NFL Draft Preview Part 1: RB & TE Rookies

Bill Belichick, Andy Reid, Sean Payton, a real, you know, even Sean McVeigh, a guy that is an offensive mastermind. I think this, I think he has the ability, and this will sound weird, to be a goal line type back. Not a bruising, push the pile forward, but when you've got three or fewer yards to go, you just get them out in space a little bit and put them on a one-on-one or one-on-two match-up.

And he will make those guys miss and pick up the extra yards. That's why he had 66 touchdowns in college. So I'll be very interested, not how highly he's drafted, but by what type of offensive coordinator or offensive coach he gets to work under. Because he is, he is shifty. As are you. Thank you. Surprisingly shifting. Benny Snell out of Kentucky. Thoughts on Benny Snell, 511, 223.

I love the guy. Three years of a heavy workload in Kentucky. When I say I love the guy, I just mean like him, like as a person. Watching interviews, he's delightful. He's too slow for the NFL, but he always moves the pile forward. I think he'll be drafted with a good enough stock and be given enough. Like, he's just not going to be a fantasy superstar. He's going to be a chain mover. He's just, he's a.

The old and era of football. Yes. Agree with that. Some teams still like that. Smash mouth. Or you see teams like Chicago trade those guys away because they limit what you can do. Now, Chicago has brought him in for an interview. But then again, Chicago has brought in every running back in the world for an interview. If Chicago drafts Benny Snell. He'll be so funny. After trading toward it and they're like,

Jordan Howard is my comp. Jordan Howard, we would like to replace you with Jordan Howard. Yes, he's a Carlos Hyde. Slightly younger version of the young Jordan Howard we have now. Right. But I mean, look, he did play in the SEC and he averaged 5.3 yards of carry. Right. Was a workhorse back, 1,300 yards, 1,400 yards, 19 touchdowns, 16 touchdowns against great competition. And everyone knew he was a leader. He's just such.

He's going to make you smile, and he's got a great smile. I like you, Benny. He's going to make you smile. He is. If your team drafts him, those are the draft takes we are giving out right now. Only at the end of the show. I mean, we're getting to the point here where we're talking about guys that make me smile. And I'm sticking by it. Alex Barnes, Mike. He makes you smile, right? Yeah, here we go. We're on Alex Barnes. I'm back. Four years at Kansas State, 6126. Combine Hero with the 34.

Bench press reps. Get out of his weight. 459 in the 40, despite being 226. Cap pounds. Capounds. I like that a lot. Over 1,500 yards from scrimmage, and yada, yada, yada. Does he go high enough to make you happy? I don't know. Mike likes Alex Barnes in case he didn't know. Alex Barnes was one of those guys where back.

you know, a few moments ago. He's not, he wasn't really being talked about. He was very, very green once I plugged his numbers into the production profile. You want to break that down a little bit? I'm not sure everyone knows what you're talking about. I mean, generally speaking of the production profile is just guys who their attempts, their yardage, their receptions per on a season and then just.

averaging them out against guys who have already been successful. A rookie profile that you've looked out for years. Yeah. That you've built out. Guys that have been, have had success in the NFL. This is kind of that baseline that they hit when they were in college. This is them against their peers. So that's what I'm talking about where they had a ton of production because there are guys who can put up huge numbers.

But then when you actually look into their market share compared to what their offense did as a whole, you're like, oh, that guy didn't actually do very much at all. But Alex Barnes was a huge part of the offense. And then I, so like I said, I found him when he popped green in the model. And then watching him, I actually think he's in a really, really good running back. Like, he has.

He has a very interesting technique where he reminds me a little bit more of Leveon Bell, where he's very upright, very patient, waiting for things to happen. And then he came and was just a Hulk of a man who blew up the combine. So my hope and my dream is that gave him enough boost to get him at least into the fourth round. Because I'm with you that running backs who are taken in the fifth or later, it's just...

And yeah, talk to me about Philip Lindsay. Great. One guy. Like your chance of being successful if you're a, and even in the fourth is still very, very difficult. So day two, this is what I need everybody to do. Day two, cross those fingers for Alex Barnes. Hope we hear Alex Barnes name. Yeah, I liked Alex Barnes a lot as well. But he, he reminded me a lot of, and this will sound bad now, but Zach Zinner.

48-year-old Frank Gore. 48-year-old Frank Gore. Reminds me a lot of the future, Frank Gore. Zach Zinner. Zach Zinner dominated in college. I really liked this film coming out, but you just didn't know if you'd have enough draft cap. Did you say Zach Zinner? Because he's the player profiler comp for Alex Barnes. Is he really? For Alex Barnes. Well, that's a good comp because that is exactly who he reminds me. Alex Barnes was at Kansas State. Right. So better competition. Yes.

And that's the difference. That's the hope why he goes on day two. I liked him. I liked him enough. But you're right. I like him a lot. Got to go high enough. All right. One last running back. It's not the air raid by Cliff Kingsbury. It's the Air Booby. Air Boobay. I don't think that's what it is. You got to put a flourish on it. James Williams out of Washington State 6 foot 205. Other than wanting this nickname to kind of permeate our show for years to come, what do you think of Air Boobie?

Uh, number one, I didn't even know his nickname was Air Booby when I first was looking. You like him a little bit more? Yeah. Oh, of course. He got a bump. I moved to, adjusted my booby bump. My fantasy ranks accordingly. Of course. Of course the old booby bump. But here's the numbers that you need to know about in the past three years. 48 receptions, which is 71 receptions. 83 receptions. That's a wide receiver. No, it's not. It's Air Boube.

That's more than a wide receiver. Yeah, it is more than why. I mean, honestly, if you look at some of the top wide receivers, they didn't get that. They didn't get those numbers. Coming in at 205 pounds. He's a small dude. Capound. Look, I really like him, too. It's an easy comp to say that he's James White, but it's the right comp. If you watch him, he's very similar to James White and what his abilities are, how he could translate, how he could succeed. So you want him to go to a team that utilizes past catching running backs. And if they do, oh.

Then that'll be great. If the Patriots... Did he get an interview with Chicago? Oh, great. Well, of course, is he a running back? Then yes. Here's the problem. They're using their first four picks on running backs. The problem with searching for his thing is I can't search for Airbooby is James Williams. You have to remember his real name? You can search for that, but I wouldn't. Yeah. So he met with the Jets and the Bills. Let me see if he met with the...

Bears. Oh, the bills. All right, great. He actually did not meet with the pills. They want a non-pass catching back to replace Jordan. All right. We're going to jump into some tight-in names you need to be aware of. It's not a lot. Two of them come from the same school. Noah Fant, Combine Hero, and T.J. Hawkinson, both 6'5. Hawkinson a little heavier at 250. He played two seasons at Iowa. Phant played three, basically two.

These guys played side by side. Who do you like more and why? Hawkinson. Hawkinson, for me, by a mile. Most believe Fant will be drafted ahead of Hawkinson. No, no, I don't think so. I've seen Hawkinson being mock drafted commonly to the Jaguars at number seven overall. Both will go in the first round. Yeah, both could very well go in the first round. Here's the difference between them. Will, Jason. I'm not sure that Fant will, but maybe, yeah. Hawkinson will definitely go in the, oh, both will? Oh, okay.

Bring. So both of these guys are clearly going to go in the first round of the NFL draft. The reason I like Hawkinson more is he's a great all-around talent. He can.

He can block much better than Noah Fant can. And he's a gamer. Like you watch and he's just so jacked up for these games. You're right. The majority of Mike drafts have Hawkins in the head. He's such a. Still riding the combine. Right. Well, Fant was the combine hero. I mean, he was 99th percentile across the board. And that's what's so weird to me. And that's why Fan is maybe even, I don't know that he's my number two for sure. He's probably my number two. But I watched an eight minute. He scored a lot.

Highlight, he scored a lot. You're not sure if he's your number two? Yes, that's true. But, wow. Moving on. Hate is going to hate? No, no, no. I don't hate fan. My point is this. This is what I'm trying to get to. I have watched a lot of his games because I watched for both Hawkinson and him. And I watched a lot of highlights because it's so much easier watching tight-in highlights because they're not utilized enough to where you can watch the games as quickly. I watch an eight-minute highlight.

Eight minutes. Every highlight is like 10 seconds, right? Eight minutes of his highlights. Of no offense. He did not break one tackle. This is a 99th percentile athlete. He did not break one? It doesn't matter if he's a cornerback or a lineback. It's just like, now a lot of times he's burst by the guy and he's got so much space of separation. You could just launch him for a 30, 40 yard touchdown. Great. He'll do that. He'll translate. Kind of like Evaning Room. But I just couldn't believe that he never, ever, ever.

broke tackles whereas you watch hawkinson hawkinson is you know hurtling guys throwing guys riding guys didn't want to get hurt that's that's what it seemed like all right and then we want to talk about uh jace sternberger not to be confused with famous actress mary sternbergen or back to the future three or the owner of the aches right steinbrer oh yeah don't confuse him with either of those jay steinbringer uh but if you do

Please confuse him with Steinbrenner for his sake. Texas A&M 64250, 10 touchdowns last season. Here's what you need to know about Jason Sturterberger. Yeah. Play tight end for Texas A&M led his team in receptions and yards and touchdowns. Triple crown. At the tight end position.

That's why you need to pay attention to Sherberger. Here's what's crazy is he had to transfer there. He was at other schools. He was not a highly recruited high school player. And then he went to other schools, didn't utilize the tight-in, switched finally and got to Texas, and then had the one year where he really did quickly dominate. And I think that's because in high school, he was an accomplished award-winning ballroom dancer.

That's true. As is Mary Stern. Yes. I'll be it. I hate her so much, by the way. I'm sorry, but I can't stand her. I don't know who that is. Oh, you do. You do. It's Emmett Brown's love interest from Back to the Features 3. She's terrible and she's in everything. She's all right and elf. Isn't she married to Ted Danson? She's great now. Look, effort that. Is she married to Ted Danson? Why am I asking you to do that effort that? Why do I even care?

But here's the thing that's strange about tight ends. Go look at the college production of George Kittle versus his combine performance. It's an atrocious underutilization of that talent. Just speaking to what you said about Sternberger, like came on late. Like tight ends can do that. All of a sudden you're in a system that's complimentary. Wow, you're a pass catcher. Wow, you're a talent. Yeah. So. And just throwing the name, Irv Smith out from Alabama is another highly,

rated tight-in. I think you're right. I think that dancer is married today. Yes. Yes. Chad. Ted. Oh, that's exactly what she sounds like. Okay. This is one of the most ridiculous deals that I've seen. Yesterday on pristine auction.com is P-R-I-S-T-I-N-E auction.com. What are my tissues? Tyler Boyd signed Bengals football.

All authentic autographs at pristineauction.com, partners of the show for many years, good friends of the show, $28.12. Wow. I cannot buy an NFL football at Target, like an official one, for $28.12. I literally just went to Amazon and typed Wilson football. And the first one that comes up is the Wilson NFL one panel football. 59.99. So Tyler Boyd signed football yesterday.