The Year of the Edge Rusher

wherever you get your pods. We certainly appreciate it. And with us today a couple of guys that have been on the ground for much of this pre draft process here for pro days to combine and essentially anywhere in between. Talking to James Palmer and Jeffrey Chitta. Gentlemen, great to be back here with you, and Jeff's got a great piece out right now. Um on pass rushers as they try to make this transition to the NFL from the

college game. Will into that here in a little bit, but I want to start with some of the wide receiver situations that have gone on recently. Both you guys cover the Chiefs a bunch the Tyreek Hill move one of the biggest of the off season, sending him to Miami. He then gets the big money deal. Right. Davante Adams, similar situation, leaves Green Bay. It's another huge contract there in Las Vegas. And now there's like that next round of guys that are looking for that kind of money. Right.

Forty Niners, Deebo, Samuel Commanders, Terry McLaurin, Titans A J. Brown, who has made some interesting moves on social media recently. Let me start with you, James here real quick, just on on this phenomenon. Are you into or not into the reading into the scrubbing of social media from a players are scrubbing of a team and all of their information from a player's social media platforms. I thought, all of a sudden the question came out, and I was like,

are we on Good Morning Football? Is this? Like if you were? I'm not. Again, Do I need a whiteboard to tell you what I'm thinking about? You know? Is am I in with this? Listen? This is the generation that we're dealing with and the generation that is making up a large portion of the NFL. And this is how apparently communication is. Uh, this is how you tell

everyone how you're feeling. And I think in terms of the receiver spot, the more people I talked to, it's like the Christian Kirk deal is the one that kind of skewed everything in terms of how this landscape was going. Not that it was like obviously not the biggest, but it was like whoa, and then everything kind of happened a little bit after that. I just think what's happening is now we're seeing and you know, I live in Denver. Russell Wilson more or less told the Seattle Seahawks, I'm

gonna play for the Broncos. Let's make that happen. And players are getting more power, and players are making their voices known. Jeff like clearer and clear about this is where I stand. This is where I want something to happen. But we also have seen you can fix it pretty quickly with a new contract or everybody we find. Eventually, it seems to mend itself quickly, even though people like to floice opinion in terms of social media about where

they stand with where their pleasures are with their contract. Yeah, I think it's uh. I think it's that, and I also feel like it's the players can read and they can see what's coming behind them. They know that this draft, for example, has got six or seven receivers who are first round talents. They saw what happened with Justin Jefferson, they saw what happened with Jamaar Chase. Obviously, they saw what happened with Tyreek Hill and Davante Adams and those

guys as well. But there's there's a small window here to make your money, to make that big money out because if you're a GM and you're talking about paying a second second, excuse me, a second round pick, a guy's in the last sums contract now big money. You're also probably looking at guys like Garrett Wilson or Drake London, uh, people like that, Chris olav and saying well, I could

just go with this guy, but we just find as well. Yeah, And and that's part of where I wanted to get into because James, you saw one of those wide receivers that could be In that discussion down in Alabama's Road with Jamison Williams, what was the since you got down there um about him as a as a prospect that teams might see, as you know, a high level player that provides a little bit more cost control than maybe some of the wide receivers that are established in the league. Yeah,

I had a goal of going down there. Rent I was like, who in the right mind would want to leave the Ohio State University thinking? And so now I'm joking, but that was actually when I talked to evaluators, like they were kind of curious, going, where's the competitiveness? Right? Did you not want to beat out Chris Lave, Garrett Wilson, Jackson Smith and Jigba. It's a it's a huge lee, crowded wide receiver room. Why did you leave? Right? And And I kind of heard he didn't really like Ohio State.

That's kind of a bummer, But I didn't have anything to do when I was down in Alabama finding out with his competitiveness. And that was one of the things when I got a chance to talk to Nick Saban for a little while, was like one of the things that he said, Jamo's competitiveness is kind of what made their team special. And I had just pointed out to me by a couple of teammates about the way practices would go when he first got there first the first day of practice he was with them, I was totally

was one versus ones. He catches the ball in the middle of the field, there's two safeties about I don't know, six ft apart from each other. He goes through without even getting touched, And defensive players started asking guys in the secondary like, are you guys Lofen like you were going a d percent right, And they're like, yeah, yeah, we were. He's just that much faster than we are.

And you're talking about a program like Alabama. But what stood out to Saban and stood out the teammates, And this is why Saban told me his demeanor is so unique for the wide receiver to where he wants to be a gunner on special teams. He wants to play kickoff like they'd go ones versus once for a period. And I think we've all known the reputation and the stories of Alabama practices, right, and how they run and

how hard they work. They would go from that period and then the very next period is a special teams period, And I was told by teammates like they've watched him sprint over to a special teams punt period and he'd be the gunner coming down on punt immediately after he was running deep balls with the first team offense and they are like, jeez, this guy works like that type of competitiveness, Saban told me is what made their team

kind of special. And I think I learned something about him as an individual, and he has been going up boards because the talent is ridiculous. But I think the way that he in a lot of receivers, right, Jeffrey, like, don't change the way your team vibes a lot of times, right, That's not the position you usually look to when you're like, wow, looks guys kind of holding things together. He has a

little bit of that. Yeah, And again you go back to the guy that just mentioned Jamaar Chase and Justin Jefferson. In the NFL, I think that what you're seeing in the league is people looking for those kinds of talents at that position now, players who can come and right away and completely change the complexion of your franchise. I do have to laugh, though, because he probably want to be a gunner for Ohio State because if I have plenty chance to do that job down there with a

lobby and those guys. But I give you credit for bringing up his his his work, his work ethic. You guy I do love that left him as a player. Yeah, look at you two, and you know we're looking at the Chiefs, who now have you know, two first round picks right there, back to back as it currently stands, and if they stick right there, I think they're gonna be out of luck. Um with maybe the first five wide receivers could be off the board by that time.

But Jeffrey, do you see that as a place that they still want to go or do you feel like they're set with the addition of Markquis, Balda Scantley, Jujue Smith Schuster in company there in case, I think James would attest to this. I think that when I look at the Chiefs going for receiver in the first round, a lot depends on what's there. I don't think that as aggressive as Brett beaches, he would go up to draft a receiver at that spot. I think you'd go

up to get to edge rusher. But I do feel like they have a certain type of receiver they like to have there, and so guys who were more like the Drake London's, the bigger, the six four pound guys, the trailer burke type guys, even though they're athletic guys, they just don't fit their mold. I think Jamison Williams is that kind of player. I think Chris O. Lobby would be a great player in that in that system because it was route running and it's just his sophistication

as intelligence, his i q um. But I think that they'll sit there and see what's available to them, and if they don't like it, they'll buy trade back and take one in the second round. Again. All these guys we just talked about, the Deebo Samuels, the A. J. Brown's, the people of that nature, Um Terry McLaurin. Those guys were all second third round picks. And so you can sit there and find a pretty good player at that position. You don't have to go up and get just the

big name guys. Right now, Jeff and I were texting about this yesterday. I think we both in factly believe that Brett Vach is not sitting there with both those picks. They're not gonna pick in both of those spots. I think we talked about this on on NFL now like that, the need of pass rush with the Chiefs, especially with everybody else's pass rush in the division is just a monster monster need um. Chris Alave actually has a similar

mindset to Jamison Williams. I were talking to Terry McLaren about it this past year because I love to talk about my buck eyes. So I asked him, you know what, you stay chat room. Yeah, we're always just you know, down here at the bus. But he said, he's like, he's like, he came up the same way I came up. They're really close, Terry and Chris Lave and and he's like he did the same things I did. Like and I remember because I watched every game, like Jeff watches

every Michigan game. I'm surprised that we're able to get able to watch the Ohio State this year. I watched some watch on repeat. I watched the last ten years. I watched the last ten years on repeat. Anyway, Uh, well, he's like, he's like, Chris did the same things I did. And he was blocking punts as a freshman, and he was, you know, on special teams, and he's like, he did it the same way I did it. And I think it makes you a better player at the next level.

And James and Williams is kind of the same sense. Both those guys would fit in Kansas City. Rend I, I I'm just curious what they're thinking is with both of those picks. And remember they have two second rounders and two third rounders, so he has the ammunition to manipulate and move for anybody that they really see that

as a as a distinct target target for them. Yeah, and it will get to perhaps some of those edge rusher possibilities that the Chiefs could see down there at the bottom of the first round when we get when we get a little bit deeper into this episode here, especially with Jeff uh put that piece out on NFL

dot com about the pass rushers. But I didn't want to get back to Alabama here for a second and kind of relating back to this situation that the Chiefs are in, because part of the reason they were in that Tyreek Hill situation is you had the one year franchise tag that you had to pay Orlando Brown, Um, you know, with with where he was at one able to get the long term deal done in time, and so you know, you're committed to that number, and and that's where they were at, and so you know, Tyreek

Hills on his way. Um. Evan Neil is by the way, you know, one of the top two, if not the top guy depending on who you ask um in terms of tackles in this draft class. And you got to see him down there, in addition to guys that Christian Harris James, who are gonna be potentially you know early day two picks. Just your thoughts on some of those other Alabama prospects down there from your time at Tuscalusa. Yeah, for Evan Neil is a different cat, and I mean

that in a good way. I mean, I've never seen a guy go through this whole pro day wearing a watch, uh the entire time, especially when you're going through all those past blocking drills and I'm like, He's like, I'm keeping track of my calories. He told me like, I just want to see how much I burned during this, during this lurkout. And he didn't want to do that. You know that he didn't do any of the drills at the combine. He wanted to do them all all

down there. And I mean to be six seven three forty five and move the way he moves and to play multiple positions at Alabama, very few programs probably would have a guy like that play different spots in their career on the offensive line. But what really stood out to me talking to him, I'll be outside of his intelligence and the in the type of makeup he has in terms of character, is he had zero penalties this past season six total for his three years starting at Alabama.

So I think that to me and Jeff and I we were talking about this before the podcast started, about the edge rushers and raw talent and and being a tactician of your craft. If you don't have any penalties like that, that that shows you're coming in as a pretty polished player because you know how to play the position. On top of the physical attributes that he has. He'd love to go number one. They haven't had a number one pick from Alabama I think in seventy four years,

so he would like that to happen. Um, what was that? What's that? What's that guy? You know? When I was doing Alabama as a quarterback? Um? Yeah, a long time ago. Yeah, well I name it was was not NFL. That's it doesn't technically count if you want to skew the staffs the way I just did. But um, but yes, there you go. Did you get that off the top of your head, you google that or do you still use it? Just it just took a little. It took a minute to circle back through the filing system in here. So

I gotta I got it. I got it, and then the other guy real quick. I think like Christian Harris and I went to l s U the next week and people were talking about him. I talked to a head coach that was like, he's gonna he's gonna play inside and he's gonna play for an eternity because they love his makeup, they love the athletic says m he has. I talked to Harris for a long time Abama. He was like, dude, I was the safety and a running back and I'm at a camp and Hugh Freeze pulls

me over to another drill. It's like, hey, play linebacker. He's like, within a few weeks, I'm getting linebacker offers, and in two months he has to prep to play linebacker to start at Alabama and ends up playing for three years after Hugh Freeze at a camp tells him to go, hey, let why don't we try at linebacker? And now everybody is really really around the league. His name keeps coming up. When I talked to people just because of his makeup. He's he's just he just gets it.

He's so professional in a sense and just understands kind of what what would be asked of him. And there's there's some teams that are would be really really excited to have him him one day to just an interesting, interesting kid with the transition he went through in the way he was able to make that happen so quickly and then play there's other guys breathing down your neck in Alabama and just move into linebacker and play for three years is crazy. You know you mentioned Evan Nel.

When I was at Michigan's Pro day. I was talking to some scouts there about him and they kind of mentioned the irony of effect that in a different year he wouldn't be probably the hands on the odds on number one pick just because of the talent. Everybody down there was raving about him. But you look at the Jaguar situation having Cam Robinson on a franchise tag, Like I had a couple of personnel guys just telling me that there's no way they can't take Ade Hutchinson number one,

or that was treybon Walker being to talk. I think it will still be Hutchinson, but just the feeling in that camp was that one. This is a weird draft because you might have ten picks go by without having somebody touching the football get drafted, which rarely happened. Uh

Lee Willis gets in there, Garrett Wilson. But the fact that Aid Hutchinson, a guy that a couple of years ago was just a good player trying to see if he could play at a high level get into the first round, might end up being the number one pick. I mean it's like, as much as he's very as much as James raid about Ohio State, I would worry about Michigan now. And the fact that, um, you know, you talk about d to Send, you talk about Daxton Hill,

you talk about David Ojabo. Obviously a tough story there at their pro day going down with Achilles tear Um. The town they have coming into this draft is pretty impressive as well. One last note on Harris, I thought this is wild because we always love combine measurements. So when I was talking to him at the combine, he his broad jumped with eleven feet right, he runs a four four four, and Christian goes, dude, I never brought jumped over ten before the combine. I was like, what happened?

He goes the combine has a measurement line at nine ft and eleven feet. I thought the eleven stripe was the ten ft stripe. And he's like, so I was just jumping for that. It's like, and maybe when the lights come on, I just played better because he's like, I also never ran a four or four four in any of my training. He's so he's like, I was blowing he we were all blown away by his combine performance. He was like, I had no idea who's gonna get any of those numbers because I never measured at any

of those numbers. But it's kind of interesting though, because that's kind of the discussion that we've been having on path of the Draft a bunch, and we talked about it this week, you know, with these off the ball linebackers, because you know, like you're looking at a guy like Devin Woydum or maybe a guy like Nikobe Deane from

Georgia um as potential first round picks. But then you see guys like Christian Christian Harris, Troy Anderson from Montana State, Chad Movement from Wyoming, and quay Walker from Georgia, Like, like, all right, can we get like a similar type player at a better value in the second round? And so that'll be an interesting storyline, uh to see play out there.

But Jeff talked a little bit about what's going on in Michigan kind of becoming I think what Aidan hutcheson his term pass rush you now is that it used to be they had that that title, right, but they don't have any They go, buddy, now they've all gotten um, it's a finess program up there now down there, yet check out the highest paid dbs three of the top

the top three. We're gonna Jeff sort this thing out and take a quick break and come right back on into the port with another look at the pass rushers in this class. I'm back here with the NFL and side report. James Palmer, Jeffrey Chadia back here with us, and Jeffrey has been working on a piece about pass rushers, especially as they make the transition now from the college game to the pro game. And look at I've mentioned

this also on Path to the Draft. Like you know, last year we had the quarterbacks go one to three, right, and this feels like the opposition party's response to the state of the Union. Now we might get edge rushers go one to three and this year's draft, right, because look, you know those those are the two positions that are you know, arguably at the at the highest premium in

the NFL. Here at this point of course, there's no argument about quarterbacks, um, but yeah, the pass rusher is certainly taken on that level of importance in this league.

Let me just toss talk a little bit about that, you know, the piece that you got out right now, and Jeff, like what you learned in your study about these guys in this position, Well, it started off really and to be honest with you, started off as a day withd Ojabo da Fe always story because those two played together at the Blair Academy in New Jersey and Ojabo saw the success that Alway had as a player,

decided to play football at the age of fifteen. And then I went to Michigan's pro day and Ojabo towards Achilles and that kind of killed that story. So we were kind of scrambling, and so we started looking at some of the other players in the draft of that position, guys like Boya Mafe and Bikte and you know Ojabo, George Carloftis, and we realized a lot of these guys picked up football pretty late um or came from the

country is to pick it up. Or you had guys like Jermaine Johnson who had one big year, And so we started looking at some of these players and looking at it always and started saying, well, got man's look, a lot of a lot of players are coming in this league without having the typical background or having being as well rounded at this position, and just talking to a different personnel people, they agree that what you're seeing in the NFL nowadays is a lot more passwords was

coming in who were raw, largely because they're putting better at the position. You're seeing more spread formations and r p o s and college of the team just saying go get the quarterback. And what you're getting is guys like people I just mentioned who are having great success, who want to skill the defending the run or some of the other things you want from defensive lineman, edge rushers, outside linebackers, but have a huge upside to NFL teams and James you know this year you're in the town

where bon Miller was dominant player for forever. They've just picked up Randy Gregory and Adam Bradley Chubb. It's just like the way this league has gone now, with the way the passing has gone, with what quarterback player has gone, everything now is about getting after quarterbacks with four down lineman and making it happen. And these guys that I just mentioned have a great future because of that. Yeah, you have you mentioned four down lineman making sure you

get a quarterbacks there. I mean, that's that's the way the league's becoming. Right, Like we were talking Ravens or we're supposed to talk Ravens on TV and it didn't

have it. But like they've struggled to get after the quarterback as you mentioned, like like they've had to blitz over the last couple of years to get pressure, and that's hurt them late in games, right, That's hurt them in close games in the fourth quarter because the quarterbacks like Mahomes and company can can destroy you when you

have to bring extra pressure. We look at what Cincinnati was able to do against Patrick Mahomes by getting pressure and kind of playing the position, playing the pass rush a little bit differently. It's funny you mentioned where I'm at in Denver. It's like, I remember the appeal of Bradley Chubb just five years ago as the number five overall pick was mostly because he was so skilled at

the position. He had multiple pass rush moves, he had the ability to come at you with a variety of things to where he had some things that these other guys were talking about didn't have because he was coming in polished. But I think players like Micah Parsons, it's like, Oh, a guy can just come in that's an unbelievable athlete and just be like, hey, go get the quarterback and the sacks NFL quarterbacks like on a regular basis. I think we have to remember that, like that's not the norm.

But Ratt, Jeff and I were like joking, like it's it is what coaches think they thinking about quarterbacks to that's why the same guy's keeping it. Well, I can fix it because the raw talents there, but I know

how to get to him. And I think that's the thought of I can get this raw town into my building as a pass rusher, and then we add the moves like and we add a variety of moves and and he goes to the pass Rush summit, like the von Miller and company put on like and we can develop it then they have, you know, the athletic ability

to start off with. It's wild how that's kind of changed in a sense to where it's funny five years ago Bradley so polished, we need that, and now it's it's a little bit of a different thinking because of the athletes. Let me hit Jeff on one piece of

the story you were talking about boy Mafe. Did he tell you the story or did you find out about the story about how he got his first scholarship offer and how he was honoring his commitment to the track team when his high school football coach had set up a workout for their football players in front of a certain college coaching staff or whatever. But the track coach wouldn't let him out of track practice to go to

that football showcase, you know, for for college. And then and so he's literally running on the track outside of the football field right that goes around the football field while all of their while all the other football players are doing their workout and the college coaches are all turning away from the football, this huge kid pass everybody on the track. He told me that recently. A couple of got a couple of months ago. Now he is

such an interesting prospect, isn't he phenomenal potential? He's fascinating. I love his story too, because just like a Jobo when Nepique, I mean, he's his parents came from Nigeria, immigrated here, and they had a tradition in their family of sending every kid there four kids. Every kid had to go spend the eighth grade in Nigeria at boarding school, and so he left. He wasn't like you to play a little peewee football with his buddies, but I think serious.

So he left and he was just like, I'm not, you know, gonna go out here and see what's gonna happen. Maybe I'll play some soccer, play a little basketball when I come back. He was five six when he left. They came back and he was six four, and before that wouldn't let him play. He grew alo one year one year. So he came back and the dad was that The parents were like, oh my god, I guess

he can play football. Not because he's big enough. And he's got a brother who played college for small Collus football in Minnesota and a cousin who played uh small college football, and they both saw him and they said, man, you could be you could be at least a couge player. Maybe the NFL play it with your side and athletic ability. And he was so wrong when he started playing with a freshman in high school in Minnesota that it was like he was playing tag out there. He didn't have

any sense or any instincts. But again with that cousin, the brother people in his corner, he just blossomed. And that's the thing, James, It's like you see um in the NFL nowadays. You see these guys come out of nowhere and the way the game is being played, it's so much easier for them to prosper. I mean, this is a kid who was a three star recruit, didn't know what he was doing with the fresh in high school.

Now he's about to be a first round pick, be able to Jobo came here starting to play football and you know, fifteen, lived in Scotland, grew up in Nigeria, and there's something about I think, you know, maybe it's a cultural thing here too. That's what um Uh boys cousin said, was that Nigeria is such a militant culture, that football is a militant game. The ability to pick things up quickly. Sometimes it helps coming from someplace else and not being caught up in all the hype of

what American football is. Like sure, I'm gonna get that, I say, I have two quick questions. One, how many questions do you think his parents asked him to make sure like the right child came like that size difference to be like are you my son? Like mind blowing? And who is this track coach? Like, dude, you coach high school? Like no, man, we gotta meet Friday. There's no like have a chance to help your you know, college prospects by any means, no way you're not allowed,

which is you got the last laugh right exactly. But to just point too with the way this is trending in a lot of I have sadly have not been able to read the story yet, which is a bummer. Um. But but Saban said this to me, like the game has played in so much space now right, that that is such an advantage if you have that athletic ability and in the technical aspect of everything happening right in here, isn't maybe his neat because you can play out in space and you can just find a way to make

a play. It does change the way you look at players. He told me that it has changed the way my guys coming out are perceived by NFL guys because of the way the NFL games playing in space. Is why he was saying, Christian Harris is a guy that that NFL teams should really like because in space, without athletic ability, it's it's it's an advantage. That's what's happening with some of these other spots too. And we certainly expect the addressers to kind of dominate the top ten of the

first round. I mean, like you could get minimum four off in the ten picks, you know, with with Hutchinson, Trayvon Walker, Cabon Thibodeau and Jeremy Johnson from Florida State that you all mentioned there, and then maybe another two or three before the round is over. Like I mean, it could go in the first round. I think a pretty good I think someone could pick a flower on him. Sure he remember what the cowboy cowboys are picking in

the mid twenties. Remember what they did with Jalen Smith in the second round a couple of years ago, after the devastating knee injury. Um, you know, and and it was for them in the near term, right, correct, Thank you?

All right, James, you were also at l s U Pro Day, which kind of gave you a unique perspective on on two guys with top ten potential in this class, but only one of them was actually from L s U. Yeah, And it's funny because they're very different in terms of the way they're perceived by all of these evaluators, right.

I mean, Derek Stingley is like Pro Day was maybe the most anticipated pro day of this offseason, right because of what happened the last two years, playing just ten games after two thousand nine, team tape essentially shows him as a first round pick as a freshman, really and then you know, there's so many question marks. And this is what I got being there and talking about there are teams that are terrified of Derek Ston, that are like, I'm not gonna touch him. Like there, I can't forget

the two years after. And I tried to dig on with him a little bit. Uh, he didn't really want to talk about it, honestly, about the two years and obviously injuries are part of it. But then there's the other aspect of it where everybody you talked like the talent is off the charts, Like the footwork is incredible, the ball skills are out of this world. I I just Scout walked by me when he's going through his drills that Brandon Stanley was essentially like halfway through started

running himself. He was so intrigued by Stanley, like a Scott just walked by me on a ball that goes up and he makes a plan. He's like his ball skills just phenomenal, and I'm like, yeah, Like it's just he stands out like with the way he moves, it's

so effortless, you know, coming off the list. Frank, we have to remember though, he like only preparing for these combine drills and and and stuff for three weeks before he performed at the pro day in terms of being cleared to do all those things, and he just like it was so easy. You know. Everybody has a routines, like you know, they're they're nineteen different, like our movements before they jump up and do the birth like all

these different things. He like literally just walked onto the vert, jumped up and did it, walked over the broad jump was like ready and jumps and goeses like and he got every number almost to the inch. Talking to people close to him that he knew he was gonna get it was insane, like thirty eight and a half, he thought he jumped thirty eight. He did tend to in the broad he thought he'd have ten three, like four three seven. He thought that's exactly what he was going

to get. The talent is so so they're some evaluators believe like when the program makes a little bit of a turn and you played at that high level and you're at a championship caliber, like sometimes your play can

go down. Is the desire there? Like there's all these questions that teams are trying to get answered, but they can't deny Jeff the town that was like the most you know, I popping aspect of him, And I think if you just watch him verse Jamar Chase in practice that tape from twenty nineteen, you're like, okay, like this

is worth the try. I think Clyde Edward Hilaire is here playing in Kansas City and he was on that champion team with these guys, and somebody's unearthed some footage of Joe Burrow talking about the most FREAKUS athletes on that l s U team. Number one guy was Edwards Hilayer. Still don't understand how that happened. The other guy, Jathan Jefferson.

Jamar chays that Derek Stingley. It's amazing that that name was put out there, but not not a slam on, but just sort of an amazing rebel ation at the time. But but the point about the cornerback play, you know, talking to personnel people on the league as part of the store I was doing the other side of that

whole pass for us. Emphasis is just that it's so hard to get guys who can excel in man coverage today who can compete with the Jamaar Chases of the world, with the Justin Jeffersons, and that it's like teams that

are so they wanted. Even when they get guys who have that ability, they still want to play off, They want to play more zone, and they want to do more things that are more cautious as far as defending the past, because as we've just said, the quarterbacks are so good, but there's so many talented receivers out there nowadays that it got like Derek Stanley, even with the injury history, even with all the questions here, can still end up being a top fifteen pick just because of

the potential that the need there. I mean, I don't want to, you know, get on Denzel Ward here for the big conducty sign, but my god, they got big a huge amount of money for being I don't seem as the same player as Jaylie Ramsey, but what he can do for a secondary we're talking about here, what they're extily can do for a secondary. Just give somebody a chance to win a win on one battle with a receiver real quick on this. I'm and this is

what I just thought of this now. And I'm not sure if this is hurting Stanley or not, but like you look at Sauce Gardner the other top corner with him and to not allow a touchdown in three years and starting to go all right, here's one guy that never took a play off. It appears to a guy where it's like what happened the last two years. I'm wondering if the comparison hurts Derek Stingley at all, right, because of what you're seeing with soft Nur going like, oh,

this is a guy that just every single play. It's the end of the world for him. There's only um, you know about four teams that are going to have to make that decision because it's quite possible that sauce

Gardner is off the board. Um. But but yeah, when you look at a guy like Trent McDuffie from Washington, who's you know, like a technician at the position, um, and you know it's hardly challenged this last year at Washington cause he's that good, you know, Like, are like, all right, I've got I've got kind of a what

I feel like it's a sure thing here. But maybe a guy with a much higher ceiling that is talking about which right, Like, then everybody should be picking Derek Stanley, like because the ceiling is is up here for him, or everyone should be picking Trayvon Walker and the jack should really be considering Trayvon Walker over Radon Hutchinson. It's

the production, projection and the whole thing. But and there's enough teams, right, I've talked to their like I think when he gets to the league, he'll be a superstar with death all right, last one here, because the head coach of the l s U Tigers is Brian Kelly Um, who knows very little about the players that were there

at l s U competing at the pro day. Um, but you did, being the you know, professional reporter that you are, really start connecting the dots back to his time at Notre Dame where he has another high level prospect in this draft. Yeah, and Kyle Hamilton's. And that's what I wanted to talk to him about. It was kind of the chess piece and that that was his analogy before I got to it. But he was like, he told me, he's like, he's your rook, he's your night,

he's your whatever you want it to be. Make moves on the field that nobody else can make. And he said, you combine that with his off the charts intelligence, it allows him to be a piece that in really each game week of preparation, you can use him almost in

a different manner. And he was like, in the NFL game, like, how is that not needed because of the talent that comes in, Like one week it's a Travis Kelsey, right Chevan, the next week it's you know, it's somebody else on the outside that he might need to help it work. The way offenses have these these talented chest pieces on their side of the ball. I'm curious why that position,

like because everybody said, well, don't take a safety that high. Well, like, well, if these like George Kittle's and Travis Kelsey's are so unstoppable on offense, why isn't that piece that can guard them more valuable on the defensive side of the ball. Because he told me, like the way you can use him, it could could change each week. So I don't get why that's not something that teams would absolutely value at

the first half of the first round. Yeah, I think the only thing about Kyle Hamilton's that that scares me is the forty time. And that's the thing that everybody talks about when you're running four or five six or someone said as slow as four seven, Um that that that's that's eye popping. And I think at his size, the best comparison you have with Sean Taylor, who was a freakish athlete who was like legitimately like a four or three four four dude who could do all types

of things. And the thing that scares me about Hamilton's is just you end up having a situation like with Isaiah Simmons that came out Clemson um a few years ago. Yeah, position listen can do all these different things, but then it's like where is the excelling? And I hope that it works out. I think it has to be the

right scheme. I think it's got to be the right coach who understands I take advantage of that, because if it's not, then I could easily see him being isolated on someone like a you know, like a Darren Waller and getting taken advantage of. Like it's it's really easy to take advantage of guys who are not that quick in this league. And so that's the only thing I wonder about. But other than that, I think he's a

terrific player. I'll give you guys stand this thing, just a little sneak peek at the one and only Rhet Lewis mock draft that next week draft a lot of integrity. Yes, Um, so you know we we obviously we kick off draft week with my mock draft on Monday. That's just that's just like a tradition. Um. So I've got I mean, I think I'm gonna have Kyle Hamilton's going to the Houston Texans at the overall pick, just because like I

can't necessarily. I just I have a hard time finding a home for him in the top ten unless somebody comes into the top ten to try to get him. But then I'm like, are people really giving up draft resources to trade into the top ten for a safety um and and not to say that like it's not an important position, but like they are, just I feel like other need other positions of value, like tackles. I think you can see teams trade up for edge rushers.

You're gonna see guys trade up for corners. Perhaps it's it's it's a hard position to be dominated at today's just because so many people by like too high safety. Yeah, so many teams are afraid to blitz now. And like you said, James, that being a chest pieces great, but you've got to be playing chess so that can work.

I mean you brought up Isai Simmons, like I remember talking advance shows if their defense coordinator about it, like he's like, it's it's cool, but it's more work for me, Like I would have that like that piece and that that versatility, But then I gotta figure out how we're gonna use you and then the other ten around you, how it all fits together. But I do think like

there to have that impact. We were talking about Kansas City and we're talking about you know, Tyron Matthew and like Jeff, you and I have talked to enough players who are like, if he's not on the field, the defense doesn't work well. If we're talking about importance, there are some situations and I think that scheme fit exactly his importance. Like they couldn't disguise what they wanted to disguise. They couldn't hide him in terms of blitzing and something

it could just because of a specific skill set. But I think that's you know why these pieces. An addresser fits everywhere right, like tackles fit every everywhere. Essentially, you got to find the right fit in find the right fit, flourish. Don't find the right fit, you're kind of failing. How do we make Yep, that's just one thought. Um, but

that was we got a sneak peek. Yeah, and so you know, like maybe I should tease that at the top of the show back and change, Like Charles Davis is mock draft, like every pick like you have to have like people on NFL now like wondering what was he thinking here? Oh, the other day not the favorite. Yeah, I like that. What are you thinking here? Charles like, yeah, I'll show you guys my mentions once that thing drops on Monday of draft week, so look forward to that.

That'll be a whole episode. Just gonna read mean tweets to rhet following his mock draft. So that appreciate your insights. Let me read a couple of them too if I can. Yes, there's your g MF reference to close it except this, All right, that's gonna do it for this episode of NFL Inside Report. Thanks so much for being with us. Reminder to download, rate, and review our show and the I Heart Radio app on Apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcast We appreciate you guys being along for

the ride. For our producers Thomas Warren, Tim Paracca, and Harrison Sanford. I'm your host, Bret Lewis. We'll catch you next time. NFL Inside Report is the production of the NFL and partnership with I Heart Radio. For more official podcast from the NFL, visit the I Heart Radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.