Hello, friends, and welcome to the first ever
Good News York, New York Sports Minute. I don't
know if this is going to be a regular segment.
Let's just see how it goes. Those of you that
know me know I love comedy and music, but I also
love sports, particularly NFL football and my
beloved Buffalo Bills. Now every year I've raved
about this on the show. I... love March and April,
mostly for the weather, but mostly, mostly for
the sports that are on. March Madness, you've
got the opening day of baseball, you've got the
Masters, and of course the NFL Draft. Now, I'm
not the only one who is a draft dork. There are
a ton of NFL draft dorks, and a lot of us that
claim to know what we're talking about, and I
partake every year, and I post on social media
my mock drafts, which you can see I have my...
First round mock draft of all 32 teams, 1 .0.
It's my first one. And I like to do it every
year. And you know what? I'm usually dead wrong.
I'll get a few picks here and there. One of these
years, I'm going to just like really nail it.
Maybe it's this year. So I wanted to talk a little
bit about the draft and talk about it with you.
So let's start. Okay. Now, if you notice up on
the board here, I want to talk about the first
few picks first. Now, look, I feel like every
year during the NFL draft, the first five picks,
it's tough to know, right? I mean, we can't tell
the future. But in this case, it's nearly impossible
because there are so many opportunities for teams
to trade up and trade out. Particularly, I'm
looking at number four, the New England Patriots.
This is a team that is in rebuild mode. Obviously,
they do need a left tackle, and a left tackle
is an anchor position, right? QB, left tackle,
defensive end. Those are three of the primary
positions, and they need them all. So I feel
like, depending on how the first three picks
go, they have a really good chance to slide down
a couple spots, get some more picks, and really
build around their quarterback who I'm blanking
out on. Oh, Drake May. There it is. With that
being said, there is one offensive tackle in
this draft that is NFL Pro Ready, and that is
offensive tackle Will Campbell from LSU. Now,
I say that, but I have them drafting Abdul Carter.
So let's go into the first few picks real quick.
I have Cam Ward going to the Tennessee Titans.
It's a little weird for me because Cam Ward is
not, when you do the big board, He's like the
14th ranked athlete in the entire draft. So why
would he go number one overall, especially over
Abdul Carter or Travis Hunter, who are obviously
the best players in the draft? Well, that's because
sometimes positions override the rankings. And
what I mean by that is the most important position
in football is quarterback. The most position,
honestly, one of the most important positions
in all of sports is quarterback. And right now,
the only quarterback that is separating themselves
a tier above the rest of them are Cam Ward. I
think it's pretty obvious that's the route they're
gonna go. It's been reported pretty heavily that
that's the route they're gonna take. So I went
chalk on that one. This is where it gets a little
tricky. When I got to Cleveland, I mean, let's
think about this. Cleveland has the ability to
draft Abdul Carter. Just imagine going into a
game and having to face Abdul Carter on the right.
And Miles Garrett on the left, or maybe it's
the other way around. Who knows? Two of the best
defensive ends potentially in the NFL. That is
a scary game to have to game plan for. Then you
think about, okay, let's say that happens. Let's
say the New York Giants take Travis Hunter, who
I have them taking at number three. Well, can
you imagine Malik neighbors and Travis Hunter
lining up? That's a hell of a thing to game plan
for. So those are two scenarios that I think
would be absolutely insane to think about Travis
Hunter, Malik neighbors together, Abdul Carter,
Garrett Wilson together. But I still don't think
that's how it shakes out. I went with Cam Ward
at one. At number two, I went with Shador Sanders.
Now, again, is he the second best player in the
draft? Is he the second best quarterback? Arguably,
yeah, but I don't know. I did have Cleveland
taking them. Why? Because look. There's a few
reasons, and they're good reasons. I think they
should take Abdul Carter, but if they go with
Shador Sanders, there's a couple things that
does. They are in a monster of a mess with their
draft picks and their draft capital because of
the horrendous goddamn deal that they did to
get Deshaun Watson. So they don't really have
the ability to trade for some of the guys that
are still out there like Kirk Cousins, right?
So why not grab someone on a rookie contract?
And at number two, Who else is there that's worth
picking at number two than Shador Sanders? And
I think given his track record and how he's turned
different organizations around in college and
high school and now the NFL, I think that they're
going to have to go with that. Now, with that
being said, I also chose it because in a recent
interview, and I'm reading kind of reading between
the tea leaves here, Miles Garrett was asked,
you know, why did he make a stink about wanting
to be traded away from Cleveland? and then all
of a sudden came back. And so a lot of people
speculated that it was because he knows who the
quarterback's gonna be, and now he's thinking,
okay, maybe I can win here. Well, when he was
being interviewed about that, not only did he
say he knew who the quarterback was, but he started
rambling about developing a young talent, which
led me to believe they might draft Shador Sanders
or another quarterback. Now, I also think there
is the potential, and this would be buck wild,
but I also think there is the potential that
The Tennessee Titans at one and the Cleveland
Browns at number two. They could go with a Travis
Hunter and then an Abdul Carter and both depending
on their draft capital could trade back into
the first and then go get their guys. Imagine
if the Titans drafted Travis Hunter at one traded
back in later to get Shador Sanders his college
quarterback or the Cleveland Browns doing the
same exact thing, going Abdul Carter, then coming
back to get Shador Sanders or Kam Ward, depending
on who's available. So we've got Kam Ward at
one, we've got Shador Sanders at two, Travis
Hunter at three, and Abdul Carter at four. But
I'm going to stop there because that really is
the flow of the whole draft. It's kind of pointless
to keep going and explain all my picks. Obviously
you can see them and I will post it in the comments
and I'm sure we'll throw it up on the screen
here. So you can see all my picks, but I think
the, like all drafts, those first four picks
are going to dictate how the rest of the draft
falls. Ain't nobody got time for that right now.
With that being said, I did want to move on to
a couple of teams that I think I'm most interested
in, in trading up or trading back. One being
New England, which I talked about. They have
not only the need for multiple positions, including
offensive tackle, but they need to build a lot
more than just offensive tackle. They need a
little bit of everything. Now, they've beefed
up on the defense a little bit in free agency,
but I think if they slid... I'm not talking anything
crazy. I'm talking if they slide down to, let's
say, I don't know, seven at the New York Jets,
right? But it also depends on how bad they want.
Will Campbell, and if they think the other guys
around them are going to take him. Now, I want
to talk about a few under -the -radar players
that maybe the mainstream media hasn't really
talked about. And these are guys that I genuinely
watched tape or film, as they call it, on for
my own reasons, one being I'm a huge drafter.
At Wide Receiver, there are a couple guys I absolutely
love. One of them... being Kyle Williams, the
other being Elijah Badger, and then my absolute
favorite, wide receiver Colby Hudson from UCF.
This guy reminds me of Diggs when he gets off
the line. I have heard nobody talk about him.
I've heard a little grumbling about Kyle Williams,
a little bit about Elijah Badger, but nothing
on Colby Hudson. Check him out if your team is
in the need for a wide receiver. At QB, I am
mind -boggled when I watch the tape of Jalen
Milrow. Why? because he actually blows me away
more than Kam Ward and more than Shador Sanders.
I don't know if he's better than them, but the
tape certainly makes him look like he's not only
the best quarterback in the draft, but certainly
a top 10. Now, when I looked up why, it seems
there was a lot of inconsistencies with him at
Alabama. So I guess there was enough inconsistency
to where they think he could fall to late first
round, maybe even second, third round. I think
two teams that particularly are going to have
their eyes on him are the Pittsburgh Steelers,
and even more, I think the New York Giants, especially
if the Giants go with Travis Hunter, which I
think they will, I think they will have enough
to trade back in, or even on their second pick
or later on, be able to grab Jalen Milrow. And
we know that Brian Dable, the head coach, is
a big Alabama guy. So that's something to watch.
But under the radar for QB, other than Jalen
Milrow, Tyler Shuck. From Louisville, I don't
know if he's considered under the radar at this
point. He's been talked about. He's the oldest
QB in the draft. But he shows a ton of signs
that he could transition into the NFL and be
a competent backup or maybe a starter. But there
is a guy named Will Howard from Ohio State. And
after watching his pro day and some of the film
of his games, I think this is a quarterback.
that is comfortable in the pocket, can deliver
the throw in the windows they need to be thrown,
and he played in a program that is one of the
more NFL style programs. So, if your team's in
need of a quarterback, Jalen Milrow, Tyler Schuck,
Will Howard, obviously I love Jackson Dart, and
a few other guys, but those are three to keep
your eye on. A defensive tackle, there's a guy
named Alfred Collins, man, the dude's like a
condor, his arms are as long as this damn table.
He's not your one technique stuff up the middle,
he's more of your three technique, right? That's
gonna do more for pass rushing, but he's just
an absolute beast and I just loved watching him,
so check him out as well at safety. Now it might
be crazy that I'm saying Eamon Worry is under
the radar because he's talked about as one of
the top, if not the top safety, but this dude
is ripped. He is big, he is fast, he looks like
he could be a generational talent. And they comp
him to the safety from the Chargers, who I'm
blanking out on right now. But I'll think of
it in a second. But absolutely a guy that teams
need to keep an eye on. Even if you're looking,
your strongest need is Corner. He is a safety
that could not only help in the secondary with
Corner, but also... playing nickel. There's a
lot of things that he can do that I am just a
big, big fan of that kid. Real quick, before
we go on this New York Sports Minute, obviously,
as you know, I'm a huge Bills fan. And there
is a specific need at a couple positions for
the Bills. Defensive end, defensive tackle, corner,
wide receiver are the most glaring. There's not
a lot of holes on this roster. Brandon Bean,
McDermott have done an insane job of drafting
really well over the years. They've had some
misses like most GMs do, unless you're Holly
Roseman from the Eagles, but that's a different
story. So really, this is a draft where they
really can draft for need and because there's
not much of it. And corner one would be the number
one defensive tackle and corner would be probably
the two most sought after positions for the bills.
Now, I think there's a lot more depth at corner
than there is at defensive tackle. And I say
that, and you're probably thinking, what are
you talking about? Everyone's talking about how
this is a defensive line heavy draft. It certainly
is. But the drop off from when you get to Mason
Graham and other defensive tackles like Walter
Nolan. These guys, Kenneth Grant, these guys
are on a top tier and then it just slowly starts
to drop off. So you really got to strike early
with them. So I'm thinking if the Bills are going
to strike early and they're going to go defensive
tackle, I like any of them. Particularly they
need a one technique. Now what a one technique
is, is more of a traditional nose guard, plays
off the shoulder of the center or the guard.
And that's what they need. The Bills need a run
stuffer. So a guy like Alfred Collins, as much
as I love him, or Landon Jackson, right? Well,
he's defensive end. But any of the D -line guys
that I love that are pass rushers, that's fine.
But, you know, the Bills have Ed Oliver and they
have Greg Russo. And I think getting a run stuffer
is not only what they need, but they also, it's
going to open up... chances for guys like Rousseau
and for guys like Ed Oliver to have a better
pass rush. I want to see Ed Oliver return to
his 2023 form, and I think he does that by sticking
a big old fat guy right in the middle. So, ideally,
I would love if a guy like, you know, Kenneth
Grant could fall to them, or a Walter Nolan.
I just don't know if that's gonna happen. Now,
Ed Corner, my favorite guy. There's a lot of
guys I like. Amos, I like the kid from Notre
Dame. The kid from East Carolina. The list goes
on. But for me, Max Hairston is a beast. Now
they say he's more of a slot corner and the Bills
need more of a boundary corner, but for me, we
need a guy that's physical and Max Hairston is
a physical corner that I love. And lastly, my
favorite defensive end is Mike Green. This dude
is a beast. Now I have him in my draft going
to at number 10 to the Chicago Bears, actually.
But anywhere he goes, this guy is a menace and
I want him on the Buffalo Bills. Obviously, again,
I would take anybody, but for me, Mike Green,
Landon Jackson, and James Pierce. would be my
three choices if I could say those are the three
guys. One of those guys are who I want. And I
think that's pretty much it. Watch for New England
trading out. Watch for New Orleans trading up.
And watch for me being completely wrong. Who
knows? All I know is I love the NFL Draft and
I love the Buffalo Bills and I'll be watching.
Maybe we'll do a draft special. Maybe I'll do
this again. I don't know. But Matt was busy today
and I thought I would share my NFL wisdom with
you. Anyway, Mike Brindisi for Good News York
on your New York Sports Minute. Go Bills.