LISTEN | Jets Draft Countdown - Ep. 3 with Daniel Jeremiah & Dane Brugler (4/6)

just a couple of weeks away here. But first things first, e A, how you holding up over there in Flora Park. Green's beautiful day. Uh Son is out gonna make sure I get my solitary exercise in. But hey, listen, the draft is only two and a half weeks away, Greens. It is happening. It is going to provide a great diversion in an outlet for sports fans, specifically NFL fans and Jets fans. So I'm getting pumped for this virtual

draft off. That's not what we thought it would be, but we're gonna make do and and make this the best thing possible. Alright, First things first, NFL draft analyst Daniel Jeremiah. Here's the interview and E and I will break down right after it goes without saying, but first things first, how has this pandemic been affecting your day to day basis and then really affecting the draft and

how to evaluate these prospects? Well, you know what, first of all, our you know, our family, our thoughts and prayers everybody in your area there, because I know what we have in California is one thing. What you guys have been dealing with work is tolferent. So we're thinking about you guys, praying for for your community. But um, for me personally maybe one of the only people, it

hasn't really been that different. Um, I didn't get a chance to go out to money produce, which I would have been gone out to the six or seven prod. But other than that, I mean, I'm home, I'm watching tape,

I'm preparing for the draft. Uh, you know, looking at different teams on the phone, which has been It's been interesting because with the general managers all at home right now, Um, there's not as many people popping in their offices, so I've actually had more conversations with gms around the league in the last few weeks, and I have prior to any of the draft, So it's been good for me from a communication standpoint. Obviously, the kids are home, uh,

you know, doing school from home. But my kids are a little bit older. My youngest is twelve, so uh, they're they're self sufficient and everybody's doing quite well. Great to hear that everybody is doing well. DJ, you were a former Area Scout yourself before you took the job

at NFL Network in two thousand and twelve. How do you think it's impact in those guys, specifically Area Scouts, National Scouts, the guys who were on the ground throughout the year, and now the elimination of pro days, the elimination of the prospect visits to the facility, How have things changed in how are guys relying on the computers now?

As far as getting to know the prospect at the end of the process, Well, first of all, I think you're gonna find out who was diligent during the fall and who were the guys that weren't procrastinating saying oh, I've got time, I can talk to this person on campus when I'm there for the pro day. I can catch up with this player at another point in time down the road. If you were diligent and really doing your homework on these kids through the fall as an

area scout or a cross checker National scout. UM, it's gonna really benefit you during this time because again, we can all figure out the players. You can watch the tape and figure out who can play and who can't play the challenge. And a lot of times you miss on these players because you don't get to know the person.

And you've had chances now with a with a good number of these guys to to be around a little bit in the fall out of practices, talking with coaches and seeing them practice live in person, go to games, see him at All Star Games, see him at the Combine. To me, I think there's enough there to really get a good handle on these guys if you've been doing your work now. Uh, in terms of some of the scheme stuff, as the coaches come into the process, how

do these guys retain your information that you want to see? Uh? You know, teams are trying to be creative with that was was skype and phase time doing something like we're doing right here. Um, get a chance to email the kid a you know, a playbook, a really you know, tiny playbook, and then say, hey, we're gonna skype you get in touch with you tomorrow and we'll go over these things. And you're you're really it's it's almost like recruiting because you're allowed a couple of contacts with these

kids per week. So I know some prospects and talking to them. You know, some teams, you know multiple times a week. They're having basically these sessions with them to really get to know them. So look, you find a way. Um, don't be the guy that that uh is sitting in your in your house as a general manager saying well, we're screwed this year. You know what am I supposed to do? Now? Figure it out? Find a way and figure it out. And I think most people are doing that.

So the Jets have four picks in the top seventy nine, and if you were to look at their needs per se and entering this offseason, you probably say receiver, tackle, edge, and corner. So if you're Joe Douglas, like, what's your ideals Mario here in those top seventy picks the four selections there, well, I would look at it and just say a couple of those positions being filled. I think

you pretty much hit on all of them. Um, in a perfect world, you get one of your top tackles to fall to eleven, and you know, is that guy gonna be there? I mean there could be you know, three, or potentially even the top four guys go. If the top four guys are gone, I don't see them taking the fifth player at that spot. And to be honest with you, I don't know the order that they have them, but I would imagine it might even be a case where it's the top three. You know, if one of

your top three tackles is there, you pick them. You've got to address that. You know, even with what you've done. I like Fan and you know it's a high upside signing there in free agency. Chuma Dogas got a lot of ability, but he's not there yet. I still think there's a need at the tackle positions. So that's the perfect world where that's there for you eleven. Now with these picks, with the two and the two threes, now you get a combination of a receiver or corner, an

edge rusher. You know what, whoever the best available player is. And I have a feeling that if they don't go receiver at eleven, man, they're gonna have some really intriguing options there in the second round. You've been doing some great things on your Twitter account at Move the Sticks. I watched you every day. Very recently. You were looking at Jets wide receiver coach Sean Jefferson son Ban Jefferson, and you have a lot of good thoughts. Starred sam Um.

Let me ask you something, though. The wide receiver group this year tremendous depth, and everybody like yourself has been talking about that. Give me a couple other position groups that really you really like down the line, maybe beyond the first round in terms of depth. Yeah, well, look, you've got the receiver position. I think the running back position is a really solid deep group. I think that's gonna kind of go into the third, fourth round. You're

gonna see good backs there. Another one when you look at the linebacker position before the combine, you know, I kind of done a once over on this linebacker class. I wasn't super excited about it. And then man, you watch all these guys run and work out, go back, you watch more tape. I think there's more depth there, uh than maybe we initially thought, now that's an area the Jets are in good position. I don't see them go on linebacker anytime early in the draft, but there

is some depth there. Corner is solid. Um, it's a solid group. Maybe a little bit disappointed with where we ended up in that position, but I think there is some depth in that second third round. Guys like Damon Arnett, guys like Jeff Gladney from TCU. I think those are good second round type players. They're gonna be there when the Jets are picking if they wanted to go with the corner. But really, you know, to me, I would say that the position that really stood out the most

outside receiver, probably running back. So in terms of receiver for somebody like e A and you talked about it on your Twitter, like Van Jefferson, even somebody like Brian Edwards out of South Carolina who didn't have an opportunity to participate in the Senior Bowl of the Combine, Like, how much is their stock affected by not being able to show these teams that won they're healthy and to just not having the athletic testing that they could have

proved at the Combine. I think the athletic testing is not as big a deal. Um, the medical is that's the whole thing, you know, So where are they health wise? And this is the challenge for for these players and for these teams. It's really the biggest hurdled have to overcome is trying to get updated medical information on these players.

So you know, in free agency they were very proactive in terms of sharing information and uh, and be interesting to see how this thing all comes together with these combine rechecked players that aren't going to be available to be rechecked. So it's gonna be kind of on those agents to to get updated information to these clubs so they can be comfortable with where these guys are at

health wise. But I do think there's probably around penalty, which means, you know, Van Jefferson probably there's a chance he could have gotten the second round. I think it's a phenomenal player, but because of this a little uncertainty there, maybe that he drifts into the third maybe potentially even to the fourth round. But I would say the third round is probably his sweet spot. Um. And it's it's

like that for a whole host players. There was another one, Um, you know, there's a little bit of a concern with his top speed, but his game is all about physicality and toughness and uh contested catches, So I don't think that will cause him to drop. Just trying to get again the updated medical information is going to be the challenge. DJ. Do you like the way Joe Douglas did approach free agency? He targeted needs, He set ceilings in terms of his targets.

He also said, we're gonna wrap a bowl around Sam Donald. We gotta protect our franchise quarterback. And also he talked about flexibility in terms of, hey, listen, I don't want to go into the draft and have this glaring need. So, um, what did you think about how he kind of maneuvered throughout the first couple of weeks of free agency. Well,

I thought he had a good job. You know, Joe had a plan and talking with him prior to free agency, he had had it mapped out of kind of what he wanted to do and what he wanted to get accomplished. He wasn't gonna come out there, you know, fire, and in that first wave they were gonna have numbers and stay within that budget. And you know, the good thing, the exciting thing if you're a Jets fan, out there is you know, this team right now, they filled holes.

They can take the best available player at pick number eleven. That's the first thing. And the second thing is when you forecast into the future and uh, you know, let's we got this year coming up. But once you get to one and get to that free agent class, there is tremendous flexibility and opportunity for the Jets to make a big push, uh in the next offseason with free agency. The way this is set up, with the one year contracts, with some other contracts, are gonna be able to get

out from under. There's gonna be a lot of freedom and a lot of liberty there to make a big push. So this is exciting. It's kind of like, you know, I feel like with Joe, if you to a pool, you kind of go down to the bottom, and then you can really you can spring up. And and I think right now you're getting a chance to see them kind of come up off the bottom. And I think next year you're gonna see this thing really take off with some of the people they're gonna be able to

add to this mix. But to me, this this offseason was gonna be about the draft first and foremost, and free agency was gonna supplement what they do in the draft. But to me, the the key additions for the Jets in the off season have yet to come. They're coming here in a couple of weeks. DJ so E and

I have talked about this too. Joe Douglas is the first time as general manager, so you can't really get a feel for how he wants to operate outside of seeing who we learned from and you think of guys like Azi knew So and Howie Roseman, and when talking about trading up, not at eleven, but the Jets have capital in the third round to potentially make a move up into the second round or even to the back

end of the first round. Can you just kind of talk about philosophically why that could benefit Joe Douglas and the Jets. Well, I think you can make a you can make an argument for that. I don't see that happening. I think if you see the Jets move around in this draft, they're gonna move back. Joe is very confident his evaluating ability. He's confident in the group that he's assembled around him, you know, led by guys like Phil Savage,

Rex Hogan. He's as you're outstanding. So to have confidence there in a draft it's this good in those middle rounds, I think you're trying to add to that number, not subtract from it. So you know, short of potentially their number one tackle being on the board at number nine, um, you know, maybe they could go up just two spots and wouldn't be quite as costly. I think that would be you know, potential opportunity there, But again I would

say more than likely. You're talking about if you're gonna move,

you're moving back to get extra picks. There's still a lot of holes on this roster, and uh this year, the second third round picks, those are too valuable to part with, in my opinion, do you think there would be a group of players there at eleven if there is a run on quarterbacks early where maybe a team calls Joe and says, okay, we'll give you an extra two or an extra three to move back two or three slots in that first round, where you might potentially

do you think there's a situation where you could have a group of players together at that tackle position and potentially wide receiver and say, hey, maybe it's our best bet to go back because I do have a stack here that have similar ratings on our board. Yeah, I think, especially if the top tackles go UM. To me, there's a case you can make to trade back because there's you know, if you're gonna go receiver, there are so

many good options there. So if somebody else is one that they're particularly in love with, UH and they want to give you a nice price, a team like Denver that's picking fifteen, where you wouldn't have to slide back too far. Um, the Raiders picking right behind him, a team that looks to be in the wide receiver market could be one of those deals where you get a little something just to slide back one spot. So UM,

I think those those opportunities would present themselves. I just don't see if there's a tackle that they really like. I can't envision a way they would trade off of that pick instead of sitting there right then filling a need on this football team, and goes back to the theme that you guys mentioned. You know, Joe uh knows he's got to protect Sam Donald. It's gonna go as far as Sam Donald can take this team. So that to me is number one priority. And if you've got

to tackle that you feel good about. You don't trade that pick. All right, DJ, we appreciate you coming on New York Jets dot Com. And stay safe out there in California. You guys, be safe, man. It's great to catch up with you guys. All the best, Okay. So obviously a great interview with Daniel Jeremiah, who's, like he said, one of the only people who's not affected by the stay at home effect here and the quarantine rules because this is basically his time to self quarantine preparing for

the NFL Draft. But what I thought was interesting in terms of Daniel Jeremiah's interview was that he basically said, the way that the Jets have gone about their free agency so far it allows them so much flexibility in one and same thing for the draft. And it seems like the emphasis that DJ place was really on next season. Well, he's the first guy who actually has spoken about one with the Jets, saying that the free agency class next

year looks very good on paper. And the one thing that I got out of Joe Douglas last week that struck with me, well, I guess a ton of things, but what struck with me was depth. He wanted to build the depth of this roster, and he certainly did that so far in free agency. Now, if you're looking for the Jets to make a splash, maybe they make a splash in the draft, maybe they make a splash or two in one in free agency, but that was definitely not the plan here this spring and free agency.

All right, and looking ahead, Now, let's hear from Dame Brusler of the Athletic who, like I said, we do a weekly segment on New York Jets dot com, so you can also check it out there in video form. But Dan and I break down different scenarios for the Jets. So this week we talked about potential defensive players for the Jets at eleven, offensive tackle options in round two, and then of course capped off by wide receiver prospects

in round three. Dane, let's take a look at some scenarios here for the Jets as the draft just a couple of weeks away, and an unpopular opinion, I'll say, in terms of mock drafts, as if the Jets in fact take an offensive player at eleven and so, do you see that more as a trade back scenario or are there in fact players not named Jeff Kuda not named Chase Young, that are worthy enough of that eleventh pick. Yeah, I think so, and a trade back is always an option.

But if they stay put at eleven, um, you know, I think most of us, uh, both fans and analysts, we would agree that offensive tackle wide receiver. That looks like the two biggest needs and probably the two most realistic options in the first round. But you know, if the draft played out exactly like we expected every year, this wouldn't be any fun. So let's keep it open mind, and let's talk about, you know, players on the defensive side who could be there at eleven and would be

worthy of consideration. And I think it starts at edge rusher with Clavian Chason Uh. After Chase Young, there's a little bit of a drop off at pass rusher, but good chance that Chase on from l s U is that next pass rusher off the board somewhere in the top fifteen or sixteen picks. He has that twitchy athleticism, the body bend where you can capture the corner, he

can drop playing space. Is still maturing physically and technically, but you know, I think you'd like to see him a little more advanced with his counters, how he uses his hands, but he's a high ceiling edge defender. And you know, you look at the Jets and you know, bringing back Jordan Jenkins on one year deal, that looks like a smart move. But I think that no one would look at that depth chart and say, Okay, they're

done building at pass rusher. They could use more some more help, and I think Chason would certainly give them that. Now if they want to go in the secondary, I think that's also an option that would make sense. And it's similar to pass rusher, where you know there's an Ohio State defender at the top. You look at cornerback jeff A. Kuda, the almost near consensus top corner in this draft, but there's a little bit of a dry up off after him, and then Florida's C. J. Henderson.

I think he's, like chas On, projected to go somewhere in the top fifteen sixteen picks, and he would make a lot of sense right there at eleven. He's over six one, he's a fourth three athlete, plays sticky coverage. I wish you were a little bit better of a tackler. I wish he was more of a playmaker when you watch him on film, but he's gonna be a starting corner in the NFL for a long time and the

Jets could certainly use a guy like that. So the Jets and Joe Douglas clearly want to build this offensive line. And the draft is predicated on unpredictability. So let's say that the Jets don't go offensive tackle and round one, and to your point, do take an offensive player if they were to go offensive tackle and round two? Who are some names that makes sense there? The one that

really stands out is Isaiah Wilson from Georgia. A massive human being six six and a half three fifty pounds, thirty five and a half inch arm length, and he's not a bad athlete for a guy that size. He makes it tough on rushers to run the arc to win inside so and then in the run game he creates movement with that that brute strength and meanstreak that he has. Uh, you do wish he was a little

more technical, technically refined with his hands. Uh. He's only read shirt sophomore, so the fundamentals I think are still catching up with the natural skill, and that leaves him leaning in space laboring a little bit, so a little bit of a work in progress as a technician, and his personality might not be for everybody, but that's what we're talking about. Him in a second round, not the first round. So he has NFL starting potential. He just

might need a little bit of time. And I tell you that second round is tough for these tackles because we're gonna see six or seven going the first round, and then there's a little bit of a drop off that I don't see many of those tackles falling to the mid second round. But then I don't think that it might be or it it might be a little bit of a reach to take one of those third round tackles like Matt Parrot from Yukon or uh take a

Wino Go from Auburn. Some of these guys might be you know, where the Jets are sitting in the second round might be too early for them, So I Zeah Wilson might be kind of that perfect compromise there in the mid second You know, if we were to talk about receiver now in the third round, a lot of fans would be like, you know, what's going on here,

why didn't you select receiving rounds one or two. But you and I have talked about this before, and I think it's pretty well documented across the league how rich this receiver classes. So if the Jets were to select a receiver on in round three, they have two picks in the third round. Like, are we talking about a Day one contributor even potentially a Day one starter? And

who are some names that you think makes sense? Yeah, And that's exactly it, because of the volume of receivers in this draft that are gonna go on Day two, especially uh, guys that can make an incident, impact guys that can come in and be productive. So one of the guys I have my my eye on for a team with the Jets is a prospect too. Unfortunately hasn't had a great draft process, but that's also why he could be available in the third round. And that South

Carolina is Brian Edwards. He had a knee issue, a minor knee issue that force him to miss the last game of the year, forced him to miss the Senior Bowl, and then he broke his foot training for the for the Combine. So he's missed basically entire predraft process. Uh, and that could cause him to slip a little bit because we don't have the testing numbers on him before the draft. Uh. And in this crowded receiver class, that could be the difference. You know why a guy like

Colin Johnson or UH. You know, some of these other receivers could go ahead of him. Van Jefferson was also dealing with his own injury stuff, but that could be great news for a team picking in the third round looking for receiver help. And with Edwards specifically six three fifteen pounds, big bodied receiver. You see that on slants, screens, crossers. Uh. It needs to be a little bit more reliable finishing catches,

especially down the field. But the athletic skills, the physicality, that's what really can make him an NFL weapon inside or outside. You mentioned Brian Edwards. You also mentioned Van Jefferson, two people that have been dealing with injuries in this pre draft process tests. Given the status of the world right now with the coronavirus pandemic, you know, how does this affect their stock With no pro day, with no medical recheck, how is the evaluation process changed. It's definitely

an unprecedented process. Um. And you know with UH not having the pro days, not having the medical rechecks, not having the visits, the thirty visits, that's really the big thing because when teams invite these guys to the facility, that's when they can have their medical team, uh, you know, do the check up and find out more about a guy like Van Jefferson and who had the Jones fracture and his foot. They can get an update on that,

how is that healing. Brian Edwards had the broken foot, get an update on that, what's going on with that? Uh even you know, from a broader perspective to a tongue of aloa, how will that affect him? In the early portion of the draft. So it's really going to have a ripple effect, and some teams are gonna be a little more uh risk adverse with how they you know, they're gonna be a little more conservative with the you know guys that were they know the testing, they know

the medicals. But then you have a team that might have a little more appetite for the risk and take a chance on one of these guys who might fall a little bit. He's got that discount sticker on him because there's a little more risk involved, but it could be a high reward type of situation. Uh, and that could be the case with a guy like Brian Edwards

or Van Jefferson. So basically what you're saying is, Jets fans don't be alarmed if Joe Douglas decided to take a receiver in Round three, considering this receiver class has a chance to be historic. Dane, thanks a lot, and we'll talk to you next week. Great things, all right, There you have it Brugler's draft board, and that was Dane Brugler. E A. You watch a lot of college football, and Dane talked about somebody out of South Carolina named Brian Edwards, the receiver who had a lot of hype

coming into this year. What do you think about a guy like Brian Edwards? Well, I go back to South Carolina and think about the receivers they had on the outside. He was a teammate at Deebo Samuels. Now different player. Uh, he's not a burner in any means, but he's a guy who's tough. Uh, he'll run good routes, he'll get the contested ball. In a deep wide receiver class, he is a guy to really watch out four, probably on Day three, right Green's Yeah, Brian Edwards would stuck out

to me what Dane said. He's one of those guys that has the discount sticker on him because teams can't access medical information or they don't they can't have their teams conduct physicals that you would normally do on a top thirty visit because they just don't exist anymore, the Top thirty visits unless it's through FaceTime and it's virtual. So the independent doctors might, to Dane's point, might not be so independent, it might be a little biased to

try to help a player improve his draft status. So a player like Brian Edwards, Van Jefferson another one, Labisco Chenal just going off different receivers who banged up during the pre draft process and don't have an opportunity to really prove themselves and improve their draft status. So I think it'll be interesting to see where guys who have

medical questions go. Obviously two attack of Bolo as a headliner there, But we'll see what happens in just a couple of weeks again April April, and it's gonna be a weird, weird draft considering it's probably all going to be virtual in some capacity. We just don't know the details yet. That was another edition of the Official Jets Podcast powered by Amazon Web Services, very special edition of the episode Tomorrow we got Joe Douglas one on one with e A, Brian Billick with Olivia. You don't want

to miss it. E A, stay safe and I'll talk to you tomorrow, all right, brother,