00:00Welcome back to Newswire here on SportsGrid.
00:03So the way the calendar works kind of in sports these days
00:05is that you have opening day of baseball,
00:08you have the NCAA tournament,
00:09you have the Final Four, you have the Masters,
00:11and then you have the NFL Draft.
00:13That's the order here, folks.
00:14So let's bring in Jacob Kamaker
00:15because it's about to get hot and heavy for him
00:17as we turn the calendar to April tomorrow.
00:20Jacob, thanks for coming on Newswire.
00:21Great to catch up.
00:26All right, so let's get started here.
00:28The first round, once again,
00:31seemingly is another NFL Draft
00:33where the quarterbacks jump into the first round.
00:36I know you're starting to break this all down,
00:39and the hot name right now is, of course,
00:40Ty Simpson of the Alabama Crimson Tide.
00:44These are the first time that people are starting to realize
00:47Simpson had a great career at Alabama
00:49and all of a sudden went from a guy
00:50that could go the first or second day
00:52to now the first round.
00:56Yeah, I think if you look at Ty Simpson
00:58and what he accomplished in his lone year
00:59as a starter at Alabama,
01:01he has sort of that skill set you like to look at
01:03in terms of accuracy, ball placement.
01:05When he's at his best, he can really command an offense.
01:08So I think that's going to help him
01:10as he gets sort of into this draft
01:12in terms of establishing himself as a first-round pick.
01:15But he is a big wild card in terms of he's a guy
01:18who could potentially go early,
01:19but there aren't a lot of landing spots for him.
01:21I think the one you look at, the Jets at 16,
01:24if they end up wanting a quarterback
01:26to potentially serve as a successor for Geno Smith,
01:29they could potentially take him there.
01:31But if they decide not to do that,
01:33just roll with Geno or use one of their many top 50 picks.
01:36I think they have four picks in the top 44 selections.
01:38But if they want to use a second-round pick on a quarterback,
01:41then there aren't as many landing spots for Simpson.
01:43I think we could see something similar
01:45to what happened last year, Craig,
01:46with Jackson Dart and the New York Giants.
01:48The Giants spent that number three overall pick
01:51on Abdul Carter, a high-end pass rusher,
01:53then traded back into the end of the first round
01:56to get Dart.
01:56I think a team like the Cardinals,
01:58who, as you can see here,
01:59have the shortest odds to land Simpson,
02:02I think they could take a similar approach
02:04with that number three overall pick this year.
02:06Take a top pass rusher,
02:07whether that's Arbel Reese or David Bailey,
02:09and then once you get later in that first round,
02:12try to trade up, get Ty Simpson,
02:14have him join that room of quarterbacks
02:16that just currently has Jacoby Brissett and Gardner Minshew.
02:18They need some young talent at that position,
02:20and I think Ty Simpson would be a good fit
02:22for Matt LaFleur's, or Mike LaFleur's offense there.
02:25I'm going to do that a lot,
02:26confuse the LaFleur brothers this year,
02:28but I'd watch Simpson to the Cardinals this year.
02:30I think that that's going to be potentially
02:32his landing spot if the Jets pass on him.
02:35Yeah, plus 130, as we just showed you,
02:37for the Cardinals.
02:37A little sneaky there, I think,
02:39with Pittsburgh at 9-1 also.
02:42Probably sneaky for every quarterback right now
02:44with the Aaron Rodgers stuff going to happen.
02:46It looks like a second year in a row.
02:47All right, let's get to Caleb Downs.
02:50Right now, his draft position sits at 9-1.5.
02:54Jacob, this is going to fluctuate, of course,
02:55over the next couple of weeks,
02:57but naturally, it does appear
03:00that he's got a shot to go in the top 10,
03:03top 15 maybe at worst,
03:05over minus 145,
03:07the Ohio State star plus 115 on the under.
03:12Yeah, I think you look at this with Caleb Downs.
03:15We've seen safeties not really go in the top 10.
03:18I think Eric Berry was the last one
03:19to be a top 10, top five pick.
03:22Or maybe it was Jamal Adams before that.
03:24Eric Berry was the last one in the top five, I think.
03:26But I think there's a chance that Caleb Downs
03:29does go in the top 10 picks,
03:30and I just keep coming back to the Giants
03:32as a potential landing spot for him.
03:34John Harbaugh has acknowledged
03:36he's a big fan of Caleb Downs.
03:38He even called him, I think, a potential Hall of Famer
03:40in one of his pre-draft interviews.
03:42And yeah, maybe he's just tipping his hand
03:44or hoping that his comments about Downs
03:46will get another team interested in taking him early,
03:49and that will push someone else to the Giants.
03:50But when you look at what Harbaugh has had
03:53in recent years with the Ravens,
03:54they played three safeties a lot there
03:57with Kyle Hamilton.
03:58They traded for a Lowy Gilman last year,
04:00and they've had Ardarius Washington,
04:02who we brought into the New York Giants this year as well.
04:04So they always have a trio of good safeties.
04:07I think you can make the case
04:09that the Giants have a decent safety trio.
04:11They have Javon Holland, they signed Washington,
04:13and then they also have Tyler Newbin,
04:15who was a recent second-round pick.
04:16But Downs could be the best defensive player in this class.
04:19So I think Harbaugh might look at it and say,
04:22hey, I want to use three safeties.
04:23I want to get an elite guy at the position.
04:26Caleb Downs could end up being the pick there.
04:28So I really like his fit there.
04:29So I'd be leaning on the under for his draft status.
04:31I think he could potentially fall outside the top 10.
04:34But I think as this gets closer,
04:38more and more of these guys at nontraditional positions
04:40like running back, safety, linebacker,
04:42they're going to get pushed up the board
04:44because they are the blue chip players
04:46in this year's class.
04:48Yeah, right now, Downs plus 380,
04:50as we showed you, to be the number five overall pick.
04:53But Sonny Stiles, a little bit of shorter odds.
04:55Jeremiah Lovett, 5-1.
04:56And then a lot of other players
04:58could still very much be involved.
04:59We are just scratching the surface of odds
05:03in the NFL draft.
05:04Meanwhile, last year, the Las Vegas Raiders
05:07took a running back early in the NFL draft.
05:10Will the Tennessee Titans, Jacob, do the same?
05:13We know that Jeremiah Lovett is going to be
05:14the first running back off the board.
05:17And the Titans are plus 100.
05:19Wow, those are really short odds
05:21to take a running back there.
05:22I believe Lovett will be better than Jente in the NFL.
05:26I just don't believe that teams are sold
05:29on taking a running back so early.
05:31Do you think the Titans are that team to do it?
05:34I think the Titans very well
05:35could be the team to do it, Craig.
05:37And I think under normal circumstances
05:38in a normal draft, I would tend to agree with you.
05:41Running backs, if they go in the top 10,
05:43it has to be a team that's kind of ready to win now.
05:45But I don't think you would describe
05:47the Titans as that necessarily.
05:49However, this draft is a little light
05:51on blue chip talents at those positions
05:53like wide receiver, offensive tackle.
05:55There's a lot of good edge rushers,
05:57but really the blue chip players
05:58at those premium positions are few and far between.
06:01So I think you look at a team like the Titans,
06:03who they've spent a lot in free agency.
06:05They've brought in a lot of upgrades.
06:07They've addressed their defensive line,
06:08trading for Jermaine Johnson,
06:10signing John Franklin Myers.
06:12They signed Wondell Robinson to play a receiver.
06:14They've added a couple of cornerbacks
06:15in a Latte Taylor and Cordero Flott.
06:17So they still need talent
06:19at pretty much every position,
06:20but because of the depth they've added,
06:22I think they can afford to target a guy
06:24like Jeremiah Love,
06:25who would just be a massive asset for Cam Ward
06:28as he continues his development.
06:29You can really rely on Love
06:30as a true three down playmaker.
06:32So I like the idea of them targeting him.
06:35He's one of the few blue chip players
06:37that'll be on the board
06:38with the number four overall pick.
06:39So it wouldn't surprise me at all
06:40if Love ends up being the guy
06:42for Robert Sala there.
06:44And by the way, Love plus 140 right now
06:47to be the number four overall pick.
06:49David Bailey at plus 330.
06:52Reuben Bain from Miami at six to one.
06:55Carnell Tate and Sonny Stiles.
06:57Those are the two names to keep an eye on
06:59inside 10 to one odds.
07:02Jacob, as always, appreciate the insight.
07:04We'll be catching up with you
07:05pretty much every week
07:06all the way through the NFL draft.
07:08Thanks for coming on.
07:10Sounds good, Craig.
07:10Talk to you soon.
07:11.
07:11.
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