Looking ahead to mock NFL drafts for 2024-25

We talked about the ACC games that are in play this weekend. There's a lot of good basketball, a lot of teams in our listening area are killing it. You've got Charlotte that's off to a great start in the American, they're playing at Temple, UNC Wilmington, they're playing at Hampton, there's High Points having a great year, they're playing at, who is it, Gardner Webb this weekend, UNCG hosting Chattanooga.

There's a lot of good basketball being played around the state and we will get to as much of it as we can. Jordan Reed, an NC Central legend is joining us on the Adam Goldshow ESPN.com draft expert football maven. First of all, let me get a prediction on the Super Bowl from you and then we will go about the business of talking draft.

Who do you like? I'm gonna go with the Chiefs, 27 to 24. I think it's gonna be a very close game but there's just some guys you don't bet against and big games and Patrick Mahomes is similar to Tom Brady, I'm just not gonna bet against them in these types of situations. Here's the funny thing man, the 49ers are a two and a half point favorite of the last I looked. I have not spoken to a single person, not one, who thinks the 49ers are gonna win.

It is amazing to me. It makes me feel like they're going to win simply because nobody, I mean it's kind of the weirdest thing ever that for a game that we all know is going to be this close that either team can win. Nobody, like we're afraid of being burned by Patrick Mahomes. All right, you were at the Senior Bowl. How did the Senior Bowl, did it change for you perception? We know the top quarterbacks weren't there but did it change for you perception of the draft board overall?

Not really. You really want to use the Senior Bowl to really confirm some of the things that you saw on tape or some things that you may deny. I think with Michael Phoenix Jr. and then also Bo Nix who were the two highest ranked quarterbacks there, it was a little bit underwhelming as far as some of the performances that they had. I thought they played better as the practices did go on but it just wasn't that flashy standout performance like we have seen in years past. I remember when I was there in 2020 seeing Jalen Hurts and Justin Herbert go back and forth in practice and obviously both of those guys were higher ranked prospects at the time but I just wanted to see those quarterbacks stand out a little bit more than what they did. The one guy I was surprised by that I thought had the best week of the bunch was South Carolina quarterback Spencer Rattler who has really reinvented himself ever since he came over from Oklahoma. So he probably was the best of the bunch. How about a guy that was so highly thought of, first of all, maybe has the best name for a quarterback in the entire country and you go from Lincoln Riley's offense at Oklahoma, it's not going well.

You come to South Carolina and there were kind of no good. I mean they were okay and he did. He completely rebuilt whatever prospects that he's got. I know you have Caleb Williams as your number one quarterback and Drake May as your number two. Is May closer to Caleb Williams at one or Jayden Daniels at three?

I think it's more so 1A1B with Drake and Caleb right now but as the process goes on and the more people you talk to there's a lot of love for Jayden out there amongst scouts and then evaluators in the league and it really just depends on your preference with those guys. I like Caleb the best of the bunch just because this off-script createability. This is arm strength that he has and then this is innate ability to what I like to call superhero plays even though he has to he has to kind of contain it a little bit. He gets a little bit overzealous and tries to do it a little bit too much.

He has to learn how to keep the Superman cape in the closet sometimes but when your defense is giving up 35 to 40 plus points a game you're always going to be in that type of mode. So I like Caleb the best of the bunch but there is some people that like Drake May as a top quarterback and there's some people that like Jayden as that second or even that first guy. Is it possible that let's just say Washington who has the number two pick is it possible that they I know that Caleb Williams is from what is it Gonzaga high school in DC. Is it possible that they might like Drake May more or do you think they will see what they can do with Chicago and trade up to get him? This is one of those situations Adam where you wish you were a fly on the wall in those draft rooms which could be in there with Adam Peters just to see what they're thinking and Caleb would be a great story like this is a franchise that needs a jolt of energy. Speaking of Washington they have the new owners seems like everything's going good. There's just a breath of fresh air in the building and around the program around the franchise right now with Caleb being that hometown guy. I mean just imagine the ticket sales how crazy that would be him being the savior of the franchise but if you're Chicago I just don't see why there's any reason to move off of that number one pick right unless unless why Washington just comes in with the godfather type of offer something that you can't refuse.

I just don't really see that happening honestly but it would be a great story but I just don't see any reason for Chicago to move off of that number one overall pick for the second year in a row. Jordan Reed from ESPN at Jordan underscore Reed on Twitter ESPN.com mock draft draft expert. How many quarterbacks you think will go in round one? That's a great question um I feel good about four going right now um those top three and then the one that I keep hearing is JJ McCarthy of Michigan. There's a lot of love out there for him right now but some people you talk to it could be Bo Nix um so between McCarthy and um Nix those are probably going to be your fourth quarterback. Right and uh is Pennix who chose not to play at the senior bowl is he base is he he's it must be a day two pick I mean are there any other under the radar quarterbacks that you liked?

Yeah I mean I talked about Rattler a little bit earlier but he's probably more so of your third or fourth round pick late day two early day three of where he could go and I mean there's some late round guys that some people do like John Rhys Plumlee or UCF Carter Bradley was another that showed well at the senior bowl but those are more so six seventh or uh UDFA types. Yeah Sam Hartman had a tough senior bowl didn't he? Yeah you could just tell the arm strength just wasn't up to par to some of his counterparts it's kind of like um these other guys are they're just teeing off with the driver and then Sam Hartman comes up he's kind of hitting with the same wedge of the putt.

Oh my gosh a putter. You could just you could just tell the arm strength difference was very significant from the other guys. All right let me ask you about some local guys I'll try to hit one from uh from each school and I don't even know if um one of these guys was there but I know Peyton Wilson was down there from NC State um how did he do did he play his way into a day two selection maybe? I mean Peyton's awesome man like I've seen Peyton three times up close now nothing he does on the field is what's going to hurt Peyton it's the medicals that's the big thing that everybody has the question mark about Peyton there's no questions about him on the field I mean he's such an energetic leader um he has a nose for the football he's a great hitter and he's a great leader of course too so it's just a medical piece um I will feel comfortable taking him in the second or the third round honestly I have him inside of my top 75 players but of course that medical piece that's just some details that we won't know from the outside looking in so if he does end up slipping in the draft that would be one of the biggest reasons why but the film is absolutely outstanding with him. He's so fast and I mean is he a middle linebacker is he an edge right what what is he at the next level? I think he can be a mic linebacker okay you can blitz him off of the edge too I mean there's so many different ways that he can make plays I mean he's long he's 6'4 240 pounds so he's a prototypical middle linebacker so like I said I would be comfortable taking him in the second or third round just based off what we've seen on tape. Jordan Reed from ESPN draft expert is joining us here on the Adam Gold Show I had read during the week that Tez Walker was not impressing I have no idea whether or not that's true uh what did you see and what do you think of him as a prospect?

He was inconsistent I thought his hands were very inconsistent throughout the week um and that was something that he really didn't show a lot of on film I didn't see a lot of drops per se throughout the season I was there for the Miami game which he had three touchdowns and he was incredible in that one but he did struggle catching the ball contested catches was really the big thing that he struggled with we know Tez Walker is going to have vertical speed I mean he's one of the fastest guys he's probably going to have one of the fastest 40s of any player regardless of position in his draft class so some of those contested catches he did struggle with throughout all three days but something that I loved is that after that I believe it was the second day of practice he actually stayed after with some quarterbacks and he caught some extra balls so it obviously was in his head and he was aware of it and he was trying to correct it right away. Duke tackle Graham Barton had a like an on again off again season he was he had a lot of injury issues this year and I think even the first time we spoke earlier this year you you were already talking about him as an interior offensive lineman maybe even a center and I think that's where you have him uh now um how good can he be? He can be very good and the great thing about Graham is that he's played all five positions up front he actually came to Duke as a center that's where he played the first half of his freshman season I believe it was at center so he has that experience and he has so many other different feathers in his cap already and the great thing about him is that you feel good about him playing at any of those spots now I don't think he has the length to consistently play tackle on the next level that's why I like him better as a center of guard but you talk about somebody that has that physical demeanor um it's somebody that I think that I think can be a plug and play starter on the next level I definitely think he can be that. Yeah and he went to Duke so he's automatically smart I'm making this up but um if he goes to Duke um Marvin Harrison Jr you have as the best player overall uh in the draft and he'll probably be he'll be the first non-quarterback to go whether it's uh third or fourth who knows um give me a comp for him in terms of NFL wide receivers that we see.

So I don't think that there's one present in the game but who he does remind me of is AJ Green during his heyday with the Bengals very similar build um very similar ways in which they win very polished route runners and just one of those big wide receivers that has smaller wide receiver movement skills very polished route runner really good hands uh can see read and react to coverage on the run and then adjust that's what I call side adjustment so he's already doing things that's going to be asked of him on the next level and I think he's one of the best receiver prospects that we've seen since you know Calvin Johnson Julio Jones and even AJ Green too so he reminds me a lot of AJ when he was coming out of Georgia in 2011 I believe it was. Wow let me ask you one more question before I ask you about a position position group is is Brock Bowers going to step into the NFL and like automatically become one of the best tight ends? Yeah I think so you have to limit his role a little bit though I don't think he's going to be that inline blocker like we see from George Kittle and you know TJ Hockinson and all these other guys but if you strictly use him as like a flexed out wide receiver in the slot create those mismatches mismatches against those nickel corners and linebackers I definitely think he's going to be a versatile chess piece and be one of the better tight ends in the league right away. Better a better version of Jimmy Graham maybe?

Not nearly as big as Jimmy but you can use him in similar ways. All right now I've heard that this is an incredible draft for offensive linemen is that true? Absolutely we could see as many as seven offensive tackles go in the first round so if your team needs help along the offensive line you're going to be salivating that stevie during this draft class there's so many good ones in this draft class and I'm interested to see how it all shakes out on draft day just because they're all different types of shapes and sizes too. I think you've got uh what Joe Ault from Notre Dame is as one of the best players the kid from Penn State up there um who are the names to watch? So Joe Ault is definitely one um Talise Fowaga from Oregon State is another um Olu Fashanu from Penn State is another who probably will be a top 10 to 12 pick um Amarius Menz of Georgia is another um J.C. Latham from Alabama Kingsley Suomartia from BYU is another so just named six right there that possibly could go in the first round Tyler Guyton of Oklahoma who was another standout at the senior bowl as well so there's just seven right there that potentially could go in the first round. You think there are starters in uh into day two at that position? Yeah I think so um it's just the developmental arc is going to be a little bit longer it's like a little bit longer with some of those guys like Patrick Paul from Houston is one he's a little bit thin so he has to gain some weight but I think you could end up being a starter you know a year or two down the road um and there's plenty of others in the second round that I can name but there's also just type classes loaded at them I'm so excited to see how it all shakes out uh Jordan Reed ESPN at Jordan underscore Reed on Twitter who like everybody is picking the Kansas City Chiefs to win the Super Bowl I thank you very much man I appreciate your time we'll uh hopefully talk again uh before the draft all right thank you as always Adam you got it Jordan Reed from ESPN