Football Function
Prospect Discussion: Offensive Tackles
what's going on everybody guys and girls welcome back to another edition of the football podcast available on all your podcasts platforms including on Patreon if you prefer an ad-free listening experience as always I am one of the hosts of the show Michael Ritter you can find me on X and Michael Fiverritter on Instagram at Michael Ritter 5 and obviously the host of the SmackDown review over on the WWE podcast joining me on this episode to dive fully into our draft talk our prospect discussion series that we're gonna be talking about here for the next few weeks on the football function podcast is going position by position rolling through and getting more familiar with all of these draft prospects that we are going to be seeing get their name called once the draft gets here in late April so obviously in order to do that we had to dip into the college football realm of the football function network and that is obviously the host of the college football function CM stands for cousin Mike obviously has a lot of other nicknamed CM Funk the Tuesday morning titillator there's a lot of ways you can get a hold of this guy but CM thank you so much for joining obviously I know you've done some extensive work on this draft class over the last few months there's a reason what the football function or the college football function has been a little you know few and far between it's because you've been in the lab preparing yourself for this specific series so obviously I know the listeners are looking forward to it but I'm looking forward to it as well yes sir yes sir it's good to be back of course but yeah like you said this is definitely something that you know just definitely getting my hands dirty on you know like we talked about just before we hit the record button you know some positions are better than others but you know that's the good thing about the draft every single year is you know you really get to learn a lot of these players of course you know with you being an Oklahoma fan me being the Texas Tech fan of course we're gonna see more big 12 players than most you know and you got powerful there the big 10 he knows more about Penn State players Ohio State players than the most because he can turn on his TV at any given you know Saturday afternoon and more than likely there's going to be a big 10 game on where he's living so but yeah like I said just been getting into this like I said like you said for a while now but I am super excited that we can find a collab and you know bounce ideas off each other and talk about these prospects that are you know some of course are gonna hear their name very very early and some of course not and trying to find those diamonds in the rough is also which you really want to shoot for and hopefully you know get these guys that you know aren't really have the spotlight on them but might fit your team and you know the kind of scheme and coaching and so on and so forth that you're looking forward you know of course you being a Falcons fan there might be guys out there that stand out a little bit better than most yeah obviously the the trenches are where it all starts you know there's there's a reason why we're starting this series with the offensive tackles just getting that when getting the big uglies out of the way and focusing on that area and then obviously we're gonna be bouncing around from one side of the ball to the other side of the ball just getting through all these positions and obviously I'm looking forward to doing just that but before we get into more football talk obviously or I guess I should say draft talk there is something football related that happened in the NFL but said you know besides all the free agency signings that have been going on since free agency has been kicked off we haven't talked to the flunkies myself and like sheesh I don't know probably like four or five days it feels like so there's been a lot of things that have happened we're not gonna go through and list off all the transactions but obviously Justin Fields making his way to Pittsburgh is a pretty big one that we'll get into but first and foremost we have to give a shout out here to Aaron Donald who obviously retired he walked into the sunset he already has a Super Bowl ring he has the phenomenal career and resume that's going to get him and Ken in the first ballot you know a first ballot Hall of Famer and one of the things that I think about when it comes to Aaron Donald is the fact that he was just so dominant immediately out of the gate you can go back and look at tweets that were made in the summer of 2014 whenever Aaron Donald was just reporting to the St. Louis Rams camp and you know there was a talented defensive line there at the time we talk about Chris Long Robert Quinn Michael Brockers there was a lot of talent there on the D line and Aaron Donald being plugged in there as that three technique undersized he just kind of took the league by storm and never really looked back and he made the Pro Bowl I think every single year of his career 10 year career obviously got drafted in 2014 now here we are 2024 and he is hanging it up hell of a career one of the best to ever do it one of the best of this generation that we're currently watching right now you know you think of guys like JJ Watt guys like Ray Lewis whenever you think of players that are in the same tier as Aaron Donald and you know some people might not have expected him to blow up the way that he did but you know that's just kind of shows where at least for me when I see somebody dominate the senior bowl similar to how Aaron Donald did that's whenever I usually okay you know ever since Aaron Donald came out I know that if somebody is just ex or absolutely wrecking havoc good the senior bowl that it could translate and we kind of saw that happen with Aaron Donald but yeah man I had to give him a shout out here I got to see him live in person in 2019 so obviously that's a big-time bucket list player that I've checked off along with many others someday I'm going to make a list and you know talk about all these players but what do you think about Aaron Donald hanging it up I'm sure you've had some thoughts you know obviously the Panthers playing him over the years and just you watching him throughout the course of his career Wow just awesome I mean just like you said he might as well get fitted for his you know gold jacket you know now you know because you know it's he's gonna be a first ballot Hall of Famer it's gonna be it's pretty cool to see you know guys of a certain ages like like I am seeing these players you know when the prime of their career you know I know he only played for ten years and you know who's to say Aaron Donald couldn't play for another five you know to be honest he's just a physical specimen you know I there's always those pictures of him without his shirt you know if he you know look just you think of defensive lineman you think of Tony Sarah Gusa and you know your your saps Warren saps and stuff you know you know a little on the heavier side you know with a little bit of belly you know this guy was just a freak in nature and you know all these quarterbacks you know 32 quarterbacks can all take a deep collective breath and say whoo at least you know when we play the Rams this year we don't have to worry about 99 and it's the same thing for those offensive linemen you know that they had to go against because there were certain times where he never got single you know covered or blocked he was always getting double teams he was getting triple teams you know and getting a tie tied in to you know kind of chip them a little bit sometimes it was just the Aaron Donald effect like you know just there's some players like Steph Curry in the NBA there's you know Patrick Mahomes with the quarterback position there's just certain positions of players that just completely changed the game and Aaron Donald is and and now these teams are going out in the draft process and digging in a little bit deeper into the division tackle even some tackle position trying to find the next you know Aaron Donald so yeah big shout outs to him and also big shout outs to Stone Cold Steve Austin man a 3 16 day was yesterday I do believe just you know I celebrated you know popped a couple tops not any Steve Wiser's but you know big shout outs of my favorite wrestler of all time you know the Texas rattles stakes so big shout outs again as well yeah obviously man Stone Cold Steve Austin it's as good as it gets right there he is the cream of the crop when you're talking about pro wrestling I was lucky enough to get a chance to see him wrestle in 2022 at WrestleMania 38 possibility he'll be back in having like maybe one or two more matches before he actually hangs it up but nonetheless I'm you know I'm glad that I was able to check that off the bucket list and obviously last Friday when I went to SmackDown I got a chance to see the rock so there's a lot more names on that was similar to you know Aaron Donald in the football list the wrestling list is starting to kind of stack up in of itself right absolutely but anyways we're here to talk about some offensive tackles I think that we can all pretty much agree that there's one that finds his way to the top just whenever you're talking about ranking these players at their position we're gonna kind of just go through this we're not going to do it the same way as we've done in years past whenever we split the duties we're going to just roll through the list of some of these players maybe knock out 10 15 somewhere around there and just kind of have a little bit of a discussion about where these players stack up kind of what their skill sets are maybe some of their strengths weaknesses whatever you want to call it I'm just going to you know preface it and kind of set the parameters here we are not scouts we are not professionals we don't claim to be professionals but you know as people who have been doing this like me amateur scouting or should I say amateur player evaluation this is actually my fifth year to just you know be sitting here watching players and watching actual game tape and kind of you know putting together your opinion on these players and it's a lot more I guess it's a lot different I should say than years past I've been watching the NFL Draft since like 2003 2004 so there's been a lot of times that I've seen it's always just been something that's excited me and you know there's always players year in year out that I like that I don't like and you know it's just the beauty of the of the league and the nature of the beast like this time of year the NFL Draft is such a spectacle we have a little bit of a get-together at my house every single year for the NFL Draft and it's just because of the nostalgic memories that I have over the years you know here in that jingle from the it from ESPN although I've been pretty much watching you on NFL Network for the past handful of years but the ESPN jingle and you guys know exactly what I'm talking about whenever the pick is in and the commissioner's walking out there to make the announcement that's you know to pretty much get everyone's attention into the room like hey it picks about to be made you turn your attention usually there's a lot of cheers there might be a lot of booze it all depends I mean obviously if Roger Goodell's walking out there there's probably going to be some unanimous booze no matter what but once the players name is announced sometimes you know they have a good reaction or a bad reaction but one player that I do expect their team to have a pretty good reaction depending on how you you know feel about it is Joe Alt who comes into this NFL Draft process from Notre Dame 20 years old he should be you know he's gonna turn 21 right when the season starts so not an old rookie doll this is someone that's still obviously going to get a second contract like 25 years old so very young six foot eight 317 pounds just a mammoth of a man he's got that prototypical size that you want in a you know in an offensive tackle he's a powerful run blocker obviously he can get to the second level pretty easily he's got speed explosive and there's all the things that you want in an offensive lineman one thing I will say about him though because of his length is every now and then I mean he'll lean down a little bit because most of the time whenever he's going up against somebody there they have a lower center of gravity than he does whether it's a five technique and an outside edge rusher whatever it is sometimes he has to lean down a little bit and that leaves himself vulnerable for like a swim move or something like that and sometimes you know the the top heavy build it makes him lose a little bit of power whenever you're talking about you know getting his feet set and all that good stuff but other than that I think that you know this is a player that you know there's run blockers in this class there's pass blockers in this class and if you want the most complete player that has a high rating in both categories maybe not the highest he might not be the best pass blocker he might not be the best run blocker but I mean I could tell you right now he's not the best run blocker without a doubt but he is probably the the player that has the highest rating in all categories and he pretty much you know was the most complete in my personal opinion now is he a generational tackle is he somebody that you would take number one overall if there wasn't such dominant quarterbacks and you know these quote-unquote blue chip prospects I still don't believe he's up there but I think that this is a player that has a phenomenal ceiling pretty high floor you're gonna you know what you see is what you get obviously you can trust Notre Dame offensive line factory it's produced nothing but just absolute beasts over the past decade plus so Joe all I do believe is no different I think he's gonna come to the league he's gonna have probably one of the smoothest transitions out of all these players because of how polished he already is you know coming out of Notre Dame oh yeah love the guy like I know I had all of an onion for Shawny I had his my him as my number one guy of course about two months ago but the more I dive into you know watching these guys you know rankings change you know combine helps a lot of that stuff too you know whether or not you actually do stuff at the combine helps too but I completely agree with you right now Joe is definitely number one if he falls past ten that would just completely shock me he's a plug-and-play player day one pass protection is his strength you know and with NFL moving into a more past happy style of football he like I said plug-and-play he comes in day one he gives you that foundation you know because you wanna build a team you want to have course quarterback you have to have somebody to protect his blind side get you a pass rusher and get you a stud cornerback and you build around those positions and this is a guy like you said he doesn't have very many holes not very many weaknesses and he's just complete number one and that Notre Dame factor like you said that you just brought up it's it's not just they put out you know ballers into the league it's it's the smart thing that really gets to me too for him you know it takes a certain kind of person to get into the University of Notre Dame you know you have to have you know your education down to as well and he shows on the football field he is a very very smart guy and just elite physical every he checks every box like box like he said and I can't wait to see him and he's going to be a cornerstone tackle for the next ten years for sure moving on to the player that you said you were pretty high on a couple years ago oh the shanu from Penn State exactly 21 years old just turned 21 so he's probably gonna play obviously his rookie season as a 21-year-old six foot six 320 pounds this is somebody that is you know the definition of a pass blocker in this class if you're drafting oh the shanu to go to a running system you're probably not getting you know you're not gonna get the biggest bang for your buck depending on who's on the board obviously but when you're talking about pass blocking completely different story this is somebody that you know we had 733 pass blocking snaps and only allowed 17 pressures that's not sacks that's pressure this is someone that really does not let the quarterback get touched whenever he's dropping back to pass movement spills or his movement skills are great he has really good awareness he's able to excuse me acknowledge and point out blitzes and stunts although I will say the inside spin moves like the moves inside are the ones that actually do give him trouble sometimes just he reacts a little bit late and sometimes his hands are a little bit I guess too wide like you want like you I guess you've seen him get bullish a little bit and you think that if he's going to approach the NFL with that same style of getting his hands wide you think the NFL could really expose that and you know if they get inside of his frame yeah like JT to Amalu from Ohio State that's really the only player that absolutely just I mean most of his pressures came to him in their 2023 patch up with Ohio State so that's really where I saw that he struggled there but for the most part this is someone that he's pretty much like you're right we've Andre dealer you know Andre dealer whenever he came out just a few years ago went to Philadelphia everybody knew that you were going to get an elite pass blocker but the running game is kind of where he had a lot to be desired he has a lot to improve on but I think that for the most part this is someone that like could go do a like an offense that has like a mobile quarterback you know someone that could extend a play because not only is he able to really succeed on an island but he has really good recovery skills where if they do get him on the first move and if he's on an island with that guy he can kind of use his feet and continue to move and as long as his hands are in the right place you're not going to get past this guy and that's why he was only able to give up 17 pressures on 733 pass blocking snaps like just for an example of Marius Mims he paid or like he played barely over 800 snaps total like that's not talking about running snaps like Penn State can run the football to and obviously 733 path blocking snaps you know he has a hell of a lot of running snaps as well too so the fact that this is a dude that has a high motor I think you could work on the run blocking and you can get that to where you want to where you want it to be depending on what your offense is have an offensive line coach and a plan in place to get the most out of this guy and I think if he goes to an offense that throws the ball a lot that's that's probably where he's going to succeed the most yeah absolutely that's definitely his strengths his past protection you know he likes to have that good anchor the good white base you know he's hard to get around but you did you did hit the nail on the head with power rushes and you know some of those littler guys that can you know tell the spin-out of he gets beat on it but like you said that it was only one of those very small circumstances like you said it was against Ohio State you know probably one of the toughest teams that they played all year and I love him because he's a freak athlete you know he's I do believe he played two sports I'm not I don't know if I read that right but I haven't wrote down here but that usually translates you know it's it's the Antonio Gates effect is the Tony Gonzalez effect it's some of these guys that just you know they just played different sports growing up and they were just and I loved his growth Bishan who's growth from his sophomore year all the way to his senior year he just kept getting better and that is definitely something that he can bet on and he's another guy that I think for sure he hears his name day one for sure another player who's getting to hear his name day one to Lisa a vlogger from Oregon State this is someone that I think I know we're talking about tackles here but I think he's gonna translate to being a guard at the next level just mainly because of his arm link that's really what the NFL likes to do with these type of tackles but I'll be honest going to guard should be the motive for Fuwaga because and it's actually Fuwanga I've heard that there's like a silent invisible in and they're kind of like to a tongue a viola you heard it pronounced like that in the past but there's not an in there that's kind of like Fuwanga it's to least say Fuwanga that's just what I've heard leaving the NFL Combine but anyways we were talking about it man this is the polar opposite this is the yin to or for Shawn who's Yang when you're talking about him being a past blocker Fuwanga is the very best run blocker or run blocker in this entire class and that is I feel pretty comfortable saying that honestly fluid hips this dude is absolutely power his hands and his grip are just phenomenal this is someone you don't want to get his hands on you because if you get him off like he's he's like a wrestler out there like with the hand moves he can just get him right back on you get him placed perfectly in the right position arm length is really one of the only negatives that I have on this guy like he's probably one of my favorite offensive lineman in this entire class just being completely honest natural place a play strength does not lose the power whatsoever very rarely misses assignments this is someone that can really burst as a puller go look at some of the plays where he just decletes linebackers on the second level like trust me that's what I feel like as a pulling guard that's where he's going to find his success and getting to the right offensive system like I said for most of these players I mean landing spot as we're talking about this with any position any class especially quarterback man like that really dictates how successful you are like these are real human beings going to real cities across the world or across the country I should say so like you got to take that into effect like somebody getting drafted to the Philadelphia Eagles as an offensive lineman it's probably going to set them up at least a little bit different than somebody going to I don't know maybe the New York Giants or somebody like that like you never really know who's going to pan out until they get to their specific place because we've seen talented offensive lineman kind of flake out because they didn't go to a great position or they just you know didn't have the work ethic but I think that for longer is a very safe prospect just being completely honest he does like to drift up field a little bit if he gets beaten side so that's one thing you have to I guess keep an eye on but like I said really it's just the the arm length that's the only thing that you could really point your fingers at and it's not that it's a lot of teams have their own type of thresholds you know like what they consider draftable and when you could draft him at a certain position but I feel pretty safe saying that who longer is going in the first round oh yeah this is this is a guy that the more I watched him he's that guy he's like god I wish the Panthers had a first round draft big you know I know not necessarily neat but this is a guy that's just you I love watching him and when I do these scoutings and I break these players down it's just certain words I can think of five words to describe this guy I have eight words to describe him his advancement in his game as he's gotten better you know of course going from a sophomore to a senior his IQ his size his skill his physicality great run blocker speed rush you know you know that one on the head as well he gets beat by the faster guys he plays with great position and he is balanced with his feet in his hands love this guy the more I watch him and it's just nastiness I it's just screams football you know he's that guy that he's gonna put you on your ass as many times as possible and he's gonna smile doing it he's just he loves he loves to hit he's just one of those guys it's just a little crazy and it's the guy it's the kind of guy that you want on your team and not play against for sure yes 100% another player that's kind of polarizing only 20 years old he's gonna be 21 whenever the season starts out of Alabama JC Latham six foot six three hundred and sixty pounds this is an often to tackle that immediately like pretty much like in it's almost like a glitch in Madden if you're a power rusher like you have no bags in your trick if you only bring power to the table you're not going to get past JC Latham I mean obviously well so one of the question marks that I have here is like I guess he doesn't really mirror very well like if you actually like get kind of going on him you you know get him out in space his movement skills and his fluidity is very average to mediocre so that's one area where you could get by this guy and that's why he's not a slam dunk prospect but he's a big time like high ceiling type of player like if he actually hits and he works and kind of polishes that area of his game you're talking about someone that could be a cornerstone for an offensive line because of how good he is at handling power rushers and that just means that this young age of 20 years old he's only going to get stronger once you get him to the next level really reminds me of Tyler Smith who just got drafted by the Dallas Cowboys not that long ago and just you know really those bigger offensive tackles that have the the ability to handle power rushers really well obviously the grip strength is there as well he screams you know offensive tackle love him playing at Bama it doesn't ever hurt being a lineman coming out Alabama it will definitely help your draft grade you're going to get more eyes on you you definitely get scouted a whole lot more is he one of the best debatable is this a guy that could hear his name first round absolutely sure quick feet I love the guy's feet I love his balance I love his base love his anchor you did bring up the mirroring thing he's not good on an island especially against you know the more pass faster pass rushers but he goes to the right division you know the right system the right scheme the right fit he is just a straight up stud his recovery is really good to his and like you said his hand strength he's just definitely one of those guys that you can build your team around just I love this guy I love this guy like he you know those highlight plays where you see a defensive lineman engaged with a like with a guard or a tackle or something he's trying to do a spin move next thing you know another offensive line it goes just takes him out those are called kill shots and I don't know if he body had more kill shots than JC Latham obvious I mean he is a finisher we talk about some of the players I don't like to finish this is someone that likes to finish but I just think that despite how good his body control is he never looks bad getting beat but if you're on an island there's a chance you can buy him and it's the 21 penalties over the past two years that's something that you do have to monitor a lot of them all start so you do kind of worry about that trying to get an early jump he did play in the SEC which is the best college football has to offer but you're lining up against the SEC on steroids not literally obviously maybe you want to have better terminology there but you're lining up to a whole nother level to the SEC on a weekly basis excuse me if you know if you're wanting to get drafted to a past happy team but anyway is just you know work on that get those penalties worked out and you could at least get close to the potential of JC Latham but you know it depends on where you draft this guy with the expectations are going to be we seem to Juan Jones you drafted in the fourth fifth round whatever it was from on House Day going and start for the Cleveland Browns and I was probably going to be their long-term right tackle a lot of these guys at all depends on landing spot no matter where you get drafted like what we kind of talked about it not that long ago about you know people getting excited because you have a certain pick and then just because you're the number one overall pick it doesn't mean that it's going to you know be a slam dunk whoever gets drafted number seven overall could end up being better it's all about where you go and you know how you make the most of those situations but let's see here another tackle we can talk about a Marius Mims from the University of Georgia 21 years old just turned 21 6 foot 7 330 pounds absolute mammoth I mean if you just look at him in a vacuum look at his movement skills his frame just what he looks like he looks like a top five pick you come from University of Georgia it's like okay last few years they produce pretty high draft picks seems like this could be another one I mean this is someone that you get him matched up with a linebacker it's a pancake central only seven pressures allowed on 402 pass blocking snaps but he only has 803 career snaps and only eight starts so this is someone that really doesn't have a lot of a sample size to go off of but you kind of just go off of what you see and you look at I guess you know what the players done so far and maybe that could be a good thing the fact that this guy does he looks so good and he really doesn't have any type of polish whatsoever like he's still so raw he's still so young that you're still gonna get the most of this guy like his best his best football is without a doubt in front of them I think that's something that you can absolutely take to the bank he gets good depth with his past sets he has good pocket range he's able to replace his hands whenever he baits Russia's he quickly transitions his anchor and he doesn't give up any ground this is someone that's really powerful but his frame adds more power to that so it's like you know you get this guy and you polish him get him to Philadelphia and let him replace Lane Johnson and I think you might be cooking with gas there like if they're looking for any player here to you know replace Lane and kind of transition this is someone I mean they've already dipped in the field or the Georgia Bulldog pool the last few years drafting guys like Jalen Carter Jordan Davis Keeley Ringo Nolan Smith you know the list goes on and on they are not scared to draft players from Georgia and you know this is someone that he has no experience blocking in the outside zone so that's something you may have to you know obviously get a little bit up to speed on but for the most part outside of his lack of experience this is someone that should hear his name I mean he's already being projected as a first rounder and he barely has any playing under his belt so someone's going to take a take a gamble on this guy's size and his upside and he's probably gonna hear his name call before some other guys who you might think could go before him yeah that's exactly right I wrote this three times for a reason power power power he is and he you nailed it on the head man I see him in Philadelphia man he fits that offensive scheme he fits exactly what they like to run I see exact you know what he would want and he would just fit day one you could put him in right there replace Lane like you said I see it with the small number of reps I might see it as a different light I could see that as a negative you know you don't really have tread on your tires but then you see it the other way around you're still raw hasn't scratched the surface yet he hasn't played his best football but you like I said I see it the other way around I don't draft him as high because there's not enough tape on him he hasn't played enough maybe you know yeah maybe in two years he scratches his surface but then that's what you want but not you don't draft this guy day one and hope you know to get a better in two years you know to see still a work in progress I still see a lot of rawness to him as well but you're absolutely right if they see something completely different than me which these guys get paid you know lots and lots of money to maybe they saw something I don't but I'm not saying he's not a great prospect it's just a low snap count you know it's didn't let you know least amount of you know core stuff that I've seen on him that I can't quite take him very very early at least not in my eyes someone who I am you know pretty much in lockstep with how you feel about men's I feel probably the same way about Guyton he is 22 years old he's an offensive obviously Tyler Guyton I'm talking about he's a senior six seven three hundred twenty two pounds from Oklahoma I'm not high I mean it's well documented I'm an Oklahoma students fan I love OU football and this is someone that I wanted to feel different about whenever I saw his name on my list of players that I was going to watch I was like okay I'm excited hopefully I you know get really high on this guy know that the Falcons I mean we have a pretty set offensive line especially in terms of the tackles even the guards for the most part so I didn't really set my expectations that he could end up finding his way to Atlanta but I still was you know I want to see them succeed I want to see him go to the next level and you know actually be good players excuse me but whenever I look at Tyler Guyton he's kind of like what you mentioned first off the bus you know he's someone that you want to come off the bus but just to kind of maybe get in their heads a little bit once the game starts think it might be a little bit of a different story he does have really long arms so like a huge wing wing span like I mentioned he's six foot seven so obviously you can imagine how long these guys arms are its frame is really dense so it's kind of just like a you know a rock like a big boulder whenever you run into this guy another guy with really good grip he has patient hand usage like you said I'm you may not be very high on him but I'm kind of in particular I see a lot of potential but I also see you know taking some plays off here and there kind of getting beat here and there if this wasn't as strong as a tackle draft I could see him getting drafted you know end of the first round you know maybe second day early he's a second rounder for sure though but I love him yeah he like I said I see I see a lot of you know big 12 you know football is he one of the best big 12 tackles I'd say yeah I said he he's up there for sure but it doesn't say much of course coming from the big 12 like you could say from like for Mims or Latham but I think he's got some game and I think he if he goes to the right system or right coach you know the right offensive line yada yada yada but I still need to see more from him like I said some of these guys I don't have to watch a whole lot of them and I know their game but this with him I just it's a it's a coin flip and of course with draft it's a coin flip with every single player you never know who's gonna hit who's gonna miss but like I said I'm just in particular with with him don't necessarily like him don't necessarily real high on him either so don't bash him too much there but it's really just the fact that he doesn't finish in the run game that's the main area of concern for me and I guess the fact that oh you's offense it's not an NFL offense at all like it watching his tape is been here counterproductive because you're watching it and you could watch damn near a hundred snaps and only like five six of them actually translate to the next level so it's like well damn this dude's gonna go to the league and it's pretty much be like a shell shock for him and the fact that I already have these questions in the run game and how he is as a finisher I just think that you know obviously he's like a he's like a clay a piece of clay that could be molded you know he's 22 years old and he's a senior but still I think that this is someone that he gets to the right spots where we're gonna keep we're gonna hammer that home because this is the you know this is the theme of landing spots when you're talking about the NFL graph especially when you get into quarterbacks you know I cannot wait to talk about them so we can get into the fact that you know you got to be careful about how you feel about a quarterback because someone could get to the right spot look at Brock Purdy perfect example you think Brock Purdy would be doing what you're doing if he played for the Carolina Panthers Carolina Panthers yeah absolutely not taking them to the you know what they're doing so you kind of have to let things play out a little bit but let's get into another prospect here in terms of these offensive tackles when we talk about Graham Barton he's someone that has better experience playing all five spots on the offensive line I think that he's going to you know it's hard to it's hard to really predict because I think that he would probably benefit best from going to an offer going to a you know a guard that needs a guard you know making that transition six five 209 pound he's really lean really athletic great mobility excellent in both the run and pass production elite production he I guess his production came mostly in 2022 he would have been drafted in 2023 but decided to return for a senior season his link isn't elite but you know this is someone that you know because of that could move inside the guard and I think he's gonna have success I definitely think he could get drafted in the very beginning of the second round at worst I'm higher on him much higher on him than I was on say Tyler Gatton who we just talked about so yeah Graham Barton somebody who I'm really excited to see where he lands yeah he's another player that he's just kind of in the middle of the pack with me you know his style is very still rough like he said he you know he needs a little bit more timing like and the whole 15 comes in again but I do love about that is but this guy was he plays he played all that all three positions on the line and that could be someone you know a team to just has problems rotating guys you know I think of the New York Jets you know they were just kind of trying to find the right fit for their offensive line moving that tackle to guard you know doing all these fixes to try to fix their line I got like him you know your offensive line might be good but you can say hey our right guard our right tackle is probably about a year away from you know retiring let's bring him in and we'll teach him all three positions and he could just kind of rotate but like yeah you nailed everything that I had on him he's still a great player but I there's still a lot of these guys that I need to watch just a little bit more but he's not as high on my list is probably some of these other guys yeah I wanted to give someone in the big 12 some love really quick Dominic Pune he's someone that you know obviously Kansas is a basketball school although you know here lately they've been making some noise in football but we'll see where they go from here Pune has been their left tackle I feel like this is someone that you know third fourth round maybe you can get to be a swing tackle someone that could play guard long-term I don't think he's a tackle at the next level but he could be a swing tackle coming in maybe if you bring in an extra offensive lineman you have someone pull a hamstring they need to you know miss a third and fourth quarter you plug Pune and he might not be able to get you to the you know the place you need to be but I'm not necessarily high on him but I wanted to give him a shout out because Kansas really doesn't produce offensive lineman and this is probably the best one they've had in a long time yes this is actually a guy I I got a star next to him man he is creeping up on my list just because of what you just said he is a more prototypical NFL guard you know yes of course he played tackle it's the six four you know I know you don't have to be six seven six eight to play tackle but I think his game can be more dumb to down and I don't mean that in an offensive way at all to be a guard I love his run his run blocking he's just nasty he plays with great power he's got great feet past protection is also his weaknesses that's kind of why I wanted to move him inside to guard because his past protection could be shoddy at times and you know him being a smaller kind of guy at least you know arms wise and you know as tall as he is he just he just fits better as a guard but I love his game I saw a couple of his games like live this year I didn't really have to go back and look much on him because I've already wrote him down what I liked about Dominic being and he is a stud he is you going up my list for sure he's up there with some of the best guards and just coming up draft for sure yeah I mean I just feel like he makes he makes him proud they're in there in where were they at again Kansas I forgot this I know that Lawrence okay because Manhattan is Kansas State so I knew that I was getting the University of Kansas like I said in their basketball school so I'm not really always doing my due diligence there but another player I did my due diligence on Jordan Morgan from Arizona three-year starter as the left tackle there for the Wildcats he he did deal with a little bit of an injury but this is someone whose hand placement footwork everything this is like a prototype for me I think that he's going to be someone that I want to plant my flag on as quote unquote one of my guys in this draft class I just think that for what he's being advertised as he's way better than that and you know who knows it's all depends on what team decides to pull the trigger and if they have a hole at right tackle or left tackle I mean this could be a value pick where you don't draft one of the guys early in the first round you decide to hit a couple other positions maybe you know take advantage of this talented wide receiver class and then sneak in there in rounds two rounds three and try to pluck Jordan Morgan off the off the radar but I think you're gonna have to have a top 40 pick is he ain't gonna fall that far he's just too damn good love it yeah this is definitely a guy I saw a lot of with Arizona having just that monster year that they had last year just completely having just what they did and the now dead back 12 which you know I knew addition going into the big 12 but God he's a great player too he's another guy have a star on him too he's just creeping up the boards and more I watch them the more I like him and he's just I love there's I there's just so many great tackles in this you know draft class I love I can't say I love them all but there's just more guys that I want to watch more of and like you said before the fit thing he has to go to the right system there's just there's enough upside for him though like you said there's still so much raw talent in this guy that you could move around and you know he'll be a stud one day for sure is there anybody on your list who you might want to you know wave your flag for or anybody like that those are kind of all of the tackles that I've gotten a chance to deep dive on thus far in the process so you know I know that you've done a lot I mean you've been grinding on this for a couple months I don't know if we've hit on all yours already if there's anybody who you may have up your sleeve that you you want to mention here I mean the floor is yours okay let's see here a big fan of Kyron Amadiege out of Yale that's definitely something that you don't hear very often in the NFL good left tackle I love his size 6 5 3 team plays with great power athleticism the only problem with him is his injuries concern definitely the competition you're going to hear that a lot you know guys coming from smaller schools they don't really play against the best you know like I said I'll take a left tackle or a right tackle from Georgia or Alabama before I take a guy from Yale you know it's nothing against the guy he probably would test great it's just he's going against better players players that are more potentially he's going to play on those Sundays pass protection on him also a little shotty and you got to be at least pretty decent with past protection if you're going to be a tackle Blake Fisher the right tackle for Notre Dame opposite side of Joe all big big is another guy I definitely have a star next to big guy 6 6 3 10 with these those two bookends that Notre Dame had Notre Dame should have been undefeated they really should have they had a great offensive line I know they had a better year than probably what a lot of people predicted but he's another guy I love another smart guy a great run you know run protection guy I love his feet hard punches he has great hand placement plays a place of great balance and leverage past protections a little shotty and his pad level it can also get down but he's also one of those guys that you know it's just going to take a little bit of coaching to get over some of those things that he just kind of that had in his game just a little flaws it's not something that coaching can't fix but yeah this is another guy let's see here Christian Jones the UT tackle another guy I'm really starting to like guy played soccer that is definitely I love the two sport athletes he has great feet he can work on his explosiveness but I love that guy as well 6 5 3 18 11 size a couple of sleepers I got Patrick Paul I love this guy size the guy Houston 68 330 past protections really good on him coming from a smaller known school like Houston I guess you know Houston being a basketball school for sure he's got great wingspan a great punch link size and his upside is way good but this is some of these guys that I'm about to rattle off they're not gonna be day one guys these are going to be three four five round kite guys Saloa La Mia love him 64 I think he's out of Utah I didn't write that down but I think he's from Utah 6 4 3 19 typically plays right tackle he could be a better guard he's gonna be a lot like puny kind of like let's see here who else do I have that's better guard font no he's gonna I think they're gonna draft him to be a guard as well but I love him he's got great power speed he's a polar he's a finished and blocked guy but it's his size I think they're gonna move him to guard Javon Foster love love this guy left tackle 6 6 3 13 tenacity he's smart he's athletically gifted he is another another guy with a huge upside but he's a left tackle he cannot play right tackle that's the knocks on him and sometimes his hand dependability he kind of gets used to using his hands it's definitely you're gonna hear that a lot Roger Rosengarten from Washington love this guy saw a lot of him this year and Trini Trini Jones from Michigan love this guy as well but these are all guys that are going to be day two maybe but more likely round three four and five but like I said I tried to go at least 15 in every position but these are all just guys that I loved watching and you know could have good upside too for sure without a doubt without a doubt if like you did a great job I think that we started this process properly obviously looking forward to talking about other positions as well just because you know the wide receivers that's really when I get excited that's really whenever I can kind of you know really dig my teeth into you know specific class specific prospects that's just my you know my comfort zone some of the positions I really want to get better at I want to get better at off ball linebacker I want to get better at quarterback is quarterback is hard man we'll get into that whenever we you know start talking about it but that's one that I really just I'm pretty much just wing it every single year at this point just do I like this guy yeah it's crazy it's hit or miss we've seen prospects that we're supposed to be slam dunk go to the league and end up kind of flaking out and then we've seen guys like we just mentioned brought birdie who no one expected him to do what he's doing he's already started Super Bowl and MC championship game and he's only been in the league for two years but I did want to give you a shout out see him for doing your thing obviously you can check one position off the list and we're gonna move on to the you know the next position I'm not sure what it's going to be possibly edge rusher should we handle some of these blue chip positions some of these premium positions as we get started in this process or do you want to kind of sprinkle them out throughout the process it's up to you really I'm I'm fine with whatever oh yeah I'm the same way because honestly the deep I'm a defensive guy myself either position whichever position you wanted to do I I'm more than ready the corner back position this year oh my god we can save that one for another couple you know another week or two but the linebacker crew it's another great position I love it to death but like I said you pick I chose tackle you you can work on which next defensive position that you want to do for sure and I'll be ready for sure I think we'll go edge rusher next just to kind of give you idea I'm sure that the grind the majority of the grind has already been done oh so and it just touch up a little bit see if there's any tweaks we need to make before we actually get in there but thank you so much for joining me obviously I do want to thank the Funkeys for tuning in here this is a very important time for not only see him but for everybody here at the football function we did which Terry was going to be here but he's actually in Arizona or on his way home from Arizona he was working there in Arizona that's kind of what caused him to miss this episode so unfortunately Terry Minifil had duty that ended up calling but he's no longer missing from being on IR that's the important thing is he is healthy he just kind of got healthy right whenever free agency in it and I was getting back from Dallas and now here we are he's he's getting back into the swing of things it's just scheduling kind of not allowing us to have our have our right hand man Terry Minifil here with us but he will be back shortly I promise you he's itching to get back I know he wants to get back on the microphone you know we're we're definitely ready for him to be back but one more time thank you see him thank you to the Funkeys hope you guys all have a damn good week enjoy whatever you know hobbies or anything you have going on I think Patrick today is obviously today so Happy St. Patty's Day I think the Celtics got a good W today unfortunately I lost a parlay off one basket right whenever we started recording so that's always a bad way to go into a show but I still think that we for the most part had our fastball oh yeah for sure man I think just me you know if Terry was here of course you know we probably could have had a lot more to a guy's to talk about because some of these guys probably I talked about he had his eyes on you know you know we had our list of guys that we we needed to look at but there's just other guys you know you just write to their name down and you know you just go into in-depth and look them up and you just try to find you want to find the next book in the cool man and you really do and I love this process it is a it's a pain it is hard this is hard work to do this stuff and go in in depth on some of these guys and look at film and stuff like that but I love to do it because I want to have a head start on the draft like you said we want to do our due diligence as podcasters to let people know about these people and you know from your Pittsburgh fan or your San Francisco fan so one of these guys that we just talked about will fit your scheme will fit you know what you like to run I guarantee you and if they fall to you at a certain number and you draft them be happy about it because you know not gonna tune our own horn but we do our due diligence you know if it doesn't pan out it doesn't pan out you know it is what it is and of course injuries and stuff especially with tackles it's definitely one of those positions that you get beat up a lot for sure but it's a great position I'm glad we got it out of the way because it's a very deep one but thank you so much Mike I can't wait to break down some edge rushers with you kind of a lackluster position in my honest opinion this year don't get me wrong it's a very top-heavy but I it's gonna be hard to go 20/25 deep on that one I think I've already got about 10 on that position I think but it's gonna be good it's gonna be fun it's gonna be a great process that we're going to do for the next couple of weeks and get everybody ready for the draft because like you said it's one of my favorite times of the year one of your favorite times of the year because you can prepare for it and watch it and have a festival because the NFL draft is is must watch TV you have trades and stuff and that's just more stuff to look at and think about because we're gonna do mock drafts to you know that's gonna be definitely fun but that's enough of me big shout outs to everybody out there I'm not gonna start saying any names I don't know if I'll be doing a college football show this week not too sure Mike's but don't count on it but like I said I'm doing draft stuff right now so big shout out to everybody out there doesn't much love you thank you so much guys take care and God bless well said well said I'm gonna go ahead and sign off here as well like I just mentioned have a damn good week guys we're getting close to the end of March were right outside of the end of the halfway point so we're about to start you know that that home stretch once we get into April that's one of my personal favorite ones of the entire year so yeah I'm definitely looking forward to that but have a damn good week guys walk passionately in the direction of your dreams and I'll talk to you soon [BLANK_AUDIO]