Now let's get to Round one of the NFL Draft. As expected, cam Ward went number one overall to the Tennessee Titans, and not too long after the pick was announced, news broke that the Jacksonville Jaguars traded with the Browns to acquire a second pick in acquiring Heisman Trophy winner Travis Hunter. Meanwhile, my Steelers are still looking for a quarterback after day one and Shador Standers is still on the board for round two. So joining me now to
break it all down? Break it all down the headlines we saw last night as the one and only Adam Schefter. What's up, buddy? How you doing, Steve?
And a always great to be with you, Nice to see you.
Shador Sanders didn't even get drafted in round one? Were you surprised by that?
The longer this went on, the more it seemed like this was a possibility. It felt like the Giants weren't going to take him at three, the Saints weren't gonna take him at nine, and the one shot he had was twenty one to Pittsburgh and the Steelers talked about the idea of taking him, but there was not consensus within the organization and they needed help along their defensive line, and they opted for the Oregon defensive line and Derek Harmon, and so Shador Sanders was left sitting on the board
watching other quarterbacks like Jackson Dark go number twenty five to the New York Giants. So when you asked it, were surprised. I think the longer this went on, the closer we got to the draft, the more we all recognized that this was possible, And when the Steelers passed them at twenty one, it became a reality.
What about Jackson Dart, the Giants moving up to grab him. I didn't hear from anybody other than I very owned Dan Alovski that Dart was going to be somebody that possibly would be taken ahead of Shador Sanders. Was I mean, that did throw you full loop at all?
And we talked about it in the pregame show on College Game Day, Pete Famill pointed out that there was a possibility that Jackson Dart could go ahead of Shador.
And look, the Giants and Saints and I believe the Cleveland Browns as well, all really like Jackson Dart so much so that I think each of those teams would have taken Jackson Dart ahead of Shador Sanders, one of the three did, and I believe the other two are in the same category as well, And so Shador Sanders is still sitting there right now, going into round two on Friday night. I really think we're at the point now the Steelers don't have a second round draft pick.
Their next pick is number eighty three in the third round. And you say, well, could he would? He would he last till then, and it's hard to imagine that he would, But strange things have happened. And I also think that people are reacting like, oh my god, he didn't go in round one and he is milk Kiper Junior's top rated quarterback. Guess what, There have been a lot of quarterbacks over the years that have slipped into the second round that have gone on to have successful NFL careers.
When milk Kiper first started in ESPN in his very first year, his third rated prospect on the entire board was Boomer Sison. Boomer Sison went into the second round and all he did in the National Football League was win MVP. Drew brees Felt into the second round, Jalen Hurtzfeld into the second round, and now Shador Sanders has done the.
Same, Adam Scheft, I always appreciate the knowledge that you dropped, So help me with your perspective, because I'll certainly take it from you verbatim covering this league the way that you have me covering the NBA and just overall sports over the last thirty years. Certainly, your talent and your skill is paramount. That's primary issue. Number one. You gotta
have the ability. But I've seen many executives sometimes make decisions because they didn't want to deal with potential headache somebody that could have the ear of folks, somebody that could have the kind of influence in Cashet that could disrupt whatever their vision was for their franchise. That brings
me to Dion Sanders. Did that play in? Did his presence, his aura, his cachet, and the fact that he's a relatively loquacious to the visual what he needs to be and he will speak up for himself, his son, etc. Did that play any role in your mind at all in the possibility of Shadu falling out of.
The first round? Oh? Probably did? I mean again, I don't want to blame Deiana, That's not what we're doing. But I think when a team is drafting Shadoor, it recognizes what would come along with that, and you'd have a very famous, very accomplished father that would come along. And we wrote this in our ESPN Draft Intel column
that ran on ESPN Plus last week. I said, short of Mike Tomlin, there aren't many coaches around the league that might be comfortable drafting Shador and knowing that if and when their seat gets warm, people in that city could be calling for his job and calling for Shador's dad to replace him. Like that definitely could happen in time. I don't think Mike tom We care about that, but I think there might be other coaches who would. And beyond that, I just feel like, for whatever reason, Chador
didn't have the best interview process. There are some teams that did like him, there were more that didn't for whatever reason. It's strange to me because again, he does have the support and when you watch him, you see how talented he is. And the bottom line, stephen A, is the facts speak for themselves. Every team had a chance to pick him in Round one, nobody did. We're back at it again Friday night. More teams will have another chance to draft him. And so that's the great
part about the NFL Draft. You gotta put your cards on the table and you see where teams stand on certain individuals. And right now you're seeing where teams stand on Shador Sanders.
His collegiate teammate didn't have that problem, Travis Hunter, Jacksonville Jaguars moving up to the number two and making a deal with the Cleveland Browns that ultimately landed them Travis Hunter. You broke that story. Can you talk about that Travis Hunter and what they told you or why they told you they liked this kid so much?
Oddly enough, I think we could first lean into what the general manager of the Cleveland brown said about him, despite the fact that he traded away the draft. He called Travis Hunter a unicorn. He compared him to show, hey, o'tany wow, a two way player. And I think those are some of the things that the Jacksonville Jaguars were drawn to. In the end. They saw what they felt was like the best player in this draft. They saw somebody that they thought could come in and play wide
receiver at a high level for them. They're gonna onboard him as a wide receiver. They're gonna have him play defense. I think they're gonna do everything they can to get the value out of the number two pick in this draft. And they felt like they were getting a star player, a dynamic presence, a great personality. You saw him last
night dancing on the stage once he was selected. They loved everything about him so much so that they were willing to give up their second round draft pick today and their first round draft pick next year, which is quite a lot. But Jacksonville would tell you, hey, there's no price that's too great for a star that has been compared to Shoho Tying, and that's why they paid up and they're gonna play him on both sides of the football.
How would have Jacksonville Jaguass feeling about Trevor Lawres right now? They're fifty five million dollar quarterback.
Well, Steve and I what I would tell you is they have a new head coach and Liam Cone who they brought in to elevate Trevor Lawrence. They have a new general manager, James Gladstone, the youngest general manager who pulled off that trade on Thursday night. That's a huge swing to take. Think about that, the first trade of draft picks in the twenty twenty five NFL draft pumps from the youngest GM in the league and somebody who's making his first draft day trade, and that was a doozy.
There aren't too much people that start that big. But he comes from the Rams. Don't think he cares about taking big swings, not as concerned about keeping the draft picks, and I think that they feel like he can help elevate Trevor Lawrence. And so that's the idea and the thinking gear. They're giving Trevor Lawrence a restart, a reboot, with a new head coach who has worked in elevating
the playoff quarterbacks. They're giving him a new GM who obviously thinks differently and aggressively than a lot of other gms, and they're hoping that between the new head coach, the new GM, new assistant coaches, and the changing culture that Trevor Lawrence can turn out to be the quarterback that many thought the Jaguars were getting when they selected him with the number one overall deck.
That would be crazy. The new GM is thirty four years old, so it's going to be really interesting to see how that works out for them. Switching to the Cleveland Browns, they're on the other side of this deal, they passed up on a Travis Hunter to make this deal, move down the fifth in the draft, ultimately got a first round pick for next year, sort of recouping some of the losses that they have to you know, they have to suffer from the Deshaun Watson trade. What did you say, Adam Scheffer?
How is it that?
How you would break it down?
Well, Steve, and they have not had a top fifty pick in the the three previous drafts. So when they selected Mason Graham from my University of Michigan and Thursday Nights first round, that was the first time in four
years that they've had a top fifty pick. And they're making up for it now because now going into tonight's draft, they have two of the top four selections in the second round, picks thirty three and thirty six, and they already have the Jacksonville Jaguars first round draft pick in twenty twenty six, So they're on the board with two first round picks next year. And that's why I know a lot of people are saying, what are back tonight
for the Browns. They might go that route, they could, certainly, but they also could opt to pick two really strong players and say we're punting on quarterback in what we consider to be a week quarterback draft class. And we will revisit this topic a year from now when we have double once. That is an option going into the draft tonight, and we'll see how the Browns react to it.
What's the NFL feeling about the draft that the Giants had last night Carter and then obviously moving up to Draft Dark, How are people feeling about the Giants right now?
Well, I think most talent evaluators felt there were two blue chip prospects in this draft, Dravits Hunter and Abdula Carter. Jacksonville got one. The New York Giants got the other, an Abdula Carter, who has been compared to Michael Parsons, who wore number eleven at Penn State. Plays like him, looks like him, and if MICHAEH Parsons a version of that showed up on the Giants roster, that would be great.
Jackson Dart the quarterback. They move up, and Steven Aams is telling you, I think that they jumped in front of the Browns. The Browns were happy to sit and wait, and they jumped in front of the Saints, who definitely wanted Jackson Dark. The Saints Warren scheduled to pick again to number forty. Saints warn't willing tell you was their number nine overall selection on Jackson Dart, but clearly there was something of an arms race to try to get
the Jackson Dart and the Giants won that. And the great part about that is that they did it without having to give up a first round draft pick next year. So if Jackson Dark comes in this year and they feel like he's a total bust, which isn't going to be the case, they could always use their first round pick on a quarterback next year if that's what they want. That's not their plan, trust me. But all they had
to do is trade. I believe it was a couple of third round picks to move up to that spot, whereas the Atlanta Falcons, one slot in front of them, wound up trading a first round draft pick for next year to go get draft James Pearce, a defensive lineman. Giants didn't have to give up the future one the Falcons did, the Giants didn't, and the Giants moved up
for a quarterback and the Falcons a pass rusher. So again, what they gave up in return they felt was more than worth it to get the quarterback that let a few teams wanted. Here, there's a.
Couple of minutes left with you, Adam Schefter. Very few things surprised you, one can imagine, because you're the ultimate inside and you know what the hell is going on better than anybody in the National Football League. Anything shocky last night.
Well, that trade that came down was such a huge trade. It was one of the biggest on the clock trades that we've seen in NFL history. There have been only two teams that had top five picks traded. One was the Minnesota Vikings and Atlanta Falcons in the eighties when the Vikings traded their pick to go get Chris Dolman
and the Falcons got Bill free Look. And the other time it happened was when the Chicago Bears traded up with the forty nine ers to go get Mitch Trubisky, famously in a draft where they drafted Mitch Trubisky ahead
of Patrick Mahomes. That was the size and scope of this trade last night, and it was a trade that I think you look at and you say, both teams win here because the Jaguars get a certifiable star in Travis Hunter, and the Browns come away with so much draft equity for a team that hasn't had any draft equity in recent years, and a chance to remake their roster. I was surprised that we saw two teams last night that we're willing to part ways with their first round
draft pick in the twenty twenty six NFL Draft. For the record, if I ever were part of a front office, and I never will be, but if I ever were, I would never trade a future one unless I was some super Bowl champion in some great position, I would hold onto those picks like my life depended on it. And we saw the Falcons, who haven't won a playoff game in any recent season, trade their one next year, and we saw the Jaguars, who haven't had recent playoff success,
trade their one next year. We'll just wait to see how that works out for the Cleveland Browns and La Rams who hold those future picks in twenty twenty six.
Speaking to the end of the NFL analysts and knowing the game the way that you do, who's the biggest winner of Round one thus fall in you estimation. Is it simply Jacksonville and ter Avasento as this somebody else?
Well, Steven, I it doesn't really matter what I say as the winner right now, because we could go into any year and annoyed some winner, and then all of a sudden some player turns into some star that we never saw coming. It's a fun exercise. I mean, it's always gonna be about quarterbacks. So really, if cam Wore turns out to be a star, then the Titans won the draft. If he doesn't, then they failed. If Jackson Dart turns out to be the quarterback, then the Giants
get eight plus. If they don't, no one's keeping their jobs. So I mean it's great to me. It's like giving a student a grade on the first day of school before they completed their first homework assignmon return paper. It doesn't mean anything like I gotta take some tests before we're giving him a grade.
Totally fair, Shador Sanders, Cleveland or New Orlean's gonna pick him up in the second round of the estimation. You think that's you think that's likely.
Not expecting New Orleans. And I don't feel overly confident on Cleveland. But I don't know that for sure, we'd have to see again. You get to certain spots in the draft where if Shador is the best player on your board, even if you didn't think you were gonna take him, you go ahead and pick him. I stephen A, I just got a feeling, like I said to you, I'm not going to be surprised if he winds up on a team that we just never connected to him, whoever.
That is, unless and this is hard to imagine, unless he falls to number eighty three and the Pittsburgh Steelers is a third round.
Last question. I love that I saw asking Gent just running back extraordinary out of Boise State, landing with the Raiders. One of the things that I love about what I saw this week as they were talking about him, you brought up Saquon bark People brought up Saquon Barkley. I remember,
I brought up Derek Henry. I remember a few years ago, back to twenty twenty three, to be exact, where you had Austin Ecklin, these guys rallying the running backs to sort of make a case because they were being devalue just by their birth certificate.
The loan.
You collected enough dust or excuse me, we ain't giving you a long term contract. We don't know if you'll be able to last. And you heard guys like Mel Kape Jr. And others never draft a running back in the first round, et cetera, et cetera. To see him go in the first round, it's like hope that running
backs and being more appreciated. With what Sakwon Balky did for the Eagles last year, with what Henry did for the Ravens last year, you just sort of find yourself hoping that the running backs there's going to be an elevated level of appreciation for them. What do you think about that? Is that possible?
Well? I think it's interesting that there was an elevated level of appreciation. We saw the Eagles reward Saquon Berkley and redo his contrary after one year, the Ravens have
talked to Derrick Henry about a new deal. We're here in Green Bay where Josh Jacobs came to Green Bay and had a huge impact on the Packers roster, and we are heading into rounds two and three in a draft where the strongest position in this draft was running back, and we're going to see a slew of running backs taken tonight and on Saturday they can come in and make a difference for teams. But you're going to get a bunch of running backs tonight that teams are counting on.
This was considered the big press count or the big draft for these running backs. Again people texting me a press councter. Sorry, big draft of running backs and that's the strength of this draft. Steven A, the.
Best in the business, The one and only Adam Schefter live from the NFL Draft. Man, thank you so much for taking time out of your busy schedule. I know how busy you are.
I really appreciate it.
Man, Thank you so much.
I appreciate you, steven A. Thank you for having me all the US.
Talk to you soon. Well, only Adam Schefter. There's nobody better when it comes to the NFL. Nobody better