NFL Draft Takeaways (Hour 4)

We continue this exact Yelp show coast to coast on CBS Sports Radio.

Let's recap the 2023 NFL Draft as we're back from Kansas City. And now joining me is a man that we actually met at Arizona this year for the Super Bowl. And he's absolutely tremendous and enjoyed the conversation. That, of course, is Eric Eager from Sumer Sports, and he's kind enough to join us right now.

Eric, appreciate the time. How you been? At least in the city. I don't know if you're a Giants or Jets fan, but obviously Rogers, and then, of course, the basketball and the hockey teams in the playoffs this year. Yeah, well, we have a big Rangers game tonight, so I'm a big Ranger fan. I actually root for the Patriots, so Rogers going to the Jets.

Not so much, but definitely exciting. And I just wonder, like, what's your expectations for the Jets this year? Because I call them a Super Bowl contender, but I don't think that they'll win the Super Bowl. Yeah, I think if you are a Jets fan, you look and say, well, when the Bucks acquired Brady, New Orleans was kind of in the position that the Bills were in, right?

Always close, but never going to get there. Bucks don't even win the division the first year Brady's there, but they sneak into the Super Bowl and win as a five-seed. Rogers' only career Super Bowl win actually came out of a six-seed in 2010.

So I think that's the expectation for me is, like, they get into the playoffs as a five or six-seed, and then we'll see what happens, but I know Jets fans would probably be disappointed if that's all that happens. Going to the top of the draft with Bryce Young, he was my favorite quarterback from this draft class. I know it took some time, I guess, for the Panthers to decide if they were going to go young or shroud. The only negative you really hear, Eric Eager, about Bryce Young is his size or lack of it. How much do you think that could maybe determine from having a successful NFL career?

Yeah, I think the guy that he kind of reminds me a little bit of is Jim McMahon. When he was in BYU, he had tremendous production. I think he won something like 25 straight starts as an NFL quarterback.

He won a Super Bowl with the Bears, of course, but he was always kind of injured, never started 16 games in a year. That, to me, is the question mark, but Bryce Young is a creative player. He was very good at avoiding sacks when pressured. He was very good under pressure as well, something that CJ Stroud didn't have going for him. It makes a lot of sense that they would move up for him. I think that in that NFC, he could win the division right away in the NFC South because he's got so much talent. They did a good job of building around him with Phelan and Charke and Hayden Hurst. The fact that they were able to do that despite losing DJ Moore was impressive. I like him and I think Frank Reich is a wonderful quarterback, whisper type guy, even though he doesn't have the prototypical size of a right quarterback.

I think he'll do well. When you look at what the Texans did, so they take CJ Stroud at two and then they find a way to trade up to get the third overall pick. I know that a lot of people are crushing the Texans for how much they gave up to get to that three spot and I get it next year, right? Their own pick that they gave away to the Cardinals could be a top five pick, maybe the number one overall pick in the draft. I just like that the Texans are just starting to finally take that step and bring in some productive players and now you have a coach that you actually think is going to be there for the foreseeable future.

The last time the draft had the number one and two pick go to the same team was 1992 with the Colts. I think that the AFC South is flat enough for them to be able to at least get out of that seller type of position. Because Willie Anderson is so productive, because CJ Stroud I think is going to be that Kirk Cousins-like quarterback, which I don't think can win you a Super Bowl, of course, but I think when you're only making $10 million a year can be productive. They've got Tunsil back, another cornerstone piece. Last year they drafted a corner that I think is fairly good and Derek Stingley. They're starting to build things, and as you said, D'Amico Ryan is a good coach, comes from a great program in San Francisco. I don't like giving up more than $137 million in assets to move up for a defensive end, but I see what they're thinking. When you look at Nick Casario, the general manager, he doesn't have much time left. Those future picks probably don't mean as much to him as they would a Howie Roseman or a Quasi Adapoment or a Brett Beets.

I understand what they're doing, even though the price was incredible to move up to three to get that twofer that they got in Stroud and Anderson. And the other way that I also look at this from the Cardinals standpoint, I gotta feel like Kyler Murray is on the hot seat. I know that's bizarre to say because they just gave him a big extension, and it's different compared to what they just did with their old coach and GM as well, but they're out of jobs. But I look at Kyler Murray and potentially having two top five, maybe the first and second pick in the draft next year, it seems like his seat is warm in Arizona. Yeah, it's tricky because the guaranteed salary in 2024 is $35.3 million, a cap number of $51 million next year. It's so sad that he got hurt because his two kind of cheap years last year was $12.7 million, this year $16 million. They come when Murray, A, was on a bad roster with a bad coach, and B, when he's injured.

So it's not a great situation for them, but you're right. If they get the top two picks in the draft, they either have to do what Chicago did and trade for a ransom, which I think the fan bases don't necessarily like that. Or they gotta take Kyler Williams, in which case you have to move on from Murray.

And moving on from Murray, they're not going to get as much as they think because of that price just being so steep. Eric Eager here with us. Were you surprised that the Colts ended up taking Anthony Richardson? Because everyone was linking Indianapolis to Will Levis.

I was, but I was pleasantly surprised. I mean, we look at Shane Steichen, he had Justin Herbert as a rookie, got him to Rookie of the Year. He had Jalen Hurts for two years, got them to the playoffs once, got them to the Super Bowl. I think with Richardson, if you look at that ceiling, it's an arm talent of Herbert and it's the athleticism and running ability of Hurts all in one player. If they can go in and do a good job with that offensive line, they have some players. Like the tight end position with Woods and Mowale Cox still there. But then you also have Pittman, you have Josh Downs now from this draft, Jonathan Taylor in the backfield.

That could be pretty good. And Darius Hunter is a good piece on the middle linebacker on the other side of the ball. They could be okay and if he ends up being kind of the ceiling of what we all think he can be, then that's a contender in the AFC for a long time. Especially with the Mahomes and the Burrows and the Hurts and all those guys coming up on their big money.

Indianapolis could have the league by storm if they have a guy like Richardson on a rookie contract. Talking to Eric Eager from Sumer Sports, it was crazy. A lot of people like we were talking about didn't think Will Levis was going to get past the Colts at 4. I'm not even that high on Will Levis as others are, but I would have never thought in a million years that he would have fell out of the first round and then go to Tennessee as well in that second round. What did you make of the Levis pick by Tennessee?

I thought it was good by the time they got there. I thought he could have gone to Minnesota at 23. They were clearly not sold on him. Second straight year, the Vikings, with Kirk Cousins eventually going to be gone there, passed on the top quarterback in the draft.

Sorry, one of the top quarterbacks in the draft. They tried to trade down the whole time, ended up going with Jordan Addison. After he passed the Vikings, there was one team in the New Orleans Saints at 29 that felt like they were in play, but after that it was like, wow. If no team moves up and takes them, and by the way, the 5th year option is becoming less valuable now that it's guaranteed fully, it was really sort of foreseeable.

But him getting past the Titans at 11 initially was a surprise to me. That was the one where I thought he could really go, especially since they didn't trade up. They could see that as a value, but I like him going to Tennessee here. I think you're going to see a situation with Tannehill like it was with Carson Wentz in 2016, where Sam Bradford was the guy until another team needed him, and then they could trade him for a first round pick.

If no team needs him, then he might just stay and be the starter all year, but I think you'll see Levis at some point in Tennessee this year in the stead of Tannehill. I don't like Eric Eger drafting running backs in the first round if your team has a lot of holes. It doesn't make sense for Atlanta to me to take Bijan Robinson with just how many other areas of need they have to fix up, but did you have a problem with the Falcons taking Bijan Robinson at 8? I did just because again, Levis could have been an option, corner Christian Gonzalez could have been an option, although he fell all the way to your Patriots.

I think that it's just really hard to get value out of that. Last year, they had a fifth round pick Tyler Algier rush for 1,000 yards. Cordell Patterson the year before was pretty good at that running back spot, and instead of chalking it up to a great team and a great offensive line, they said, no, we need a little bit more at that position, and I just don't think that the marginal value of that position is very high. So even though Robinson's great, I think if you're in fantasy football, you should take him very, very high.

I just don't know if you're getting that kind of value at 8 with him. Even Detroit, I don't know if you're necessarily getting any value with Jameer Gibbs at 12. Eric Eger, the Lions draft, I thought their first three picks were head scratchers to me and Jameer Gibbs, Jack Campbell, and then Sam Laporta. And then I liked what they did with Brian Branch and Hendon Hooker. How do you look back at the Lions draft? Yeah, I think that the Lions draft was really a rough draft in the sense that if you're trying to build for the long term, if you're trying to take good players at premium positions where they're expected to go, it's really hard to justify those picks. If you're looking at just winning this year and getting your first division title, your first ever NFC North title, but your first division title since 1993, it makes sense. They do have a hole at linebacker. They do probably want to get off of DeAndre Swift, but long term, I think we're going to be looking back at this thing and asking ourselves, like, wow, they really should have gotten off Jared Goff and they could have had Will Levitz or they could have traded up for Nancy Richardson or something like that and instead they went running back linebacker and now we're wondering why they don't have great players at premium positions or they had to overspend for Ahmaud Arseni Brown because they didn't draft Jackson Smith to the jig but twice. How about the Eagles draft? It seems like everyone's just throwing bouquets after bouquets at Howie Roseman.

I thought he hit it out of the park. How about yourself? Yeah, for sure. Two Georgia players in the first round and you continue to pick up value later on in the draft. Roseman does such a good job of kind of picking up the dollar bills when other teams leave them on the ground.

It's not flashy. They don't out-evaluate people. They don't out-maneuver people, but they just kind of do the expected thing all the time. They have two first round picks for the second straight year and that to me is also part of the whole thing. You trade Wentz when the point for him was passed.

You're able to use a pick on A.J. Brown last year and then this year they get two of the best players on the best defense in college football of all time. It just makes a lot of sense and there are players that they don't need to contribute this year because they're such a good roster but players that will look back and say, wow, it's pretty cool to get them where they got them.

One of my favorite moments from the draft was picked 20 to 23 when we saw wide receivers go back to back to back to back. Jackson Smith and Jigba to the Seahawks, Quentin Johnston to the Chargers, Dave Flowers to the Ravens and then Jordan Addison to the Vikings. Out of those four, Eric Eger, who do you think is going to have the best career? I think Smith to Jigba just because he's going to come in and not be able to do too much right away with Lockett and Metcalf there. Gino Smith can distribute the football pretty well as we saw last season so he'll get some opportunities early and then when eventually the moonlight on Lockett's career, we start to see that. He'll be able to slide in there and be a starter but expectations won't be too high soon. I think the Vikings are going to want Jordan Addison to start right away which is always questionable. Quentin Johnston, I don't know if he fits with the Chargers doing because I think they need more of a deep threat but he's certainly a good prospect. I don't hate any of those four picks. Dave Flowers with the Ravens, I thought that was great as well. Hopefully they can, for the first time, now that Roman's gone and Monc is there, they can take advantage of some of their good wide receivers.

So all four of them are okay. I think the best one is Smith to Jigba to the Seahawks who had a great draft. And earlier they were able to get fifth overall, Devin Witherspoon. I know they have Kenneth Walker who I loved last year.

They also drafted Zach Charbonnet, the running back out of UCLA in the second round. When we look at the NFC, Eric, and I think this is probably a very difficult question. It's like, okay, you got the Eagles and the 49ers. They're the two best teams. No one would dispute that. Do you think the Seahawks are the third best team in the NFC or would you go someone else right now on paper?

Oh, that's a good question. Even though I didn't like their draft, I think Detroit's kind of in that mix. I think Dallas is in that mix as well.

Two straight 12-win seasons. I think the Dallas Cowboys are underrated both at Coach and at GM with Jerry and his family there. But yeah, the Seahawks are right there, top five. Maybe throw Minnesota in there a little bit too. Yeah, it's crazy town in the NFC. Value-wise, when you look at guys that didn't go in the first round, who are some guys that you thought were just tremendous picks by some teams?

Yeah, Levis is probably one, of course, falling there. Michael Mayer as well I thought was the player that should have gone in round one. But good value in round two. Charbonnet, to your point, I think will be really good for the Seahawks just because their number one running back will eventually get injured as they always do. And he'll slide right in there and do well. I think Joey Porter Jr. going in the top of the second round to his dad's team of Steelers are very good as well. Those guys that slide out of round one that are right there are good and I think Porter is going to be a good player for the Steelers. Dalton Kincaid was my favorite tight end in this draft class. Him landing in Buffalo, I know some people go it doesn't really make sense, but I like that pick.

How about yourself? Yeah, hopefully he made some money off it too because I think he was favored to be the first tight end take and then he became a big underdog at the end there. Buffalo makes a lot of sense. I think they weren't enamored with Dawson Knox anymore, which is rightfully so since he struggled last year. So they bring him into the mix. He's going to get targets because after Stephon Diggs, that wide receiver position has been disappointing for them for a couple years running now.

So he'll get some options there and everybody's trying to emulate what the Chiefs do with Travis Kelce and Kincaid has that kind of skill set. Last thing I'll ask you, I thought Stetson Bennett was going to get drafted, Eric Eger from Sumer Sports. I would have never thought he would have got drafted in the fourth round. What do you think the ceiling is for Stetson Bennett in the NFL? He just reached it. Being drafted in the fourth round is the best it's ever going to get for Stetson Bennett, I think.

Yeah, I did not get that one. Congratulations Stetson, wow! The Rams' average age of their draft class is something like 24 and a half, 25 years old, which I don't know what they're doing over there. There's not a ton of talent on offense, so if he ever had to play, I think it's going to be ugly, but good for him. He clearly was a very good college quarterback and obviously won two titles, so I just don't see it for him. But I think teams are all looking for that next Brock Purdy, unfortunately, which is why we saw guys like the Penn State quarterback. Sean Clifford, yeah.

Sean Clifford gets taken too, which was a surprise to me. He's Eric Eger from Sumer Sports. Eric, we appreciate the time as always. Thank you. Hey, thanks for having me on.

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They're super natural. Find your perfect pair at allbirds.com today. That's A-L-L-B-I-R-D-S dot com. You're listening to The Zach Gelb Show. Another day is in the books and we're taking stock of the sports world. It's time to find out who's up and who's down. Let's end the day right and hit the closing bell.

Only on The Zach Gelb Show. There are 26.1 seconds left in the first game of the second round between the Sixers and the Celtics. No Joel Embiid tonight and the Sixers are up by one. I believe Boston's going to the charity stripe though right now and we'll see if they can knock down their free throws. Jason Tatum hits, so that now gives him 38 points in the game and we'll see if he can make one more and that will put the Celtics up by one with 26.1 seconds to go. By the way, James Harden in this game has 42 points so give a lot of credit to him.

We'll keep you updated on this one. Let's go out to Colorado defending Stanley Cup champions. The Avalanche going up against Seattle, their second year in the league. And Oliver Bjorkstrand had his second goal of the game. He also hit the iron three times in this game so he could have had five goals. But he did putt the Kraken up 2-0 and then we'll also hear the final seconds as the Kraken advance to the second round.

Here's Everett Fitzhugh on the Kraken Radio Network. Foot race for the puck, here comes Bjorkstrand up the left side, walks in, scores! OB, oh my, Oliver Bjorkstrand from the left circle.

He rings the doorbell and in, six seconds to go. All the way back to the near side, McKinnon hit off the puck, thrown out in front, there's the horn! A team that defied the haters, they rolled their eyes at the naysayers and now they have defeated the defending Stanley Cup champions.

How about that, give a stock up to the Seattle Kraken. Carter Verhage, last night wins it in overtime, sends the Bruins to the golf course who had the most wins in the regular season, the most points in the regular season, they won the President's Trophy, the most wins and points by any NHL team in NHL history. Let's hear the game winning goal courtesy of the Panthers Radio Network.

Along the near boards Bennett finds it to the circle, Verhage shot top jump, he scores! Carter Verhage top shelf and the Panthers win it in overtime! The Panthers stun the Bruins in Boston and the Panthers are moving on to round 2! Carter Verhage, the Panthers have won it in overtime! 4-3 the final, the Panthers take game 7 and they're moving on!

Give a stock up to Carter Verhage. The Toronto Maple Leafs have not won a playoff series since 2004. That changed over the weekend when John Tavares scored the game winner in overtime to win 2-1 up against the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Let's listen up to the Maple Leafs Radio Network. Tavares coming out, sends it in, they score! They score! Holy Mackinac they score! Morgan Rielly! Mo Mo Mo Rielly! The Leafs have won it! They're going to the second round!

Do you believe this? Holy Mackinac! So I'm actually going to give this a stock down. First off, give a stock up to the Maple Leafs for advancing. But I'm giving it a stock down and I'm not crushing the broadcaster hickey for getting the name of the player who scored it wrong.

You know he's on remote? The Maple Leafs didn't even send their broadcast crew and they got publicly shamed to now send them for the second round series whenever it does go to Florida for games 3 and 4. But what are the Maple Leafs doing? Give them a stock down for not sending their broadcaster on the road. Bryce Harper expected to return tomorrow.

What does this take? Like 160 days? That he had the Tommy John surgery?

I think exactly 162 I believe which is the record for fastest return from that surgery. That's crazy. Give a stock up to Bryce Harper. Also one of my favorite moments from the draft. So the Dallas Cowboys drafted Deuce Vaughn. His father is in the scouting department. So he got to make the phone call and tell his son you're going to get to come to work with Dad.

That is just awesome. So congratulations to Deuce Vaughn. Drafted in the 6th round. Give him a stock up.

Okay. Steph Curry. First player in NBA history in a game 7 to score 50 points. Dubs win game 7. Only 11 road victories in the regular season. They won games 5 and game 7 on the road in Sacramento.

Just simply unbelievable. Give a stock up to Steph Curry and the Golden State Warriors. Let's hear Draymond Green. Draymond Green is upset that Sabonis didn't shake his hand after the series.

This is the volume. Get to it in just a second. Sorry about that.

Here we go. I lost a lot of respect for Sabonis. You don't shake God's hands after you lose.

I don't respect that. I once left the court when we lost in game 7 of the Cleveland Cavaliers. And I went to my locker room and I sat down and I said this don't feel right. And I walked back out on the court and I showed everybody love.

You lost. Deal with it. Pay your respect. I literally stomped on his chest. And now you want him to shake your hand.

I'm sorry I have no problem with that. Stock down to Draymond Green. So right before the Panthers tied it up in regulation, the TNT operator put up the goal graphic like 30 seconds before they scored. That's a bad job putting up that goal graphic because then all of a sudden people think hockey is rigged. Give a stock down to the TNT goal operator last night. Did you see the b-roll and the still images that ESPN and ABC used yesterday during the Knicks game? They put up the Twin Towers. It's like how do you not have updated footage of the Freedom Tower? It's just a horrible job by ESPN and ABC.

Give them a stock down. DeAndre Hopkins saying he never wanted to leave the Cardinals is absolutely nonsense. Where did all this trade speculation come from? You literally gave your facial expressions to Brian McFadden on teams that you wanted to play for. Stock down to DeAndre Hopkins.

And finally, the one knock on Bryce Young who Hickey and I both like is that he's small. What are the Panthers doing? Putting the biggest podium possible in front of him as they introduce him to the media.

It looked like it was a four-year-old behind that podium. Stock down to the Carolina Panthers. And that's the Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio. James Harden, he was going to go to a strip club either way after this game. He's really going to a strip club tonight.

He's throwing a party. Hit a big three after the Celtics took the lead and the 76ers now have won the game a buck 19 to 115. James Harden is usually synonymous with playoff failures. 45 points tonight without Joel Embiid in the lineup out with an injury. Impressive, impressive job by the 12345 Sixers, 1098 76ers. Good show today. Big thanks to all of our guests for stopping by. Vinny Viola, the owner of the Panthers, Frank Isola, Calvin Booth, the GM of the Nuggets and Eric Eger. Big thank you to hot day Hickey as well, even though I still can't stand your tweet. We'll talk to you tomorrow at 6 p.m. Eastern, 3 Pacific. We out.

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