Well, let's switch gears.
Now.
The NFL draft us right around the corner front of the program. Thorn Eystrom joins us on this Friday afternoon to talk a little pro football thor how you doing.
Man, great? How you doing?
I'm well, I'm well. I appreciate the time.
So this is like your time of year, right, this is when you really kind of dig in. What's the past couple of weeks been like for you?
We will sleep in May, but it's you know, it's always interesting getting especially you get deeper into to some of these profiles and you started like, why isn't this guy talked about more or or twice a versa, like just this dude is way over height, and you know, just developing your own opinions about some of these guys. It's a great time of the year.
I want to ask you about a local kid, Jackson Dart, who played his high school back high school football out this way and landed at USC of course transferred, and you know, it's it's interesting to hear the takes on him, because it seems like you ask ten different people, you get ten different takes.
Where do you have him ranked and where do.
You think ultimately the fans out this way that to follow Jackson dark and expect him to go.
I have him QB three, and I think, you know, it's either gonna be late on Thursday night or it's gonna be pretty quick on on Friday night. You know, I see you talking late first round to early second round, the thing of the top ten hype. I'm not there with it. It only takes one though. You know, there there's some thought that he would be a good fit in that new system, the Kellen Morris installing in New Orleans. There might be some interest there. I'll believe it when
I see it if he's a top ten pick. But either way, you know, for me qualitatively, late first early second.
Shoulder Sanders through today it is pro day.
Of course, we are formally Pac twelve Colorado Buddies, now Big twelve Colorado Buddies. So we've seen shaud or here quite a bit. Where do you think he goes? Where do you analyze him in this class? And what do you think his his floor is?
Shade? You know, it's sort of the opposite. It feels like, at least the narrative, you know, as far as the directions of it against a Jackson Dart. But you know, for me, should I will believe that Shadier falls out of the top ten when I see it. I don't think that's going to happen. I don't think he's going to fall out of the top five. But you know, you have this crappy quarterback class and the the evaluation issue, dear you put it up against all these other guys.
It's just cleaner. I mean, it's just like people that watch him and evaluate him. I feel like the people that get lost in the weeds and stuff. So people that bring in their preconceived notions about this Anders family and that sort of stuff and the perception of it. But if you can remove yourself from that and just watch the games in a vacuum and then just look at the data against the other dudes, he was the most impressive quarterback in this class over his career. It's
not me going out on the lambits. It's literally just the fact I you know, he started all four years. His teams are always good. You know, Jackson State that turn that thing around real quick. And then you know, Colorader takeover one of the five or six worst FBS programs, not one of the five or six worst powerful ones. You know, that team was terrible when they got to that one and eleven team, and you know that, you know, they also nippick him. It's like, oh, he had good
receivers and this sort of gimmicky thing. He played behind terrible offensive lines at Colorado in an offensive scheme where the defense knew they weren't going to run, so you had the implosing defensive line who they could pin their ears back the entire game and and just you know, and the penetration you would see on his film right away, he figured out ways to work around that. I like
his functional mobility in the pocket. You know. Another one of the crazy criticisms of him where it's like all right, guys, stop, was when people were like, oh, he's not a good athlete. It's like, yeah, the son of one of the greatest athletes in the history of the NFL is not a good athlete, Okay, Like because he doesn't run out of the pocket, you know, like a couple of you know, he doesn't. He doesn't break containment then he's running downfield.
And the reason why is he uses athleticism to make people miss in the pot when he has to, which he unfortunately did more than most at Colorado. He's really really good at that. And when he is scrambling he gets up close to the line of scrimmage, you're starting to run out of time. He he has a very cool quirk where he will stop in front of that line of scrimmage and he'll just plan himself there and wait for, you know, for a guy to get open
if he hasn't seen one yet. He does a really good job of keeping his eyes up when he's moving around. But when he is rushing towards the line of scrimmage, when he is scrambling, you will see the defenders. You know this, it's a natural impulse to get sucked downhill, right, because you know the games that they've played in the past, you always see the quarterback run past line of scrimmage.
He uses that inclination against defensive backs. Right, he will stop on a dime there waight way, someone's gonna get sucked down and now he has an open receiver. I really like his game. I like his pocket presence. I don't understand why he gets criticized for that too. And the elite thing about him, of course, it's accuracy and placement.
You can put that up there. You look at the last five quarterback classes, there's not a lot of guys that can compete with should Sanders in those two categories. So big, big fan of his game.
So tell me where you think he lands. And again I'll just reiterate, where do you think is flora Is? And look, I'm a Jets fan, okay, And so I wouldn't mind because I'm with you, I wouldn't mind if he fell to seven. I don't know if that's a chance. But what do you what do you think? Where do you think he lands? And what do you what do you think is flora Is?
I know for a fact Cleveland likes him. You know, I'm not saying he's going to go too, because Cleveland also very much likes his teammate Travis Hunter. Now, you know, I think that's a discussion right now. That Colorado prote that you were alluding to, they had a whole, huge contingent from the Cleveland Browns organization that was out there, that included their owner, you know, in every major person
in that organization. Of course you get to take in Travis, but you know, also evaluate Shadeer there the very close eyes on him and Shadeer is would be a really good fit for Stefanski's offense as well. Coming out of the NFL Combine, I talked to an NFL source that told me, do not discount the possibility that Cleveland walks away from this draft with both Travis Hunter and Shadeer Sanders. And at the time, I was like, there's no way, and he's he was telling me the Shadeer sliding possibility.
In that scenario, you pop Travis Hunter at number two. Let's say that that. Let's say that I'm wrong and he gets to you know, fourteen fifteen somewhere like that. Cleveland has all the draft equity in the world in this clas I did just look at all the picks they have. They could easily get up to fifteen sixteen if that happened. So that's I'm going to call that one out. Cleveland. There's a shot still they take them
at two for sure. But if not, and if I'm wrong about the other thing about him sliding, Cleveland's in play for that too.
So everything I've read the world all seed to you, because you're the expert, is that Tennessee has done their calculation. They've landed on Cam warded one is are you in line with that storyline? You think that's how this is going to go down? And what do you think if that's their choice.
They absolutely want us to believe that, which my mean it's the truth, and might mean that that it's not the truth. We have seen some very clever smoke screens in the past. One that I could evoked that you know, for this one. San Francisco wanted everyone to know. Was it six seven years ago that they were going to take Mac Jones at number three or number you know where they had two or three afrigate but they ended up taking Trey Lance with It was three, wasn't it?
But you know they were putting it out there, It's gonna be Mac, It's going to be Mac. It wasn't going to be Mac. It was like, you know, doubt us. Try to tell us who you're going to pick in advance too much, right, So Tennessee is giving us absolutely, they are giving us all the indications in the world that they will take cam Morton. That only means one
of two things. Unfortunately we can't say in advance. They they want us to believe something and we'll see if they end up falling through with it.
And yes, as a Jets fan, I will selfishly kick the tires with an expert, as I do every time we talked pro football, what what what do my guys do? Like I said, I would not mind them grabbing Shador if he's there at seven, But what do you think happens with the Jets at seven?
The good and the bad thing is is there's enough holes there where you do not have to get myopic with the pick right, like the board is sort of open to you. Will they will they try to get like a you know, the singular offensive dude in in Tyler Warren, the guy that the simply a ball mover right, the offensive chess piece sort of a dude. I think that's one possibility. Obviously there's needs on defense there as well.
You know, you can get someone to play next to Quinnon uh Kin law left, you know, whether it's IDL, whether it's offensive tackle. You know, you could use someone across from Bashanu and try to take care of that for the next decade. Receiver obviously, you know, you know the stuff there. To me, it's it's somewhere in there.
I would be surprised if it was just because of the the outlay they gave Fields over a multi year deal, though I realized it was only two years and it's not crazy money, so you know, technically you haven't crossed it up. But with with the all the other holes there, I I would assume and I would expect for them to go a non quarterback position.
Do you think there's any chance I was reading a piece in the Athletic today somebody covering their draft that believes, like you just alluded to Tennessee, this is a smoke screen and they're willing to move that pick. And you know, like the Jets, Tennessee has a lot of holes. Do you think there's any chance they move off of one for more valuable pieces?
Well, Tennessee, for sure if they can get that offer. And this would also you know, the theory of they're not decided yet but they want us to believe that they are. This is you know, if that scenario was true, that would be something that you would do if you want to listen to offers, right like, oh, we found our guy and we're you know, blobbody blind, and then you're hoping that a team that's obsessed with cam wore Dunn.
Is you know, gonna make you an offer. We'll have to see on that, but yeah, if Tennessee gets a legitimate trade offer where they feel they're getting valued, they're going to make that trade right, like you know. I just think that. As far as the Jets at seven, I think they're an interesting a down possibility because of all those different holes. And then of course you have new decision makers that are sitting in those seats. Now. You brought a lot of new guys into the front office.
Want to put your your mark on things. And Rick Spielman one of the guys near and dear to my heart, he used to work a mile away from where I'm sitting right now. That dude loves to trade down and get extra pegs. We make fun of him here because every single year seemed like he had three or four seventh round picks that he had accumulated through it. But there are teams that are gonna be looking to move on,
and I think some teams that would surprise people. The forty nine ers are a team to watch out for to make a big move up to board in round one because they have an enormous amount of draft equity. They have made all these changes to their offensive skill guys, and they want to restock that there's not a receiver.
I don't think that they would be targeting. I've been told to watch out for them moving up for Tyler Warren, so that that's and even potent daylight Ash and Gentz too, And I know that this would, you know, blow people's minds. It's like you already got Christian McCaffrey, but they don't play football like the other teams due they played positionless
football on offense. Right, It's like every time they go back to the huddle, it's like you shuffle the deck as far as the next play where everyone's going to line up. Like, I just enjoy watching them because it's always like, well, where's you know, when deebo is on, where's Debo going to be this play? Where's where's are you going to be? Kiddle? They'd line up all over
the place. McCaffrey could be out wide, he could be in the slot, he could be They move guys everywhere, and and so it opens up the potential possibilitycause because when I was told that, I was like, there's no way they got McCaffrey's positionless football. You could play those two guys together, so like, uh, you know, but but you know a team to watch out for. Potentially maybe the Jets would you know, could potentially be involved in that if a guy like Tyler Warren gets to their pick.
I want to ask Thor because you know it may be an easy answer, maybe just be Travis Hunter. But who do you think is the best prospect in this draft regardless of position? If an NFL team called you and said best play regardless of where he plays, who would you say and why?
For me?
For sure, it is Travis Hunter because because of that two position things, Travis Hunter, he'd be if he was just a cornerback, be my CB one in this class. If he was just a wide receiver, he'd be wide receiver one with the ball in this class. And the fact that you get both those things in one package, you can start to make an argument qualitatively for his value against a quarterback, which you know is sort of unique.
If you check both those boxes on your team, you know you can start making that that qualitative argument he's different, that that dude's different My comp for him. You know, I'm the guy that has the five hundred player big board of five hundred player contact I just love comps. I had to come from to show Heyo Tani there. There wasn't another football player that I felt comfortable comping him to. That's that was the closest I could get as far as encapsulating my thoughts on Travis Hunter and
Travis Hunter wants to be show Heyo Tani. You know, like I was laughing earlier this process. People would ask him to be like, all right, what position is he actually going to play in the n BO. It's like both ways And I'd be like, no, no, that what position? Actually? He's like, no, both ways, Like he he wants to be to show hey, otani guy, he is not gonna want to Like if a team was like, Travis, we only want you on one side of the ball, he'd be like, I don't want to play for you. So
I mean that that's what you're gonna get. And for sure it be Travis Hunter.
So is your understanding the teams that he's speaking with are completely open to allowing him to play both positions one thousand.
Yeah, the interested parties there, Yeah, you're gonna be playing him both ways right away. You wouldn't draft him otherwise because you're gonna have a kicked off employee on your hand, who's one of your your organization's most important people right from the get so, yeah, that's that's what's being discussed. The interesting thing will be after the draft, whatever team that ends up being, you know, be at Cleveland, be at the Giants. Uh it could it be the Patriots?
Could he get down before? The interesting thing will be the discussions inside that building, which the coaching staff almost might get locked out of these. It's more gonna be between your analytics department and your your medical team of trying to trying to look into the data and figure out a guy with that frame, what what is the amount of snaps that the human body at that size could take before we will elevate his injury risk? Right
like it? So, if we're going to play him eighty five percent of the snaps you know defense as a rookie, how many additional ones? What what percentage of the snapshare on offense can we do before it's dereliction of duties? Right where it's it is so many snaps you can
almost guarantee that he will suffer a significant injury. I think it's going to be you know, you're going to be between eighty to eighty five percent of the snaps on defense as a rookie, and I think it's going to come out around forty to forty five on offense as a rookie. And I think those snaps, you're going to have a Travis Hunter playbook. You are going to be looking to get Travis Hunter the ball. He is
not going to be out there to run block. And then they're not going to put him out there on that early downs either. I don't think that's one way that you can save him. But yeah, crazy valuable player at the next level.
Thora before I say you lose.
You know, typically we have more Utah football players involved in the draft process that have a chance to be, you know, one of the you know, maybe a first round guy.
We don't have many this year.
But I'm gonna ask you about Brant Keithy, who was really the better pro prospect prior to Dalton king kid landing on campus and then kind of usurping that role after Brant went down and he had another injury a year ago. And I'm sure at some point throughout your analysis you've landed on him because when he was healthy and Cameron Rising was under center, for Utah. He just looked the part he had, the productivity. He's a great kid. He's been a friend of the station for a long time.
And I see him listed as the seventh rated you know, tight end slash h back on one of these lists. And it's gonna be tough just because of the health. But what do you make of this process for bran Keithy And do you think at some point maybe he will have a pro football career.
I hope he does that. You know, I had never met him before Indianapolis. But the thing you're saying about him being a good kid, you could tell that at his podium session, you know, Uh, we asked him a couple Yeah, I don't want to say like hard questions, but like non softball questions you know about you know, you're on the older side, and you know what your injury history is. You know the way the NFL will
view that. You know, you're not an inline guy, you know, and and and like that's you know, basically make the case. You know your skill set as is, you know, and stuff like that and super super duper respectful, you know, with with with the answers and thoughtful and the way that that he saw that stuff, but he knows he's facing a bit of an uphill climb here. But you know, I mean that that's a guy who you know that all the adversity he's overcome. I think he's ready for
that might come for him. You know. I think you guys will will you know, at least it's around the area of the country, and it's recently. There's remember Dallan Hulker from the last sure, Yeah, you know the guy I called the incredible Hulker. There's there's there's a lot
of similarities there in terms of their frames. They both have the long arms that they had the same thing that I liked about them, which is their really crafty, clever route runners, right and so they managed to make the little bit of separation that they need short and
intermediate area. It's not guys that you're going to send down the field, but they're guys that potentially can be used to pay per cut defenses at the next level and can brand stay healthy enough for that, right Like, and he can overcome the measurables because of that craftiness. Because he has the longer arms than you would expect from the frame, it gives him a bigger catch radius than defenders are expecting. Explain, explain some of that production.
But can he stay healthy enough to show NFL teams that route running machination and then the reliability when that balls on the doorstep? I can be that payper cut guy for you. That's what we're hoping for. Hopefully his body doesn't betray him.
Or where can our football fans go? Find your work, buddy?
You can find me the scouting reports that mock drafts, the five hundred player big board aforementioned on Matthew Berry's face Fantasy Life, and then you can find me on Twitter at ku.
Thanks man, appreciate the time. I know you're busy. We'll set you loose. Okay.
Always good talking to you guys.
All right, thord Eystroum little NFL draft less than three weeks away. I always appreciate his time. All right, we'll catch a quick break. But before we do, porter, did you say we have somebody on the line, I guess with whom I'm unfamiliar.
Yeah, it's been a it's been a minute. It's been a minute. What's his name? I think it's Ryan? And where does he work? Ryan? Ryan from the Dish professionals. Wow, where have you been? Ryan from the dish pros? Where have you been? No comment?
See South Korea, Thailand, Balie, Malaysia, a lot of places. Long trip.
Well, my guests, My guess is my guess is you were able to watch television on your trip?
Is that fair to say?
I did? I actually utilize the dish anywhere up a couple tougher times to watch some games and so forth, and yeah, it was great.
Well, welcome home. I'm going to give you the space. What do you want our listeners to know, because it's been a while.
It's been a while, you know, coming back back into it, you know, coming to the live calls for a little bit. But you know, I got great content just from today. I had a customer that had called in a little frustrated with their cable bill, and so they called and said, hey, you need to lower the bill and they raised it from three point thirty to three point fifty something a month. And he excelled the call us and we're saving this customer close to two hundred dollars. Like it's amazing what
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