Emory Hunt, CBS Sports HQ NFL Draft Analyst

Emory, appreciate the time. How are you? I'm doing fine, Zach. Man, I appreciate you having me on.

Well, thanks so much. So everyone feels right now that Bryce Young is going to be the number one overall pick. The big question is, at number two, how much do you believe that the Texans are actually going to pass up on a quarterback, assuming Bryce Young goes number one overall? They can go out there with a Davis Mills-led offense if they want to in 2023 and watch what happened. They'll have a capacity crowd of six people in that stands watching these guys out there play. They better take the quarterback at two.

I'm not buying it. And would that be CJ Stroud for you? Yeah, I think if Bryce Young goes one, CJ Stroud to me has to go two. But I would rather Bryce Young go to Houston because, in my opinion, Bryce Young gives Houston a little bit of that, you know, that dynamic ability, that magic that they had with Deshaun Watson. I feel like it's a better fit for Bryce Young. And that's not a bad roster to be constructing out there in Houston. They've done a good job in free agency.

They got some pieces, so I feel like a steadier hand. That guy has played into big games, so that's why I'm not upset they can either be Stroud or Young. I just feel like either one of those guys would be a good fit for Houston specifically. Do you, though, believe that Young will go number one overall to the Panthers?

I don't know, man. It's tough because when you think about the guys in that room, you're talking about Frank Wright, you're talking about Josh McCown, Jim Caldwell. They've coached guys like CJ Stroud more than they've coached guys like Bryce Young. And I feel like, stylistically, they would probably want a CJ Stroud. But, again, I wouldn't argue if they wanted Bryce Young, but CJ Stroud to me would be a better fit in Carolina as opposed to Houston.

But I can see either argument because both guys are excellent quarterbacks. Emery Hunt here with us. Personally, I like Bryce Young better over CJ Stroud, but it is compelling to me that right when the Panthers moved up to one, before anyone could digest the trade, you had that report from Joe Person that it was going to be CJ Stroud. I know you go through your process, but you're giving up that much to move into the number one spot you would think you would know who you want. And I just wonder what really changed where now everyone's thinking Bryce Young is going to be the number one overall pick. That's the thing, because we had this whole situation last year where we thought it was going to be one player, and then next thing you know, Trayvon Walker goes number one, and everybody's like, yo, what the heck is this? And so I feel like that's a situation where we may not know, but that's why the NFL draft is the best version of reality TV that we have in this world.

Emery Hunt here with us from CBS Sports HQ. When we get to three, the Cardinals, we'll see if it's two quarterbacks, one, two, if it's just one, and then the Texans take a defensive player or trade the pick. I think that's like the one safe thing that we could assume right now is that the Cardinals are going to trade back probably in this NFL draft.

Would you agree with that? I wouldn't agree because if I'm the Cardinals, unless you move back one spot, but at the end of the day, if you know who you're going to take, maybe you could probably get a little bit more juice out of the Colts to trade one spot ahead like San Francisco did with Chicago when they took Trubisky. I understand it, but man, just sit Pat and just take Will Anderson and go on about your Mary Wade.

That's what I would do. I hope they don't try to game the draft and find out the coach usurp them. And next thing you know, the coach give that pick to somebody else and they take Will Anderson. So I just feel like, Hey man, we're at three.

We're good. Let's take the top path within the class and let's go play some good defense next season. The quarterbacks, that's what everyone wants to talk about. Who are your five best quarterbacks in order, Emory hunt for this draft? I have three, this quarterback class is just like my 2017 grade. You know, I feel like the three guys at the top have the same grade.

They're really good quarterback that year. I had Watson, my homes and the show Kaiser as my one, two, and three. This year I have Anthony Richardson, Bryson, CJ, Stroud as my one, two, three, all with the same grade at four.

I'll make a kid out of James Madison at Todd's and tail. I think he's a fantastic player. Um, played at temple, played at Colorado state, played at JMU. And at number five, I feel like when you think about someone like a, uh, you know, Sharon hall, he just a solid quarterback. He's a little bit older and I would have him to the hooker at six and both guys to me are because they are older and have some injury concerns. That's why I have those guys at five and six, but you know, for me, the top three, you can't go wrong with any one of those guys. And I feel like this is a lot like 2017 where my fifth quarterback in 2017 was PJ Walker. Now he had to go to the XFL, win the XFL MVP for people to realize he could play, but that's how high I was on that class. I feel like it's a really good class.

And it compares favorably in my opinion since 2017. Well, I'm a temple Alice. You mentioned PJ Walker and Todd's and tail, even though for some reason temple going to find a way to make Todd's and tail work at temple. I'm all ears for that, but something that I noticed there, no Will Levis. Why aren't you high on Will Levis? I feel like he's max.

He reached his ceiling already. So what you see is what you're going to get. And to me, that's someone that's on that Daniel Jones, Carson Wentz trajectory where, you know, it there's things that you like, but there's a lot of inconsistencies and you don't know if you can iron that out. So you can't really trust them over the full course of a 17 game season. And people say, go check his 2021 tape. Well, it looked just like this past season, you know, he just had Waddell Robinson catching cut passes and it looked, and he scored a lot more points, but I feel like his lower body mechanics leave a lot to be desired. His placement is a little bit off on a consistent basis, which explains the interception and he's a reckless runner. So he's not running to slide or get down.

He's trying to bowl over defenders and he ends up banking himself up in the process. So I just feel like he's more of a big two guys than a top 10 guy that everybody's trying to force him to beat. Like you said, Emery Hunt, you personally don't see a lot of separation with those three quarterbacks, Bryce Young, CJ Stroud, and then Anthony Richardson.

Richardson, he has 10 people. Five think he's going to be great. Five think he won't reach his potential. What makes you optimistic that Richardson's going to be the quarterback that some people think he could be? Because I feel like people are looking at just statistics and they're not looking at the game. When you watch the game, obviously you talk about the four four speed and ability to be a plus one in the run game.

That's a given. But when you watch him throw the football, you're like, man, this guy has a great pocket mobility, has a beautiful deep ball, arguably the best deep ball in the class, has the ability to hit every quadrant of the field with the passing game. And he showed last year at Florida where when they asked him to throw more like the Texas A&M game or like the Tennessee game or like the game against Georgia, like, man, they really can move the ball down the field. Just unfortunate they didn't have any receiving options outside of Ricky Pearsall, who was phenomenal and caught virtually every touchdown pass he threw and how well he was finding him in stride.

So I always point people back to 2021 LSU. He didn't start that game. He came in for Emory Jones, threw a horrible interception. I want to say on his first and second pass of the game was a pick six. But then after that, he caught fire, was leading this team down the field, getting touchdowns, had a big lead. LSU came back and then on the last drive, he's driving down the field and he got hit as he threw. He made the right read. It would have been a 50 something yard touchdown pass to win the game, but the ball ended up hanging up and it was an interception.

So it shows you not only was he making the right read and was going to be the right throw, but he was able to fight through adversity in that game, which gave me confidence in July to say, this is my number one quarterback and I'm glad to see it play out that way in my opinion this past season. Bijan Robinson, where do you think he ends up going in this draft next week? Oh man, there's like five spots I would love to see him go, but I feel like Dallas is going to make a way to get Bijan Robinson, not just for the football. That's just evident, but this is, you got to think, this is Jerry Jones.

This is about marketing too. You get the Texas Prospect to play in Big D. I think we'll see them try to move up to get Bijan Robinson. Philly could be in play. I know people talk about Philly at 10. People talk about Atlanta at 8, but I feel like Philly is trying to focus on the point of attack and maybe at pick 30, they'll get a Jameer Gibbs, but I feel like Dallas will make a point to grab Bijan Robinson somehow, some way in this place. Emory Hunt here with us right now from CBS Sports HQ.

It is the Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio. Where do you think Jalen Carter ends up going pick wise? If Emory Hunter was in charge, he wouldn't fall past Seattle because I'm like, listen, man, I don't care what you're telling me. Nothing you're telling me right now is better than this Oregon tape that I'm watching currently. So keep talking to me while I'm watching this Oregon tape when he's dominating these guys up front. And Seattle has all kinds of gaps on their defensive front. Carter would help them immediately day one.

I think he's a plug and play guy. And it's fascinating because the conspiracy theorist in me believes that when we were at the combine and we were interviewing Will Anderson and before we sat down, the D-line was getting up on the podium to speak and everyone looked down at their phone and that's when the news broke about Jalen Carter's issue down in Georgia. So obviously they pulled him off, he had to fly back down to Athens.

And in my head, I'm like, wait a minute, this kind of happened last year with the Nicole B Dean injury news and guess who ended up with Nicole B Dean. Why I feel like this was how we Roseman, you know, going back to the playbook and trying to get Jalen Carter. So it would surprise me to see him fall to 10, but I think five is his floor. I feel like he is still one of the best top three defensive players in the entire draft. And I would be hard pressed for a team like Seattle just to let him fall by the wayside. Who are some players that we really aren't talking about right now, Emory Hunt, that you think we should be talking about that you think are going to go on to have really good careers? Darius Rush out of South Carolina, you know, he's six to 200 pounds. He played opposite of Cam Smith and everyone talks about Cam Smith, but Darius Rush was the former wide receiver at South Carolina turned to the other side of the football and has the length, the press skills, the fluidity. He understands defense from an offensive perspective and has ball skills. So you start to see Richard Sherman type skill set and think, okay, this guy has the trajectory.

Then he jumped out the gym at the combine, ran fast. But when you go to the Senior Bowl, I've said this before, he had the best week of work as a cornerback that I'd ever seen. I've been going to the Senior Bowl for a decade and no one was out there doing what he did and did it at a higher level. Another guy is Deon Henley, the linebacker out of Washington State.

He reminds me so much of Fred Werner and how he plays the game. Again, former wide receiver turned linebacker, so he understands that position from an offensive perspective, has great ball skills, was able to lock up one-on-one versus the running back. And you go back and watch his game against Wisconsin, he was all over the run game.

So it shows you can play physical, you can play downhill, but has the coverage chops to make things happen. Will Jackson Smith and Jigba definitely be the first wide receiver off the board? You know, that's a great question because we've seen the last couple of years, it usually goes to a guy that's the most explosive or fastest. So I would probably say Zay Flowers will surprise some folks to be the first receiver drafted and Jackson Smith and Jigba would be number two because he's a versatile guy, can play inside or out. Same with Zay Flowers, but he gives you that bigger catch and run threat. He's almost like a bigger Michael Thomas. Michael Thomas is a big guy, primarily plays on the outside, but he's not really a catch and run guy. So you get the size of a Michael Thomas with the ability to run after the catch and that's Jackson Smith and Jigba. You know, coming from their program, he's a fantastic route runner.

So I think he can be someone that can be a plug-and-play guy right away. But I feel like this NFL, everybody wants explosives. Everybody sees what Miami's doing with Watto and Tyreek Hill. Zay Flowers is of that same caliber.

He's super explosive in all directions. How early could we see a receiver go? Because I think we've gone accustomed to seeing receivers go early and I just don't know how early a receiver is going to go this year. Listen, at two places, eight at Atlanta, because again, you could pair up with Jackson Smith and Jigba or Zay Flowers with Drake Muzzin and Kyle Pitts and now you can really foster that growth and know what you're getting at Desmond Ritter right away. Or pick 12 with Houston. You get your quarterback at two and you get him a receiving option right there at 12. So for me, when you look at their roster, their depth star for Houston, you lose Brandon Cook, you have an opportunity to replace another one of these game-breaking options, like I mentioned, just like either Zay Flowers or someone like Jackson Smith and Jigba. So I would say eight or 12 would be the ideal spots we'll see a receiver go. Emory Hunt, last thing I'll ask you before we let you run, five years from now, we're talking once again, who are the five best players from this draft class, the five players right now that you feel the most safe about?

Anthony Richardson, Brian Bracy, Will Anderson, Jalen Carter, and Christian Gonzalez. I think those five will look back and like, yeah, they nailed those picks right there. I feel like those five players to me, you know, their talent supersedes system.

So it doesn't matter where they go. And I also feel like these are the guys that have, they're entering with a little bit of a chip on their shoulder and will, you know, cause everyone has questions, but they feel like they have the most questions coming in about their game, but the football talent is just undeniable. And I think those guys will prove to be the best of the best. Let me just follow up with one last one Tyree Wilson. A lot of people have him going really early.

Some haven't been the first defensive player off the board. Tyree Wilson's ceiling is what for you? I compared them to Marcus Davenport when he was coming out of UTSA, when you feel like you're looking on paper and he checks all the athletic trait boxes, but when you watch the game, you see he's still raw from a football player standpoint. And so for me, if you're looking at, if he can play five technique, I think he could step in right away and be dominant. But if you're asking him to be a standup edge rusher or, or seven technique where he rushes on the outside, he doesn't have the nuance yet. And you're going to have to put him in a spot where he's going to get coast up and be able to grow into that role. But we know how the, you know, the pressure is of being the top five pick. You better step in right now and get double digit sacks, but I don't think that's his game just yet.

So his situation really could depend on how high he, his ceiling is or how low his floor is. Emery, we appreciate the time. Thanks so much. Great stuff. Appreciate the man. Thanks a lot.