LISTEN | Jets Draft Countdown - Ep. 5 with Albert Breer (4/13)

I'm doing great, Greens. Yeah, Breer is so dialed in with so many things happened in the National Football League, and I think Jets fans are really gonna like this one because you haven't heard too much about Sam Donald this offseason, and rightfully so, a lot of things going on and Sam back home in California, but he is still working on his game. Greens. Yeah, we really covered the full gamut here with Brier, and we had them for about twenty minutes and without further ado, here's Albert Brier.

How do you view what Joe Douglas did free agency and not only that, but how did that then set him up for the Draft Ahead? Yeah? You know, I think one of the nice things about what Joe did is that he didn't tie himself down to too many guys.

And you know, I think that there's an inefficiency to the free agent market where you know, in a lot of cases, um, if you're really really aggressive with the first wave, you wind up overspending and signing guys to deals that don't look so good too and three years

down the line. So I think doing deals with some guys, you know, taking swings at guys like Brashad Perriman or Pierre d Seer who have had flashes in the past who might be a little bit more um than than than what we've seen to this point in their NFL careers,

I think those are worthy risks. They plug holes, and I think the idea is, you know, you get a receiver like that, you get a you know, you get you get a corner like that, and then you sign the amount of offensive line And they signed cover Connor mcgovernor George Fan obviously the top of the list. And you know, to me, it's just it allows you to go into the draft without having to press one kneed or the other two hard Albert, he's definitely rapping his

arms around Sam Darnold, he said. In fact, last preseason he told his parents, I'm gonna I'm gonna protect this guy. And he's one out and done that. In free agency, Ronney Anderson departs to Carolina, brings in Perryman, a guy flourished down the stretch last year in Tampa. But I wanted to further the conversation about Donald here. What can you tell us about QB Quarantine School in California under Jordan Palmer. Yeah, well, well Sam's still out there because

he has a house out there. But yeah, it was an interesting circumstance where, um, you know, three guys and these guys all trained for the draft together with Jordan Palmer,

Kyle Allen, Josh Allen and uh and Sam Donald. Um we're out there when you know the situation that we're all facing this country worseen and so really, um it was I mean, for the most part, I think it was an eight person, seven person quarantine and so it was Josh Allen his girlfriend, it was Kyle Allen his girlfriend, it was Sam, Sam's buddy from USC who was working

out with them, and then Jordan Palmer. So that's my masks not great, but I think that's seven people and they were all sort of kind of quarantined out there, and they didn't have a place to throw, they didn't have a place to work out. So instead of being on local parks or local fields which were all shut down,

they were throwing on the beach. And instead of going to a gym, they were working out of the garage of a buddy of their trainer who had like a little makeshift forty square foot area to work out in. So they definitely did their best to make the most out of the situation they were each in. I know Kyle Allen's gone back to Arizona. I know Josh Allen was looking at either going home to Fresno or actually maybe going all the way back to Buffalo. Obviously, all

that's a little difficult now. Um. I think Sam, as far as I know, is still out there in Orange County. But I guess there are worse places to be if you're gonna be quarantined, right, I mean, right there on the beach in California. Yeah, And it makes total sense considering he's from San Clementi, so home for Sam Donald. But e a mentioned Joe Douglas wrapping his arms around Donald.

I just wanted to ask you, what can you tell us about somebody that the Jets have reportedly agreed to turn with And you mentioned him to George Fan because he played on the opposite side of the country. Feels like Jets fans don't know a lot about him other than he's an athletic freak. Yeah, I mean, he's an interesting player, obviously college basketball player. I'm sure you guys

are familiar with this backstory. And um, at one point the Seahawks thought he was gonna be, you know, or had a shot at least to be their long term left tackle that obviously didn't work out. They wind up pulling off the trade for Dwayne Brown a few years ago, but at the very least like a valuable depth piece, the guy who can be a swing tackle for And

I think that was sort of the idea here. And you look at what what Joe Douglas has done, uh, you know, and I know he was saying this to to other people in the league over the course of a couple of weeks, um in and around the combine.

You know, he wouldn't be he he went with it, went with the idea that he was going to be working with almost a totally blank slate on the offensive line, and so, um, you know, I think there was this feeling we're gonna have to start over a little bit, and I think everybody who was looking for offensive lineman. Things changed a little bit early on when you know, you saw Joe Tuoney got tagged and Brandon Sheriff got tagged, and I think both those guys would have been of

interest to the Jets. Um. You know, so you know, you sort of reset a little bit, and I think going in on these low risk deals with some guys made sense for them. Again, George Fan at the very least is your backup swing tackle Connor McGovern. You know you're probably your starting center now. Um, so you at least go into the draft with you know, a few more pieces where if what you hope plays out, which I think would be one of the tackles falling to

them at eleven. Um, you're not completely up a creek. You're Monday Morning Quarterback column is a must read. And also check out Albert's podcast because that's a good listen as well, because you did have they fore mentioned Jordan Palmer on recently. Um, you are stationed there right outside Boston, So what Can you tell us about your take on the changing landscape of the FC East with Tom Brady

Tampa Bay buccaneer. Yeah, yeah, it's definitely weird. I mean, I I grew up here, so I have, you know, kind of an understanding of where the Patriots were before all of this and sort of how their place in the landscape up here has changed. And um, yeah, I mean it's it's definitely gonna be interesting. I think it's fascinating. The idea we've always had that question, is it more Brady,

is it more Belichick? Well, you know we won't get the full answer to that here because you know, Belichick's dealing with three work roster and Brady is is forty two years old. But um, I think at least getting like an idea of what that's gonna look like, it's gonna be really really interesting. And so the Patriots look like the last couple of years they got very old, They've got cap issues, and so I think twenties very

much a retooling year. They signed a couple of guys who are really programmed guys for them, and Devin mccordy and Matt Slater to sort of carry the message on but I think is very much gonna be a year about a year, you know, dedicated to getting a little bit younger. I think they're gonna give Jared's to them a shot at the quarterback position. I would not rule out them drafting another player at the position in April, and so I think that, you know, that sort of

opens things up a little bit. And it's interesting too, because they were in this position before in two Thousan Brady created so much margin for air for them that nobody really realized how much roster turnover they underwent at that time. They were able to successfully do it with Brady on the Roster's gonna be much more difficult without Brady on the roster, and that opens up, that opens

the door for for everyone else. And I think in particular the Buffalo Bills who were in the playoffs last year, that made the playoffs two out of three years of Sean McDermott. I mean to me, it almost puts pressure on the build where, um, they've they've had three years to build. Now they've been in the playoffs, Um, you know, two out of three years, they've got a young quarterback and Josh Allen going into year three. Uh, you know, there's there's a fair amount of press from the Buffalo

Bills to get it done. I think the people they would telling you it's good pressure, but it's pressure on the last you know, for the draft in a couple of weeks here. Obviously, big storyline in terms of the Jets is the offensive tackles and the big four with Andrew Thomas, McCay backed and Jeddrick Wills and Tristan Worths. I understand EA and I were talking about this too. There's a belief and that none of those guys might be on the board by the time the Jets pick

at eleven. So if you were wearing Joe Douglass shoes in that standpoint, would you be a fan of trading bat or would you just take a different position at eleven?

It's gonna be interesting because I think what you have so like the way I look at it is if the three quarterbacks go, um, then you know, beyond the three quarterbacks I'm talking about Burrow to uh And and Herbert of course, um, then you got the four elite tackles, the guys you mentioned, Worth's, Wills, Beckton and Thomas, and then you got four elite defensive players in my mind, and that's Derek Brown, Jeff Ocuda, Chase Young, and Isaiah Simmons.

And so the three quarterbacks go and neither one of the elite defensive players or one of the tackles is going to make it to you. And so if I'm Joe Douglass, I'm looking at it and I'm saying to myself, I'm sort of on the fringe right here where I might not get that tackle, but do I want that defensive player, Like if Derek Brown were to fall to me, and I don't think Derrick Brown makes it there, Derry Brown and fault would fall were to fall to me, then you know, maybe I snap him up. Here's the

other piece of it. All Right, Let's say the four tackles and the four defensive players all go on the top ten. Well, that means then one of the quarterbacks has slipt to you. So then are you a spot where somebody wants to trade up and get one of the quarterbacks. And so I think ideally Joe Joe Douglas would love to have one of those tackles fall to him, um and get a guy that they can kind of put in place at the left tackle position ideally for

the next ten years. But failing that, I mean, you either wind up with maybe an elite defensive player or you're in a position to trade down and pick up a lot of draft capital. But we live in an unprecedented time right now, and you talked about some scouts having the belief that, hey, this might be a big

guy draft. I mean, it's gonna be a little bit safer to go in that direction as opposed to maybe some of the skills guys in You said, Albert that you wouldn't be surprised at all to see Josh Jones from Houston and Austin Jackson from USC be part of that tech class in the first round. Yeah. And I mean even like a Lloyd Cushionberry or or Caesar Louise the l s U Center of the Michigan Center. Uh, maybe those guys sneak in the bottom of the round.

I mean, I just I know this like that some of the teams that I talked to over the last few days. You know, we're saying that the bigger guys are a little bit of an easier projection for most teams, you know, And so you know, if you haven't had a chance to sit down the receiver, if you haven't had a chance to work him out and see how

you rent run certain routes. If you haven't had a chance to talk to a defensive back or a linebacker about the scheme they played in college and how they might fit, what they want, what what what the team

wants to do at the next level. If you're projecting a little bit more and you haven't had the chance to go through the pro day circuit, you haven't had a chance to go through with thirty visits and all of that sort of stuff, it is a little safer to pick the big guys, right like it is a little safer to go ahead and say, you know, this offensive tackle, maybe I look at him as as a high second round prospect, but we're at the bottom of the first round and I feel more comfortable about taking

him here, then maybe I would be about taking a corner or receiver. So that's sort of the logic there. That's why I think, you know, someone like Javon Kimlaw could wind up going in that elite group that I'm talking about. You could see him go like ninth to Jacksonville because he's a safe pick in this circumstance, and so I do think sort of the circumstance that our entire countries in right now that's created a different draft cycle for all thirty two teams, will make this a

little bit more of a risk averse draft. That will mean maybe less risks on character guys, less risks on injured guys, and of course you know the lowest risk guys and a lot of these scouts and UH and coaches minds are the big guys. You written about this in the past to the recent success of second round receivers, and when you look at the receiver landscape right now, you think about Jerry, Judy, Ceedee Lamb, and Henry Rugged

at the top of this nest. But do you almost is there a situation where those guys even slipped to where they're projected to go based on what you just said and the recent success and how rich of this receiver classes. Yeah, you know, I think it's probably's two things. It's the depth of the class, and I think it's also the reality that there's no Julio in this year's class.

There's no ag agreeing in this year's classs nothing against Judy, who I've heard comparisons um to Margaret Harrison on there's no nothing against Ceedee Lamb, who I've heard compared to DeAndre Hopkins. So you know, those are two really good players and guys who can be number one receivers and probably gonna be the first two receivers off the board.

But yeah, I mean a lot of these teams are looking at the depth of the class and saying, there are gonna be really good receivers available in the second round. There's gonna be really good receivers available in the third round, and maybe we should just sit here and take our tackle, or take our pass rusher, or take our corner and wait and get a receiver in the second or third round. And like you said with bolsters, that is a success of second year, second round receivers over the last few years.

Michael Thomas, D J. Charcot, the tool of miss Kids last year, d DK Metcalf and A. J. Brown. Uh, there's a really, really good draft track record right now for second round receivers, and so I think some teams will look at that and say, you know what, maybe we should wait for say Brandon Aiyuk or Justin Jefferson.

Maybe one of those guys falls to us in the second round, and maybe that's a better play for us than going and getting a Jerry Judy or c. D Lam in the first round when there's a little bit more scarcity at some other positions like tackle on corner. Earlier you mentioned desire. Obviously we can pencil them in as one of your boundary corners. The Jets also resigned

valuable nickel corner Brian Pool. But across the way a question mark is we head to the draft, you think that the corners maybe are flying under the radar here and there might be some value in the second round. Yeah, you know, I was sort of surprised to hear about this because I I'd always you know, and it's sort of forever seemed like it was like Jeff o'cuda and

everybody else. And you know, so as I'm going through some of my calls the last few days, like one of the things that came up is like, you know, this is a corner class that's like, you know, maybe you're not gonna find somebody in the fifth round, but there are six or seven really good players, you know, and so yeah, so Kuda is the best of them, and Okuda probably goes in the first six or seven picks, right, So Kuda's off the board for most people. But Um,

Christian Fulton, C. J. Anderson, Jeff Gladney, Damon Arnett. Um, you know, there's like they're they're going to be good corners available in the second round. And you know, to your point, I'm sure this is sort of what you guys are getting at. If you're Joe Douglas and you're sort of gaming this a little bit, maybe you look at it and you say, Okay, if we want to get a tackle, if we want to get a corner, if we want to get a receiver out of this

year's group, how do we do it. Well, the tackles might all be gone by the time we get the second round, so let's take a tack on the first round, and maybe we get a good corner at the top of the second round, but there won't be one available in the third round, so let's take our corner there, and then in the third round you get your receiver. So I think just the idea of looking at it global and looking at the class overall kind of gives you a picture for how some teams might game all

of this. Let me ask you this as we start to wrap things up here. Not not related to the draft at all, more and related to Sam Donald. I just want to know your opinion on because I don't think we've talked with you about this since the end of the season. What can you expect from Sam Donald if you're a Jets fan entering his second year under the same system for the first time in his career.

And not to mention, he's twenty two years old. He's six months younger than's Joe Burrow, who's projected to be the number one overall pick and the longest tenure quarterback in the a f C. East. Well, I'm a big believer and and look like I I think that this is a huge part of it that goes overlooked a lot, a lot like like when quarterbacks are young, they're sort

of at the mercy of what's around them. And that's not saying that there's no one who can rise above it, but I mean, look like, you know, we've talked about the guys who've had like m v P type seasons the last few years at the quarterback position, right, Like,

let's look at some commonalities. Okay, So Carson Wentz in Philadelphia, you had a really good offensive line of premier left tackle and Jason Peters a like like a fantastic UH quarterback situation from a coaching standpoint, Doug Peterson, Frank Reich and John d. Filippo. The year after that, Patrick Mahomes, great tackles there, Eric Fisher and Mit Schwartz, a legendary quarterback guru, and Andy Reid. And then last year Lamar Jackson. Well, what do we have. We got a left tackle and

Ronnie Stanley who was a top ten pick. We have a head coach in John Harbaugh who's run a fantastic program for over a decade, and we had an offensive coordinator and Greg Roman who was perfect for what Lamar

Jackson brought to the table. And so I think a lot of cases, and look, that's not taking any credit away from Carson Wentz or Lamar Jackson or Patrick Mahomes what they've accomplished, but a lot of times you can trace early success for a lot of these guys, and this can go all the way back to guys like Brady and Manning the situations they've been put in, and so I think that sort of puts the pressure on Adam Gates and Joe Douglas to create the right scheme

situation for him, create the right situation around him. He's working on technical stuff out in California. There's been little things that they've given him mechanically to clean up a little bit. Um. He wants to get better throwing the deep ball. They've worked on that a little bit. I think right now, so much of what he becomes in

twenties gonna be based on what's around him. And of course, because you're in that window where you've got him on a rookie deal, that puts a fair amount of pressure on Adam Gaze and Joe Douglas to create the right environment for him. Final one for me, Um, Albert and you've been so generous with your time, and we're wishing you and your family. Well, you've written about your wife who's a nurse there and I know she is on the front line. So um, you know we're sending money,

blessings your way and your family's way. Um. But the final thing is what is the two thousand twenty draft actually going to look like from a fan's perspective, Because we're sitting here two and a half weeks away and we've never seen we've never lived through a time like this,

and we're talking about a virtual draft. What does that mean? Well, the memo went out to NFL teams last week and it basically, you know, I think was and this was, look the teams that are in states that are a little more restricted, and you guys obviously are one of them. Uh really pushed for this and said it should either be everybody gets to go into their facility and work from their facility, or everyone has to stay at home

like like one or the other. It camp be in between. Um, and you know, obviously that was to try to strike competitive balance. I don't I'm not a doctor. You know, I'm not. You know, I'm not. I'm not in government. But I find it pretty hard to believe that within the next two and a half weeks that every one of these team facilities is going to be open. So I mean, I think it's a pretty fair bet that when we get to the end of April, everybody's been

running the draft from home. And it's interesting, guys, I mean, like the I T part of this, I gotta tell you, like that there are teams that are very, very concerned about that that's sort of flown under the radar. But you think about like the sort of band what you need in your house to run the Internet to run you know, like the cell phone service, all the different stuff that goes into communicating and working during the draft that you would have in a team facility that's wired

and connected with business great Internet. Not having that's going to be a problem. And it's funny because when I wrote about that last week, I actually had a number of various scouts reach out to me. One of them, uh, national scout for one of these teams said to me, oh, well, that's that's good. Now. I guess the the office cats understand how all of us feral cats out there on

the road have to work. And he mentioned to me, and I think this was really interesting, he said that just to run the software that's on his computer right like he like, because he's a road scout, he doesn't live. He works for a team and one place and lives somewhere else. Um. He basically explained to me that like to to to to do his job, the Internet isn't strong enough in his house and support the stuff that they have video wise and everything else on the computer.

So he actually when he's at home has to work out of a local Starbucks because they've got a stronger internet connection there. So think about that. That's a single scout, right, Like that's one scout. Now, think about that. Think about that multiplied by however many people are out there, Like if you have five people in your house trying to

run this equipment at once, whatever it is. There's a huge challenge out there, and so I think the NFL is gonna try to do a lot of creative stuff, but they've got a lot to work from the next two and a half weeks as far as how this is functionally going to run. For the guys who are making these multimillion dollar decisions, it will definitely be fascinating, no doubt about April NFL draft. Albert Brier, m m QB, thank you so much for joining us here on New

York Jets dot com. Awesome, thanks, guys, appreciate it. Very interesting dynamic. What did you say e A with Josh Allen and Sam Donald. Obviously, like Albert Brier said, Josh Allen, Sam Donald and Kyle Allen have been training together since before the draft in two thousand eighteen, and actually Kyle Allen went to Dallas not to be selected there, but as a guest of either Alan or Donald. I don't remember, but I remember seeing something that said when Donald and

Josh Allen trained together. Of course, both being in the same division, they can't necessarily call out their plays because they don't want to tip their hand to one another, even though they're really good friends. That's interesting. They're both the great competitors, very different players. You know, Donald of course the more accurate quarterback. Alan is a bigger guy and he's more apt to tuck the ball and roun. They've had varying levels uh varying levels of success so

far in the National Football League. Of course, Allen can look at Donald and say, hey, I got the playoffs last year for the first time leading my team. But Donald was seven and six as a starter last year. A friendly competitors, no doubt about that. Knees are the two guys who could be dominating, dominating the f C East for maybe the next ten years. Miami might be looking at a quarterback to their stable here in the two thousand and twenty draft and want to see what

happens with the Patriots. But when you're thinking about the FC East and when you think about quarterbacks, you're thinking about Sam Donald and Josh Allen. Yeah, I think the future of the a f C East at the quarterback position, especially between those two guys, very exciting. And we've talked

about this before. Sam Donald just twenty two years old, six months younger than Joe Burrow that projected number one overall pick here in a couple of weeks, and Sam Donald is the longest tenured to a f C East quarterback by probably like a single game, because Josh Allen did not start in Week one of his rookie year. That was actually Nathan Peterman and then Josh Allen got the keys to the offense. And I'm excited to see Josh Allen and Sam Donald both healthy, both playing in

two thousand and twenty. I mean, you think about Week one. They squared off against each other in two thousand nineteen, but you know, Sam Donald has said this before, it didn't necessarily feel a hundred and he goes down with mono and in Week seventeen they didn't play against each other because Josh Allen was basically resting for his playoff game against the Houston Texans. So I'm excited to see what these two quarterbacks can do toe to toe in

the future. Josh Allen's got a new toy in Stefandegs. The Bills went out and got him a number one receivers. So the Bills do quietly have a very impressive list of skill position talent around their young quarterback. We talked about John Brown before Cole Beasley. Motor single terry, the rookie last season was very impressive from a running back position. But the Jets, listen. I think people are kind of

sleeping on what's around Sam Donald. You know, Joe Douglas has went to work on that offensive line and he certainly is not done there. But Jamison Crowder, you like him at the slot position, no doubt about that. Levian Bell, Yes, he averaged a career low three point two yards per carry last season, but he also pitched in on the receiving side. He was second behind Crowder in receptions and

he is a dynamic blocker for his young quarterback. And if the Jets have this offensive line going in the right direction, expect Levian Bell to have better numbers, because I don't think the numbers did him justice last year. Robbie Anderson gone to Carolina, but Brichard Perry Andan comes in and let's see if he can build off those last five games when he really flourished for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Who's gonna be playing across the way. Who knows at this point, but the tight end position for

the New York Jets is stocked. So I think the Jets aren't that far away when you think about their skill position to but they're certainly gonna look to add to those positions, and Douglas can add either to the old line, to receiver, even a running back in the draft under two weeks away now or a week at

plus away April the first round. And that was another edition of the Official Jets Podcasts are Draft Countdown series presented by Verizon Back more with some more Jets related talk, not so much Draft tomorrow e A stay safe out there there, care Greens