Welcome to the Ticket to the Draft podcast, presented by Seekik, the official primary ticketing partner of the Washington Commanders. I'm Logan Paulson here with Jess the Guy, Jason and Jason. We are doing a draft recap coupled with some free agency stuff, right, is that we're doing it?
Yeah, the undrafted free agents, the rookies that weren't drafted but came in much like your path.
Yes, that's right exactly. Yeah, So really looking forward to talking about some of those guys because I have a obviously a special place in my heart for those types of guys.
You know, Yeah, I do know you made a pretty pretty darn good career even though you weren't drafted, and so did like London Fletcher, like, there are ballplayers that come out of the UDFA, So it's worth talking about some of these guys.
Yeah, absolutely, So first off, we got an announcement though we're going to talk about so obviously this show is called Ticket of the Draft. Yeah, and the Draft is over, but we feel like we can still do shows kind of recapping how the rookie, our rookie draft class is doing, rookie class as a whole is doing how our evaluations are holding up. But we feel like we don't need to do that every single week, so we're gonna do once a month basically, right, Is that kind of the gist of it.
Overall, Like the response from our fans over this podcast has been tremendous, So we don't want to just leave you guys right where our last episode was instant reactions after the second and third round, we thought that was the end, so it was a little sad, but then we looked at the numbers and we're like, man, we can do something here, like you were saying. So, yeah, we're going to talk about the rest of the draft, the udfas and maybe I'm going to say once a month ish.
Yeah, give or take.
And yeah, we're going to look in on how the rookies were doing here. The draft is over, but I think it's worth keeping up with them. Let's see how they panned out, like all this hype about them, all these like all the analysis we did, all the hours we spend in film, like, let's see how it pans out. Well, we'll talk you through it.
Yeah, And I think like one of the things I always appreciate, I always I find very frustrating about draft analysis in general is they give you your grade, it's the day after the draft, but then what does that look like a month, two months, six months from now
when they're playing football games. We can maybe revisit some of these picks obviously internally, but some of the guys we liked maybe that are on different teams to kind of talk through, you know, maybe why they hit, why they didn't hit, and kind of take you on our journey as we refine our scouting process.
So that's kind of that'll be that'll be fun.
Yeah, because it doesn't just end with the draft as far as like scouting goes.
Right.
So if I'm going to do this again next year, which I would like to do as far as like scouting more prospects and watching film, I want to learn from this. So how do I learn? Well, I need to see what the result is, right, So I need to like take a microscope to migrating process my scouting process, or how did it pan out? Where did I get
it wrong? How can I refine so that if ticket to the draft twenty twenty or five homes up, we're a little more I don't want to say accurate, but we're a little more.
Polished, Yeah, a little bit more refined up. But in the meantime, let's review our draft.
Obviously, like we're gonna go quickly through kind of the drafted guys because we did a you know what we do, We did a first day recap, second day recap, so a lot of these guys we've already talked about, but just kind of as refreshers. Obviously, Jade and Daniels were both really stoked on that. Yeah, that's probably the end of the analysis. There'shn Newton, he falls to the Commanders at the top of the second round.
There, good football player. We're both excited about him.
Guy that I'm probably most excited about of these top three is Mike Sandristil. I just like loved his film, Love the kind of competitor, love the leadership, love the ball skills, and I just think about him in this Commander's defense, you know, kind of looking at what they did in Dallas, and I just get really stoked for what he means. And also I think he's interesting because you know, what does he mean for Kwan Martin, What
does he mean for Benjamin Saint Jus. He's just this really dynamic piece that plays Nickel and we had a good football player in Nickel before in Kwan. Do like what role does does Quand now take or does Mike and Wills will take a different role? So I think that's a really compelling decision there, honestly, you know, in terms of the direction that the defense is going with this selection.
Yeah, he's a baller, and I want to see how Emmanuel Forbes responds all this too, Not that it's like I just wonder how it's gonna help his game because he had a little bit of a rough rookie season, but the talent is there. Yeah, right, he's a good player and I'm expecting a bounce back season for him, and like just helping secure the secondary, make the secondary another ballhawk is out there, right, So like, how does that help Forbes his game? How does that help develop
him and grow him? And like, I think it can only be up right, Like I think this group is getting better. So I'm just I'm excited the impact like you said with Benzaman Saint Juice with Kwan, I'm excited mostly with Forbes. I'd love to see him getting ballack ballhawk role as well.
Yeah, and I think again, like The thing I'm also excited about is this is a little bit off topic, a little bit out of the scope of this show specifically, is just how the coaching is going to affect that group. I think everyone talking about the quarterback, but to me, I'm really excited to see how the coaching additions of players like Mike Sanders still impact this defense. And I really think that if that group can come together, it's
got a bunch of talented pieces. But I think, you know, last year, coaching wasn't maybe we were supposed to be. Hopefully this gets them corrected, obviously. And then the next pick is Bensonatt from Kansas State, the tight end, and I'm again really excited to see how he's going to be used, Like is he the fullback?
Is he the move guy?
Ken Cliff Kingsbury use him to kind of create matchups in the offense. I think it's going to be really interesting. And how do you maximize his skill set because he's not like a true inline guy, but he's not a true off the ball guy. He's got this tremendous athletic profile. Like when you look at the force played data in his vertical jumps didn't really show up in the forty.
I mean, he ran a fast forty as a four to six something, but I think the explosive measurements in those jumps kind of make me think there's more in the tank there from an athletic perspective. Tracks the ball well, mismatch weapon, nice physicality, so really curious to see what he's going to be. And then Brandon Coleman, the offensive tack from TCU, I think is maybe to me, maybe
the most interesting pick of the entire draft for the Commanders. Yeah, and I would say because like you know, there was all these names who were kind of bantering about, you know, we've got you know, you're Patrick Paul's your Kings, Usumatis, You're Karen Amadigi from Yale, You're Roger like those kind
of four guys. And I had a conversation with Trevor Sickoman to day actually, and one of the things he said is that he actually had Brandon Coleman as a tackle, like the third guy in that group, you know, as opposed to saying, you know, I had him as a guard. But I think when you look at the arm length, you look at the athletic profile, you look at the basketball background. You look at the kind of the the
novelty he's been exposed to with football. He didn't play high school football, you know, he played a juco transfer to TCU, so he's really new to the game. And you think if you look at the athlete, look at the length, you say, man, maybe he could be something pretty special here at offensive tackle. I think he's got to develop a little bit. But you know, like we've seen guys develop really quickly third round picks become impact players along the offensive line.
Yeah, he's seventieth percentile in the tackle position in length. Yeah, when his measurements came in. And I think the PFF stats that have come out that we've been talking about with him all the time is this one. It's the one three hundred and seven pass blocking snaps in his college career, only fifty four QB pretchers and only three sacks allowed when a national championship team.
Yeah, and we've talked about this a lot too. Like he you know, I think there's some novelty, like some obviously he's new to playing football, but I think the thing that sticks out is he does have a pretty decent feel for like his relationship to the rusher. Now it's now, it's not perfect all the time, but I think you see a really nice floor. And then because that floor is so high, and because of those athletic
measurs athletic measurables are so are also so high. You say, man, maybe this guy can become like kind of a pretty special left tackle. But again, there's some growth there, some development that needs to happened. But really really curious to see how that happens, because I know people has been
calling for left tackle, left tackle, left tackle again. I think this is a good reason why Cornelius Lucas is here, because I think Cornelia Szucas can hold down the fort you know, if Brandon Coleman does need to develop, and I think also Brandon Coleman's.
Flexibility to guard is also valuable here.
Let's say Cornelias Lucas comes out and plays excellent in training camp, and then this allows you to get your best five guys on the field, which would be which would be pretty cool, especially if corn can get that done. Next guy, Luke McCaffrey, a guy that I think we're both pretty high on.
Also new to the receiver position. Some novelty there.
It's funny like Mike Sanders still Brandon Coleman and Luke McCaffrey all kind of new, not the football but to the position that they're playing. Mike Sanders still changed from receiver, Luke McCaffrey moved a receiver from quarterback. Kind of that tough, big slot guy, tremendous and contested catch situations. I think short area quickness tested better than shows up on film. But I think as he gets more into the position,
I think they'll just grow and become more nuanced. And a guy that I think think again has a great floor because of the pedigree, the background, obviously his brother and his father. His mother was a college softball player, his grandfather was an Olympic track athlete. Like, there is a pedigree of professionalism with him that I think sets the floor. And I think when you look at his improvement since he made the transition a wide receiver, I
think you were telling me this. He had two touchdowns in twenty two and then fourteen or sixteen touchdowns in twenty three. So obviously a guy that's really kind of on this exponential learning curve, much like Jane Daniels too, right, you just see guys on this kind of nice linear trajectory.
So a guy that I think is going to make an impact, kind of fill that big slot role, willing to do the dirty work, but also has some nice athletic traits in addition to good size that makes you excited about the direction that position is going.
Yeah, he was. He had top six finishes in seven per play statistical categories. I know that's kind of a word salid, but basically what that means is he was solid. Yeah, he was solid across the board. In twenty twenty two, he had perfect averages in catchable pass catch rate.
Yeah.
According to PF it means that if the ball is close and he should catch it, he caught it. And he had zero drop passes in twenty twenty two.
And I think the thing about him that's really cool is that that catch rate. Sometimes it doesn't show up with guys with him, it shows up like he's taking big hits, he's being physical over the middle of field. And again, a guy that five floor but really excited about where his ceiling could be, especially with a staff that's focused on developing talent like his. So now so we've all we've talked about those guys already, so we
kind of breeze through them. If you want more detailed analysis, make sure you go check out the last two podcasts where we kind of recap Day one and Day two. But now we're into guys we haven't talked about. So these are the fifth and seventh round selections for the team, in addition to the UDFA the rookie udfas.
So we're gonna start with it just neither drafted guys first, drafted guys first.
We're new three, so obviously that's Shortan m, Dominique Campton, and Javonte Jean Baptiste from Notre Dame. So Jordan McGee, linebacker from Temple to me is I'm very excited about him. And the reason I'm very excited about him, and I'm not just saying that because he's now a commander, but I was excited about him before. He's a guy that's very instinctive. He's fast the football. He ran a four to five two at the combine. He's got thirty two inch arms, he's sixty three, he's two twenty five, so
kind of built like a safety, runs downhill. Physical to the football reminds me of like Malcolm Smith He played linebacker at USC for a while, played for Cleveland Browns,
played for San Francisco. A little undersize, but tremendously instinctive to the football, understands his reads really well, and maybe the most important part of his game is he has a good sense for reading the quarterback and identifying his coverage responsibilities, which is something that like, you know, we talked about Jeremiah Trotter junior, we talked about some of
these other linebacker prospects that Eichenberg from Ohio State. I never saw that from them, you know, and to see because to me, like the way the position is transitioning is you need to have guys that are excellent coverage players and really decisive to run fits. And I think he does both of those things really really well. And I think his floor right now, he's probably going to be a rotational special teams type of guy to start, But the ceiling because of those traits reminds me a
lot of like and they're not the same player. I'm just gonna say this right now, They're not the same player, but in terms of fitting kind of archetypal molds, like Fred Warner is kind of what I look at like he played star kind of safety, highbred linebacker in college. So the coverage ability translates, the run and hit ability translates, and I see a lot of those similarities in terms of a guy that can cover and a guy that can be sideline a sideline but also isn't afraid to get down.
Hell.
Again, not a perfect prospect gets chewed up a little bit by bigger offensive linemen. You see him get a race a little bit, but when he sees it and he can run, he's quick, he's decisive, which is I think is a guy that I think is going to project to something more as you move forward.
Let me ask you a question about him. Sure, when you say undersized linebacker, the first thing that comes to mind as a Washington fan is, well, London Fletcher was undersized. So how much does being undersized at the linebacker position actually matter when you have those instinctual tendencies like what you're talking about. And I'm not saying he's going to be London Fletched, Oh right, but London Fletcher went undrafted.
It was probably because of his size, right, So like, what at some point with linebacker, where do you go?
Okay, it's definitely becoming, in my opinion, around the league, a little bit less important. It'd be like prototypical size. I think, you know, like because like if you look around the league, everyone's throwing the football. You're in sub packages all the time, sub meaning you're in you know, three wide receivers, a tight end in the back, more offensively, and so you're throwing the football more. You're in nickel sixty percent of the time. Nickel offenses don't run the
football as much. So it really becomes down to like your coverage ability, and so I don't think it's as important, especially if you're kind of playing like a one gap defense, which Dan has always played. That's always been a part of Dan's philosophy, is a one gap defense. You have one gap, get there. It limits your ability to kind of have to two gap and read and fight with
offensive lineman. So it's not as important. But I do think the thing with him is his weight is a little bit you know down it's two twenty five to twenty two something like that, and it just makes it harder when you're dealing with like bigger offensive linemen. You know, like you just like fighting them off, and so like when you watch NFL games and you see these guys that are kind of like these. I think Dallas is
a great example. You know, they kind of I forget where the kid was from, but he was basically a big safety that they moved to linebacker. Great ball instincts, could run to the football and covered up, but when he had to defeat blocks, that that skill set wasn't there for him. Now, I think he can develop that skill set. I'm talking about the kid from Dallas now, but I think McGee is a little bit better in that area. But that's something that I definitely think he
needs to work on about London Fletcher. London Fletcher was a was a true unicorn in that way. You know, he's five ten, five eleven whatever he is, but he's two thirty five to forty.
He is a fire hydrot.
Yeah, and he runs a four to four like he's he's he's unique, and he had a very and he understood what he did well and he Underson had to defeat blocks, and again, I think McGee shows a little bit of that, but he's going to have to get better at it. But I think the thing that gets you excited is the coverage ability.
McGhee had to career a career best PFF grade of eighty seven point two in twenty twenty three, which means he's getting better as he goes along, and that seems to be a theme of some of these guys that are drafted or brought in here as rookies. Another one is Dominique Campton, the safety from Washington. He had career highs in ball production in twenty twenty three. He had
seven pass breakups, two interceptions. So guys that are getting better throughout college and they hope that that continues here. So let's talk about Dominique Campton.
Yeah, I mean he led the team into last year, the Washington Huskies, and he's a guy that is I think he's six to two, he's two fifteen. He's got thirty three and a quarter thirty three and a half inch arms, so.
A big guy. He's a big player.
It kind of looks like a spider out there running around in the secondary. Plays with a physical mentality, plays with great energy. He played corner when he first came into UW. He's been there for six years. She's been there for a long time. He's a COVID baby, right, and he has some nice coverage ability, but gets a little bit handsy at times. But I man, I after watching his film again, I rewatched some of the stuff
that was online last night and the night before. He's to me, he's like a dark horse to make the roster. Like he's just got a very unique skill set. He can kind of play that safety linebacker Buffalo Nickel, highbred type role, which is kind of sweeping the NFL.
Yeah, I think in an interview Adam Peters called it the star position. Yeah, right, you're gonna call it here.
Yeah, So that star spot for me again, he's the energy, the acumen, the experience that he's got. I think he'll probably kind of fit in ats the special teams guy to start, But I don't know, Like when I watch this film, I like, man, this guy the projection for him because there's times when you watch him and you're kind of like, man, he's a little out of position. He's playing post safety, he's playing a quarter safety. But when he's down near the line of scrimmage, I think
you see a really dynamic playmaker. And so I think Dan and this staff understands like what guys do well like that. That's been Dan's m since I knew him in Atlanta, Like, what do you do? Well, let's have you do that. And I think we're not going to have him play in the post. We're gonna have him played near the line of scrimmage where he can be aggressive and downhill and give him clear rules because I do think he can cover. I think he can match
up with tight ends. Arm link is definitely there. But yeah, man, he's a guy to me, like, if you're a fan at home, circle that name to kind of watch and keep an eye on in training camp because I think there's a really easy path for his physicality and for his skill set. Again, a really nice athlete run a four or five at the combine. He had like a thirty nine in vertical jump, so twitched up, explosive, long, physical, Those guys tend to kind of find a role quicker than other guys in my opinion.
Yeah, the next guy the seventh round Javante Jean Baptistete, the defensive end from Notre Dame by way of Ohio State.
Correct.
Yeah, And so when you're getting into the seventh round, right and you're taking guys around here, I think you're looking for some things like this. He was in the ninetieth percentile. In broad jump, he had a ten foot five broad jump. That's pretty darn good explosive. Reportedly, he hit twenty miles per hour on the GPS in a game. That's good year pretty fast. And he has an eighty five point four PFF run defense grave So for an end who does get pressures, he had thirty eight pressures
last season. He is a good run stopper for an end, and so I guess those are the traits that you're looking for in like the seventh round.
Right, I think he had a top five, top five or top seven forty yard dash. The combined round a four to sixty six. So he's six ' five, he's two thirty five. So not like the biggest guy in the world. He should He should be based on his athletic measurables, like more productive than he is. And that's not like a knock on him, like, but like when you when he walks into a building, you're like, that
guy should be an amazing pass rusher. And when you watch him, he'll show you something you're like, oh, dang, like that, look at this dude run, look at this move, and then he'll go through about a ten play sequence where he's just kind of out there.
Not that he's not.
He plays hard, but he just looks a little unsure certain about what his plan is on a down to down basis.
Right, So do coaches look at that and go weaken?
I think so. I think so.
And again, like in terms of guys that I again like, I think it was like a as Dan guys. Obviously, the least three guys to me are like Dan guys, Jordan McGee, Dominic Campton, John Baptist, Because Jean Baptiste, if you get him with a good D line coach and you say, hey, man, do like these four things really well? As a pass rusher, he could become a guy that makes the roster and his productive. You know, he's a
seventh round pick. I'm not saying he's going to change the world here, but I think he's a guy that could be very impactful in that regard. And I like the selection because I always get mad when in the seventh round you take a guy that has no opportunity
to ever play football for your team. You're like, oh, his ceiling is a special teams guy, or his ceiling is the third linebacker on goal line it's like I get it, but like, let's take someone that is going to be a good football player, like kind of at a base you mentioned the run defense grade. That's always a great metric for like just solid production at the NFL level, Like if you can stop the run, you can play footba.
At the NFL level.
Yeah, but maybe he could be something more with that athletic frame, that kind of wiry length and the speed that he's shown.
So all right, so that's the draft.
That's the draft, all right, so real quickly, let's.
Recap the draft with this with this kind of like picture for it. All right, team needs before the draft, Yeah, all right, quarterback, defensive end, offensive tackle, defensive backs, linebacker, wide receiver. Guess what, every single one of those were filled. But we had something happen that it doesn't feel like happened here in a while. And that's we drafted the quote unquote best player available. So what a great job of getting best player available while filling team needs simultaneously.
And something I noticed when I was putting together this list, all right, guys like Johnny Newton, Ben Sinat, Brandon Coleman, Luke McCaffrey, these guys are going Jordan McGee. These guys are going to play behind some free agents and some veterans that were already here that are good, solid pros.
I mean, so you're filling a team need and you're putting them in a position where they don't have to be stars right away, outside of maybe Jaden Daniels, but they can learn, they can grow, they can figure out what it means to be a pro here and get coached up. And then like, you got talent right there.
Behind these guys.
True, almost for the entire draft class, right, like when you look at obviously everybody outside of Jayden and Daniels, but Gerson, you know, has Alan and Payne, right, you got Mike Sanders. Still, we talked about the defensive back group, Benson and he's got zach Ertz, Brandon Coleman.
I think bringing in Corney's.
Lucas bringing him back, that's a big deal, right, Luke McCaffrey. Obviously the receiver room, Jordan McGee, with the linebackers, Warner Haven't or not Warner Wagner and yeah, and then Dominie Campton, who is like, to me, like a cookie cutter mold of Jeremy Chin, Like Jeremy Chin almost won Defensive Rookie of the Year, like talk about a great model for him. And then John Baptiste is the seventh round pick, will
kind of mix into that defensive line room. But I think it's a really smart philosophy to get leaders at
these positions. And you know, a lot of these older veterans are on one year contracts, so you know, let's say, for example, Jeremy Chin, well, you know, I think he's going to have a great career here and they're going to sign him to an extension hopefully, but if it doesn't work out, hypothetically, you've got a guy in Dominie Campton who has sat for a year as a special teams guy with tremendous athletic upside that has learned in the defense and could potentially kind of make an impact.
So I think it's a really good philosophy. Great job by Adam Peters. And again, the other thing I want to point out is they're all captains, they're all leaders, they all have high floors, they're all self starters, and when you're drafting players, that's one thing that I think can't be can't be overvalued, is like, do are they motivated to get better, and we talked about the improvement that they've all shown over the course of their career.
Kind of the poster chitle that being Jane Daniels, but really excited for this draft class.
Love that it's the vision is clear.
They've identified pieces, they brought in talent to peeps pieces, and I can't.
Wait to see how they fit in here with the commanders.
Let's talk about the Logan Paulsons of the world and the London Pitchers, just the hidden gems in there, the undrafted free agents. We watched some of these guys in film leaning up. Yeah, so yeah, let's we're gonna go down the list. I'm going to give like a couple of stats about them, just so you understand it yield a little bit about them. We don't have to spend
too much time on everybody here. We will, But who's someone that stands out right away that you're like, oh, this is this is a great grab surprise you didn't get drafted. Glad he's here.
Well, there's a couple guys, but I'm gonna start with two guys to start, and so the first guy is I don't know how to say his name shingozier A Nusium. I love it from Colorado State. At the corner he's six ' to one. He ran a four three nine at his protae is that it's on there four three nine yep.
Yeah, that was eight amongst the corners at the combine.
Yeah, and very explosive, very long arms. Has really solid movement skills. Just wonder about his consistent compete, you know what I'm saying, Like he's playing hard, but like there's times where it's like, hey, go get that tackle, go fit that run, like you know what I'm saying. But in terms of a coverage guy, like talk about an incredibly high ceiling, like it's all there for you. Like
the movement skills, the ball skills. I when I saw it when I started watching film with him, because I didn't he wasn't on my list before I started, But when I started watching film, I was like, Oh, this guy can play some ball. Yeah, and so he probably starts as a again, she probably starts as a special teams guy.
Whatever. But in terms of remember we.
Talked about it with Jean Baptista, guy that could project something more like the body is there, Yeah, the athleticism is there. The instincts are there, it's just about making sure that's all going in the right direction all the time.
Yeah, six foot one, two hundred pounds, Like you said, seven percent body fat, thirty seven point five introvertical, ten foot two broad jump. He's explosive, A four three nine forty Like you said, I mean that's Fred Smoot wishes.
Yeah, he wishes.
And he was part of the All Mountain West first team for PFF grades. Right, So he's a baller, he's a player. And speaking of guys who are ballers and players, I'm gonna go to the next guy on this list is Sam Hart.
Can I just say my one other guy, My one other guy? I want to Yeah, guy, So two guys.
He's s that's one obviously, and then the next guy for me is Noreel Pollard from Virginia Tech. And when you watch him, like if you come to practice during training camp, he is going to win every single pass rush one on one. Yeah, Like, there's no doubt in my defensive tackle. Defensive tackle from Virginia Tech. He's undersized, he's like I think I saw something that said he was six foot six foot like two to eighty. So talk about like outlier size. He ran a four to
seven nine at his pro DA, very explosive. They had a thirty five inch vertical jump, but has great feel for like turning pads quick, quick, lightning, quick, get off. Like you when you think about the Dallas defense of the last couple of years, like this is the type of guy that fits perfectly in there. And he's probably just gonna be a situational pass rusher. But when you have a guy that can win pass rush reps like this, yeah, consistently,
it's like keep him in the program. So he might just be a practice squad guy, but he's someone that if you come to practice, you watch one on one and you'll be like, who the heck is that guy? Because he's gonna win all of them? You know what I'm saying, Like, that's just the type of guy he is. So to two names that kind of just jump out to me as like, hey, maybe maybe can make some waves.
Yeah, to go in what you're saying there stats to back it up right, all right? So he was he had an eighty eight pass rush grade that's accordy and pff that's third Yeah, and better than Johnny Newton.
He's got some he's got, Like we talked about juice. Yeah, he's got the juice.
He has a thirty total pressures. That's a sixteen point five percent win rate, fourth best in his class. True in true pass sets.
Of everybody, of everybody, Oh my god, of.
True pass sets. And that means that this is clearly a pass right. It's not a RPO. It's not play action quarterbacks definitely throwing this ball a ninety point four grade and with twenty pressures, that's tied with Byron Murphy. The first defensive tackle it went off the board.
So get this. I watched the Virginia game.
Yeah, and I had to like scrub it because he's not on every play because but there was a sequence where it was like ten consecutive pass plays and he was like, oh that was a pressure. It was like the guy I definitively beat the guard. And I don't know who that guard is. He might just be a guy, you know, other occupation type guy. But when you can rush the passer, yeah, let's see if it works.
And it's a size that's what That's what had him not get drafted. But guess what, he's a team captain. Yeah, right, fitting that molding it, and I think it's what you're talking to. It feels like this is like, well, he's an undersized guy, but he wins like this, So maybe it's that attitude.
Yea, Yeah, find a role for him.
And when you look at the philosophy of Dan in Seattle, in Dallas, in Atlanta, he understands probably better than I mean, at least better than any of the defense coach dropping with the importance of creating pressure to insulate coverage. Yeah, and you do that by finding guys who can rush the passer. And so to get this guy's UDFA. And again he's undersized, there's lots of issues. He's got thirty
two inch arms, not great length. But man, if that even pops up a little bit and you get and you're able to get some pressures out of this guy over the course of the year, that's a win, you admit, because it's not a big investment. It's a UDIFA. Just you made a phone call, Hey, you want to come be a commander. He's like yeah, and it's like cool, come on up, let's do it. So I think that's those are those are two names I think are interesting.
All right, here goes my segue again, Sam harton the qv from Notre Dame. So uh, probably the most handsome guy of the draft.
I mean, if you're that's a ten out of ten.
I'm going to tell you a quick little story. So my wife's best friend went to Notre Dame. Okay, so big Notre Dame fan knows who Sam Hartman is. Definitely knows who Sam Hartman is. So my wife texts me when we the we signed him. Here he goes, can I bring my friend to meet Sam Hartman? I went absolutely not, No, I will bring your friends to meet Sam Hartin. You can stay at.
Home, they'll tell you. So my wife had similar thing.
So we were talking about we were at a friend's house and they're like, oh, they drafted this quarterback, Sam Hartman. My friend is my wife's friend is a huge Commanders FANFA and she was like, who's this guy? And I was like, he's maybe the most handsome man on her because she's like no, and she got her phone out, got really quiet and was like, oh my I was like.
I will be etched in my brain when he ran the fourty.
Oh yeah, they get slow mo with.
His hair and glad he's here. The reason I'm glad he's here.
Not because he's hands.
It's not because he's hands, because he can play football right. One hundred and thirty four touchdowns, that's first all time in the ACC. Fifteen thousand, six hundred and fifty six yards, that's second all time for the ACC. One hundred and one passing touchdown since twenty and twenty one, that is first among all quarterbacks and another team captain. This guy just gets it done.
Ball.
Yeah, the one thing, the one thing, not a strong arm, no, comparatively at the combine, Joe Milton through the ball. They clocked it at seventy two miles an hour, sixty two, sixty two was it sixty two?
Yeah, and then I think he was like fifty four.
Yeah, exactly, Okay, sixty two and then yeah, McCarthy was right there with Milton, and yeah, Sam Hartman was. It was a little bit low, but accurate with the ball.
The ball right, So like plays the position so like.
I think there's a lot of conversation about his like limited athletic tools, you know, But the thing that comes that when you watch this film, like he gets how to play quarterback, understands what to.
Do with his eyes, understand his reads, understands.
The protections, and you know, Adam Peters has had a lot of success with Rock Party. I'm not saying this is Rock Party. I think Rock Party has a little bit more athletic juice, a little bit.
More physical talent.
But there is value to basically saying, like, you know how to play the position the way it's supposed to be played. Maybe if things look good through the OTA training camp process, you're the third quarterback, you're the practice squad guy, something like that. But having someone with that level of experience, the level of college production in the building is ever a bad thing.
Yeah, absolutely so, Hi IQ GUYI, Hi IQ guy. Hi you guys all right, Austin Jones are running back from US. Most people know Marshawn Lloyd from US. Yeah, this was the other that was there. He had threes out three, two hundred and thirty eight total yards in his career
with twenty seven touchdowns. In twenty twenty two. He had seven and one one hundred and five rushing yards, nine hundred and seventy two receiving yards I put, passing yards I met receiving yards, and six yards per touch average, So pretty productive.
Pretty productive.
So Austin, I'm gonna put the two running backs in the same category because they are really similar to me. So Austin Jones and Michael Wiley from Arizona running back from Arizona, and so basically when you watch them as runners, they're fine. You know, there's nothing to write home about. Where they kind of excel is catching the football. Yeah, and they're not crazy athletic. They're not you know, running four twos or four threes anything like that, but they're
very efficient catching the ball. So I do think they kind of identified a skill set. They said, these guys can pass, protect and catch the ball well and Wiley specifically, they kind.
Of lined them up all over the formation.
He did a lot of his damage, you know, catching yards after catch screens, things like that. So you know, obviously that running back room is going to be very tight, very competitive. You know, McNichols is a very good player. They're kind of in that same mold Chris Rodriguez, b Rob and obviously Austin Eckler kind of the archetypical third down back in the NFL. But they are very much third down runners, yeah, because they're not on first, second down,
they're just they're okay. Like, there's certain guys you watch me, Oh look, this guy's got like Marshall Lloyd's a great example. He's got some creative ability. He can break tackles, he can do all these things. They're not really in that bucket. Their value is pass catchers and in pass protection.
So with Wiley, the running back from Arizona, he had forty nine games in his career, twenty eight touchdowns, and he scored on every sixteen point three touches. He had a nose for the end zone. Another undrafted free agent running back that is here that has a nose for the end zone is Austin X. Yes, that's right, right, So what a great Like we were talking about earlier young guys coming in with veterans that Peters and Quinne brought in. What a great guy to have leading your
running back room. Now in Eckler, with these young guys coming in undrafted, he's been through it. He knows how to get it done. He knows how to go through that process of being undrafted running back. And like, there's some guys here that have I don't want to say they're similar to Austin Eckler, but they have a nose for the end zone, right, They find a way to make plays to get yards and it's like got something here made.
Yeah.
And Austin Eckler was a freak. Yeah.
Physically you know, he was like a six hundred pounds backsquad guy, very fast, very explosive. These guys aren't that same athletes, you know, that same physicality, but in terms of catching the ball and making a career doing that, like talk about a great role model. A guy that started his career doing that, I was able to kind of develop into something more.
There's one more running back one here, is there?
You want to talk about him? Oh?
Well, so yeah, we can tell. So I've actually going to include him in the other group. Okay, so we're the next The next we're going to do is we're going to do Ben Nickel wide receiver, quarterback slash quarterback from Iowa State. We're going to do Tyler oh safety from Texas Tech. And we're gonna do Coolson Yankov running
back for UCLA. And the reason we're gonna put those guys in all and also we could put the receiver from Georgia in here if you want to, but I think he's going to be his own thing.
Okay, we'll do him.
But those three guys to me are really interesting. So let's start with Ben Nickel from I always say, basically, a non scholarship player does not play any position, defense or offense. He is a absolute lunatic. Lunatic on special teams, yes, like that is his thing. Like he is a missile on covering kicks. He's going to play gunner, He's going to play vice, He's going to do all of that stuff.
And so like when I think when I see this guy, not the same athlete, but I think of like Matthew Slater for New England, like didn't really have a position in college. I played with him actually at UCLA, so played corner.
A little bit.
They're like, oh, you're not going to for corner, played receiver, uh, but was an excellent special teams guy. And there is value there. You know what I mean is Oo's the new special teams coordinator. I think he sees the value of a guy who's tough, competitive, made his own way, earned a scholarship. We'll figure out what he whether he's a receiver or corner at the next level, but teams teams, teams, teams, teams all day for him.
And we know how important teams is here with guys like all pro Revo Jeremy comes here. So but yes, he was a walk one, earned the scholarship, a co captain.
Really I didn't know that, yep, and a co captain.
So like, like you said, a guy that like may not be the most athletically traded guy, but just like a maniac earns you respect.
Maniac is a good way to explain it. Like it'll be interesting to see how he like where he kind of fits in. But yeah, an absolute lunatic on teams. Next guy Tyler Owens. He is a physical freak. He's six two fifteen. He's got thirty three in a quarter, like very similar to Dominic Campton. He broke the combine record for broad jumps, so maybe the most explosive different and than fastest.
Well foot two broad jump.
It's maybe the most explosive dude in the history of the combine. I think he had forty one inch vertical right.
That was first among the all safety.
He is big, he's explosive, like when you see him hit people, he injects people from the screen. You see the explosive in this show up. The problem with him is on defense, not overly instinctive. He transferred from Texas. He's transferred from Texas to Texas Tech, never really got on the field, but plays special teams like an absolute
insane person, you know what I'm saying. So like a guy that is frustrating because you say to yourself you athletically, physically, you are what you draw up to play that star safety position near the line of scrimmage. And here's a guy that I also think kind of in that Dominie Campton role right where it's like you were playing post safety in college. That's not your bag. Let's get you near the line of scrimmagers that you're covering tight ends.
Let's get you in man coverage. But in terms of a guy that's going to have an impact right now, like it'll be on teams, like absolutely lighting people up, being the first one down on kicks. Like they definitely made it a point of emphasis to say you're a freak athlete. We'll figure out we're going to do with you. Again, I hope that they're able to kind of say, hey, you're at a position here, let's move you towards at
line of scrimmage. But the reason they're all these guys are clustered together, including Coolston Yankov running back from UCLA Teams guys teams, teams, teams, teams, teams. Yankov played quarterback at udub transfer to UCLA. They moved into a running back, they moved to a receiver. He played a little bit of linebacker. He's just an athlete that hasn't been able to find like a true identity yet.
But I think he led the.
Team in special teams tackles like led So every game he was getting three to four special teams tackles. So dude is an absolute maniac. And also I think you have this on here. Return kicks.
Yeah yeah, yep, return kicks.
So that's why those guys are all kind of closer together.
Yeah, And he had sixteen kick returns for three hundred and thirty four yards, which is pretty darn good. And he was fifth in the Pac twelve and return yards, but he received less opportunities and the guys ahead of him, so very productive as far as kick.
And also big guy. He's six ' four six four and a half to twenty five two thirty. I think he ran like a sub four or five at his PROTA. I haven't been able to confirm that because the PRODA numbers aren't coming out. But talk about big, explosive guy that made his value on teams, and it's kind of like we'll figure out what role to be. So those three guys, Ben Nickel, Tyler Owens circle that name too.
Man just that athletic profile and that size is so unique, is so unique.
That like, as long as he's not totally an apt to playing safety, they'll find a way to keep him around. And then Colson niekov special teams ace with again the guy that kind of fits this.
Positionless football, Kyle Yuschek. Where do we find value for you on the field.
Let's talk about AJ Woods, a cornerback from pitt He went to u A High school in Germantown, Maryland, the same high school he went to. Yeah local kid, so hoping the best for him. In his career, he had one hundred and five tackles, two sacks, four interceptions, twenty nine pass defense and one for sun. What do you know about A J.
Woods? I don't really know that much about him. I was able to find any film on him.
Honestly, you know, when you're kind of scouring the internet, and I think that's the hard thing about some of these guys. So I put him aj Woods with our tackle buddy, David. I want to give that a shot. David will Goog from Toledo obviously with google's a former basketball player. Share expecting high end upside, but he's transferred schools multiple times. He's six ' five three ten three three oh five, so it's like, I.
Don't know how he moves. I don't know anything about him.
Those guys are the same bucket for me, not because I think they're bad players. I just wasn't able to find anything film related on either one of them.
I mean, how good are NFL scouts that they're finding these guys who could be diamonds in the rough. I mean, for with Goog, you started all fourteen games last year in twenty twenty three for Toledo on the line. That line ranked fourth in the nation in sacks allowed only zero point seventy nine sacks per game. That's pretty good. That offense in the MAC was first in scoring, total offense, and pass efficiency, and they were eighth in the nation
in rushing rushing offense. So he was a part of a good offensive line.
Yeah, no, absolutely, and the athletic the basketball background with offensive lineman. I'm always really intrigued by that because you're looking for big, lean athletes and he's a big lean athlete. Just depends on, you know, how he's able to develop. Again, the transfer things is a little bit interesting, but yeah, uh, you know, scouts get paid and they get paid a
lot of money, a lot more than we do. So hopefully they found the right guy and that leaves one more person on our list, right, Yes, and this is maybe my I had actually had a really high grade on him coming out this So what's his name? Marcus rosemy Jack saint YEP wide receiver from Georgia.
I think he's six to two. Is that correct?
I can look it up.
Took it up. I think he's six to two, about two ten.
And I loved his film, Like I'm always looking for guys that I think embody kind of the dirty work traits of a position, and he's a guy that definitely did that for me. He's rolling the block, willing to make tough contested catches. Not kind of the guy at Georgia. Obviously that's Lad mccognity, but he was a guy that definitely I just I really enjoyed watching his film.
I think he had a medical issue.
I think had an acl that they were people are a knee issue that people were concerned about, which is maybe why goes undrafted. But I love the player, love the way he approaches the game, loved the like the yards after catchability, blocking on screens like probably again has special teams value, but I really enjoyed he was one of my one of my kind of dark horse receiver guys that it just like I just liked him, and so I'm really happy to see him here.
Yeah he's six two one ninety five. So here's something that's I think pretty good about him. Yeah, for a wide receiver. You want to see this. He's had zero drop the passes since twenty twenty two. That's with eighty eight targets. Yeah, zero drop passes in his whole career. Only two drop passes.
Yeah, dude catches ball, Yeah catch.
You love to see that from a wide receiver.
Shows up on tape. He does the receiver stuff well, runs good routes, physical blocking, makes tough catches. I thought he did find at the Senior Bowl, like he wasn't you know, the best wasn't the worst, kind of right in the middle there, and that's what you expect from him. A guy that's going to have a nice role on the team. But I love the way he approaches it. And I wonder if his medical was better, like if he's if he's drafted to a different team.
So yeah, you can really see with this process how Peters and Quinn and the whole staff here are putting the pieces of the puzzle together, from free agency bringing in the veterans that they did at the positions that they did, to the draft to the undrafted free agents. There's going to be more free agency signings that come along.
I'm sure like you can start to see this team get built and in the image that they said that they were going to do it absolutely what you have here with them is all these guys are guys that love football. They either have athletic traits or just the design correct to be better all the time always, and in many cases both of those things. And like there is clearly a culture with what they're building here and I'm excited to see how this plays out on the field.
This draft strategy that we haven't seen in Washington in a long time.
Yeah, I think it's it's extremely exciting and it's you hit the nail on the head there. It's the type of guy they're bringing in, and I think that's that's pretty encouraging. They're all kind of wired the same way. So even though I haven't seen, you know, some of these undrafted for agent guys, I know that they're going to be kind of cut from the same cloth, of the same mold, because that's kind of what they've prioritized
throughout the process, which is always really exciting. But I think that's going to do it for today's show, for day Yeah, and let us know, right, let us know if you're interested in seeing more of these shows, the once a month thing, the updates and what you want to see in those shows, We really appreciate it. But that's going to do it for today, and I think that's it.