LISTEN | Jets Draft Podcast | ESPN's Sal Paolantonio Talks Jets Draft (4/27)

always is. But this is NFL Matchup Draft Special Part two actually comes out April, which is tonight, ten pm ESPN two. He said, a certain young quarterback by the name of Zack Wilson, who I think a lot of Jets fans I think is the future of their franchise, will be featured heavily on this episode. And with the draft being two days away, I think it's fair, you know, maybe talk not not necessarily mock draft, but it sure seems like Zach Wilson will be the pick for the

New York Jets. If you're reading the tea leaves from the NFL draft analysts, Yeah, I think everybody thinks the Jets are headed in that direction, and Zack Wilson is. He's a supremely talented prospect who is coming off a fantastic season at b YU. Whereas I think last year, if we were having this conversation, maybe people would be talking about Zack Wilson is a flyer on Day three, maybe he's a fourth round pick, maybe he's a fifth

round pick. Because the athletic skills were always there, right, and then he put it together last year with just with just an amazing season, and he has very unique skills that other people don't. Yeah, I feel like this is becoming a trend in the draft where there's a player that's maybe looked at as a Day three guy and he soars up the draft board. Let's go to

two thousand eighteen Baker Mayfield. Now, I think at the beginning of the season he was viewed maybe a third round pick or so, and sure enough number one overall pick two thousand nineteen Joe Burrow. Yeah, I think I'm just think I'm saying that, right. I think my ears are not crossed up? Right? Two thousand play last season he was in Cincinnati, right, Okay, Well, here's drafts and then Zack Wilson two thousand twenty one puts it together

soars up the draft boards. It's funny. We actually did a chat on Reddit this morning, right, and one of the questions, I think a couple of people were asking, what's happened to Fields here? Why is he falling? And I don't necessarily think he's falling just as much as other people think very highly of other quarterbacks in this class, and Fields probably going to be in all likelihood, he

will be a top ten pick himself. You're you're just the two thousand twenty one draft is going to be probably remember by what these quarterbacks do in ten years, because you're ultimately gonna have five quarterbacks probably going to top ten picks, right. And I don't think it would surprise a lot of people if let's just say to use justin Fields as an example, if he's a number three overall pick, I don't think it's surprised certain group of people if it was Matt Jones or Trey Lance either.

So I think that that this is what makes the draft so great. Every year, you don't know what's gonna happen, and it's truly a mystery even for the people who are studying the draft from the beginning. Of the college football season. So I think you never say never is truly the like it's a saying that is used in common everyday life, but it could not be more epitomized

than with the NFL Draft. So if me and you go to mccool's down the street, a popular ice cream joint here in Madison, okay, But if we go in there and we're looking at ice cream, you might like a flavor like a peanut butter chocolate chip, and I might go for Sherbet or were here or something I like orange Sherbert. Well you got a problem with it, No, I just it's not Oh yeah I do. I also have a young daughter and she likes fruit and she

likes Herbert. Fair enough, when you said peanut butter chocola, that sounds pretty good. Yeah, So that's what I gave you though, when we just want here. But the point is that we got two different flavors, even though we went to the same place. And the point is what what's gonna work for you? What you know, we're talking about ice cream flavors, but four teams, what's us for your system? What also are the physical traits you're looking for in a player at that specific position, especially the

quarterback spot. Right. I think really for the Jets, the intrigue comes after the number two pick because of your ice cream analogy. We don't know what types of flavors for each position the Jets wat and I think that's in like a typical year. You know, if this, if we're having this conversation next year, even we'd be like, oh, you know, we think the Jets like this that receiver. If you look at what they did last year. Week,

we have nothing to basis on. So before we talk about picks three and so on, let's hear from ESPN South Palestonio. Now it's a little different not having you in the building around the time of the draft. The first night of the draft, we were just talking off air, you said that, assuming the Jets are selecting a quarterback at two, this is your fourth quarterback selection for the New York Jets. Yes, I've covered all of them, going

back to Mark Sanchez, Geno Smith, Sam Donald. This will be the fourth one, so hopefully they get it right this time. Uh So, we've missed you throughout the off season because we always catch up with you, whether it's the NFL combine, the owners meetings. Uh. Last year you worked the draft remotely for I think the first time in a quarter century, right, How different? How different was that for you? And what are the plans this year? Well,

you know, I miss being at the facility. Like I said, I've been at the Jets facility a lot with Todd Bowle's head coach, Rex Ryan head coach. Uh. You know, I I go all the way back to being there at we View Bank Hall at Hofsh University with Bill Parcels. I've covered a lot of Jets and Eric Mangini, I've covered a lot of Jets first round picks over the years for ESPN. Always did it in person. Then the Jets have always treated me like one of their own.

You know, I get the royal treatment whenever I go to Florham Park, whether it's from Bob of security or the front desk people, or the cafeteria people, or Mike Tannenbaum or the coaches. The pr staff over the years have always treated me great and really welcome ESPN. You know. And when you Eric, when you cover a draft and embedded with a team like that, you know, you're you

really feel like you're part of the process. You get to talk to the coaches and the front office people, and you really get an opportunity to see the inner workings of what goes on with the football team, and you get excited about it, first of all. Second of all, you get to convey what you know inside information two fans around the world, but especially to New York Jet fans. And I don't have to remind you that I grew

up a Jet fan on Long Island. I went to Sawanaka High School and used to take my bike with my brother Jimmy down to Jets practice at Hofstra all the time watch practice. So you know, obviously it was a huge thrill for me. Later in life, will to get paid to do it instead of, you know, being one of the kids along that days. It used to have a white picket fence around the I remember it like it was yesterday. They had a white picket fence around the field and you just rode your bike up

and watch practice. It was the coolest thing in the world. That is awesome. Yeah, I always loved talking to you that. That is really something because, um, considering where you came from and where you are now, how proud are you of your career and what you've done in the National Football League, because you just talked about it. Um. People often say, hey, what do you most enjoy about being in the NFL? Are working specifically for the Jets, And

for me, it's always been relationships. And you're one of the guys who I consider like extended Jets family because you've been here so much, and I do feel like the Jets have been family to me. You know, whether it was hanging out in Courtland with you for the summer at Cibo. You know, we would go to Dougs

Fish Fry, played basketball together. It was fun to hang around with Rex and Mike t and you know, all the coaches and the players, and you know, I've I really you know, that was one of the most memorable summers I ever had as a reporter or a person in relationships. But you know, going going to Hempstead, going to Hofstow. We stopped it on Burdos to get a slice on Hempstead Avenue, I'm sorry, a new high Park road, and then then get on old Bison go down to

Hempstead Avenue and go watch practice. And you know, that was the first football game I ever saw e a in person. Me and my brother and my friends. We took the train the Metro north to Yale Bowl and watched the Jets and the Giants that Joe name had played in that game. We had we had seats right on the edge of the field. If you know, if anybody knows around the Yale Bowl, it's it's literally a bowl. And we sat right in the front row in the end zone and we watched Joe Namath carved up the

New York Giants in that game. You know, I've I've actually heard about the Yeale Bowl story from my grandmother

and Sally. We've never met or played basketball, but hey, the reason why I'm bringing it up is because my dad grew up going to Jets Vans and he remembers the Yale Bowl clearly, and he told me about the Yel Bowl, and um, he said that somebody he remembers he has vivid memory leaving the Yelbowl and someone there was a fence that had people wanted to get through to get to their cars as a shortcuts, or someone brought out wire cutters like out of nowhere, sniff the

fence and everyone just started funneling through there. So that's how I know the Yell Bowl, but rad Jet fans tradition. Man, you know, do whatever it takes. Yeah, whatever it takes you get in. You know what's interesting when you go back to that ye bow, you think, Okay, Joe name if they're still trying to find you know, the air apparent to Joe Willie and um, it's it comes full circle.

It really does. Well. You know, we're gonna ask you about a couple of quarterback prospects, but first you mentioned playing hoops with e A. I'm just curious. What's the scouting report here? Let me tell you something. He is a strong young man. His solid as a rock. He listen, I'm gonna turned in June. Okay uh. And I remember getting beat up by him and eric I never complained.

You would hit me and hit me hard. And he's got he packs a good inside foul on him when you're trying to And I'll tell you what on the other side of the coin, this guy can bring it. He's got a nice game. And when you need a dagg or three at the end, Salpell is gonna give it to you. Eight ball corner pocket the key, top of the key. I remember that game, Eric I was on your team and you. You You tossed it out to me and I hit. I hit a three at the top of the key right over Mr. T. Remember that.

I'll tell you what sale you know who you really? Who really got going when we're playing those games. Aeron Glenn, Oh my god, the competitive juices of a G. He was now the defensive coordinator with Detroit Lions, but obviously a long time cornerback with the New York Jets. At first, A G was kind of feeling his way out and you could see his athleticism. Then after a little bit, it was like he was playing the top receiver in

the National Football League. He started hitting me and I he didn't think an old man was gonna hit him back. It got real competitive, real quick, and I remember you bringing me aside. He said, you know, that's a former NFL player there. You might want you might want to tone it down a little bit. And Seal was well equipped. Not only was he knocking him down, but after the game, like a good sport, he had his cooler and we had a couple of pops on the court like that.

I like that. So, you know, South, how you mentioned you're gonna be home for this year's draft. But also this year you have the NFL Matchup Draft Special Part two is Tuesday, April PM on ESPN two. You have a quarterback that's gonna be in focus on that episode who I think a lot of Jets fans believe will be the future of their franchise and Jack will Pison. What are year thoughts on Zack Wilson and Zack Wilson

specifically to the New York Jets. Well, I think Zack Wilson has the potential to be the next Patrick Mahomes. I think there's no question about that. He's got all of those kinds of tools. He has incredible vision of the field, he has a very quick release, he can he's very accurate on the run. Uh. He is a creative player and he can really rip it. You know.

I talked to Ron Jaworski about Zack Wilson, you know, because I'm not a scout of a quarterback necessarily, I did watch a little bit of film on him, but I watched a little bit of it with Ron Jaworski. Uh, you know who of course I'm very close friends with from on days at ESPN, and he is super high on Zack Wilson. You know um. The bottom line, though, is this for me, the biggest lesson from the twenty NFL season, which was remarkable and I was on the

road for the entire time. The biggest lesson comes out of two places, one the Cincinnati Bengals and two the Tampa Bay Bucks. Let's start with the Cincinnati Bengals. They drafted a rookie quarterback and they didn't protect him. They put him into empty sets, they didn't run the ball well or often enough, and they left Joe Burrow out on an island. And they didn't teach Joe Burrow that at the pro game, you must get rid of the

ball in two point five seconds or less. That doesn't matter how good your offensive line is or your protection packages. You can't hold up the rush in the NFL for more than really two and a half to three seconds. And a lot of college quarterbacks, especially young ones, especially first round picks, think they have to do it all and they hold onto the ball and want to make the best possible player the biggest play that's on the field. You can do that in college. You can't do that

in the National Football League. And Burrow got decimated. It's sacked repeatedly wound up leaving this the season with a gruesome leg injury and Hill. Of course we hope be back, but they have to obviously fix their protection in the quickest way to fix your protection is not to really fix your offensive line per se, although that helps certainly, but it's to teach that young man and the offensive coordinator La Fleur that you have there is a smart

guy and hopefully he's figured this out. You must protect the quarterback right now in the National Football League less than number two from the Bucks. The Tampa Bay Bucks protected Tom Brady in Super Bowl and he won the game. The Kansas City Chiefs could not protect Patrick Mahomes and they lost a forty three year old quarterback beat the reigning NFL m v P because one was protected and

one was not. And Eric, look at the numbers that we got from ESPN Stats and information in and this is the key final point here in NFL defensive coordinators brought the blitz of the time. That's a five year high. The blitz is coming. It's coming at a high rate than an historically high rate. You must protect the quarterback, especially young ones, and the way to teach them to protect themselves is hut Hut ball is snapped one Mississippi

to Mississippi, ball is out. That's the key. And I hope that Zach Wilson and La Fleur and the rest of that offensive coaching staff teach that to Wilson and get this ball, the ball out of that young man's hands as quickly as possible. You always bring the juice

with the stats. Those are good numbers and uh, good points about both this is Andy Bengals and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the other under the spectrum when you're in the film room with Jaws cell, how rare is that arm strength that you're seeing from Wilson Because people talk about how the ball just explodes off his hands. It's just he's got obviously a quick release. But uh, and I'm not talking about him throwing the ball seventy yards down the field, but him just getting it to

spaces quicker than other people. There's no question that he has credible velocity on the ball. His spin rate is extraordinarily high. Uh. And he seems to be pretty accurate. You know, he's college accurate. Now I'll have to see if he's NFL accurate. Um, you know. And the reason why I used those numbers, Eric, is not because I'm an analytics guy. It's because it matches up with what happened in the NFL last season. Remember, the overall overriding

number one lesson of was quarterback protection. Those quarterbacks that were not protected either got hurt or failed, and those quarterbacks that were protected. And you look, let's go back to the Bucks for a second. Byron left which and Bruce Arians changed the offense to a short passing game in the second half of the year. They used six offensive linemen at the highest percentage of any team in

the NFL, and two tight end sets. They were determined to protect Brady, knowing that everybody and his brother was blitzing Brady off the bus. And so I think that's the way Brady survived and flourished in the second half of the season. It's certainly the way he went on the road and won three straight playoff games and then won the Super Bowl because he was protected. Breezes wasn't, and Rogers wasn't, and Mahomes was not in Super Bowl.

Sal you've been here from Mark Sanchez, Geno Smith, Sam Donald and whoever that quarterback will be at number two and a lot of us think that it will be Zack Wilson. And when I say us, I mean Jets Nation. But I'm curious from your perspective, let's use Wilson as the example. From a kid coming from Provo, Utah to

the bright lights of New York City. How do you think he will fare and what changes for a college kid going to the pros from wherever that may be, whether it's West Virginia or USC or any school in the country to New York City. It's a very good question. It's a hard one to answer, and I really don't want to compare Zack Wilson to Donald sanchezar Gino Smith because he's his own person and he's going to have

to stand on his own. Just hearing him talk and knowing his family background, it sounds like to me that Zack Wilson will flourish in the moment, But you never know, because the bottom line is, you've got a two and eleven team that was lasting the league in points score, You've got a rookie head coach and a rookie quarterback, and you're basically starting over. And so what the team and the organization must do is relieve the pressure and make sure that it is spread evenly. And this is

what I know about Robert Sala. I think Sala understands that, and that's one of the reasons why the Jets were so hot on hiring him. Sala has a big personality, who's going to set the tone and take the pressure off of this quarterback. I think that's super important. The more that Sala can absorb the pressure and the spotlight, the less it will be on Wilson at the beginning and allow Wilson to sort of incorporate himself into the

National Football League. But there's two really important factors here. One is when you're starting a rookie quarterback in remember we're going to seventeen games. All rookies hit a wall because you know, for the most part, their season is over pretty much after Thanksgiving. Now you're playing an extra

five six weeks of football. So they're gonna have to make sure that all across the roster on all NFL teams, but particularly those teams that are using rookies heavily like the Jets, will that you know, I hate to use this word this term, but load management will be crucial. You don't want to put too much on rookies in a seventeen game schedule. That's a very good point about the seventeen game schedule. That change is the equation everywhere.

It absolutely does. You know, you gotta find sixth eric, you gotta find sixty seventy eight five snaps during the year, or you just take a guy off the field now in the fourth quarter, now on the fourth quarter of Europe. By twenty you're pulling your starters out. You're not letting them finish. You want to get them rests. You don't

want them to get hurt in a meaningless situation. There's gonna be a lot of that in the National Football League, and tangentially parenthetically, that's gonna affect gambling you watch and fantasy football on the surface, getting back to what you said about protecting and helping a young quarterback grow, about the offense you're gonna run and and and how you are ultimately going to help this guy succeed if it is indeed Wilson, this is the first time offensive coordinator

in Mike la Fleur, but he comes up in the Shanahan system. Was with Kyle Shanahan not only San Francisco, but in Atlanta, do you like this system? Who obviously have his own imprint on it, because he's gonna be calling the shots, calling the place. But in terms of going back and looking what they did in San Francisco and in Atlanta, using a powerful run game, getting after people in the trenches, and then getting the quarterback out on the move, sometimes with the boots, and then doing

some play action down the field. I do. I like it a lot. It's successful, it's proven to be successful at the highest levels. But you have to have the personnel to run it, and the quarterback's got to buy in, and um, you know that's gonna be a process that's going to take place as soon as they draft the quarterback. And I do agree that it will be Zack Wilson. I don't think there's a mystery. So you know, they have five picks in the top one hundred. Okay, they

got to sixties six and eighties six. So with the second pick, they pick a quarterback. At twenty three, in my view, they should pick an offensive lineman. They need another young studs starting offensive lineman, and then with thirty four take a running back and if they like a running back that's sitting there earlier, than thirty four. Don't be afraid to use some of this draft capital that Joe Douglas has accumulated. They got twenty one picks over

the next two drafts. If they're sitting there at thirty four e A and they've already got the offensive alignment, and they like another running back, a pass catching running back who can give the floor and Wilson options because you've got to have options to get the ball out quickly. That's what I would do, is I would move up and take a running back, or move up and take

a tight end or a wide receiver. But if they can get you know, it reminds me of that draft where Pennington was in it, where you know you you could take three top flight players that could have you was Pennington, Abraham and Anthony wasn't there Anthon Anthony Back. There's a two thousand class the four aces, the four aces you had Pennington, John Abraham, Sean Alice, Anthony Back and so you know, you look at that draft, I mean that's the four aces, right, so you could get

at least three aces. Uh. Here with this there's a lot of draft capital, and I do think again going back to the overall big picture theme of where this team is at two and eleven with a rookie head coach and a rookie quarterback probably starting week one. The idea is to line up and give that young quarterback quick options off the ball so that he if they're in a passing situation, he gets the ball out quickly. It's third and medium, third and six, third and seven,

he can get the ball out quickly. Or if you're going play action, you know, um on second down or first down, play action. But if you're on second down and your second and short, now you have a running back who can run behind uh Beckton or another offensive lineman that you twin with him. But I think the key is ball distribution and options for a young quarterback

so that he remains protected. And also, in the two thousand draft, what some people referred to as the fifth ace in the third round, not too bad of a receiver from the New York Jets. Talk talk about strong and that dude was strong. Yeah, yes he was, and he was pretty darn good player for the Jets. Up you know, you mentioned trading up and Joe Douglas last year obviously didn't have the same capital that he does entering not only this year's draft, but next year. So

we saw some trading back. But I like what you said about trading up, and you know, do you think that that is a possibility for the Jets to use some of that capital and leap frog a couple of teams to get you know, let's just use the term we've been using another ace for the Jets. Well, I think this is Joe Douglas's draft win or lose. This is his legacy in the line, right. He made the big bet to stay at two and pick a quarterback.

He probably could have auctioned off that pick for a motherload of picks, but they realized they didn't want to get into a money deal with Sam Donald, and so they're starting over a quarterback. I think it's smart in my view. I think Zack Wilson. This is me talking based on my reporting. I think Zach Wilson has a greater upside than Sam Donald at this point in his career. I did not see enough out of Sam Donald to tell me that in the end, who will be better

than Zach Wilson. So I think it was the right move to make, for sure. But it's a big bet. Let's face it, it's a big bet for Joe Douglas and the organization. And you know, the fan base has been long suffering. Uh, you've got the Patriots on their heels, You've got the Bills rising, the Dolphins rising. This is the time to make you move right now. Great stuff from Sal. I've never met Sal, but he seems like

a great guy. I've now met him virtually. I'm surprised you've never met him because you've been with us for five six years now. Yeah, but typically when he's here, you know, for the draft, and he's busy, and you know, you you catch up with him and I don't want to bother him, and so that next time, next time he's here. Yeah, he's he's a legend in this industry, I think. I mean, you look at his career. He's been in a ESPN for more than years. Well said, And I think that we do have to talk about

pick twenty three and thirty four. You want to give names that you like, you want to give, you want to do, Uh, who you think is going to be the pick? Can you tell me whatever you want to do? I'm open for Well, I'm not avoiding the question. What I would say is it's hard for me to deliver a pick at twenty three when I don't know the

group of players that are there. And that's the exercise that we are going to be doing on the Jets Draft Countdown final episode delivered by Duncan, so everybody can watch it on Jets platforms because myself, you, Anthony Back, Derrick Coleman are going to go through the exercise where you have five six players and it's up to us to pick a selection there. I've de zeroed in on a couple of things. Joe Douglas said he wants to surround his young quarterback with as much talent as possible.

Douglas has also reiterated time and time again that he wants to have a fortress up front along the offensive line. He wants to be I have a lot of depth in talent and defensive line that it's big inside the trenches. But the three areas that pop out to me with this draft in the New York Jets, I'll just go there and say offensive line makes a lot of sense. Then on the other side of the ball, defensive line, specifically edge cornerback. I ink, I definitely agree with everything

you said. One position that gets overlooked and We've said it multiple times on the podcast, and I'm gonna keep hitting this home is linebacker, not because of the draft, but because the Jets have only a handful of linebackers on the roster right now and switching from the four

three to the three four. I think maybe that is the like if I were to ask you to power rank what you think, like the biggest needs are not necessarily who should be pick thirty four, But if you were to say one of the Jets or power rank the Jets biggest needs, I would think there's an argument to me made that one A or one B could

be linebacker. And I think it's fair You're gonna add linebackers, right, I'm I'm just I'm not saying but that's my point on this is, I don't know we're gonna find out, to your point philosophically, where not only Joe Douglas stands, but the meshing of him with the Robert Slick coaching staff in their systems as far as picking players for those specific systems, and where is the value Now, could they take a quarterback linebacker? They are taking a quarterback early,

could they take a linebacker? Early. Yes, I'd be surprised by it the first two or three packs. No, because that falls into the category of we're gonna do everything we can to help our young quarterback to succeed. And I think sometimes we get wrapped up into running backs and think of them. And we talked about this multiple times where I think people are like, oh, you're just gonna handle this guy at the ball. Well. The thing about et N specifically early in the draft is I

think you would be a system fit. And talked to Dane Brugler about this, and it's also like adding an extra receiver for a young quarterback. Yeah, and you know, I know we both liked this player, but you look at some of the running backs later to one guy

stands out. Kenneth Gainwell also offers that receiving threat. I think that there are so many different options, and I just feel silly because I feel like we've been saying this for weeks now, but there are so many options at twenty three and it's really all gonna shake out and you can move up. And we talked about it, if you like somebody who's starting to fall, and it could potentially happen because you're talking about the top time, but five quarterbacks going a couple of receivers at least

and Kyle Pitts, so throw the gator out there. So so who who potentially, let me ask you this, who potentially could you see slide at little bit further down where you think, well that might ring a bell around here where maybe you'd consider going up, because I don't think you just go up to go up. Let's just put it that way to me. I think the guy

that stands out is Elijah Frreck Tucker. Mike t talked about offensive line protecting the quarterback on our previous podcast, South Palontonio talked about the Tampa Bay Buccaneers winning the Super Bowl because they protected Tom Brady and the Chiefs to not protect Patrick Mahomes. Elijah Vera Tucker is considered

the best interior offensive lineman in this class. So if you're the Jets and you like Vera Tucker and he gets past the Giants out of eleven, I was just gonna ask you, what's the point here, because I don't think he's getting past fifteen. So I I heard today on a different podcast, actually, Dame Brugler's podcast with Lanzerline The over under seventeen and a half because and he was saying, well, who's that seventeen? He Las Vegas Raiders who lost Trent Brown, Gabe Jackson, and Rodney Hudson. So

could they be in play for someone like Elijah Vera Tucker. Well, I think that if the Jets wanted to make that move, I think they definitely could. I think that's a guy that stands out. I also wanted to say that the prospect. I will say that any guy that is very good, the dominant a garden then as I has to play left tackle and does it better than anybody out there in the like for example, if J. C. Horne started falling into teams, I don't know if the Jets would

make that call. Yeah, well one, I literally do not know. But to I don't know if it makes sense to me where you could sit there at twenty three still got a good corner or get a different defensive player. And I will say, in terms of trading up with the ammunition, the Jets have a thirty four pick, gap pick thirty four pick sixty six thirty two, excuse me, And maybe with that extra third round pick, the Jets might be inclined to get back up in the second round.

If a player starts falling somewhere in the second round. I just think that that is also a possibility because the Jets have not only two thirds, but two fifths as well, and they got to six. Caleb Farley is a intriguing name to me because we've seen him all over the place. How did he check got medically? Not only here but for all the teams because he shoot, he's a guy who could go as highs eleven. He

could drop out of the first round. We'll be sitting here on Friday and talking about Farley being in the second round with Phillips, right, Jalen Phillips, How am I end? What surprise? What it surprise you? Jalen Phillips went fifteen or fifty? I mean, obviously that would be medical. There would be medical concerns out of came to be true most likely in that scenario. Yeah, for some teams, that might be. I would be surprised if he went to the other side of that. I think it's closer to fifteen.

I agree with that. I agree with that for sure. I think that there's so many different scenarios. I will say that the one thing I do want to do you know, a little fun game here as we wrap up, because this is the final episode before the draft. And actually, look, let's give a quick preview of what's to come after each night of the draft. Myself, E. A. Anthony Becks, and Eric Coleman will all break down the Jets selections

after each day of the draft. So we'll be back Thursday night, Friday night, and Saturday, and we're gonna do three podcasts and then we're gonna recap the whole thing, So you gotta stay tuned for that. But with that being said, I need to know because we can revisit this who do you think Friday Thursday night will be the Jets second and twenty three overall selections? Not necessarily who you like, but I figured you even want to play this game. No, I'll take two. You can take good. Good. Thanks,

Zack Wilson, b Why you the Carters turned in? God? You know what I'm saying? Who do I think? That's? That's It's well same with twenty three. It's tough, right because we don't know the board, and and as much as we just discussed about trading up, a trade down might be the play too. If you head, if there's a drop off after a certain points, there's there's a few guys that go off, and then you have a big group of players together. And I always give the

example of MEM's last year. But on the surface, initially that looks like it worked out really good for the Jets. So do you think I can give a name? Go ahead, Eileen Edge if it's defense, and I'm gonna say a zz Augillarry out of Georgia. Don't it make sense? Listen, defense alignement. You can never have enough bodies and he can never have enough past which he guys off the edge. Carl Lawson for a nice defensive line to Carl Lawson

fourth round pick out an Auburn a few years back. Um, but yeah, Agilar might be the first edge off the board one And if the Jets took him in twenty three, he could be you know, he could be that guy or is it they forementioned Jalen Phillips or is it Gregory Russol were so might be a fine in the second round for somebody, say with Jason oh A if you really love his traits over his Yeah, that's the

other thing that we got talking about again. We're gonna hammer that home is that these guys are gonna get here Rookie Minicamp and then they start a new stage and we can't think about any of these prospects as finished materials two years old. They're coming two the respective organizations are starting their career, and that's when the best coaching staffs take the players and they make them into something they envisioned when watching on tape, these guys that

you're seeing on college film. It's good. It's just one piece of the puzzle. That's how we wrap up the last episode before the Draft again April Thursday night. We'll be here Thursday night, Friday night, Saturday. We're breaking down each round with Eric Coleman and Anthony Beck. That's all we have on this episode of the Official Jets Podcast, The Draft Podcast, presented by Pepsi