. And I don't think necessarily getting your son Reddick having Anthony Nelson, I don't think that prohibits you from getting and edge. And I just think this
draft particularly is so deep at the edge position. So in terms of value, I really liked in mind mckel Williams was still there at nineteen and I think he's a guy that you know, Todd Bowles has talked a lot about wanting a guy that finishes plays, gets to the quarterback, but also disrupts, whether that's getting stripsacks, whether that's getting the batted passes. And that is exactly what
makes Tell Williams has done throughout his tenure. And again he doesn't have a huge sample size, but you have the explosion you have to speed.
Over.
Thirty percent of his tackles resulted in a loss. He finishes through the whistle, and I just think he's kind of a Todd Bowles and Jason Light.
Type of player. Well, as you can see in my MIC draft, he was already off the board. Yeah, so they would have to trade up to get him in Fit one. So in this case, he's gone, We go with him. And I wanted to point out one more pick after us, and that's the Steelers, because I gave them Jackson Dart, the old most quarterback in I think there's a lot of quo. I think there's a bit of divisiveness about him. Is this a guy you take in the high second round or is somebody going to
move on him in the first round. And again, quarterbacks tend to rise. Pittsburgh needs a court. They may or may not get Aaron Rodgers. They clearly need a quarterback and a quarterback of the future. I think this guy has impressed a lot of people with his skills. So who did you put here? At twenty one?
I had him taking Jean de Baron, so I had them going more of the veteran QB route as well. So obviously when I did mine, Russell Wilson was still in play. So you have potentially Aaron Rodgers. But I just think Johnny Barron just kind of seems like a Steeler's kind of guy's physical nickel. He can cross train at safety, great kind of mitigating the middle of the field. So I think I could see him having success in Pittsburgh. But I mean he's a guy that honestly could go
a lot higher. He seems to be rising, could be a guy that the Bucks also go go for. At nineteen.
Yeah, so you put Jadday Baron here, as means he was on the board when you took the Ed Rusher here. I have to admit that in my miccraft, if Jadday Baron had made it to hear, I would have taken him. But I'm always the you can't have too many corners guys, right, So yeah, that said, you can watch, you can look at the rest of it here you can read on buccaneers dot com or on the app about you know why I think these picks went as they did, and you know, we've still got a little bit to so
we'll do a few more of these. But that's where we are right now.
Yeah, And that does it for this week's episode of Road to the Draft, and stay tuned next week for a closer look as we get closer to the Draft at the end of April.