Week, NFL Draft week.
We are your home at the NFL Draft here in the markets. Not a ton of local buzz, little local buzz though, But let's bring in our next guest, one of my favorites to top football with on a Monday afternoon, the rising star himself, young man Benjamin Solac.
Ben, Happy Monday, sir.
How are you well you Ben?
I'm good?
So what's this week gonna look like for you? I would imagine that you are hitting it hard.
Yeah, yeah, but it's pretty much anybody who might have a chance to go decently earlier just kind of right casting into the into the dark and hoping you find one more guy. And then Thursday and Friday, I'll be on for ESPN on the on the digital show, on the YouTube show. So yeah, so the goals and everybody who goes in the first three rounds, we'll see.
How far I get, how how much of a sure thing is cam warded won.
Sure thing in terms of willing it happened.
So I'll just ask you both, okay, so like you never know what the smoke screen stuff is that going to be the pike at one?
And if so, what's your opinion on Yeah?
I think it's definitely word one. Not much reason for the Times to be playing a game there, and they didn't really add a quarterback and croagency, and so it'd be a foolish bait and switch because they'd have no way to throw the ball in twenty twenty five. I think it's a good pick. I think certainly if Cam Word we're out in last year's draft classes. Remember he declared for last year's class and then rescinded his declaration,
got the nil money transferred to Miami. If you're ound las year's class, he would not have gone one, and he would not have gone too. It would not have gone break right. I don't think it's a prospect of the caliber of Jane Daniels, Drake Man, Caleb Williams from last year's draft. With that said, quarterback in the draft is kind of like a weirdly binary thing. You're either like good enough to be a very early pick, or you're not right. You're either like a top five guy
or somewhere in the second round. You know, we don't have, oh, you know, the twentieth best player of the twenty fourth best player being a quarterback. You either worked that early pick and you get in that rookie contract or you aren't. Mccathon Wardy certainly is. I think it would have gone around the Pennix McCarthy knicks range last season had he come out improved a lot in Miami. Has a very pro all makes a lot of high difficulty throws. He's got a good amount of knucklehead in him. Make some
dumb mistakes. That's not uncommon thing for coming out of a rookie quarterback coming into the NFL, and coaches know how to work around that. So I expect me to be a good problem. I'd like to pick some the simes.
Is there intrigue at too.
I've had a number of draft guests that say the draft really begins at two afterward? Is off the board of one? Or is it Travis Hunter? What do you think happens in Cleveland?
Yeah, at this point I would be stun if it's not Hunter. And I think it's pretty clear that they prefer him to add Dual Carter. I think it's pretty clear that they're willing to take him over any of the other quarterbacks in this draft, and so Hunter, to
me is the expectation. I think teams will call and continue to call it out number two overall, number three overall, just because those aren't quarterback picks, and they might want to be repositioning and getting one of Travis Hunter Abdul Carter. Those two guys are kind of the only two, you know, elite prospects, blue chip prospects, whatever adjective you want in this year's draft. And so you'll continue to hear trade buzz potentially over the next couple of days. That always
kind of happens as we get close to Thursday. But I think if the Browns say't make the face, they're going to stay at take huntor does.
That duel Carter then land with the Giants. I mean they were out in our not market, but our time zone watching shoot or Sanders work out last week.
But what happens at three, I.
Would expect you to be a bull, Carter. It's not the most perfect fit ye ever solved, just because they have Brian Burns in the building, they have Taveon Thibodeau in the building. They have bigger needs than the defensive line in general. But with that said, like I said, I think it's pretty much a top two player class. Right. We talked about it, just ranking it without ranking the
quarterbacks its Travis Hunter. Just have dull Carter and Johns are gonna have the position and get one of those two players, and then you have a great problem to solve, which is how do we get all of our good pass rushers off the field. You know, that's a nice problem to have. Taveon Thibodeau was a first round pick for them in twenty two out of Oregon, coming up on this fifth year option. Has not been picked up yet,
so he's still a tradeable asset as well. Even though the team wants to say, hey, we have a lot more snaps for your young pass rusher, will come take them off your hands, and so other expected to be Carter and then yeah they if they played Carter Thibodeau and burns all of them for twenty twenty five, trust me, it's not gonna feel like, oh no, we makes it the pig. It's gonna feel like, wow, we've got a deep stable of passers is here that'll help you win
games early. It will certainly help you win games late in the season as well.
Since I mentioned shador I swear every guest I've had on a top draft is giving me a different answer. So what's the Ben Solac take. Where do you think should or Sanders lands.
I think he's going to be drafted somewhere in the back half of round one. I think it's going to be taken somewhere in the Teddy Pickett, Teddy Bridgewater, Lamar Jackson, Johnny Manzel range right that. Hey, you know, we kind of like you a little bit more as maybe an early day two guy, but we want the fifth year option, so we're going to trade up to go get you.
That to me is fair on Shred or Sanders. I think in the beginning of the draft process, I'm started talking about him and people said, oh, he's next to camp Ward, He's going to be in contention for quarterback one. I thought that was too lofty. And now as we get excuse me, as we get closer to day one and day two here people say, oh, maybe Jackson dar is QB two, Maybe Tyler Schuck is QB two, Maybe Jamn Milroe's QB two. To me, that's too far. Depends
on too far the other direction. I think Sanders is clearly the best, the next best in that bunch, but I think Dart, I think Milroe, I think Sanders all the chance to go late day one, early day two, and I think you'll see if none of the Steelers there twenty taking sure Sanders, and I think you'll see one of the Browns Giants of Saints trading up from that early second round to go get him at the end of round one.
Well, does you follow up with your opinion on who Shore Sanders is as an NFL quarterback?
I think he can be a acceptable starter for you, right, I've heard, I've heard him compared to Geno Smith. I don't think that's picture perfect. I think Geno a little bit bigger, a little bit more physical, like the pocket a little bit more and just in general a little bit more accurate in the downshill throws than Sanders is. I think Tua is a little bit better of the comparison. Now, Sanders much better, creating the two as much better scrambler.
He's a little bit like tool with a jet pack right two on caffeine, like he could do stuff when he moves, you know. But in general, that that that quick release, that ability to throw his anticipation over the middle of the field. Maybe not the best vertical ball thrower because the arm kind of dies on you a little bit, but that ability to work your twenty yards, be highly accurate throws, anticipation, give your receivers constantly chances to make plays on the football in the tight areas.
I think I think he can be in that range of a quarterback. And again, you don't really want to draft that top ten. You want a higre a feeling. But if you feel like you're a good offense and you have good weapons and you can plug eachother rookie contract quarterback, you could do worse than the should or Sanderson.
Jackson Dart played his high school football out in our state, and it's been fun to kind of watch him make his way throughout his career as a collegiance. I'll ask you kind of the same question, your opinion on who he is as a pro. And you referenced a couple of landing spots, what's the most likely spot for Jackson Dart.
Yeah, Jackson Dart's got that whip like release right. That release is a very very fast Aaron Rodgers style makes him a very good RPO quarterback. He he doesn't need to be connected to the ground to zip that ball in there, can throw from some weird platforms and then he's a costs out of a gun man. He is tough as nails. If he needs to hang in the pocket for an extra half second, take a big shot to get let a receiver get open, he will do it every single time. So's the highly competitive player. He
has them some translatable skills in that Ole's offense. You did not see NFL pros. You did not see NFL processing, right, Some of that is dark. Some of that is the nature of the offense. So there's a lot of projection involved. When we talked about taking Jackson Dart from the college level to the NFL level through a lot of vertical routes that are wide open, right, it was one of the highest quarterbacks in terms of rate of targets wide open down the field. College had an all of last season.
And again, if you can get a lot tighter in the NFL, the margins are going to get a lot thinner. So to me Dart as a project quarterback, Dar's a sort of guy that I want to draft and then maybe start in year two after he's had a year to activate himself to an NFL playbook, long NFL play called the NFL routes, so on and so forth. I think the Saints I've clearly been a little bit more interested in Dart over the other teams. And also it makes sense for Dart because they can play Derek Carr
for another year if he's healthy. They can play spend Ratler, who played for him a lot last season, for another year and bring Dirt along slowly. That Kellen Moore offense a lot of quick throws, a lot of RPOs. That's where you want Jackson Dart to be. And so to me, projects player more so the player than I'd like to take on Day two. But if he goes in that Drew Lock range right forty three overall early second round pick, that's kind of the quarterback tax right there.
In ten years, Shodor Sanders, Jackson Dart, who will have had a better career.
I would bet on Sanders, but I would personally not like to make a bet you know there at all. I think when we start talking about these quarterbacks who go later than the top ten, destination is destiny, right. Asking that again in two weeks, when I know which team each one went to, I'll give you a much more confident answer because I'll like the offensive infrastructure, I'll like the coaching staff the opportunity for development. Right, It's kind of like, hey, you already know if a quarterback
is drafted by the Jets, that guy is gonna be good. Sorry, sence, but like that's just kind of the nature of them, of destination being destiny, and so right now, I don't feel great about making a pick on either one. But if you tell me, hey, you know one of these guys gets drafted to be the developmental quarterback in Los Angeles with the Rams behind Matthew Stafford, yeah, I'm going to take him to be the guy who's going to develop nicely. He's got the right bedrock around him to grow.
Now, your born is well taken. If destination is destiny, the Jets are destitute.
I know that. But since you brought it up, what do they do at seven? What do you think they do?
So?
I think if if armand Membu the right taskle out of Missouri, excuse me, remains on the board, and to me, that's the best marriage of need a team fit overall prospect value, that'd be the player that I would circle for that. You remember Aaron Glenn and dannrel Engstron and they're both coming from Detroit. What was the first thing Detroit did when Dan Campbell got there and Brad Holmes got there. Take a tackle, Penny Sewell, we're just are building the things from the trenches, so to me that
that would be my expectation. Now, Membo is becoming a hotter and a hotter name for the Raiders at six. And I'll tell you if the board falls with Mason Graham off the board at five to the Jaguars, Membo off the board at six to the Raiders, and then presumably Will Campbell as well, the left back of else you go into the Patriots at four, that board sucks for the Jets. That's a really, really, really tough draw.
You start talking about taking a tight end top ten Tyler Warren or Colston Lovelin Man, that is lofty for a tight end. So talking about the rest of the corner class, Will Johnson and J. D. Barons and those are not guys who are traditionally top ten picks. This class is not very top heavy. It does not have
a lot of elite talents. So some of these teams in the back of the top ten are going to just be dealt really tough boards because there's gonna be players who usually go like fifteen o'ver oroll and that's it. And you can see that happening to the Jets. And so I like Membo the right tack out of Missouri for them. If he's not there, I would expect effort on a trade back because I just don't think the board is going to come nicely to him.
We finally heard from Aaron Rodgers, and thank God for that. I wonder Ben, how you digested the story the Aaron told about his meeting with Aaron Glenn And does that shed any insight any light on the approach that Aaron Glenn is going to take as the head coach of the Jets.
All I know, Aaron Rodgers complained about having a fly to New orkon his own dime and then getting stiffed. Aaron Rodgers also made like forty five million dollars last year. I mean, it just it falls on such deaf ears me. I to be completely frank, I could not believe that we were doing it again as a football media in a football consuming public. Aaron Rodgers merges from the silence to go on the Patmack of the show and everybody's live tweeting what he says, I couldn't give two hoots.
Aren't we done with this? Since what he has not played well, he has not shown an interest in doing what is necessary for the team that he quarterbacks to play well, and he's now refusing to participate in free agency in like a normal way, which I understand because, like you know, takes power of the player's hands. I want to be control my own destiny. That's great, Go do it over there. Don't then hop on on your curated television show and complain about how people are talking
about you. You're the one who's doing things differently. Of course people are going to report on it. What do you think this works? So, like you know, Rogers for the Steelers, Rogers retiring, I don't know, and did did did Glenn stiff him in the approach? In the free agency conversation all I want to come back, maybe, but I can't pull Aaron Glenn for that. I don't know how anybody in the league has patients for Aaron Rodgers
in twenty twenty five. So to me, you know, wherever he ends up before he ends up Harbor long he plays, however long he plays, And I'm sure Gill Hill inform us of.
That in his own due time, well said, and I won't even ask a follow up because I think he handled everything I wanted to ask you there, which is which is totally fine. I do want to go back to Travis Hunter, though, because Andrew Berry, the Browns general manager at the combine and said that they view him as quote a receiver primarily first, whether it's Cleveland or another team, are we going to see Travis Hunter play legitimate, like big time snaps on both sides of the ball.
I think you will see it happen in at least a few games, because I think that the team that drafts Travis Hunter will want to entertain the idea and support the idea in the way that like, you know, when you're ten year old starts doing card magic, you're like, yeah, go for it, dude, Like you know, this is probably not going to become anything, and like this is a little bit awkward and weird, but like you know, kind of we want, you know, we want to be a
positive force for you. Right. So Travis Hunter comes into the league, He's a total rookie. He says, I can do something that hasn't been done in twenty five thirty years.
All right, man, go for it, and like you're gonna give him some snaps at receiver, give him some snaps of corner, and then you're gonna need with them in three weeks and say, hey, listen, you know, like we've got GVS tracking data says you know you're not moving it's fast in the fourth course as you do otherwise, we're going to try to bring your corner snaps down. You try to reach a middle ground with him. He's very clearly committed to at least giving it an effort,
and I think you have to. If you're going to draft the player you want to keep him mentally engaged, you have to at least entertain that effort to some degree. Now, the Brown saying they think him as a receiver, to me is very it's a smart way to go about it, because it's much harder to be a full time receiver and moonlight at corner then it is to be a
full time corner moonlight at receiver. Because if you want to play fifteen snaps at receiver, I can just on the sideline tell you, hey, you know we're A and seven. We're calling this, you're running this route, quarterback in the in the in the pocket, and the huddle. Excuse me can tell you, Hey, I remember it's an eighteen yard dig. You know it's easy to kind of plug and chug you there. At receiver at corner, Well, you got to
know what happens if they motion. You got to know what happens if they walk out under center play action was they they move it this way three by one. There's so much more that can happen on any given play. So if you want a guy to become one position full time and you kind of want to discourage him from doing the second position, I would put him full time at receiver and then have him experience some of the challenges of trying to moonlight at corner as opposed
to flip flop of it. So I think you're going to see Travis Hunter end up being a full time receiver for the Browns end of his rookie contract, second year whatever. But I think they'll they'll take the tires on seeing what he looks like as a two way player who's.
Throwing on the ball, who's going to be under Shuter in Cleveland.
If they draft Hunter, I would love for them to draft standers because this has gone, in my opinion, under talked about in the process. The connection between Shador Sanders and Travis Hunter for collegiate players is very impressive. Right, These guys have been throwing, pitching, and cashing each other for four seasons jackson State at Jacksonville State. Excuse me, into Colorado. You know we've seen top ten picks a quarterback, sort of top ten picture receiver. We watched to a
sort of Jaylen Waddell and and Vaque Smith. It looked nothing like this, right, Caleb Williams are not killables in Rome, do their our teamates now? They aren't previously, But we've seen these combos and in terms of the way they adjust routed from the fly, the way the shad or throws to him back shoulder, the way that he trust him in contested situations, like they have a very good relationship.
So to me, if the Browns get Hunter at wide receiver, it would move Sanders up my draft board for them, and so I like Sanders as a Browns quarterback. They also seem like they're interested in Shuck as well. The Louisville kid. I expect those the two names I look at for Cleveland.
I will not ask you if Aaron Rodgers will play for the Steelers, but I will ask you what their situation is under center and how they kind of solve this issue. If it's not going to be Aaron, who's going to be the quarterback for the Steelers.
Yeah, I think that they absolutely have to take a quarterback with one of their first two packs. Remember no second round pick because the dk met cap trades. They have their pick at twenty and then they have a mid third round. Or if you don't think the guy in the first round, I think it's pretty much non negotiable. You have to see the guy on day two. I think that they are taking a long, hard look at Sanders because I think a month ago they didn't think
Sanders was going to get some theother twenty. Now it looks like that's a lot more likely. So to me, I think Sanders is someone that they're zeroing in on. I'm not confident if they like him or dislike them out of the direction, but I think they're doing that legwork now and I think that they've you seen them engage with Jackson Dark and you see them engage with
Jaln Milroe as well. Out of Alabama. Those those I think are the three names that I would if someone's gonna sneak in around one, they're in the back half, those are the three that I would circle. So I think it's going to be a rookie. I think, honestly, it's going to be a first round pick at rookie,
and it's gonna be one of those three names. If it's not that pick at twenty and they passed, then on day two they got to get active and think got would be willing to trade future picks to get at you cannot walk in the next season with just Mason Rudolph and hoping that you get Aaron Rodgers. That seems like an awful team building plan to me.
Urban Meyer did a zoom call with one of our local TV stations and Utah State plays their football just out the road in Logan, so he had a front row seat to watch Ashton Genty all year and urban was, i'll say effusive with his praise for Ashton Genty out of Boise State. What's the Ben Solac take on his pro potential and where do you think he's drafted.
Ashton Genny's an excellent, excellent prospect. I don't think he's at the level that take when Barkley was when he came out of Penn State Ezekiel Elliott when he came out of Ohio State. Those two players went two and four, respectively. But in this draft class, he's certainly one of the three four best players in the class, and you expect him to go top ten. This is everything you want in a bag of chips in terms of a running
back prospect. He's going to do a really good job in the NFL, turning penetration plays into two yard games, turning two yard games into five or games five or games in a ten yard game. You're going to do exactly you want an early drafted running back to do. You're going to take a high, high number of volume, a lot of snaps, be able to catch the football, carry it twenty twenty four times a game, and deliver consistent running and then explosive plays as well in the
open space. So he's everything that you want. He's probably not going to be the fastest running back in the league, but besides that, it's all gravy. So my expectation is six to the Raiders, five to the Jaguars, ten to
the Bears. I would be stunned if he gets outside the top ten, and I honestly if he gets passed six with the Raiders and he's available seven, eight, and nine, would not be surprised to see a team trying to treat up in front of the Bears to go get the guy, because he'll be viewed then as a blue ship player who's falling. Cowboys at twelve want to go move up, get their future, Zeka Elliott would not bother me at all.
With the remaining a few minutes, Ben I have you, I will ask you about a couple of teams locally that are of interest. And since my producer is a lifelong suffering Dallas Cowboys fan, I believe they have ten or eleven picks if I remember correctly, So what do you think Dallas needs to come away with as far as when the draft is complete?
How do you think they handle their business?
He had ten picks for the Cowboys. Six of the ten are round five and later, which to me indicates the team that's going to be willing to trade up and that is going to be willing to sell some of those picks to make moves now that they've been most paired to wide receivers right, namely Matthew Golden out of Texas. Been a little bit of Tetero McMillan out of Arizona. But I think Golden is chalking out for them as wide receiver one. So wide receiver is a
big need for them. Three down running back is clearly a need, right. Javonte Williams and Miles Sanders the only additions to a really empty room at this time. Now, it's a good class for three down running backs. They don't need to go there round one to go get that player. I would say Day two is probably what they're hoping to target. And then corner is in need. You know, you have a good player in Treyvon Diggs and a good player in Deron Bland. Bigs come back
from a pretty major injury. Drown Bland is entering our contract. Your depth got tested in a real bad way last season. They struggled a lot to cover and they're ever consistent. Nickel corner Jordan Lewis is now Jacksonville Jaguar would be a free agent py So to me, I've got three corner positions that by twenty twenty six I might not feel good about it any of them, So I would also expect decently early pick on the corner board. Again, I don't think it's gonna be a round one. I
think it's going to be a receiver. But day two. It's a very good class for corners on day two, a lot of developmental guys. But expect the Cowboys to go there.
Niners have eleven picks, as you point out of your piece, it's a big draft for them. Of course, they have to pay their QB, so they've got a lot of holes. How do you think San Fran handles this week?
They've just lost so many snaps on the defensive line. And now with you know, Drey Greenlaw and Talano Hufanga are both gone to Denver, Tarvarius war to the corner is left for Indianapolis. They are just bleeding snaps on the defensive side of the ball. To me, I'm using all eleven picks, not all eleven, but a lot of my eleven picks and taking that shotgun approach, right. I want to make a lot of selections and just pour
those resources onto the defensive side of the ball. I want to be able to add multiple pass rushers to support Nick Moosa right. I want to be able to get a developmental linebacker behind Fred Warner, a guy who can takes them outside corner snaps. It's al Bernardo Green like, you need to inundate the roster the defensive with you, because the way you survive brock Berdy Contract Part two is by being cheaping up on defense to then spend
the money on offense. So that, to me, has to be the approach.
Last one, Ben, I'll set you loose after this. I know you're busy, but there there's reason for optimism in Denver for the first time and quite some time after the rookie season of Bonnicks. And they they've got twenty in round one, They've got let's see seven overall picks. From what I'm reading here, how do you think Denver handles this week before it sets you loose?
So Denver's, the rumored, is one of the only teams that's kind of interesting and willing and trading up, which I think is I think it's sharp. I think it's gonna be an easy year to trade up because everybody else wants to trade down, so I think that the price is gonna be pretty cheap. They should be adding splash players on offense. Right, they did a really nice job scraping it together and Sean Payton finding clever ways to work around you know, Marvin Mims Junior and and
Gavanti Williams and Julil mcgloughlin and Adam Troutman and Lucas Kroll. Right, they have like just like bodies, little Georgan Humphrey just the court. It was kind of a tent pole the whole offensive operation. And other than that, they're just kind of scrounging it together. So you have depth. Now it's time to that impactful players. Let's that guys who cause problems right in free agency, the kicks, the tires and the wide receivers. It was a very bad receiver class.
And then Evan Ingram was an addition at tight end two year contract. It's not that big of a financial commitment and Ingram is not the playmaker that he used to be. So to me, I'm looking at Omarion Hanson, the running back of North Carolina. Both the top tight ends, Tyler Warren out of Penn State coastonal levelant of Michigan and then out of the top receivers as well, Matthew Golden out of Texas and Ted Roe mcmillano of Arizona. I'm saying, listen, if I need a trade out, all
trade up. I want an impactful, three down, scary guy. Guy I go to play January football, playoff football. The opposing defense has to worry about this dude. I compare him with Courtland's sun. Become that much more dangerous on offense and make a big move, make a big splash, go attack those offensive knee positions. That'd be the plan for Denver.
Ben, you are the man, great stuff. Excited to follow your work this week and be good man. Keep it up, Okay, take care. I had the great Ben Solac over ESPN. That guy has been coming on our show for a long long time, ever since he was just a kid in this business. It's been really fun to watch his stock row and he does great work. There aren't a lot of uh, well, there isn't a lot, I should say local buzz with the players available in the draft.
You know Utah with Junior Tafuna, Karenne Reid Brand, Keithy Byu with Tyler Battie, kayleb Btn and Jacob Robinson. I've got a mock pulled up right now, and I don't see any local players off this mock board until one ninety nine where kayleb Btn is off the board for the Chargers.
So we are your home of the NFL Draft in the market. Don't forget.
It's such a great event and it's a great time to be hopeful if you're an NFL fan. Junior Tafuna off at two forty eight to the New England Patriots, so that would be a sixth round, I believe