00:00We head out to the Make It Right Call, Kyle Wright Hotline.
00:03Our next guest is going to be on the path to the NFL draft all week long on the NFL
00:09Network.
00:09The path to the draft airs Monday through Friday at 6 p.m. Eastern on NFL Network.
00:15The great Bucky Brooks, NFL Network analyst, joins us now.
00:19Bucky, welcome to the show.
00:21Hey, thanks for having me on.
00:22Well, it's always great to have you on.
00:23It feels more official that we're 10 days away from the draft now that you are on.
00:27Let's start with the Browns at 6.
00:29Do you think the Browns are in a good spot in the draft with a No. 6 pick?
00:35Yeah, I think so.
00:36I mean, I think everything that they may want to attack from a need standpoint can be handled with No.
00:416 and No. 24.
00:42I think a lot of it is beyond their control in terms of what happened with the first five picks.
00:47But I think they are going to have an opportunity to get a really good player.
00:51And then it just comes down to which need and which player do they value the most.
00:57All right, so you said needs twice there.
00:59Are you of the belief then that they have to address some of their needs?
01:02Or should they just go best player available at 6 and let's just run it in and whoever that is
01:06is whoever that is?
01:09Look, I think it's a nuanced thing.
01:11When people talk about like best player available, in a perfect world, you do want to take the best player
01:15available.
01:16But you hope that it also feels a need.
01:18Now, what you don't want to do is because you have a huge need at one area, you kind of
01:24go out of sorts and you draft somebody who isn't as good as the top players on the board because
01:28you want to feel that need.
01:30I think this lines up for the Browns where offensive line need.
01:34They may need a tackle.
01:35Okay, well, you're talking about six.
01:37There's going to be plenty of tacklers that are there that kind of rate in that area.
01:4024, same thing when it comes to the tack class or wide receiver class or whatever.
01:44So they're going to have plenty of options in terms of how they want to build their team.
01:49I mean, they'll have to make a decision, okay, which gives us the best opportunity to put together the best
01:55group.
01:56We went crazy over their rookie class last year.
01:59Well, if we take this player here, this gives us an opportunity to get a better player later.
02:04Or if we take this player early, man, we may not get as good of a player later.
02:09So do we want to flip the order in terms of how we attack our needs?
02:13Bucky, what would your reaction be if the Browns took an edge rusher at six?
02:20I guess it depends on which one because here's what I'll say about the edge rusher class.
02:26While there's some really, really good players, there's not a Miles Garrett in this class.
02:32There's not a guy that I would say that you would say is a top five pick, a consensus top
02:39five pick in any draft.
02:41There's not a transcendent talent.
02:43So if they took one, great, he'll be the complement.
02:46And these guys are that I would say they're more Robin than Batman.
02:50So if you take a Reuben Bane or any of the other guys at the top, it'd be the perfect
02:55complement to Miles Garrett.
02:56But make no mistake, Miles Garrett would be the focal point of the defensive game plan because he's going to
03:00be the more talent,
03:02the more transcendent of the stars on their front line.
03:05Do you feel like Jeremiah Love's going to make it to six for the Browns to be able to take
03:09him?
03:09And if he did, what would your thoughts be on pairing him with Judkins?
03:14That's an interesting one.
03:15No one has ever talked about the Browns taking a running back, Jeremiah Love, at six.
03:18But he very well could be there because the closer we get to the draft, the more the conversation has
03:23been,
03:24oh, are we really going to take a running back that high?
03:26And if you look at the spots, I mean, so the Jets appear locked in to David Bailey.
03:32The Cardinals could be in the conversation at three for Love.
03:35The Titans, everyone thought that would be a play, but maybe not.
03:38They're going to be defensively.
03:39And then the Giants.
03:40So there's a possibility, a strong possibility, that Jeremiah Love could be there for the Browns to take at six.
03:47Then they have to make a decision on whether they feel good enough about him and Judkins to make the
03:53move,
03:53or do they feel like they have a more pressing need at another spot?
03:55Bucky Brooks, NFL analyst and NFL network analyst on the Make It Right Call, Kyle Wright Hotline.
04:02So one of my favorite things, Bucky, is I love hearing scouts and draft nicks talk about their favorite guys,
04:09right?
04:10Not necessarily of specific fits for specific teams, but just guys that they love watching play ball
04:16and that they're excited to see what they do in the NFL.
04:19Who are a couple guys that when you've cut on that tape, when you've watched them just stand out to
04:24you,
04:24regardless if it were the Browns or position or anything like that?
04:28Kyle Lewis, the linebacker from Pittsburgh, linebacker safety, whatever he is, from Pittsburgh,
04:34he stands out to me just because of the energy that he plays with, his knack for creating splash plays,
04:40how he's always around the ball and the impact that he makes.
04:43He's one, Jacob Rodriguez from Texas Tech is another one, strong nose for the ball, always around it,
04:50has a knack for just making plays.
04:52I love those two guys.
04:54When it comes to the offensive side of the ball, I'm going to say that Jordan Tyson, to me, is
05:00terrific.
05:01He's wide receiver one, but it's the injuries.
05:04If he's not injured, I'm telling you, this guy reminds me so much of Jackson Smith and Jigler.
05:08It's crazy.
05:10Running back, Emmitt Johnson, slow 40 time, it's kind of thrown him out of the conversation.
05:15It's kind of taken some of the buzz away.
05:17When you watch him play in Nebraska in the Big 12, in the Big 10, he lit it up.
05:21He's a fantastic player.
05:23And then one other player I would say strikes me as a guy that's going to play for a long
05:27time,
05:28A.J. Halsey, the safety from LSU.
05:31Man, he just can play in the box.
05:33He can play the deep path.
05:34He has a nose for the ball.
05:35Those guys are always kind of in the mix.
05:37And so, for me, I am all about those guys.
05:39Yeah, Bucky, we've talked a lot about Tyson on this show.
05:41Nick and I both are big fans.
05:43But it does come down to the injury history.
05:45If the Browns like him more than they like Carnell Tate,
05:49how much should that be of kind of a risk for the Browns
05:53if they have to weigh out the injuries in part of this equation?
05:58I would say that it is a big part of the situation, right?
06:04Because if it was one injury, that's one thing.
06:06But if you have ACL, MCL, PCL, if you have a broken collarbone,
06:11you didn't have this hamstring injury, you missed maybe 18 games in college.
06:15I mean, that's a lot of DMPs.
06:18So, you have to feel real confident in whatever your doctors and your medical team says
06:22about his long-term prognosis.
06:25If it's strictly to Tate, and Tate speaks for itself,
06:28he is a true number one receiver.
06:30And a draft that doesn't have many number one receiver candidates, if at all.
06:35He is a true one.
06:36That's where the debate is.
06:38I think you're probably talking about mid-to-late first round with Jordan Tyson
06:43because of the injuries in those things.
06:45It's hard for me to imagine that he would get out of the first round of that.
06:47So, with that, are the Browns low expectations this year outside of Cleveland?
06:54They've got a new head coach.
06:56It's an uncertain quarterback room.
06:59Some people accuse them of basically delaying until 2027 for the quarterback spot in totality.
07:06Should that make them more likely to take that risk or less likely to take that risk?
07:12Look, I think we're going to mitigate the risk as much as possible.
07:15So, if you have two first-round picks, you want to make sure that let's nail the first one.
07:20And if we're going to gamble a little bit, let's gamble on the second one
07:22because we view that as a bonus pick.
07:24But it's really important that early, you want to hit singles and doubles.
07:29You don't want to have strikeouts.
07:30So, you want to get on base.
07:31You want to make sure you get a good player at the right thing.
07:34And hopefully, he plays to that level.
07:35And then, if you're going to gamble on a wild card, you would hope that a guy like Jordan Tyson
07:42not only stays healthy, but he plays like he played when he was at Arizona State
07:46because if that guy shows up, the league has problems.
07:50Buck, I saw you weighing in on the Fernando Mendoza-Tye Simpson discourse.
07:54What do you feel like has happened within that?
07:56Is Ty Simpson, is he a better prospect than maybe some people have let on?
08:01And conversely, is Fernando Mendoza maybe not as good as some people have let on?
08:05Look, I think the truth lies somewhere in the middle.
08:07I would say that the Fernando Mendoza conversation probably was a little out of control
08:14just given the flashes that we saw in the college football playoff.
08:18If you look at the numbers, the numbers were sub-200 yards when it comes to passing yards.
08:23Normally, when we see a quarterback have those kind of numbers,
08:26as we're talking about number one overall pick,
08:28we have major questions about how he can carry the team to the winner's circle
08:32at the highest level.
08:34And when we think about, like, Ty Simpson,
08:38the big thing with Ty Simpson is all of the movements and the mechanics are flawless.
08:43I mean, he looks like you want your kid to look if he was a quarterback playing in youth ball
08:48and how the footwork and the timing and everything is great.
08:51However, I mean, pitching starts is not a great list.
08:57Anthony Richardson is on that list.
08:59I mean, Mitch Trubisky, you have Cam Newton, who's a bit of the outlier.
09:03I mean, we're talking about, man, we have some epic flops during that list.
09:09So, can he find his way quickly to get back on track,
09:14to give him a chance to have success in the league?
09:17That's going to be the thing.
09:19If it can start, how quickly can you adapt to the game
09:23and figure it out and let it come to you?
09:25Bucky, we always haggle over franchise players, blue chippers,
09:29all these different terms, you know, even franchise quarterback
09:33versus system quarterback, all these different things.
09:35Let's just get to whatever your, whether it's elite, blue chip, franchise,
09:40how many blue chip type prospects do you see in this draft
09:44and who do you think they are?
09:46Yeah, that's interesting.
09:48I quoted about this on NFR.com this week.
09:50I think I had seven or eight that fell in that category.
09:55It was the usual suspects, right?
09:56It would be like David Bailey, you're Galeone from Penn State.
10:04We're talking about Spencer Fano being in that category, Caleb Downs,
10:07Arville Reese.
10:10All those guys were falling to it.
10:12But I would say the elite of the elites,
10:15I would say it's about eight.
10:16But I will say they're more what we call Pro Bowl caliber guys
10:21or first-round picks in this draft than any other one that I've been around
10:25just in terms of, like, really good players
10:28but not necessarily as many stars.
10:31Well, yeah, what can you teach us about this draft
10:33as we try to figure out, obviously the Browns have a lot of picks,
10:36six and 24, but positionally and the depth attached to it,
10:40what can you teach us about it?
10:43I would say positionally you're on the early run for offensive tackle
10:47because the first seven or eight are really good.
10:49But when they go, there's a huge drop-off.
10:51Pass racial class is solid.
10:53Key contributors, starters, guys that will make some impact plays.
10:57Not generational talent like a Miles Garrett, et cetera,
11:00but really high-end players that can be able to harass quarterback consistently.
11:04When I think about the wide receivers, solid starters, no Jamar Chase types,
11:11no Justin Jefferson, just really, really good football players
11:14who can shine in their roles.
11:16It is one where if you know what you're looking for, I'll say this lastly,
11:20linebackers, really good linebacker class.
11:23Off-ball linebackers, guys that can kind of play in the middle of the defense
11:26and handle all the responsibilities.
11:28This is one of the better classes that we're seeing.
11:30Maybe we'll get a first-round game in the mix,
11:33but in terms of playing the game and operating
11:36and doing the things that this is supposed to do,
11:37the linebacker class is going to be solid.
11:39Bucky, one before we go, who is the best offensive lineman in this draft
11:44and where will they play on the NFL offensive line?
11:49I said it depends on your kid.
11:52To me, he's the best offensive lineman.
11:54I think he plays a guard.
11:56If people had stones, if they had onions, they'd take him to the top 10, top 5.
12:01That's how good he is.
12:02But people won't.
12:03They resist the urge, and maybe he falls outside the top 10, top 11.
12:07But to me, without question, he's the best one in the class.
12:11Bucky, great stuff as always.
12:13Love the perspective.
12:14Love the passion.
12:15And again, like I said, we got 10 days to the draft.
12:18It feels like the march to the draft is official because you joined us.
12:22We appreciate you.
12:23Thanks for having me on.
12:24Thanks for having me on.
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