Welcome to the Fantasy Footballers Podcast, with your hosts, Andy Holloway, Jason Moore, and Mike Wright. I've been talking about for months that everybody is excited to see land on that perfect roster and have that perfect rookie season for your perfect dynasty team. Perfect. And so we'll make our predictions on the show today, and we'll talk through it all, and it'll be a ton of fun.
Welcome in, one and all. Mike Wright, Jason Moore, Andy Holloway, the Fantasy Footballers, Thursday, April 25th. It is draft day? I know many of you, Jason, did you fulfill your yearly commitment to Kevin Costner?
Yes, it's got to be once a year. I want all my draft picks. I want to back all of them. You want to back?
That's my favorite quote from the movie, is when he goes, I want my picks back, all of them, because I am going to use that someday when I actually need my dynasty picks. And to be clear, this great cinematic masterpiece is extremely accurate to the NFL and what happens in the value of picks. It's pretty much a documentary. It is not just your tradition.
I know many people that watch that Best Picture nominee the day before the draft. Only know them, huh? It's shocking. Golden Gold winner, though.
Makes sense. The Razzie winner. Mike is not a big fan. Because no one's a big fan.
You're a fan because it's about football. It's about the NFL draft. I do genuinely enjoy watching it. I really, really enjoy watching it.
It is objectively terrible. I get that. But sometimes you like just bad stuff. Yeah, but we cannot encourage this.
We all deserve better. Kevin, Mr. Costner, get on the line. The five-minute clip of Monty from Arizona, the GM, doing his traits from last year.
I'll watch that. Whatever the run length of draft day, I'll watch that clip that many times in a row before I'm watching draft day. There's better content out there. They can give it to us.
What the real Monty Austin Fort draft day video didn't have was what Kevin Costner did, which was to leverage the fact that he had checked all of the blogs out on the internet and that the general manager for the Seattle Seahawks was getting, you know, lambasted in the media. Right. And so, you know, it's just, we'll move on. All right, ultimatedraftkit.com.
We've got Ultimate Draft Week happening right now, which means an exclusive giveaway. Anyway, the headline there, if you pick up the Ultimate Draft Kit before Sunday, you'll get a chance to win a Listener League spot. We're going to give away a signed Justin Jefferson jersey, signed Travis E.T.N. jersey, and all you have to do to enter is be one of the people that have pre-ordered the UDK at ultimatedraftkit.com by Sunday.
It's great. I have one note. It is by Sunday. Not before.
By Sunday. Okay. Is that B-U-Y? Sunday?
Just by Sunday. No, we're saying Sunday is eligible. No, people that pre-order on Sunday will be part of it. Yes.
Got it. And in addition to that, if you have the UDK+, that's going to have the Dynasty Pass built in, which will have all of our rookie rankings, all of our rookie profiles, production profiles, people we're talking about today, and we're going to update that as soon as we can after the draft to make sure that the draft order is ready. All that stuff is live now, even though you're at pre-order pricing, so you can get either version at ultimatedraftkit.com. Come and get a chance to play with us in the Listener League and win a Justin Jefferson jersey and win a Trans-C.T.N.
jersey. All right, news time. News and notes from around the league. The Lions have signed Dom and Ross St.
Brown to monstrous deal. Four years, more than $120 million, $77 million guaranteed. Making him the highest paid wide receiver in the league. Mike's number two fantasy wide receiver so far at this moment.
He deserves it. He was awesome. He's consistent. He's unstoppable.
He is essentially the new Michael Thomas, I feel like. Oh! Oh, there he is. Caught me off guard.
I hope it doesn't go the direction that Michael Thomas went. No, no, no. Stay healthy. Stay healthy.
Meanwhile, Jamar Chase, Justin Jefferson, just looking at that number going, mm, yeah, okay. That's a little tasty. Justin Jefferson, how much guaranteed money is Jefferson going to get? Oh, man.
90 plus percent of NFL revenue? Yes. That'll be interesting. CD Lamb, Justin Jefferson just sitting out there, waiting for the checks, which will come.
Zach Wilson, Mike, what were your thoughts on... Hey, there's just the news now! Sometimes we've gotten lucky on the show, and news doesn't break right after we record, and many times it's worked out that way. Tuesday was not one of those times.
And it doesn't matter. Zach Wilson to the Broncos. Yeah, you got traded. Another offseason of Wilson quarterback play heading to Denver.
The NFL's... The ultimate smokescreen. This is NFL. We already made our move.
We've got our quarterback. We are not trading up for another quarterback. I had not thought about it like that, but that is... Don't worry about us.
That's by the chess. Broncos are set. We're good. Kirk Cousins and Saquon Barkley, those offseason signings being investigated for tampering, discipline, they said that they weren't going to figure out the discipline before this upcoming draft, which means that the implications for lost draft picks could go into next year and future years.
My hope is that what they meant was they will not have the discipline before the start of the NFL draft. They will have the discipline mid-draft. That'd be awesome. The Falcons are on the clock.
Psych! That pick no longer exists. That would be some super flexing good. I mean, look.
You want to increase ratings on the NFL? On the draft? Oh, yeah. You have this.
There's a wild card. The make-and-drop hits. It's a footballer style. If the pick literally dissolved by Back to the Future, and in its place is like, you know, Kirk Cousins picture.
Or something like literally as the Goodell's walking up, they're like, the pick is in. Nope. No, it's not. The pick has been traded to the NFL.
But if you're like, just so you know, the Atlanta Falcons were going to draft this player. Well, here's a Falcon that needs to be talked about. No! No!
Yes! Yes! I win! I win!
It is a three-year running long bet. Oh, yeah. That's the part he's going to be. Don't tell the news.
Matt Ryan has officially retired, and August 12th of 2021, Mike and I made a bet about who would play longer, Carson Wentz or Matt Ryan. And I'm telling you, what a wild ride. There were seven or eight lead changes in that that seemed like it was a done deal in the other direction. But Carson Wentz is under contract.
Oh, okay. He's under contract? He is both under contract, and he played more recently. I was going to ask you if he retired, like, tomorrow, if that would count as a tie.
Nope, because he already played the Rams back on the Rams. And only on the show would this be part of the news. But former wide receiver Devin Funchess has signed a one-year deal with the Caribbean Storm of the Basketball League of Columbia. Congratulations, Devin.
Yes. Scrumptious. First NFL player to land a pro-hoo contract after he was part of the league. I genuinely don't think he gets this deal done, if not for the fans of football or the nickname.
We really built him up with Devin Funchess in that drop. So congratulations. Get paid. Play that ball.
It's our fault. It's our credit. Okay. Any other news, Mike, that you've got for us?
You got anything that you're browsing? Any trades happening? I have not seen anything recently. It's worth noting that we're recording the show later Wednesday.
So if news breaks, which it probably won't. I think most of the leverage situations at this point... There's just no news. Oh, okay.
You're setting it up. Yeah, good. The only trade that I think that could happen before the draft starts that would affect our picks that we would know enough to actually change destinations on today's show would be if the Patriots traded back beforehand at the share spot. Monty Ossofford at the four spot has already kind of established that he won't trade the pick until they're on the clock and they know who's ahead of them.
There's a lot of leverage there when you know the player that the team wants to come up and get is there. And right now there's question marks. We're going to go into our draft predictions, but we know who number one is. But beyond that, there's question marks on which quarterback's going and who has fallen in love with Drake May or Daniels or J.J.
McCarthy. So if we don't have any other news, we're going to jump right in. You guys ready for this? Let's go.
All right. By the way, I encourage everybody to join us immediately following round one on NFL Plus. Tonight, we will have the Fantasy Footballers Draft Special featuring instant reactions to all the first round picks. Our thoughts, the way that, you know, is it a good fit?
Are these teams and these players the right match? What surprises happened through the draft? Inevitably, what wide receiver went? Significantly later than we expected them to go or significantly higher.
And it will be exclusive on NFL Plus. It won't be aired anywhere else. It won't be on our YouTube channel. So if you want to check it out, join us then.
We'll be there live. I would say it will be. It's going to be fun, entertaining, informative, and cathartic. Like, something's going to happen in the first round that makes you sad for your Dynasty team.
Or something's going to happen that makes you ecstatic for your Dynasty team. And we're going to have all those feelings with you. I know. It wasn't manufactured, but it was built upon as the time rolled through this Adonai Mitchell v.
Troy Franklin situation that Andy and I have where he's much lower on Troy Franklin. I'm very high on Troy Franklin. He's much higher on Adonai Mitchell. I'm very low on Adonai Mitchell.
We are genuinely, completely and utterly rooting as hard as we can for the demise of, not the players, but of each other. Just in those two. Just a little collateral damage. Just this kid who's trying to live his dream, Jay.
Look, it's about dunking on Andy. That's all this is. And I want to do it. And he wants to dunk on me.
So the nice thing is, more than likely, someone's going to boom shakalaka. Yeah. That's a dunk. That's a dunk.
That's a dunk. The mock drafts are flowing. Boom shakalaka. And we'll get into our predictions.
There's a lot of players we're going to talk through where we think they're going. Some we agree. Some we don't agree. And then, of course, last year, you guys tied with the most correct prediction.
Yeah. We'll leave it at that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We won, Mike.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. And you know what's crazy? You guys tied with the same amount. And I was just one behind.
That's true. I was one behind. A loss is a loss. We double two of us.
And to be clear, we all had Bryce Young. Yeah, that is true. The NFL draft, B. Cray.
All right. Let's start at the quarterback position. This is our layup. Caleb Williams, currently minus 20,000 to go number one.
I have him going two, of course, the 49ers. Yeah, it'd be a trade-up. No, Bears. Bears, Bears, Bears.
Right? We're all Bears. Move on. We'll talk about him for his career.
Jaden Daniels. Let's talk about Jaden Daniels. And he is the favorite, betting-wise, to be the number two pick. That is certainly not everything.
And it's worth remembering that this time last year, within the week leading up to the draft, not only was it put out there that somehow the Texans didn't like C.J. Stroud, but Will Levis was suddenly everybody's favorite. When we recorded this show last year, Will Levis was plus 150 on the sportsbooks, the money lines, plus 150, to be the number two overall pick. Another round!
Thank you. And he, just as a reminder, went in the number two round of the NFL draft. So, Jaden Daniels, let's go. Who do you have him going to?
Mike and I, I think, are in agreement that he is the number two pick. Goes to the managers. That's kind of been, if you watch what the coaches have said, what they value, what they're seeking after, it really does seem to line up with Jaden Daniels. I don't think anyone really knows the answer.
There doesn't seem to be any insider coming out saying that we're sure that this is going to happen. You've got the infamous, crazy Topgolf meeting of the last week where they brought, like, a dozen prospects all together. All the quarterbacks were there. And you had Drake May talk about how it was one of his favorite meetings.
And then, apparently, the agent of Jaden Daniels said he didn't like it. So, I don't know. I don't know. But I think he goes to the managers of Jaden Daniels at two.
So, we've got Jaden Daniels and Drake May flipped. I have Jaden Daniels going three to the Patriots. You guys have Drake May going three to the Patriots. I do.
And then I have Drake May going two to the commanders. I think they go the Drake May route. And so, this will be a point of differentiation between the three of us. It will.
And I have Drake May at three to the Patriots. But I'm, I don't know. I think that this might be where everyone's mock draft explodes. As in the Patriots straight out of the pick, let someone else spend way up for the project that is Drake May.
I've got Jaden Daniels and Drake May flipped. You two and myself. Moving on to another quarterback prospect. This is where a trade is very likely.
But J.J. McCarthy, I, I haven't gone to the Vikings. Either via trade or just at 11. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
McCarthy is very, very interesting. He seems to profile as, a little, a little bit. There are some similarities with Will Levis. It's not in play style or player.
But in the situation that kind of using this as fodder to heat up the quarterback market. Every single year, there's someone that is kind of super high. Because we went into this draft cycle. When it first started and the season of the NFL was over and it was like, let's look towards rookies.
As J.J. McCarthy might be a first rounder. He was a presumed second rounder. I think he's going to sneak in to the first round all the way to like, he's got a chance to be taking it at number two.
And so those guys usually fall. But I will say, so I've got to go to the Vikings, like you, Andy. The Vikings have to leave this draft with a quarterback. Like, I can't imagine a world where they're not paying to get some quarterback.
So because they could trade, there's rumors of them trading to the three for Drake May, to the four for McCarthy, to the five, to eight. There's so many spots they could trade to and grab McCarthy. I think the most likely destination is McCarthy to the Vikings. Let me throw one thing in real quick.
I think the comp isn't Will Levis. I think the comp is Matt Jones. I think that's the one where Matt Jones is rumored to be a potential target at, what was it, three for where Trey Lance ends up going. They trade out, they take Trey Lance.
They don't take Matt Jones. Jones goes 15 for the Patriots. That's why I think he could go at 11 and just sit there. But there's going to be so many opportunities and teams have come out and been pretty overt in their desire for a quarterback like the Raiders, the Giants, and the Broncos, and the Vikings.
And because of that competitive environment, I won't be shocked if, you know, if it's not Arizona at four, Chargers at five, Giants, you know, obviously could take them at six or move up one spot to guarantee another team doesn't move up. So you and I, Jason, we have McCarthy, by whatever measure, ending up with the Vikings. Mike? I got to go into the Giants of either living the, Jason's dream of the Arizona Cardinals trade back a few spots, then trade back up to the Chargers to get Marvin Harrison, or he just falls to number six.
And, I mean, if I'm one of these teams, especially if I need, like, on the surface, I need a quarterback. I am overloading everybody with, you know, of course, of course we're going to get one of these quarterbacks. That is, like, the best possible outcome if you aren't really planning on drafting one of these quarterbacks is someone else doing it. Just like in fantasy football.
When people draft quarterbacks in front of you that you weren't targeting, you're just, you're rubbing your hands. Like, this is fantastic. This is the best thing that could happen. All right, so I'm a party to the Giants for Mike.
We both have the Vikings, Jason. Two more quarterbacks we will make draft predictions for. I think these are players... that you're going to learn pretty quickly how the league views them or whether one team has fallen in love with them.
Michael Penix Jr. out of Washington. Bo Nix out of Oregon. It looks like we all have a prediction for Michael Penix Jr.
of the Raiders. Now, I threw him in at the Raiders 77th pick. Jason thought maybe the 44th. I don't know which one you thought, Mike.
I have just not in the first. So I believe he is now, last I saw, was like minus 200 to be selected in the first round. Yeah, people are falling in love. People are rising on him.
I really, really wanted to put him to Seattle. I think it makes so much sense. His former coach is now the OC. His national title reaching coach is the OC for Seattle.
He is playing right next to where he was. Is that what you describe a non-winner? Yeah, I was like, what is the nice verbiage? A national title reaching?
I mean, they lost, but they got there. Contending? Contender? Contending.
The national title contending team. That's so bad. They got to the national title. There we go.
There you go. That's great. And, you know, he was very good. They were reaching.
They just couldn't grasp it. Yeah, they worked tall enough to grab the trophy off the top shelf. But his coach is now the OC for Seattle. He's been playing right there where this team will have watched him a lot.
Dark Horse, Seattle. Dark Horse, Seattle. But the Raiders are the team that's connected with him the most. Bo Nix, I have going to the Giants.
So, Mike, you already said that you found McCarthy who's going to the Giants. Jason and I both have Bo Nix to the Giants. Yeah, and we kind of see it almost in reverse of Michael Penix where you've got him going to the Giants. In the second round, I've got him going to the Giants in the third round as a follower.
And I have him going to the Denver Broncos at some point in the Giants. The Giants. The Giants. Okay.
That T. It's a slippery fella. It's a really important part of the Giants name. Deuce, Al, are you enjoying yourselves back there?
Always. I told you, I'm so excited. I'm vibrating. I can't even pronounce all the letters.
So, Mike, you're so much quicker. Don't say whole name. Yeah, I've got to go to the Denver Broncos. All right, go next to the Broncos.
We'll take a break. Compose ourselves. Come back with some running back draft predictions. All right, we're going to turn the page, make our predictions at the running back spot.
And we'll start, I guess, with Trey Benson. Yeah, you're darn right, we will. So, we have three different destinations for Trey Benson. This is when it gets simultaneously extremely fun.
You get to root for the destination you want to see happen. And yet, very difficult. Especially a running back where you don't know who's going to break the seal. What team is going to finally say we're going to take a running back in this draft.
I could see a lot of teams with all of the needs and where the running back draft class is. They could simultaneously kind of like wait, wait, wait, wait. And then you might have them go. But Trey Benson, I think it's the Raiders.
I think all this Amir White ambitions will begin to, you know, the balloon will get popped. That would be RIP. Yeah, the balloon will get popped. And I think it's the Raiders at 44.
That would be awesome. If he's a top 50 pick, this is my favorite running back in the class. If he gets the draft capital of a team committing to him like that would be, I would be all in. And because he is my number one back, personally, even though this is not the odds on favorite, I have him going to the best spot.
The spot that I think will be the first running back drafted in the NFL draft, which is spot 56, second round pick to the Dallas Cowboys. I got to go five overall, baby. No, but to that, the team that has the fifth overall. I'm sending him to the Chargers.
I'm calling for the absolute chaos of opinions where I talked about this on the Dynasty podcast this week. But just like what happens in the league if the Chargers don't take Blake Korn and like they take a different running back, Blake Korn's there for them to draft him and they pick someone else. What does that say about it? It could be nothing, but it could be something.
It's all about the draft capital that the Chargers actually have and the fact that they're at 37, which is so high in the second round, I don't think that they go. That's why I'm not going one of the top guys. Right, which is fine. Because if they want Benson, they either have to take him there or just trade back a couple picks because I think he's going this way.
I will say that the trade back from five where they are now seems like one of the more likely contenders. They get him another second round pick or another third. Benson, I got Raiders. Jason has Dallas in Mike with the Chargers.
Jonathan Brooks, that's why I'm going to Dallas. Mike and I are in agreement there. I think most people are in agreement. That's the most common connection.
I believe I saw his line was like 56 and a half as his draft spot. So it's like, do you think he goes to 56 or do you not think he goes to 56? It seems very likely. I have a really weird destination here.
I was going through. I don't think it's weird. Not many teams really have running back needs. A lot of the ones that did signed players this offseason.
I'm going to have a team that signed one of these players this offseason draft them. I'm going to Green Bay in the second round. They have a later second round pick. I think he fits the type of players they've utilized.
They have always had a committee. AJ Dillon is not good. And they don't know about Josh Jacobs, who's essentially on a one-year improvement deal. I believe he surprised and go higher than people expected a running back to go.
I think Dallas could trade down from their first round pick and position themselves in the first, early second for Brooks. That's my, I guess, scenario. Blake Horum, I've got him going to. The Chargers at 69.
Yeah, pretty nice. Does that chalk taste you losers? It tastes chalky, but I do think, look, the Harbaugh, Greg Roman, Chargers, they're just rebuilding. G-0, please.
G-0, thank you. I think they are just rebuilding what has worked for them in the past, so that's why they're bringing over guys from Baltimore. They're going to bring in guys from Michigan. That's why I have them drafting the better running back.
The trade-banks? Yeah, I've got Blake Horum going to the Ravens. It's another one of those things of, there's not a ton of killer landing spots. This is what the draft does to us.
This is why we end up sad or laughing hysterically at other people in the league. But they need somebody. Yeah, they've got the king there, but they need some depth on there, and I think you can get Blake Horum later than, not a really expensive pick. Braylon Allen, the last running back we'll make a prediction for.
I am going to the Buccaneers. Oh. How would you feel about that for Rashad White? Not great.
Yeah. Yeah, I think they'd love to have a committee there. I still think Rashad White would be a great fantasy asset because he's going to do so much work with Braylon Allen. I'm going to go with the Buffalo Bills who, with their actions, have said repeatedly, we want the beef in here.
We don't want James Cook to be our goal line running back. We'd rather have Latavius Murray. We'd rather take a flyer, a failed flyer on Leonard Fournette. They want a thick boy in there, and I've got Braylon Allen going there.
I actually think that's a really, I hadn't seen that pick, and I haven't really heard this connection, but I think that's brilliant. They do want a bigger back, and they have looked at investing. They were in the Chris McCaffrey market. They care about the position, so that's interesting.
I've got to go to the Raiders. He seems like he's got that kind of mentality, and how's this for a stat? He'll be the first running back ever to play his entire rookie season before turning 21. Guess who can't go to them casinos?
Braylon Allen. So come on down to Vegas. Grow into your man body where we don't have to worry about a rookie. Dude, hold on.
If this guy grows into a man body, he's going to be in such trouble. He's got a man body already. He's going to be 7'345. I'm just saying, you don't have to worry about him getting distracted by the shiny lights of Vegas his rookie season.
Yeah, that's a good point. They did deny him entry. Wide receiver time, guys. Oh, boy, let's have some fun.
I think we have 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. Oh, my gosh. Ten wideouts that are predicted today. So we've got the time.
Marvin Harrison, let's make it easy. I think they stay at 4, the Cardinals. Marvin Harrison. I think as a show, we refuse any other way.
If one of us put him somewhere else, you'd be off the show. Yeah, you'd walk the plank. So he's going to be a Cardinal. My hope is that it comes to be a trade-back trade-up, or in the case of the Giants, just trade back and stay, and maybe you watch Harbaugh grab him off the tackle.
But yes, Marvin Harrison will be a Cardinal, or I will rebel. Let's get to where we have some difference of opinion. Malik Neighbors. I believe he goes to the Giants at 6.
Jason, you have the Giants as well. I think, most likely, Cardinals stick where they're at. The Chargers are the trade candidate. Someone comes up and takes McCarthy, so that temptation's off the board for the Giants.
Someone being Vikings. And the Giants end up taking one of the best players in the draft in Malik Neighbors. I went back and forth. I have the draft happening the same way that you see it.
And this morning, I just could not decide do I want it to be Neighbors, do I want it to be Odunze? And it's for the exact same reason, which is the Giants over the last few years, they have drafted. You know, they drafted Wondell Robinson, a smaller slot, speedy guy. They drafted Jalen Hyatt, the guy that we like that kind of has some similarities.
You know, they spent a third rounder. And so it's like, okay, so Malik Neighbors is their type. They like these fast guys who maybe had some slot college production. And so that is Neighbors.
So it's like, okay, that makes sense. Or, you can say, well, they've already got some of those guys. So they should draft a dude because they don't really have that possession mammoth man. And in the end, I went Malik Neighbors because I think he's universally seen as the number two wide receiver.
He's my number two wide receiver. And they're going to have the chance to take either. So Malik Neighbors, I'm with you. Andy to the Giants.
And this is the pick where fantasy players with their rookie picks start to weep uncontrollably because I think Malik Neighbors goes to the Tennessee Titans. I have the Giants taking McCarthy. And the way that I've been hearing the GM from Tennessee talking about the wide receiver position and blue chip players, I think that they're going to make the splash. And this is where everything goes bad.
I don't disagree with that. I think it's very possible. You have to believe what the general manager has done. And he brought in Tony Pollard, brought in Calvin Ridley by paying him so much money.
Like, equipping Will Levis with a prospect that can be seen in the same likeness of a tomorrow chase. It makes sense. But it's like, look at this. Yeah, you know, with...
And it's unexpected. Yeah, it's unexpected, which expect the unexpected. But the wide receiver core... Oh, man.
What would you do with Will Levis? You'd have to kind of believe. If you're telling me he's got Malik Neighbors, Hopkins, Calvin Ridley, Pollard out of the backfield, you're going to find out. You're going to find out if he can be an NFL quarterback.
Conquo? If he can't get it done with those weapons, he can't get it done anywhere. So moving on to Roma Dunzey. I actually think, for the reasons Mike said about Tennessee, I think Dunzey goes to the Bears, but not at nine.
I think they actually move up to secure him and swap picks with the Titans, who are sitting there with the ability to take one of the top wide receivers. I think they do it defensively to protect against the Jets, maybe stealing away Roma Dunzey. I think the Bears, much like your case for equipping Will Levis, they do that to equip Keenan Allen, DJ Moore, Roma Dunzey, and now DeAndre Speck. You have to believe in Caleb Williams as a rookie.
And I have Rome going to the Bears as well. If it really happens, the hype for Caleb Williams will be just astronomical. People will be so in and ready for him because I don't know that I've... Like, off the top of my head, can you think of a better starting situation for a first overall pick whose team was getting better towards the second half of the year on the defensive side of football?
For a number one overall pick, there's never been a quarterback that's gone into a situation. If they grab Odunzey, which is right now the favorite. Like, they are... Odunzey is the favorite for the number nine pick.
That is most mock drafts. You see him there everywhere. This is why I've got the Jets, who are sitting at 10, trading a little flip-flop with the Falcons, hopping the Bears to get Odunzey because I don't think he gets 2-10 and that's who I believe they want. All right, Bears, Bears, Jets.
Let's go to Brian Thomas, Jr. This is... By the way, when we went out, all three of us and built our predictions out, built our mock drafts out, and thought through this for this show, right in the middle of the draft, the Colts... Big 15.
Yeah, and... Brian Thomas, Jr. You've got Michael Pittman there, a great possession guy. You've got Josh Downs, who's a nice little slot option.
And Alec Pierce... He's a deep threat. He's a deep threat, but he is not ever... He's not going to be the guy.
He's not who they hoped he was. He's not Brian Thomas, Jr. If you want to say, hey, Shane Steichen, what do you want on your high-flying Anthony Richardson-led offense? They want a Brian Thomas, Jr.
If he's there, they are a traits machine. They are always drafting guys who break the combine, and Brian Thomas, Jr. broke the combine. So I think it makes sense for the team needs for how they draft.
It would be a great fit for me, and I'm already all in on Anthony Richardson. That would be awesome. There has been some kind of later breaking news about medical stuff for Brian Thomas, Jr., possibly needing some shoulder work, and so I think that could drop him a bit in the draft. Still, I still have him going in the first round, but I have the Pittsburgh Steelers taking him because I think that he falls a little bit just because of those concerns, and they need somebody.
Okay, so you've got the Steelers. That would be a pick 20 for you. Since I'm the host of the show, and I'm in control of where we go next, I find it very disrespectful that you would put Adonai Mitchell so far down the list of where we're predicting him, and because you just talked about the Steelers, I have the Steelers trading up to 17 to take Adonai Mitchell, so I'm going Adonai Mitchell to the Pittsburgh Steelers. I think this is, you know, they lost the Ante Johnson.
They need a kind of a fundamentally explosive compliment to George Pickens, who ran, I think, the second most fly routes of anybody in the league. I think Mitchell's a perfect compliment to him, so we're turning the page. We're going to Adonai Mitchell right now. That is fair.
Adonai Mitchell, I think Schefter just came out and was talking about how he thinks he's going to go really high in the draft, definitely in the top 20 picks. I've got him, I've got the NFL having more logic than that. Logic. I believe.
Agreeing with you, we're banishing him. I'm banishing him. You put him in the second round? I put him, but really early in the second round.
Don't worry, he's going to the Panthers. You're condemning him. I am trying to send him to Siberia. This is what I'm trying to do.
Panthers, you're going to love Adonai Mitchell. He's exactly what you need, a big, strong athlete. He dropped. He was supposed to be a first rounder, and now here you go, you left the first round, and everyone's going to be you don't.
You just made him a second round pick. So in my personal mock draft that I made, that was all of these picks, I had him going to the Chiefs. You're willing to lose in this competition? I'm willing to lose, I'm trying to put it into existence.
I came to the show, I'm like, I can't do that. He's a Panther. I want him to be a Panther. Let's go Panthers.
Okay, Mike, where do you got him? So I have him going, I have him falling into the second as well. I'm allowed to shake my head. The crowd love it.
The people love it. Clowns. And I just, I am trying to willing something into existence, so maybe, to Willie. Willie's brother.
This isn't, and I just kind of, he was a player. Platinum damage for you and your little mock draft? But, your little stupid mock draft. I put him with the Giants.
What I'm trying to will into existence is, teams, if you're going to take a quarterback, take one of these guys. Start the process of equipping with weapons immediately so I have the Giants figuring out a way to get him in the second round. It's hard for them to pick him in the second round when he had gone like 15, 20 picks. That would make it very difficult.
Well, this will be fun. This will be fun. All right. Circling back to Lad McConkie.
We're actually all in agreement on Lad McConkie. We have them all going to. The Buffalo Bills, I have Buffalo having to trade up to do it though. I think they move up four picks with Dallas to get Lad McConkie and secure him, but I think we're expecting the Bills to be major players.
in the wide receiver area. They should be. Which will give a little boost of confidence for Josh Allen heading into the season as well as throwing in the question, you know, some of the excitement around maybe Don Kincaid or Khalil Shakir that you have right now. But we all have them being players for one of these guys.
It might not be McConkie, but we all went that direction. I love the chaos it will cause for rookie drafts. Yeah, he's a... Go ahead.
He's just a perfect fit for their team. I mean, Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen, they face so much zone because they've got such great over-the-top arms and Ladd McConkie and, you know, some of the Troy Franklin that are just absolute world-beaters against zone. The fit would be great. So, yeah, we've all got him going to the Bills.
I just love it. Get open, sit in that zone and let Josh Allen laser-bean you a ball. He'll be great there. Troy Franklin, I am going to the Chiefs with the 32nd pick.
I am going to the Kansas City Chiefs as well. It would be glorious to me if it happened, but Chiefs seem to really favor speed and they may have a wide receiver deficit problem. I don't think it's the best situation for Troy Franklin. I actually do not believe that.
I think it would be wonderful. It was the same argument for Josh Allen. When you've got a guy that is great at zone, It's not that he couldn't succeed there. It's not that I think this is a team going for a three-peat.
I don't think the rookie's going to have a fundamental role this season. That's all. I think maybe long-term he'll be okay. I mean, Rushy Rice was a rookie last year that was going for a repeat and they found a way to get him involved.
Late in the season. Sure, but I would say that Rushy Rice is a hit right now for fantasy and was valuable for fantasy. I think it would be a good spot. I am going there.
I just don't love him as much for fantasy. Yeah, the DraftKings sportsbook line has him only as a 27% chance to go in the first round at all. I think it's obviously far more likely that he leaves the first round but because of the Troy Franklin and I Mitchell fun we've been having this offseason, I'm giving the NFL a ton of credit. Oh, of course.
I agree with you. That the Rams, in the first round, right there, I think they're picked 19. They're just going to take him, baby. Take Troy Franklin as your, you know, just add to Sean McVay's offense.
All right, it's a bold pick. I think the Chiefs are the only team in play for Troy Franklin in the first round. I think that's why you're sitting at 27% as the league must be the Chiefs is having about a one in four chance of taking him there. But Troy Franklin, early second round player and I've got him not, you know, obviously I've got Marvin Harrison going there as well but a lot of bigger, deeper mock drafts have the Cardinals taking multiple wide receivers.
They could honestly take like three or four wide receivers and have those just be their entire wide receiver core. They just, you know, Greg Dorch, Michael Wilson, they've got spots to fill there. It reminds me, the Cardinals did that. Who are the two?
Hakeem Butler and Andy Isabella were the same draft. Yeah, whoops. That worked out well. That's why I've got to take multiple shots.
Mike, you've got to go to the Panthers? I do. That makes sense. And then I've got the Eagles.
I feel like my Panthers, just my logic there is that I think the NFL may still be concerned with size but then speed comes in and I feel like the Panthers might fall into the, just that love of we've got to get the fastest guy on the field. All right, quick break. Back with a few more predictions. Keon Coleman, we'll talk about him next.
He has had a 19% chance to go in the first round. He would be somebody that, it wouldn't surprise me if a team fell in love. It reminds me a little bit of Ayuk surprising us going late first for the 49ers. I haven't gone to the Panthers in the second round.
Yeah, I do. We all have the Panthers picking up a wide out. Yes, there's a couple of teams that really need to add someone and they've got the draft capital to do it. The Panthers are sitting there at the top of the second and they could probably take their time to figure out which one of the wide receivers left over.
I also think that wide receivers drop, I know that there's been a question of like, well, this is a really good wide receiver class. I actually think it's like the top three are amazing, absolutely dominant, great wide receivers. Then you've got a couple of guys but because this next tier is so large, I think teams are going to say in the first round, they're going to go, I can get one of these guys in this tier in the second, maybe even the third on day two. So I think a lot of these guys drop to the second.
I'm going to the Saints about the middle of the second round. Sorry, I was lost in thought over here. I have Keon Coleman going to the Manders of, again, the theme of taking a quarterback and then giving him somebody. And one more name, we'll bring it up.
I want you guys to talk about him a little bit more extensively because he's not one of the names that gets brought up in the top five, six, seven wide receivers but Xavier Leggett. I am going to the Saints. I do think they add a weapon. They're losing weapons in that offense so I think the Saints make sense.
Jason, the Raiders, Mike, the Patriots. But talk about Xavier Leggett for a second so people know what to expect if he surprises. Because we had a couple years ago it was Wanda, right? Wanda was not talked about nearly at all going into the draft and ends up being a first round draft by the Giants, right?
Second round draft. But he was a name that people didn't really understand or know about. Leggett might be in that category. Leggett's got the weirdest profile of any player I've ever scouted in my entire life.
So talk about why. Imagine when you compare that with the film. Yeah, he is a fifth year breakout. You heard that, right?
We don't like a late breakout. A late breakout is like a third year breakout. When guys break out in their fourth year it almost never works. Now they're 22, they're 23 years old playing against 18 year olds out there sometimes and then yeah, they can dominate then.
This is a fifth year breakout. It's not going to work. It never works. However, I'm in.
I'm in, baby. But it might work for us. The tape, the production, his final year was unbelievably great. He was dominant.
He's so athletic. He hit a faster speed, miles per hour, on the field last year than the fastest player in the NFL this last season. He outran Tyreek at top speed. He outran DK Metcalf at top speed.
And he has more of that DK Metcalf type of build. He's a giant, super athletic guy. When I watched the film, I loved it. When I looked at the production last year, I loved it.
The only thing I don't like is that he spent four years doing nothing. When I say doing nothing, I'm not saying like he only had 700 yards and he only had 500 yards. You have him? Yeah, so here's his career.
Year one, 80. 80. 80 yards. Next year, 80 receiving yards.