A collection of the best moments, surprising reactions & more from Thursday night’s Yahoo Sports Draft Live, covering the first round of the 2026 NFL Draft.
Build up is different because there are so many unanswered questions.
Like, we know Mendoza’s going number one, but beyond that, no one really knows anything.
Right.
Like, two could be Reese, it could be Bailey, it could be, I don’t know.
I don’t think they’re gonna take Jeremiah Love.
I don’t think they’re gonna take Carnell Tate, but does anyone truly know what the Jets are gonna do?
They’re not on the clock yet.
But really, two is where the draft begins.
We don’t often say that.
No.
A- and I think that’s what makes it so fun, ’cause it, not only is there Like, I just see you mentioned those names.
Like, because there’s the lack of consensus we just mentioned overall, how those positions stack up- Yeah too, and even that.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Like, even at pick two, it’s like you can make the argument very easily for David Bailey or Arval Reese, or insert name here, and I think that’s what makes it pretty cool, is that like they’re all arguable and you also kind of go, “Yeah, I can see that,” and you squint and see it that way, too.
So I, I think that’s just what’s makes it real, really fun.
What, what’s interesting about this draft is the best players are associated with positions we normally don’t say are high value.
Yeah.
Yeah.
We’re talking two linebackers, a safety.
We’ve got- That’s right offensive tackles, which are very valuable- Yes no matter how much people don’t wanna talk about it.
Be a lot of them.
Right.
So, uh- it’s kind of, it’s been interesting to see how people are kind of parsing this out.
So right side of the screen here, you see Peter Dillon’s where he just spoke to Jason Fitz.
Roger Goodell, off camera, you can’t see it, but imagine it’s happening.
Roger Goodell right now at Acrisure Stadium.
You hear the roar.
Has introduced Fernando Mendoza- There we go who is wearing a black suit with a blue tie.
He looks like a banker- or a mortician.
A mortician.
black suit, and he has the Raider hat on.
I’m telling you right now, Fernando Mendoza is hugging it out with the family.
Everyone’s got Raider hats on.
There we go.
I, messaged a, guy from the Raiders that I know that works on their staff there, and I said, “Had an interview with your, business manager,” and he goes, “Who, Kirk?”
And I go- “No, Fernando,” and he goes, “Oh, y- yeah, that works, too.”
But it was just, yeah, I could kind of see it that way, and that’s exactly what it looks like there.
But it feels nice that even with the Raiders can kind, can screw this up too much.
Stayed in the lane.
Yes.
Stayed normal.
Stayed in the lane.
Did exactly what we expected.
Yes.
Kept it in the fairway.
Back to Peter Dillon’s and Raider Jason’s.
No violator yet seen.
No gorilla either, but we have a lot of Raider fans who seem happy.
Jason, is that fair?
Oh, man, this place is going nuts.
This is insane.
There were people that showed up tonight with Fernando Mendoza jerseys already, so they were a little bit nervous, but nothing to be nervous about.
Remember, guys, in my lifetime as a Raiders fan, only two other times have they selected a quarterback in the first round.
We’re talking about JaMarcus Russell, who’s essentially Voldemort to Raiders fans everywhere- and Todd Marinovich.
Think about what that means for quarterbacks.
It has been so long, and I understand the greatness of Rich Gannon.
I understand the greatness of Derek Carr, if we wanna call it that.
But at the end of the day, it has been a long time since this fan base had a quarterback they could plant their flag with.
This is why Raider Nation is so exciting.
This atmosphere is insane.
The, highest drafted quarterback since 2020 for the Raiders was Aidan O’Connell, who is still on the roster as well.
Fitz, any Aidan O’Connell jerseys there?
I’ve not seen an Aidan O’Connell.
The, I’ve seen some Nnamdi Asuah jerseys.
Okay.
Nice.
I’ve seen some old-time, like some good, good old-school jerseys.
All the legends are represented.
No Aidan O’Connell jerseys.
It’ll be interesting to see where Aidan fits in to the quarterback room that includes Kirk Cousins and Fernando Mendoza.
Oh.
Clearly the nicest quarterback room in the NFL.
Mendoza!
Mendoza!
Mendoza!
Little bit better than Andrew Walker.
Mendoza!
Mendoza!
Mendoza!
I don’t know what we’re doing, guys.
It’s getting wild.
All right, go have fun.
We’ll, we’ll get back there in a bit.
Jason Fitz, everybody, at Peter Dillon’s in midtown Manhattan with a bunch of Raider fans.
All right, so the inevitable happened.
C-Mac, your thoughts, Fernando Mendoza.
It’s a good pick.
It was the only pick to make.
you know, we’ve been talking about this for five months now.
It’s been easy to write that blurb in the mock drafts.
Yeah.
Yeah.
With just different jokes saying, like- Right “What else are you expecting?”
If you’re reading, like, if you’re reading number one Mendoza analysis, what do you need to see in this, right?
I mean, it Well, but, but, but tell me this.
Tell me why he’s worthy of the number one pick- Um- and not merely the number one pick because he’s a quarterback and the team that has number one needs a quarterback.
The, the quick way that I would, I would put it is, do you remember how Indiana looked in that playoff game against Notre Dame?
Yeah, they were good.
They c- no, the year before.
Oh, the year before.
Yes.
I’m sorry.
Curtis Rourke.
Yeah.
No, not good.
They couldn’t score.
Right.
And when they played Ohio State, they couldn’t move the ball.
Every big boy defense came and punched them in the mouth.
Really all they did was put him in and, you know, he had a couple auxiliary pieces change on the outside, but he was the biggest driver of that success.
And when you look at where Cal was before he transferred from there, Georgia wanted him.
Mm-hmm.
Indiana wanted him.
So this is a guy who’s been sought after, even though us East Coasters didn’t see him play at Cal.
So I, I, I think that he’s got a lot more, you know, t- stuff to him than people are giving credit for, and he’s still legit, like, number one overall quarterback prospect.
Yeah.
Mendoza is the first quarterback to win the Heisman, win the Natty, and go number one overall since Joe Burrow.
Whew.
There you go.
Yeah, and I, I’ve seen some comparisons to hi- to Burrow.
I, I would say Matt Ryan has been the guy I’ve kinda compared Mendoza to as the high upside comparison, and some people kinda go, “Aw, M- Matt Ryan went to several Pro Bowls and won MVP in an offense that Mendoza’s about to play in.”
That’s right.
So there is some upside there.
No, but Mendoza, even last year at Cal, he was, literally a year ago, my quarterback, one, because watching him at Cal in a system that, or a situation where he’s getting beat up, a lot of stuff ha- happening around him, a lot of bullets flying, he was still able to make plays and execute in high leverage situations, third down, red zone, two minute, and that carried over to Indiana.
So just what Chuck is saying, there’s discussion about the RPO-ness, but you can still see traits and ability in those RPOs and also process in that, and I think he’s a great fit for this, this offense under Kliff Kubiak.
I love what they did to Howard Lindebom there.
I love Kirk Cousins steadying the fort until Mendoza gets there, and knowing that he’s steadying the fort- Yeah as opposed to going, “You just drafted a quarterback, Michael Penix?”
Yes.
So I, I like, it, it feels weird to say it, but the Raiders feel very steady right now, and Mendoza’s gonna drive that steadiness.
Cardinals have done it.
They have taken a top-Five running back.
Jeremiah Love, Notre Dame, who’s more than just a running back, he’s a weapon.
You could line him up wide, you could line him up in the slot.
He’s a talented- Can you though?
talented football player.
Let’s get reception perception on this.
Can you?
Well, he- Or is he just a running back?
He’s a running back, and like if you’re gonna sell that you want the running back third overall, just say you’re taking a running back.
This offensive weapon nonsense, like it never actually comes together.
Like who’s running backs running routes out wide are not gonna be as good as receivers.
Certainly the guys they have in Arizona, like I don’t care if Marvin Harrison Jr. has been disappointing, he’s better running routes out wide than Jeremiah Love.
Right.
Michael Wilson had 1,000 yards last year.
Trey McBride’s a guy that can actually credibly line up all over the field.
So don- just, listen, we can have a conversation about taking a running back third overall, but let’s not do the weapon thing because it never actually ends up happening.
It’s some- I guarantee the coaching staff’s gonna say it- Yeah when they go on the podium later.
They’re gonna say it again when we go into training camp, and then when we get to games he’s, he’s gonna maybe get like one catch out wide on like a little bubble screen or something.
It’s just- Well, hub- Christian McCaffrey does it and he’s like a fantasy darling.
Could Jeremiah Love be that guy?
Could he be Mr. Fantasy for you?
Well, I definitely think he’s gonna be a good fantasy pick.
I, I kinda wish he went to a spot that, you know, didn’t have so many other guys and picks.
Like had a quarterback?
Well that would- That too.
Yeah maybe that would help for sure, although we did see, Jacoby Brissett pull off one of the fantasy scams of all time last year when that team was just dropping back- Jake Brissett and dropping back and dropping back relentlessly as they were negative game stripped.
I talked to Trey McBride at the Super Bowl and I said, “Hey man, how’d you have such a dynamic year where you put up all these stats?”
He goes, “Well, we were behind a lot.”
So you know, even, even he knew it.
I, so I do think there’s at least I, and I think they do have some talent there, but- Yeah they need a right tackle badly.
Yes.
They need a right tackle badly.
They’ve got to complete that offensive line.
Still, I do think Jeremiah Love at the end of the day, because of the pass-catching upside that he come, brings to the table, and again, not as an out wide player, but like leak him out of the backfield.
Sure.
Throw him screens.
Because of that pass-catching ability he will compete to be a top t- top 12 running back in fantasy this year.
He’s super talented, and it’s like that’s the thing is like he’s a, a very, very, very, very good player.
He’s explosive.
He can catch the ball.
He’s got some pass protection want to, which is gonna allow him to stay on the field.
It’s just how I view a team building process, and the Cardinals to me are building still, like they, they have to be.
They have no idea who’s their quarterback.
The quarterback, presumed quarterback is holding out because he goes, “Wait, I’m the starter now?
All right, I want starter money.”
Right.
I get it, Jacoby.
Yeah.
And, and I understand Lafour is gonna be run first.
He is a McVay, Shanahan guy all the way.
Their offensive line is a little bit one of those where it’s like, all right, if I squint this is actually not too bad, but still it’s like skill- But you have to squint.
You have to squint.
And you need like to me a team building process is quarterback and trenches first.
It, it just, that’s how you build out a team.
And to me there’s no pressure on them to win.
Right.
There, and if you wanna make the argument like okay, he can say, you know, Mike Lafour can go, “All right.
Well, Sean McVay had Todd Gurley early on.”
Well, McVay didn’t draft Gurley.
Right.
He, he inherited Gurley when he took over for Jeff Fisher, and they got fired ’cause they stunk.
And they had the number one pick to draft J- well, they moved up for that, but they still have moved up because they had to do that.
But it was just one of these things where it’s like I don’t no argument really makes sense for where the Cardinals are at.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It’s not Jeremiah’s Love ability that I’m knocking.
No.
It’s more just where the Cardinals are.
You just saw Ashton Jeanty play fairly I thought he played okay last year.
Especially in the second half of last year.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And they, the Raiders, they had two games last year where they failed to get 100 yards.
Yeah.
I mean, this is, they’re- Not 100 yards rushing.
100 total yards.
100 total yards.
I mean, if you- Right.
Fewest plays in 20 years there’s a very recent example of why you should not do this if you’re a team that’s rebuilding.
Yeah.
I mean, I, I don’t think it, it has anything to do with Love as a talent.
I don’t, I don’t think he’s like a super-duper elite running back talent, but he’s good.
But why did you sign Tyler Allgeier?
Like what’s going on with the offensive line?
That’s a, that’s a what was the point of that?
If you’re in the, the, the other NFC West, the 49ers, the Seahawks, the Rams, they’re laughing at this, man.
They’re very excited about it.
They, they, they can’t block for him.
And they’re like, “Hey, yeah, that Ty Simpson guy’s pretty good too, right?”
So let’s go back to that because before the show y- you basically said that Jeremiah Love you like, but he’s a guy that he needs a clear highway.
So let, let’s bring Arizona traffic into it.
Is he gonna be sitting in a, in a bumper-to-bumper on the 10 here with nowhere to go?
I mean, he’s gonna be hurting most Sundays, I know that.
’cause, ’cause think about what, what, what is threatening about this offense that can make life easier for him?
I mean, the offensive line isn’t great.
We were just talking about- Yeah how they need a tackle.
Jacoby Brissett is holding out.
Jacoby Brissett is holding out.
Like that’s- He’s like, “I dare you.
I dare you to take Ty Simpson.”
But like that’s where they’re at though.
Yeah.
So I, I just don’t see how this helps them today.
Yeah.
Good luck, Mike.
And, and that’s the thing is Mike Lafour I think do, has really good chops in the run game.
He helped- Yeah the Rams- Yeah evolutionize their run game.
Like he has a lot of football knowledge.
I really do say that.
Mm-hmm.
but they, they kept the same old line coach who, who was a really big part of their drop off, Justin Fry last year.
It was a guy from Ohio State.
Paris Johnson Jr. who looked like a star after his first year, had- A Buckeye a major regression.
Former Buckeye as well.
So but I do think that he’ll get more solidified.
I do think that Lafour is gonna have a nice steady offense and a nice well-schemed offense.
Very sound.
They’re gonna run a lot be- behind the left side unless they can somehow I think Elijah Wilkinson is your right tackle, right?
Yeah.
Yes.
Isaac Samoe pull up your big boy pants.
Right.
They’re gonna be running behind him a lot.
I do think they have some good weapons though.
They do.
I, I think that a guy like Harrison can take a step in this system as opposed to just last year, and I said this to you, Nate, all the time that like Drew Petzing, Kyler Murray, Marvin Harrison Jr., they all seemed to get away from each other.
Yep.
Now they have, and I think at least for Harrison, like he gets a, he gets a fresh start in a new offense.
I really do think Michael Wilson, like again, some of that was a fantasy scam the stats last year, but he is a good player.
I think they’re, they’ve, they’ve got some building blocks there on offense at least.
The fourth overall pick is in and the Tennessee Titans have taken a Buckeye.
Oh.
And it is not Arval Willis.
Yeah.
The Tennessee Titans at four overall have taken Carnell Tate- Oh wide receiver from the T-Ohio State University.
Matt Harmon, he is the first wide out off the board.
Yeah, Carnell Tate is a really clean prospect.
He’s not necessarily in the same group of guys, you know, like Malik Nabers or even Harrison as a prospect.
No, he hasn’t really worked out.
Or, you know, Jamar Chase certainly.
These guys who usually go in the top five.
That being said, he is a very, very good player that I think is gonna hit the ground running right away as a strong pro.
I mean, the thing with him the thing with him that really stands out, two things really.
Number one, seventh best success rate versus man coverage that I’ve charted since 2021.
He can eat up man coverage with those long strides, really good technique.
He’s especially good down the field and i- in the intermediate area.
And I, I would say he is one of the most aesthetically pleasing players to watch catch the football that I’ve ever evaluated.
He is just catches everything.
Hands out, arms, yeah.
Hands fully extended.
Yeah, I mean, he’s, he, he is a stud in that way.
Like, I think he is gonna help Cam Ward a ton because you look at the guys in that room.
Like, they s- they signed Wan- Wanda Robinson.
He can live in the slot.
They don’t have anybody who can really win consistently on the perimeter.
In fact, the player actually compared him to, not as a c- as a catcher, he’s a little bit different than these guy- this guy, but as a route runner, as a separator, he kinda reminded me of, like, early career Calvin Ridley, who’s still on the roster spiritually, um- I d- I do think, like, this helps the team a lot.
And from a fantasy standpoint, like, you kinda want him to go with a young ascending quarterback who’s gonna hit him and give him those opportunities on breaking routes down the field.
I do think if Cam Ward can really get it going, this is a good spot for Carnell Tate to potentially reach his ceiling.
So there are some that had Jordan Tyson ahead of Carnell Tate.
You guys were not- No, no in that boat.
I was.
You were?
Okay.
Tell me why.
Because I’m a, I’m a, I’m a, I’m a physical skills junkie.
I don’t know.
I, I like the guys who can be aggressive and explosive at the catch point, and I, I just I liked his, I liked his athletic traits a little bit more than Carnell Tate.
Now, I would say Carnell Tate is definitely more refined and ready to, to, like, help- Sure an offense today than Jordan Tyson, but I’m always Look, I’m I used to gamble.
I’m a, I’m a dice roller.
I like the physical upside, so I, I, I liked Tyson a little bit better.
and I, and I c- in ways, like, I think that there are a lot of things to improve.
It’s kind of exciting for him because- Yeah like, the baseline physical skill set is nice, but one, he, he’s gotta stay on the field a little bit more than he has in the past.
Mm-hmm.
and, I, I would say, like, there’s no guarantee that he does get the skills that you need.
But at least you got Chris Olave on the other side, so you have another wide receiver.
Yeah.
I mean, I think put look, let’s put the injuries aside for a second, which is kind of a stupid thing to say ’cause- it’s, it’s a big thing to put aside, but- You can’t, you can’t put them aside you can put them aside.
But I, I do just wanna say, like, from a just skill set standpoint, I am a pretty big certainty guy, and I think that he is someone that has a wide range of outcomes even without the injuries.
The good news is, though, I still think, and I said this when we did our wide receiver preview, that he still has the upside to be the best wide receiver in this class, but it was gonna take the right landing spot.
I do like this landing spot for Jordan Tyson because he checks two box for me.
Number one, he does not have to walk in right away and be the number one wide receiver.
Sure.
They have a number one wide receiver in Chris Olave.
He’s coming off a great year, who also complements Jordan Tyson really well because Tyson was the best zone beater that I charted last year.
He has one of the best success rate versus zone coverage I’ve charted in several classes.
Olave also has had trouble staying on the field.
There i- there is that.
Yeah.
There is that, but had a pretty good bill of health last year.
Yes.
So that was a good start.
But again, he is Chris Olave is a great press man beater.
Jordan Tyson, again, was the best zone beater that I charted in this year’s class, and he’s particularly good in the intermediate area, where this offense, because they were number three in plays with three-plus receivers on the field last year, they were number eight in drop backs with motion last year.
They free these guys up to get them away from press coverage and let them rip in the intermediate area.
So I think this is a this is the type of scheme, and I’m, I’m a fan of what this coaching staff has done here.
I’m a f- I’m a fan of that.
I’m a fan of him dropping into this offense.
I think because of this scheme, it’s a good spot for him to find that upside.
You like him in fantasy?
Anybody?
Yeah?
I’ll- Too soon?
Yeah.
Yeah?
I mean, they’ll be chucking it a little bit.
They signed Etienne.
That’s gonna be a lot of screens, too.
Like, Kellen Moore is a kind of a- Oh, a running back in the past game as a weapon?
A pass Yes.
Yeah, yeah.
But- It’s the pace that they play with, man.
Yes.
Like, they were- They do a lot of tempo they run a ton of p- they run a ton of plays.
They run the f- they were the fastest offense in the NFL if you look at seconds per play as well.
And Moore has chucked it when he was with the Cowboys, and even that year with the Chargers, they were willing to chuck it.
He’s kinda willing to do, like, whatever with it.
And also just their O line’s decent.
Like, they’re gonna know their answer on- Yeah on Shuck after this year, which is not a lot of teams can do that ’cause you can make excuses a lot and go like, “Well, he struggled ’cause he doesn’t have a pass catcher.
He struggled ’cause he doesn’t have offensive line.”
Now they can win this year.
It’s very open in that division.
And also they can get more answers and be more definitive, and then go in the next year going like, “Yeah, we got our guy,” or, “Okay, hey, hey, let’s watch some of these teams that, you know, maybe we can maybe upgrade from this.”
And this is kinda what we just saw with, Tennessee as well, and that is you had the, the quarterback going into year number two.
Let’s get him a weapon in the first round.
Yeah.
So Tennessee got Cam Ward, Cardell Tate, and now New Orleans and Mickey Loomis and Kellen Moore get their guy, Tyler Shuck, who was the second round pick, not number one overall.
They get him, Jordan Tyson.
Obviously with Christian Parker as the new defensive coordinator coming from Philadelphia as the secondary coach going to Dallas, could use some help in the secondary.
And Charles Robinson, they take Caleb Downs from the Ohio State University.
Charles Robinson, our Yahoo senior NFL writer.
How’d this thing come together, buddy?
Yeah, you know, if you remember, we, we talked on Inside Coverage about, oh, are they gonna be the team, Cow- the Dallas Cowboys to move to six?
Remember when everybody, the mock drafts, all of a sudden it got really popular to, to mock the Dallas Cowboys trading to six?
And I told you that I’d spoken with someone in the Cowboys organization when I was working on the All Juice team and, and was told, like, hey, they felt like they could get, a player they wanted at 12 that could be very useful for them, as a rookie, and then also 20.
And I, I think the two guys, had either of them started to fall in the draft, e- either Sonny Stiles or Caleb Downs, it was gonna be those two guys that they would move for.
And interestingly enough, I, I think if you would’ve asked them, “Do you think you could only have to move one spot to get to Caleb Downs from 12 to 11?”
I think they would’ve doubted it.
I think they, they weren’t buying this idea that Caleb Downs was gonna slide outside of the top 10.
Super clean evaluation.
you know, his last year at Ohio State, probably one of the cleaner evaluations when you talk to people just about who is at the top of their board.
They gotta be thrilled about this.
I know it’s a player that Jerry Jones absolutely, was in love with, that front office was in love with.
So to only have to move two fifth round picks, to effectively get up one spot and make sure nobody else steals him, that’s a big coup for the, for the Cowboys.
Yeah, I think it’s a good move here for the Cowboys.
And it also proves-Thanks, C Rob.
It, it proves that safeties don’t go in the top 10.
Yeah.
They don’t go in the top 10.
Well, this We did- we were doing the DB show, Chuck and I.
We started kind of just, I think it was on Pro Football Finder or Research, and just looking at safeties drafting around one.
And I was like, “You know who Downs reminds me of?
Minkah Fitzpatrick.”
Yeah.
Not super toolsy, super smart though.
Like, good tools, but not great.
And w- you know what spot Minkah Fitzpatrick got drafted at?
Number 11.
So I was like, “Ah, there it is right there.”
There you go.
Yeah.
Number 11.
Not the top 10, but just as we get outside of that, but they need- Kyle Hamilton, 14.
Yeah.
Nick Evenworry, second round.
Yep.
James.
Derwin James.
Yes.
17, I want to say.
Yes, 17 or 19, something like that.
Yeah.
Something like that.
17.
Yeah.
Okay.
Yep.
I mean, just But that’s what it but I, I love this for the Cowboys.
Like, they needed a- Yeah a true difference-maker, a solidifier.
Tone setter.
Yep, tone setter.
And this is a defense that, it plays very top-down with its DBs.
DBs have to do a lot rotating down.
you have Jalen Thompson has played a little in the slot.
I know they have DaRon Bland still, but now you’ve got some more versatility with their DBs, so, “Oh, yeah, we don’t have linebackers.
Well, we’ll just put a bunch of DBs on the field, and we’ll just patch that over- until we get a guy or two-” Yeah “that can actually start out there.”
It’s always been funny to me that these guys are so undervalued when it comes to the draft because you always notice it when you have a bad player right there.
Right.
Yeah.
Especially as, as offense is like a s- they attack space more and more.
Like- Yeah wouldn’t you value someone who could play in the box and make those tackles a little bit higher?
And when they, when it gets to, to Sunday, we all know, like, that’s a really, really valuable player to have, especially today.
So, I think that this is a great pick.
He’s Maybe he’s not the guy who’s gonna play single high over the top, but I mean, who cares?
But that’s how they do.
So much of the game- Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yeah so much of the game happens now in the box anyway.
No, it’s perfect.
Right.
It, it’s, it’s No, this is a great defensive fit for him ’cause he gets to just rotate and do stuff.
A- again, I, I kept coming back to, like, a soccer term, centrally located.
Yeah.
‘Cause we, Kyle Hamilton’s a little different where he’s in the slot and then deep, which is a little different than what Downs is best at, which is more deep safeties, you know, quarter safeties, and then into the box.
This is what this defense thrives in.
They rotate late and use smart plays from smart guys, and it’s like that’s where I couldn’t really figure who would pull the trigger.
Yeah.
And now that it happens to be the Cowboys, I’m like, “Yep, okay.
This, yeah, this defense I can already envision how they’re gonna use him.”
I have heard multiple evaluators whisper in the last 20, eh, two weeks, that there are some teams that have Oregon’s Dylan Thieneman and some teams that have Toledo’s Emanuel McNeil-Warren rated ahead of Caleb Downs on their boards.
That’s crazy.
You’re shaking your head you don’t buy that?
That’s, that’s ridiculous.
I’m just telling you I’ve heard that.
This guy’s been- You haven’t heard that?
This guy’s been the best keeping- I’ve seen it, but I’ve- You’ve seen it like Yes, but also it’s like- Okay.
Eh.
You think it’s nonsense?
yeah.
Yeah.
No, because people get bored.
That’s what happens.
They’re good players.
Do not g- Those two are good players.
This guy’s been in our lives for a long time now.
He is a good player.
Nick Saban said he was the best player as an ATO freshman.
Exactly.
And that’s who, who coaches Mink- Minkah Fitzpatrick.
Nick Saban, same exact stuff he was saying there about that guy too.
Yeah.
When, when you have Nick Saban and Ryan Day saying he was the best player on the field he could have coached, and from the second he stepped on campus at Alabama as a freshman, or the following year- Yep in Columbus as a sophomore, he could’ve played in the NFL, that’s good enough for me.
Yeah.
And it’s good enough for Jerry Jones at 11 overall.
My, my interview with, with him came out this week with Caleb Downs, and he, this is just a play.
I just brought, randomly brought up, PBU he got against Michigan.
On that play, there was no defensive play call in there.
Ooh.
They He just patched it over- Ooh from Matt Patricia.
We got a- The Rams just took Ty Simpson, quarterback from Alabama.
Reportedly, Matthew Stafford was called today and- he was given a heads-up.
Charles Robinson now, with more insight.
C Rob, you told us in our pre-draft meeting, not on air, that meeting was actually off air, you said there was a shot.
I don’t know that anyone thought that shot was really at 13.
Yeah, you know, and, again, when we broke into the show, I told you, look, I was told strictly by someone in the organization when they had those, you know, acquired those two first round picks, and this is going, you know, back to conversations all the way in August, including long conversations I had with, with Les Snead, the general manager, about the fact that they could take those two first round picks and spend them, like split the baby.
Let’s, let’s go get a player now that continues to help us win.
If Matt Stafford sticks around in 2026, we’ll continue to lean into that window.
But let’s also not put ourselves into a situation- where we’re just gonna gamble that every year we’re gonna have an opportunity to draft a quarterback that we like.
And I, I think the, the way the Rams were viewing 2020 s- the 2027 draft is, yeah, great, there’s gonna be a ton of quarterbacks there, but we really plan on picking last in that draft.
That’s what we’re in this for.
and if we have the opportunity to get a quarterback we like right now, let’s go and get him.
And the, the interesting thing about Ty Simpson, you know, Ty Simpson’s family spoke to Les Snead prior to making the decision about whether or not he was gonna come out, and Les Snea- Les Snead straight up told them, “Your son’s a first round pick.
Like, he, you are a first round quarterback in my eyes.”
And I, you know, I think they like the fact that he can turn his back on a defense, the fact that he can play, in a play action offense, the fact that they have Matt Stafford, Matthew Stafford, and can sit him and be patient with him.
not a lot of people are gonna like this pick, but I can tell you the Rams did a ton of homework on this guy.
They spent a lot of hours deliberating, whether or not he was gonna be someone worthy of taking, maybe even as high as 13, and this is really how they ulti- ultimately got here.
And Matthew Stafford’s about to turn Well, he did just turn 38.
He’ll be 39 by the time we get to next year’s draft.
they’re working on tweaking that deal.
there’s been no indication in any way, shape, or form that tweaking that deal is going to be an issue.
C Rob, do you think this changes anything?
We’re still cool.
You’ll give Matthew Stafford a bump.
He won the MVP.
I mean, I- Yeah th- think about where Like, the guy won the MVP and they just drafted- Yep his successor.
This isn’t like, “Hey, we’re drafting Jordan Love.”
Aaron Rodgers is ticked- Right pours himself a scotch, and then goes out and wins an MVP.
This is- Sure this guy just won it.So I’ll, I’ll tell you something specifically Snead told me last August when we were talking about, you know, potentially finally going and getting that quarterback in the 2026 draft.
And, and we were talking about Arch Manning.
And, you know, I said, “Look, okay, say you’re in a position, you, you like Arch Manning, say he comes out, say there’s a chance he gets to you in the first round of the 2026 draft.”
I said, “Can you really take an Arch Manning and, and turn around and look at Matthew Stafford and say, ‘Hey, don’t worry about it’?”
And Les Snead told me then, “Yes, we’re We think that Matthew will be on board with this.
We’re, we’ll take care of the money.”
And he said right then, “Matthew can play as long as he wants.
We think he’s got more than one year left in him.”
This was obviously going into the 2025 season.
He’s like, “If we take a first-round quarterback, we’re okay being patient because we have someone that’s already elite at the position, and it just means we can take our time with the next player.
And, and Sean Peyton can…” Or excuse me, “Sean McVay can really work to mold him, into, you know, where he needs to be in that offensive system.”
So I They have been looking at this, and, and, you know, putting a person in that room with Matthew Stafford going back to, to last off-season.
So this, I don’t think this is a huge surprise.
They’ll pay Stafford.
And Sean McVay, I, I can just tell you from conversations leading up to this draft, Sean McVay was going to make it abundantly clear if they were gonna take a quarterback, “Matthew, we are not pushing you out.
You are going to be here as long as you wanna be here.”
Charles Robinson, Yahoo senior NFL writer.
The Rams with the first Oh, there’ve been a couple shockers, but this is the shocker of all shockers here.
The Rams take a quarterback.
Thank you, C-Rob.
Jay Glazer also with a tweet saying, what C-Rob was talking about here, that McVay has reached out to Stafford and said, “Hey, it’s your job until you don’t want it anymore.”
That’s great.
Finances obviously are gonna have to play a role in this as well.
I was talking, to someone close to the Rams a couple of days ago, and I said, “Do you guys really like Ty Simpson?”
And now in retrospect when I think of this person’s answer, and the answer is kind of a blank face, it, it was not a, “Hey, I can’t tell you anything.”
It was just a, “Don’t ask me any more questions.”
What do you think?
the whole draft process, I had so many people ask me, “Do you think he goes in round one?”
Because you consider him more of a day two guy.
And I was like, guys that had graded worse went in the top 10.
Penix, Bo Nix I had in the same kind of grade as Ty Simpson.
They kind of went similar spots.
Is this a Penix moment?
‘Cause when Penix went two years ago at eight overall, you guys all let out your wallet.
This Yeah, this is, this is rich to me.
Yeah.
But again, this is this draft class.
Once you get outside of the top 10, it’s like whatever.
but I do think this is a little rich to me, but Les Snead loves his ‘Bama guys.
I know he went to Auburn- Mm-hmm but he has a thing for anyone that’s played in the SEC in the South.
He really does.
you should have seen his write-up on Julio Jones.
It was like fan fiction.
But also, yeah, when I was with the Falcons.
But also guys like, you know, he is, he has Stetson Bennett on this roster.
And I, I can honestly say this, I’ve seen Stetson Bennett struggle on preseason practices where I was like, “All right, I’ve seen much better than this.”
And they held onto him, held onto him, competitiveness, all this.
So while I’m also bringing up Bennett, they didn’t care about size.
Like, they don’t, they think if you can operate in this type of system, we’re gonna go for it.
So I have those parameters, but they obviously don’t.
And also the turn your back to the center thing, you can teach that.
That, that is what something like everyone just extrapolates and goes, “Oh, he can turn his back to center.”
Guess what?
Everyone gets taught to do that day one.
You just lean into other things.
Yeah, but, but some guys have been taught but don’t get it.
Right.
But it, it, but it’s one of those things to me- That’s all that you’re chasing a thing that’s already complete, while Bennett doesn’t have maybe some of those things that you really want in your first-round quarterback.
Maybe they are fine with that.
They can insulate this.
This is Sean McVay, who I consider one of the best offensive s- football minds currently.
But that, this to me is just like, all right, I get your argument.
At 13, like that is You’re pushing it.
You have one of the best rosters in the NFL right now.
Right.
This could be a difference maker at some position.
It could be insurance at another position, I think.
This is I mean, the, let’s, the truth here is this is a very far delineation from where the top of the quarterback game is right now physically.
Right.
You know?
When you look at, like, you could call the top 12 quarterbacks, everyone’s got some sort of extreme physical trump card.
This ain’t Jalen Green.
Right.
Correct.
Right.
Yes.
And, and part of the problem to me with this pick is you saw exactly where the physical limitations hurt Ty Simpson last year at Alabama.
He’s small, he’s not the fastest guy, and that’s gonna lead to injuries like we just saw last year.
Yep.
So you’re g- if you are thinking about putting him behind potentially a repatched offensive line in the future, I, I don’t know.
I, I think that this is kind of a, an interesting pick because, like Nate said, it shows they’re not stuck to the physical tools.
But when you look at who are the best quarterbacks in the NFL, they all have some physical trump card that makes life incredibly difficult for defenses, including the Rams’ starting quarterback- Right.
Mm-hmm Matthew Stafford.
Mm-hmm.
Ty Simpson has none of those traits, and I, I just find that interesting that you would spend a first-round pick on him.
Yeah.
Now, maybe I’m too low, because I just, I watched like the last six games of Alabama.
I wasn’t very impressed.
I know he was injured, but that’s part of the evaluation too.
Correct.
Right.
That’s good.
You can’t just wave that away when- Oh, the small guy won’t get hurt in the NFL?
Really?
And I know he’s a smaller guy, and his arm touch is good.
Like, it’s a good arm.
It really is.
But again, like you said, it’s not excellent.
It’s not very good.
Mendoza might have just a good arm, but he also has great size.
He’s a good athlete and a good frame, and a big frame.
And like you mentioned, like I’ve seen people go, “Well, he can be Brock Purdy.”
Brock Purdy’s 225.
He’s a sturdy, big dude.
He’s brocc’d up.
Yes, he is.
And he can move decently.
Like, you know, and that’s Simpson is a pretty good athlete, but I’m not gonna run, design runs with him, ’cause he’ll get crushed.
Well, the other thing too is that Brock Purdy had four years of starting at Iowa State- Yes or three-plus years of starting at Iowa State.
And then didn’t start right away on the seventh round.
Right?
Ty Simpson has 15 career starts.
Yes.
That’s it, and that’s another knock.
Historically speaking, 15 career starts does not do you well in the NFL.
Ask Anthony Richardson.
Very different players, I understand that.
Right.
But that is the most recent example of a guy being taken in the first round with this few starts.
Yep.
Ty Simpson to the Rams, he is gonna have some room and some time to wait.And marinate.
Coming up next, the Ravens are on the clock at 14.
This is not the Raiders’ pick.
This is the Ravens’ pick.
What do they do in Baltimore?
We’ll tell you.
Don’t go anywhere.
You are watching Yahoo Sports Draft Live.
The Rams watched all those, dig routes and were just like, “Well, we can That, that’s what we do.”
We can do that.
That’s what we do.
This is easy.
In the first half of the season.
The first half of the season.
Oh, he was under center.
Yeah, Ta- How do people vote?
Taylen Green had more under center snaps than Ty Simpson last year, and so it’s just like, that If that’s your argument for it- How do people vote?
Do we know?
Just, yeah.
I mean- I mean, the under center thing is, is It’s like- It’s- it’s jumped the shark with- If you’re good at That was the big question on Drake May, oh, is he Can he And then right away he could do it ’cause he’s a good enough athlete, and if you’re a hard worker, you can kind of figure it out.
It was that, that, that thing, like, well, you think the guy’s not gonna work hard to like- Right figure out how to take freaking snaps- If you’re, if you’re wired right under center?
And that’s the thing, a- and also with Simpson too, anyone listening, is it sounds like I’m crushing him, I hate him, everything.
I like a lot of his game, and I really do.
It’s just that y- I find, like, you can find types like this more often than the guys that are the freaks, the guys at the top of the line.
Just look at QBR right now.
Drake May, all right, top of QBR last year.
I’m just simplifying it right now, quick, quick to look up.
225, runs a legitimate sub 4.5.
Just watch him run.
Brock Purdy’s actually pretty quick.
This is one guy also you can pump a little shiny stat here.
Maybe they just watch a lot of Brock Purdy film.
They’re like, “We want that again.”
Jordan Love, 2:30 and change.
Got it.
Cannon of an arm.
Yeah.
Pretty good athlete.
What’s the poll again?
Even if Simpson and Love- The same, we’re- have run, I would say, even similar 40 times, Love is 20-something pounds heavier.
Mm-hmm.
Dak Prescott, very big.
Probably not the greatest arm either.
That’s actually But his arm is probably the same as Simpson.
240.
Good enough.
240.
240.
Ran all over the SEC when he was playing.
Mahomes, Josh Allen- Okay even Daniel Jones has got traits.
Joe Burrow, Lamar Jackson.
Got it.
Okay, now we get to a guy, Mac Jones.
That is your comparison.
But again, where did Mac Jo- Jones go, 15?
Were the Patriots happy with that?
Mm-mm.
No way.
He went to the playoffs his rookie year.
Went to the playoffs rookie year, everyone was- Went to the playoffs his rookie year everyone was saying he’s gonna be the best of that class.
On his 13th.
All that stuff.
And Her- then you go Justin Herbert, Trevor Lawrence.
Even Bo Nix got stupid traits.
Caleb Williams.
Penix has got a bigger arm, but I, I, I have Simpson better, a higher grade on Simpson.
Dart’s got traits.
I have a higher grade on Simpson than Dart.
Sorry, I’m just going one after another.
This is why I just have some hesitations that, yes, he’s a good scheme fit, but is he a good traits raiser or f- more, or ceiling raiser?
Yahoo Sports Draft Live, that is Nate Tysner- finishing up a thought on Ty Simpson.
That is Matt Harmon.
This is Charles McDonald.
This is Charles McDonald.
I’m Andrew Siciliano.
Ty Simpson went 13 overall to the LA Rams.
Let’s get a Yahoo Sports poll up here.
Are you liking this one?
Are you feeling this one?
74% of you say- Smart fans not feeling it.
To quote Vic the Brick, “Not feeling you.”
LA sports fans would get that.
Wheeler was a second-round pick out of LSU.
Now you- Ah get Kenyon Sadie.
Look, maybe I’m just way too skeptical of, like, what the Frank Reich offense is gonna look like.
But when I imagine, like, a system that might get the best out of Kenyon Sadie, it certainly wasn’t what I think the Jets are going to be doing here.
I don’t think they have the offensive ecosystem to elevate another pass-catching talent.
Like, they’ve still not gotten the best out of Garrett Wilson at this point in his career.
I think this is just too many I mean, look, you can never have too many good players, but again, you already have Mason Taylor last year, who’s- Yes coming off, like a okay year.
Okay.
He was solid.
No, he really came along.
He came along.
Especially as a blocker, too.
No, I liked him a lot.
And, like, Adonai Mitchell gave you some moments- Yeah as the X receiver there.
I just am not quite sure where Sadie is gonna fit in it, ’cause especially last time we saw Frank Reich in the NFL, it wasn’t fun for the Carolina Panthers.
It was also a pretty s- traditional, like, 11 personnel offense, and now you have two young tight ends who I don’t really know what the roles are gonna look like.
So you’re not drafting Kenyon Sadie in fantasy right now?
I probably wasn’t gonna be drafting Kenyon Sadie- Okay in fantasy anyway.
If he went to the Rams, you would’ve.
Probably not, honestly, because I don’t think he’s one of these guys like a Colson Loveland who can be on the field for every single snap and be, like, a viable pass catcher in that way.
Now, certainly with the Jets, I don’t think this is a spot for him to have that year one fantasy success.
Even a guy like Tyler Warren last year schemed a lot of touches in an 11 personnel offense that went a little heavier than what we saw the year prior.
This to me, I just don’t see the clarity for him to get a lot of opportunity early.
What, what is this offense?
I, I have- I have no idea no idea what it is either.
That’s not what I’m struggling with.
This feels like- Yeah this feels like a strict best player available pick.
Yeah.
Right.
That’s what it feels like.
Yeah.
I would add on, too, not only did Frank Reich’s, like, last NFL tenure go bad, his last college tenure last season with Stanford did not go well.
so I, I, I’m not really sure what they want this offense to look like.
I thought Mason Taylor did good enough where he wouldn’t need to make a pick like this.
You know, maybe you scratch tight end off the BPA, but if they truly think that he’s a transformative, trans- transformative talent on their defense- Yeah I think on their offense it makes sense.
I just, I, I thought they could’ve gone somewhere else, got some, some bigger needs, but it’ll be interesting, like- It’s- what 12 personnel sets they throw out there.
Yeah.
How about the fact that only two wide receivers are gone?
This feels right.
Yeah.
The, the two that were gone, uh- The two that were gone we knew were gonna go.
This feels right.
No, this feels right.
I think now- But there’s no Makai Lemon, there’s no Denzel Boston, there’s no Denzel Boston, most people mocked in the 20s.
Yeah.
I was surprised.
I’m not shocked by, I’m, I’m not shocked by Lemon.
Okay.
I, that was me personally, but I This is where I feel like now we’re getting into a receiver range.
Now the rush starts.
Yeah.
But now we actually might be Lions.
Lions are up at 17.
Now we got Lions.
Vikings are a total wild card team.
Panthers could be a receiver.
Yeah.
you know, now we’re getting to more teams that- Cowboys at 20 could have receiver.
Yep, Cowboys have been floating around.
Pittsburgh.
Steelers, yep.
Absolutely.
But no, I Even just going with the Jets, though, it’s, yeah, I, but looking at who are available, that’s why I think this is just best player available.
They probably couldn’t find a trade.
Yeah.
I’m shocked they couldn’t find a trade right here.
Not shocked, but I thought they’d This would be the r- draft range.
Maybe they didn’t want to because, all right, the best players right now to me are a bunch of tackles.
They don’t really need that.
They have two highly drafted tackles and very talented guys.
They could, guess, they don’t wanna go receiver.
Maybe not safety.
They don’t wanna reach that high for a safety.
Maybe you have the next tier of corners a little deeper or further back.
If you look at edges-It’s Kedrick Faulk, who’s not everybody’s flavor, and they just took a guy with the number two pick.
Right.
You know, so it’s just I- that’s why I was just like, they probably just were like, “All right.
Well, we got depleted.
All right.”
Yeah.
“Here’s Kenyon Sadique.
Here.
Come on down.”
It definitely feels like a BPA pick.
Best player available.
Yeah.
And, and I, I think it’s also to their credit, oh, by the way, with- Yes, sir Mekhi Lemon, as the Eagles go from 23 up to 20, they trade with the Cowboys, and then Philadelphia takes, Matt, the USC wide receiver.
So now our third wide receiver off the board.
Yeah.
I, I love this pick for them.
Again, he doesn’t have to come in here and be the number one wide receiver.
They have DeVonta Smith, who like I said, is ready to be that guy.
In 2024, A.J.
Brown was the number one player I charted in success rate verse man coverage.
You know who was number two?
DeVonta Smith.
Like, he’s ready to be that guy.
He’s ready to be a number one.
He can also play outside on the line of scrimmage ’cause he’s an elite press beater despite the BMI.
That does not matter.
So DeVonta Smith gets to do that while Mekhi Lemon comes in here and can move around, can play inside, out.
He can run some of the in breaking routes that they’re gonna want to put in the offense this year with Sean Manning coming from Green Bay.
I really like this pick a lot.
He’s tough as hell.
He catches everything.
He fits Like, I, again, I know from like a size standpoint he doesn’t look like the traditional first round receiver, but where the league is going right now, these guys who play inside out can beat zone coverage at a high rate.
He fits with where the league is right now in terms of high volume wide outs.
He’s also a dog.
Yeah.
Like, I mean, he’s, he’s gonna fight you.
Right.
I, I don’t mean actually fight you, but there’s He, he’s not the size obviously, as you just said, of A.J.
Brown.
But A.J.
Brown plays bully ball.
Right.
This guy could play a little bully ball as well.
And A.J.
Brown wasn’t playing a lot of bully ball last year if we’re being honest.
No, he was not.
He, he was barely- He was not getting the ball- Yeah to play bully or anything.
Not very happy with that.
I think this guy’s gonna come in here and set that type of tone right away.
this It just feels like a team watching the Eagles the last few years is just, like, stagnant and everybody kind of hates each other.
Like, I think they do need a little bit of a tone change here.
He’s gonna bring that.
And from a fantasy standpoint, like, I, I know that they This is an offense that’s been a little up and down, but still, we’ve gotten good production from these players overall, and I really do think if they can pull off, and it is a big transition for the quarterback specifically going into this new offense with Sean Manning.
If they can pull that off, like, I think we could see an efficiency boost with this team that still has a good offensive line and should still be able to run the ball.
Like, they’re gonna create a lot of favorable match-ups for Mekhi Lemon.
Wouldn’t surprise me if he’s the most productive wide receiver from this draft class.
One of the routes that Jalen Hurts loves to throw is slot fades- and that’s Mekhi Lemon’s bread and butter.
That’s right.
There’s some Lincoln Riley in there, but his ball skills.
He doesn’t have the greatest length.
Like, you know, they did a little experiment with this with Jahan Dotson, but he has great ball skills.
So he plays kind of the max size to it.
It’s just really interesting.
I’m curious how this is gonna fit with Jalen Hurts.
Gonna fit I, I like it with DeVonta Smith because he’s a little bit of a different flavor.
Smith is, you know, as much as I really, really like Smith, maybe not the greatest yak guy.
Lemon can be a little bit more of an underneath screen guy.
Yeah.
Create.
Smith is kind of a, a simple splitter.
Kind of gets the yards he wants.
maybe not create, maybe a downfield.
Just, I’m curious about this.
Like, this is just gonna be a very, with Sean Manning now being the OC there, like, I’m very curious of how they go.
If they’re going more under center, if they’re going more two tight end looks, and then move Lemon around truly- Yeah and Smith, do some interchangeability.
It’s just kind of I, I wanna see it.
I, I just really wanna see this unfold.
It’s a transition for the quarterback.
Like- Yeah that’s, that’s the big part.
More than anybody, yes.
That, that is a big part of it.
But I think from a receiver standpoint, he certainly fits the vision of what they’re looking for.
Yeah.
Right.
Real quick, Steelers on the clock.
Your thoughts on Lemon?
not who I would’ve picked here.
Who would you have picked?
if I was the Eagles, I probably would’ve taken our guy, Max Xchenney who were from- Same Arizona State, and keep stacking on the offensive line.
But anyone who lists the show knows that Nate and I are biased for- offensive lineman.
Yes.
‘Cause we talked about planet theory, planet theory earlier, just big, freakishly athletic guys are really hard to find.
Mekhi Lemon, I, I had him as the, as second round pick personally as my evaluation.
I just I don’t think that when you’re looking at, like a, a, a, a, like, a 5’10”, you know, 190, 200-pound slot receiver that didn’t really work out and wasn’t the fastest guy on the field.
And had a weird podium at the combine.
Yeah.
That I mean, I’m kind of weird too, so that, that one doesn’t- that one doesn’t scare me as much.
I- You’ve never seen any weirdos be- Right productive wide receivers in the NFL.
No, no, not at all.
I, I, I just wonder how dynamic he’s actually going to be in the NFL in terms of being able to run and break tackles from NFL speed defensive backs.
It never looked good against college, but I just don’t see, like, the high-end athleticism.
Mm-hmm.
To me, that makes him worth, like, a, a first round pick or someone to replace A.J.
Brown.
But I also kind of view that about most wide receivers.
You know?
There’s so many now that I have- There are started to devalue them myself.
Too many.
There’s too many.
There’s too many options.
Honestly, there’s too many good ones.
Yeah, so why, why do I need to take this guy who’s not the biggest, fastest guy, didn’t work out in the, in the first season?
That’s the other thing with- How many wide receiver reports did you do?
For this class?
Yeah.
I did 31 full, charts, and, like, I could’ve gone more.
And there was a lot of quality ones- Yeah especially once we get into, like, the second and third round.
And that’s the thing, too, is day two there’s a lot of options out there.
And, you know, Jalen Hurts, he grew a- as a quarterback because as much as I know the A.J.
Brown trade led to that push in 2022, he grew because of the O line.
He was able to sit in clean pockets.
Yeah.
So that’s why I’m interested, too.
It’s like they’ve had options I thought at this pick, and I know the NFL is a little lower and a, a henshore than I am, but I also just thought that was such a clean path to get that Lane Johnson replacement who’s, like, always teetering on retirement.
The O line coach now is gone, Jeff Stoutland, so I thought it was just a way to inject talent no matter who that O line coach is or who that sk- or who that offensive coordinator is this year and beyond.
So I just thought, too, that Lemon’s not really the trade-up-able player.
I thought they could’ve just sat and stood pat if they’re moving up for a receiver.
And with the 24th overall pick, the Cleveland Browns have selected Texas A&M wide receiver, NC State transfer, Casey Concepcion, who is your number two wide receiver.
Not the biggest guy.
He’s fun.
He’s great after the catch.
His hands maybe not 99 on Madden.
No.Tell me why he’s your number two receiver Because he is without a doubt, in my opinion, the best separator and the best route runner in this year’s class.
Like he has- Better route runner than Cornell Tate?
Yes, I think so.
I think he Again, from a- an all three levels perspective, like this guy smokes man press coverage.
92nd percentile success rate verse man coverage in reception perception.
Like, he’s the best man press beater in this class, despite the fact that he’s 5’11”, 190.
Like, he blows past guys.
Good corners on film too.
And I know the hands are a question, right?
The drop rate is too high.
There’s no question it’s too high.
It is an issue, it has to get fixed.
I think it can get fixed because you see guys sometimes who have, like, they just, they fight the football and they can’t make the high degree of difficulty catches.
And honestly, this is something that I think irritates fans more often than not, is that you see this guy make high degree of difficulty catches.
Like, they’re on tape, they’re on, they’re on film where he goes up and attacks the football and makes plays above the rims, above the rim.
But at times he’s thinking about catching it before, and, and not thinking about securing it and catching it before he’s making yards after catching.
Can you teach that?
Like, there’s a focus issue.
I Yes, I think you can teach it.
Drops, like, we talk about them a lot, but they’re not a sticky stat year to year.
And usually if you’re dropping the football a lot, it means you’ve been thrown the football a lot.
It means you’re getting open a lot, and this guy does get open.
So I think it’s much harder to find someone who can create separation on their own, not schemed, than it is to find somebody who we just need to fix his catch technique.
And he does need to fix it, like, he claps at the football too much.
You can clean that stuff up, though.
That is something I do think we’ve seen over the years that can get corrected.
He really grew on me.
Because you- Why?
It’s, it’s some of the throws he’s not getting where you can see the high-end ability.
He had some bad quarterbacks.
I was just- Oh, yeah about to say.
And that guy, and that quarterback’s got some big fans out there that if you say anything negative, oh my God, they come at you.
But I would say that’s what he had to deal with last year, and that’s why you didn’t get to see that maybe on, his usage at the NFL level.
Like, I actually think him underneath on s- he’s w- to me, he’s what Kadarius Toney was supposed to be- Ugh as far as how he moves.
He’s bendy, he’s got the explosive ability.
You just- Does he also have a rap career?
No.
So much of a better, uh- Yeah so much of a better route runner though.
Yes.
Oh my gosh.
And yeah, he actually knows what he’s doing.
Does he tweet at people on the bus?
I don’t think so.
No.
Okay.
I don’t think we have to worry about any of that.
‘Cause his nickname’s Young Joka.
I don’t think you have to worry about him- complaining about his cleats, was it?
Was it, like, he skipped mini camp ’cause of cleats or a helmet?
Yeah.
Th- no, this is a high character- I thought it was a helmet this is a high character guy.
Yeah.
No, Concepcion is just like, he has some real twitch, but you didn’t always get to see it because it was, the ball was going every which way but him.
Yeah.
he, he, like, on screens, he was catching underneath stuff, but you only got to see a couple of them.
But I think in the NFL level you’ll see those bubbles and those screens kind of boost his player profile.
But also he’s a good, not just gadget guy and I mean it more complimentary, he can handle those touches underneath.
Yeah.
And, and be an outside receiver.
Todd Monken’s the offensive, uh- Yes offensive play caller.
He’s, he’s got return ability too.
Think of the Jet, think of the Jet sweeps to him.
Yeah.
Like, it’s- I, I think he, I mean, people compare him- I love it to Zay Flowers.
that’s not my player comparison for him, just because I think, number one, he’s bigger than Zay- Yeah Flowers.
Again, I think he makes better plays contested than Zay Flowers does.
You had contested higher.
And I lo- and I- You did, yeah.
Me too.
And I love, and I love Zay Flowers.
I, I’m a really big fan of Zay Flowers, but I just say this to say that, like, from a usage standpoint, like, what Todd Monken did with Zay Flowers, where you feed him a lot of designed touches, but you’re also using him in motion to create these big plays from a separation standpoint.
And now you’ve already got a guy who can create separation on his own.
I do think, obviously, don’t know what the quarterback situation’s gonna look like.
Of course.
It, it is a guy who just played with a couple- Nobody knows of some shaky quarterback play.
Nobody knows.
Also, the rest of the wide receivers in the room, there’s a lot of interesting body types there.
But this guy is a, I, I think give you, has superstar wide receiver potential.
What do you think?
I, I’m glad he’s got good character ’cause when @sandersnation is up there, you know- Oh.
twisting up in the boundary- Come on, man where he just You know, it was a perfect pass.
Yeah, I mean, perfect.
It, it went right through his hands.
No, I’m, I’m kidding.
They, they need to do the- No, you’re not.
No, I’m not.
Actually, I’m not kidding.
Yeah, I, I- Yes.
I think that this is a great- We know how you feel.
This is a great pick for the next quarterback, you know?
Yeah.
Um- That’s what they’re trying to build unless, unless Deshaun Watson comes out here and plays like he did in 2019, which- Come on.
2020.
2020?
2020 he led the league in passing.
Yeah.
Six years ago?
It was- So long time ago it was six whole years ago.
For a Yeah.
Yeah.
That, that’s, that’s a long time ago.
If he can get back, then maybe that’s a, a, a way for him to have a, a good rookie season immediately.
But I think this is one of the situations where the talent is probably better than the production will be- Oh, yeah.
No question.
at the end of the season.
I, let, let me say this about the hands.
And, and, yeah, the drops are clearly there on tape.
last week, two weeks ago, I was on a flight with Casey, Casey Concepcion.
He was walking by me as we were boarding the plane.
I’m like, “Oh, wow, that’s him.”
There we go.
He looked at me, I looked at him, we, we dapped each other up.
But let me tell you- Sure he had, he had a phone, a breakfast sandwich- Yeah a cup of coffee- Real and he had the bag over his shoulder.
So he’s, like, kind of going up the aisle like this, and everyone’s bumping into everybody.
He was able to rearrange all of that and dap.
See?
That’s hands.
Yeah.
Yeah.
That’s good.
Yeah.
That’s right.
There we go.
That’s control.
Spoken.
That’s, that’s, that’s, that’s ball tracking.
Yes.
You know, keeping it secured, keeping it tight.
He didn’t drop anything.
Yeah.
This is like the ringer fantasy guys have a theory that they wanna see the receivers not have a case on their phone.Yeah.
Because you know they never drop their phone and break it.
Did he have a case on the phone?
I, I, I don’t, I don’t remember.
I got to talk to him before, the draft this year.
I asked him, “What’s your favorite route to run?”
No surprise, it was those deeper out routes, 10 to 15-yard out routes.
And I think if you look at just their overall wide receiver room right now, like you have a wanting Garrett Wilson, who’s kind of a move around guy that i- is gonna separate really well.
You have a guy in AD Mitchell, who’s your classic X on ball boundary player.
They don’t really have someone that you can just kind of spit the ball out to and let him create after the catch.
So certainly I think Omar Cooper Jr. will fit into that role.
He was one of the guys that did not come from JMU.
He, he was actually there at Indiana when Kurt Signetti got there.
Omar Cooper Jr. best known if, if you don’t remember, if you don’t remember any play this year, you probably remember the Mendoza to Cooper back of the end zone play to win in Happy Valley to beat Penn State.
That was one of the top five plays of the year, if not the number one play of the year.
Yeah, yeah.
That drive too, and that’s actually why Mendoza was so interesting too, watching that drive in the last quarter, like just hitting a couple throws and then capping it off with Cooper.
Cooper, you couldn’t help but notice him.
Like, honestly, Mendoza was hitting a lot of throws, but he was catching everything.
His ball still- skills are great.
Not only just that one in the back of the end zone, but over the middle, he’s tough, making some snags.
Not saying he was perfect, but his ball skills and ability to make tougher catches is a standout ability.
He’s good with the ball in his hands with his kind of, I think his body control and his balance are really standout traits.
Curious how he’ll bump to the outside.
I, I do think he’ll be actually okay at it.
Yeah.
But I do, my kind of comparison for him has been, Khalil Shakir plus.
Yeah.
Like that’s been my comparison for Omar Cooper is like- He’s a little bit bigger.
Yep.
A- and he’s, he’s such a tough player too.
Yep.
He- and he’s- Bounces off guys just like Shakir does high character guy.
There’s a cool story about him, and no- Nate, I know you had a similar experience with Mendoza.
When, we had him on the podcast, his upload was taking forever.
so he’s hung back with us afterwards to, as the, as the video file was uploading and, I had asked him, you know, “What’s your favorite route to run?”
To, to kind of go over some of the stuff in his RP profile that was really good.
He actually was like, “Okay, well, tell me my, what my worst grade and route is.”
Oh, that’s cool.
Mm-hmm.
and it was, I said, “You know, I think your curl routes, like your kind of those deeper stop routes are not your best.”
And he said, “Oh, that’s actually the thing I’m working on right now is, is, is part of it.”
So he’s- There you go.
You guys, you guys connected.
He- It’s tough.
Yeah.
Well, I just thought he was a really like high character guy of like really wanting to improve and he’s a tough blocker as well, like that’s gonna bring a lot to the Jets.
Do I think that he’s gonna be maximized from a production standpoint in year one?
no, I don’t.
But again, it’s, if they’re trying to make their next quarterback’s life better, this is a good pick.
Yeah.
Kurt Signetti, I think that boy’s on sicko time.
They love working, man.
They love to.
They love working.
Final pick on night number one.
This is, we’ve all said, gentlemen, a two running back draft.
Both of those running backs played in the same backfield in South Bend.
The 32nd pick on night number one, Jadarian Price, running back, Notre Dame.
Yep.
Well, I’ll say this, probably the biggest fantasy winner of the night is Jadarian Price.
Yeah.
That’s a great, great way to say it.
There’s no way, there’s no question about that because this was one of the few backfields honestly in the NFL that just has a screaming need for a starter.
Like they got Emmanuel Wilson.
Okay.
But Zack Charbonnet, we don’t know when he’s gonna play.
He tore his ACL late in the postseason in the divisional round.
Obviously, Kenneth Walker’s gone now too.
So certainly again, from a fantasy football standpoint, we can talk about whether they picked Jadarian Price 32nd overall, other needs, whatever.
But again, from a pure fantasy standpoint, huge winner is Jadarian Price here ’cause this backfield just wide open lane for him to immediately walk in there and be the starter.
Do you think George Holani was gonna be the guy there?
I mean, I, I will say- Boise State legend.
Yeah.
I, I, I- I, I got a deep dynasty share of George Holani that was like, “Maybe this will work out for me” and it is not gonna work out.
That was me when the Cowboys were gonna rumor for a cero.
I was like, “What about Ryan Fortney?”
That was, that was my stash.
Your guy.
But John Schneider has drafted running backs.
He’s drafted Penny in round one, Charbonnet round two, Walker round two, Christine Michael in round two.
he is not- C.J.
Prozeise yeah, he is not scared of deep- Wow taking these.
I know.
I know.
That, that’s a deep cut.
That was like cold water just hit me.
so-