Emory Hunt, CBS Sports HQ NFL Draft Analyst

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Price and coverage match limited by state law. Odyssey App get into what surprised you. I think let's talk about what surprised most folks. What are your thoughts on what took place with Michael Pennix joining the Atlanta Falcons? It's funny because a lot of people had Pennix or a quarterback pegged to Atlanta all throughout the pre-draft process up until they signed Kirk Cousins to that monstrous deal which they shouldn't have done anyway because he's a 36 year old quarterback coming off of an injury and Achilles injury at that. He never was really mobile anyway so it didn't make sense of rush to give him that money because he tore his Achilles nine weeks after Aaron Rogers tore his. So for me it's like make drafting Pennix makes a lot of sense because Pennix may actually start the season if we're being completely honest.

Uh oh. You think he's gonna be out there game one week one? Listen we don't know what Kirk Cousins looked like dropping back. We saw him do a little minor exercise but we know once live bullets start flying and now he has the added pressure of having to perform because he has a first round talent behind him and Michael Pennix and everyone wants to see Pennix play. Last time they saw Pennix play was in the postseason so they know he could play really well and last time we saw Kirk Cousins play was playing mediocre ball for the Minnesota Vikings so he has the pressure of the situation and the pressure of trying to come back from an injury that you know it does take a little bit getting back to in terms of at that position no less.

So yeah I could definitely see a pathway for Pennix to start the season. Emery Hunt is here with us from CBS Sports HQ. What's the next biggest storyline? What else took place over the weekend that caught your attention? Is it a player?

Is it a team? Somebody's behavior? What caught your attention? Well it was the I mean going into the draft it was the the over under of offensive players taken in the first round was set at 21 and a half and they shattered that by 23 players I think taken offensively in round one which just blows my mind and even more so that the first defensive player was a pass rusher that wasn't taken until pick 15. So that just again just like wow usually you hear quarterbacks, pass rushers, offensive linemen, you know offensive tackles specifically go high in the draft regardless of year but this year we saw 14 straight offensive players go and the first defensive player taken at pick 15.

That just blew my mind. That was one of the bigger storylines of the entire weekend. When when you think about teams that won who walked away as a better squad based on what they did in the draft? I thought Washington did getting the franchise quarterback and Jaden Daniels would also not pollen talent around him Ben Sennett out of Kansas State the tight end very good player she hit the ground running. I also thought Arizona did a really good job throughout the draft getting good football players seems like a lot of teams took the model that Detroit has laid out like hey man don't worry about the combine don't worry about all these junior olympic tests just get good football players and you're gonna be you're gonna be fine and I think teams like Washington, Arizona, Pittsburgh just building on the line of scrimmage.

I thought those three teams outside of like Chicago as well because of the nature of what they did with two top 10 picks stood out the most. It seems that failed Emery what say you? Well it's hard to to really fail because optimism is truly high right now but if I'm thinking about a team that just really didn't do as much I felt like Tennessee could have used a we saw the Falcons take a quarterback I felt like Tennessee could have been in line for a quarterback but I thought they did a solid job on the back end and Minnesota to me because they took J.J. McCarthy in the top 10 and again I've said this before even with what we have seen and currently know from Brock Purdie you are not taking Brock Purdie in the top 10 and no NFL draft even with all the information that we got about Brock Purdie unless you have elite level talent across the board on both sides of the ball to where he can just be a piece of the puzzle and then to the puzzle and now you're putting J.J. McCarthy to no fault of his own in a situation where you're asking him to be Tom Brady and we know that's not the case we know that's not a skill set so right now and if we're keeping it a buck they have the fourth quarterback fourth best quarterback in that division. Caleb Williams, Jared Goff and also Jordan Love are all better today than J.J. McCarthy. Yeah without a without a shadow of a doubt they better hope that that he can develop into something much better than Sam Darnold. Emory Hunt is here with us covers football for CBS Sports HQ. We had two signings today Ezekiel Elliott back to the Dallas Cowboys jumping into the time machine a little bit and then also Travis Kelce he got a two-year extension.

Both of these guys are getting older. Hey how much more do you think Travis Kelce has left in the tank now going through I believe 2027 and for the Cowboys they it seems like they just running in place no? Well I'll start with the Cowboys first I felt like they shouldn't have let go Zeke last year and what was missed by a lot of people is the fact that Zeke was more than just an on-field presence he was he was a big factor in that locker room and we saw what happened toward the back end that season they just kind of fell apart a little bit they didn't really have that one person that they can lean on to galvanize and in terms of the run game he was the pace setter yeah he wasn't as explosive or as fast as he was as a rookie or earlier in his career but he was someone that defenses had to respect they lost that when they let him go because no one respected Pollard's ability to run the ball Pollard was best as a compliment and he didn't have that guy that could set the pace for him so that's why that run game just struggled now on the other side Kelce to me probably has about two years left and you saw that he's doing a great job of getting the guy that's very you know Travis Kelce like and Darryl Wiley out of PCU a fantastic tight end he's a flex tight end he was my number one flex tight end when he was like a big body wide receiver and that's what he is he's great after the catch so he's going to get great mentorship and they're going to give him a nice little two year runway to become the guy and that way you can see Kelce right off into the sunset. Emry Hunt is here with us CBS Sports HQ you know a team that I think also did an excellent job of improving is the Philadelphia Eagles man you think about the defensive backs that they were able to pick up would you be shocked if they had a bounce back this season? Not at all because they improved defensively we know the defense was the major problem for them last season they couldn't really get stops and keep parts of the game they couldn't get pressure on the quarterbacks they couldn't turn the ball over they were very old it seemed like a cornerback into your points they got two of the top 10 corners in the draft class and and that's an influx of talent on the back end but also they improved the third element of the game special teams because Cooper DeGene excellent punt returner and a guy with the ball in his hands Will Shipley can return kickoffs Anaya Smith the receiver slash running back out of Texas A&M another one that can return kick so their special teams improved their defense got better so overall this team should be significantly better in 2023 or 2024. Emry there's another team I want to ask about seems like they might be kind of running in place just a little bit and they've struggled in the postseason that's the Buffalo Bills we know Diggs is is now out they've had some of their own cornerbacks although maybe a little older and hurt uh Conda Gautre, Devious White and Poirier as well and there's there's really no excitement I mean the Chiefs get a a wide receiver and Xavier Worthy running a 4-2 they bring on a great quote and he's pretty awesome and we hope that he can bring the same thing he had in Tallahassee up the Buffalo and Keyon Coleman what do you think about the Buffalo Bills it doesn't seem like they've gotten all that much better to try to you know win the AFC. Well Coleman I have a high grade on I was a big fan of his game coming out of Florida City he has that dog mentality reminds me a lot of what the Steelers have and George Pickens a guy that is hate you know I'm saying you may question whether he's the fastest or the more explosive but one thing you can't question is his heart and his ability to catch the football everything else is going to fall in line because he has those two requirements that are needed to be successful number one and also I like the Ray Davis selection and running back out of Kentucky now you pair him up with another good back already and so and James Cook and we saw Buffalo sort of lean into their run game last year which kind of helped them close out some games and that was the issue the years prior previous where they couldn't really run the ball they didn't really run the ball and we saw that change last season they were able to close out some games and become a significant factor I think that's going to be even more so this year and we're going to see them kind of rain Josh Allen in a little bit like they did last season going to allow him to take those shot plays but that run game I think is going to be prominent once again in Buffalo.

Do you think the Buffalo Bills have they done enough though to punch the Chiefs back in the mouth? I mean it's not the Chiefs they're going to have to worry about the entire AFC North they're going to have to worry about the AFC South with Houston and Indianapolis and then also you have to worry about the Chiefs so it's and you got to worry about the Dolphins the entire AFC is a gauntlet week in week out so I mean it's not can they beat the Chiefs it's man can they beat all those other teams in the AFC that's going to be a bigger question. Yeah that doesn't that doesn't bode well for them at all last question for you Emory we know that we're going to have a lot more roster shake-ups and guys getting cut and injuries and it's impossible to predict but as we we start moving through OTAs and rookie camps and moving into July and preseason what teams do you think have set themselves up to have some damn good season later this year? It's weird to say this about a rookie starting quarterback but both Washington and Chicago could potentially be playoff teams in the NFC we know the NFC is weak weaker than the AFC but man Chicago has a lot of talent and this is the part I want people to understand Justin Fields led Chicago to seven wins last year and the ninth overall pick the first pick came from Carolina so the Bears were on the cusp last year they just didn't have enough firepower in the in the uh on offense and now they got that defense got better and Caleb Williams going to help them improve a little bit you know he's going to do what Justin Fields was doing toward the back end of the season so they should at least win nine or ten games this year. Washington significantly improved coaching staff is new coaching staff is in Dan Quinn's defensive minor head coach they improved a lot defensively via free agency we'll see how that all plays together fits in but adding to Jayden Daniels changes the math offensively and how teams are going to play them they have some talent that receiver he aids the run game with his ability to that threat to take off which opens things up even more so in the passing game I think their offensive line was improved as well this is a team that could end up with a playoff spot look for Chicago and Washington to you know fight for that sixth or seventh spot in the postseason and surprise some people this year with rookie quarterbacks.

Wow I mean listen I think both fan bases would love it if they got a little bit of the taste of what the Texans were able to do of this past season. Emory Hunt thank you so much for joining us here on the JR Sport Reshow on the Infinity Sports Network where can people follow you on CBS Sports HQ football game plan where can we keep up with you? Follow me on twitter at fballgameplan and be sure to pick up your copy of football game plans 2024 draft guide the largest draft guide in existence over 900 individual scouting reports the reason why I'm bringing this up post draft because we've seen so many undrafted free eatings get signed and we will see more undrafted free eatings get signed as we approach rookie mini camp we have scout reports on these guys that you may not have heard of may not know about we got a full scout report on these guys so it's still a valuable asset to pick up the draft guide you can find that at footballgameplan.com slash 2024 draft guide. Emory always a pleasure my man we'll talk to you down the line and catch you soon brother okay? Appreciate it JR always a pleasure man. Hey everyone Boomer Esiason here the NFL draft is behind us and your favorite team is now gearing up for week number one the free odyssey app puts you right in the middle of the pro football conversation with the biggest sports radio stations from across the country the local voices who know your team the best giving you their unfiltered takes on the current state of your squad it's always football season right here on the free odyssey app.