Our NFL Mock Draft Deep Dive Picks 21-24

I believe that puts me on the clock with the Pittsburgh Steelers at 21.

Very exciting.

Um, they still don't have a quarterback, uh, technically, I don't think this pick is going to be Ty Simpson.

This would essentially be a replication of the Kenny Pickett thing, which everyone was like, I don't think this is going to work, and it turns out it didn't work.

Um, So what I, you know, I do wonder if like there's a lot of stuff that's changing in Pittsburgh, and this is the first time that they have an offensive-minded head coach, but I do wonder if they try to keep the complexion of the defense the same way.

And that's why I like TJ Parker, uh, the edge rusher out of Clemson, what do you think about that one?

Yeah, I like that.

Like I, I just like look at them offensively, what they've done this offseason.

Now, first of all, Um, their offensive lines taking some shots.

I think there's a chance that that's gonna become a pretty good offensive line now.

I do too.

We've talked about that.

I agree.

I mean, Zach Frazier, Mason McCormick, uh, you know, Troy Fatano, um, Broderick Jones, like there's, I think the base.

of a really good young offensive line there.

And they've invested in, in, in, in, in , in tight end and re-signing Pat Pryormuth.

Um, they've invested a receiver trading for DK Metcalf last year, trading for Michael Pittman this year.

Uh, they paid a running back and, you know, and bringing over, uh, In, in bringing over, um, Rico Dowdell from Carolina.

So like you look at all of it and the totality of it, it looks sort of like they're setting up to add a defensive piece, um.

Parker is an interesting pick because I think he's somebody who coming into the year was one of these Clemson guys who was way up here and then Clemson as a whole didn't have as good a year and there's another one of them coming probably.

I'm thinking we're gonna pick him somewhere here in the in the bottom 12 picks, um, you know, but I think one of these guys that was kind of like, you know, part of the, the part of the fallout from early disappointing year from Clemson is that you, you, you know, a couple of these guys have seen their draft stock fall apart a little bit.

And Parker's one of them.

I also think this is interesting.

More teams I talked to, um, let me preface this by saying TJ Watt is a great player, is probably going to the Hall of Fame, all of that.

But I, I've talked to enough teams over the last, um, over the last few months.

That have said to me, you know what, when we play the Steelers, we're more worried about Alex Highsmith than we are TJ Watt, and he's gonna be 32, I believe, this year.

He is very, very expensive.

And so, you know, I think you need to get young guys in the pipeline there.

You drafted Jack Sawyer in the 3rd round last year.

Alex Highsmith is not young anymore.

I believe he's 28, you know, so, um, that's a position that's always been sort of at the forefront and how the Steelers build.

Um, you know, Pat Graham coming over as the defensive coordinator is gonna run a 3-4.

So, um, yeah, I mean, I think it makes sense to get one of those guys in the, in the pipeline.

I wouldn't have hated.

A defensive lineman here, like an interior D lineman here either, um, I think that's certainly something that they would consider, but I think it's something for the defensive front, um, who, who do you like, um, on the, uh, are we thinking like, um, it, it may have been, it may have been the other, um, the other Clemson guy, Peter Peter Woods, right, like maybe a Peter Woods, Caden McDonald, a little high for Caden McDonald who there's like some question.

Um, you know, it's interesting because Cayden McDonald and Kristen Miller was the other one from Georgia who I think this would be really early for those guys, but, like, Miller was interesting to me because I think the way that some teams look at him is like he was played as more of a, he's more of like a kind of a run plugger, like a two-down player in like he Played that way in college.

But the more I've talked to people about it, the more I've heard like the way Kirby Smart runs his defense, a lot of the more athletic interior D-linemen maybe don't show that athleticism as much in college because of the responsibilities they have within the defense.

And so, with a guy like a Kristen Miller, there might be a little bit more, a little bit more meat on the bone there than showed on tape, you know, so, I think there's some options there.

Um, But I think the value is probably taking, taking an edge rusher there, and I don't mind your pick of, um, of TJ Parker.

Uh, I like him too, you know, he's like, and again, it's so hard to, I mean, I'm a Notre Dame fan, right?

And so we're, we're talking about ACC football here and so, you know, sometimes you're not exactly going against, um, The, uh, the anchors.

I mean, it's like Pitt, you know, and you're, you're like, and, and nothing against Pitt.

I mean, Pitt, I think had a good year last year, but it's, it's, it's one of those things where you're going to be able to, and, you know, a lot of the highlights, he's, he's burning off the edge.

He's beating guys off the edge.

You're not gonna be able to do that.

Um, at, at the next level.

But I think what the Steelers defense needs are chess pieces, right?

And, and, and like you said, I mean, TJ Watt, just getting a little long in the tooth, kind of on the nose though, as an NFL player like, like I would be bummed out.

If and when Sports Illustrated decides to move on for me, that they just brought in a younger guy also named Connor, you know, and, uh, maybe bald and, uh, and, and just, you know, said, hey, he's just in a little bit better shape, you know, he's a little bit younger, um, and, uh, we're, you know, probably in a year or two , we're going to put you out to pasture.

I think having the same name is kind of tough, but, you know, this is the NFL.

You gotta, you gotta get with it.

Anyway, Albert, you got the Chargers at 22.

Take it away.

OK, I'll, I'll tell you what I'm tempted to do here that I'm not gonna do.

Are you tempted to take another offensive lineman?

I'm tempted to take Caden Proctor here and like play him at guard, you know what I mean?

Like, like, in like, holy crap, like, are you gonna be dominant upfront?

Um, I just, I, I, I don't know if you can do that if you're the Chargers, um.

And I would, I would love for there to be a corner worthy of going here.

Um, I just, I'm not sure who that would be at this stage of the game with some of the guys that we have off the board, like the, you know, Terrell's off the board.

McCoy and Dwayne are long gone.

So some really good receivers left, Albert.

We haven't even gotten into the, and that's the thing is like I'm looking at the receiver and I think like the value here.

You know, might be with like a Jordan Tyson.

That's what I was thinking, you know, like, but, um, I also know how they've built, and I don't know that receivers like this massive need for them.

I mean, they basically said no on AJ Brown when, you know, the Eagles were, were, were, were, were seeing, um, what the interest was.

Um, I know that they really like, um, the young guy they have, um, from Ole Miss.

Like, obviously Ladd McConkie didn't have the same.

year that, um, obviously, Ladd McConkie didn't have the same year he had as a rookie last year, but they, they're, they're looking for him to bounce back like Trey Harris, the, the, the Ole Miss draft pick from last year, I think has a chance to be really good.

Um, and then you got Quentin Johnston, who's gonna be playing for a contract.

So, Um, I'm gonna go with Peter Woods here.

Nice.

I, I think like this is like, honestly, um, you know, a chance for them to build up the interior of their D-line a little bit more.

Um, there's a lot of like, I mean, I think that this sort of like illustrates like this is one thing that's great about doing this exercise.

I think this sort of illustrates how when you look at the big picture of this draft class, like this is sort of where you wanna be picking, you know, because there's still a lot of good options here that maybe The fallout, fallout from like 7 to 22 isn't as big as it normally would be.

So, I'll go with Peter Woods there.

Um, to me, that's like a, a gamble.

Same as, same as with Parker on a, on a kid who I think has high-end talent, who flashed that high-end talent, who might have been, you know, a, a top 5 or 10 pick if this draft was happening in September, but was sort of the victim of a really down year for the Clemson program in general.

I'm in a tough spot here at 23 because I know what I would do if I were you.

Well, so I, I, I'm freaking out a little bit here because I, I can hear everybody that's listening to this, um, like Jordan Tyson and Omar Cooper are still on.

I'm not here.

I, I, if you can, can you like, let's see if you know what movie this is from.

I'm not gonna do what everybody thinks I'm gonna do.

Which is freak out.

What is that movie from, by the way?

Half baked, half baked.

That's right, um, classic, an American when he's in the, uh, you know, when he, when he's in the, um, when he tells everybody to flank off at the fast food restaurant.

Yes, see, Half baked was, um, was your generation stoner comedy, um, and then we had.

I mean we had a ton.

We had, uh, uh, the dude wears my car.

We had, um, uh, I think Harold and Kumar was between us.

Harold and Kumar go to White Castle, um, you know, and so I think I, I went back and I watched Bob Jay and Silent Bob, yes, that especially the the second one, And uh I, I think that was more of our my wheelhouse, but I did go back and watch Half Baked.

I think it just failed to resonate the way that, you know, well, it's just a different like it had Chappelle in it though.

It was like, I, I don't know, but it's early Chappelle.

It's different than like, it's different than the Chappelle that I knew, which was Chappelle's show, Chappelle, you know what I mean?

And it's, it's kind of like, it's kind of like this.

It's like, it's like when, um, A perfect example, right?

Jim Brewer was hilarious in it.

Jim Brewer was great, yeah, and I'm not taking anything away from the movie.

I'm just saying like, for example, perfect example of this is like my dad watched I, I watched Old School with my dad with Will Ferrell, and he was like, oh, amazing.

Like it's just really funny.

He's like, but you gotta see Animal House.

And so I watched Animal House again, very funny, but like old.

No, no, no, no, you're, see, you're putting words in my mouth.

You're putting words in my mouth.

I loved Animal House.

Old school was better to me, OK, because that is my generation's, I think Animal House is timeless though.

I don't know.

I mean, even though like there was a lot of stuff when I because obviously like when did that come out?

Animal House is 70s, 1980s, right?

1980s, I think.

So like I, you can look that up, but I, Animal House to me, it was like a lot of 1978, 1978.

OK, it's the late 1970s, so it's before I was born.

A lot of it was like dated and like, yeah, this doesn't really apply to us.

Like when we watched it when we were in college, but it's still, It's part of like, like you could still relate with all of it, you know what I mean?

Like, so, yeah, I, I don't know, and, and the characters, I feel like the, the characters in Animal House, like you could pick friends of yours that were those characters, you know what I mean, which I think is a key to those movies.

So yeah, I thought, I thought Animal House was timeless, and that was not of my generation, obviously, no matter how old you make me out to be, um.

Um, but yeah, so what are you gonna do?

So like, all I'm saying is like, but, but that's the thing is like I wouldn't do what everybody would think I'm gonna do here because I know exactly what I think Howie Roseman would do here based on what's left on the board.

But you, um, you go ahead and tell me why you think this is a tough spot.

I think it's a tough spot for a couple of reasons.

We have a couple good receivers on the board, and you assume that, you assume that, um.

That AJ Brown is going to be gone, although the, uh, the machinations of that trade may have become more complicated over the last few weeks.

I don't know.

And then you have, uh, the fact that that safety room got gutted and you have Emmanuel McNeil Warren that's still on the board who I think is better than, uh, what we're giving him credit for.

But is he redundant with Cooper Dejean possibly, right, like because I think if you want to like.

McNeil with Warren, you might want to play him a little bit like it like Eamon Warri or Hamilton in that like nickel roll, and that's what Dejean does, you know, that's true, and that's a great point.

And then the third thing, which is what I'm gonna do.

Um, I'm, I'm gonna take one of the offensive tackles here because that's what I would do.

The offensive line is the lifeblood of this team.

You're not gonna be able to run an offense for Jalen Hurts without a really good offensive line.

I think that they've, Lane Johnson's older and even Jordan Maotta, who I think we still sort of.

Look at as being this rising young he's not no he's 30 he's on the other side and so the question is, is that person Albert, is it Blake Miller is it Caden Proctor, um, is it, uh, I have an opinion on this one too.

I, I, I think it's Proctor because of the high-end potential now.

Like what's interesting about this to me is, does, does the departure of Jeff Stoutland affect that at all?

Whereas like if you're bringing in somebody like Proctor who there's a bit of an entitlement issue, there's a, there's, there's, there's like a little bit of a, his weight would fluctuate in college.

That's one of the concerns with him, right?

But the talent is off the charts.

If you have Jeff Stoutlin there, it's like we're good, you know what I mean?

Like he'll take care of it.

Now, not having Stoutland anymore, does that affect the way that you look at these things, you know?

And that's the question that I think only the Eagles themselves can answer because I, you know.

I mean, look, like Caleb Lomu is still there.

He's got high-end potential, um, you know, like you said, Blake Miller, uh, and are you drafting this guy to be a right tackle or a left tackle?

That's another question.

The thing about Proctor too though, is Proctor, you can play him at guard right away, I think, you know, and that's the other piece of it.

But you do what you need to do here.

I'm not gonna influence your pick.

No, I think Proctor's the pick.

I mean, that's, that's where I was leaning again.

I think it's the size.

I think it's the kind of offense that they want to run , um, but again.

And again, you know, if you're worried about entitlement issues, which is important to bring up, we also have a situation brewing on the other side of the ball where Jalen Carter hasn't gotten extended yet, um, you know, and, and I think that those talks are probably going to get complex and, you know, complicated at some point.

AJ Brown and the melodrama that's going on there and, and has kind of been lingering for a long time.

We just had another big, you know, reported piece from ESPN about Jalen Hurts and his own.

Uh, preferences and all that stuff.

I mean, do you want to bring another project on board and really kind of overload the plate for Nick Siriani?

I don't know the answer to that, but I'm going to do it anyway because it's not my responsibility.

So, um, good luck with, uh, good luck with that Eagles, you know.

OK, um, so I'm now on the clock with the Browns at 24 and I will tell you what.

We have them taken, um, we have them taken Spencer Fo, I think at 6, right.

Do you take the other Utah tackle?

Do you double up?

This would be, yeah, this smells like, um, and like Caleb Lomu.

Like if you don't look at Fano as a left tackle, do you take the other Utah tackle who I think might have more potential than Fano and protects you a little bit if Fano winds up being a guard long term?

Um, I'm thinking about that, so that's definitely on, on, on my radar here.

I'm also thinking.

We're gonna get killed on this receiver thing.

You know, receivers interesting here too, cause I, I think like they're so analytically driven , and I think Jordan Tyson's analytics are gonna be good, you know, and Tyson's probably the one where you look at him and it's like that guy's got a chance to be a number one of the guys left here.

So I'm gonna go with Jordan Tyson.

I'm gonna go with Jordan Tyson.

As much as I think like the doubling up on tackles thing makes some sense, um, you know, I, again , I'm looking at like how they lean on analytics there, and I think, I think Tyson, Tyson's analytics are gonna be good.

You just have to be comfortable with the injury thing.

I think he's got to get a little tougher.

Like that's part of it too.

Um, but I'll, I'll go with Jordan Tyson, number 24.

You're right.

I mean, the, the deep routes, the 50/50 balls, that's not what he, he was known for, right?

And so in Cleveland, does that bother you, especially in the elements and how you feel like a team needs to be built there.

But at the same time, I mean, this kind of talent, this team needs weapons, you know, um.

He had the number one, target share in the NFL or in, in, in, in college football.

I mean, he was thrown to a disproportionate number of times than his other wide receivers more than any other receiver in the NFL.

This guy caught a lot of balls, OK.

Um, not as great yards after the catch, but I think that they're, again, I mean, This is something that , you know, Cleveland's got, they need weapons, you know what I mean?

Like they need someone to throw the ball to.

Um, and so I like that.

I think that's a, uh, I think that's a good pick .