Draft Season: Episode 11- Defensive Changes/Player Evaluations

This is a different kind of podcast. Greg co Sell long time breaker down of the film at NFL Films, and he looks at the All twenty two and crawls behind the xs and ohs as much as anyone, not just game coverage, but also individual player coverage, getting us set for the draft, looking at the pros, but also looking at the college players and of course that is where our focus is at this time of the year.

On Bible Shoes and a longtime radio voice of the New York Jets twenty plus years of NFL play by play experience and also a voice of college football at ESPN. So I've had a chance to see a lot of these guys on tape with my partners in games I've called. And again, this is not the mock draft po cast. This is more of a crawl behind the xs and

os and hopefully take you inside the draft room. Podcast and Greig this is a week that we're gonna talk about the passing game, but the passing game in relation to then how teams draft defense and how there's been an evolution. Right, we see a lot of the college DNA now in the pros, a lot of the zone read stuff, a lot of the R P O stuff, the things that you know, I think the pro game kind of you know, scoffed at for decades and decades where you would see it in college football, but it

didn't make its way to the NFL. Well. Now, the quarterbacks in college, the best ones are so proficient at running a lot of that stuff that they bring that with them to the pros now, because if you're a pro coordinator or a kid coach, why would you not want the guy to run for you what he was best at in college? And that I would assume also has to change the way the teams look at defensive

players and prospects as well. We're gonna talk about some of the pass rushers and corners coming up a little bit later on, but at least just start wide angle lens philosophically, how that change to a certain extent in the pros from college and that d NA making its way to the NFL has changed offenses and the passing offenses, but also now how it changes the way seems look at defensive prospects. Yeah, Bob, you hit it right on

the head. Really in the NFL now, the way people think about defense is you have to stop explosive plays, and percentage wise, far more explosive plays come out of the past game. So how do you go about stopping the past game. There's two ways, and there's a lot to unpack here, but you have to one impact the quarterback or two disrupt receivers. Now more old school, before the influx of r p O s and quick game throws, which are now very prevalent in the NFL, that thought

was that you had to disrupt the quarterback. You had to impact the quarterback. You had to speed him up. You're not always going to sack him, but you had to speed up the quarterback and make it more difficult for him to play with that comfort level that all quarterbacks would like to play with. So the thought was pass rushers. Let's get pass rushers predominantly off the edge. Let's speed up the quarterback. Coverage could be both man and zone because that would become a function of your

ability to speed up the quarterback. But now, and you nail this, Now you have so many more r p O elements in the NFL, so much more quick game so you're not going to get to the quarterback and speed him up the way you really like to. So who do you have to disrupt? You have to disrupt receivers so that the timing of those quick game throws is disrupted. So what does that mean. It means more

man to man coverage, more pressed man coverage. You can't play off coverage zone because then those receivers on those quick routes like slant routes or glance routes or hitch routes, those routes are just free release routes if you're not in press man coverage. And you get all those quick game throws, of which an r p O is a quick game throw, and it's just it just becomes pitch and catch. So you have to now look at corners and their ability to line up and play press man

coverage to a meaningful degree. Yeah, it's funny. It reminds me of a story that the particulars of this story make it, I think even more interesting I was calling a Purdue game with the late Joe Tiller as a coach, and this is how far back we're now going. And we just got into a philosophical football conversation. It was awesome.

You know, we're just we're just talking ball and asking him philosophically, like how he recruited it Perdue right, Like why he knew he had to go out and get the Drew Breezes of the world and all the little receivers of the world because of Perdue. He was not going to out recruit Michigan, Ohio State, Penn State for the two and twenty five pound tailback, Like he wasn't going to get that guy. So he knew I have

to win a different way. And he actually said, and this is I mean, this is I don't know, ten or twelve years ago, I was doing this game, maybe fifteen years ago. But he said, going back to the late seventies, the coaches all used to go to these clinics, and they all used to do clinics around the country for you know, gather coaches and teach. But then after that was over, he said the best part of it was all of the coaches giving the clinics would then go to the bar and sit around and get pictures

of beer and just talk ball. Correct And he said he was sitting in a group of guys one time, this's like late seventies, and the conversation came up of what would make the perfect offense, If you could make the perfect offense, what would it be. And one of the guys at the table said, if I could design the perfect offense, it would be if I could somehow marry the option, would a quick passing game. So I

don't know how you'd stopped that. How would a defense stop the option game and combine that with the quick passing game? And at the time it was almost like breakthrough cutting edge. But everyone is sitting at the table now, I mean now fast forward twenty years thirty years later, what our teams doing r pos right? Like, they're marrying a lot of those option principles with the quick passing game.

It's really hard to stop. And the guy that said that was Jack Elway, who, of course I mean his son. If you could go into a lab and build like a robot quarterback for the modern day NFL, back then, the last thing you do was probably about a whole bunch of RPOs with John Elway. But his dad, of course, is saying, if I could find a way to marry the option with the quick passing game, I think that

would be impossible to stop. And it just goes to show how much foresight he had, because how many years later that that is a lot of what is baked into not only college football, but also even now some of today's NFL offenses. And it's funny you say that, because in college football that can really really work effectively for a number of reasons. One of course is the position of the hash marks. The wide side of the

field is extremely wide and difficult to defend. But in the NFL, as you and I both know, you can do those kinds of things, and they certainly can be effective. But you are going to get to third down, and you are going to get to third down in six plus seven plus, you're going to get into those situations where your offense can't function off deception and misdirection the same way it can on first and ten or second and four. What we would view BOB is normal down

and distant situations. So at that point in the NFL, as an offense, you have to be able to have a drop back passing game, and as a defense, you must be able to defend a drop back passing game. And that's why pass rush becomes so critical. And obviously almost every coach in the league would love to be able to rush for and speed up the quarterback, even

sacked the quarterback, and then have seven in coverage. But I've talked to so many defensive coaches through the years, and I remember for years and years Rod Rust, who has since passed away, would sit with me on Mondays. He sat with me for four or five years straight when he retired from coaching, and all he kept saying was, if you can't get there with four, you got to get there with five. If you can't get there with five,

you gotta rush a sixth. The point being that if you cannot impact the quarterback in the NFL, whatever down it is, you know, obviously third down is the one that is the money down, the possession down. If you cannot impact the quarterback, it is very difficult to play quality third down defense in the NFL. And look how important pass rush is. All we have to do is

go back to the Super Bowl. We saw that in the second half of that game, and I can't I don't know off the top of my head how many of those sacks came on third down, but obviously Joe Burrow is sacked six times by the rams On in the second half of that game, and a lot of

them came from multiple front looks. If you notice in the NFL, so many teams now are doing so many more things with their front looks out of their sub defenses, meaning five defensive backs, six defensive backs, some teams with seven defensive backs because they're trying to create opportunities to put pressure on the quarterback. Well, two questions about the two positions we're gonna talk about again kind of wide

angle lens before we get the specific guys. How much do you think it now changes the way or the traits that an NFL team is looking for in a pass rusher, Like with the great pass rusher of the eighties and nineties, the Reggie Whites of the world, would they still the Bruce Smith's, would they still be what they were then in today's game with the quick passing game or the way that these offenses now run or now, I mean it has it changed more to like the

Von Miller smaller bend the edge. Guy who stands up half the time a lot of times doesn't even have corrects hand on the ground. How much do you think it has now changed the way that the NFL views pass rushers and the skill set they're looking for from a college player. It's a great question, and to me, I think one of the things you really want to look for when you evaluate college pass rushers coming to the NFL is you want to see how they work with and let's say a three to five yard metric

off the snap of the ball. Because there's a lot of guys that can make second reaction sacks and there's nothing wrong with that, But if that's the way you're going to judge pass rushers and evaluate them, I think you're making a mistake. You need to see how a guy works right off the snap in that three to five yard metric and you hit it right on the head. You have to be able to bend somewhere along the line, and you have to be able to then flatten and

close to the quarterback. Look are their power pass rushers? Are there guys who use their hands exceptionally well, I mean you can think of the boats of brothers. They're really good using their hands, but then they play off that contact and then they have speed and burst. At some point, you're going to have to have speed and burst. At some point you're going to have to be able to bend and flatten, because you if you can't do that,

it's very, very difficult to sack the quarterback. And obviously you're going to have to be able to win on the high side, meaning the outside edge of the offensive tackle, and you're going to have to be able to counter and win on the low side, the inside shoulder of the offensive tackle. But that bend flexibility element, to me, Bob is so so important. Yeah, I guess the great player would always be the great player, right, I mean you can get a Bruce Smith or a Reggie White

or a Lawrence Taylor. Bruce Smith used to get he almost he almost got so low And I can't believe I just thought of this. It reminded me of Tom Sieber pitching, where that fact need we would have so much dirt on it, remember those clips because he would get so low delivering the ball. Bruce Smith would get

so low. He had tremendous spend in flexibility. Only this podcast was somehow bring Bruce Smith and Tom Siever here you go together in the same comparison up before we take a break, same question regarding corners, right, like, if you go back to the corners of yesteryear, what Dion or Lester Hayes or I mean even maybe the more modern guys like Champ Bailey or or you know Rivus, like has the position of corner. Now we look at this draft and we'll talk about the Stingleys and the

Sauce Gardeners of the world. But has that changed, Like the traits you're looking for. It used to be, all right, you're our best corner. You just go shut down the other team's six ft three, two ten pounds stud wide receiver and we'll figure out the rest from there. But offenses have changed, and I think, like, look at Tyreek Hill, right and he might be the most productive wide receiver in the NFL, and he is certainly not the body type that they were looking for in a wide receiver

even ten years ago in the NFL. So how much has that evolution now changed with the offense is of today? Maybe the trades you're looking for in a corner, well, to me, I think you must be able to play man to man coverage if you're going to be a high quality corner, because I think the days of just lining up and playing zone concepts such as Tony Dungee's Cover two, which was obviously extremely successful and in many ways trend setting, I think the days of just playing

like that are over in the NFL. So I think your corners need to be able to line up and play man. And there's essentially two forms of press man. There's what we call mirror match press man, where you don't necessarily jam the receiver, you wait for him to declare his release off the line of scrimmage, and then you just get in his hip pocket, whether it's the inside or the outside. Champ Bailey was a master at that um and I think you have to be able

to play that in today's NFL. I think if you can't line up with corners and match up man to man, particularly with the infusion of three by one sets where there's a single receiver to the short side of the field, you've got to be able to match up to that boundary ex receiver man to man somewhere along the line, and I think it's critical that corners coming out today can do that. Well, in the top ten of this draft, there will be some pass rushers and there will be

some corners drafted. Right, and there's no doubt about it. When we look at the top prospects of this draft, we're gonna see both positions taken. When we come back, we're gonna start to talk about some of those top prospects at both positions, at pass rusher, end at corner. Bobo schusan Great Cosll. This is Taped's draft season, Bobo

shus and Great co Sell. We are back on Tapeds draft season, talking philosophically about how offenses and maybe the need for pass rushers and corners has changed in the NFL. But now let's get to some of the specific guys. And again, you know, Greg, we talked about those prototypical, big monster pass rushers like the Bruce Smith's and and the Reggie Whites of the world that you know kind

of grew up on. That's not really what today's pass rusher looks like physically, right When we look at the Aidan Hutchinson's Cabon Thibodeaus, they don't look like that, right, So maybe that is an example of how the game has evolved a bit and now what teams are looking for as far as the body type and the skill set of the pass rushers of today. So let's jump right off with Aidan Hutchinson, a player that a lot of people think might be the first player taking in

the draft. Yeah, and it's so interesting because he is not what you'd call a pure pass rusher in that old school sense, Bob. I think he's a very good prospect, and I think he'll be a very good pro but you wouldn't say that he's a bender and a flexible player the way you think of those guys that can truly bend the edge and flatten um. He does work extremely well and sort of that two to three yard metric where he's got very good short area quickness, but

he doesn't have ideal flexibility and bend. His game is predicated much more are on that short airy explosiveness and power and highly refined and strong, heavy hands. And he had a staple move that he used over and over again,

and he's going to need more than this in the NFL. Uh. And I don't know how much Michigan you did this year, if anybody, he had that move where he basically inside counter off an upfield step or two, and he really caught offensive tackles in the Big ten and with other teams they played, really caught them off guard, and that

was his staple move. He'll need more than that as a pass rusher in the league, but I think he's he plays extremely hard and he has rapid fire hand movements and his hands are very very strong and heavy, and I think that will be his calling card far more than the ability to to get low and bend the edge. How about Tibel, I mean a guy that I've seen and again we don't do the mock drafts here, but if you look at them, and he's mocked all

over the place, right, I've saw him now. Six months ago, he was kind of the de facto number one player on everyone's board everywhere. He was gonna be the first pick. Now I don't think I see him on maybe but a handful as the first pick. Some have him going later in the top ten. So he m The opinions

on Thibodeau seem to have moved around a bit. Why And I think the reason for that is coaches, as you know the process, Bob, because you're you know, doing the jets for years and years you know the process. Coaches now get involved. Coaches don't get involved in these draft players until oh literally after the combine for the

most part, because they're working with free agency. So now that coaches get involved and they really study the players, they see what these players are and the scheme adaptability and how they fit. They're not just looking at traits. And one of the things that really stands out with Thibodeaux when you watch his tape is he had some struggles flattening his rush path when he was able to leer the the high arc. And if you can't flatten your rush path, it's very, very difficult to be an

outstanding edge pass rusher. And I thought that Thibodeaux the more I watched him, and I actually watched his tape from the last I guess he played three years. I watched tape each and every season that he played at Oregon, and I think after a while, I kind of said to myself, he reminds me of a twenty pounds less Jadeveon Clowney because he's a powerful man. He plays with power and hand strainth but there's some stiffness throughout his body.

And think about Rdaveon Clowney number one pick, kind of a consensus number one pick when he came out of South Carolina, but it's likely he'll be with his fifth

team before the age of twenty eight. And as you and I both know, premium edge pass rushers are not with five teams before the age of eight because Clowney does not have that bend and flexibility, and I think Thibodeaux is a little bit like that, and that ability to flatten your rush path is absolutely critical if you're going to be a big time age rusher in the NFL. You're gonna scare people with that comparison right now. They're gonna be guys who are gonna listen to this podcast.

Tibodeau is gonna be taken by their team and they're gonna go, oh, no, Costel just compared him to the guy who now look jadeveon Clowney. He's a good football. Ultimately, he'll have he He is still in the middle of what is going to be a long NFL career. Exactly.

He will always have a job. He'll always be a contributor, he'll always be on someone's defense, but he's never going to be the quote unquote number one pick in the draft that he was supposed to be And even the most die hard football nerds like me who listen to this podcast probably still are wondering, like when you say flatten the rush path and combined combined with the arc, I'm not even sure how many people listen to this podcast even know what that explain that and why you

think it's so critical for Tibodeaux. So what what for pass rushers. One thing that explosive edge pass rushers try to do is they immediately want to challenge the outside of offensive tackles, because if you talk to old line coaches, the last thing they want their offensive tackles to do is to immediately turned to the sideline because when you turn to the sideline, you open yourself up pretty much for two way goes. So the way two way go meaning that you can get beat to the outside and

you can then get beat by counters inside. So they teach offensive tackles to try to stay as square as possible for at least two steps in their vertical pass sets so they don't give up the inside. But then they still have that outside arm, the independent arm technique, the outside arm to theoretically push an edge pass rusher

past the pocket, that's the goal. But these guys that now can really bend, they get underneath that arm, and then the key there is not just being able to get underneath that arm arm bob, but then you have to be able to turn your body as a pass rusher and flatten. Otherwise you're just running by the quarterback. And offensive tackles love it when you just run by the quarterback. They just push you and you're done. You've

seen that a thousand times. So you have to be able to turn your body on that inside leg and flatten your rush so that you can then close to the quarterback. Otherwise you're just out of the pass rush. And Thibodeau is a guy that at times showed ruggles with that. Struggles a little bit with that. Now, is that something that you think can be learned can be taught in the NFL? Or do you need to see that on tape before you're going to spend a real high draft choice on him? Just like Clowney, I think

there's your body. Some guys can't quite do that. Thibodeaux showed a little of it at times, but enough where I sensed it's a question and Like I said, I watched a ton of Thibodeaux, so I don't think that's going to be his calling card as a pass rusher. Um. So we'll see, but I don't think he does that just as a matter or of course. I mean, just to throw out a name Arnold uh, I think it is from the state. He can do that. Now, he's a smaller man um in terms of height than Thibodeaux,

but he has the ability to bend the edge. Now he's got some other issues he's got to deal with. He only works the high side of the tackle, meaning the outside, and you can't just live in the NFL working one side of offensive tackles as an edge rusher. You become too easy to defend if you don't have counters. But he can bend, whereas Thibodeau struggles to do that. A little bit interesting, give me like thirty seconds on a couple of other names while we have an opportunity here.

How about Jermaine Johnson. Jermaine Johnson is a player who's tape I absolutely loved, and you know I saw him a little bit at Georgia a year ago because he's a transfer from Georgia. Because Georgia has all five stars, and guys don't play every snap at Georgia, and Johnson probably wanted to go somewhere he could play every snap, so he went to Florida State. He really he looks

the part. I mean, I think that The way I'll answer that, because we want to get to some more guys, is it would not surprise me Bob if in two, three, four years he's the best pass rusher of this group, I think he's only scratching the surface of his ability to rush the quarterback. He has length, he can bend, he's got flexibility. He's got extremely long arms, which is a very important attribute when you talk to scouts and coaches. Uh, he's a really really good athlete and for his kind

of lean, wiry frame, he's got power to him. So I think ultimately he could end up being the best best pass rusher of this group. About George Karlaftas, Yeah, he's a fascinating guy because he was a shot put champion in the state of Indiana as a high school kid. His upper body and his hands are as powerful as they come. He really is a strong man, active hands, powerful hands. The issue for him is his lower body.

Does not necessarily poured it. He's a little stiff and not overly athletic with the lower part of his body. So there are a lot of pass rushes where if he did get stopped initially, he stopped his feet, and if you stop your feet in the NFL as a pass rusher, you're not going to get to the quarterback. So he's a fascinating guy because the strength that he has the upper body and hand strength is so so good, but he just does not have a lower body that

goes along with it. So I'm really fascinating to see him in the NFL. And one other guy to talk about I think that's really fascinating is David a. Jabo, Right, the guy who is gets hurt on his pro day. This is gonna be like, we're gonna draft him and stash him maybe for a year. He might not play next year, but showed so much promise. Yes at Michigan, what it teams do with him? Yeah, again, who knows about an achilles. That's a really bad injury obviously, but

let's assume he's back normal. When you put on Michigan tape, of which I watched a lot, you could see immediately that a Jabo is just a more naturally explosive human being than Hutchinson um. And so with Jabo has really light, active feed, He's got really good quickness. He's explosive off the ball, particularly when he's a wide nine pass rusher, meaning he split far outside the offensive tackle and he

has that bend in flexibility. He can dip his shoulder, he can win off the edge, he can get low. And he showed his second gear as he flattened, and that's really important for guys that if they can flatten instead of kind of losing their balance. Some guys do that, they try to flatten and they lose their balance. He just exploded. So I think he's a fascinating prospect. Assuming health probably not a factor this year at all, but

he has big time traits to rush the quarterback. Really interesting look at a lot of the pass rushers, plenty of corners as well to talk about. We do that when we come back on TAPEDS Draft season. Back here on TAPEDS Draft Season, Bobo shots on Greg co Cell talked about the philosophy of the offenses and the changes

that we've seen college to the pros. Talked about the pass rushers and obviously, Greg, when you talk offense, you talk about how it impacts your desire to have corners on your team as well, and there will be some very highly drafted corners. Let's get to some of those guys. Sauce Gardner from Cincinnati. I think he tweeted yesterday, I'm the best player in the draft, so humility is not going to be his issue, right Like, I think even has a lot of self confidence he's gonna bring to

the NFL. Is it warranted? Could Sauce Gardner end up being the most impactful player in this draft? You know, I tweeted the same thing about myself yesterday, Bob, but nobody took notice. Strange, Uh, you know I did, because obviously I think you are underrated. Um. I really like Sauce Gardner's tape, and there's a perfect example of a guy in college. As you know that the white side of the field is wide, so the boundary side is

smaller than in the NFL. He was the boundary corner in the Cincinnati dfense and he essentially played man coverage and very often it was what we call zero man because the safety to the boundary side was Brian Cook, who's a very good prospect in his own right, but he rarely helped out Sauce Gardner, so he essentially was playing zero man coverage in Cincinnati's defense. I think he's the outfit dog corner in this draft class. Um. He fits the profile as well as you can fit the profile.

Six three, long, lean, competitive athletic. Um. He's an annoying player. If you're a receiver, he gets in your face. UM. He challenges receiver to receivers to match his level of swagger and confidence. Um. I think that he can line up and play man coverage. He's got really long arms, and you know what, that's a factor at corner. People might not think that, but it's a big factor because it allows you to get your hands on a lot

of throws. So even if let's say you just beat a little bit on a vertical throw and then the receivers just a little on top of you, bob, that arm length is a factor. And for a guy that's kind of high cut in long legged, his ten yards split in the forty yard dash was very very good. So I think sauce Gardner to me, because of his ability to play press man, which he did almost every snap. It seemed that Cincinnati um is really the attribute that

puts him over the top. Derek Stingley from LSU. Here's a guy that I think is really interesting because I had some LSU games this season. They were not going to be real good. We knew how much talent they had lost from when Borrow was there, and they won the National championship, and there were these whispers with Stingley like he's hurt. But this might be more of a get ready for the NFL Draft opt out than it is.

He actually has a season long injury, which I think actually makes him even more attractive now as an NFL prospect, because it seems like the whisper is what you're worried about as all man he missed the whole year last year basically, and how hurt is he? I don't know that he really was, like season ending injury hurt. I think they might have leaned on that as the excuse because it's kind of a bad look to say I'm opting out and I'm just gonna go get ready for

the NFL Draft. But I mean, you know, people are worried about whether or not you know, he's heard or played least. I mean how Jamar Chase do after sitting out a year. I think people worried about that. Anyway, I don't think the NFL guys inside the rooms really worried about that. Do you know? You get it right on the head and look at Jamar Chase and Micah Parsons.

I think they did okay. Um, they're not bad. Yeah, So I mean Stanley and I went back and looked at his two thousand nineteen tape when he was a freshman and burst onto the scene, and people just said, this guy's the best corner around. Um, he certainly has all the physical and athletic traits. Um, he's got size, he's got athleticism, he's got fluidity, he's got suddenness, he's competitive. Um, you watch him play mirror match press man. You see it.

Knee been, patient, balanced, body control, easy transition, flips his hips. Um, he looks the part. There's a couple of things that he absolutely must work on. And I was taught this by somebody, and I can't remember who's years ago, but he does have a tendency in press man. His first move bob as he gets back on his heels, as his first reaction to the receiver and if you get back on your heels, you can compensate for that. In

college football, you want to be careful about that. In the NFL, where the receivers are better now, I think that can be fixed, but I think that's something that needs to be addressed. Um. I did not think he was as comfortable or as good playing off coverage as he was playing press man. So to me, he's really a press man corner and I think that that fits how he wants to play. So it'll be very interesting. He only played ten games in his final two seasons, so he's a guy that has not played a lot

of football over the last two years. How about Trent McDuffie. Yeah, he's a guy. I really loved watching him on tape because this kid is I mean, you can tell that he loves playing football and and you know, you and I both know there's some guys who are good at football, but they don't live it and are super passionate about it. I mean, this guy is playing personality, to use the term, I like, he is super competitive, He's mentally tough. He was like a missile when he played defended the run.

He would tackle um and I think that's really important. Um. I think at the University of Washington that's really important because all their corners are really good. They play their run with competitiveness, and their ability from off coverage to plant and drive forward is really really good. They must look for that at the University of Washington. But this kid, to me, is very smooth, very easy transition opening his hips. He can play mirror match really really well. Um. He

squeezed receivers to the outside in mirror match. When they were released outside, he was physical with them. He got right in there, grill and he pushed him to the sideline. And he loved playing that way. And like I said, I thought he was really good in Zone two. He showed great situational awareness. This is something watching NFL tape off just very quickly that aggravates me to no end.

When you see teams playing zone and let's say it's third and twelve and they're playing zone and you see the outside corner, whether it's cover three, you know, Cover four or whatever it may be, and he jumps a five yard route and it's third and twelve. There's no reason for that. You have to have situational awareness. And I think McDuffie was really really good with that. He understood down in distance and its impact on his positioning

in zone coverage. How about Kyer Elam, Yeah, he's He was a fun guy to watch too, because he's another guy that was super super physical. I mean, he just wanted to get in your face. And some of these guys have to learn in the NFL to be a little careful because obviously in college football, as you know, you can be a lot more physical beyond five yards and you cannot in the NFL. But he just crowded

receivers off the ball, He disrupted their releases. He was very physical through the early part of the route stem. There was a physical presence to the way in which he played. Um another guy who squeezed outside release routes to the sideline with physicality. There was a competitive edge to his play. Um another guy that has the plan and drive quickness to react to throws in front of him.

Um another guy that I really really liked, and he predominantly like Sauce Gardner, he predominantly lined up at boundary corner in the Florida defense, so he played a lot of man to man coverage. Kyler Gordon what about him. Yeah, that boy Washington does get corners, don't they? They sure do.

It seems like every year these guys get corners. Um. Yeah, Gordon is another guy that is I think a really really interesting prospect um And I think he's another really physical not as physical as McDuffie, but he's a better athlete than McDuffie. Um. I think he's a more explosive mover. I don't think he's as refined in the way in which he plays his techniques, but I think people will get very excited about his explosive traits. One quick question.

We there are other guys to talk about, obviously, and on future episodes as we build up towards the draft, will definitely get some of the further off the radar pass rushers and some further off the radar corners that might be drafted in later rounds. Some guys you think are diamonds and the rough. But there's no question that Gardner and Stingley are going to go and go high. These other guys that you mentioned, are these first round

gradable players? Are these guys you think are high second round, if not in the first All of the guys that we just run through our Should teams expect and should fans expect their teams to be drafting these guys if they need a corner real high um. Corners a premium position, as we've discussed. And I think there's one other player that will be fascinating, and that's Roger McCreary from Auburn,

who I his tape I really really liked. And you know, he's the same size as Tredavious White, and if you put on his tape versus k Shawn Booty of l s U and Jamison Williams and John Mitchie of Alabama, you'll see a really good corner um. Now people are very much worried about his arm length. People say, well, no one's played corner in the NFL at a higher

level with his really short arms. I don't know the answer to that, but you know, I think that there's going to be a lot of corners drafted in the top forty because it's such a premium position in this league. You have to have corners, and you never have enough because how many teams now play the majority and it varies, but the majority of their their defensive snaps in nickel or in dime it's it's probably well more than fifty. Some teams play sevent The Buffalo Bills are a nickel defense.

They do not play base. So you know, having corners is really important. So the position is absolutely critical. So corners are going to get drafted high. And we'll have more to talk about as we continue to take you up towards the draft. Hit us up on social media, let us know the players and player positions you'd like to hear about. Coming up on our next episode when it drops on Thursday, we'll speak to former Ohio State

and NFL linebacker Bobby Carpenter. You'll walk us through how players prepare for the jump from college to the pros. We'll get his thoughts as well on some players. Obviously he lives in that Columbus you know, Ohio corridor. We got the Ohio State guys, the Cincinnati guys to talk about with him, as well as the rest of the draft as a whole. Join us again Thursday for our next episode of Tape Heads Draft Season