Rookie check-in: Caleb Williams, Bo Nix, Brock Bowers, Malik Nabers & more
01:32:33 Share

On this episode of Football 301, Matt Harmon joins me for a little rookie fest. We got a month left in the NFL season. We want to check in on the rookies, not just quarterbacks, not just receivers, not just running backs. We got offense alignment in here as well. We got defense in here as well. One sentence about a punter. But other than that, we talk about a bunch of the rookie standouts, some surprises, disappointments, just our thoughts on this impressive rookie class in the NFL. Really fun show. See you guys in a sec.

Did my boss just call me buddy? Am I his buddy? You may not know where you stand with your boss who calls everyone buddy. Or did he just forget my name? Has he ever said my name? But you always know exactly where you stand with the Sport Clips app that shows you the shortest weight and the haircut tracker that tracks your real-time wait time down to the minute. Uh, my name's Josh. The Sport Clips app. It's a game-changer.

Looking for a pickup truck to get just about anything done? Look no further. The Chevy Silverado EV isn't just the most powerful Silverado ever, with next-level towing capability and technology. It also offers game-changing versatility with the available Multiflex mid-gate and tailgate, which means Silverado EV helps you carry large, bulky, and oddly-shaped items up to nearly 11 feet in length. Chevrolet. Together, let's drive. Visit Chevrolet.com to learn more.

Hello and welcome back to Football 301. I'm your host, Nate Tice. Fun show today. We are going to be looking at some rookies. Some greenhorns.

Greenbacks, some green bellies, some yellow bellies. No, yellow's a coward. But some newbies, some green-faced newbies to the NFL, some stars, some surprises, some disappointments. We're going to go position by position. Plenty of stuff on the quarterbacks, other skill positions. We're going to look at the offensive line, I should say, and defensive players as well. This is not just going to be the stars, you know, the guys that grab the headlines. We're going to be talking some centers at the end of this show because, yeah,

It was a good center class, and I can't wait to talk about that. But to help me do that, to talk about all these rookies and their inaugural campaign in the NFL, is my guy, Matt Harmon. How are you doing today, Matt? Nate, I'm doing well. I was very curious to see where you were going to take that green-yellow sort of circuitous path to get us on forward to the show, and I think you nailed it, so shout out to you. Yeah, no, look, I love talking about rookies because...

We were talking about this a little bit in the pre-show chat. The discussion and the discourse gets very weird on rookies very quickly just because we either need these guys to be the best of the best at their position or the absolute worst. And this guy is a joke and he's a bust or whatever. But for a lot of these players, you know, they're the victims of the surroundings or they're the, you know, they get boosted by their surroundings. And some of these guys are just they're playing fine and we'll see what happens. So we'll talk about it all today.

They either win the MVP or they're a bust. There's nothing in between. But that's what we're going to try and talk about. The minutia. The guys that maybe are good. The guys that are maybe, oh, this guy's a fine starter as a rookie, which is saying something. I know the term generational gets thrown out there. Always got to remember, generational, when you're scouting as well, a traditional scouting sense, and this is what I learned recently,

from the Falcons. I was under Thomas Dimitrov and Scott Pioli with the Falcons and their system was you're grading guys for year three. What is this player in year three and beyond? So you're, I really look at it more as middle of year two. Once a guy has about 20, 22 starts on there. Okay. Then this should be the real version of them. The second half of their second year, probably, but that's always got to remember. It's like, just because they have a sloppy rookie campaign or it

Adequate rookie campaign. Doesn't mean they're a bust. Doesn't mean they're not generational. It might just mean a little ramp up because of the surroundings and everything. So just wanted to state that because that is just a big part of this. And I get caught in it too. I look at training camp clips and go, nailed it.

Before I got even playing the game. I'm guilty of it as well. I'm sure a lot of us are. So that's why I'm very excited to kind of do this check-in about with four weeks to go. Everyone has had their bye week. Everybody has a good chunk of games under their belt. We now kind of see as teams and players that find their roles. Everybody's kind of trimmed some fat. So it's pretty fun to talk about this. But...

Like I said at the beginning, we're going to start with the quarterbacks. And we're going to do this. Six quarterbacks were taken in the first round. Spencer Rattler was a rookie quarterback that played this season as well. But we're going to just talk about those four first rounders that have started this season. Sorry, Michael Penix. But we are going to start with 1-1. A guy that got that G word thrown at him a few times. I don't like to say generational. I like to say purple chips, which means a very good prospect. But Caleb Williams.

Pick number one with the Bears. Bears have gone through a season of hell. They fired their offense coordinator, fired their head coach. It's just a mess over there in Chicago. Caleb has kind of had an up and down season, I would say. I'm throwing out some stats here. I'm usually going to use some success rate and EPA to kind of

paint the picture of these guys, try to really parse it without garbage time as well. And I'll talk about that garbage time. You can do this on true media. I try to throw those out as well, whether a team is getting blown out or they were blowing the other team out. A couple of the quarterbacks kind of benefited from that. So I'll talk about them in a sec. But Caleb.

Takes a lot of sacks. I'll say that's the start with Caleb Williams. But he is 27th in EPA per dropback overall, 23rd in dropback success rate, and 20th in throwing success rate. So when he does throw the ball, he is 20th, which actually is a little better than I was expecting. He had a nice chunk of games before the Bears by week. Can you get a little sloppy there in the middle? And he's had some positive moments, I'd say, the last couple of weeks under Thomas Brown, but it hasn't all been consistent. But Matt,

With Caleb Williams, because I know your strength, I shouldn't say your strength, your forte is with receivers. I'm sure you've watched plenty of Roman Dunzay, but really you watch all these offensive skill guys a ton, especially with your background. So when you have been watching Caleb Williams and watching him during this rookie season, what are some of your takeaways so far? Some positives, some weaknesses. Has he been disappointing? Has he lived up to expectations? Probably not.

But all those types of things. What have been your thoughts so far on Caleb Williams through the first three months of his rookie season?

Yeah, obviously, I think you got to talk about just what you mentioned at the season from hell that the Bears are having here. You know, Thomas Brown, the current interim head coach, is on his third job with the team. That is not exactly. I always I always talk about rookie quarterbacks. You know, what's the soil that they get to grow up, grow in, you know, where they plant their roots and then sprout and the whole deal. You get the analogy. This is not the best soil.

in the world for Caleb Williams to be putting down his early career roots Chernobyl soil oh yeah I mean it really is like the nightmare scenario that you know I do a show with Andy Barron's a Bears fan you know used to do the show with Robert he's a Bears fan every Bears fan knows the story of like just what the Bears always do it's

Draft new quarterback, the lame duck coach, fire coach, rookie quarterback on his due to assist. The whole cycle on and on and on. And it's like that was kind of you could you could see that nightmare scenario coming before the year. If you were familiar with just the way the Bears operate. And like now we are firmly in that timeline because that's what's going to happen here with Caleb. It's going to be a whole new staff next year and we'll see what happens. But for this year, I definitely think there have been clear.

ups and downs. And he's a great example of why when we talk about rookies, we do want it to map really cleanly over the course of their rookie season, especially with receivers. And you kind of get some sometimes you get this clean split of first half of the year. And then like after their bye week, they start trending up. Like you said, teams figure out roles and deployment usage on all that stuff. It's not quite as clean with quarterbacks like progression is not linear with these guys. And even when

You know, it was okay. Shane Waldron's out of the building. Like he has this great game against, uh, it was, it was the Vikings. He had a great game against the Vikings where, um, was pretty mistake free, pushed the ball down the field. Um, but then of course, like the first half of the lions game on Thanksgiving was kind of a disaster. Uh,

picks back up in the second half. They get close, but then he has some real serious operational, him and Eberflus together, have some real serious operational errors towards the end of the game, and that's all we're talking about. In this Niners game this last week, I thought the first half was just

was just putrid like i just don't think he was seeing the field i don't think he was confident in um the protection and he just got a lot of pass game like this was the thing he's like you can get shane waldron out of the building but thomas brown especially now that he's on his third job with the team like i said he's not about to come in there and like change up the route concepts and some of this messiness where the spacing sucks and the receivers are all in the same area and like routes aren't building off of each other practice times

Exactly. So that's what it felt like. It felt like an offense to me that was extremely disorganized. And I think the quarterback was he's a rookie. He is not at the point where he can just be even if he's like the emotional leader of the team. And I don't know that type of stuff. He's like the Pied Piper type. Remember that Baker Mayfield analogy coming in like

with Hugh Jackson, he was the, he was the pied Piper or whatever. Like even if he was that guy, you know, everybody's following him and that deal, like he's still, isn't ready to just carry the entire operation of a very, very disorganized offense. So I, we've seen a lot of promising moments from Caleb. I think we've seen a lot of concerning moments, things that, you know, when there is a new staff in there and hopefully things are cleaned up, like we've got a, the one thing I would say just about him, that's been really tough to reckon with is the fact that he,

Seems very hesitant to pull the trigger sometimes, which I don't know if that is a thing that has been coached into him by this staff and like a defensive head coach of, hey, just don't turn the ball over and be average on offense because our defense is good. Well, your defense is actually not that good this year. And that was sort of, again, the faultiness of this pairing all along, because I think that's a guy that should be.

If he's confident in what he's seeing and feeling the way the offense is structured, hit that back foot and let it rip, man. But I think that's been my biggest kind of disappointment with Caleb is that he seemed a little bit more hesitant to pull the trigger than I would have hoped.

I'm with you totally on that. I'll start kind of like with the negatives of Caleb is that taking way too many sacks right now. And I know a lot of people want to bring up the Bears offensive line. I actually think the Bears offensive line is okay. Not good, but it's not an atrocity.

It really isn't. I actually think they've been okay. There's times Coleman Shelton, the center, will lose in pass protection or one of the guards or Tevin Jenkins will get sloppy. Like one guy will lose. And like I said, it's not a great offensive line. But when I watch him, there's a lot of times there's some clean pockets for him to operate out of and stuff where he can go through his progressions and everything. I think right now he has a sack rate of 11%, which is 32nd in the NFL amongst qualifying quarterbacks is the term I'll use.

Second highest pressure to sack rate in the NFL right now. That is kind of concerning for me where he was middle of the pack in this in college and he would take some sacks, but he was always trying some stuff. But 31% right now is absurdly high. And like I said before, I do not think all of that can be

attributed to the offensive line. Some of it, but not all of it. There's times where he is stubborn in the pocket. And I do think this is going to be good for him in the long term. And I appreciate what he's trying to do. He sits in that pocket and he tries to progress. And it is truly one to two to three to four to five. And like you said, so this is kind of piggybacking off of what you said. Sometimes I just want him to try a throw. One to two, throw it.

Throw a guy open, throw a guy that, oh yeah, he's a little, it's not clean. It's a little messy. Throw it open, give him a shot. I think there's too many times that he is trying to make it a little too clean for himself, which is the irony of how he was described or the paradox about who he was described coming in, which is always what I thought there was a disconnect of how he actually plays because I actually thought he was pretty like really good in the pocket, which is why I liked him so much. He's 27th right now in tight window throw rate.

And that has and you could say some of that is the receivers. And I do think there is that. OK, I just said the offense line is not as bad as it is, as we would think it is. I will say that the receiver concerns are very real, which is it's more not the talent. It's more the details. There was a three play sequence against the 49ers where it was a Keenan Allen drop.

uh and then i want to say a roman dunes a drop and then a roman dunes a either roman dunes a or cole comet messed up a mesh route and you have three guys running into the same spot on mesh oh that was that was a mess i i can't remember exactly whose fault it was either but it was all four of them were in like kind of a box in the middle of the field in the circle yeah yeah i mean comet has been like a

He gets really lauded as a big, long-time locker room guy. I know they talk about him and Caleb's friendship and stuff like that, but he has been kind of like a net negative player at times for them. He's a losing player. I know. I know he's a big leader and he's having meetings with coordinators and coaches. He does radio and stuff. Yeah.

I am disappointed in Cole Komet. I don't think he's a reliable player at all. Whether it's drops, I think that Vikings game, he had a huge drop. He dropped the two-point play in this game against the 49ers.

He has other plays in run blocking where he's going to the wrong guy. And this guy's supposed to be a smart, sound team. You know, he's supposed to be... Like, Colt Comet's not going to be a freak, but he's supposed to be solid and everything. Pretty good receiver, pretty good route runner, pretty good hands, pretty good blocker. But he's also supposed to be this reliable guy that always does the right thing. And I just think in the last couple of weeks how many drops and important moments he has where he's blocking the wrong guy. He might be running the wrong route sometimes. Yeah, there's a disconnect on the Colt Comet. And that's really kind of the...

what the bears are at right now is they thought these vets are going to be coming to be the winning players. And they're the ones making the mistakes like a rookie, make a mistake like Roman Tuesday, running a wrong route or having a drop. Okay. Rookie receiver. Yeah. Vets that get paid money. Yeah. That those are the guys that are supposed to be lifting everybody else up when the rookies have their moments. So, but again, I don't want to put this all on the receivers and the pass catchers, because I do think Caleb can at times, uh,

Try a throw. Try to push this ball. And there's times like the second half of the Vikings game, the second half of the Lions game where he does. And even the four weeks before their bye. And I wrote about it where I was like, hey, this is looking like the real deal before everything, the whole bottom came out of this whole entire franchise.

where he was thrown with confidence. They're running a bunch of empty. He's progressing. He's ripping through those throws. So I just think that those are the things that I just want to see a little bit more of him trying some stuff. But unfortunately,

underlying stuff that i see it's all good like it really is like i don't have concerns about his accuracy i know off target throw percentage was getting thrown out there he was throwing the ball away i think some of those type you know tight windows they were trying some stuff um where he's trying to save a hit or something like that so that hasn't been concerning for me like accuracy or anything like that but i will say that him trying some throws is really the one thing i want to see more of the last month of the season especially but yeah overall i still think he's

He's very alive. His arm is really good. It's a really desirable job. Like I if I was a if I was a head coach, you know, I mean, obviously everybody talks about Ben Johnson. I don't know if Ben Johnson is going to want to go near the Bears or anything like that. But if I was and I was like organizational agnostic, like which I obviously Ben Johnson is not that he seems very in tune with that. He should be smart by him. But just like insert promising offensive coordinator X. I

I would be like, I want to work with this quarterback and cut some of the fat out of the offense that we've talked about a lot this year and just try to revive this guy. I'd be interested in doing it.

Yep. Yeah. Last thing was the pocket movement was good. The operation stuff has been impressive for me with Caleb. But then that's also back to the point of was it bad to put so much on a rookie and making them be perfect as opposed to just letting them play, which is like what we see about to talk about Jane Daniels, let him play and play to his strengths. And I think long term, it's good for Caleb. But maybe that's why there's so much ups and downs because they put so much on them. He handles protections like a vet. And that's really encouraged.

But there are just stuff that he, of course, has to improve upon. But man, he does have some real, real talent. Going on to the one that probably has the best underlying stats so far and really was even getting MVP talk for the first half of the season, which I thought was a little outlandish, but has played very well as a rookie. Pretty much anything you can hope for for this franchise right now. Number two selection, that is Jaden Daniels, who...

who has leading the surprising commanders. And he's really just done a really fine job. I really think of playing the quarterback position, but before I dive into it, I'll just lay out some stats. Seventh and EPA for drop back overall 10th and drop back success rate 13th and throwing success rate 24th and sack rate, which I'll talk about in a sec, but that's,

That is something that I actually think has been okay. Scrambles the most of any quarterback in the NFL, which I'll also talk about. But when you've been watching Jane Daniels this year, this commander's offense, what's impressed you about him? What are some of your takeaways with Daniels, Matt? Oh, yeah. I mean, I think there's so many positive takeaways here. And yeah, there's definitely some areas that in the second half of the season against better competition that, you know, some issues have cropped up. Some of the

some of the pressure to sack stuff, especially when he's been, when he's been dealing with this rib injury, I think was an issue, you know, and him like really confidently stepping into throws and pushing it downfield. But at the same time, man, I think this is a great sort of comparison between Caleb and Jaden Daniels, especially because coming into the season, it was,

Caleb Williams bears best situation we've ever seen a rookie quarterback walk into number one overall pick quarterback because of these wide receivers and this, that, and the other. What's like, well, there was still a lot of rot underneath the, you know, really well painted exterior of the house or whatever. You know, there were, there were some real stuff there that was concerning beyond just, Hey, we have a lot of good pass catchers. And what I love about Jaden Daniels and in, in this situation is that he like clearly has a,

Talk about not putting too much on a rookie's shoulders. I think Daniels has... It's not as if he's not carrying the burden of the offense because so much of what this offense is built around, in my opinion, is what does Jaden Daniels do well, which is...

He can get the ball out quickly when he's confident in the picture and he will push it downfield. But he doesn't have a bunch of egos to worry about satisfying, which I do think is an issue in Chicago. It's like, all right, let me build great chemistry.

with this one guy. And I think him and Terry McLaurin's connection has been one of the best in the league. That's what's been so impressive to me is you can clearly tell these guys have a lot of time on task together. Jaden throws it like Terry wants it. Terry is in the right places. They're just making magic on these vertical routes outside the numbers in tight coverage situations, but also like Terry McLaurin's one of the most productive receivers against zone coverage as well, which I think has been maybe a bit more

more than people thought out of jayden daniels i think he reads zone coverage well and operates well uh like maybe a little bit more over the middle of the field than people thought about i think they could still use probably one more right now that i think she pushes it better over the middle of the field than i thought he would be able to right away maybe you get there later in his career but he's been more impressive as a rookie than he was in college i think but yeah what

He's pushing it to like, you know, Zach Ertz and Noah Brown. Okay. So those are like his forward for one yard. Those are like his middle of the field weapons. So yeah, I mean, I'm, I'm really, again, there's some, there's some nitpick areas and things like that, but I don't know how you can't come out of this season feeling really optimistic about Jaden Daniels. And I'm curious what this looks like if he takes a second year leap and they add more talent around him.

Yeah, I there is again the concerns in a sec, but man, he is just so smart with the football and I know Washington fans got so so shaky with me when I was like, man, he really does have a lot of Teddy Bridgewater and I met that as a real compliment because I thought that I think that Jane is so accurate and makes a lot of good sound decisions.

especially outside. I mean, you just mentioned the Terry stuff. It's not just go balls, but he, and this is how he was in college. And I attributed some of it to his receivers, but I, it's carried over so far, even when he's not throwing the Terry, when he's throwing the fricking, like you just brought Noah Brown or Diami Brown, Diami Brown or Zaccheaus on the outside that he peppers them. Like he throws it outside consistently, which is what you want to do. He'll throw it low and away when he has to, like, you know, he can,

even when the guy's tightly covered, like those slants to Terry McCord in the red zone are on point. And I,

Slant throws are, yes, your day one throws, but being really good at them is a really good thing because your baseline is going to be high. And I think that James' baseline is always going to be so high because he's so accurate and he's smart with the football. You mentioned the quick throwing motion. I think that's a big part of that. He's a dynamite runner, which is what we – I mean, it was to be expected, but I had concerns because of his weight.

I didn't think he was a creative runner, you know, as much as like Lamar is or even like a Josh Allen. But man, I as a runner, he doesn't he hasn't been taking a lot of big hits and he's been smart about it. He is also just he can get to the edge more consistently than I thought maybe he could against NFL athletes. You know, he's got obviously he's got real juice, but it's been even more interesting.

more efficient at that than I thought maybe early in his career. And I think, yeah, like I said, avoiding sacks early in the season is kind of caught up to him. Great mention of the rib injury. I would say

uh, maybe some areas for Mike, I would like to see him improve a little bit is, uh, expand his aggression outside of just go balls, you know, maybe some more digs and like, that's where the intermediate stuff. But again, like you said, he, he's flashed it a little bit more, more benders and more stuff over the middle. But again, go like that. He skews right to the, as a passer a lot, you're like,

Doesn't really throw to the left. It's kind of such a weird thing. Like when you look at his target maps and that's more just like a quirk than something that's like, oh, he's really going to catch him. I would say when he gets pressured or when he gets blitzed that I like to see him push the ball more, throw the ball more as opposed to just looking to run. And right now that's fine. He is winning as a runner. But when pressured, he's eighth in drop back success rate.

Okay. That very, very good. That is great to see as a quarterback 20th and throwing success rate. So that's a big drop backs include sacks and scrambles. Throwing is just when they throw the ball. So he, when he is pressured, he has a 25% scramble rate and he has a 26% sack rate. So that means when he has pressure, Jane Daniels over half the time, he's either getting sack or he's sack or he is scrambling and

And it's the highest rate in True Media's database, which goes back to 2019 for pressures. Don't get me wrong, though. He's successful as a scrambler, 68%, which is very good. It's just that long-term viability. Got to tone that down just a little bit. You know, he just got, Lamar was like this early, young in his career, and now he's found a nice balance where it's more in that teens, you know, 12% scramble rate against when you're pressured, somewhere around there.

but it's working for him right now and he's finding a way to win on those so but i will say when he's pressured just want to see him maybe throw on the move a little bit more keep his eyes downfield don't always just look for running lanes when he gets feels the pressure or on third and longs again it's working for him now just more long-term viability you know and with his frame and everything but man it's it's been impressive like i even was looking at stats like

I was like, okay, maybe they do a lot of play action. They use a lot of screens and maybe that's bumping up his stats. Non-screen, non-play actions, fifth in EPA for drawback, 10th in success rate. So it's, it's whole, the eye test is matching this.

Is it to the highs of maybe with the MVP hype? No, but this is a good player. And I've been very, very impressed by how his avoidance of bad plays and a lot of the stacked up good plays. So, yeah. You know who I think he could learn from as a pressure player? This is weird. It sounds so stupid just because of what this guy did as a rookie. But I've been so impressed with the way Bryce Young has played under pressure the last, like, obviously four games or whatever. And it's a lot of what I'd like to see from Jaden Daniels do, which is just –

Okay, you're pressured. You immediately look to readjust, step up in the pocket, like maybe boot out a little to the right and just keep the eyes downfield. And if nothing is there, then you take off like as a last resort. Bryce, I feel like Bryce has like five yard, like five yard last resort scrambles a game right now. Whereas obviously those plays could be...

be like 10, 15 yarders for Jaden Daniels, but like take that one last beat to, to sort of push the ball downfield if there's something there. But again, I, I always come back to, I want them to have one more guy, like one more guy beyond McLaurin that I think on those scramble drills are, are, you know, he, he could, he could rely on. I'd like, I, I was skeptical of McCaffrey, Luke McCaffrey, that they took him through around and I,

and he's, his playing time has been all over the place. There's no like clean progression there. I almost kind of would like to see a player like that. And I kind of like, kind of like some of what I've seen from him in very, very limited glimpses. So maybe they're coming out of their buy this week. Maybe we see more of that. I don't know. But again, one more guy maybe could help this problem too. Yeah. And,

No offense to Ertz, but it's a good tight end class, maybe a tight end on day two. Like, cause Jayden seems like a guy that would, would, I mean, obviously he's peppering Ertz. Like that's kind of his thing. Like when he does throw, when he feels pressure, he likes to throw those little four or five yarders over and his quick throwing motion lets him get to him. So like that, just a nice big body that can just sit there and maybe actually create something after the catch.

You know, maybe juice those up a little bit more. But yeah, I mentioned that too, is that he's been avoiding the big shots. The sack rate has climbed up. He's 24th in sack rate. That is going to be something that you're always going to keep an eye on with him because it was such a high number in college that that was a huge red flag of how carry over. But again, he's middle of the pack pressure to sack rate, which is more encouraging. I think that it's like, okay, you're you.

It doesn't have to be the best of the best. Like he doesn't have to be freaking Peyton Manning or prime Tom Brady, but just where it's not a Justin Fields number or a Daniel Jones thing where it's like he, if you take, he's taking too many sacks and it's just kneecapping the whole offense. So I would say that just the fact that it's not, hasn't been 32nd is encouraging, but even if it's drift off a little bit after the rib injury, like you mentioned, so yeah.

but you gotta be happy for commanders fan. Uh, I mean, this is, he's been a really fun to watch and I just love the decision-making with him. I shoot. I mean, I don't want to, I don't want to say I was about to say something. He's better than this quarterback, but, uh, there's a quarterback in this division that I think he's playing better than, and he's a rookie and the other guys are getting paid $50 million. Um,

It's not the guy that's hurt, though. And it's not the guy that was benched. So I want you guys to do the math. All right. Now, moving on to the third overall pick. That is Drake May, who started the year on the bench behind Jacoby Brissett before getting the nod. And he's had...

a really, I think, impressive stretch since he has taken over. He's 18th in EPA for dropback, 13th in dropback success rate, 12th in throwing success rate. I think that's the best of the rookies. Second in scramble rate, only behind Jay and Daniels. First in scramble yards, fourth in scramble success rate. SAC rate is fairly high, which is, I think it's about 9%, which again is a cause for concern. But this one is a little bit more

A little bit of the offensive line or a lot of it, the offensive line. But I don't want to dive right into it. I'm going to let you go first, Matt Harmon, about Drake May, New England Patriots quarterback. What are your thoughts so far about him? Yeah, obviously, I'm not going to sit here and pander to you and Drake May. I actually think he's a terrible name. No, I just awful.

What am I thinking? He's been very, really promising man. And, and especially in this situation that he's in where, you know, we're talking about maybe Caleb Williams has too many guys. Maybe Jaden Daniels needs one more guy. How about a guy for Drake may, you know, a guy it's,

it's, it's been really impressive to watch him operate, you know, and it's not quite like this player because, you know, Andrew Luck had such a great rookie season, but he had certainly a lot more guys to, to, to rely on. I always kind of thought of Andrew Luck's rookie season of they just dropped them behind enemy lines and a shoot your way out, buddy. That is basically what Drake Mays has to do every single week. Cause it's not even as if like, all right, we're the Patriots and we rely on our defense. Like they're defenses.

whatever this year, you know, like objectively bad at times. And Drake may just kind of keep in whether whether the results are, you know, wins, whatever. I think they're never truly like embarrassed offensively. And I think a lot of that is because of what he does. The creation is really strong. He's willing to push the ball down the field. He's obviously adding value as a scrambler. There's a lot to like here, man. And again, I just think

If I'm them, I'm going all out to build the offensive line to get at least one, probably two starting receivers in the mix here because every single week if I was a member of this team, I'd be watching Drake May and thinking, we've got something here and we owe it to ourselves to build that up.

Yeah, I think their messaging has been the same thing. Like they're just kind of going, yeah, we got a guy like they just went from like, oh, we'll see how he's going to like straight up Mayo. Just go. No, we got a guy. So now we just got to build around them, which is, you know, of course, you want to kind of take what they're saying. Oh, yeah. No, I'm with you that the.

Yeah, the surroundings, much has been made about it. That's why they didn't even want to trot him out there early on because the offensive line was so poor. He has the fifth highest rate of quick QB pressures. So just ones that have just happened quick, according to NextGenStats. And again, he has a 9% sack rate, which I attribute some of that to that. But I thought he would be a little more chaotic, right?

early on and as a rookie, especially with these surroundings and he's like been way more calm than even and I was so optimistic about May, you know, obviously is my my QB one my number one overall player go to this draft and

But he's a little bit even more polished with his decision-making than I was anticipating. I thought that he had more chaotic plays. Obviously, he had plays like against the Titans and all that stuff where he's running around doing all that stuff. But as far as just against the Blitz, he's just more just sitting in the pocket and working underneath a lot more. He's not just chucking it deep, chucking it deep, chucking it deep. And I think that's really encouraging. I know how good of a deep ball thrower he is and an intermediate ball thrower that he is. So the fact that he's kind of...

winning with nickel and diming or finding throws like he did against the Colts, like all those outbreakers to the tight ends. And he's just putting them on the money over and over. I think just that consistency has been like a pleasant surprise for me. I thought it'd be a little more volatile early on in his career. And then he kind of figures it out. So, like I said, he has the highest throwing success rate. You take out garbage time. I think it's the highest, just straight up drop back success rate of all these guys. Um,

Like his underlying stats aren't just eye tests. Ooh, I like the traits. You know, again, he's first in scramble yards too. So it's this nice combination of he's finding the way to move the ball consistently. I know the big plays are there. It just going to be a lot better without Kayshaun booty being your deep ball threat and the corpse of Jalen Polk. Yeah.

Well, we'll talk about Jamal Polk probably later, but we don't have to. I mean, the case on booty thing is so crazy because this is a guy that considering, you know, who is who's going to be on the field in week one. He wasn't on the field on week one at all. You know, all throughout like training camp, it was he wasn't really mentioned as one of the top like X receiver candidates. And he's basically their every down X receiver, which is crazy.

I was not that big of a fan of Keishon booty coming out of college. So, I mean, that has been inconsistent. Yeah. Not my favorite. Yeah. Right. For real. And, and he, and his, his ADOT is like by far the highest on the team. So, I mean, that's what we're talking about here. I love your point about how steady it's been for him. It's not like a,

I really thought that what if, you know, and I wasn't as high on Drake May as you were, but I was probably more pro-Drake May than not. And I thought that what we'd have to be doing coming out of his rookie season was, I know that he's like 28th in this metric and 29th in this metric, but you got to watch the games. You really actually just have to watch it. Really, there's been more of that with the first quarterback we talked about here with Caleb Williams. And again, ironic just considering the way these two situations were discussed. But really,

50th reminder of the week that we don't know shit, okay? Until the games actually start. But really, yeah, you don't have to do that much coping with the Drake May stuff because the results are just really good. I'm curious, as somebody who's a huge appreciator of Drake May, if you could pick me...

a type of receiver that you want to work with you want him to work with because i get it like this is pretty much a blank slate to me like you go into next offseason and okay maybe polk gives us something in training camp maybe javon baker shows us something in the whoopty do that would be gravy i think it's a true blank slate in the pass catcher room if you could pick like a type of receiver for drake may to work with who would it be big ball winner named t higgins

All right. So we're on the same page here because every time somebody's like T Higgins, you are a charger. I'm like, no, no, no. He needs to be whatever, whatever the like blank check the Patriots should give it to him. Yeah. And I think the room is already out that they're going to basically back up the Brinks trucks and figure it out how to get T Higgins. Cause I think that's the plan. I think it's you draft Lyman and, and,

try and figure out how to get Higgins on your team and then maybe sign another receiver or draft another pass catcher in the middle round. So like, you know, like a third round tight end or something like that. I think...

I mean, obviously, I'm always going to defer to big ball winners, but may gives his receivers chances. And like, that's why I want a big body that he's gonna, I mean, that's what bro does so well to may and bro aren't too much alike. But you know, the fact that they always, they're going to be aggressive when they can, and they're going to give their guy a shot at the ball. And I think that's why I want a guy that can take advantage of those shots.

you know, like is a T Higgins. And I think that's perfect. If the draft would be like that tech McMillan from Arizona, who's a big, big body or big body, and maybe not as fast as Higgins, but actually I think has better speed than he's been getting rated for, but that big size, big body guy, like that's what I want to see. Um,

If not that, then a true downfield threat. Because it is, and which I'm hoping like Higgins, a guy like Higgins is both. But if you weren't able to get that 6'4 guy, that ideal X, I think if you got a guy, a true burner, like not just a speed guy, but a true guy that could take the top off and come down with the ball, that is Alec Pierce. But a guy that could take the top off, because he is...

We haven't seen that from him this year. And that's, what's so exciting is that the thing that got me so excited about him coming into the pros is something we haven't even tapped into yet. Is that a, that big ball, the big place, like, and that's what he is able to drive the ball 15 to 25 yards or further as well as anyone I've rated, you know, coming out as a prospect. And that's what I'm excited to see right now.

he's like i got tight ends you know all right i'm going to try and make this work i'll nickel and dime with a bunch of out throws and so it's cool that he's working with what he's got but i think idealistically a bigger body or a speed burner would truly unlock what he's what he's really good at which is a walk and talking big play machine so yeah i don't know i i've been really impressed i i've been trying to kind of temper expectations as more dad

data guy out there but like you said like it's not like trevor lawrence's rookie year where it's like hey guys trust me trust me it's not you know that's like you said it's more like that's how caleb is the discussion on caleb here it's like i can point at stats i can you know they run a lot of screens but they don't use a lot of play action like he's asked to drop back and progress and i actually thought um even the operation stuff which is

Again, while I was high on him coming into the pros, I thought that was he was underrated. And I think he handles there's some protection awareness that he's actually better at. They've actually given him some some keys to that. And also, like, he's really good with cadence stuff already, which is always an encouraging sign that he's able to change up his cadence and get guys jump off size. He's going on like a triple cadence sometimes.

So that shows that he's understanding the play. And now he can do the little minutiae things, the middle things, the little things, I should say, that kind of open up and really expand you as a quarterback. So, yeah, I mean, again, I've been impressed with him. I'm super high on him, if you guys can't tell. But I just think it's been it's been really fun to watch him. I'm excited to watch this last month and just see what else he's got going on to Mr. Bo Nix.

Taken by the Broncos. He was the sixth quarterback taken, but the fourth starter of this group. Bo Nix has led the Broncos into a winning season. They look like they have a huge game against the Colts this week, which will really decide that kind of last playoff spot. But Nix has been where those stats that I have somewhere in here. He is 22nd EPA per dropback, 22nd and dropback success rate. He is 29th in success rate on throws.

And he has, oh yeah, 10th in scramble rate and 21st in scramble success rate. Knicks, they're just coming off a win. They had a bye week, but coming off a win against the Browns. Had a really impressive 93-yard touchdown against the cover two invert where he threw one right down the middle. But...

I'm going to let you start with Bo Nix, Matt Harmon, and then I'll give you my thoughts. But what have you been some of your takeaways with Nix and the Broncos offense so far this year? Oh, well, the number one thing that's most impressive about Bo Nix is just his willingness and his ability to push the ball over the middle, because I find that to be the most like admirable thing you can do as a quarterback. And we man, we've been talking about this all season long with all

All the like hand wringing about cover two and oh, we can't we can't make vertical plays anymore with the two eye safeties. Push it right down the middle of those bad boys or right in that open field. If you just think about it like a traditional cover to structure, there's going to be openings in the seams and over the middle and stuff like that. And that is exactly where Bo Nix, I mean,

It's like he wants to do that. He wants to live there. And I think that's by far the most impressive and most admirable part of his game. You know, there's definitely criticism you can make. I think he gets the Browns game is a great example of like the best and worst of Bo Nix, because I think he gets so like jittery in the pocket and he's moving around a bunch. It's just.

settle down and do what you want to do, which is you want to push that thing over the middle, deep down the field. And man, he can really do that. His connection with Cortland Sutton, similar to Jaden Daniels and Terry McLaurin,

Again, there's one guy. There's one ego I have to satisfy in this room or like one ego who deserves to be satisfied in this room. I don't know. Maybe that's what happened or whatever. There's a pecking order. There's a clear cut pecking order here. And that's why Sutton has been one of the most productive receivers in the league this year because he.

His best routes are those routes over the middle of the field. So him and Nick's have timed up well there. I also think he's got a really good thing going on with Devon Valey, who's kind of, I mean, he's like six, five to 15 power slot receiver. He has all the workout receiver, like workout metrics of like a, of a traditional X, but they use him in kind of like a Marcus Colston way to make a, you know, the hundredth pain Saints analogy with the Sean Payton Broncos. But really that, like those are routes that Nick's likes to throw really well. He's very impressive on those.

And, yeah, I mean, I think this offense is really – at times it's like this offense has been really well designed, and I think they have – just juxtapose what's going on with the Bears this year and what's going on with the Broncos. Like there's an adult in charge in the Broncos because I think the first four weeks wasn't just like not impressed with Knicks. It was just like a really bad offensive product, period. And I was kind of like –

What is Sean Payton doing? And then by the time we get to week 8, week 9, week 10, they've cut out so much fat from that offense, and they're really leaning into what Nix wants to do. They're also putting up, as we've talked about on the show, they're putting up some good guardrails for him, some screens and play actions and things like that. They don't ask him to do a ton of ton. I'm sure you'll talk about it in their traditional dropback game. But yeah, I think the thing I'm most impressed with, and I love quarterbacks that do this, are the guys that...

have the stones to just rip it down the middle of the field and and nicks does that very well maybe i would say maybe the the best out of all of these guys or the most like willing to do it out of all these four guys we've just talked about yeah he it's that that's what i mean shoot it's like i think he has the most attempts 20 or more yards down the field uh it's yeah which i'll talk about uh no i'm with you this is he does a couple things that

It's kind of funny with him. The Red Alerts that I had were red flags. I would Jane Daniels, which is he didn't throw the ball over the middle much and he took a lot of sacks. Mike Bo Nix did those things in spades in college and it's carried over in the NFL. He's willing to throw the big boy throws when it's there. And he also is really good at not taking sacks. He is one of the best sack rates in the NFL right now. Fourth best among qualifying quarterbacks, 4.1%. That's huge as a rookie quarterback. Huge, yeah. Because those are just

Even if the offensive surroundings aren't good or they are really good, you are not kneecapping the offense. Like a sack is a drive killer for most offenses, unless you're like the Vikings. And then you just got Darnold chucking grenades every play. Yeah. Like they, that's not, or, or Mahomes with the chiefs. Like this is just 14. Who cares? Who cares? No deep dig, you know, throw a 50 yards. I know. So,

That's what has been impressive with me is that his sack avoidance, being a good athlete, you know, he's such a good runner, handling things just even like errant snaps. Like the center has a real tendency to snap balls to the left. He's actually really good at like snagging them. I know it's just a minor thing, but just speaks to his athleticism. He can zip any throw, which is what you're talking about throwing over the middle. Like he's got real arm juice.

Like he spins it. And I think he's very accurate underneath. Like when he has to nickel and dime, he can really put it on the guy's chest, give him a yak opportunity as well. You mentioned some of the stuff about maybe being a little skittish like that. And that's where I still want to see, you know, this is my disconnect with him. He was an older quarterback prospect with a lot of starts. So, you know, how much more room for growth is there? And just kind of how he was in college has kind of been like that as a pro, as far as

Sometimes in the pocket, he looks okay. But then sometimes like at the first sign of pressure, he starts just doing wonky things. His legs are just all over the place, his head's everywhere. And it kind of matches with the stats too. I would say kind of, it really does. Against pressure, he's,

Pretty bad. And this is where I want to see the room for improvement with him. He's 35th in QB rating against pressure, 35th in yards per attempt, 31st in EPA per dropback, 34th in success rate. And this isn't just this is a difference between like him and May.

where may I contribute a lot of this to the offensive line, just getting their butts kicked with the Broncos and their offense lines pretty good. And I think they're very sound with their rules. Are they perfect? Are they the best? I don't know if they're the best, but they're a top 10, top 12 unit. Yeah, he's seventh in time to throw. And when he's pressured, he has the fourth lowest pressure rate.

I know that sounds weird, but like, oh, I'm sorry, fourth lowest pressure rate overall. And he has the third fewest amount of quick QB pressures against him. So again, it's not like he's getting under duress all the time. That's not letting him build confidence. I just will say that when he's under pressure, his decision making just goes every which way, which was kind of Bo Nix's reputation at Auburn, which is counterintuitive.

chaotic, crazy Bo Nix. And then he got to Oregon and it felt a little more safer, a little more sound. You saw those chaotic moments sometimes. And so I would say that's where I want to see some improvement with it is that it's chill. You know, just understand, go through your options, find the answers. Don't let your feet get out of whack because that's when things start coming unraveled for him. And shoot, teams blitz him a ton. He has the most pass attempts against the blitz this year, and he's 32nd in success rate. Again,

against the blitz, but he has the second highest time to throw against the blitz. He has the highest rate of throws that take four or more seconds. So this is kind of even the video that made the rounds a few weeks ago. This is kind of what I was getting at where it's like, I want to see him, you know, be more selective when he's pushing the ball, like finding the right answer, pushing the ball, finding a good answer down the field. Like, cause right here, he's seventh in air yards per attempt against the blitz, but he's 32nd in success rate.

So even without watching him, if you just look at those numbers, that means he's throwing a lot of grenades. Like just going, ah, try it. You know, let's see how this goes. So just finding answers within the offense, which is what I was trying to talk about in that video a few weeks ago. But just finding stuff that's in the flow of the offense, when it's just a drop-back setting where it doesn't get into the chaos mode. And I think that's why I just want to see more out of him. And even the deep ball stuff, which...

I've seen plenty of stats about the deep ball regarding Knicks.

I think just too is that he has the second most pass attempts to 20 more air yards. But again, he's kind of more middle of the pack or below average as far as the success rate on those. So that's where and not pushing the balls and just go balls and posts. Pushing the ball means digs, benders, stuff over the intermediate parts of the field, highs on the high lows. And I would just like to see that a little bit more often from him. I think sometimes he defers to that guy's open. I'm going to hit him for four yards as opposed to maybe,

Let it marinate for one count more and let the deep route unravel and then throw the deep route. So there, there's just some of that where I want to see more. Cause sometimes right now when he pushes the ball, it just seems a lot of like, all right, let's see how this goes, which how it felt against the Browns. Sometimes it's good. You get a PI, make a good throw. And then sometimes it just leaves some unevenness with him, but I'm really watching him. I,

I like watching him because I just like watching the Broncos offense a lot. And I do think he has improved. Like that first month, like you said, was awful. It was just God awful. And now he looks more like, oh, this guy can start. Like this guy is a starter in the NFL. And that's how I feel about him. But I just do have some concerns with some of the skittishness. He has the second highest rate of throws on the run. And that's not because of...

I mean, he does have a lot of bootlegs and everything, but that's because of him in the pocket. He steps up, he starts running towards the line of scrimmage and then throws it. So I just like to see a little bit more calmness with him. And he has the best coach to do that. Like Peyton does a great job. So again, it's just more flow of the offense stuff, but has been doing a much better job of it. The Raiders game was really good a couple of weeks ago too, where he was doing that a little bit better. So yeah, it's good stuff. And I also might add,

that the Broncos are 12th and early down rushing success rate by running backs. So yeah, because the offense line is pretty decent. Nice little 40 minutes on the rookie quarterbacks. That was great. No, but I will say I've liked, I've enjoyed watching all four of these guys in different ways. And that's God, even if Penix and McCarthy don't work out. And I think I still am optimistic about both.

Holy crap, we can get four good starters from one class. That is good for everybody. There's no one from this group that I come out of this year feeling like, uh-oh. There's definitely some uh-ohs in Caleb Williams' game. But again, if I... And just the trajectory of where the team is going. But there's nobody that I come out of this... I wouldn't want to work with. Again, even with the way Caleb has gone this year, I would be willing if I was one of these hot shot...

Like if my guy, Liam Cohen, they call him up, I'd be like, I'm ready. I'm ready. I'm ready for the challenge. I'm ready to see what I can do here. I would be I'd be ready and willing to kind of jump into into that whole process. Whereas like Daniel's feeling great. May feeling great. Bo Nix. I feel really good if I was Sean Payton. Like I got he was Sean Payton was like, you know.

Letting it all hang out at the post-draft press conference, how excited he was about this guy. And I don't think anything on how he was smarter than everybody else. And if I'm Sean Payton, 14 weeks into this guy's rookie season, I would feel like I'm still smarter than everybody else. And yeah, if we can get one of Pennix or McCarthy and...

We could do a whole, you know, another hour on like, what should the Vikings do at quarterback? But I mean, if one of those guys works out, yeah, I think we've got, this is a good, this is a good class. Good class. It's a great class. Yeah. And we're going to take a quick break and not only is this a good quarterback class, we're going to be start talking about the offensive skill positions and we're

The receiver class also was supposed to be pretty interesting, and we'll see how it has been going through their first year. Did my boss just call me buddy? Am I his buddy? You may not know where you stand with your boss who calls everyone buddy.

Or did he just forget my name? Has he ever said my name? But you always know exactly where you stand with the Sport Clips app that shows you the shortest wait and the haircut tracker that tracks your real-time wait time down to the minute. Uh, my name's Josh. The Sport Clips app. It's a game-changer.

This podcast is brought to you by Kleenex Lotion Tissues. You can't predict sick days, but with Kleenex Lotion Tissues, you can be better prepared for them while helping keep your skin healthy. Kleenex Lotion Tissues moisturize to help prevent skin irritation while you're battling those unwanted cold and flu symptoms. It's extra care when you need it most. Keep relief within reach. Grab Kleenex Lotion Tissues to help avoid the added discomfort of irritated skin during cold and flu season. For whatever happens next, grab Kleenex.

All right, we are back with the non quarterbacks on the offensive side of the ball of this rookie class. And we're going to go with Matt Harmon's fastball, the receivers, Mr. Reception Perception, crack those knuckles, get going and warm up the hands over there. This receiver class, though, was getting pretty hyped up.

I, you know, I'm with them, though. I had three guys as true blue chippers and a few more guys that I was like, yeah, I'll take this guy in the first round as well. We had a whole bunch of guys taking the first round, a whole bunch of guys taking the second round. Matt, would you say this class has lived up to the hype?

Or have you been disappointed or let down at all by this class so far? It's tough because, you know, when I did the rookie report on these guys for reception perception, I put a lot of like guys that were as expected. You know, of course, you got to remember when I'm doing that, I'm looking at them just in isolation. Like reception perception is all about like trying to divorce the wide receiver from the surroundings, you know, and like quarterback and stuff, you know, like basically everything.

It's got nothing to do with production. I do think from a production standpoint, this class has been maybe a little bit disappointing, but also the expectations were so, so high. You know, I mean, maybe crazy high. I mean, Marvin Harris Jr. was going as like a first round pick with the sicko best ball bros, you know, like in fantasy football. That's...

he basically had to like be better than Puka Nakua who broke a bunch of records last year you know and one guy was it's normal ho-hum totally doable you know and obviously receiver is even I mean it's a position that is so dependent on outside variables for production right like that's why I exist okay I mean

Maybe I got personal life stuff, I guess. But I mean, why I'm doing what I do is because that is the reality of it. Yeah, I mean, I came away from this class feeling like I think all the three top guys were basically as I expected from an isolation standpoint. Harrison, Neighbors, and Adunze. I think they've all been fine. I think they've all been good. Some negative moments for sure. You mentioned some of the miscommunication.

mistakes in Roma dunes a's game lately he has cleaned up like the drops and contested catch misses like over the last four weeks I don't think he's dropped the pass I don't think he's had like a contested catch miss anything like that I mean his his touchdown receptions this past week were like oh those were classic Roma dunes a plays like I wish I was the first one especially yeah almost to the point that like because I was so high on a dunes a as a prospect I'm like please please catch it please please catch it please please catch it

Oh, dude, man. But at the same time, like... I know how I feel like. Oh, yeah. But, like, the same time, you know, when you look at any of, like, a Dunzay's per route stats or... And it's not pretty. Nobody in Chicago is pretty. Yeah. That is so, obviously, the situation there. Harrison, I definitely think there's been some...

some stuff that we've talked a lot about the usage and the deployment and things like that. Definitely, if the Arizona Cardinals wanted to pay me $300,000 per year to come be a useless consultant, I would be like, what if we just did a little bit of CD Lam stuff with Marvin Harrison Jr.? What if we just did that? It might be interesting because I do think, yeah, a couple of choice routes from the slot and stuff like that, as opposed to just

let's make him a back shoulder receiver because I just don't think that's really what he is. And with neighbors, I mean, he's a guy that was so generous, like generationally productive to start the year. But some of that was a little bit,

empty calorie stats things like that and the offense stinks and he's also made his fair share of mistakes too I mean critical drops and critical moments so nobody's been perfect at the top of this class I think Brian Thomas Jr. has also I mean it would they're just now counting on him to be like the first read player and like maybe it took too long to get there but I also think he needed to develop a little bit iron out some kinks against zone coverage like the best rookie receiver is

I think on film has been Ladd McConkie. Like, and I actually am not sure it's been close. Like he's just been so, so good, but he's also, you know, a slot receiver on a wide open depth chart with by far the best quarterback of anybody we discussed here. So that's obviously part of it too. But I just think in isolation, he's even been the best rookie receiver. So a lot of guys that, you know, are kind of incomplete grades. I mean, everybody basically like that went in the back half of the first round, worthy, pierce all,

Leggett, even sort of Keon Coleman, just because we haven't seen him in a minute. I would say all those guys I could go one way or another on in terms of

I don't know that I see superstar potential for any of those players. I also am, you know, that I think there's some bottoming out concerns with, with some of them, but at the same time, I could also see them developing second year into kind of like good solid stars. My last point on this before I throw back to you too, is like, you mentioned we need to get like 20 starts in with these guys. I think the great example, and I talked about this on, on my show or the fantasy show a couple of days ago is,

Just think about what's going on with Jackson Smith and Jigra right now and think about how people talked about him coming out of his rookie season. Like, ooh, yards per outrun, not very good. Targets per outrun, not very good. Not like, oh, he's playing with two Pro Bowl receivers there in Seattle or anything. But now he is the most important player in the Seahawks offense. In the whole offense. And it took...

half a season for a new coaching staff to say hey what what if we did this with that guy because dk's out and like and i it took that to discover it so all of these guys like i i'm with you i don't start to truly panic about any of these players that they might be bad bad until number one unless the film is just an absolute disaster and i don't think the film on any of these guys has been an absolute disaster so far uh until like maybe halfway through their second season

shoot, even the get who I had a ton of concerns about. I've been like, oh, okay, you got a little bit more polish like to you. I think the Panthers are just well coached. Like, I mean, just got credit to everyone there. But no, even him, like I, I,

I love some of his profile, but then he had huge red flags for me. But now I'm like, oh, okay, you're not like just a total bust where it's like, this is never going to work. Like the guy you basically replaced, Jonathan Mingo, you know, and some are like, you know, again, I'm like, okay, you have a chance to be real with a chance to be like real, real, like, you know, it's just,

you know, it's a pie chart, sliding scale, sliding scale, 2% chance. So important to talk about tears within the position. Cause it's like, there's number one receivers. And then I think there's superstar receivers. And then I think there are elite receivers and that, that top group should be very, very, very small. It should be like five to seven guys, you know? And like, that's it. We can't just be like,

Everybody gets it. Like, most guys are not going to get to that first year. Even the top three players in this class, Harrison, Neighbors, and Adunze, I don't think any of them – and I think Neighbors would be the only one if you just look at the stats that people might put in this group. I don't think any of them have played, like, elite receivers because no shit, they're rookie receivers. You know? Like, they're not quite there yet. So I think –

We'll see if Harrison can maybe get there. I don't know. But even if we get some, like I could very well see a lot of like number one wideouts coming from this group. Like I think McConkie's there. I think Thomas can get there. And I think all three of the top guys can get there. It's just I'm really curious about the Leggett types. And it's great that you brought him up because obviously he's getting slammed right now because he didn't catch that final pass that probably would have won the game. But he has had...

he's got it. He's got to consistently catch the football better. No question about it. But he has also had a lot of really positive moments. And it is a little bit on my radar that they moved him to X receiver after the buy, because I was so encouraged with how they used him to start the year, you know, move them around off the line of scrimmage and by, you know, feelings back now. And like, I do think they eventually want to get Coker back in the mix when he's healthy. So obviously Deontay Johnson was their X receiver. That's a,

little bit on my radar, but for the most part, I do think he's played. He's played well this year. Yeah. And then you already mentioned him, but Brian Thomas Jr. has been probably the most pleasant surprise. We're both. We've talked about this before. I think everybody that analyzes draft had him as receiver for and kind of his own class. It was the three blue chippers, then Brian Thomas Jr. And then the rest of the group. He was just kind of that one guy that's like, yeah, take him in the teens.

And I just thought he would take time. I thought now we might see some flashes out of him in December, you know, last eight weeks of the season. But now, I mean, right away, he was productive. He's literally the fastest receiver in the league, too. Like, he's the fastest receiver, which is, I knew he was fast. But, I mean, and he tested really well, of course, but his game speed, he is a true deep threat. Like Trevor Lawrence's deep balls are,

were a lot better this year because it's a receiver stat. And if you wonder why Caleb Williams is bad at the deep ball statistically, well, you know, there's not a lot of burners. And DJ Moore, they didn't really use that way for some reason. I don't know why. And that's, I mean, we spent 20 minutes on Caleb Williams. So, you know, it could have been two hours trying to figure out what the hell is going on in Chicago. But no, this receiver class, I think what you said is great is that there is a chance of some real number ones here and just some fun role player types.

and just guys that like I'm keeping an eye on, you know, like even guys that have been so inconsistent, I was expecting them to be inconsistent, AD Mitchells of the world. I'm not totally out on like where it's like, okay, you've done enough where it's like, okay, I'm not like going like, oh God, all right, you have no shot at this. Or, well, maybe one guy, I'm still the curious case of Jalen Polk,

I want to see the last few weeks. Maybe after the bye week, he's chilled out, but he's in his own head. How he's played the last few weeks is not indicative of what he was going to become because it's just so different than his prospect profile and what I thought he was going to be. And I'm not just saying that. It's just me. Guys like Ricky Pearsall, their 49ers are just so...

wonky and he's had a hell of an off season. Um, and then, yeah. And then even Xavier worthy who I, I don't think he's ever going to be what he was drafted to be, but I don't think he's useless. And that is, that's a big difference. Like he's going to have a role and actually a role that they're really figuring out for him with now that they have Deandre Hopkins there. Um, no, I think it's just a really fun receiver class. I'm with you. Uh,

And doomsday is now showing some moments where it's like, okay, that's what I expected you to be. That touchdown was a good example. Just some mental botches with him, which again,

chaotic situation. Maybe the vets aren't helping them because he's Kale's BFF and they're maybe just going like, all right, screw you. You know, it's a weird situation right there. I have theories on it, man, because that's just been, it's so messy and it's just so sloppy. And it really reminds me of the Jaguars with Trevor rookie year, but that was a worse version of it. But that's the same lack of details, the lack, like,

It's just weird, like just what's going on. So, you know, keep an eye on and neighbors explosive. And man, I think Harrison Jr. just does a lot of cool things. But what you're saying is that he's not a ball winner. He is Marvin Harrison Jr. He is his dad. It's just tall. And actually his rookie year stats and his dad's rookie year stats are starting to line up, which is really funny. Yeah. Yeah.

But yeah, no fun receiver class. I'm keeping an eye on him. Any surprises or any like day three guys or any guys that we didn't mention that you want to keep? You mentioned Coker from the Panthers. Fun little power slot. He grabbed both of our attentions. But any other guys that maybe have cut you off? I'm bummed about the Coker thing just because he's been banged up and I really hope that. And now I think it's just let's continue this Bryce Young stretch and like it has to. We got to make this good for the rest of the year because it's

he's playing so confidently now that you want to roll into 2025 on a hot streak with him that i i'm just hopeful that when coker gets back i'm a little concerned about this i'm hoping that when he gets back off the field because they want to kind of build the kind of i'm nervous about that right because like feeling's the best receiver here yeah gets their first round guy and like david moore's been around canalis forever that you know but i i think that coker and feeling as like

flanker slot guys that kind of play the same position. There are also some redundancy there. So I'm hoping we still see him because I think he's played well. I think Devon Bailey's got a little something something to his game as a slot receiver. I think a little something something. But honestly, that's the one area I think the class has been. I've got to say I'm super disappointed in Jermaine Burton, but I'm not surprised that I'm super disappointed in Jermaine Burton. I mean,

I would say that the way, the way this class has just maybe been a little bit of a letdown is in the depth of it overall. And, but Hey, like,

This is what's going to happen now around the league at wide receiver. This every single year we come in here with a draft prospect or the draft class saying this is a great class and there's not like a shortage of good receivers in the league. Everybody's going to start to get squeezed at some point. If you look at like the league wide wide receiver production, it's all down and

And a lot of it is injuries, you know, big time, like Puka Nakua missed time, AJ Brown missed time, Nico Collins missed time. Shoot, even, you know, there's been a lot of injuries. CD doesn't have Dak, so it's even quarterback injuries. CD doesn't have Dak, Tyree Kills missed two for a long stretch of time. Even a guy like Rasheed Rice, who was wildly productive to start the year, he's been out forever and ever and ever now. Like some of that has to do with, but, you know, I was tweeting about this.

last week that you know zay flowers and like george pickens are like fourth and fifth and receiving like jerry judy is top five in receiving yards right now um and some of that's the jamis winston you know fake stats and things like the jamis winston ponzi scheme but i mean at the same time it's because these receiver rooms are all spread out now because there's like guys there's three to four guys in a room that deserve targets and when you start to get

We don't want to talk about the Bears, but the Bears is a great example of like, I would love for just there to be two guys in there. But, you know, there's three guys that deserve the ball plus tight end and all this stuff. So it's going to be harder for the depth of players, even if they're talented to be fully expressed. But that's why it's kind of like I want to see a guy like Coker or maybe A.D. Mitchell get more time down the stretch. But again, Colby.

Colts example is great. Who are you taking off the field? Pierce has played his job. Well, Pittman's on a big contract downs when he's out there. It's like a legit baller. It's, it's tough. It is. No, no, no, it's a great point. And I mean, more team, more defenses run zone. How you beat zone is you need more than one pass catcher. Well, you need guys that can like, cause the quarterback has to go through his options. So multiple guys have to be viable. So,

if more defenses are going to play zone. So it's just part of like what the ecosystem of the league right now, you're not going to get the one, the true one-on-ones as much. And so it becomes a different, you know, this is also some of our discussion on Marvin Harrison jr. It's like, well, if you're going to get all the zone, like don't just get them double covered every play, move them to the slot, open up his role a little bit, you know,

I want to see what happens with the Cardinals next year. But yeah, there is some stuff where I'm like, come on, just add one more layer. You guys got it. Come on, come on. You guys got it. You're so close. Going to a guy, the other pass catcher of this class, other receivers, Brock Bowers.

Really good, right? I think that's really all I have to say. I mean, top five in every stat you look at as a rookie tight end, but he's been outstanding. Basically, they move him all over the field. It's really cool watching how they make sure he's on the...

really cool watching the Raiders offense is not something I expected to see say but North Turner I think it's Scott Turner I've done a good job of oh we want Bowers you know because Michael Mayer is back who is also pretty talented as well okay Bowers is going to be the deep route on this combination while Mayer is the underneath guy so some cool design stuff but that's

I mean, he's a pass catcher. He's not a tight end. He's probably the most best pass catcher so far of this group. My offensive rookie of the year favorite, to be honest. But anything with Bowers or any other rookie tight ends, there's more kind of more blockers in this class. But what stood out with you with Bowers?

I'm so glad you brought up the Scott Turner, North Turner, you know, father, son sitting up in the box there next to each other in the box. I'm like, come on, that could have been you. Okay. Really? Could have been you, man. See, luckily I'm a passing game guy. My dad was off as a line coach. So it was never that direct kind of like thing, you know,

But anyway, a little bit. Yeah. Yeah. But I don't know. You got two big guys. I don't know. You're not fitting up in that box. Maybe together either. That'd be a tight squeeze. I told you about that. Right. When I got when I was heavy and I knew I needed to lose weight and everybody. So it went from like.

oh you used to play quarterback tight end you know maybe you're oh yeah i used to get all the time and then and then i got really heavy and people started going would you play left tackle like would you play dn and i was like oh i gotta drop weight i started losing weight once i started getting oh you used to play tackle and you lost some weight and it's like no i was quarterback and i gained some weight so yeah we're we're doing better more people think i'm a quarterback again oh yeah you look you definitely look like a quarterback now for

now for sure. I appreciate it. What I was going to say before I went down that path

that little uh weird rabbit hole was that i maybe maybe because i didn't want to say this into a microphone um i really enjoyed like watching the structure of the raiders passing game with the turners up there one i've i've always been a little bit of a uh a scott turner sicko and that i think he's got some really nice ideas uh as a past game designer um and maybe like having

dad right in the booth next to him he's not acting up as much with some of the weird sequencing also when they do weird stuff i'm just pretty quick to blame it on antonio pierce uh like fourth down decisions and things like that because that's kind of how this season is gone but i i know that whole staff's probably going to get cleaned out but i've i've enjoyed this weird little moment in time when the two turners have been up in the box together because a lot of what they're doing with the tight ends because this is classic like norv turner stuff is i'm

some of the creativity with tight ends and like traditional wide receiver routes. And yeah, man, I mean, I know this is frustrating people in fantasy right now that like want Brock Bowers to get 10 targets a game for their playoff runs, but it's a pretty big sign of respect from the league that you can take a, a nominal rookie tight end and like have him clear out space for Michael Mayer. Who's a young talented player that they should want to develop. And like Jacoby Myers on some of these in breaking routes and like,

Meyer's just a damn good player. So like seeing all this together, I will say, look, Raiders fans, it's bleak for like the 20th time in your lifetime. I totally get it. It sucks. But this little moment in time where we've got like Bowers running these creative clear out passages for for for for Mayor and obviously like Meyer's kind of working on the traditional Norv Turner in breaking routes. It's it's it's a fun little moment in time.

Unfortunately, like Devin Ritter is going to be pulling the trigger on it on Monday night and I'm not going to be too fun. But I mean, maybe it'll be fun. We'll see. The Ritter, the Riddler's Revenge on Monday against the Falcons. I'm actually I'm probably the most fired up person for that game than anyone else, just because I want to see. I watched that. It was the fourth game on my multi view was the Bucks Raiders game. So I actually saw more of it than I intended to. And there's a lot of times I was like, oh, that was nice.

Oh, yeah, that was a nice little design there. Even Ritter or AOC in there. Yeah, no, I'm with you. I actually kind of like what they're doing, even if it's not all great. But yeah, other tight ends in this class, like AJ Barners coming along for the Seahawks. Theo Johnson, I've liked when he has been healthy for the Giants. I liked him as a prospect, too. And then Tip Ryman has come along a little bit for the Cardinals. They want to do a lot of heavy tight end sets, but they're using him more outside of just

staying there and being extra tight end. So they're actually like having to run some more routes and stuff. But I thought all those guys have really had some encouraging moments at tight end. And if you maybe want to ID them for a little dynasty kind of Trojan horse trade, you know, those guys, maybe not tip Ryman, but Theo Johnson, AJ Barner, maybe keep an eye on those two.

Running back wise, I would just make this quick. It's like Bucky Irving. There's a lot of guys that have been like stand out some small roles. Trey Benson's come along a little bit the last month, but that's James Connors showing Cardinals. Ray Davis has had some moments for the Bills. Love the Bills run game. Love how Ray Davis runs. Isaac Rendo, Burner, 49ers, Braylon Allen.

Brandon Allen's like losing snaps to a different rookie running back in Isaiah Davis. And then like Tyrone Tracy for the Giants has had some nice moments, but kind of just more like just wanted to just shout those guys out unless anybody else that you want to shout out there for the running back class, but that's kind of kind

Well, I mean, the Allen and Davis dynamic is really interesting because I think both those guys can play, but they're also they're behind Brees Hall, who's like a young should be in his prime guy, too. Yeah, yeah, exactly. I mean, everything I just said about receivers and being too crowded, like 10 exit for all these running backs, because, yeah, basically all these dudes are buried except Irving and Tracy. Yeah.

Bucky Irving's been awesome this year. I mean, he's been one of the most delightful runners in the NFL. And I want to talk about the Bucks run game more when we get into the O-line section so we can put a pin in that. Tracy is interesting because I think he is a guy that shows really good running back instincts and vision for a guy that is a converted wide receiver. And then you still see him get these pass game chops. I'm always nervous about this is the classic type of running back that gets whacked

lost in the shuffle because he shows a lot as a rookie. Like, man, that's really promising. Like they should build around him a little bit. And then I think Dayball and these guys are all getting cleared out at the end of the year. A new staff comes in. He's a former fifth round pick. Like they take it and then it becomes a super crowded room.

But right now, I mean, I think Tracy's showing you some real feature back stuff, run game, pass game. He's somebody that if I was a Giants fan, I'd want them to know. Don't even don't even think about running back. I was talking with Sal Vetri today. He was like, couldn't you just see classic overcorrection by the Giants? They let Saquon go. He, you know, dunks on them every day, dunks on him every single week. They actually find something in Tracy. But then I don't know. They sign.

they trade for like Kenneth Walker and give him a big contract or something, something just completely random like that. It's like, I can actually see that exactly playing out. So if I was a giants fan, I'd want them to develop Tyron Tracy as a starter.

Yeah, Giants fans should be looking at like, okay, who are their free agent running backs? Like they should be like keen on like who they are available and just make sure they start doing a misinformation campaign. Yes. Make sure that they don't side them on all of them. Great call of Tracy, though. Like he's been like more impressive as a runner. Now, I always love that profile. I'm a sucker for it. Call it the David Johnson profile.

over Rashad white. I've always been higher on now. I'm a little lower on and now it's more like, Oh, Bucky Irving's my new toy now. But it's, you know, that's all I said going into this year. It's like, I wish Bucky Irving and Rashad white switch body types. It,

If Bucky Irving had Rashad White's size, he might be a top five running back because just his vision is tempoing and everything. He's like a good running back. Like he does those things. Well, it's just a smaller like size wise. And you see him getting banged up a little bit now. But God, I really like him and really like that. He's not only just been.

uh, impressive, like film wise, but the stats follow, then it's easier just even for us to talk about and go like, no, he's good. Right. People look like, Oh yeah, I have him fancy. He's good. And it's like, yeah, I told you. Uh, but no. And then I could tell Isaiah Davis is an Aaron Rogers favorite. Cause after he scored his first time,

He scored his first touchdown. Rodgers, I think, celebrated more than Davis did. It was like a little shovel pass against the Seahawks. So I do think that he's a Rodgers favorite, which is giving a little uptick in time. But he's a good player. I like him. And I think Brandon Allen's talented. Giants fan Najee Harris is your most is your probably highest rated free agent running back. So you better that the misinformation camp that Nate was talking about. You might want to start. I don't know. You got to figure out a way. Maybe he doesn't like.

I don't know, pizza or whatever. Yeah. You can't, you can't go to contact. You can't go to, yeah, you can't go to New Jersey. Yeah. So, so make sure you start that misinformation campaign right now. Good call. Good call. And I just think, yeah, I know that. Oh man. Well,

We'll talk about the Steelers offensive line in a sec. So I can get into some of the Steelers run game. Maybe some was better at eye test. And actually it is. Maybe it's because the running back. Maybe it's because he's toting the rock back there. But anyways, we're going to take a quick break. We're going to wrap this show up on the rookies with offensive line defense and see you guys in a sec.

Looking for a pickup truck to get just about anything done? Look no further. The Chevy Silverado EV isn't just the most powerful Silverado ever, with next-level towing capability and technology. It also offers game-changing versatility with the available Multiflex mid-gate and tailgate, which means Silverado EV helps you carry large, bulky, and oddly-shaped items up to nearly 11 feet in length. Chevrolet. Together, let's drive. Visit Chevrolet.com to learn more.

I got a line. He got a line.

And only 25 bucks a line. Welcome to more lines. Welcome to Cricket Nation. Smile, you're on cricket. Cricket 5G requires a compatible device and is not available everywhere. Discount varies by line. Fees may apply. Terms and restrictions apply. See cricketwireless.com for details.

All right, we are back. Bring this show home. We are going to talk about the non-offensive players. Non-offensive skill players, I should say. We'll start with the offensive line, keep it on offense. Then we'll wrap up with some defensive players. Just standouts, guys that impressed us. Maybe some disappointments if we want to go down that path. I already talked about the quarterback class being pretty impressive. Talked about the receiver class having some hype and still having a chance to be impressive. Again, wait until year three before we make these things. But the offensive line class...

I thought was should have been super hyped up. And I think it was super hyped up. We saw a whole bunch of players go in the first round from this offensive line group. And I think they have lived up to a decent amount of this hype. I think there has been a lot of tangible players in this offensive line class, not only just for round one, but day two and even day three, there's been some real, not only just like

Oh, this guy's playing. But like, oh, man, this guy is like a needle moving starter. Like this guy is a plus starter or has a chance to be a plus starter. I was putting together a list of my notes of just guys. I was like, oh, maybe I want to talk about this guy came down to 15 offensive linemen plus four more guys have been hurt.

So that's 19 offense, rookie offense alignment that I thought, oh, worthy of a note. And which is saying somebody had Joe Alt, the right tackle for the Chargers, big, athletic, playing the right side right now because they have Slater at the left side. He's young. He's a pup. He needs a little bit of his hand strength, a little bit more of his pop. But man, he's you don't get.

six nine guys that can move like that and i think it's like he's part he's gonna be a big piece for them moving forward chasey latham uh the left tackle for the titans ironically was the right tackle for alabama now he's left tackle he's a bill callahan beauty of course probably loves him yeah that's his ideal type of player uh but him and peter skoransky have been a lot of fun on the left side for the titans especially in the run game and then i think latham

You know, the twitchy, really, really fast guys can maybe get the edge on him. But he's been better in pass protection, especially as the season's gone along, where, you know, he's such a big body that he's learning to kind of like, OK, I'll just run this guy past and everything. But I thought he's been pretty impressive. I can go one after another. But you have some thoughts on the offensive line? Because I could just keep going one after another because it has been a really fun group. No, I.

Number one, I like that you mentioned Latham because I think the Titans run game has been better maybe than expected. And I think when they get Tony Pollard out on the perimeter, even on some of those swing passes, he's a pretty big advantage on the edge there. Joe Alt, too, like...

God, there's just such a disconnect between the tackle play and the interior play on the Chargers offensive line. Oh, my God. Especially right guard, I think, has been a bigger issue than anything else. So hopefully they can get Joe Alt a running mate next year. I'm sure you're going to want to talk about Zach Frazier, so I'll leave that one to you. Oh, yeah. Thank you. Appreciate it. Yeah, I think...

Everybody is talking about Bucky Irving, and I get it. He's been one of the best picks you can make in fantasy this year. He has, like I said, been a delightful runner, but Graham Barton has played really well for the Bucks, and this entire offensive line deserves credit. And you know this because...

Bucky Irving goes out of the last game. He's literally on the sidelines of the heating pad, you know, on his back or whatever. And still the run game is good. I mean, it's the Raiders. I get it. But like Rashad White's a guy who like metrics were terrible last year and he's been having a much better season. So it's, I, I,

Bucky Irving deserves a lot of credit for the kind of revival of the Bucks run game. But this is a unit that has gone from like the worst in the league to one of the best in the league. And you don't just do that just because you draft Bucky Irving. You also do that because Graham Barton's been really good. I think the system's been a little bit better with Liam Cohen, but primarily I just think like,

Why don't we draft a really good guy and put him at the pivot here of the offensive line? I think that's a lot of what they've done here. So he's been really good to watch. I also think sticking the NFC South, like Fulago was probably the guy that I feel like most people had biggest questions about. Like him as a, is he a guard? He gets thrown his thrown is like the left tackle, but he's also somebody that I think,

fits that kind of like just very traditional Shanahan-Kubiak zone stuff that they've been doing in New Orleans. And I'm curious to see what happens when that coaching staff inevitably gets turned over, although there's so many Shanahan acolytes now at this point. 50-50 chance. Yeah, you're right. We'll probably land another one there. But I think he's played really well and fit that system well. So he's a couple of NFC South offensive linemen really stood out there.

No, I love that. Yeah, of course. Graham Barton, one of my favorite players in this draft. And then I love that the Bucs took him. I think he's been a true needle mover, already a good center. So great shout out there. Him and Luke Gettyke at right tackle has been tremendous for the Bucs when he's been healthy. And then, yeah, no, just so improved there. And no, that's a great shout out for them.

Um, yeah, I, there's just been, uh, no flog. It was another one where I had, I had more concerns on him than a lot of people did where maybe I, uh, was like, really, you're going to put my left tackle. I thought he could barely even play right tackle like at the pros. And this has been a good offense for him. Cause this is what Oregon state did run first play action. He can shoot out of a stance and really, uh, play forward. Um,

He's not a guy you want going backwards a lot. But going forward, he's very good, I would even say. But no, great shout out there because I had some concerns and he's kind of eased a lot of those. Olufushanu for the Jets has come along. It was a little shaky when he first had a play. And then now, like, I watched him against the Seahawks and I thought he was

Outright good. Have not studied them against the Dolphins yet, but I want to give him a shout out because I was high on him in the draft and really has come along, especially just the Jets are just so shaky. Even Roger Rosengarten for the Ravens has had some nice moments. It could be a little shaky in pass pro too. But man, there's just, I mean, there's so many guys here. I am like, there's four guys

first rounders that basically have all faced injuries. So Marius Mims for the Bengals, Troy Fontenot, who I loved going in this draft, the Stewards draft, he gets hurt. He played the one game early in the year, maybe two. And I was like, oh yeah, there you go. He was so awesome. I know. So good. I know.

I know. So good. Jordan Morgan for the Packers, been in and out of the lineup. Tyler Guyton, the left tackle for the Cowboys, who has a little lower on than other people. But Fontenot was supposed to be the gem of the Steelers class, and they took three offensive linemen. Then they took Zach Frazier, the center, who's been excellent.

I love him. And I won't shut up about him because I really do think this, that he'll be an all pro sometime in his career. And it's like, usually I wouldn't want to say that after a guy played half a rookie year, but it's like, man, the smarts wise past pro run wise, getting to the second level cutoffs, like everything. He's just a really good center. So we've had two centers recently.

that I think have all pro potential just from this class. And then there's Jackson Powers Johnson. I was going to say, what do you think about JPJ? I thought I liked him in the draft. And then I had some concerns. You know, I also heard some things like, all right, maybe he can't handle playing center. But I, you know, outside of his like weird moment against the Chiefs at the end of the game, I actually thought he's been pretty good. I actually think he's been pretty sound there. He's so strong at the pivot point. I don't still prefer, maybe prefer him at guard.

But no, I just think he's strong. He can move. Still have to see some protection stuff as far as how he shorts things out. Maybe that comes with time. I think Frazier and Barton have been excellent already mentally. Barton especially, I think. Yeah, yeah. They've been really good at just making everything sound and everything. Neither Steelers quarterback, Fields or Ross, has had to handle anything. The rookie quarterback has handled everything.

everything or rookie center has handled everything in that offense which is just so and that's your russell wilson and like you've played the league forever and uh you're you hey credit to russ you know what you are you yeah or maybe arthur smith lets you know where you are but like you you've played it you've won super bowls you've signed like multi-million contracts like oh we'll let the rookie center kind of handle that russ don't worry you

You focus, you focus on just reading out the go routes. All right. That's it. Fine. Fine. Find your one-on-one. You want to take her out? We'll be good there. Oh, Cooper Beebe, the center for the Cowboys has been solid too. I know. So, I mean, I'll just list off some other guys. Dominic Poonie guard for the 49ers, maybe been their most consistent lineman, uh, especially outside Trent Williams. Right. Uh,

Leighton Robinson for the Patriots has had some moments. He's a little up and down. But the other Steelers offensive lineman that they drafted was Mason McCormick on day three in round four. And he's been solid as a starter, too, at guard. So, man, I look at that line. I'm like, man, if they had Fontenot out there, wow, that is. And if he comes back healthy next year, that Steelers offensive line could be really something. Tanner Bortolini had some decent moments, got hurt again. And then I also want to bring up

Seahawks right guard, Setoya Laumia. Oh man, I'm going to butcher that name every time. That one doesn't come off the tongue right for me. But he, after a rough first quarter against the Jets, has been outright

for a game and a half. I'd say the second half of the Jets game and then this Cardinals game really has transformed the Seahawks team, been part of it along with the center, Oluwadu Otemi. But man, like he has been, and they drafted a different guy in round three, Christian Haynes, who I liked. And they've been disappointed, I think, with his work ethic. That's just kind of reading between the lines with some of the press conference stuff. But Laumia, wow. He's actually been really something. So I just wanted to give him one last shout out.

They needed it so bad, too. Oh, so bad. I know. But yeah, the Seahawks, man, they're really putting it together. All right. No one really cares about defensive guys. Anyone, any guys want to shout out? Pass rushers have been a little eh this year outside maybe the Rams rookies. Jared Verse and Brian Fisk thought that both of them have had some really nice moments. They have too lot to.

Getting after the passer a little bit with the Colts. A little bit iffy against the run. Dallas Turner's getting more reps for the Vikings, but I don't know. You know, he's kind of been inconsistent so far, but still want to see him. But I do want to give a shout out, pass rusher-wise, to Chop Robinson for the Dolphins.

Really come on the last month or so. Jonah Ellis for the Broncos, their third round pick has has real juice getting after the passer. Austin Booker for the Bears, a little fifth rounder. But those are the pass rushers that have stood out to me so far. You know, Byron Murphy, defensive tackle has kind of been up and down. He basically some injuries, too, from Seahawks. But, you know, he has some real talent as well. Any defensive lineman that you just want to give a shout out to?

No, I'm glad you brought up Chop Robinson. He's 20 pressures since week 11. I mean, he's most among rookies by a lot, even more than Jared Burris. So he's definitely somebody that I thought would be a little bit more developmental. And to be fair, we didn't really hear from him too much at the beginning of the year. And that Dolphins defense, I still haven't figured out like...

and I've watched it back and I still am kind of just confused as the product that we got from the dolphins defense against the jets last week. Cause I think that unit has played pretty well on balance, but, um, one, you know, Garrett Wilson kind of took Jalen Ramsey to the woodshed a couple of times. Um, but, uh,

They also blew a lot of coverages on the back end, too, as well. So just that that was disappointing. But I think Chop Robinson and his emergence alongside of Calais Campbell has been a nice little tandem to watch. So he's definitely to Vondre sweat every single time you watch the Titans. I think it's just a badass in the middle of him and Jeffrey Simmons badasses in the middle of the field. It's funny. Any time I would say to Murphy has come along the last few games.

And that also kind of coincides with Leonard Williams. It's interesting. All of these defensive linemen that are playing well, like Chop Robinson, Scott Klaas Campbell, you know, it's fine. He's got Jeffrey Simmons, Byron Murphy. He's got Leonard Williams, like all these guys that I think are playing pretty well, have kind of a running mate that's going along with them right now, which I think is interesting. Really good call. God, I'm just looking back.

I forgot Ruka Roro for the Falcons, who I didn't like at all going into the draft. Got taken before. Johnny Newton, who's face injury's best talent. Devandre Sweat and Braden Fisk. Whew. Hopefully they don't come to regret that one. Sweat had off-field issues right in the way. He was a top 20 talent, but his off-field stuff is like, he had a DUI month of the draft. I mean, like, a week before the draft or whatever. Yeah, that's as red flag as it gets. Like,

it's just decision making wise. And I think it was like nine in the morning. He got that one too. So not good. Hey folks, don't get a DUI nine in the morning. All right. That's a bad idea. Just little life advice. I will. I hope that this is not the only reason, but the only time I, the only, the first thing I think of whenever I think Rook Aurora was, uh,

Jason, our buddy, Jason Fitz hosted our draft show, uh, you know, that I was on less last year. And he was so proud of himself that he could nail that every single time that he would say it and was, he had so much fun saying it. And now that's what I think of when I think of, of Rook. Uh, I'm hoping that it's more than that in the long run, given some of the guys that you mentioned that he, um, went ahead. I couple other rookies to shout out to. That's what he, cause that's what it's. Oh my God. That's very, that's, again,

We should not be thinking of Jason Fitz and Scooby-Doo when we're talking about an NFL player. Hopefully, we get a little bit more than that in the long run. Obviously, a couple guys in the secondary to...

yes gene and quinion mitchell those guys are studs really really good uh mitchell especially he's just been so tight in zone coverage particularly pretty good in man too but i think especially when you're working against zone coverage i mentioned that um uh terry mcclellan's one of the most productive receivers in zone coverage uh all year not the week that he went against quinion mitchell he was not one of the most productive receivers against zone coverage i think kamari lassiter has been maybe a little bit

Maybe some up and down moments, but I think there's some promise there. A team that puts their corners out on islands a lot and plays a lot of blitzes and things like that. So he's definitely somebody to shout out. I think Mikey Sandersill, too. I thought he'd be more of a nickelback, but he's handled some outside responsibilities really well in Washington. Now that I'm talking about dudes being paired together, Marshall Lattimore sounds like he'll be back this week. I'm interested to see what that looks like.

No, great call. Yeah, Sanestrell's been really fun. One of my favorite players in the draft, it was just like, oh, yeah, I thought he was going to be a dynamo slot. Like, that's just kind of how I pictured it done. The fact that he's not only just holding up on the outside, but being a positive player is huge. I mean, that versatility is so huge, especially if they want to get creative. So, yeah, good shot there. Nate Wiggins set some nice moments for the Ravens. Terry and Arnold with the Lions. I mean, you feel like you see him every game when he's out there because he just –

They man coverage and they feel like they get fights on every. Yeah. He's either tight in coverage or too tight that he's grabbing somebody. That's kind of how it goes. I also think I didn't really know anything about Beanie Bishop much as a prospect, but I think he's had some nice moments for the Steelers defense too. And then, yeah. Oh, yeah. No, that's a good one. And the Chargers had a couple day three corners. Tarheap still and Cam Hart both had nice moments. Oh, Andrew Phillips was the other one with the Giants. Fun little Dynamo slot player. And then,

wrapping this up, Edge Cooper, Edgerton Cooper, when he's been healthy, he's been dealing with a hamstring injury, been a good player, good linebacker, probably their best linebacker when he's been healthy. And then on the back end,

Packers as well. Evan Williams and Javon Bullard. Bullard's played a little bit in the slot as well. But I do want to give Evan Williams a shout out because he's been a lot of fun for the Packers with him in the back end with Xavier McKinney. And then my guy, my safety one in this class, Malik Mustafa for the 49ers. Him and Hufanga finally got to play together on the back end this past week.

I want to talk about two headhunters. And they play quarters so much. So in quarters, safeties have run responsibilities. So those guys fly up. And so it's actually a lot of fun to see. Basically, they're the Bash brothers in the back end. So I want to see when Hapaga is truly back from injury. Malik Mustafa, that might be something for next year, maybe this last month. But seeing those two on the back end, I love watching Mustafa. He's just a lot of fun. So I want to give him a shout out.

dude tory taylor the punter maybe that's the last one i want to give a shout out to but anyways oh man just what like the toughest look of all tough looks is you know caleb williams telling the punter like you're not gonna you're not gonna have to do a lot of punting here and doesn't he like lead the elite one point to like led the nfl and punt yardage is that still the case to be honest nate i don't keep up with the punt yardage leaders that often but uh i at least saw some like

You know, always, always believe everything you see on social media. But I saw that as like a social media graphic a couple of weeks ago. I don't know if it's still true or not. I'm not shocked whatsoever. Any Bears stat, I believe. I'm telling you, when I watched that 49ers game, I don't even know what the stat was. It just was something about sacks. And then I saw Jake Plummer, Caleb Williams, David Carr.

And then that's all I needed to see. It was like, that's not a good stat. I want to say it was like rookie sack rate or rookie sacks or something of that story. It could have been rookie sacks because then David Carr would be one for sure. But no, it was just not what you want to see up there. So yeah, everything in Chicago has just been...

won't want but i do i do believe in caleb i do think there's there's a very very live arm very real quarterback there a lot of good quarterbacks a lot of good rookies very fun show thanks matt that was fun thank you stone for

holding on with us here as we went through the entire rookie class, but we're closing it out today. Charles and I will be back on Thursday to preview week 15. We are in the last month. No more of those pesky bye weeks. You know, we got fancy playoffs, baby, but we will be back on Thursday. Like I said, I am Nate Tice. You can find me at Nate underscore Tice. Matt, where can they find you? What are you working on this week?

20 podcasts. Yeah. Matt Harmon underscore BYB in addition to a bajillion podcast still as the fantasy season winds down. I'm actually working on a piece talking about some of that league wide wide receiver production. So, yeah, we'll be I mean, I write to I write two columns every week in addition to all the podcasting. But I'm forgoing the traditional preview piece and looking at kind of big picture this wide receiver stuff. So I hope people that should be out. If not, probably not Wednesday evening, maybe like Thursday morning. People could check that out.

Matt James Brown Harmon, the hardest working man in football showbiz. Wrapping it up today. Like I said, we also send in your mailbag questions. Football 301 mailbag at YahooSports.com. Charles and I will get that to that at the end of the Thursday show. Also, if you want to jump the line, leave a five star review on Apple podcast, you

You guys have been doing a great job. I've seen a couple in there that we're going to peruse through. So also subscribe to us, follow us, rate us five stars. If not, just yell us on YouTube. And you can still subscribe to us and follow us and not rate us five stars, but I hope you rate us five stars. Also watch us on YouTube on the Yahoo Sports YouTube channel. Thanks to Brent Stone, behind the scenes. Thank you all for listening. Hope you have a great week. See you guys on Thursday. ♪♪♪

Did my boss just call me buddy? Am I his buddy? You may not know where you stand with your boss who calls everyone buddy.

Or did he just forget my name? Has he ever said my name? But you always know exactly where you stand with the Sport Clips app that shows you the shortest wait and the haircut tracker that tracks your real-time wait time down to the minute. Uh, my name's Josh. The Sport Clips app. It's a game-changer.

Looking for a pickup truck to get just about anything done? Look no further. The Chevy Silverado EV isn't just the most powerful Silverado ever, with next-level towing capability and technology. It also offers game-changing versatility with the available Multiflex mid-gate and tailgate, which means Silverado EV helps you carry large, bulky, and oddly-shaped items up to nearly 11 feet in length. Chevrolet. Together, let's drive. Visit Chevrolet.com to learn more.