This is the OTP presented by Farm Bureau Health Plans plan on paying less for the coverage that you need for Farm Bureau Health Plans. Get a quote today at FBHP dot com. I'm Amy Wells and we have all returned to Ascension Saint Thomas Sports Park here in Nashville. Brian is here, Coach Mack of course is here, and
Ramone Foster. We're all recovering from the week that was in Indianapolis at the twenty twenty four Scouting Combine, and so I figured we had to all get together and kind of just debrief, really review what has happened, and then we can move forward with the pre draft process. And I guess we should start with Ramone, who was at his first, second but first scouting combine as a observer, as an analyst as opposed to a participant. What did you think?
I thoroughly enjoyed it. You got an opportunity to see the NFL work. This wasn't like a bunch of outsiders of people trying to sell you product. This was about the game. Well there was something that can enhance the players as far as that type of product placement or just simply watching agents be at dinner with their players. Watching coaches walk around downtown Indianapolis and just be guys and just seeing the different circles and groups and the players start to come in.
You realize that, okay, we're closer, We're one step closer.
And I enjoyed being on that side of it, of course, where some real reporting was going on.
It wasn't just rumors and that type of stuff.
And if you know the game too, as far as it goes, and Coach Mack, we've talked about this before. That's also where the pre free agency sets itself up. You understand that's the case, and just how serious it is to see different gms of different teams walk through the hotels and on the streets and just everybody has their room and everybody has their section of Indianapolis that
they're working through. But I was also more impressed too with watching what you know, analyst's eyes and not player's eyes, been shocked by it how interconnected Indianapolis is. You have the breeze ways that you don't have to walk outside, or the hospitals and the hotels and the convention centers and stuff like that.
It's a unique place.
And on this side of I enjoyed seeing it without a whole lot of pressure and anxiety on me too.
Well, I'm excited to add Ramon to the keep the Combine in Indianapolis Forever Club. We have jackets. I'll get you one, thank you, thank.
You, Look at this.
You get gifts after the fact.
Yeah, that's what I'm here for.
Rhtt.
You've been to the Combine with us a bunch of times. We had the opportunity to talk to a lot of different guests here on the OTP. What conversation stuck out to you as being exceptionally interesting.
I think I'm always intrigued by what Daniel Jeremiah is watching because he's done it for a living. He's been a scout and has been around for a long time in that regard, played college football, and so I'm always interested to hear not only what his top fifty is as he gets closer in this process, but positionally what he's watching for numbers as it pertains to that first round of the draft, all those kinds of things. Always
interested in what he has to say. Charles Davis always and then I enjoyed our conversation with Cynthia Freeland too, is so good with the numbers. She just brings it with the numbers.
Mac. You've been to every combine that has ever taken place in the.
History of Indianapolis and Indianapolis.
What made twenty twenty four a little unique from past combines?
Well, it's a television show now, I mean it really is. And I will say this and again, I'm as old school as it gets with a combine because I've been there from the start. I was there from when nobody could get in except players and coaches. That was it. I thought that the fans being there added a whole lot to it. I thought the fans were great. There were sixteen thousand fans in the stand Saturday morning. Wow, I mean it was you could feel the juice and
the energy in there. You could tell that the players did too, and the coaches. I sit with different position group coaches the whole time, or different people come up and sit with me, and everybody commented, you know what, because you know, the first thought was they're going to have people there, how's that going to be? It was great. The fans being there were outstanding. And then you know, to be there on a historic run with the fans just they lost it but it they went crazy and
it added. It added to the event. Even the last day Sunday when the offensive lavemen were working out, there were probably three thousand fans there and they applauded every one of them as they ran and they did so. I enjoyed the fans being there, I really did. This time. I thought it was the best representation of the fans since they started allowing fans to come.
It seemed to me as we were just kind of milling about. One of the conversations that were taking place in Indianapolis a lot was that teams are kind of changing their approach to the Combine week. Not that they aren't coming or that they're not still ingesting the information that you need to get, but the approach is a little bit different. Is that something that you observed while you were there because you stayed there even longer than the Titans radio cruited.
Yeah, well there were five head coaches that didn't come, so that's twenty seven that did. So everybody is still taking information from the combine. But what is going on now? The schedule has changed. The schedule's changed. At the Combine used to be amy you would stay, everybody'd have to stay all week because the interviews went on all week,
and the interview started at six o'clock at night. They started at six o'clock at night, so you once the interview started, you were there from six to eleven thirty or twelve interviewing, and then up at six o'clock the next morning to go catch the weight lift. They've changed the schedule so that now the interviews are earlier in the week, so if you get your interviews out of the way, you can go now position coaches still stay.
All the suites still had people in them all right, but I think now changing the schedule the way they did allowed guys to come in, get their work done, and then leave rather than have to stay the entire week. Now some people stayed the you know, stayed the entire week, myself included, and most most.
Of them did.
But I think the change in the schedule, I think it's better for the coaches as far as just organization wise, and it's much better for the players. It's much better for the players. Now you don't have any late night, late late night meetings.
Let's talk a little bit about these players and some of the work that we saw in the field and I want to start with quarterbacks, right, I'll start with you, were there any guys who really did a lot to help themselves this week kind of make make some money in Indianapolis.
So a couple that come to mind. One is just because some of the top tier quarterbacks didn't work out, so this is additioned by subtraction, and that would be JJ McCarthy from Michigan. They were eighteen players from that national championship team invited most ever by one college outfit
in any of the previous combines. And because Jaden Daniels didn't work out there and Caleb Williams and Drake May so you know, those those things I think helped him really have a chance to put himself as probably the fourth quarterback taken on Night one of the draft, and then the quarterback from Tulane Pratt. He really had a
nice combine, had a thirty six sits vertical leap. I think he led all quarterbacks in that regard, and we saw him at Mobile And of course Taj Spears has been telling me about Pratt for a couple of years now. But he's a guy that including Daniel Jeremiah, thinks that he's gonna get a chance to play in the league at some point. Now he won't be Night one Thursday Night, first Round take guy. But those two guys I think helped themselves this last week.
I think for sure, like like RTT said, a sameil the opt out of some of these other guys and able, I would say, Joe Milton be put on highlight a little bit more. And I'll say this, coaches love measurables and at some point some coaches are gonna think they can coach them up. The same way I feel about Spencer Ratler. I don't think he had the greatest showing at the combin as far as Spencer Ratler goes, but he was there, he was available when you got an
opportunity to see him. Now coaches know what they have the opportunity to work with, and that's the same well I felt about him and Michael Pennix Junior. Those dudes were guys that stayed there and dropped the deep ball and maybe they missed that they didn't connect with the receivers down the field, But you got an opportunity to throw a motion, you got an opportunity see some of the touch that they had and the ability that they like they will compete, and I think those guys needed.
I think Joe Milton needed, I think Spencer Rally needed, and I think Michael Pennix junior did also.
And they were middle of the road I think.
But of course you look at their projections and what you can see in their skill set and they put it on display. Joe's touch was actually better. I feel like then it was at the Senior Bowl. I thought Spencer Rattler from what we saw at the Spence at
the Senior Bowl, took a step back. But in the spirit of competition, Coaz mc always reminds us don't be an incident evaluator, and in that just because he had a so so combine throwing, I think his pro day can bold well for him with his receivers and what he's capable of.
First rounder no, but as.
Far as depth and growth in the league, he'll have the opportunity, Mack with.
Some guys making a name for themselves in Indianapolis, with some guys sitting out, how is that going to impact the rest of this draft, Because I know you always talk about the quarterback draft and then everybody else.
Yeah, Well, I think JJ McCarthy put himself as a fourth quarterback. He put himself as a fourth quarterback. So what that means is is there's teams at ten, eleven, and twelve that need a quarterback. They may be looking to trade up because those other those top three will be gone. So JJ McCarthy has put himself in that in that in that conversation. Now the rest of them that that showed up, they are second and third day guys. They're second, third day guys. Whatever flavor you would like
to take on them, they're there. Spencer Ratler had a better Senior Bowl than he did a combine, but at least he did both though I thought, you know, as as Ramon said, Michael Pennix was fine, Milton, Look, you know every time you go, it's going to be a carnival seeing how far he can throw it and how deep he can throw it. You know, that's number one. And so now I don't think he changed anybody's mind
about what he is and where he will be. But JJ McCarthy elevated himself into that next level here in the first round where somebody may trade up to get him and may try to jump up to either five, six or seven, which would include the Titans to try to get a quarterback right.
The wide receivers group is a group that we've talked about over and over and over and over again. Did it live up to their billing this week?
I would say so. Now that's another takeaway from the combine overall is it seems like players are getting faster every year, regardless of position. But nine wide receivers, nine of them with a sub four four forty yard dash and a lot of them way south of that, including the man who broke the record and Xavier Worthy from Texas.
You know, in the conversation that we had with Daniel Jeremiah and I can't remember who else we talked to for that week for the OTP, Jordan Reid, Yeah, and Jordan Reid too, we were talking about, you know, how many receivers just might go in the first round. I think that number went up after last week. Seven to eight was kind of the number in my mind. I think it's closer to ten.
Now do you agree with that?
Idle too?
And the thing that I don't want to do is minimize I've heard some people make the conversation, well they're training for the forty, say what you want to about it.
These guys are just fast.
You don't have this amount of guys in the sub four fours running this speed if they're just not getting fast. It's going back like to say, sometimes believe what your eyes are telling, like believe what you're seeing. And lab Maconki you have Ricky Piarsol. Even in the four fours, these guys are running. And then for the ones, Exavier Logett is a guy I think ran high four four maybe four five. You don't deny his playmaking ability though,
that's the conversation that you're having. So as yeah, the forty means a lot, but you look at these guys separate on the field and the amount of volume that they have catching balls in college and of course when they're coming up the incorporation of seven on seven.
This is what they do. This is what they're specializing in.
And I enjoyed watching those guys run, but not just that they're performing at a rate that you say to yourself, if you don't get that top first round or that you want the quality and quantity at this point, is therefore you in the second, third, fourth round.
Also well, r reck I said there were nine wide receivers under four four, and I said with the receiver coaches, I mean everybody was amazed. I mean it was just time after time, you know, four four nothing, four three nine, I mean all of that stuff. Uh, there were seven wide receivers taking in the first round in two thousand and four. Okay, I think the number will be eight this year. There will be eight in the first in the first round this year because to me, I mean
it's that was an incredible showing. And by the way, Loget Legett ran a four to three nine there, so he put a four to three nine up. So and Legett didn't have the greatest Senior Bowl, but he re emerged himself with his workout at the combine. You could see it, you know, his vertical jump was forty inches. He was a ten six broad jumper two hundred and twenty one pounds, so he rebounded from the Senior Bowl. So the combine helped Legett regain some traction well.
And Logett was dealing with a left ankle or a lower leg injury on his left leg during the Senior Bowl a month before, so he clearly had put in the treatment time to get that worked out, and it worked out in this case. But to what they're saying about, you know, these testing numbers, Yes, I think a lot of it is their confirmation on what scouts and evaluators
have seen previously. Like I think about that that great OTP that you did with Dane Brugler f the athletic He said that fall in love with the tape, not the tag, and that he meaning the tag that you put on your big board in the war room. Don't don't fall in love with that name on that tag. Fall in love with the tape that you have seen. That is the evidence that you need to see for not only the skill set, but the athletic measurables, all those things.
Well, let's talk about that a little bit, because, as you guys mentioned earlier, Xavier Worthy broke the record for forty time at the combine. Four two one was that time, which is rather quick, It's very exciting. It was really an exciting thing to watch. Mac you were there, I'm sure it was bananas.
The place erupted. Let me tell you the story about it. You know, first of all, now the numbers that you know for the ot people, the numbers they post on television, those are not official numbers and so when he ran his first, he ran, he ran his first four to two, ran four to two. Five. All right, But the timers, the timers, of course, I'm anyway, I know what was going on. The timers told him, hey, you're close, because a lot of time, a lot of them hadn't faster
than four to five. He had gone, he had walked out, he had taken his shoes off, he was done. And then when they told him, well, you're close, he went okay. So he so he started lacing them back up, and the crowd went nuts when they saw him. Now they were clear at the other end of the field with ay, they were watching him. He starts lacing them back up, and then people are going wow because normally, you know, dudes run, run a good time, they're done, you know
with that part of it. And plus I don't think he was going to do any drills anyway. He was there to run, all right, because if you know worthy and and and and you and you watch him, I mean he's six to one. I mean, but the guys weighs one hundred and sixty five pounds. Okay, Now, don't let that fool you, because he's got massive production at the University of Texas. He and ad Mitchell were legitimate dudes with the ball in the air there, so he starts lacing them back up. Well, then he gets back
down there. Now everybody the whole the whole building, because he's the last one, they go alphabetically worthy W I mean, I had a good education. It's it's at the end of the It's at the end. Okay, it's at the end. So when he took off. When he took off, everybody's going, you can tell. Some of those guys can run, and like I say, someone can run, run, but this guy run, run, run. I mean you were everybody was watching that.
Go whoa.
Okay, Now the time came out, okay at four two two, all right, and of course he you know, he does a victory lap at four two two, but that's not an official time. So I'm watching him. I'm watching him, and all of a sudden, you know, one of the timers turns around to me and goes and I go. So that's when I texted the whole Titans radio crew. I said he may had two to one wow on the official well.
TJ.
Huschman Zada was one of the receivers that was down there, you know, as a as a mentor to those guys. He and Michael Irving and Steve Smith and Michael Irving Steve Smith were doing they were doing a streaming thing. So all of a sudden, I see TJ grab a group of guys and he goes over to xavier' worthy and he starts looking posts to the phone and shows him this, and all of a sudden Worthy just screams and runs out of the building. He just takes off,
running right through the tunnel. And then so t J huschmans and is on, come on back, come on back, come on back. And then he was telling him that the official was. You know, they already it was four two one, and so then later on they announced it. Well that's why I sent it to you guys on that text chain. I said he maybe four to two one official, and he was. And then after that he was that that to me is is that's insane speed? Really, you know, now he's got no pads on, he's got
but you watch him play, he plays fast. He's fast fast. But that was a moment, that was it. It It ignited the entire place, and there was a buzz about it inside for the rest of the time.
Does that impact his drafts sock.
I don't think so. I don't. I don't think we knew he was fast. I mean, it's not like all of a sudden, you know, you were looking at a plow horse and he was a race horse. I mean he could, he could always run. But just the fact, I tell, I tell you what may impact a little bit, just in the in coaches thinking, he laced his shoes back up and went again. The competitive nature of the dude going, you know what, I'm gonna go after it
instead of just saying I'm fine, I'm good. It's kind of like Roma Dunesay did when he stayed and I stayed and watched him do the three cone drill about fifteen times because he kept hitting the third cone and they don't count it, and he says, I want to get it done. When everybody was gone, everybody was out of the building, and he was going to get it right.
So you look at a lot of things this, but what you try to glean from, you know, the perimeter of it, is some of their competitiveness and that will stick out big time. Four two one will always be there in history. But just the fact that how he did it, the fact that how he did it and went back and went after it. I appreciated that.
So I was watching this unfold on NFL Network and I think I heard Rich Eyes and Daniel Jeremiah saying, I think it was like sixteen thousand fans could the buzz was starting to build, and then when he popped it, I mean, it was amazing. The thing about his draft status, like the durability part of this for him, because I mean he officially came in at five to eleven won sixty five. To put that in the context, the same conversations we had about Devonte Smith, former Heisman Trophy winner
from Alabama, who's the Eagles receiver. He was one seventy five at his combine and rang in at six feet and change. Uh. And then the guy who he broke the forty, John Ross, who was smaller. They worried about durability and unfortunately that didn't work out for him. He was one eighty eight. So I mean, this guy is skinny as a rail compared to what we're talking about here. So the durability in this is something that you know, And of course somebody would say, well, rhet you got
to catch him first. I'm like, odds are somebody's gonna take the right angle and catch him and may hurt him.
Well, ramon, when you see someone you talk about kind of the mentality behind what he did running again when he comes into a locker room, he's a rookie kid. That reputation is going to precede him a little bit. Is that something you like in a rookie and a teammate.
I do, And I'll say what coach Mack said just a second ago toward back up what he said too. The fact that he had the record in hand essentially and ran again after taking the shoes off.
That does shows a competitive side. That does show if he lose.
A rep, he's going to go back to the front of the line say let's run that back.
But here's the thing.
When you become the fastest guy, you don't want that to just be your thing. Speed needs to show, but past catching or whether you go to special teams need to be his specialty too, because as a young rookie.
At his size, what third second round?
Maybe it where you project a guy like him, He's gonna have to be a teamer. Where are you fitting into the special teams first, if that's a part of your identity, or where can we incorporate you in these spot plays when we put you out there and training camp and OTAs in mini camp. We need to see that speed making plays. I've seen a lot of guys either be real strong, real big, real to all those types of things, but the utilization of what you're born with.
He was born with that speed four to two one may have been trained into him, but you need to be able to see those types of things equate to.
The football field.
It's just like you see slow receivers just continuously catch passes and stuff like that. Well, that's because they become a special of being a wide receiver. The speed is
a caveat to what got you in the door. His ability to make plays with that speed is going to be something to wear veterans I've seen in the locker room, whether you're a first rounder with a lot of praise, or your guy that has a special tool like speed or strength or your ability to throw the ball really hard and fast, that doesn't matter in the NFL unless we actually see it on the field. And that's the beauty about it too. And we've all had those conversations.
Combinding these measurables gets you in the door. Your playmaking ability keeps you in the door in those football facilities in those thirty two cities.
One more thing about the speed. If you'll look at the at the at the top numbers in the combine over the last ten years, there's really maybe I know one guy, maybe two guys that turned out to really be players, player players, CJ two K. CJ two K was a player four two four. He held it for a long time until John Ross. John Ross not such a great player, just you know, an up and down career. So the speed is one factor, and that's that's to
Ramon's point. I mean it it kind of is, you know, because everybody, if you're watching, if you're watching on television, that's the one thing you can equate to is that guy's fast. But you know the nuances of watching them work out, breaking down tape, grinding tape, all of that weighs a little bit more than the speed. But the speed part of it, if it is also with football ability,
that's when you've got a player. So as I said, if you look at the if you look at the top nine or ten that have got the top speed in the history of the combine. Not very many turned out to be just legendary players.
C J.
Two K is a legendary player, you know.
So anyway, Yeah, that's the That's the whole story of the draft as it has become more popular and become such a thing that everyone views, is that, Okay, there's athletes out there, but are you a football player? Because if you got the marriage of the two, you probably got the makings of a really good player, maybe even an elite level player.
And so adds to that, Coach Mack was saying, saying, John Ross, I was in a division that played him two times a year, and I never forget the tag that you carry one. You're the fastest guy ever at the Combine. We couldn't wait to see him. Why because I need to see your speed. And you know what happens when you get those veteran DB's that's been in the league for seven years. They gonna punch you dead in your test because one, I know your feather way.
Two can you escape and get off the line of scrimmage? And then if you can get past me, how fast are you to get open? It's one thing to be fast but are you good enough to separate. That's one of the things we've liked about Ricky Parsol when we watched them at the Senior ball lad McConkie is you can get open. That's one of the things I don't think. Steve Smith Senior was a fast wide receiver, but he
always got open. That's the separator to me when we look at those tools that you're born with naturally, is what happens when you actually use them.
As a head coach, I drafted on the slowest receivers in the combine one year. Had to have him.
Who was it?
And Gwambolin? He ran four seven to one.
Worked out pretty good player, I think so.
Seat geek is now the official ticketing partner of the Tennessee Titans. Whether you're buying or selling tickets to a Titans game or to any other live event in Nashville, seat Geek is the place to do it. Seat Geek the new official ticketing partner of the Tennessee Titans. So Titans fans, Ken fan speaking of guys that don't run very fast the offensive line, Sorry, wait.
A minute, I'm going to take a little umbrage to that. Are you yes? These guys ran this this year and and I'm going to say something else, and then you wouldn't go on, You're you're directing this thing. I don't know why they make these big guys run forty of Tell coach they don't, they should run twenty. The second group that ran four hamstring pops out of the second group on the second run on one of them was on the first run. Uh, I don't. And again they've
done it for years. But whenever, whenever you're looking at an offensive lineman, you look at my notebook, first thing I wrote was our ten yard split. That's the that's the split I looked at. I don't know why they make these big men run forty yards, but anyway, go ahead.
So what's the alternative though, Just make them run ten or don't make them run.
It all twenty twenty in a cut maybe, or set them up like it's a screen one two steps and get out in his face, because that's.
Going to be where they're utilize more.
Rah offensive lineman running the forty in the football game. You know what, you call that an interception in the other direction, that interception.
Normally, you're not asking those guys to do that at all and in his and in max observation of all those hamstring pops, they came between the thirty and forty yard marks, every single one of them. So twenty probably a better option.
But to that same conversation, though, these guys have gotten faster offso oh yes, wasn't a lot of fours in this group, but they're teetering on five flat, five O one, five oh two. You got a guy in Joe All at six nine, and I think he added a little muscle to him too in this time, because I think they had him listed about three twelve eves, three twenties, three twenty one, three twenty one ran a five o five at six ' nine. Just his body size and length.
You don't expect them to run like that at that weight. And it wasn't just him Emeritus Mems. I saw his second run live and I say, oh, he moving, And if I'm not mistaken, he ran a five oh five. Also, yes, no, five seven, three hundred and forty pounds like you don't move like that. And that's why I also think eventually the NFL, with where it is right now, and I've said this before, I think we're gonna get back to a bruising style of ball. Like I love the idea
that we're passing the ball around. But these guys are so big and so fast and so iegile now that you may be able to just build the running game the way it was. I'm not talking late nineties, early two thousands, but the idea that the run game may show his head more prevalent in today's game, I think we'll see more of that because these guys are so much bigger and faster and athletic than even I mean, five six years ago.
The drills they do for the offensive linement are really good positional drills. They do the Penning polls, and they time the penn And polls, they tie the penn And polls. All of those things they do are really good. I just I just don't know what you're getting from a forty yard dash.
Tell me what a penn And poll is. I don't know what that means.
I will tell you, thank you. Ramon is the tackle, Okay, I'm the guard. Okay, defensive players right here, I am the pen guy. I'm gonna block down on this guy, and kind Ramon is going to pull around me to move up on the linebacker.
Okay.
What it does is it replaces gaps for linebackers. It changes it changes gap schemes, and then the down lineman always have to worry about not only the man over them that you're playing against, but they have to worry about the man to their inside. So you'll hear when they when you know, you hear me on the broadcast and saying, well, this is a Penning pull scheme. You call it counter o, counter ot, call it whatever you
want to. It's blocking down and then pulling lineman from the opposite side to swab a hole and create a new line of scrimmage on the opposite.
Side, creating angles for run lanes.
You're getting a guy instead of having the defensive lineman come up the field as Coach Mac just said, and knocked them off by hitting him in the hip, the guy pulling around put them up on the second level to block the linebacker.
Better angles that way creating.
But they have this is very informative here. They have. They have good drills now for that, and they time it at the combinet.
In watching some of these drills and watching these guys work out. We had talked leading up to the combine that it seemed like there was a bit of a separation. There's a lot of talent within the offensive line group, but there were a couple who had separated themselves to be the elite at the top of the group, and then there was a little bit of a gap between the rest of them. They they fill in that gap a little bit.
Tallyfuaga from Oregon State has probably helped his cause in that. I mean, he's if we're if we're talking the week of the draft, I think coach Mack and I would agree that in that first pod or tier of tackles, it's gonna be Joe alt Olu Fashanu from Penn State, and then you can start to fill in a Tally Fuaga from Oregon State, you know, maybe an Amarus Mems
maybe from uh maybe h Tyler Guidon from Oklahoma. I mean, there's there's several there that you're going to be there, may be going to be in the bottom of that first pod, but the first two that are there are still Joe alt Olu fashion it.
Yeah, I think J. C. Latham is in is in that is in that top tier, and the Marius Maams moved himself up. This is the mountain of a man. He is a mountain of a man. You see him standing next to normal humans down there on the floor. It's not even funny. But I think those guys there. But then as he says, you know, RHDT said the Fuaga Tyler gotten Fontineau, the guy that that kind of jumped up. Now he's not in this level, but you know,
I like to watch lower tier guys too. Was a guy that we liked, that I liked and we talked about at the Senior Bowl was at Tanner Bartolini, the Center from Wisconsin. He tested out. He tested out there, so all of a sudden he's helped himself. But there are to me, they'll probably be in the first round. I would say, six tackles.
Wow, And it's there's a chance that someone deems their guy a first round gray guy because you don't know what the other folks are doing. I mean, the most since the AFL NFL merger in nineteen seventy was seven tackles in two thousand and eight, the Matt Ryan year that he was drafted a quarterback. There's been several years where six was a play. It's at least that and there's a chance that could tie that or if it's
a crazy night, bust it. But just looking at the testing of this, I've taken notes while these old linemen ran on Sunday. Tanner Bordolini both forties, handsome his ten yard split one six nine well, Joe alt at nearly six nine, three hundred and twenty two pounds his ten split one seven three and one seven to four, respectively.
Central Florida offensive lineman Tayland Grable both of his forties sub four nine nine uh, Frank Crumb from Wyoming who had the blonde lettuce as they call it, just huge, long flowing locks four nine four forty. And then there's a a from a different level of school. South Dakota State's Garrett Greenfield six six three eleven highest set the record for vertical jump for an offensive lineman at thirty eight and a half inches. These guys are ridiculous, but
at the top they're game changers. And what we were saying earlier about, okay, we got an athlete here, do we have a football player? I think that's what a Marius Mems is trying to show. Because he only had eight career starts at Georgia. All the other things are there, at almost eighty seven inch wingspan, I mean can reach around the corner and tap you on the shoulder and then move his hand and go who is that.
Now? Yeah, Ramon, you're having like a response to some of these numbers. Why is this so impressive to you?
Because again, the sizes of these dudes is what's getting like. These dudes aren't like they're just I feel like for a while, the NFL got lighter as far as the interior guys, I mean, the offensive line guys went and they try to go more athletic, and I even see some of these guys coming in now as recruit watching recruits watching the college world. They're coming into like through sixty then trimming down to like three forty three thirty. But they're athletes like I always thought of Marius Mims
was big. I thought JC Latham at Alabama was big, and then you see them coach mack as you just said, like Amarius Memmes. I'm not sure if there's a better looking offensive line prospect as far as just body type that you say to yourself, if he's got the right coach, to right system, right mind, and you expect them to have that always coming out as a five star guy, then he should be a pro on either the right side or the left side. And then you see a guy like jac Latham that may be a little bit
more softer of a body. Then let's go a Marius Mims. But then you see the way he moves, you watch his tate and when you're talking about is he a football player?
Yes they are.
And it's not even just we spoke about the six or seven tackles that may go in the first round. Let's talk about the top one hundred potentially in that you have Cooper BB, you have Jackson Powers Johnson. You may have a talent guy. You have a Jordan Morgan, Alice Fraser, you got the Yukon guard. Also, who are top quality guys like to be able to spread around this wealth? You two guys easily in that one hundred, and not even to mention the guys that you.
Say, yeah, we can coach him up.
There's there's a guy or two that this is gonna be a project that can bode well for you. I think you've got more quality and I gotta give credit to the portal. You gotta give credit to the COVID year potentially to them getting an extra year, or maybe these guys that may be coming out younger having to sit behind an older guy and watch them be pros in college too. So there are some benefit to it.
And you just got to appreciate the bigs. Like I said, I was just amazed at the agility and speed of them at their size.
You're not supposed to be three forty six running a five flat.
You know. And and again it was just it was fun to watch that group. It really was, because you know, and and we're and we like to dig a little deeper here on the OTP, you know, rather than just the bigger names. I mean, we've talked about Tanner Bartolini, Brandon Coleman, the guard from TCU six four three thirteen
ran four nine nine. I mean, he'll be a fourth rounder, but he vertical jumped thirty four inches, you know that at that big Mason mccarmick, because the guard center from South Dakota, you know, I mean, I mean the guy the five o eight forty, I mean you watch him, he can move. Christian Jones, the offensive lineman from from Texas.
He's an offensive tackle sixty five three oh five. I mean there's a that's the third round guy right there that had a solid Senior Bowl, but he showed out here at the come and of course we went through. I mean Joe walt Is, you look at him, you go okay.
The guard from Boston College, Christian Mahagan.
Christian Mahogany.
Yeah.
I mean, so what these guys are saying is one under true and then and then uh Fuaga and and Fontono, the Morgan State and Washington. These dudes are up there. You got a lot. I tell you guy, another guy too, because I watched these guys because we might need on. Uh is Roger Rosengarten from Washington, the offensive tackle that was that that we watched down there at six five, three oh eight four nine to two. Good movement. I mean everybody was saying, he's a guard. Will you watch
his movement? I mean he could be a tackle the way he moved his feet out there. So all of these guys did themselves. Zach Frazier from West Virginia, the city that Christian, the guy he was talking about. I mean I watched these guys pretty close, and you're get you get a good player that can play for you for six or eight years. On the third and fourth round, you're happy, and some of these got they're going to go that.
Deep here on the OTP. We we don't discriminate. We like all the parts of a football game, and we have only been talking about offense the entire time that we've been here. So I feel the need before we wrap this up to at least acknowledge that there were defensive players in Indianapolis, because there were, and there were
some guys who really had great showings. And so I'd like to hear from each of you, maybe just a defensive player or two who really stood out to you, because I feel bad that we're not giving that whole side of the ball any love, and they deserve it, or at least some of them do, right, Mack, I look.
For nickel corners were outstanding. The corners were outstanding. And let me just give you some names of nickel corners. These are not the guys on the edge. These are nickel corners. DAYK One Hardy from Penn State forty two and a half inch vertical jump. I mean, the dude is going to play over the slot. Andrew Phillips from Kentucky for to two inch vertical jump that shows you
the explosion. Max Melton from Rutgers Mike Keith's favorite interview at the Senior Bowl Max Melton eleven to four broad jump. I mean he is a bull terrier and he will be there. Mike Santastril from Michigan ten to eleven broad jump. He's going to be a nice, nice nickel in this league. Those are the nickel guys that I was watching just expressly. And then I'll let these guys go into the other guys the edges because the how many ran for four
or less there? I think there were nine that ran four four or less their players there at the cornerback. That's a deep position.
I think our OTP listeners know about Braden Fist, so I'm not even gonna mention him anymore in the combine that he had.
But there's three other d tackles that I.
Fell in love with watching the numbers and just watching their take two, and it's Ruka Roho out of Clemson. Big body guy can still got so much room to grow. Chris Jenkins Junior also him was a guy his measurables pretty much lined with what his dad did out of Michigan. That was insane to see that one I played against his dad name's got a kid potentially.
Going in the second or third round.
And then the other one was Dwayne Carter, another big body guy to Duke that performed well. And you can say to yourself, as much as we talk about this offensive line here in Tennessee, there is a need for defensive tackle help too. I like these guys, and we heard Brian Callahan talk about he want guys some big programs. These students all play big ball and understand how to play it in Each one of them has a mean streak in them that I enjoy and like you paired
it up with a guy like Jeffrey Simmons. I mean again, the body types of these dude suggests that they can be space eaters but also playmakers.
To Dwayne Carter from Duke is one of those that I think coaches are going to try to figure out where does he play because he played on every position on the defensive line in his time as a Blue Devil. There. I've got three guys, and I will mention Braden Fisk from Florida State because uh, here's this guy at six three two, one of our one of my favorite interviews from the Senior Bowl. H thirty three and a half inch vertical leap, nine foot nine inch broad jump, forty
yard dash four seven eight. In fact, he was one of seven defensive linemen with a sub five second forty yard dash. And then uh, Marshawn Neeland, his former team eight who still was at Western Michigan, Marshawn Kneeland sixty three two sixty seven seven O two three cone drill, thirty three and a half inch vertical leap nine eleven broad of four to seven five forty and then a safety that I've kind of been watching out of Oregon, Evan Williams. Evan Williams forty and a half inch vertical
leap ten six broad. Golly, I mean there's so many. And then these defensive players, I mean, one of the top pass rushers at the top from Alabama Dallas Turner four four six forty Chop Robinson Penn State four four eight forty.
Uh.
Some of these guys have got some wheels. But I really like Marshawn Neeland and I really like Braden Fisk to go with them.
The names that they're bringing are guys that are that are second third day guys, which is important because the Dallas Turners, the Jared versus those guys are gone. Yep, Okay, they're gonna be They're gonna be gone gone, and rightfully so. Chop Robinson worked himself right up into that at the combine. So these names are bringing up the draft is much more than about the first round.
It is.
I got one one guy I think took his stock up even more and we talked about him at the Singing Bowl at cornerback Quinyon Mitchell.
Coach, Look, Quenyon Mitchell is no longer You're right.
Yeah, he's the worst kept secret in this draft.
It is no secret he may be And I said, with a big group of defensive back coaches, they're looking like because you know, Terry and Arnold is a really clean player. He ran four five Now he's the number one corner. He ran me. But he's a very clean player. He's sticky, he's instinctive, played at Alabama, he's and.
He mercial because he went from safety to corner.
He may very well be the first corner taken. But Quon Mitchell has done nothing but elevate himself in the eyes of people that make a decision in the National Football League.
And the reason I bring that up culture back is he may be middle first round, and let's say somebody want to deal with the Titans, and you got to decide if you.
Want to go get a corner, you want to go get a tackle, or if there's an edge.
Because the quarterback draft, as you always speak about, pushes you back and also pushes.
Good talent back like Queenum.
Mitchell may be hard to pass on just because of what you expect him to do and what he's already done in college, and of course his numbers.
Let me tell you something else about that. We talk about getting into the mindset of guys. Now, he had a chance to get in that transfer portal numbers of times, but he said, you know what, Toledo gave me a chance. I'm going to stay here at Toledo. And he's done not only that, but he's worked himself every test that he's been giving. The Senior Bowl was a huge test. He stepped up, mastered it, the combine, mastered it. But the fact that he said, you know what, I'll stay here because they gave me.
A very pat Tillman esque very much so in term of loyalty and staying in a spot. Quinyon Mitchell will be a footnote at his college at Toledo. He'll just be the second player in their athletic history that has been drafted in the first round of the draft. Decades ago. Dan Williams, a defensive lineman who had a nice career, was a first round pick out of there. He'll be the first first round pick out of the Mac Conference since the Titans to Corey Davis in twenty seventeen. He
I mean it's done. I mean he I would be shocked if he wasn't a first round pick, and I don't think that's gonna happen.
It's even cooler too with him.
He's supposed to run fast, oh right, with his projections twenty reps on it two twenty five?
Thank you?
Can we mention that, like everybody got something dirty about that. We're talking about the big boys running right, ain't what will we do?
Okay, little guys.
Don't bench like this. They may get eight to twelve or even fifteen. He pushed out twenty reps on two twenty five.
And a guy with longer arms too. Now he's not you know.
You know what that tells you. He's worked at it.
He's a grinder.
He's a grinder.
You guys, this is so great. I just I'm having a little moment over here. The combine is in the rear view mirror now. But there's still so much to talk about as we continue on heading towards the draft at the end of April, April twenty fifth through twenty seventh in Detroit, that is the NFL Draft. But before we get there, we still have pro days at schools
to get through. We still have thirty visits where the individual clubs bring people in, get to spend a little bit more time with them, get to know them a little bit better. So we still have ways to go here. Do we have any final thoughts as we are wrapping up this portion of the pre draft process and moving on towards Detroit.
One more thing, free agency. Yeah, here it comes here. It's knocking on the door. That's the next on the docket.
The thing you learn. And I heard somebody on this panel say it, don't be an ie, don't be an instant evaluator. Keep your powder dry. We don't draft till the end of April.
Fall in love with the tape, not the tag on the wall, and it'll be fascinating.
So it's a free agent mark right there. What resets or settles the draft. As far as the quarterbacks, you got a bunch of quarterbacks who have valuable plan time in the NFL, Kirk Cousins, Russell Wilson, etc. That may reshape what the draft does also.
And there's two teams and two quarterback situations that I think mold that to his point. For obviously, the first overall pick with the Chicago Bears, do they deal justin fields? And if they deal them to Atlanta, who's sitting at eight, then that's the two teams I'm talking about. But if for some reason Atlanta isn't able to make that happen, or they bring in Kirk Cousins and sign him, that's
gonna change. You know, there's two trade partners right there with who these young guys are at the top of that quarterback pot. But that will shape it for that first night of the draft.
This time of year when I was coaching, you start to work the phones. That's fascinating.
There's just so much good happening right now. There's so much excitement, and we're going to cover all of it here on the OTP. We've got you ot people don't worry, so subscribe, comment, tell all your friends about the OTP because we have all the information right here, everything you need to know and these guys are going to help us all along the way. So for Ramone, Foster, coach, mac Rett Brian. I'm Amy Wells and this has been the OTP.
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