Joe DeLeone | NFL Draft Analyst, Bleav Network

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Additional terms apply. We're pleased to welcome Joe De Leon returning to the show as an NFL draft analyst and a host, and they will have a live broadcast on the first team NFL draft podcast coming up on Thursday. All right, Joe, let's dive right in. What's your number one question about this NFL draft? I think my number one question right now is what is going to happen at the second overall pick, and I very important to say here. I don't even know if the commanders are going to be making selection.

I'm referring to the fact of what broke on Friday. The drama that has been unfolding with the commanders and the Jane Daniel situation where they had a group visit with some of the quarterbacks, and it seems like that visit didn't go over very well as it was reported by Adam Scheffner. I had heard also from somebody close to the situation who confirmed that assumption that things are a bit rocky between the commanders and Jane Daniel. So I'm curious on what happens there because ultimately that is going to be the biggest catalyst for what happens the rest of the draft. If the commanders decided to say, you know what, despite things going well, we're still going to take him. That is going to set us up for what the Patriots do with three.

Do they stay put? Do they take a quarterback? When does the Vikings trade up?

There's just so many things that can happen depending on what the commanders do in that second spot. How likely are trades for other teams say in the second 10 who would like to get a quarterback and are interested in moving up? Yeah, I think it's really likely that for a team like the Raiders, Broncos may be a little less aggressive now that they weren't got Zach Wilson, which doesn't seem like that will dissuade them from trying to figure out their quarterback situation. But the Raiders, the Vikings and the Broncos seem to be the most likely to make that move to trade up and go get somebody because all of their quarterback situations are way more unsettled than some of the teams that are picking inside the top 10.

I still think that the most likely and easiest one is going to be the Minnesota Vikings, whether they trade up to three with the Patriots or if they move up to four with the Arizona Cardinals, or maybe even five with the Los Angeles Chargers. They have the most on the table because their picks having 23 and also 11 in the first round are far more valuable than what is going to be available next year. There's certainty what those picks are going to be. And this year's draft seemingly is more talented than next year. So they seem to have the most and best chance of moving up. And is it going to be Drake Mayor JJ McCarthy is still a big question.

We have answered till Thursday. How do you think these top five quarterbacks come off the board? Yeah, I think as of right now, I still obviously kill Williams going number one to the Chicago Bears and the number two, despite the drama, I feel like Jane Daniels could still end up being a Washington commander three. I think if the Patriots stay put that they're going to end up taking Drake May and then at number four, I really think that what will happen is the Minnesota Vikings that kind of let in there would end up moving up into that fourth spot where the Cardinals are and go and take JJ McCarthy. The fifth for me though is wide open and I would pay the closest attention to what happened at the 12th spot with the Denver Broncos. Bo Nix makes the most sense that they can be the best fit for that scheme.

We saw how successful Drew Brees obviously was playing for Sean Payton and how long his career was and not a direct comparison, but you can see some similarities where both were very consistently accurate and short to intermediate areas and I think that Bo Nix would be great for the Broncos scheme. It's a draft that's rich in other positions like wide receiver. We're excited to spend a few minutes with Joe De Leon of Believe Network and the first team NFL draft podcast.

It's after hours here on CBS Sports Radio. So what about wide receivers? We hear a ton about Marvin Harrison.

Where else is there extreme value at that position? Yeah there is a ton of depth in this class at receiver and I think that we're going to see a lot of guys that go on day two and day three that end up being high impact starters. Guys like Ladd McConkie, Jalen Polk, Xavier LeGette. I think that there's a lot of potential there, but in the first round we could see three go in the first top ten picks with Roma Dunsay potentially coming off the board to a team like the Bears. Malik Nabors certainly is going to be in play for a number of teams like the Chargers or the Giants, but then there's going to be a little bit of a chasm I think in the middle of the first round because a lot of teams that need offensive linemen are going to be very aggressive in seeking out and fixing up their offensive lines and not wanting to miss out on some of the premier players in this class. We could potentially not see another receiver taken until round pick 20 or so and we know teams like the Bills and the Chiefs really badly need to figure out their receiver rooms for differing reasons. They seem to be potentially the most aggressive if somebody did move up into the middle teams to take the next best available receiver. If you are in the Bears war room and you're getting set for this draft as you mentioned Caleb Williams the presumptive number one, but it's kind of cool to have another pick in that top ten.

What do you do with number nine? Yeah, I've been really deliberating on what makes the most sense here and I think that Roma Dunze from Washington certainly does come into play, but they did just trade for Keenan Allen. I don't think he's obviously not going to be a long-term solution for them at receiver because he's on the older side in his career.

It would make more sense for them to maybe address receiver somewhere on day two. I would use that pick to take Olufeshanu from Penn State or Amarias Mims from Georgia. I think that figuring out and solidifying your left tackle position and having a premier tackle is going to be a lot more important for your team long-term success and we know as we saw this year when USC had bad quarterback play if Caleb Williams isn't properly protected he's not going to play as good as he potentially could be. So for me any of the offensive linemen I'd even throw in Troy Sotanu from Washington as well who might project more as a guard.

Any of those guys that make the most sense for me. There's a lot of talk after the Zach Wilson trade to the Denver Broncos about the number of quarterbacks that are not only chosen high and are successful but actually remain with that draft team into a free agent deal so into their second contract. Which do you think is more important getting drafted by a team that's a good fit or getting drafted by a team that has a winning culture? Maybe combining the two I think the most important is just landing on a team that has a good foundation and I consider a good foundation team with a good offensive line team with good receivers and a team with a competent offensive coordinator because we see and you brought up Zach Wilson his lack of success was because of multiple coaches and inability and lack of consistency in play calling and the offensive line at receiver and then we can point to some of these other guys that struggled Justin Fields very much the same thing. So I think any of these quarterbacks being selected in this year's draft we do need to pay the close attention to who has the best situation and I really do believe that Caleb Williams lands into that best situation because of them having these two top 10 picks having an improving offensive line and having a very underrated defensive line as well as plenty of cap room to play with in the near future so he seems to be the one who maybe is lucking out the most that isn't getting talked about as much.

So De Leon is with us of the Believe Network been generating various podcasts and debates what's one debate that you've enjoyed engaging in as we get closer to the actually finding out the answers? Yeah I think the biggest one is the most obvious one that's captivated I think a lot of people in the NFL sphere which is can JJ McCarthy work for me I lean very aggressively in the middle on that because I just think that there's so much risk with JJ McCarthy I think that there's a potential for him to pan out and for him to work but for some reason there's one side that thinks that this is a guy who's going to be a Pro Bowler and then there's another side that thinks he's going to be a complete and total bust and I think the way that we saw him play at Michigan he was perfectly steady and down the middle he was really really consistent he did just enough to boost the team outside of how effective and dominant their run game was and that's not a bad thing. NFL teams that have consistency at quarterback and steadiness are much better off than somebody or team that's going to have a lot of ups and downs I mean if he ends up being Ryan Tannehill and just really important part of the play action game and the short passing game and is an impactful runner that would be a slam dunk for any team who needs it but I think that that's been the most entertaining debate because seemingly nobody is being realistic nor are they well thought out in breaking that down. Aggressively in the middle I'm not sure I've ever heard that before.

I made that up. I like it it fits though because as you point out there really is no hard and fast answer and that's actually the issue is that we don't know what he will do at the NFL level. Yeah and that's a really great way of putting it because he had so few throws under his belt despite being a two and a half year starter however you want to characterize that first season he just wasn't really called upon to be a quarterback in the same ways as all of these other guys and the uncertainty for me lies in the fact that they didn't have any games where maybe the run game wasn't working the offensive line was playing bad the defense was playing poorly and he needed to be called upon to put the team on his back and to go make those plays to have a game winning drive he just was never really that type of a guy because of the fact that he was boosted by having such a great defense and such a great run game so we don't know if that's going to translate and there's so much uncertainty with him and he's such an enigma of the prospect. So how much value if any do you place on coming from a winning culture like say a Michigan or an Alabama or a team that consistently generates guys who get to the next level?

I think it's really overhyped in my opinion and I think it's something that a lot of NFL teams and scouts get overly caught up in and I think it's a driving factor in JJ McCarthy's draft stock because you know if I look at the track record of Alabama quarterbacks there's so much inconsistency the track record of Ohio State quarterbacks there's so much inconsistency but let's look at through the best quarterbacks in the NFL right now Josh Allen Patrick Mahomes one came from Wyoming that was terrible when he was there and Patrick Mahomes came from Texas Tech when they didn't have a defense and he had to do everything and his development was stunted because of the scheme that he was playing in so oftentimes and this leads to a lot of failures in scouting there's an over emphasis on where they're coming from. We really don't talk as much about defense which is kind of sad because the quarterbacks are only a handful of picks and yet we focus so much on that but what's one position where you feel like teams that maybe don't have those high-profile first-round draft picks can still find a bunch of value? One position that has a lot of value in the first round is the defensive back corner position in this class I think that it hasn't really gotten a lot of love or buzz throughout this process because you know you're talking about here we're so focused on the offensive side of the football at all times but guys like Quinon Mitchell from Toledo I think it could maybe find his way going in the top 10 top 15 picks I really like Nate Wiggins from Clemson and I think he'll be a top 20 pick and the two Alabama guys with Tarian Arnold and Kool-Aid McKinstry Cooper DeGene is a defensive weapon from Iowa who can either play safety or corner depending on the team that takes them and then when we get to the second round there's just so many amazing other options that could turn out to be impactful starters for teams that in other drafts might go in the first round and I think of guys like DJ James from Auburn or Galen Carson from Wake Forest I just think there's so much value in this defensive back class that we could be surprised by how we're perceiving and looking at this class in a few years on how many defensive starters come from the corner group. Nice, how often do you take time to look back at a draft say three years later to kind of figure out hey this is where we nailed it and this is where people were woefully off base?

See I wish I did a better job of doing that because I think that it's really good to have that look back and retrospect to determine what was successful and what wasn't but usually in the period of time in June and July it's the perfect time of boredom where you kind of click through and what happened in this first round and then you look back and go that guy was a bust that guy was a bust and that kind of thing but certainly would love to do more of a deep dive because you know to that point it's a great way to check how well you did. Who's one prospect who has impressed you in the way that he's handled this run-up these few months to the draft? Quinon Mitchell who I just mentioned from Toledo I think has hit a home run throughout this whole process he was getting a little buzz early on you know he looked great playing at a max school but I don't think anyone knew who he was because he was playing at Toledo and then he shows up at the senior bowl and he by far was the best guy in mobile at the most consistent week barely gave up any big receptions or plays during the one-on-one drills during the team periods he just dominated and then at the NFL combine he had some of the best testing numbers he was the most fluid and easy moving corner participating during the defensive back drills I think that Quinon Mitchell has just been phenomenal and so fun to watch throughout this because in an era where NIL dominates college football and the transfer portal dominates this guy stuck it out stayed at Toledo and he is going to likely be a first-time pick I do love those stories they become a little rarer every year that goes by but another debate that's going on is about the value of the combine because now you've got athletes like we're seeing in college sports are taking charge and they are maybe not using the combine the way that it was designed so where do you fall on this debate over the value of the combine in 2024? Yeah I think it still has tremendous value for the evaluation process and I think that there's going to be exceptions every year where the occasional Malik neighbors Jayden Daniels, Marvin Harrison Jr., Caleb Williams find a new thing that they can opt out of maybe we'll see guys in the in the future that continue to do that more and more but I think that it is very important for the middle to pack guys the guys that are going to go on day two and day three the most necessary thing for me outside of the testing is and it's something that we don't even have access to is the chance to get to meet with teams and you hear and you talk to scouts and you understand that there is a ton of value in the way that they get to interact with these guys and learn more about them and I think that there is that aspect that the media and the fan bases aren't exposed to and why I think that there is this assumption that the combine isn't as important as it used to be because we don't see what those and what most important aspects are happening in the medical parts too are certainly very very important but the combine always an exciting opportunity and event within this draft process that I think still is going to be an important piece. All right so before I let you go Joe I've been looking at your Twitter feed and I noticed that you plan to spend your off hours which I'm sure aren't very many watching draft day what's one thing one lesson you've learned from the movie draft day? Never assume anything on draft day and I'm not saying that there's going to be a you know Avante Mack situation with the Chicago Bears at number one overall but you know we make these assumptions that Gene Daniels is going to go two overall or this team's going to do that anything can happen and it always ends up happening it always ends up going opposite of the way that we expect and yes I will absolutely especially on Thursday I'm just going to watch that on loop until until the event kicks off. I heard a mock draft that had the Bears trading for Trevor Lawrence and giving that number one pick to the Jaguars and I thought okay now we've jumped the shark now this has gotten ridiculous I saw that and I immediately clicked away I was like there's no way that this is being suggested so it's good to know that we're on the same page. It's time it's time for the draft can we get to the real thing please all right you can find Joe on Twitter at Joe Deleone D-E-L-E-O-N-E and he's got the first team NFL draft podcast lots of extra traffic a broadcast coming up on Thursday for the first round of the draft glad to talk to you Joe and get some insight thank you so much for a couple of minutes on what is a crazy week for you. Of course thanks for having me. Okay picture this it's Friday afternoon when a thought hits you I can spend another weekend doing the same old whatever or I can hop into my all-new Hyundai Santa Fe and hit the road with available H-TRAC all-wheel drive and three-row seating my whole family can head deep into the wild conquer the weekend in the all-new Hyundai Santa Fe visit HyundaiUSA.com or call 562-314-4603 for more details Hyundai there's joy in every journey. This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance whether you love true crime or comedy celebrity interviews or news you call the shots on what's in your podcast queue and guess what now you can call them on your auto insurance too with the name your price tool from Progressive it works just the way it sounds you tell Progressive how much you want to pay for car insurance and they'll show you coverage options that fit your budget get your quote today at Progressive.com to join the over 28 million drivers who trust Progressive Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates price and coverage match limited by state law here's why April chose to vaccinate her child I think actually meeting someone who was not vaccinated and now has a lifelong struggle with a childhood disease really cemented for me that it's super important that we as parents continue to vaccinate our children talk to your pediatrician or visit yvaccines.com brought to you by Merck