Tom Pelissero: Nobody Is Certain What The New York Giants Do In The NFL Draft

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For the ones who get it done. Our number three of the Rich Eisen Show and day number one of our three day residency here in Green Bay is live on the air on the Roku Sports Channel. This Rich Eisen Show terrestrial radio affiliate on Sirius XM as well. The Infinity Sports Network. Odyssey, if you missed any of our first two hours of the program, there's our YouTube page, there's our Instagram, our TikTok.

There's also obviously the fast channel on the Roku Sports Channel that re-airs this program. We've had a great first two hours and the third hour kicks off with my colleague and a regular of this program, a frequent fill-in host, if you will, as well as the man of the insiders on NFL Network. Good to see Tom Pelissero. Great to see you. Good to see you.

And see the fellas. Hey, Tommy. What's up, man? What up, G? Great to see you. Hey, man. Good to see you here. You said that this is right around where you used to live?

I lived. If you go down to that stoplight and take a left, you can see the condo that I lived in when I was at the Green Bay Press Gazette Beat, which was also the place where almost all the Packers players lived. There were basically two buildings. You'd just be getting in the elevator with the players. Is there a plaque there, like Tom Pelissero slept here?

I don't think there is. Even the Press Gazette building, I think at this point, is no longer in use. But it is fun seeing how downtown Green Bay has grown up. I just walked by a place that used to be called Keggers. It was a keg party themed bar. Wow. So just ping pong tables, flip cup. And that was... And now it's some hipster coffee place now? Exactly. Now it's something very upscale. Oh, man. And you being a Minnesota guy now as well, you're not fazed by the fact that it was pouring rain at the top of hour number two and it's now beautiful, bright sunshine at the top of hour number three. Welcome to the Midwest of the United States of America.

All right. So the first surprise of this draft, your best guess is going to be what, Tom? I think that whatever the Giants do at three is going to surprise some people because...

Even if it's Abdul Carter? It's the number one asked question still within the league right now. I mean, Cam Ward is the presumptive number one pick and has been for a couple of months to the Titans. I would be surprised, nothing shocks me, but I'd be really surprised if the Browns move out of two or if they don't take Travis Hunter. Then the Giants come on the clock at number three and nobody's a hundred percent certain what they're going to do because Brian Dable referenced it the other day. You know, you're in high level conversations with people throughout the, what do you call it, the executive football leadership structure, which is a really long way of saying the owners are now in the conversations as well. John Mara has never been known as somebody or Steve Tisch to, you know, put their thumb on the scale and override decisions. But these are big organizational choices, especially when you're sitting there going, OK, are we really, after all the work we put on these quarterbacks, are we really not going to make one of these guys a giant at number three?

At number three. So then give me the pick that would cause all heck to break loose with trades everywhere. Because right now we are on the verge of having the first draft since 2014 in which not a single first round draft choice is traded between the new league year and the draft night.

We're on the verge of that and I bet you we're going to hit that. I don't see a trade happening before the draft tomorrow night involving a first round pick. It'd be surprising because one's not moving.

Two would be the only one that potentially could move. But again, I don't get any sense that they're going to do that. You're not going to make that trade in advance. So then what would be, because again, Ryan Poll said he thinks it's going to be wild. He's drafting tenth overall. Name me the selection that would set off phones everywhere to start to trade a palooza in the middle of the top of the first round last night. It would be, for instance, if one of the wide receivers goes really high.

You just had Matthew Golden sitting in the seat a short time ago. Let's say he comes off the board in the top ten, even before we get to Dallas' pick. Let's say Ted McMillan goes five to the Jaguars. There are so few receivers. There's really not those, usually you have a few of those guys like top half of the first round they're going to go.

There's nobody who's a sure bet to go. But it's so thin at the top in terms of that group that that could all of a sudden make all those teams in the 20s that all need a receiver to start to go, we got to go up and get our guy or we're going to get completely shut out of this thing in terms of finding a difference maker. You know, five I think is a really interesting slot in this draft, too, because everybody in the world seems to think or has thought all the mock drafts, Ashton Gente to the Raiders. There's a bunch of teams that really like Ashton Gente. He visited the Bears who have the tenth pick. He visited the Cowboys who have the twelfth pick.

Did somebody decide they want to trade up ahead of the Raiders? And I'm not convinced that Ashton Gente is necessarily the Raiders guy. But he's one of one in terms of the talent level and the difference maker that he can be, as Brian Baldinger said on the insiders recently. That's the one guy who I think is going to put on a gold jacket. I feel the most confident about Gente.

That's how good Ashton Gente is. There's somebody that really needs a back. Dallas, Chicago. Just say, you know what? We're not going to take the risk. Let's go up and get him. Tom Pelissero here on the Rich Eisen Show. Chidor winds up where? Chidor's best landing spots in round one are three of the Giants, which, again, they've put in as much homework on him as any team on any player in this draft. The next logical landing spot in my mind, based on what I know, is the Steelers at 21.

That visit, by all accounts, went well. Chidor was on the insiders that night and was saying, hey, Mike Tomlin reminds me of my dad and their values and how they are. The Steelers need a quarterback. They're still waiting to hear from Aaron Rodgers. They can't set themselves back like they did three years ago when they drafted Kenny Pickett, and that flamed out. But they're in a position where, potentially, they could have their choice of the second quarterback in this draft. If it's not one of those two teams, then there's a decent chance somebody either needs to trade up, like the Giants, back into one. Maybe the Browns, although I don't know that I really see that being a spot, or else Chidor may not go in the first round. It would be, GM said this to me a few days ago, that if he were guessing just on, basically, the splits in his room, what he's heard, he said, I bet you half the teams in the league have Chidor as the number two quarterback and half have Dart as the number two quarterback. So there's a realistic chance, too, that Jackson Dart could end up being the second quarterback off the board here. Chidor, it's not that there's not like for him in the league, but another GM just said to me, you're probably not going to find a consensus on him 100% in any building. So it's, do you like him? Why is that? Why is that?

It's a combination of different things. Start with just the physical traits. There's one quarterback in this draft who, based on all the coaches, all the scouts, I published 12,000 words on this on NFL.com last night. There's one guy who profiles as a starting quarterback in the NFL, and that's Cam Ward. Would he have been the number one pick last year?

No. But he's definitely in that mix of like a guy who you think, this guy could be a starter. Everybody else, Chidor, Dart, Milro, Tyler Shuck, you get back and forth on all those guys.

With Chidor, it has to do with the physical traits. Now, he's really accurate. He's really tough. People really like that about him. He's got as many wow throws on tape as anybody you're going to find. But he's not the biggest guy, does not have the biggest arm, and does not have the elite athletic traits, which when you play like he does and go through his highlight reel, this time he's getting the ball out on time, catch it, throw a goal ball. But there's a lot of times where he's creating, and he's out of the pocket, and he's got, there's a little bit of Caleb Williams to it. That doesn't play at the next level unless you're really, really athletic or really have a good arm.

And Chidor has, you know, solid in both categories, but it's not impressive. So, it's partly that. And then, frankly, it's the unknown of how is this guy going to function when he's outside of an environment where his dad is the only one who's been his coach? That's not fair, though.

Well, let's see. It's not fair to the extent that he can't help who his dad is. But think about this, Rich. But, I mean, that his success is because of his dad? I mean, obviously, you know, that he wouldn't have been, you know, I don't think he would have been Jackson State's quarterback if his dad wasn't there. And it's not because he couldn't make Jackson State. I don't know if that would have been his first choice.

You know, I understand that, but that's... He's never getting benched by his dad. You mess up in a game, you're not getting pulled.

Do you have the same levels of accountability when you go into a new building? And that's some of the stuff the teams wanted to talk through with him in the meeting. And they didn't get answers?

His interviews did not go great by and large. Again, it sounds like it went fine with the Steelers. That's certainly a possibility. The Giants have had a number of different touch points with them.

Totally possible they're comfortable with it. Totally possible there's some team we're not even talking about that's comfortable with Shadoor Sanders and maybe not draft him in the top ten, but maybe as we get to round two, they go, this is tremendous value. The guy was the Big 12 player of the year. He was the second team All-American.

He did, you know, they went to a program that was one and eleven, and they improved to four wins and to nine wins over those two seasons. I mean, there's a lot to be said for that. But if you have a guy coming in who is probably going to need to adjust his play style and might need time to do that, and then you're also trying to figure out what's the projection for how he's going to fit into the culture, what type of culture shock is he in for, that just leads to more unknowns. And that's why it's a complicated, it's a polarizing evaluation. Again, there are some people who are much higher on Shadoor the player than others. Everybody has the same unknowns, and I made the comparison in the story I wrote to a guy who was drafted here, Brian Brom. You remember back in 2007, you know, they were mock drafts. They had him going number one overall. He ends up going back to Louisville, decides to play another season there, doesn't play as well, slides all the way to the late second round. Brian Brom had been coached by his dad all the way up through high school. He was coached by his brother at Louisville. He had, you know, was in a position where the Packers, as it was explained to me at the time, they made a calculated bet that, hey, when he gets outside of that environment of only being coached by his family members, he's going to spread his wings and fly.

Said the guy crumbled. He was not even the best rookie quarterback in camp. Matt Flynn beat him out for the number two job, and Brian Brom was out of the league in three years.

Again, that's not to say that's what's going to happen to Shadoor, but when you're talking about a completely different culture and accountability structure to what you're going to have in the NFL, those are the things that teams at minimum have to talk through and figure out, okay, can we create the type of environment where this guy's going to have success? Tom Pelissero here on the Rich Eisen Show. Who are we not talking about? Who should we be having an eye on that we're not talking about, that others are talking about or you would like to talk about right now, Tom? I would say there are some players, and I did my surprise first-rounder story a week early this year, and now, of course, in the last five days, I've heard like five more names that I should have in there.

Nice. Shavon Ravel from East Carolina might be the best corner in this draft. He's coming off a torn ACL. He's in barely any mock drafts. Wouldn't be shocked if somebody just takes a shot on him in round one because he is that good of a player.

Everything, he's hitting every checkpoint, should be ready for the season. That's a name that we probably haven't talked about enough. Jaden Higgins, the wide receiver from Iowa State, is a guy who, you know, if there is, you know, I had Emeka Ibuka in my story as a potential surprise first-rounder just because none of the NFL.com mock drafts had him in there.

I think that his floor is probably around 25, but Jaden Higgins is another player who potentially in this wide open receiver class, I think is a guy that you could hear his name come up a little bit sooner than everybody's thinking. Okay. And let's just throw these at you. Some quick hitters.

I know you guys like the quick hitters. More running backs taken than quarterbacks in the top 20 Thursday night. Now, I can't give gambling advice. No, that's not. And we would never ask you. We would never ask for it. It's not gambling, honestly. You know me, man.

I play by the same rules as you do, sir. I don't know if we got the disclaimer handy. No, I got the email. I got the email, bro. That email, I mean, when there's a draft, okay, and there's a draft in a town where there are casinos, you're getting an email from the National Football League before you even get on a plane. So there were emails. So I saw them.

I read them. But this is something that can give a glimpse. So more running backs taken than quarterbacks in the top 20.

I would say yes right now because I think that Shidoor is probably a 50-50 proposition. Jackson Dart is around there as well. But I do think Omarion Hampton is just such a talented player and there's so many teams that need running backs between him and Gente. There's people who really like Trevion Henderson, too. They're going to jump the line and make him a first round.

All of a sudden could pop up here. As much as we talk about all this devaluing of the running back and whatnot here, we've seen teams take running backs high. And we haven't seen a whole lot of teams over the past 10 years here regret taking running backs high because there's only certain guys who get into that category. De'Jaun, Jamir Gibbs. I mean, take a look.

Take one. Have there been any busts that you would think of anybody that's taken running backs higher than you would normally select a running back? No, there's some teams that philosophically take Tampa, for example, which has been one of the best running backs.

I mean, Bucky Irving is dominant. They always take offensive linemen, defensive linemen early because they figure we'll just invent running backs in the second, third, fourth round. So there is some of that, but there's not a lot of Omarion Hamptons in this draft.

There's definitely not another Ashton Gente in this draft. So I would say more running backs just because I feel more confident that Omarion Hampton goes top 20 than either of those other quarterbacks. More tight ends before running backs get taken. I mean, there's a real chance, I think, that two tight ends could go in the top 10.

I don't know if that happens. Tyler Warren is... To the Jets and then Loveland to the Bears. Colston Loveland will be really interesting. There's a bunch of teams that love Loveland, and that could be another guy who somebody decided to trade up for him knowing that after that, there's a couple more. There's Arroyo from Miami.

There's Jason Taylor's son, Mason. Those guys are probably their top 50 picks. I don't know if either one's going to go in the first, so there's a pretty big gap here. If you're totally comfortable with Loveland, the medical and all that, I could see him getting pushed up as well. Quarterback most likely to be traded back into the first round four.

This is going to be one of the most interesting things. I will say Jalen Milro. Even though everybody keeps saying this is a long shot, and Alabama fans, every time I tweet about Jalen Milro, all these Alabama fans saying, what in the world are you talking about? Jalen Milro has one of the rarest skill sets that you're going to find.

I said this on TV the other day. I've had several people, not one, several NFL coaches and executives say that's the best running back we've ever evaluated at the college level. Better than Lamar. Best running quarterback. He would be a first or second round running back if he chose to play that position. That gives me the best running quarterback they've ever evaluated. Better than Lamar. Better than Mike Vick. And you can quibble with that.

You can go back to the numbers. But Jalen Milro is a special player, and look how big he is, too, running at that level. There's going to be obvious comps to guys like Jalen Hurts and Lamar, who they came in, they had to learn, and so you figured out could we use them in packages early on. They need to improve as passers. And to their credit, just like Josh Allen, they're physical athletes who had big arms but needed to get better.

I think that if you're ranking their arms, they're Allen's clearly above Jackson who's above Hurts, but Jalen Milro has an absolute hose. He just doesn't know where it's going a lot of the time. And so if you're sitting there going, okay, Tyler Shuck. We've seen Tyler Shuck play pro style offense. We know exactly what he can be. He's been in college for seven years. He backed up Justin Herbert for two years. He's been in college forever.

He hasn't played that many games because he's been hurt so many times, but we know exactly what he is. So his floor is here. The ceiling might be here for Tyler Shuck, and that's part of what teams are going through. Jalen Milro, the floor might be here, but the ceiling can be up here just because the physical traits are so unique.

You're going to have to have a really good plan for him. You're going to have to figure out can you, much like Lamar, who remember started out behind Joe Flacco. He ran the ball a lot early in his career, but then as you got, you know, Flacco got hurt. Lamar got his opportunity. They ran a certain style of offense. Eventually they made the transition from a very run-first offense to what they play now. Which still creates the run threat, but also leans on the fact that Lamar's become a very good passer.

He's won a couple of MVPs playing that way. If you redrafted in 2018, Lamar's not going 32. If you redrafted 2020, Jalen Hurts is not going 52 or whatever he went. Both those guys are going higher.

So if you're a GM right now and look at it, who is in last year's conference championship games? It's Mahomes, it's Josh Allen, it's Jalen Hurts, and it's Jayden Daniels. All four of those guys are ridiculous athletes, and in most cases had to get better. Patrick Mahomes sat his first year while honing all those different techniques. And I think Cam Ward is the much closer comp to Patrick Mahomes, but the point is these are guys who have rare physical skill sets. Jalen Millrow has a rare physical skill set. Do you have the guts, we'll use that word, to come up and just go, you know what, we can make this work. We're going to build this guy. We trust our coaches to get the most out of him. I think Millrow is one of the most fascinating players in this draft.

Wow. So then we'll finish with a what's more likely. What's more likely that the first round ends with Cam Ward and Millrow as the only quarterbacks taken, or four quarterbacks get taken in the first round? That's a tricky one.

That's why I asked the topic. I would say more likely four quarterbacks in the first round. I don't know that I would say that is in itself likely, but more likely just because you think about the teams that need a quarterback, either immediately or in the broader aggregate.

Cam Ward again, presumptive number one pick to the Titans. The Browns need a quarterback. The Giants need a quarterback. The Saints need a quarterback. The Steelers need a quarterback.

That's five. The Rams arguably need a quarterback. Teams like Vegas probably need a future quarterback plan. Even Seattle at some point needs a quarterback plan.

I don't see them trading back up into the first and doing it, but that's a lot of teams. And once you get past those five guys, I mentioned if you include Shuck in that group, there's a bunch of high profile guys who will go mid rounds. Will Howard from Ohio State.

All these guys who played in these huge programs won a ton of games. Kyle McCord will be in that mix. Quinn Ewers, Dylan Gabriel, Riley Leonard. All those guys will go like third to fifth round. But basically, if you were breaking down how this quarterback class goes, it's Cam Ward draw a line, those other four guys, Millrow, Shuck, Dart, and Chidoor, then you draw another line. If you think you need to go get one of those guys, there's not many quarterbacks who go in the second round. Why? Because teams want the fifth-year option. And because if you're going to take one, don't mess around. Don't wait until the next day. Even when Will Levis went in the second round a couple of years ago, that's because the Titans were trying to trade to the bottom of one and couldn't do it.

They couldn't find a trade partner. I would say more likely four quarterbacks go in the first round, which will lead to a lot of fun for you on tomorrow night. Brother, and you as well, thanks for coming.

And as a thank you for everything that you've done throughout this entire process, including guest hosting and being here, I'm going to give you an exclusive. We know who the Green Bay Packers' first-round selection is. Really? And it's not just because Brian Gudekunst was here. I saw it at the airport.

There it is. The first-round pick is hydration. This was right outside the gate when I arrived here in Green Bay. Matt Leflore is announcing normally that's a dicey offense for a coach to just let everyone know who their first-round pick is.

It's hydration. Green Bay has to lead the league in hilarious local ads. I remember Mike McCarthy, when he was the coach for years, when I was living here, he would have these ads for some phone company, and he's wearing, they can't use Packers' logo, so he's wearing a hat that says coach.

And it's Mike, who I love, but trying to act. And there were like a series of them. They were on for years.

Oh, fantastic. And I was always like, oh my gosh. And then Matt, you know, when COVID was happening in 2020, and he's like the spokesman for wear a mask in public.

And I'd come here and no one's wearing a mask. I'm like, this is your fault. But this is the number one place head coach local ads. There you go. And so run tell that on the insiders, that first-round pick is hydration.

First-round pick is hydration, always. We'll give you the picture. I mean, I took it, so it's more than happy to give it to you. Good to see you, sir. Tommy Pink.

Thanks, Rich. Look who's hanging out on our purple room couch. My buddy, Charles Davis, hanging out an insane amount of time over the next three days.

So why not right now? Charles Davis, when we come back right here on the Rich Eisen Show. This episode brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Do you ever find yourself playing the budgeting game, shifting a little money here, a little there, and hoping it all works out? Well, with the Name Your Price tool from Progressive, you can get a better budgeter and potentially lower your insurance bill, too. You tell Progressive what you want to pay for car insurance, and they'll help find you options within your budget. Try it today at Progressive.com. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and Affiliates. Price and coverage match limited by state law.

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Charles Davis, also of CBS Sports. Great to see you. Charles, how are you? Great to see you guys. Always great to see you guys.

Thanks for having me. I saw you first today on my Instagram feed because the Patriots sent out on a reel 15 years ago today. We were on the draft set and Radio City Gronk got drafted. And you remember that scene? And all the Gronks and the helmets were taken off of the thing and placed on heads. And we had an impromptu Oklahoma drill.

Yeah. And we had an impromptu Gronk family hug. Remember that?

Ho, ho, ho, ho, ho. Remember that? He walked out with the helmet. And then the best was to go back when they did that series on the Patriots. Oh, we found out a phone call got made from Belichick. A phone call was made. And do you remember also?

Obviously, you guys remember. Told him to knock it off. The phone calls made knock it off. But remember Coach Belichick's reaction that they got on while he's watching this? He was watching it unfold in Radio City.

And it was like, oh, God help us all. Why don't you get off the stage? But if there's anybody who knows about, you know, everybody makes fun of how Belichick called him up, told him to knock it off. But if there's anybody who knows how to handle a personality like that, it's Bill.

It's Coach. And the best part about it is the Gronkowskis are the smartest Foxes going. Because you study the family history, right? One brother, Ivy League.

One brother, academic All-American at Kansas State. Gronk loves to play the Gronk role. Who's going to the bank and cashing checks more than any of us? Gronk. Yeah.

So don't, you know, you can play the meathead and them in helmets and doing all that. The Gronkowskis have been laughing to the bank, getting over on everybody. Oh, you think we're not? Yeah, right. Oh, we are.

I've always given them credit. 15 years ago today, back on the Rich Eisen Show Radio Network, sitting at the Rich Eisen Show Desk, furnished by Grainger, with supplies and solutions for every industry. Grainger has the right product for you.

Call clickrainger.com or just stop by. Charles Davis is going to be part of the NFL Network draft coverage all three days, all 270-some-odd picks, alongside with me. And I absolutely adore you, Charles Davis. And I'm so psyched that we're doing this.

Right back at you. Is this year 16, 17 for you at the NFL Network draft now? I think 18. 18. I think 18, because 2007 was my first.

I was in the rafters in Radio City Music Hall. Was 07 Brady Quinn, Ted Ginn? I think that was 06.

06? Wasn't it that? Whatever it was, that was my first one. That was Roger Goodell's first draft.

That was my first one. And we keep talking about the Brady Quinn draft. I remember that for the fact that Roger was watching Brady Quinn drop in the draft. 07. 07.

So 07 was my first one, and he was watching him drop. And that was the first time the commissioner's office took charge and said, we're not going to let a kid sit there and watch. He put him in his green room where there's no cameras. Away from cameras, which was one of the great moves and one of the most compassionate, empathetic things a person could do. I still remember Leland McElroy.

Electric Leland. All sat there. No one drafted him by himself in the room. We saw that before.

It may be great theater for TV. It's not great for those people. No, but in the long run, though, because we've been talking about this quite a bit lately with Shadore Sanders. Where's he going to go? Where's he going to drop? And I keep saying, if he drops all the way down to the 20s, guess what? Ask Lamar Jackson how that felt being 32nd overall. Ask him how he feels with sitting on top of all those stacks and two MVP awards and had a chance for a third this year with a shot at the Super Bowl every single year for an organization that just keeps on adding and winning. How's he liking that right now?

Short-term pain. Yeah. Monster game.

Monster. And an organization that had a plan for him before they selected him. When you sit back and talk to that Ravens organization, you talk to Ozzie Newsome, you talk to Eric D'Acasio, you talk to John Harbaugh. They discussed that long ahead of time, and not just do we take Lamar if there's an opportunity.

What would we do if we did take him? They were designing already offense, style of play, what they were going to do. I give the Ravens a ton of credit. It wasn't just the idea, okay, let's go get a quarterback in the fifth year. Ozzie makes that.

That was Ozzie's last one, Ozzie Newsome. They had a full plan that if we do take him, we have a vision of what we want to do, and that vision's been pretty good. You know they benched Flacco the next year, and they had that plan ready.

The playoff game gets the Chargers. They were not running the Flacco offense with Lamar. They completely changed it midstream. That's what he had. When that happened, you remember the corker of an argument on our set? Oh, God, yeah. When I was wondering, well, does this mean the end of Flacco?

And Mayock called that low-hanging fruit. That was on Thursday night. Then two days later, we're outside on the set, outside of the Jones-Mahal, and Flacco refused to talk to the media at the Ravens draft event. That's when I looked at Mike.

I'm like, you tell me I'm way off. Then we had an argument to the point where people were going on Twitter at the time. Are they okay? Do you remember that? Yes, I remember it. Man, we had some moments. It was healthy debate.

I thought it was healthy. But it goes back to what we were talking about. That Ravens organization, John Harbaugh and his staff, had a plan that if we're going to take him and he's going to be our quarterback, we have a plan in place about how we're going to play. Because you're right, they did change midstream. They had to. You're not going to run the same offense for Joe Flacco that you're going to run for Lamar Jackson. They already were ahead of the game in planning for it. They didn't just go, Greg, because it's Greg Roman at the time. Greg, we're going to start Lamar.

You got to put in some new stuff. Already had it. They had it. They had it before they ever drafted him.

Now they just put it in place and put it into action. By the way, the guy who really brought them Lamar Jackson is a scout named DeJuan Jones, who now is player personnel. I can't remember what team DeJuan's with now. He was the first to jump on the table for the Ravens and say, guys, this is the guy, and start moving people in that direction. Charles Davis here on the Rich Eisen Show. You came up with one final mock draft. I did, and I guess it dropped today. Well, this is in advance of you and DJ hosting DJ's final mock draft tonight on NFL Network. And again, let me make sure I get this correct.

That's tonight on NFL Network. And so let's review your work. And we actually have a drop. We've been doing this for multiple mock drafts. Yeah, we mock it like a hurricane. Mock, yeah.

It's time to mock you like a hurricane. Ladies and gentlemen, that's it. That's our drop. Thank you.

Thank you. All right, let's put it up here, Charles. Cam Ward's number one overall, I am sure. And I know your previous mock drafts had Chador going number two. Yeah, I just slipped them in my first two mocks. I had Chador one to Tennessee in my first one.

I had Cam number one in my second one. And this time, it's going to be drastically different in terms of that. And I've already gotten a couple of calls from people who know way more than I do about this who have called me names that thank goodness my mother's not here to hear. Well, you know what?

And they have really, really questioned my intellect in a big way. And I get it. I absolutely get it. And it's mainly about the quarterback position. So this is amazing because I have not seen your mock draft until this very moment. I did my come at me mock draft, which every single year I do it on the Wednesday.

We have the same top six. I think Pete's taken Jalen Walker. I think he's definitely taken Jalen Walker.

Certainly if Ashley's off the board of Jacksonville, 1 million percent. Pete loves his edge rushers. He loves his pass rushers. He loves that NASCAR package. And it doesn't matter that you've already got Max Crosby and Christian.

You can't have enough. You can't. And so I think he does do that.

I think the Jets go and get Mambo. You think it's Tyler Warren. Yeah. I went there and it's more of a, I hate to use the term gut feeling. I had a mentor, Bob Barrett, the hammer, former FBI agent used to say, you can't do gut feelings. He said, if you investigate with a gut feeling, you're just going to make all the evidence fit your gut. You're not really doing it right.

So I don't use gut feeling. I'm just remembering last year, I thought the Jets might do tight, go tight end at 10. I thought Brock Bowers was right. And Brock Bowers was sitting there. Brock Bowers, we let the league let him go to 13. And now his first team All-Pro, he was really wide receiver one for them. I'm wondering if a team like the Jets goes, you know, we just got Justin, quarterback's best friend is a tight end.

Let's give it to him and let's go there. So let's just say we'll find out. And Mambu goes to the Saints, Mikel Williams to the Bears. And I remember in those first 10, Shadore Sanders is a possibility at two, Cleveland, three, the Giants, nine for sure with, with New Orleans. But to me, the wildcard is still, you're right about Pete, but the wildcard is still Las Vegas because quarterback Geno, quarterback and waiting Shadore. There's, there's possibilities of it. I'm not saying he's going there, but if you see the spots where he could possibly go, he could easily still go in the top 10.

I didn't put him there, but there's landing points for him. And we haven't even talked about people trading and moving yet. Yeah, I know.

I don't do trades in mind. They're so tough to figure that one out. I mean, DJ is the one who's just like, I think the Houston Texans are going to trade back up after they take. DJ should wear an eye shade, you know, and just, and have you, what are these things?

I remember when they used to have the things tied up on your arms. Yeah. He, and you know, DJ can wheel and deal and he can steal all that. When he nailed the Texans taking Stroud at two and then trading back up. Called it. Third overall. Called a shot. You know.

He Babe Ruth in the 32 series. And so let's check out the, some of the rest of your work, Charles Davis, moving onward. You like Shamar Stewart going to. One traits on that one, much more than production. You tech McMillan is a cowboy.

You like that? Yeah. I mean, you know, that's almost as essential casting if they can't get Ashton.

Okay. And will Johnson obviously is a, is a pick that I would see coming. Certainly if Jalen Ramsey is going out the door, you put will Johnson.

There's also, there's also possibly safety there. If you think about it for the dolphins member, Javon Holland is no longer there. Nick Eamonn. Wari would go to the, to the Colts.

Yeah. Louis Lou Anna Ruma would be ecstatic on that. Derek Harmon, a defensive tackle going to Atlanta.

Jihad Campbell lasting all the way to 16. You think Malachi starts. I, I, I, I wouldn't be surprised if the Bengals jump and take him, you know, Jesse Bates went to Atlanta a couple of years ago. And if, if you don't want to see him in purple, everybody's putting Malachi Starks to the Ravens. Makes sense.

Doesn't it? You might as well have him help Joe burrow by getting Joe burrow back on the field rather than picking off Joe burrow. Starks does play like a Raven. I mean, that's exactly the, he's the epitome of that, but I had him going to Cincinnati there and there's a lot of, there's a lot of talk about Cincinnati with their defensive front as well. Johnny Barron going to Seattle.

That, that, you know, that's. Now you can just take Devin Witherspoon, make him your full-time nickel. You know, you get Reek Wolin back on, back on task. You got Baron outside and off you go. Ezeraku for Boston, Boston College to Tampa and then Omarion Hampton to Denver.

Boy, I know Broncos fans would just lose their minds. Need. Fit. Done. Okay. So we haven't heard. Kind of how it works. We haven't heard Chador Sanders name.

Let's check out to see if you think he does land in, in Pittsburgh and you don't, you think they go Kenneth, Kenneth grant out of Michigan and then Colston Loveland gets reunited with Jim. Yeah. And this is right after that. This is why it gets really dicey because I don't do trades.

And I don't, I would not be surprised at all. If he doesn't go in the top 10 Chador, if any of those teams don't grab him there, the trade back into the first round is what I'm anticipating. And that's for him. And for the guy that I started this whole thing with, with a lot of constant calls, a little bit of consternation, Jackson Dart. So, yeah, I mean, we're, we're looking at the rest of this. I've got one quarterback.

Yeah. Matthew golden to Houston, Ibuka to the Rams. We could just run down the list here, but you don't have Chador as a first rounder. You don't have Jackson. Is that because you don't do trades? I don't do trades because I'm fit.

I'm anticipating them not going at the top where people are thinking would not surprise me at all for people to come back in. And I just did my annual pound the table article guys. I'll pound the table. Go for it. My first one off the list is Chador Sanders.

Okay. I would pound the table for Chador Sanders. I think that he gets all the benefits of being a Sanders and he's had that since he was born, which is great, but the vitriol and the, and the other side that comes at him, I don't think people can actually fully grasp. There are so many people that have this, this, this, this, this antipathy, this, this, this, this.

I'd love to see Dion fail. I, you know, he's heard that for 40 years. He's heard it for 40 years, but now here comes his son and his son is coming and he's getting some of that as well. There are a lot of people love to see him go in and not play well just because I don't like this. And I don't like that.

That's something that I don't know that people understand because it's one thing to get benefits. Oh wow, he's getting everything to have people kind of wall you off as well. That's a whole nother battle. And he's been fighting that one and he's comfortable with it. He's dealt with it.

That's why I pound the table for him because I just don't think a kid like that it's going to fail. Well, you know, people have said that Chador walled them off in some of the interviews because, because, because that might be the Dion approach of like, where, where are you drafting? Like you're interested in drafting me. I'm not interested in you. I don't know. And maybe all that is true.

Also know that when people do that, come at you like that your entire life, you are also going to make sure you put up your own guard rails as well. I, I look who am I, who am I to play for it? All I know is he's a very talented football player. He plays the game from the pocket. Maybe the best of any of these quarterbacks that are in this draft, our colleague, Bucky Brooks, I think does a fantastic job evaluating quarterbacks and multiple times in the last five to seven years, he's correctly forecast a quarterback that most of us had second. Bucky's had first most recent being CJ Stroud over Bryce young.

Yes. It's a short term, smaller sample, but so far CJ Stroud's winning that battle. Bucky Bucky's nailed it on that. I'm trying to think of, I can't remember another one, but there's another one he had where he picked the other quarterback ahead of the one that was consensus in this draft. His number one quarterback is Chador Sanders.

So I always tell people I'm listening to Bucky a lot of the time because he, he tends to get it right. He may not be in my first round because you believe me, I've heard about it already from different people. I don't do the trades. I'm anticipating the trade backs and I'm anticipating the teams at the top, a Cleveland, a New York, a New Orleans being factors in those trade backs, into the first round. And I wouldn't be surprised to see, you know, remember I said, dart at three and everybody's like, what is wrong with you?

Are you crazy? If dart goes to the giants, I don't care what number. I had that feeling early.

I just didn't stay with it. Well, not third overall. You got Abdul Carter, man. I mean like, I mean, you're sitting there, you don't turn down the better players.

You put him with Brian Burns, you put him with Kayvon Thibodeau, you put him on that team. It's not a bad choice, man. And then you could trade back in and get dart. Then suddenly you're leaving Thursday night feeling much better.

Now you're off and running. And it seems to fit because I think dart and Brian Dayball are really nice fit, but Kellen Moore is going to need a quarterback in New Orleans. Cleveland obviously needs a quarterback.

It'd be very interesting how it plays out. For sure. Well, we always keep track of our monitors on our draft set. It looks like Joel Klatt is going to win that battle in this year's draft. Yeah, he's got a really nice run game.

He's got that working. And he's got depth. And then I think, though, we're going to get a couple of Wolverines before we hear James Pierce's name called, right? Yeah, because most of us have had Pierce as a first rounder. I think as we've gotten closer, I've not seen him as much.

I didn't even put him in the first round on this one. Interesting. That'd be interesting to see what happens, but you're right. And don't forget with Joel, with Colorado, Rich? Yeah. He's got depth this year. This isn't just Travis and Chidor, all right?

Le'Jaunte Wester, right? The horn, Jimmy Horn. Jimmy Horn.

He's going to get drafted. He's got another thing. He's got a third receiver. I'm just talking first. But these are all before we hear a single person called from Appalachian State.

Well, DJ can jump in on a couple because I think he's got a couple of transfers. It doesn't matter. No, that doesn't matter.

It doesn't matter. Like, wait till we find out. We say incarnate word has had somebody drafted before anyone, obviously, because that's where Cam Ward started his career. Wait till we say Middlebury. The question is, so do we have a puppy showing up on the set, peeing on DJ before we even hear an Appalachian State player being named? I'm taking the puppy. I'm absolutely taking the puppy. But yeah, listen, when Middlebury goes, do any of us get to claim Middlebury when Thomas had tanked Perry?

Whatever you want to do. If Thomas had tanked Perry goes, we've got to find someone. There's going to be someone in the crowd that went to Middlebury. There are very few people who are masters of information that makes no sense that they have at the tip of their fingers that can rival, be in my area code. And you surpass me, sir. No, I do not surpass you. No, you do.

I just want to give the free example. You know more useless information than I've ever even forgotten. Now I could turn that useless into useful. Oh, you always do. That's your superpower. Then I've got something. That's your superpower, sir. One of your many.

Oh, bless you. Thanks for coming on. I'm very excited to do this again with you, man. I wouldn't want to do it without you.

Thanks for having me and thanks for you doing that with us and leading us and coaching us and guiding us and being our QB. I won't even cry. I'm not going to cry. I'm not going to cry, Rich. Not going to cry. I already saw the run, Rich, run feature. I'll cry then.

It gets me dusty every year, although I will tell you this. We do have Todd Gurley running the first 40 of his life because he never ran one at George. He was hurt going to the draft.

He ran the first 40 of his life. No way. I will tell you as a preview that people will be talking about it. I cannot wait. He ran at the Rose Bowl.

I cannot wait. He still looks like. He was great. He couldn't have been better.

And then, you know, it'll get dusty. Anyway, congratulations to you. Thank you. You guys are outstanding. You're the man.

That's Charles Davis right here on the Rich Eisen show. We'll be back to wrap up our first day with the latest in Atlanta on Kirk Cousins. Follow and listen on your favorite platform. How many teams have you connected with, do you think? Out of the 32?

32? Between the come bond and the virtual visits and some 30s as well. About every team. About every team. What's the one aspect of these interviews and connections that has a through line? What's the one thing you've been asked that every single team seems to be interested in with you, Malik? Where I see myself playing, you know, just because I am so versatile and I play so many positions at University of Georgia.

A lot of teams, they like that about me, but they also just want to know, you know, where I see myself at the next level as well. So where do you see yourself playing in the NFL? I think I play anywhere.

I think I fit anywhere. I think I'm a safety, but I'm able to move around. I can play, you know, I can play nickel. I can play corner if I need to. But I'm able to move around and I think that just speaks a lot to, you know, the tape that I put on at Georgia. All right.

Very good. I appreciate that answer where you're not pegging yourself into one spot, but also highlighting your versatility, which is a unique thing for you to be highlighting. Where do you like to play?

Anywhere. Honestly, at the end of the day, I just like playing ball. I think I fell in love with all the positions through my time at the University of Georgia, just having to move around and be able to communicate and be in different spots. And I think I just fell in love with, you know, all those positions.

So I love playing anywhere. Okay. What's the weirdest question you were asked throughout this entire process? Somebody asked me how I would describe the color purple to a blind person. Okay. Wow.

Okay. How would you describe the color purple to a blind person? That's how, and how, how did you respond to that? I didn't really know. It really threw me off. So I was like, you know, a lot of people that have, their other senses are heightened.

So like if you feel the color, I guess it's like a dark feeling color, very dark, like neutral heavy. It made sense in the moment, but I didn't really know the answer. I didn't know what to say. So it just kind of happened.

I don't understand it. Like, you know what? Here's, here's, you know, here's my film coach or whoever asked that question. You know what I mean? Like, I don't know how that would, what the right answer is and go, okay, now all my doubts about Malachi Starks and what I saw on film are gone. You know what I mean? Like, I don't get it, man. That's kind of weird.

What is a team going to get if they draft Malachi Starks? Ballplayer. I like to compete. At the end of the day, that's, you know, what I've done my whole life. That's what I'm used to.

That's what I know how to do. I compete at a high level, but also, you know, you get a leader too. I was voted a captain this last year and just, you know, how I handled myself on the field, but also the field as well. And just realizing as my years of becoming a leader, just bringing guys with me, coming from a program like the University of Georgia, I know what it takes to win. Yes, I haven't been in the league yet, but I understand it does something that it takes to win games and I understand the sacrifice as well. So I think you just, you get all that.

Love chatting with Malachi Starks and I guess he should know how to describe the color purple since a lot of people think he's going to be wearing it by the end of tomorrow night. We've met some really neat kids, man, throughout this process. Over the years that we've been coming to the draft, that's one of my favorite parts is meeting the prospects. I hate to call them kids because they're grown men, but meeting some of the prospects. They are kids compared to them. They are kids compared to you. That's what I mean, but I hate to do that to them. You know, meeting them and finding out their stories and where they want to go is a special moment for them.

I want them to enjoy it. Back here on the Rich Eisen Show, the friends of ours at Hyundai right now want to let you know that every Hyundai offers available class-exclusive advanced safety features that can alert you to potential dangers around you. So it makes it a perfect vehicle for somebody that might require such class-exclusive advanced safety features. And Hyundai has over 130 IIHS Top Safety Awards since 2006 because Hyundai is always working to ensure the road doesn't get you.

The IIHS Top Safety Awards include Top Safety Pick and Top Safety Pickin' Awards. Two Hyundai vehicles from 06 to 2025. Great show, everybody. And looming over all this, it does loom because I'll tell you, if somebody doesn't come out of this draft tomorrow night with a quarterback and they don't come out of this draft after Friday night with a quarterback. What are they doing? Well, calling Atlanta.

And that is really in the back pocket. Unless you follow along as well, Adam Schefter in hour number two was very coy about Derek Carr's shoulder injury and what it really means and how he's clearly done with the Saints and what does this shoulder injury mean? Is it season ending or is it just Saints ending?

Honestly, that's what you get. So there are going to be some options for teams that don't get a quarterback in this draft if they just need to do it. The question is what's going on with the Atlanta Falcons and how much is the money that Cousins is due, how much that plays into Atlanta's willingness to trade him and is it part of whatever trade would have to, is it part of the equation of the trade?

Here's Terry Fontenot, the general manager of the Falcons, on that exact question. In reference to Kirk, you know, with any player, like we've always said, hey, look, we're going to do what's best for this football team, whether that's a trade or whatever it is. And so we're open to whatever it is if it's going to help the team. Is it fair to say that the money is not a holdup in trading?

Yeah. We just have to look at whatever, say, if we get an offer on any player. We get an offer, we have to look at it and say, is this going to help our team?

Is this the betterment of our team? And then we'll do it with Kirk or anyone else. It comes down to that.

But the report that says a specific number, that's not accurate. We haven't said that. All right. This calls for an on-the-road version of what were they really thinking. Go ahead. Hit it. Hit it.

What do you got? What were they really thinking? Ladies and gentlemen, I will tell you what Terry Fontenot was really thinking.

Look, this is what he's thinking. Look, we are not trading Kirk Cousins right now. We don't have to. It's really to our benefit to hold on to Kirk. He actually showed up to the off-season workout program because he's a real pro.

We need him to sit there and be a real pro. And guess what? On top of all of that, we don't have to figure out anything until we find out who's desperate. That's the end of it. We need to find out who's desperate and who's desperate enough to cough up the draft choices, even if it's for a future draft, but cough up the cash.

Who's desperate? Which team will it be? And then we can talk about Kirk Cousins. That's what Terry Fontenot was saying. And that's why that looms over this entire draft, because that's an option.

The question is how expensive will it be? That wraps up our Wednesday show. NBA veteran Jim Jackson takes you on the court. You get a chance to dig into my 14-year career in the NBA, and also get the input from the people that will be joining. Charles Barkley. I'm excited to be on your podcast, man. It's an honor. Spike Lee, entrepreneur, filmmaker, Academy Award winner.

Nixon! No, you see? I got you. But also how sports brings life, passion, music, all of this together. The Jim Jackson Show, part of the Rich Eisen Podcast Network. Follow and listen on your favorite platform.