Well everyone, and welcome to another edition of the NFL Draft Triple Take, presented by U P M C. Mike pursued at Dale Wally and Matt Williamson. We are your Triple Take threesome. We've been doing this for years now, so you probably know the drill by now. We take a look at the NFL Draft position by position leading up to the NFL annual event. And when I say leading up to it, we started this stuff, I don't know, a month six weeks ago. We still got a month
to go, give or take. We'll drop in some mock drafts here and there, just to kind of throw your curve ball every now and then. But we are on round two, or in the middle round two of our position previews and the way that works. Rather than give you a top five, we give you a riser, a faller, and a sleeper. And one of the themes uh during our recent programs has reared its ugly head again. You know, I like it when we all have so many different to talk about it figure, you know, different guys see
things differently. It's not always the case. And Matt Williamson, you and I have been agreed of late and we're gonna do it again our riser cadet from from Washington,
great minds. And I made this excuse for myself when we recorded the running back trip will take the second one that when we did the first one, I wasn't in the deep end on running backs yet because the Steelers have taken Najy Harris well the same as kind of true on tight ends, and so I've done a lot more ought and research since we got together the first time to the rank tight ends. And I think he's my number one now. Yeah, I mean I'm this guy. I mean six five, yeah, big time. I think he
was fifth or six for me either. It was a just miss, but he's my favorite now. They asked him to block a lot at Washington. I think he was a four year starter. The yeah they do that, they're right. I mean he's going to block and so he doesn't embarrass himself in that regard. And I think he's the best separator of this group, you know, like Trey McBride's a good player and he was my one before. But everything's a contested catch. This guy gets open. Yeah, he's
really rising. He may end up being the first one pick. I know he's been reportedly a very popular guy. A lot of teams are scheduling pree draft visits with this kid. And I think the Washington thing. You know, certain programs produce a certain kind of guy, and it's pretty consistent. And a Washington tight end or a Washington dB. I think you know what you're getting. At least you got maybe a little better idea than than uh, with anybody else. So yeah, I'll put it. I'll put a arrow pointed
up next to Kate. Thank goodness, guys, I started writing up Kate Oughton when I did mind, I said, you know what, that's gonna be too chucky. I'm gonna go with somebody else, and so and so I did. I went with Daniel Bellinger at a San Diego State and uh, he's six five to fifty three, was in the top five essentially and everything, uh testing wise at the combine ran a four six three forty. That made me go
back and watch him again. And I'm not gonna say this guy could be George Kittle, because Kittle all he did was blocked in college. All this guy, this guy blocked a lot in college as well. They didn't throw in the football. But then I watched him in the drills and things that at the combine and I'm like, oh, he heat moves pretty well. And I went back and watched some more game taping him. He only had sixty eight career catches. Kittle was very similar because they just
they had T. J. Hawkinson as well. He was, you know, Kiddle was the blocking tight end. It was a Kidd with Hockinson at that time or somebody else younger than end. A lot of tight ends there, you know, And I just like this guy's athletic profile. He's big, he blocks, and I think he's gonna be a guy that goes somewhere, probably a lot sooner than I thought, you know when we started this process. Yeah, let's keep it with you
because you and Matt are in agreement on the faller. Uh. Matt's already uh in previous shows, UH established that he's less than impressed with Texas A and m' what's coming out of the station. Uh. And you're gonna pile on a little bit, aren't you. Yeah. I don't know what was going on with the track down there, but Jalen Widermeyer, who was number three on my initial list, ran a
five oh three forty. Yeah, at six five pounds and if you remember both of the Georgia defensive tackles at the combine ran you know four seven eight and four eight oh and everybody's going crazy. Uh A tight end? Who's that slow? I don't think there's been one drafted in quite some time. Now you turn on this guy's tape and it's like, okay, you know, he gets open, he does a lot of the stuff that you want to see, but I can't get past the five oh three forty. I mean that that's super slow. Yeah, and
Dye just expand on that. I actually looked into it a little more like what tight ends it ran over A five did get drafted, and it's guys like Nick Boyle, you know, big time blockers that are two pounds. And he's not that he's not a very good blocker, Like he's not real explosive. The forty time was really bad, but his jumps were just as bad. And I don't care what the track is. So he's kind of just a monotone athlete that doesn't stand out as much as
he should. Yeah. I kind of used the measurables to identify my follower as well. Uh, Jake Ferguson from Wisconsin, who I was pretty high on watching a lot of Big ten football, and then, uh, you know, when you start boiling it down at Indianapolis, Now you know four eight one isn't awful, but it was ninth among tight ends in Indianapolis. It wasn't though it wasn't, but I had Ferguson in my top five in the initial look
at the position. And if he's gonna be the ninth fastest guy, he did fifteen reps on the bench press, Uh, thirty one five on the vertical. This is the guy wh's got an athletic background, multi sport background, and he looks athletic on tape. Kind of similar to uh, Kiren Williams, the running back from Notre Dame, who we discussed on a recent episode here. Uh. Yeah, as good as they
look in college. When you start lining them up with the rest of the draft eligibles, there's a significant difference. Some down grading. Jake Ferguson from Wisconsin, Uh, just a little bit, Matt uh tell us about Gelanti Woods are sleeper. Yeah, I kind of thought we might all have him as the riser. I mean, he's six seven, just a smidge under two hundred sixty pounds, was not a big name
two months ago leading into this process. Goes to the Combine, runs a four or six one at six seven, and his jumps were great, long arms, real freaky athlete, and much of his career, even going back to Oklahoma State, he was just a big in line blocker and he's fine doing those things. But well, unleash him. Yeah, let him go down the field. I thought I just had to make sure he was, you know, in this conversation, because he's a name everyone needs to know. They I
like the guy you included as well. Uh, good hustle going outside of the Indianapolis. Uh well, if you're Mike, if you watch the pit pro day, you saw a guy that Kenny Pickett was throwing to a lot without his shirt on. If if I looked like that, I wouldn't wear my shirt either. Talking about Lucas crawl at six six to fifty six, uh tight end ran a four or five four or forty. I didn't think he was anywhere near that fast. I thought he was a pretty good prospect. I was kind of surprised he wasn't
invited to the Combine. But not only did he have that four or five, four or forty vertical. I mean he was across the board in like the top above and and a lot of those statistics for the tight ends. Uh. You know has a baseball background as well as it. Was drafted by the Giants, transferred to pit from Florida, so he was initially a Florida recruits. There's a lot there to like, and he showed up a lot in the fall to absolutely I think he really helped himself
with this pro day. My sleeper is one of my favorite players available in this draft for a lot of reasons. And I'm not sure he's a tight end, but he worked out with the tight ends in Indy, so uh here he have gotten to Michigan State, Yes, he did. Connor Or Hayward five eleven, two thirty three. I think he's much more a fullback slash h back. But he has been a running back at Michigan State. He's been a tight end. He's been a special teams guy. He's
just a football player, man, he just makes places. I've seen this kid go eighty yards for a touchdown against Maryland. I was actually there in the stadium in Maryland. Steelers were playing the Ravens. The next day, I was there with two or three thousand other really interested people watching Michigan State playing Maryland. I wish you had better bloodlines, though, Mike, Well, you know the other than iron head Hayward and Damn Hayward.
He does not much to go there. Uh. A couple of years ago, the pandemic year, he scored two touchdowns against Michigan and then most recently in the Peach Bowl against pitt I know, you guys remember this catch. He went up in the end zone during Michigan State's come back and gets drilled into spleen or the ribs, comes down with the ball touchdown. Uh. Just I really like his toughness. I really like his ability. Is Daniel Jeremiahs has to play above the rim at five eleven and
the background that Matt made reference to. You know, I'm a big fan of guys who, uh, their dad played her coach, their brother played her coached, or is in the league. Now. I think it's really advantageous. And I think Connor Hayward's gonna end up on a roster somewhere, and I think he's gonna make a few plays every week. Great one, Yeah, He's one that every time Matt and I do a mock draft on the Drive. On the Drive, we always take that seventh round pick and say, Okay,
Connor Hayward, that's just just pencil it in. He really is. Uh, he's fun to watch. He's a good story and uh, we'll see what that gets him. That's gonna do it for our further review on tight Ends, I wanna remind everybody that, uh, this show and all shows like it can be found on all of the Steelers social media platforms. We're gonna cranking out these positions previous. Hey, sometimes we're gonna agree, sometimes we're not. Uh that's just the way it works out. But uh, we've got it covered from
every angle of trust me on that one. Thanks for tuning in and finding us wherever and however you found us. Until the next time. For Matt Williamson and Dale Lolli, I'm Mike Pursuona. This has been the NFL Draft Triple Take, presented by U P m C