- 15 hours ago
Category
đ„
SportsTranscript
00:0014 days away from the NFL draft, so it's time for another mock draft from the New York Post Sports.
00:06Look, we done done it all. We've played it safe with our picks, we've gotten aggressive,
00:10had some trade backs, trade ups, did a seven-round mock draft, and today, because of some not-so-sexy,
00:18I want to be traded news in Giants land. We're testing the market and seeing what or who Joe
00:23Shane, John Harbaugh, and the Giants can get for Pro Bowl deep tackle Dexter Lawrence. It's all
00:29here and more in the mock draft 8.0. Brandon London here representing Blue Rush. Frankie
00:35Vitterini representing Gangs Are here. It's our Giants and Jets show and podcast for the New York
00:40Post. I said it when you walked in here. I'm not going to like doing this daggone mock draft. I
00:47don't want to trade Dexter Lawrence. Darn it. But like John Harbaugh said the other day,
00:53everybody's tradable, or anyone can be traded. I don't know. I just got to paraphrase that one.
00:58But basically, you can get up out of here. That's basically what he said there. So yeah,
01:04man, we got to do it. I don't know when that call is going to come, who it's going to
01:08come from. But
01:09I'm thinking like the Giants are thinking, if the value is there, then I don't care.
01:15Yep. And you know what? John Harbaugh made it clear, you don't want to be here, get on out of
01:21here. He
01:22made that clear. He wants players that want to be there, man. You look at what makes him so special
01:27as a
01:27head coach, man. He doesn't, if the player doesn't want to be there. Now they're saying it's through
01:31his agent. Yeah. Dexter Lawrence actually does. His agent wants him to get paid or whatever.
01:36Denard Wilson wants him to be here. Dexter Lawrence shouldn't be paid like the 11th highest paid
01:41defensive tackle there. I think we can all agree with that. It's just the timing kind of threw
01:45everybody off. But at the end of the day, it gave us a little something to go off of for
01:50our mock draft
01:518.0 this time. Let's go. What it could be like if Dexter, if the Giants do decide to part
01:57ways with
01:58Dexter Lawrence and they get that call on draft day. Everything's still the same. The Jets hold
02:02two and 16, the second and 16th overall pick in the first round and the 33rd overall pick in the
02:09second round. The Giants still have five in the first and 37th in the second. But for how long?
02:19Uh, let's start this draft off. Uh, let's kick this thing off because I don't know. Have you been
02:24seen any mock draft out there that has changed when it comes to the number one overall pick
02:31Fernando Mendoza going to the Raiders? I just haven't seen it yet. You know, I can't remember
02:35maybe the Trevor Lawrence's year. He was the clear cut. Okay. That never changed. But sometimes I
02:42mean, even last year you saw a few mocks where Cam Ward wasn't going. Well, um, the interesting thing
02:47with Mendoza, he's not going to the draft like Trevor Lawrence. He's not going. And, uh, there's
02:52a lot of, uh, debate now online about, um, should they think about paying players? I know
02:58you're Mr. Showtime. Should they start paying players to show up for the draft? I mean,
03:02it is an appearance. It is an appearance. And now these college kids are getting paid
03:07more for less. So if you're going to use me for your ESPN or NFL network broadcast, not
03:13only do you got to fly me out, you got to fly my mama, my, my, my, my baby mama.
03:18You
03:18got to fly all the sugar mama, fly them all out. Dang it. We're all going to be at the
03:23green
03:23room. If you want me to be there or else I'm gonna just have a party at the house. So,
03:27all
03:27right. Mendoza goes off the board first. I wonder what that, that excitement's going
03:32to look like at his house when they do announce that pick probably gonna be real dry, but doesn't
03:37matter. He's first round pick. I'm talking about him. Now you, sir, off the board, on
03:41the board. I just want to shut up now. So, uh, you're on the board. All right, Brandon,
03:47do you know what's happened in the last week or so? Have you looked online with some of the
03:51murmurs about who the jets are getting at too? Cause we had our Val Reese here for a bunch
03:56of mocks. Most people had our Val Reese here in their mocks. You've had David Bailey
04:00a couple of times. You kind of switched to a little, a little something here, a little
04:03something there. I think the jets, now that they've gone through their diligence and looked
04:09at these two prospects, which it's come down to those two are Val Reese and David Bailey
04:14at two. You clearly see a player, David Bailey, that can instantly upgrade your pass rush.
04:23And I know people online are talking about run stopping and setting the edge and all this
04:28stuff. I understand that, but Texas tech had the best rush defense in college football last
04:34year. Okay. And they only gave up 2.2 yards to carry. So, uh, and, and there's clips of
04:39David Bailey being pretty good against the run. He's not a run stopper by any stretch of the
04:43imagination, but it's not a detriment enough considering how good of a pass rusher he is just
04:50now, just before I walked into this beautiful studio, David Bailey's now has a higher odds to
04:57go second overall overall than our Val Reese. That just happened about 20 minutes ago from the
05:03taping of this. So, um, it's the pick. Every single one of your picks at two has been defensive
05:11players. So there's nothing anyone can do, or I guess all the pro days, all the measurements to all
05:18the forties had been ran, but no one, not one offensive player in this draft has kind of enticed
05:25you to at least flirt with taking them at number two. Good question. Um, I thought about Carnell
05:32Tate a bunch. Oh, really? I have. And, uh, the only reason I have is because Garrett Wilson's not
05:39going to be here forever. And we have to think about a day where Garrett Wilson's not here or a
05:47game where Garrett Wilson's not playing due to injury or whatever. He missed a bunch of games last
05:51year. Um, you need somebody else. If Garrett Wilson's not out there, we are screwed offensively.
05:57There's no doubt about that. He's probably the most important skill. He is the most important skill
06:01position player on our team. So I've thought about Carnell Tate there. Carnell Tate though,
06:07wasn't a wide receiver one at OSU. Now I know Jeremiah Smith is one of the best prospects that
06:13you're going to see at the receiver position. So obviously you're not going to be the one guy there,
06:19but, um, I haven't seen enough production from, from Carnell Tate for me to say, just get him at two
06:24Makai lemons got deficiencies in size. And then Tyson's, um, got injury, uh, lengthy injury
06:32history that I'm not comfortable there. So that's, I'm not taking Jeremiah. I love it too.
06:36Unless, I mean, unless Bruce Hall, it doesn't want to plan the franchise tag and they're not going to
06:40extend him by July 15th, which is a deadline for them. But no, I'm not thinking offense there.
06:46Let's see. Let's see. Did Bruce tweet on? No, he didn't tweet after that. Okay.
06:50Bruce, what you up to? You might be working out. All right. All right. Uh, sorry.
06:54So we got three and four, let's say the Cardinals take Arvel Reese. You just gifted them a generational
07:00linebacker at four. Wait. Oh, nobody yet. Nobody yet. Tennessee Titans take sunny styles.
07:11Ooh. Okay. So that means that, okay. Carnell Tate still on the board. Caleb Downs is still on the
07:17board. I'm Joe Shane. Ladies and gentlemen, my phone's buzzing again. Let me, it's the Miami Dolphins
07:24trying to trade up to five. What are they offering? 11. Not enough. No, I gotta go. I gotta,
07:31I gotta go. I'm doing a mock draft right here, guys. Uh, not enough, not enough for me to trade
07:36five, especially when we all know in this war room right now, this make-believe war room
07:41who we want. And there's a reason we want this player because when you think about John Harbaugh
07:46and the players that he has had in this position, hall of famers and future hall of famers. So with
07:52the fifth pick of the 2026 NFL draft, the New York football giants select Ohio state safety,
08:00Caleb Downs. Ooh, you got to, he's a four, no pun intended. I'm gonna see how many down puns I
08:05can
08:06get up in here, but he's a four down player. You're going to get down or lay down when you
08:11see this man
08:12running the alley. I talked about when I watched him on tape, you know, cause I was wondering like,
08:16is he just another product of a great pass rush at Ohio state? Great defensive line, great front
08:23seven. We see it all the time. Their corners end up being a little bit shaky when they get taken
08:29in
08:29the first round. No, this kid is safety and he can do it all. He can play in the box.
08:33You can play him
08:34up top. I don't even want to put him in a deep third because that's just going to be, it's
08:37just going
08:38to be boring. He's just going to be sitting there in the deep third, maybe go over the top,
08:42rob a deep route or something like that. But I want the, I want this guy to be range free.
08:47Like
08:47I like my chicken. What is it? Cage free range free chicken. He, this kid can run, man. He can
08:54run.
08:54And I know you're thinking like, why don't you take Mansoor Delaney? Why don't you pick up the phone
08:58trade back? You know, Paulson, the Debo didn't show up to the first day of voluntary workouts. You wonder,
09:04could there be something there? Did they tell the agent he may be on the trade block?
09:08Or it could be, Hey, this guy's going into his sixth, seventh year in the NFL. He doesn't need
09:13to work out with the strength and conditioning coordinator. He can work out where he is,
09:17wherever he is, and he'll still get right. So, you know, I kind of flirted with that idea of taking
09:22Mansoor Delaney. But at the end of the day at five, I got to take the player who I think
09:27can come in
09:28and be a part of a franchise reset. And this Caleb down kids, man, this kid, he showed one, he
09:34shows up
09:34on tape on the defensive side of the football. But what's special about him and makes him Ed Reed
09:40ish. I'm not calling him Ed Reed. He can score. The kid got what? What? Three punt returns for
09:48touchdowns. He's a safety that punt returns. You don't hear, you don't, you never hear about that.
09:54So what that tells you is the kid is an athlete. He's instinctual. He's a football player. He's
09:59explosive. So you have him in that secondary. That automatically is going to make the secondary
10:04better. But at the end, but when you're thinking of it at five, I'm John Harbaugh, the $20 million
10:10man. I got to get this thing right. And I feel like Caleb Downs is a safest pick right there
10:15at five.
10:16I agree a hundred percent. And the thing with Caleb Downs is how smart he is. Yeah,
10:21he will quarterback that entire defense. There are so many moving parts on that Giants defense that
10:27could be really interesting and really good. Yep. You need somebody back there to hold it
10:32down. Absolutely. And that's what Caleb Downs will do. I think John Harbaugh meet this kid and
10:36we'll fall in love with him. There's a reason he started as a true freshman for Nick Saban's
10:41Alabama defense. That's saying a lot. That is led the team in tackles also saying a lot.
10:46That's saying a lot. So I think once John Harbaugh meets Caleb Downs, I think that's a match made.
10:51And then obviously coming from Baltimore, where he saw what Kyle Hamilton did for him.
10:55Hamilton. That's going to have a little bit of an effect on him too. Yep. Jim Leonard. He's had
11:00Jim Leonard back there. I was going to say Will Demps. He's had so many safeties, bro.
11:06Gino Stone, remember, had that big year. You're right. And then he went to get paid somewhere
11:11else and we haven't heard from him. So John Harbaugh, I know he's not coaching the safeties
11:15per se or the DBs like a Nick Saban. Nick Saban is very hands-on as a head coach and
11:21his DBs.
11:22But the guy has an eye. Harbaugh has an eye. Denard Wilson, defensive coordinator, DB has
11:28got a DB background. Those guys got an eye. And I understand there's other positions that
11:33you need, that you need better production from. But, you know, you got to shore up that
11:37back end as well. And Caleb Downs is that guy.
11:40I'm going to throw something to you that you just threw to me.
11:42What's that? Why didn't you draft an offensive player? Because you have the
11:46receiver and tape. Yep. You have Jeremiah Love there. Are you, are you getting the
11:51itch to take one of those guys? No, you know, I just, I feel as though I'm going to
11:55address the receiver room or the running back room in that second round. Or, you know,
12:00look, Dexter Lawrence is, is on the, on the block. We're fielding calls for Dexter
12:05Lawrence. So who knows what we could get for him? We may be able to, you know, you would
12:10obviously, you would obviously have to draft his replacement, but you may be able to get
12:14something. You may be able to get some good value for that. So I'm going to wait until
12:19as is, I think I'm going to wait until the second round, the flirt when it comes to that
12:23offensive position. But right now I like, don't love my receiver room. I really like my running
12:28back room so I can hold off a little bit on the carbs. I can hold off on the carbs.
12:34All right. We have to take on the next pick. Yep. Yep. Yep. Good rounds. They're looking
12:38for a wide receiver one. Okay. Commanders get Jeremiah Love staying in the division
12:43right there. So you have a Jeremiah Love going there. I think Washington obviously
12:47needs to operate that running back room and help out Jaden as much as they can.
12:51Saints, Mansour, Delaney, we've had this before. Yep. Makes sense. They need someone at corner.
12:56Stays in Louisiana. Yeah. Yeah. That's how they talk down there. Whoa. What did they talk
13:00down there? Whoa. I could never do that. Oh, I love this pick at nine. Go ahead. Go ahead.
13:05Yeah. So this pick is an interesting one. Yeah. And it's funny when we put this pick together
13:09about a few hours later, Albert Breer mentioned this with Todd McShay that this is a possibility.
13:14All right. The Chiefs getting Kenyon Sadiq, man. Oh my gosh. Think about Patrick Mahomes buying
13:21time in that pocket, man. That 4-3-9 speed from Kenyon Sadiq just streaking across the middle
13:27of the field. You know, Travis isn't playing forever and he's been declining. That pick makes
13:33too much sense. And that pick saves Travis Kelsey because Travis Kelsey will still get
13:37about 30-ish, 40 balls in the season. But this will be your focal point. Travis, you teach
13:44this kid everything you know. That's such a good point. Let him be the focal point. And
13:48now if you're in a 12-pack, 12 personnel, one running back, two tight ends, they're going
13:53to have to have big on big. So now Travis Kelsey is going to get the one-on-one matchup
13:58with
13:58some Will linebacker or some Sam linebacker. And I think he still has enough juice in the tank
14:05to win that matchup. Maybe not against a premier coverage safety or premier coverage linebacker,
14:10but you can win that matchup. So that'd be great. The Bengals take Reuben Bain Jr.
14:16I'm going to fly through this. Cowboys, Dylan Thieneman, he flies down to the top 12. I like that
14:22kid, man. He's got some really good tape. The Rams take Makai Lemon. You don't know what they're
14:26going to do with Devontae Adams. You've heard that. They're taking calls for him. Giants,
14:31make that call if you need to. You know what I was thinking with that pick, Brandon, too?
14:36You know, sometimes teams just like a kind of archetype at a position. The Rams loved Puka
14:41Nakua. The Rams before that loved Cooper Cup. Makai Lemon kind of fits that, doesn't he?
14:47Yeah, he does. They have a liking towards that. So they're just probably going to pick him,
14:51I was thinking, you know, at that spot. It just makes, I mean, they might not, you might think,
14:56well, why would they take Makai Lemon when they have someone like that in Puka?
14:59They like receivers like that. They had Cooper Cup and Puka on the same field for how long?
15:03So, I mean, it's, they, they, they like that. You know what I really like?
15:07What? The word archetype.
15:09Oh, that word I've been using. The archetype. You like the archetype word? Archetype.
15:13Just like the good word, man. That's a good word.
15:15I'm going to treat this like Madden. I'm going to simulate the next couple of picks.
15:19Now we're, you're on the clock again at 16, sir. And this is a, you've been to, you've been to
15:25Jets draft parties before.
15:27I feel like what you do at two is kind of expected. Jets nation expects that.
15:32But what you do at 16, Darren Mugey, Frankie Mugey, this is what's going to define your GM ship.
15:41Yes, sir.
15:42Your tenure as a GM. You're on the clock, sir.
15:46You know, when you have a receiver like Garrett Wilson out there, the only way you can stop Garrett Wilson
15:52is by having what they call inside and out coverage.
15:55You have your D-backs, your linebackers shading towards him a little bit more, right?
16:00You can't do that when you got this pick coming in because you're taking Jordan Tyson.
16:05I'm taking Jordan Tyson here at 16.
16:07I'm bringing in literally almost an identical version of Garrett Wilson, and I'm inserting him into this offense.
16:15You know what's harder than guarding one Garrett Wilson?
16:18Two Garrett Wilsons!
16:19You get a Garrett Wilson! You get a Garrett Wilson!
16:23I know people want someone that can compliment Garrett Wilson.
16:28So Kaz in his post-sports plus piece had Denzel Boston going to the Jets in one of his mocks.
16:34Listen, you know what, man? Football is about scoring points, and I don't care how you do it.
16:40I don't care how it looks, but if guys are good at doing that, getting the ball in that 10
16:46-yard end zone, that's what Jordan Tyson does.
16:48He had one of the highest receiving touchdown rates out of any receiver.
16:53He doesn't really drop the ball.
16:54He makes every contested catch that he really can, and he's extremely elusive.
17:00You never know what he's going to do next.
17:03He's like a ballroom dude.
17:04Him and Garrett, corners are going to have fits out there.
17:07They're not going to know.
17:07Is he going inside, outside?
17:08Is he running a stop and go?
17:10Is he doing the post-corner?
17:11You don't know what these guys do.
17:13Those are the kind of receivers, I think, that help a quarterback, too.
17:17And these guys are scheme-dependent.
17:20Or, excuse me, they're not scheme-dependent.
17:22Garrett and Jordan Tyson were like, I don't know what this offense is going to look like,
17:26but I know that when Jordan Tyson and Garrett Wilson are out there, they don't need the scheme to get
17:31them open.
17:32They can get open on their own.
17:33Yeah, and you can't pass up on a wide receiver like that, especially if it's a guy that you like.
17:38And there's already that news out there that they passed up on Jackson, Smith, and Jigba a couple years ago.
17:44And I feel like this is a kid that can come in, if healthy, can have that type of JSN
17:48production in his first two years.
17:50If anything, if he stays healthy, I think Geno Smith falls in love with this kid, and he ends up
17:56taking some balls away from Garrett Wilson.
17:58And I'm not saying that as a bad thing.
18:00You know, Garrett Wilson, what, 90-catch guy all three years he's been in the league so far.
18:06But if he goes down to a 75 to 80-catch year, and now you've got another receiver on the
18:12opposite side, that's a 40-50-catch guy,
18:16I'm okay with that because that now takes hits off of his body.
18:19That now adds some longevity to him.
18:21And most importantly, like you said, when you talk about that INO coverage, that in-and-out,
18:26always shading a back or always shading a nickel wheel or safety over the top,
18:31that now, if Jordan Tyson can step in and do what he's supposed to do and show why he was
18:37one of the finalists for the Bolitnikoff Award,
18:39now that safety goes from skewing like that to having to go right back to that middle, right back to
18:46the middle.
18:46And there's even going to be times where I'm a defensive coordinator.
18:49I'm going to be like, all right, let me take my second corner and then put the safety over the
18:54top.
18:54And now I'll put my first corner on Jordan Tyson.
18:57This kid, by the middle of the season, he should be man enough or he should now be able to
19:02drop his cojones
19:03and be NFL-ready enough to beat a CB1 consistently in this NFL.
19:09So, I like to pick.
19:11I like to pick.
19:12And there's five guys at that spot.
19:14I love five guys.
19:15Do you?
19:16It's all right.
19:17It's good food.
19:17Five guys is whatever.
19:18Three peanuts.
19:19You ever go to Bear Burger?
19:21Never heard of it.
19:22You ever heard of Bear Burger?
19:23I've never heard of Bear Burger.
19:23Dude, Bear Burger is legit, bro.
19:25They don't get enough love.
19:26All right, all right.
19:27Brian, you know about Bear Burger?
19:29How does no one know about bears?
19:30Maybe because I live in Queens.
19:32All right, so there's five guys that if one of those five is there at 16, you just take them.
19:41And you could almost shuffle them how you want.
19:44It is Carnell Tate, Makai Lemon, Vega Yohane, Jordan Tyson, and Kenyon Sadiq.
19:51I just added Kenyon.
19:52It was four guys.
19:53Now we made it five guys.
19:56So, Sadiq went, Makai went, Carnell Tate went, Vega went 14 of the Ravens.
20:02Jordan's the last guy of that five.
20:05Now, let's say the Buccaneers got Jordan Tyson, then it's an end.
20:09And they wouldn't.
20:10They have a loaded wide receiver room.
20:12But if they actually not really, they might be able to flirt with that now that Mike Evans is gone.
20:16Yeah, it's not crazy, actually.
20:18But if they got Jordan Tyson, then we're in a little bit of a pickle.
20:22We have to be a little bit creative there.
20:23But if Tyson's there, you take him.
20:25You think that's how five guys was created?
20:28There were four of them.
20:29And then one more came in and was like, guys, what about me?
20:32Yeah, four guys wouldn't sound as good.
20:34Five guys, nah, nah, nah.
20:34If it was like four guys, I don't think it would have been as popular.
20:37See, look.
20:39You get everything in the mock draft 8.0, ladies and gentlemen.
20:42I guarantee there weren't five guys.
20:44Yeah, but that was not the archetype of four guys.
20:47I was going to make a bad joke right there, but I can't be making any.
20:49All right, let's roll through this so we can get to the second round.
20:52The Lions taking Monroe Feeling.
20:55The Dallas Cowboys take Jermod McCoy.
20:57That corner.
20:58Okay, there's a corner off the board.
21:00I was talking about Mansour Delane.
21:03Now Jermod McCoy goes off the board.
21:06Cowboys fixing that secondary.
21:07Cowboys fixing that secondary.
21:09The Steelers.
21:10There was a pick you skipped through, though.
21:13At 18.
21:14Yeah.
21:15At 18, the Vikings.
21:16Jadarian Price running back.
21:17So, he goes up.
21:19The more I watch this guy and considering the other players in this draft, there is no way,
21:25in my opinion, I could be wrong.
21:26Yep.
21:26Put me on the record.
21:27Every time I do this, it's usually wrong anyway.
21:29But Jadarian Price is not going to get out of the first round.
21:32His tape is too good.
21:34And there's not enough.
21:35Without a doubt.
21:35There's not enough quality running backs.
21:37There's just not.
21:37Without a doubt.
21:38Without a doubt.
21:38The Vikings need help.
21:39He can play, bro.
21:40They need a running back.
21:41He can play, bro.
21:42Why would they take, you know, everyone has them taking Emmanuel McNeil Warren, who's really good.
21:46And we had him going 22.
21:49They're going to need help, man.
21:50They got to help the quarterbacks out over there, whoever it is, you know.
21:53So, yeah.
21:54All right.
21:55Speaking of quarterbacks, our boy, Ty Simpson.
21:57Ty goes to the Pittsburgh Steelers.
21:59I like it.
22:00We get to 23 where the Eagles take Keldrick Falk.
22:04At 24, dang, how do you have to say this name?
22:07The Cleveland Browns take Max Iannacher.
22:11Yeah, it's close to him.
22:12And something like, wait, wait a minute.
22:14Wait a minute.
22:15My phone's ringing again, bro.
22:16Damn, bro.
22:17It's the Chicago number.
22:20Chicago?
22:21You know anybody in Chicago?
22:22You know anybody in Chicago?
22:24Chicago is a grubo.
22:25Hello?
22:26Joe Shane here.
22:27That's the Joe Shane voice.
22:29Hey.
22:30Ryan Poles, what's going on?
22:31Yeah.
22:32How's Ben Johnson doing?
22:34Yeah.
22:34Okay.
22:35Caleb's still painting his nails?
22:36Yeah.
22:37Jackson Dart would never.
22:40What?
22:42For Dexter?
22:45I want, I want, I want, I want 25 and a second round pick for 2027.
22:52What do you mean?
22:53What do you mean?
22:54No, that's what the Cowboys gave up for Quinn and Williams.
22:56This is Sexy Dexy we're talking about.
22:58Three-time pro bowler.
22:59He's got his own dance.
23:00Man's got national commercials.
23:04Wait, let me, let me, let me run it by, let me run it by Don and John.
23:09They say they want to, they want Dexter and a fifth for 25.
23:15Anybody in the room?
23:16Brennan Brown, you good?
23:18Well, we have ourselves a trade, Frankie.
23:21We have ourselves a trade with the 25th.
23:24The Giants will trade Dexter Lawrence and a 2027 fifth round pick for the 25th overall pick.
23:32Now, I'm a little upset about that, Frankie.
23:35I'm not Joe Shannon anymore.
23:36I'm back to being B-London.
23:37I'm a little upset with that because I feel as though for Dexter Lawrence, you should get what the Cowboys
23:42got for Mr.
23:44Dexter, bless you, thank you, for Quinn and Williams.
23:48But anyone's tradable.
23:50And at 25, they may like somebody and they may want to add some sort of value.
23:54You know who you blame for that?
23:56Who's that?
23:56You blame your boy Carl Banks for that?
24:00Carl Banks.
24:01So, you're saying his value went down then.
24:03So, you're saying he's not worth what Quinn and Williams is worth.
24:07We've seen in NFL history the Albert Haynes worth, Christian Wilkins, defensive tackles that for whatever reason don't want to
24:15play football anymore.
24:16The fact that that was even speculated with Dexter Lawrence puts it in someone's head that who knows.
24:22And I'm not saying that's the truth.
24:23Yeah, yeah, yeah.
24:23But you never know.
24:24That was never the case with Quinn.
24:26Quinn was just on a bad team for his stand-up.
24:29So was Dexter Lawrence.
24:30And there's a couple times he went to bat.
24:33There's a couple times I'm in the, you know, he's one of the two guys I don't want traded from
24:37this Giants team.
24:39Brian Burns, Dexter Lawrence.
24:40Selfishly, because I'm in the locker room, you know, our boss Ryan sends me to, you know, the Giants locker
24:46room to get interviews.
24:48I can't come back with a Brandon London interview like that type of player.
24:52I got to get a top guy.
24:53So, even when those guys do the scrum, I'll still be like, yo, Spider-Man, you got a little time
24:58for me?
24:58Or Dex, you got a little time for me?
24:59They'll give me the one-on-one.
25:01So, selfishly, yeah.
25:03And then on the football side of it, I still think the kid got some juice in his tank.
25:07He didn't have spring football because he was recovering from the elbow.
25:10Came back in the summer, got, you know, was on and off, on and off.
25:14And then just had a down year.
25:15Sometimes it takes a coach like John Harbaugh to kind of come in and throw that message out there where
25:21anybody can be traded to be like, all right, y'all want to test the market?
25:25We'll test the market.
25:26And it looks like they bit.
25:27It looks like the 25th overall pick was enough.
25:31But what that means is they could have identified that here may be a 29-year-old defensive tackle coming
25:39off a down year.
25:40He could be on that decline.
25:42Like you said, Albert Hainsworth and Christian Wilkinson.
25:45So, you don't know what it is.
25:48Again, this is mock draft 8.0.
25:50We had to spice this thing up.
25:51But with the 25th overall pick from the Chicago Bears, the New York football giant select Omar Cooper Jr., wide
26:03receiver out of Indiana.
26:07OCJ, let's go.
26:086'199".
26:10You look at his 20-25 stats, 69 catches, 937 yards, and 13 touchdowns.
26:17In fact, he had 22 touchdowns in his career.
26:21One thing I love about him, Frankie, you see when I talked about Jeremy Bernard last week, I talked about
26:26Jordan Tyson.
26:27I talked about how smooth they are, how they can run the tree.
26:30Omar Cooper Jr. has got to get a little bit better in terms of running deeper routes, really getting in
26:36and out of his breaks when it comes to that.
26:37But when the kid, OCJ, touches the ball, one, he's go-go gadget with it.
26:45He plucks and tucks.
26:46Two, it's like a transformer.
26:49He turns into a running back.
26:51This kid's got the strength.
26:53This kid's got the power.
26:54And he's got the balance to where he'll get hit.
26:58He'll catch a ball, get hit, stay on his feet, and get some really great yards after the catch.
27:04He's got the versatility to play in the slot.
27:06You can play him on the outside.
27:08Six foot, big enough.
27:09But one thing I really like about him is Matt Nagy is going to run that RPO.
27:13They're going to run that to death, I feel like.
27:15They did that in Indiana.
27:18And it seemed like he just knew what spot to be in, what hole to be in, in that second
27:26level off of the RPO.
27:28That sweet spot.
27:29Catch the ball in space.
27:31And then he just turns into a yak monster.
27:33I like this pick.
27:35They've got the speed guys.
27:38So I'm like, ah, he's not fast.
27:39Maybe he's a burner.
27:41Maybe they can get a guy a little bit faster.
27:43You know, Malik ran 4-3 something.
27:45No, he's a 4-5 guy.
27:464-4-2.
27:47He got a 10-yard, 1-5-5, 10 yards.
27:51Not a burner, but he's a guy.
27:53And they need a guy.
27:55That's a fact.
27:56They need a guy.
27:57And he can come in and be a guy.
28:00OCJ, be a guy.
28:01He 100% can.
28:03And you know what the thing with him is?
28:04What's that?
28:04You know what makes him a guy?
28:06He stays healthy.
28:07He stays healthy.
28:08He has no weaknesses in his game.
28:10There is nothing, when you look at Omar Cooper Jr. on tape, there's nothing you can point to and say,
28:15I don't like that.
28:16That's not going to work.
28:17Everything he does works.
28:18And the balance point is probably the best point that I've heard about him.
28:21His balance is awesome.
28:23It's ridiculous.
28:24He's like a cat.
28:24And it takes me to OBJ, where some of the catches I've seen him make in Giants practice,
28:29where he goes up in double coverage, 40, 50, 60 yards down the field, catches it.
28:35The defenders fall, but OBJ would stay on his feet and then be dancing the last 15, 20 yards into
28:43the end zone.
28:45It's an unmeasurable skill set for receivers.
28:48And few have it.
28:50It's like an eliteness of eliteness.
28:52And if you can catch it, again, catch it, stay on your feet.
28:55And then with this guy, the power to bounce off.
28:58Because, again, if you're catching it 20, 30 yards down the field, it's not a linebacker down there.
29:03It's not a deep tackle.
29:04It's not dudes doing 225 like you 20-plus times.
29:07It's all little guys down there.
29:09So, he's bouncing through arm tackles.
29:13I think they could have fun.
29:14I think Matt Nagy could be creative with this guy.
29:17And I think this could be a guy that could run those intermediate routes for you and really make some
29:22noise in that Giants offense on day one when he steps in there.
29:26So, I like that pick.
29:27I don't like the trade, but I like the pick.
29:30And I like where the kid's coming from, too.
29:33He's coming from a winning program.
29:34You're going to build winners with guys that come from winning places.
29:38They know what it means to win.
29:39Coming from Indiana, you just got Caleb Downs coming from Ohio State, previously Alabama.
29:44I think it's the kind of guys that John Harbaugh wants, honestly.
29:46Let's end that there and go straight to the second round.
29:49Let's get you on the board.
29:50All right, guys, we're going to go to a commercial.
29:53Not a real commercial, but a fake commercial.
29:54Actually, we're going to end it for the night.
29:56Was it a Thursday night?
29:57Yeah, yeah, let's go.
29:59Let's go.
30:00Late night happy hour.
30:01Let's go out.
30:02All right, second day.
30:03We're still in the same clothes because, you know, we love this stuff.
30:07We're in the second round now.
30:09You on the clock first at 33, sir.
30:12All right, man.
30:13You know, when you play D-tackle, right, or you're playing three-tack, you're playing end,
30:19and you go in your, you know, first play, second play of the game, kind of sets the tone.
30:25Yeah.
30:25For the rest of the game.
30:26You got some mean guys up front.
30:29You sort of think about it the rest of the game, like, damn, these dudes are beating
30:33me up.
30:33Yep.
30:34I can't get off these guys.
30:35It's going to be a long day.
30:38The Jets need to give Olu Fashanu, who's not the meanest left tackle.
30:44They got to give him a mean boy right next to him.
30:47Okay.
30:47They got to give him a guy that comes from New Jersey and is tough.
30:52Don Bosco kid squats, 705 pounds.
30:55They got to give him someone that is going to beat people up and put people down.
31:00And that guy's Chase Besantis.
31:02Okay.
31:02Yep.
31:03I want a guard in this draft and I want a mean guard.
31:08So if it's not Vega, Yohane, and we didn't have a chance to draft him unless you're going
31:12to take him at two, you go and get Chase Besantis in the second round.
31:16I am prone to maybe say wait till 44, but don't take the risk.
31:23A bunch of players that I would have liked at 33 were gone.
31:28I would have liked one of the receivers, the receiver you guys got at 25 would have been
31:33perfect there.
31:34Okay.
31:34But he went, there's nobody really after that.
31:36You really have to worry too much about or lose sleep over.
31:40But defensive tackles are going to lose sleep thinking about trying to get to the quarterback
31:45or playing on that side with Chase Besantis and Olu.
31:48The Jets need to build a differentiator.
31:53The only way forward is to differentiate today.
31:57Yep.
31:57And how do you differentiate?
31:58You can't try to build like everybody else.
32:01We have one unique thing in New York with the Jets.
32:05We have two bookend tackles.
32:07Make it even better.
32:09Make that O-line even stronger.
32:11Do what the Cowboys did in the 90s.
32:13Do what the Eagles have been doing.
32:14Build the best O-line you can.
32:16Again, I would take Vega in the first round, but again, he wasn't there.
32:19Take Chase Besantis at 33.
32:21Get some mean boys up front.
32:23You're going to set your quarterback up in the future to succeed because you're going
32:27to give him more time.
32:28And whoever that running back is, he's going to have lanes because you've got a guy like
32:31Chase there just road-grading people down the highway, man.
32:36That's how this guy plays.
32:37He's just mean.
32:38He grabs people.
32:39He launches dudes.
32:40He's constantly moving his feet.
32:41He's a mean boy.
32:42Well, I mean, you said whichever running back you got back there, Brees Hall just tweeted
32:47again, watching, and he said, you know what?
32:50With that pick, I just might sign with y'all.
32:54Hashtag BH2K.
32:56Brees Hall believes, or our fake Brees Hall right here thinks that he could run for 2,000
33:01yards behind that offensive line that you just mentioned with the two bookend tackles, and
33:08then you got a Besantis up front in the middle.
33:11And that right there shows your identity.
33:15That proves what that identity or reinforces what the identity is going to be.
33:20Gino, don't worry, Gino.
33:23We got you your receiver.
33:24We're going to work with Mason Taylor going into his second year.
33:27You already have Garrett Wilson.
33:28We're going to run the football.
33:29We wanted to do it last year, but we were down a lot.
33:32You're that quarterback that can keep us in games, and we're going to have a run game
33:36that can keep us in games.
33:38And we're going to prove it to you because not only when we have to have you on 5 or
33:42maybe even 7-step drop, 5 in the hitch or whatnot, there's no leakage up front, at least
33:49not for where Besantis is.
33:50So, Gino, go back there and cook.
33:53You're cooking with this draft right now.
33:55Let's keep this thing moving in this second round.
33:58Go ahead.
33:58Two receivers went right after or after the Cardinals got Caleb Lohm, where they need
34:04to tackle at 34.
34:05Two receivers that I was thinking about taking at 33, but I'm not there.
34:09Chris Bell, who's fantastic, by the way, on tape.
34:13He's coming off an ACL.
34:14And then you have Jeremy Bernard going to Alabama.
34:17There he goes.
34:19Going to the Raiders from Alabama.
34:21That's a good pick for Fernando Mendoza.
34:25He kind of had some receivers like that at Indiana, so you make him comfortable.
34:29Now that leaves you on the clock.
34:31See?
34:31See what happens when you trade?
34:32You get some picks, man.
34:34You just got Omar Cooper Jr.
34:35Now you're drafting again.
34:36Well, I mean, this...
34:37Look at the quality of players right now.
34:38This one was a no-brainer.
34:40You know, I'm back in the draft room.
34:41Be London Shane right here.
34:44I'm back in the draft room.
34:45This was a Joe...
34:47John?
34:48Don?
34:49This one was a no-brainer.
34:52Again, I'm Joe Shane again.
34:53We're selecting C.J. Allen, linebacker out of Georgia.
34:58164 total tackles in the two years.
35:00He's been a full-time starter at Georgia.
35:03Last year, he had three and a half sacks.
35:05That shows he can get after the quarterback if you blitz him.
35:07He also had two forced fumbles, and he got a couple of interceptions.
35:10I didn't have the right name.
35:12I love this kid in zone coverage.
35:14I'm not even going...
35:15His strength is stopping the run.
35:17Go put on the tape.
35:19This kid, he's got the explosiveness.
35:22He's not a speed backer running that 4-5-5, but he's a guy with some explosion that when
35:28he gets into that block, he explodes, disengaged, comes off, and makes the tackle.
35:34And not one of those tackles where you're falling backwards.
35:36It's a tackle where you're stopping him right where you hit him, right on contact, or he's
35:41pushing him back.
35:42But when you watch the tape and you look at his M.O., his elite skill set, the kid goes
35:49side to side.
35:50The kid goes east-west like a United flight.
35:53This kid, man, and you talk about what does the Giants need to do in 2026?
36:01What's the one thing they have to do?
36:04I don't know.
36:05Stop the run.
36:06You're right.
36:06Stop the run.
36:07So it kind of sucks that in this mock draft, you traded away Dexter Lawrence, you traded
36:12him away, and you haven't addressed that just yet.
36:15That means that you may make some trades here and there, more on draft day or trade up in
36:20this third round or trade back into the second round to get a defensive tackle that you love,
36:26that you feel as though you could replace him with.
36:28But I look at this C.J.
36:30Allen kid.
36:30He's a green dot linebacker, man.
36:32He's going to come in, and I believe he'll take over for Tremaine Edmonds as the guy
36:37one day.
36:38But it would be great to have a Tremaine Edmonds and a C.J.
36:42Allen right there, right next to each other.
36:43The only knock I have, Frankie, again, I talked about how I like him in zone coverage.
36:49His eyes.
36:50He can read route concepts.
36:52He knows someone goes out, someone's coming in.
36:55He knows someone goes low.
36:56Don't bite the cheese because they're going to throw something right behind.
36:59They're going to run something right behind my head.
37:01And he's got a couple picks where he baited quarterbacks into that.
37:05Man to man, he struggles.
37:07He's not athletic enough to run with and cover athletic tight ends and backs.
37:13That's not his game.
37:14But if you're a Denard Wilson or a Denard Wilson defense, you're going to rush and you're
37:19going to drop zone behind it, keep everything in front of you.
37:21That might play right into this guy's skill set and being able to be a force in zone coverage.
37:26I'll say this, man.
37:28That's a totally acceptable weakness for a player that's a linebacker.
37:33Yeah.
37:34Covered man to man is one of the toughest things to do for linebackers in football.
37:38Not many can do it well.
37:39So if he can't do that or he struggles, you can live with it because that boy is going
37:45downhill and he's laying the wood and you are not getting extra yards on that kid.
37:50And your linebacker room's a little shaky right now.
37:54Yeah, right?
37:54You don't know how it's going to work out.
37:56It's like the receiver room.
37:57It's like, you know, well, nah, because you got Malik Nabors is dinged up.
38:02So, you know, you got Tremaine Evans.
38:04He's really good, but he's a little, you know, a little older.
38:08So there's some question marks within that linebacker room.
38:10And again, people will be like, what?
38:12You haven't added on for Dexter.
38:13You haven't brought someone in yet.
38:15You could do that via trade.
38:16I wouldn't even bank on just having a rookie come in and try and be that anchor on the
38:21defensive line anyway.
38:23I'll probably have to make some sort of trade to bring in a vet, maybe on, you know, the
38:28fourth year of his contract or on a contract year to kind of bring in and bring him in on
38:32like one of those prove it deals.
38:34You show up and you show out and you cause chaos in the middle.
38:40Then we got a nice little bag for you on the other.
38:42Not too much, but we got a nice little bag for you more than what you'd be getting.
38:46Uh, at your other John Harbaugh wanted Roquan Smith.
38:50Yep.
38:50So, I mean, this is your Roquan Smith.
38:52This is, yeah.
38:53Yeah.
38:53Yeah.
38:54That's Ro.
38:54That's Ro right there.
38:56Uh, go ahead.
38:56Finish us off at 44.
38:59All right, man.
39:00Do you know what Aaron Glenn said when he got hired with the Jets?
39:04You know what he, uh, or what they described him as?
39:08What, what was the leader of men?
39:10There you go.
39:10There you go.
39:11You're good.
39:11You're good today.
39:12You're sharper than me today.
39:13Such a football's like, that's a cliche football terminology.
39:17That and iron sharpens iron.
39:19You hear that all the time, especially in training camp, but my bad, keep going.
39:22Or a real lunch pail guy.
39:24Yeah.
39:25Like the Mike DeVitos.
39:28You know, there's one player in this draft that's described by his coaching staff, and
39:34they came out with this, that they call him the leader of men of that defense, and they
39:38describe this guy as being a humble leader of men, and one of the best leaders that we've
39:46ever coached, and all these guys, at where?
39:49We're going back to Texas Tech, baby.
39:51We got the roommates.
39:53All right, uh-oh.
39:54David Bailey needs a little roommate, right?
39:56So, uh, listen, Jacob Rodriguez is a perfect pick for the New York Jets for a multitude of
40:03reasons.
40:03I don't have to go down and check, down the checklist of all the things he does well, but
40:08how instinctive he is, how great of a tackler he is, how he causes chaos, he punches the
40:15ball out.
40:15He had four interceptions last year.
40:17Love it.
40:17Just in one year.
40:18Love it.
40:19And out of all the things that he does so damn well, the one thing that I love about
40:25Jacob Rodriguez here is we just got DeMario Davis back, right?
40:30DeMario Davis is actually a leader of men and will teach Jacob Rodriguez the ropes of
40:38what it takes to be a great NFL linebacker.
40:40This is a can't-miss pick for the Jets.
40:43Is Jacob Rodriguez better than Anthony Hill Jr., who I really like also?
40:49Probably not in this sort of mold of linebacker.
40:52He's a little undersized.
40:54I think Anthony Hill Jr. physically does some things that Jacob doesn't do.
40:58But when you talk about having to lead the defense for the future and be the leader of
41:04men for our defense, DeMario will teach them the ropes.
41:08There you go.
41:09You just insert them right in.
41:11There you go.
41:11Just going in.
41:11Jacob Rodriguez will be a linebacker here if you take him at 44.
41:15He'll be a linebacker here for the next six or seven years, no doubt about it.
41:18You heavy in that linebacker room.
41:20You got a lot of linebackers.
41:21Yeah, a little bit heavy.
41:22I don't know if they like Sherwood that much, man.
41:25I'm a little bit of a minority.
41:26Okay, okay.
41:27I do like Jamie, and I think Jamie and Sherwood got the short end of the stick last year
41:31with the Steve Wilkes defense and CJ not being there anymore.
41:35That was his confidant when he came in.
41:38I'm not as anti-Jamie and Sherwood as others, but it seems like the team may be flirting
41:46with looking in other directions.
41:47You know what I mean?
41:48The last regime was the one that paid him.
41:50You got to think about that.
41:51That's a good point, yeah.
41:51So if you can get that up off the books, then it is what it is.
41:54Fifth round pick, too.
41:55Like we say in the NFL, IJB, it's just business.
41:59You're right.
42:00It's business.
42:00So let's recap that second round.
42:02At 33, Jets took Chase Basantis, guard from Texas A&M.
42:0737, we had the Giants taking CJ Allen, linebacker from Georgia, go Dawgs.
42:13And at pick 44, the Jets take Jacob Rodriguez, linebacker from Texas Tech.
42:18That was a draft.
42:19I was a little emotional.
42:21That was good, man.
42:21I was going to trade Dexter away, man.
42:23You know what, man?
42:24Listen, it's okay to trade players, man.
42:27I know a lot of people get sentimental value with some of these guys,
42:31and the Jets fans don't want to trade Brees.
42:33They don't want to trade sauce.
42:35Hey, man, sometimes people need to part ways.
42:39It's life.
42:40Sometimes you're going to be better off not here and we'll be better off with you not being here
42:44because it's just not working.
42:46It happens.
42:47Dang.
42:48I would never want to play for you.
42:50I would never.
42:51Where is the â you want me to run down on kickoff and fit between the wedge
42:57and hit guards and all.
42:59And you're like, you know, doesn't look like you can do that anymore.
43:02But it's okay.
43:03We're going to ship you to somewhere to where you can do that.
43:07It's okay.
43:08We're going to send you the CFL.
43:09Bring your playbook.
43:10Bring your playbook and your passport.
43:12You're going to Canada.
43:14Wow, man.
43:15All right.
43:16That was fun, man.
43:17That was fun.
43:17Y'all, we got two more of these.
43:19We're going to have one next Thursday, 9.0 for sure,
43:22and then the Tuesday before the draft.
43:24Draft is on the Thursday, the 23rd.
43:28We're going to do a final mock draft that Tuesday.
43:31So two more mock drafts for you guys coming up.
43:34For Frankie Vitterini, I'm Brandon London.
43:36Thank you for watching our New York Post Sports Mock Draft 8.0.
Comments