Kyle @BonaguraESPN on NFL Draft, offseason CFB/NIL + everything else that matters

job and just kind of day to day. So yeah, I kind of just stop seeing the value for the for the role that I do for the news breakers and people like that. I think there's still value for that, but when you're kind of doing feature stories and digging out on specific subjects, I just don't think it really adds much anymore.

I think there's a lot to it, right. It's a very complex issue when we're talking about Shador and why he fell or or why he didn't fall, why everyone just had him wrong and he didn't fall. He just ended up where he was supposed to be. But I think like the prevailing thought that I tend to agree with is, look, if he was worth all the other stuff that comes along with him, if his talent was that good, if he was really a top five talent,

he would have gone there right. NFL teams would have decided that if he adds wins, right, if he gets you the those results, the things that matter, then you can kind of put up with the kind of the circus that kind of comes with everything Sanders these days. But after the evaluations were complete, they determined, and this is kind of where I fell too, is that he

really wasn't that great. I mean, there was a lot of things he did really well, sitting in the pocket through as the beautiful ball took a lot of sacks. I thought there was a lot of stat padding going on the story that I've kind of told friends over the last few days kind of illustrates kind of why I didn't really view Schedure as kind of a winning player early in the year. It was first game of the year, actually, I was there in Colorado to play

in North Dakota State. It's a one possession game a minute in a minute in like forty five seconds ago, somewhere somewhere in that range. So you had a chance to just North Dakota State had one time out left, so you had a chance to run the ball three times. It would have taken you down to about ten seconds and you could punt it away the game's over. Instead, on first down he checks to a he checks to a downfield pass, which was just a completely bizarre decision

in that game State. And then on second down they passed again incomplete, So they basically gifted North Dakota State a timeout and a chance in the time of the game where they could have just completely ended it. North Dakota State ends up getting the ball back. They marched down the field, they come up a couple of yards short of a thirty like a really lengthy drive with

thirty seconds left, and end up costing the game. And so I just felt like that moment for me kind of illustrated that he was more about his stats and kind of all the other stuff than winning. And that's just one example, and maybe that's a little harsh to point that out, but I think there's like a lot of examples, like the shows that this kid wasn't really focused on the things that NFL teams wanted him to be.

And so when you're now all a sudden, you're not drafting a starting quarterback, You're drafting some guy and compete to be the backup. Now you have someone who's you know, whose dad is, is a a list celebrity, he generates headlines like few people do in sports and pop culture. He's going to be calling f him to start. That's inevitable, right, We'll see that soon enough with the Browns. And if you're the head coach, if you're the GM, do you

want to deal with that for a backup quarterback? You know? Probably not? So you know, we can talk about this for days, But that's kind of the kind of where I where I started my thought process and valuating every for sure.

really good. Like with all of the questions that just simply surrounded Shador as a prospect, if you remove all the intangibles and everything on the outside looking in just as a football player, it appears to be pretty clear that out the talent evaluators didn't necessarily see him as

somebody that they were comfortable taking a high pick. And I don't know, I don't want to say wasting on him, but as far as like maybe the example he followed from his father and Dion himself being front facing about he is a top five pick and even at one point alluding to maybe getting involved in harkening the whole. You know, Eli Manningsitch, do you think maybe his pops did him a bit of a disservice during this process?

a candidate to be an NFL coach. Right, So I imagine you're the head coach, you have should Aro on the bench, You're losing, he probably doesn't deserve to be in the game. But now you're hearing all this outside no is Now you're probably hearing, you know, should Deon Sanders be the coach? Right? And that's an element that

didn't exist with Eli. That kind of adds to this in a way that I mean, I you saw that could be probably saw that the clips of the draft room for the Browns, and they didn't look thrilled to be, uh, you know, having picked Sugar Sanders. And it's certainly possible that was taken out of context, but it's also possible that they were not thrilled knowing that at every single day with that guy in the building is going to be examined in a way that it wouldn't have been

had he been somewhere else. And so you you certainly benefit for b and Dan's sun, but there's a lot of a lot of other stuff that comes with that, and I think in this case, it cost him a lot of money.

the season. I think it makes sense to let him try both. I don't know if in the NFL he can you know, go go uh go full time both ways. And he didn't start playing both ways full time in college either. He kind of worked himself into that as he became more experienced and more comfortable at the college level too. And that's even starting you know, down down

at FCS with with with Jackson State. I've discussed this a lot with you know, friends and you know, you know, other people in the media, just like where is he better? And I think the fact that there isn't really a consensus that you have people arguing on both sides is really probably the most interesting takeaway that it's not clear he was. He started as a corner, that was what

he got recruited as. But you know, last year he won the Bolinkopf Award as the best receiver, and part of that is just name recognition, and there wasn't the other candidates where you know, Nick Nash from Santive State, He's not gonna generate a lot of hype nationwide, so maybe he benefited just from from that to a degree. But still he had over one hundred catches something like that for well over one thousand yards. Was was unguardable

at times, it seemed in the Big twelve. So uh, he's he's probably the most interesting prospect of his generation because he's he is. He said it. He's one of one. No one else's has been valued in the same way. I mean, you probably have to go back to to Dion right to see another guy who who got legit run on both sides of the ball. And even that was like packages ways to kind of use him as either a decoy or to get in the ball like

early on, you know, early in a play. So Jack Nville is certainly a team that can use the help on both sides, and it's almost like he got to use two picks of one, you know.

storm as a rookie. And I don't know that I thought he was going to be that when he was out in our footprint. And I'll ask you the same thing about cam Ward who certainly was out of school, you know, well in Wazoo and put up great numbers, but kind of same thing. I don't know that I ever thought he'd be the number one pick in the draft. He transfers to Miami, of course, has a great year, and he goes one in the draft and it appeared to be a consensus.

for a long time. But I think the step forward he took at Miami this year was really impressive, right, I mean, they had arguably the best offense in college football, and a lot of that was because of him. He was He had a lot of really special moments. He sits in the pocket, well, he's athletic enough to extend plays. I thought his decision making got a lot better as he progressed through college football. And I think a lot of people in it, you know, maybe more people are

familiar with his story now. But keep in mind too that he ran the wing key in high school, so like, this isn't one of those guys who was bred by some quarterback guru in the seventh grade, eighth grade, ninth grade, and it was essentially a finished product before he had

a chance to really start going. He's someone who had a lot of groan to do when he got to college because it was his first time in a passing offense, and so he had a chance to do that down at the FCS level with an edding current word advance his career at WC and kind of had that graduate level of education at Miami and really did a good job developing I think, and going back to shuduur right, I think kim Ward really looked good in some of

those workout videos that got published Between the two and more, he said, I want to be known as a football player. Should was talking about, you know, let's let's you know, let's cut a song together or something like that, and Cam was very focused on football and football only. So I think all of those, you know, the two progressions there, I think it says a lot about both of those players.

find a couple of them. So I want to ask you about the piece you wrote about Abdul Carter, who a lot of people believe, you know, when we're talking about the twenty twenty five NFL Draft in ten years, this is the dude we're going to be talking about, take us through this journey, positional change and what do you think what type of difference can he make for the New York Giants.

But he is not that. He is an introvert, you know. He talked to me a little bit about, you know, playing chess and the analytical side of football and those sort of things, but had a really good feel for who he was and how he could impact the game. So the story goes. You know, he started at he came in as a linebacker. You know, he asked for the number eleven jersey, which is you know, we saw him try to do that again this week for Lawrence

Taylor's retired fifty six. So he asked for the eleven jersey at Penn State, which is a big deal there. There's a lot of significance, a lot of you know, all time great players have worn it there. He goes through summer workouts as a freshman. They were impressed by him so much that they go ahead and grant him that request. He gets the eleven, and then from day one he is he is wrecking havoc as a linebacker.

But but two years in, he gets to that off season after his sophomore year and he's like, look, I think that can be I was a little bit out of place. You know, he was playing weak side linebacker. He does a lot of you know, hand in the dirt rush and edge type stuff. But really thought he should be as a defensive you know, be playing consistently as a defensive end, not dropping into coverage in those sort of things, even though he was physically capable of

doing so. Anyone who watched Penn State. Probably didn't take a lot of time. So if you're watching for the first time, you're like, oh, who's eleven? Right? He just every snap it feels like he was. He was getting to the backfield, disrupting plays. You know, his numbers were good, you weren't generational or anything like that. But he affected

the game in a way that few players did. And I think that NFL teams had noticed that well before he made the position change, and once he added some weight, kind of got his body to a place where he can be a defensive end at the next level. You know, it was pretty clear that he was going to be an early pick in a very early last year, and so I had a good time talking with him. His teammates were all very complimentary of him. Coaches raved about him.

Everyone I talked to about him. You and look, this is so unusual, but it was all very believable and it felt genuine that they really believe in this guy's talent and who he was as a person.

That's not a Utah thing, that's a college football thing. But after a failing to even qualify for a bowl game and winning five games last year, I do feel like maybe the pressure is off. You know, last year, everybody, including me and I believe you picked Utah to win the Big twelve and advanced to the expanded twelve team CFP. And you know, there are a lot of outlets that have already done the whole like way too early Big twelve projection thing in Utah's mid table on most of them.

So maybe taking that pressure off or will help. But do you have some confidence that year two in the Big twelve will at least look better than year one for the utes?

kind of had these two weird years. Right, there's a lot of factors outside of his control that you know, can trip to that you're you and your you know, your listeners know that you know probably even better than I do. And so I think with like, with those circumstances, it wasn't that the program was falling apart. The defense was among the best in the country. You know. The quarterback thing was such an outlier in terms of how

a program should operate. The you know, the fact that they didn't have a capable backup, someone who could step in and win games two years in a row probably problematic, Right, But when you add a quarterback like they did, who's you know, has documented success and you bring his coordinator with him, and so there's no learning curve with the offense. That's a formula that has worked several times in college football in recent years. I mean, we just talked about

cam Ward. You know, it worked for him at Washington State. We saw it with Caleb Williams at USC. The list goes on, right, and so I think it there's enough reason to be optimistic and confetent that they can they can be a contender again in the Big Twelve, if you know, even allowing for some drop up on defense, because that team that side of the ball was so good. I think the offense will be a lot better. But at the same time, I think the conference is really

improving too. Like Arizona State, their improvement is was pretty remarkable. I mean, I would State probably takes a step back. Those receivers they lost were really good. I think Colorado with Thatt Trivis Hunter probably takes a step back. But it's such a deep you know, there's so many teams now, right, so it's not like you have to you just have to beat nine other teams, ten other teams. There's just

so many teams who are adding and really competitive. And you know, you mentioned kind of the State of college football. Everyone's new, and so Texas Tech has a lot of money, and they're anisle program. They're bringing in a lot of talent. They've got arguably the best transfer class in college football if you're into those sort of rankings, and so, yeah, look, do I think Utah deserves to be the favorite to

win the conference rating? Absolutely not. I don't think that would be kind of ridiculous to say you're in April. But yeah, look, a lot of teams that have come out of nowhere to to improve significantly. In Utah certainly wouldn't be coming out of nowhere. The track records there, they've had the dip, but there enough experience and incredibility in that room to allow for a quick return of prominence.

belief about what the future college football looks like. What's the Kyle bonnagera belief about what the future of the sport looks like.

we all know the names. Are you comfortable sharing equal revenue with you know, with your Marylands of the world, with your Vanderbilts of the world. You know, maybe, but also maybe not I think it's completely reasonable to expect those teams at the top too at some point want

to want a bigger, you know, bigger slice of the pie. Right, or there's another kind of breakoff where these teams all at the top say hey, like, look that you take the top, whatever the number is, pick pick one at random, sixteen thirty two, whatever, forty, and say hey, if we get together, then look at how much more money we

can make. The college programs in university have been operating with that, with that mentality for a while now, and so the idea that it all of a sudden would go away seems you know, I don't know if i'd buy that. There's no logic to indicate why that would stop. We are at a pro model. These guys are making money.

There's gonna, you know, on once the roster rules are all set, there's gonna be a clear path forward on how to manage roster, how to distribute you know, some of the shared revenue stuff that's part of all this all this madness. Right, I'm having trouble keeping track of all the matriculations myself. And so once you have these programs that we're able to pay players directly now at one point, Look, Kyle Willingham was actually talking about it a couple of years ago. I remember him like being

very clear, like, look, we're going to get there. It's just a matter of when, Like are we going to get to a point where eligibility even matters? Are you going to say, is the four year eligibility model? We've already seen that pushed and tested in several different ways, whether it's COVID, whether it's junior college, or red shirts or transfers. Right every it seems like at every turn that players have fought for more eligibility that came out

on top recently in the court system. So eventually do you get to a place where you know there isn't a four year eligibility cap. I don't know, it seems crazy that college football would eventually get there, But I don't think I would write it out either write it

off either. And whether that's in five years or ten years or fifteen, you know, it doesn't like it doesn't matter, Like eventually, I think all those things are going to be tested, and you know, like you said, exercise into utility, there's just so many moving pieces to have a great idea where it's all headed. I don't think anyone can be confident of that other than like changes just going to continue to be inevitable.

call ups. There's this great, uh you know, snapshot of Diego breaking his nose and continuing to play and really endearing himself to all the goobs that loved the US men's national team, Sam's Army, whoever they are. Do you think there's a chance that Diego Luna will be on the US men's national team for the upcoming World Cup here in this region?

been really impressive. He's a guy I've actually paid attention to for for quite a while because I mean, you know, I live here in the Bay Area, he's from around here. Was actually I believe he was cut by the earthquakes at a really young age. So he's someone that, like you, I heard that story early on, and he's you know, with El Paso and kind of working his way through USL gets the shot at at RS and I was really done an incredible job, you know, not letting the

early career disappointment stunt his growth. And yeah, I think it's really only a matter of time. I mean, enjoyment in Salt Lake for as long as he can, because he's a guy who certainly feels like he should be headed to Europe sooner rather than later.