Tony, thank you for taking the time to join us, man. Thanks for having me. You know, actually, it was warm the first couple of days in Indianapolis, over 50 degrees. And this is my 25th combine.
And this was probably early on anyway. It got cold the last two days I was here, but early on the weather was beautiful. Well, who was it your fault, Tony? Did you ask for the cold weather?
Did you do it? Listen, I came from New York, and three, four weeks before I traveled to Indianapolis from New York, it never got over 25 degrees. So you know, I don't want to tell you, you got to enjoy the warm 50 degree weather when you can, but we know things are pretty hot inside Lucas oil. You were able to share a lot of things that you heard about your door Sanders, we've heard the positive, the negative. We've seen some of the stories about him not competing. What's the real deal when it comes down to him being drafted? Do you expect them to kind of tumble down to the Raiders?
Is that even a tumble for him? Yeah, I mean, I think the earliest he goes is the Raiders with their selection. I mean, it's really turning into a one quarterback draft and that one quarterback is Cam Ward. The rest of the guys have really fallen off. No one's really elevated his draft stock.
As far as the end is concerned, you got to start with the 2024 season because the film was not very good. He did not show much progress in his game. In fact, you can argue he regressed in certain areas. That's a strike. And then you had the whole fiasco at the Shrine Bowl where everyone's excited. He's going to go to the Shrine Bowl. People expect him to participate in at least some of the workouts.
He shows up one day in sweats, walks around the field, does a press conference, and then leaves. And then you had all where he wouldn't work out the combine. So a lot of it is unforced errors.
A lot of it is poor play from 2024 season. And you know, there's also the Dion Factor, which I wrote in about several times at Sportskeeda. You know, Dion is a parent like, you know, a lot of people like I'm a parent. And when you see things that aren't happening very well, we're going very good for your kid, you know, you're usually going to complain about it, as I'm sure Dion will, when things don't work out for his son as a rookie in the NFL. But the only thing is we don't all have the bully pulpit of, you know, weekly press conferences, as head coaches of the University of Colorado. And there's concern that when from some teams that when things don't go well for you, Doris Sanders, he hits bumps in the road as a rookie.
Dion's going to be out there, you know, in Colorado voicing his complaints, which could be a distraction. You know, Dylan McCord and Dylan Gabriel is defending his height and his size. Are these guys just, are we looking at backup quarterbacks in the league here?
Does anybody have a chance to really grow? I was a big fan of Jalen Milro coming into the season. I think Jalen Milro physically stands up with any quarterback in this draft. When you look at arm strength, when you look at athleticism, when you look at foot speed, he's a high character guy.
He's a great leader on and off the field. The problem is really since the middle of the season, since that Georgia game, his game has gone downhill. He was not good the second half of the season at Alabama. He was beating teams more with his feet than with his arms. He was not good at the senior ball. He was not good at the combine. So I think with Jalen Milro, it's a situation where he's got tremendous upside, but you're going to need a great quarterback coach really to work with him from the ground up.
And you have to be very patient. If you do, you could hit a home run. Jackson Dart, a very good quarterback, very good between the ears. But again, I think he's more of a system type quarterback. You've got to put him in a timing offense, a West Coast offense.
You can't ask him to throw the ball downfield too much. And I think Quinn Ewers is being forgotten about, which he shouldn't because he's a terrific vertical passer who did a great job at Texas two years in a row. Tony, we heard earlier today, moving on to the running backs, we heard about the deal and contract extension that Saquon Barkley got.
We got a lot of teams, likely competitive teams, somewhere later. Somebody's going to add Ashton Gente. And when you think about a running back status in the league, are teams still looking to get them at a bargain? Are we looking at another year where Gente goes in the first round and everybody else has to wait a while? Well, this is a great running back draft. Unlike last year where your first running back went, late second round and then started to come off the board in the third round, there is a lot of quality starting with Gente.
And I think Gente is going to come off the board midway through the first round. He's a three-down back, he's a versatile back, very good, runs hard on the inside, will pick and choose his spots, has the speed and agility to turn the corner. Good pass catcher out of the backfield. The other guy who could squeak into the back end of round one is O'Marion Hampton of North Carolina, who comes off a real good season, actually a real good two seasons at North Carolina, and had a terrific combine workout. Hampton's a guy, there are some teams, and I reported this from Indianapolis, that like Hampton better than Gente.
I don't agree with that, but that's out there. But I do think O'Marion Hampton has the potential to kind of slide into the back end of round one. But there's a lot of other good backs. Caleb Johnson of Iowa, who did not have a good combine, the two kids from Ohio State, Quinn-Shawn Junkins and Treveon Henderson, Dylan Sampson of Tennessee, Trevor Etienne of Georgia, and they're all different.
Some of them are bigger inside grinders and pounders, some of them are creative perimeter runners, and most of these guys are terrific pass catchers out of the backfield. Well, Tony, we heard a lot heading into the playoff from Arizona State from Cam Scatterboo. He got a lot of attention late in the college football season.
What's the deal and what's the latest with him? He at one point said he was better than Gente. Which he's not. I mean, he's very good at what he does, and he's a lot of fun to watch. But he's primarily a downhill ball carrier.
You know, a bigger... I mean, if it was 30 years ago, Scatterboo's probably a top-15 pick, but the game has changed. He's not really fast. He's not super creative. He's a lot of fun to watch. I mean, he craves physical contact. He's a good pass catcher on the backfield.
But, you know, sometimes some of the things that you do on Saturday, which come easily, you can't duplicate or replicate on Sunday. And I think that's the situation with Scatterboo. I'd like him. I think he can be a good back, but I just don't think he has the same rounded game as the Genteys or the Hamptons or the Junkins or the ATNs. NFL draft analyst Tony Pauline is joining us here.
The JR Sport Reshow on the Infinity Sports Network. We saw what someone like Shamar Stewart did during the combine, looking at a guy that big move like that. Who are some other players who raised eyebrows in a positive way? I think receiver Dante Thornton was outstanding.
6'5", ran in the 4'3". Landon Jackson of Arkansas had a tremendous workout the way he ran. Ashton Jalot of Louisville, I think, ran much faster, performed much better than people expected. I think the Alabama kids, Tyler Booker. Tyler Booker didn't have great testing numbers in the offensive linemen, but he was phenomenal during position drills. Jafar Campbell showed really just a complete workout as far as his testing and position drills as well. Isaiah Bond was doing all that chatting about how he was going to be faster than Xavier Worthy. Did he kind of shoot himself in the foot by opening up his mouth? I guess he was practicing at 30 yards, not 40 yards.
You've got to go back to the film. When you watch the film, Isaiah Bond is not a super great receiver. He's small, he needs space to work, he drops a lot of catches, and as he found out at the combine, he probably should keep his mouth shut.
There's always the need for guys who are fast guys. Even though we ran a 4'4", he's still football fast, but he needs to round out and complete his game. Shooting his mouth off the way he did before the combine, and then not living up to what he was telling everybody, that's not going to help him. Tony Pauline joining us here, NFL draft analyst from Sportskeeda. What do you foresee happening at the top of the draft board?
Is there a possibility that we see some teams that are going to move up? I don't want to say to grab a QB given kind of what you just said, but what can we expect knowing that the Tennessee Titans need just about everything? The Browns need a QB.
What do you think that the top is going to shake out to be? I think that the Titans are going to do all they can to trade the pick, and if they get a package that they like from a team like maybe the New York Giants who want to trade up and get a quarterback, maybe the Las Vegas Raiders if they don't come away with Sam Darnell, I think if they get the package that is attracted to them, they will trade out of that spot. I do think there's a very good chance that they could sit there and take Cam Ward if they don't find any of the offers made to them attractive enough. They do like Cam Ward, I reported that at Sportskeeda. When you have the opportunity to get a top-rated quarterback, and Cam Ward is a top-rated quarterback, as far as I'm concerned, he fits the profile of the quarterbacks that I like in the sense that he's coming off a terrific year. You know, he played his best football the season before he entered the draft. Think of Jayden Daniels a year ago. Think of Bo Nix and Michael Penix a year ago, and those guys had success as rookies.
The Titans need a lot. I will be the best player available type of guy, but still, when you get the chance to grab a quarterback, you better take it or you could look back and rue the day that you passed up on them. In regards to Travis Hunter, what do you think his best situation is? What would be best for him? Well, probably isn't playing well for Cleveland.
That's just about any given player. I mean, you know, I think Travis Hunter will go with the second or third pick depending on what happens with number one. I think the Giants would be a good spot for him. The Giants are looking for a number two receiver. The Giants are looking for a bigger quarterback. Obviously, Hunter's going to have to focus on one position and then maybe play the other position sparingly. He's not going to be able to play as many downs on Sunday as he did on Saturday. But I think a situation like the New York Giants, who need help at both positions where Travis Hunter excels, could be a good spot for him. As well as the fact that, you know, it is New York and, you know, if he plays well on the bright lights, the sky's the limit.
The sky's absolutely the limit. Hey, this is why these teams are selecting here at the top of the draft. They need a whole hell of a lot. If they swing and miss, they're going to be bad for a little bit longer.
Absolutely. I mean, you know, selecting players in the draft is just one piece of the puzzle. You know, you've got to have the right coaching staff in place.
You've got to have the ability to develop these players. And there's a reason why the Philadelphia Eagles and Andy Reid, you know, have good quarterbacks, you know, time after time after time. And teams like the Cleveland Browns and the New York Jets just can't get the position right.
You talk about the Philadelphia Eagles. We saw what they did with Quinon Mitchell and Cooper DeGene, and they just hit the jackpot with those two. Is there a similar player that you see that might get selected later on in the draft that could have a major impact right away on a winning organization?
Well, I mentioned Dante Thornton before. He's a receiver that's probably going to go somewhere in the late third round. I mean, a guy like Dorian Strong, another cornerback, I think he could help early on. If you're looking for an offensive lineman, somebody like Tate Ratlidge, these are all guys who are going to go in the third round area. Cody Simon, the linebacker from Ohio State, again, a third rounder, a guy who really didn't get the pub that he deserved in that Ohio State defense that had so many stars, JT Tumaloa and Jack Sawyer.
But week in and week out, I mean, Simon was consistently making plays against the run, against the pass. He's a versatile linebacker who I think will really help out as a rookie. Yeah, well, we'll see. That's what I'm looking forward to. I want to watch the good scenes with a rookie and then I'll watch the bad ones later, Tony.
So all about balance. Appreciate the insight and the analyst. Where can analysis, excuse me, where can people follow you and all of your work with Sportskeeda? Well, at Sportskeeda or just follow me on Twitter. I know we're going to have a post combine mock draft.
A lot of people love those mock drafts. We'll have that up by the end of the week. Follow me on Twitter at Tony Pauline. I always link to the articles or whatever I'm doing. Amazing, Tony.
Well, thank you so much. I know the cold weather's been following you around just a little bit. Hey, it's going to get warm soon. OK, Tony, go get warm soon.
I live in New York. That's why I love it. It's cold in the winter.
It's crazy hot in the summer and it's nice in the spring. So I'm cool. I'm good with it all. Good on balance. Well, Tony, we'll catch you on down the line. OK, thank you for having me.
