Caleb Williams vs Drake Maye in the 2024 NFL Draft

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I'm intrigued. Because Welcome Back, Kotter might be one of the five greatest sitcoms of all time. Jordan Reed probably never watched an episode of Welcome Back, Kotter.

He wasn't even born when that show went off the air. The Pride of Central, ESPN draft analyst, joins us on the Adam Gold Show. Hey, thanks for your time, man. I appreciate it. We saw Drake May declare that he wasn't going to play in the bowl game, which, duh, because he shouldn't.

And he's just going to get ready for the draft. So, as best you can, still now, however many months out, what is the difference between Caleb Williams from Southern Cal and Drake May from UNC? Well, first and foremost, thank you guys for having me on. It's always a pleasure, Adam. I always love coming to talk about some of the home state teams.

I'm a North Carolina guy through and through, so it's always a pleasure coming on here. But with Drake May and then also Caleb Williams, both of those guys are the clear-cut top two quarterbacks in the draft. But they come in different shapes and sizes. Caleb is more so of your smaller quarterback at about 6'1", 215 pounds. While Drake is every bit of 6'4", 230 pounds. So, the term prototypical size is going to come into the equation more so with Drake. But I think where the difference lies between the two is both of them have mobility.

Both of them have very strong arms, too. But as far as the in-the-pocket game, I think Drake is a little bit more polished in that facet. You see him going through Reed's, see Reed in reacting and Chip Lindsay's offense. I thought he got better as the season went along. And you have to remember that he was playing with not only a new offensive coordinator, but brand new weapons as well. Josh Downs, who's turned on to who turned out to be a really good player for the Colts. He was his best weapon last year and says Walker didn't even play basically the first few games of the season. So, he really was breaking in a whole new wide receiver core and he just got better and better as the year went along. So, Caleb Williams is more of a, they call it, off-platform. He's more of a freelancer. Isn't that the way a lot of things go now in the NFL?

Kind of. And I think for Caleb, he's going to have to go to a situation of where they allow him to beat him. But also, you have to rein him in a little bit, too, just because their defense was so bad at USC. Giving up over 40 points a game.

So, he was in hero mode, hero ball mode 100% of the time. So, I think once he gets to the NFL, he's going to have to go to a situation with the coach that understands against it. So, that fine line of letting him beat him, but also understanding that he has to make some plays inside of the pocket, too, which he is capable of.

But his defense isn't going to give up 40 to 50 points a game at USC. So, just understanding how to window basically keep that cape in the closet when he has to be Superman. And then also knowing when to take it out as well. What is the best quality that Drake May possesses as a quarterback? I think it's his touch down the field.

Then also just his processing ability. He's such a clean processor. He's a really good decision maker as well. And then when Tez Walker came into the equation, I call him javelin throws.

It looks like he's throwing a javelin and they land in the perfect spot every single time. He just throws a gorgeous deep ball. So, I think he's a really good deep ball thrower, but also he's a really good processor of information and defense in front of him as well.

As you mentioned before, he's really mobile. I mean, at UNC, I never liked to see him run because I always thought that, you know, they were just exposing him when they didn't have to. And maybe Sam Howell needed two more when he was the quarterback there. I just, with Drake, man, I just wanted to see him throw it as much as anything else.

The knock on Drake, man, we're talking with Jordan Reed, ESPN draft analyst, also Central guy, NC Central guy at Jordan underscore Reed on Twitter. When when you're talking about what what May does as a quarterback, the weapons that he threw to this year. How many NFL guys did he have at his disposal?

So I don't start looking at prospects until they're draft eligible. But the ones that I know of the tight end really came on late. Brian is he's a good player. I'm not sure if they'll declare or not, but he has he's an intriguing player. That's more so of an athletic tight end and also tells Walker, of course. But outside of that, and of course, the running back, I think he's the best running back in the country tomorrow.

Yeah, I've seen him plenty of time. He's a really good player, but he's not eligible to next year. So of the draft eligible guys, I think those are the only three that I think he was surrounded by. But Nesbitt didn't have much exposure as far as planned time coming into the year. And it says Walker was a transfer coming into the year. So he was breaking in a bunch of new weapons. So those are really the only three that come to mind as far as who he was surrounded by the has NFL future.

Jordan Reed from ESPN is joining us here. The knock on. And I frankly don't care because it doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things. But the knock on May and this might be more of a knock on the coaching staff is that against good teams, he hadn't played as well, which I guess stands to reason when you play against better teams. It's not going to be as easy. But does that matter in your eyes?

Yeah, it does. And I think just who he was throwing to and says Walker is more so of a deep threat. You really want him attacking that third level of defense, what I call a roof stretcher.

So you mainly want him attacking those deeper portions of the field. But as far as the shorter intermediate areas, he didn't really have anybody to throw to. So what you saw a lot of times was he was just sticking on his first read a little bit too much. And he was forcing things to happen. That's what you saw against Clemson. Clemson was one game that really comes to mind in the first half against Pitt. He just really was forcing things just because he doesn't have any true natural separator.

So he really was forcing things and trying to overcompensate for the lack of weapons that he had outside of his Walker. Jordan Reed is joining us here on the Adam Gold show. You said that that we're talking about the first two quarterbacks off the board.

Is there a consensus that it's Williams one and made to or does it depend on the team that's drafting? It really just depends on who you talk to. Lucky Land Casino asking people what's the weirdest place you've gotten lucky. Lucky? In line at the deli, I guess.

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See website for details. And it was that way coming into the year as well. There is some people that like Drake may at number one overall. There is some people that like Caleb at number one overall. I'm still a Caleb Williams guy. Caleb Williams guy.

I've been that way all season long, even coming into the year, but depending on the team that you talk to and the scheme that they run, there are some teams that do prefer Drake may at number one overall. And who would the other quarterbacks be? I know Jay Jayden Daniels just won the Heisman Trophy. Michael Pennix.

I was surprised that Pennix was the was second and it was as close as it was. I don't know where he is on the NFL spectrum, but who are the next couple of quarterbacks that would be available? Or be would be, you know, you know, that figure to go high in the draft. Yeah, so your next three probably would be Jay Daniels of LSU. He's getting a lot of steam now just because of the big year that he had obviously winning the Heisman Trophy is always going to have your case, but he was phenomenal this year. You have JJ McCarthy of Michigan. There's a lot of fans of him in the league, even though his evaluation is kind of incomplete just because of the run heavy offense that they run the times that they do allow him to pass.

He does have some really flashy moments. So maybe a lot of people are thinking that he has a positive future once he does get into a pass at the offense. And then you have Michael Pennix Jr. at Washington, who is a player that I really had to warm up to as the season went along just because he has that funky releases left handed guy. And I'll compare them to a left handed Phillip Rivers.

That's what he kind of reminds me of that funky three quarter release. But I mean, he was awesome in that Washington offense this year. But with Pennix, of course, you have the durability concerns with four season ending injuries and four consecutive years. So the injuries and the medical is going to be a big part of his evaluation and a key piece of exactly where he goes in the draft.

All right. Before I'm going to get back to quarterbacks in a second, but you lead me into Peyton Wilson with the injuries that he has had in the past. What do you see as his draft ceiling for Peyton Wilson? I love Peyton Wilson, man. Like he's he's one of like when I go to watch the tape on Sunday when I'm watching prospects, he was one that I just love to come back to every single Sunday just because the interstate defense is so underrated.

In my opinion, they've done a phenomenal job recruiting and developing a lot of players. But one player that has really grown up in that system is Peyton Wilson. And I know it got off to a rocket star with the injury.

I had a couple knee surgeries. He had a shoulder surgery, too, I believe. But just as instincts, the way he flies around and then there's so many hats that he wears in that defense. I think he can be a starter on the next level. And for some reason, I keep coming back to he's probably going to end up being a day to repeat just because his medicals are not going to be very clean. But if he's able to get a clean bill of health, somebody's probably going to take him maybe in like the fourth or the fifth round. He's going to end up being a starter.

I agree with you. I think if he wasn't going to be 24 and if he didn't have the injury history, I think he's good enough to be a late first early second round pick. But I mean, he's he's going to crush the physicals at the combine. I mean, in terms of the you know, the their their Olympic stuff, he's going to crush the the 40 yard dash. He's just going to destroy that stuff. He's such a great athlete. Yeah, I agree. I think he's going to light it up at the combine. But once again, what everybody is going to be focused on as part of the evaluation on the field stuff, there's no question about that. It's just somebody that's turning 24, of course, having the injury issue that he's had. Am I willing to take a risk on that?

If I worked in the league, I would be. There's going to be some things that really value that medical portion that they should that are just going to be scared off by what happened in the past. All right. Final thing. Just this sort of back to quarterbacks of actually maybe second to last thing real quick.

Should or Sanders got off to such a great start. People had him as the third quarterback off the board. What do you see for him?

I'm a big fan of Chidor. Now, I think he's going to come he's going to come back just because I think Coach Prime wants him to get one more year in that system with a serviceable offensive line. They're going to be serviceable anyway. Good luck.

I mean, that's so me, right? So many hits last year, but I think he can end up being a first-round prospect for sure. And I think he showed that early on in the season. It's just a matter of him just getting another year in the system. And then also just getting the ball out a little bit quicker to help out some of that offensive line that they do need help with.

All right, now final thing. Just we have three, you know, I think Carolina's got some very good defensive players. I don't think their defense was very good states. Obviously great defensively as is as was Duke this year.

I think they wore out toward the end of the season. But who are the prospects that you would you have your eye on for those three schools before we let you go? So NC State Peyton Wilson is the obvious one.

They have a defensive tackle last night's ban. Yeah, blanking on his first name for some reason. But, man, he's one that's definitely intriguing for sure. So those are two. I love a lot of players in the secondary eight and battle South even Shaheen battle is one that I like quite a bit. And and then with Carolina said you're great. I'm a big fan of him.

Maybe big fan of them. I like him in that third round range. I think he has to start a potential as well. I think he could go a little bit higher than what a lot of people are expecting. I any of the Duke defensive lineman on your radar.

Are they open? He's one that I found very, very intriguing. We'll see. I know he entered his name in the transport portal. And then he also accepted the invitation to the Senior Bowl. So he's kind of on the fence as far as what he's going to be doing next season. But are you open? Definitely is one that definitely has caught my attention. All right, Jordan Reed, you caught ours. I appreciate your time, man. We'll we'll talk to you again down the road. I appreciate it. No problem.

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