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Beau Bishop joins The Sports Junkies to break down the best NFL draft prospects for Washington.
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00:00Say good morning to Bo Bishop, host of Bishop and Friends on 97.1 The Fan in Columbus.
00:06Bo, thanks for the time, man. We appreciate it.
00:09My pleasure. Sounds like all my guys were there recently, huh?
00:12Yeah, they were.
00:12I think so.
00:13Hitting drivers and wedges.
00:16I like it.
00:16There you go. That'll help.
00:17Well, I think it's a good bit. Get the guys in there, sit down, just kind of see how they
00:21handle things.
00:23Man, what a spot to be in. Ohio State is cranking out these prospects.
00:27What was the last time a school had this many potential top 10 picks, though?
00:32Oh, my gosh. Boy, that's a Mel Kiper question.
00:35My hunch would be, you know, early 2000s Miami maybe had this many.
00:40You know, the last time Ohio State had a run like this, probably the 15 team coming out of the
00:4514th season
00:46when they won the national championship with Zeke Elliott and Joey Bosa and all those guys.
00:50Not sure how many first-rounders they have. I think they had 14 kids drafted.
00:53So they've been in this world, you know, I kind of coined them NFLU really since Urban got here in
00:59the early 2010s
01:01where they just recruit really at a really high level.
01:03They develop even better and they get them ready for the league.
01:06And so we're kind of used to this, not four top 10 guys.
01:09That's obviously abnormal, but we're used to several guys in the first round.
01:13It's just kind of the way they've done it here for the last several years.
01:16All right, so of all the guys, the four guys in particular that we're talking about at the top of
01:21it, right?
01:23Reese, Tate, Caleb Downs, and who else am I forgetting?
01:27It's Sonny Stiles.
01:29Which of those guys, now you guys are just used to signing five stars all the time.
01:33That's what happens at Ohio State.
01:35But which of these guys, when they showed up on campus, kind of the opinion was,
01:40I mean, he's 100% going to play on Sunday, maybe more than the others.
01:45I mean, it would be Sonny Stiles.
01:47So Sonny Stiles, his dad Lorenzo paid linebacker for Ohio State in the 90s.
01:51And there were whispers around town when he was like a middle schooler about how special he was.
01:55If you want to have some fun, go to YouTube and type in Sonny Stiles basketball.
02:00Because he played on one of the best AAU teams around.
02:02And if you just watch, it's just a dunk fest is what he is.
02:05It was like Lob City.
02:06And he just dunked all the time.
02:07And his junior year, he didn't play his senior year of high school, either sport.
02:11He enrolled early at Ohio State.
02:12But his junior year of high school, his team won the state basketball championship
02:16and the state football championship in Division I.
02:19And in the state basketball final, on the floor were two Mr. Ohio basketballs.
02:25And he was the best player on the court.
02:27And I just went, I don't know what you'd do with him.
02:29I have no idea where they were going to play him.
02:31Is he a safety?
02:32Is he a tight end?
02:32Is he a defensive end?
02:34And my buddy James Lord and I just got a hold of him, made him a linebacker.
02:37And the rest is kind of history.
02:38But he was one of those guys that you heard whispers about him from the time he was probably
02:4212, 13 years old.
02:43And the cool thing about him is he played a bit at safety.
02:46And he could, if he's drafted here in Washington at seven, Durante Jones, the new defensive
02:51coordinator, he has, you know, he majored in being Brian Flores' lieutenant who ran his
02:56secondary.
02:57Like, styles can be used all over the lineup.
02:59He doesn't just have to be a linebacker.
03:01He can be a pass rusher too.
03:02He can even drop into coverage.
03:04Like, he's just a freak athlete.
03:06He's a total freak athlete.
03:07You saw that at the combine.
03:09And then he's really incredibly intelligent as a football player.
03:12He really has the answers to the test.
03:14I remember when Lauren, I just got a hold of him and really convinced him to be a linebacker.
03:19It took some convincing because obviously these kids know where the money is.
03:22And he really convinced him and coached him up as kind of a hybrid.
03:26Someone who could blitz, someone who could cover tight ends, someone who could even drop
03:29over if they went to a three safety look.
03:31So, he really did a lot of those things at Ohio State.
03:34And then last year with Matt Patricia, it was just kind of a master class of defense.
03:37And they even found more ways to use him.
03:39So, yeah, to me, like, him and Caleb are like the no-brainer, safest guy ever.
03:45Like, I would be stunned if those two guys aren't 10-year NFL pros, multiple, you know,
03:50multiple Pro Bowl-type appearance guys.
03:51I'd be shocked if those two weren't.
03:52Bo, kind of compare Reese and Styles and their style of play.
03:57Well, Reese is just, right, Reese is basically Micah Parsons' light is what you're going
04:02to get with him.
04:02So, he's going to come off the edge 1,000 miles an hour.
04:06Yeah, yeah.
04:07He's going to come across.
04:08He doesn't need that.
04:08Yeah, right.
04:09Right.
04:09Yeah, you want that.
04:10Everybody wants that.
04:11So, like, yeah, I mean, he might be the overall most talented player in this whole draft.
04:15He came out of nowhere last year.
04:17There were whispers locally that he was going to be special, and then he lived up to all of it.
04:21But he did taper off as the season went along a little bit, and I'm not sure exactly what
04:27happened there.
04:27But he was shot out of a cannon in the Texas game.
04:30And with these Buckeye guys, what I tend to do is how did they play?
04:33Obviously, talent doesn't equate very often for Ohio State.
04:36So, how did you do against Texas?
04:38How did you do against Penn State?
04:39How did you do against Michigan?
04:40How did you do against Indiana, Miami?
04:42And Reese shined in most of those games.
04:44But he is a get-after-the-quarterback dude, incredible twitch, incredible athleticism, great
04:50kid, like, foundational guy, will do all the right things off the field and on.
04:55One thing about this, like, with NIL, you don't have to worry about how they're going
04:58to respond to money.
04:59All these guys are millionaires when you draft them now.
05:01Yeah, I was going to ask you, just out of curiosity, what was the 2026 or, you know,
05:0625 into 26 NIL number for Ohio State?
05:10Was it 30 million?
05:12I would imagine it would be somewhere around 40, probably, by the time all is said and
05:16done.
05:16And that's pretty much the norm.
05:18I think, you know, the Texases, the Texas Tech, the big schools are all around that number.
05:22A big deal was made of Ohio State when they won the national title in 25 that they had
05:26like a $20 million roster.
05:27And I remember thinking, number one, so what?
05:29I mean, it's legal now.
05:31And then number two, like, yeah, that's what it's going to cost now to kind of contend at
05:36that level.
05:37And it's going to only keep going up and up.
05:38So, I would imagine last year they were around 40.
05:40I mean, Jeremiah is probably six and a half on his own.
05:42All right.
05:43Talk a little about Carnell Tate, because obviously he hasn't been the top guy there yet, but
05:49we know the kind of receivers that Ohio State produces.
05:53There's a little projection going on.
05:55Some people are knocking a guy for maybe being a couple hundreds of a second shy of 4-4.
06:00It seems insane to me.
06:03The guy obviously can move certainly well enough to play the position at a high level.
06:08What kind of ceiling do you think he has?
06:12Well, to be full, for full disclosure, I work for the Cleveland Browns too.
06:15And I am praying they take him at six and just don't worry about it.
06:19Like, so I hope he goes at six.
06:20But all Carnell Tate does is catch every ball that's thrown his way always.
06:24I mean, that's the best thing I can tell you about him.
06:26If the ball gets to his hands, he catches it.
06:29He's an incredible route runner.
06:30Yeah, I mean, that wins.
06:32So he catches the ball that comes to him.
06:34He's got decent size.
06:35I keep comparing him to Tee Higgins a little bit and similarities in the 40 times and maybe
06:41some of the concern there.
06:43On this idea of not being the number one receiver at Ohio State, I mean, the guys that he was
06:47behind were Jeremiah Smith and Emeka Abuka.
06:50And Jackson Smith and Jigba was never the number one receiver here.
06:53He missed his final season here because of injuries.
06:55So he was never the number one receiver at Ohio State either.
06:58And that's worked out OK.
06:59So the reality is they just have a ton of talent, that position that they've recruited.
07:03And he benefited from that.
07:05And so this notion that somehow he can't be a one in the NFL because he wasn't at Ohio
07:09State, I think, is a little silly.
07:10Is he always a guy who people just assumed he was the next, you know, Ohio State wide receiver
07:16that would play on Sundays?
07:17Or did this kind of develop late?
07:20Yeah, he was an IMG kid recruit out of high school.
07:23They don't take them unless they're on that level.
07:25So, but he wasn't like Jeremiah and it wasn't like Garrett, you know, like how Garrett Wilson
07:30was or probably the way trying to think of another guy they had in there, like Mech was
07:34a really high rated guy coming out out of high school.
07:36So he wasn't quite on that level in terms of like number one overall receiver in the
07:41country type guy.
07:41But he was certainly highly coveted.
07:43I mean, if you play high school at IMG, then you're on a certain level.
07:46And he did that.
07:47So Caleb Downs is a guy who everybody just kind of says the same thing.
07:50Like you talk to him and right away, you know, he's going to be the leader of your
07:55defense like day one.
07:56Like everybody says that he has those kind of qualities.
07:58He has that kind of brain.
08:00He has that kind of acumen, et cetera.
08:02Tell us some more.
08:03Because when I hear that, I go, well, how is a defensive oriented staff going to pass
08:08on him?
08:09Yeah.
08:10Great question.
08:10I don't know how you would.
08:11I think he's the safest.
08:13I mean, him and Sonny.
08:13I don't see any scenario where Caleb Downs isn't like a 10 year player, right?
08:17Matt Patricia compared him a little bit to Troy Paul Amala in terms of the way that he
08:20would use him.
08:21He doesn't have the size of another guy you guys drafted really high in Sean Taylor.
08:24He doesn't have that size.
08:25He doesn't maybe have that quick twitch.
08:27I'll tell you this, guys, the best, this is what I would tell for like the fans curious
08:31about what Caleb Downs is all about.
08:32The best thing I could tell you to do is to watch the all 22 if you can get access
08:36to
08:36it.
08:36Because when he first got here, I kept saying, I don't seem as much as I need to around the
08:40ball.
08:41And a buddy of mine said, go ahead, check this out.
08:43Watch the all 22.
08:44And what you see on the all 22 is he has the answers to the test.
08:47He is a step that a step closer to the play than anybody else on the defense.
08:52Almost every single snap.
08:54I've never seen him out of place.
08:55I've never seen him not have the answers to the test.
08:58Cerebral is all get out.
09:00Obviously played his freshman year at Alabama.
09:02He played for three different defensive coordinators in college at Alabama, then two at Ohio State
09:06and no drop off at all.
09:08He had the answers to the test every single season.
09:10And so he was here in Columbus for about a month and it was immediately known like he
09:16was going to be one of the captains of the team as a sophomore.
09:18And that was a veteran laden team that won the national championship two years ago.
09:21But his, his force of nature is just that strong.
09:24All right, so let's, let's put you kind of on the spot here.
09:28And I'm a little mock.
09:29Well, just how about in this sense, if you, if you, let's say all these guys are available
09:34and it doesn't matter the Browns or the commanders, skins, whatever.
09:38So just the Ohio State guys.
09:39We all have, yes, we all have, both teams have a lot of needs.
09:43We can take any of these guys they would fit.
09:45I want your ranking of who would go one, two, three, or four for you.
09:50You guys have heard that phrase valedictorian of summer school, right?
09:53This is the opposite of that.
09:54So this is like six kids, magna cum laude, summa cum laude.
09:57Right.
09:57I would probably, if you're position agnostic, I would probably go down in terms of non-bust,
10:03safest.
10:03Yes.
10:04This guy's a dude.
10:05I would probably go Downs, Styles, Reese, Tate.
10:08But I would also tell you that I would be shocked if all four aren't very, very good in
10:13the NFL.
10:13Who do the Browns fans want at six?
10:16They want Tate, man.
10:17They want Tate.
10:18They got to have a weapon.
10:19They got to have somebody to throw the ball to.
10:20They don't have a lot of that.
10:21Like, you know, is, well, who do you want throwing to him?
10:25Yeah.
10:25Is Deshaun going to start?
10:26Who's going to start?
10:27Oh my.
10:28Are you guys entrapping me?
10:29Yeah.
10:30Kind of.
10:32I just tell you, I think it'll, I would be shocked.
10:34I think it'll be Deshaun and, and, and Shador obviously, but, um, I would not be shocked
10:39if Deshaun Watson started the season.
10:41Are they just out on Gabriel?
10:44I don't know that they're out on him.
10:46I, you know, I think Dylan Gabriel was drafted to kind of be like, like the backup, like
10:51the long-term backup, because when you're committing so much money financially to the
10:55position in terms of Deshaun Watson, you kind of need to have a guy there.
10:59So I think he was kind of drafted to be, you know, kind of a Colt McCoy case.
11:02Keenum type was kind of the intent there.
11:04I don't think they viewed him in the draft process as, you know, a potential franchise quarterback.
11:08And then Shador was a lottery ticket.
11:10I mean, the, the talent is, is pretty good, but there was obviously a reason to where
11:14he fell.
11:14And so it was kind of like a lottery ticket situation with him.
11:17So, um, I think they just view Dylan as more of a long-term backup and then Shador potentially
11:22higher ceiling.
11:23And then obviously a little bit of a lower floor there too.
11:26So my hunch is that's the way that they probably view that.
11:28We're joined by Bo Bishop, host of Bishop and Friends on 97.1, the fan in Columbus.
11:33So just going to pivot to the NHL for just a bit.
11:36So hopefully it wasn't over his last game last night in Columbus, but a side note was
11:41Rick bonus being super pissed at the blue jackets for basically just mailing in the
11:47final game of the season.
11:48I mean, a press conference for the ages last night.
11:52All timer for bones and they need it.
11:54I mean, he, they fired Dean Everson and, you know, with about a two months left in the
11:58season and, uh, got rid of him and brought, brought in bonus to, to kind of right the
12:02ship a little bit.
12:02And he did, there was a time they were one of the best teams in the NHL, one of the
12:05hottest
12:05teams.
12:06And then it all fell apart in the last two weeks.
12:08And quite frankly, I think that, that they deserved it.
12:10I mean, guys, that franchise has been around for 25 years.
12:13They've made the playoffs six times.
12:15Their crowning achievement never is anything more than the eight.
12:18Their crowning achievement is that they beat Tampa once in an eight, one game series.
12:22That's it.
12:23That's the biggest accomplishment of the franchise.
12:25And they act like they, you know, they, they, they, they're going down high street with
12:28Lord Stanley's cup and they won one series.
12:30So they need it.
12:32They need a culture.
12:32They need to get punched in the mouth.
12:34And, and I hope he sticks around.
12:35I loved it.
12:36Um, I love the OB stuff too.
12:38I'd be, I mean, I was, I was hoping he'd get to pot one at the end there.
12:41And I hope it's not the end for him.
12:42But, um, he, I think his first game was against the blue jackets too.
12:45I want to think it was energy there.
12:48Score two goals against your boys to start his career.
12:50Well, I, I don't need to be both Browns and blue jackets fellas.
12:54Like we can, that's a lot.
12:55We can get back to the, to the teams that win a lot.
12:57That's a lot to deal with.
12:58That's a lot of baggage for you to carry around.
13:00Hey, Bill, I was looking at your Twitter description and you lead off with man of leisure.
13:05And one of the guys here, EB, likes to say he's an expert in leisure.
13:09Give me your top three leisure activities.
13:12Very good.
13:12I like this.
13:13Well, I like sipping.
13:14I like sipping a lot.
13:16You know, you like sipping something in the evening.
13:18Are you a bourbon guy?
13:19Is that it?
13:20Sipping bourbon?
13:21I like a little bourbon.
13:22I like a little tequila.
13:23Okay.
13:23You know, if it's done right.
13:24Uh, I actually have my, uh, I'm part of, part of a line of whiskey out here, fellas.
13:28I can be happy to send a little whiskey warrior guys's way.
13:31Um, yeah, please.
13:35So number one, sipping, sipping is good.
13:38That's right.
13:38Start sipping is good.
13:39I like a long walk in nature.
13:42That's accompanied by golf clubs.
13:43Okay.
13:44I like that.
13:44You know, I'm not so big for like a matchup.
13:48I don't need to match.
13:49I'm not big into like playing for the most important.
13:51I'm not playing the rider cup, but I like a long walk in nature with a golf club.
13:55All right.
13:55Uh, and then, and I got to tell you, boys, just, just take the top down and just let your
13:59hair blow and get a little drive in you.
14:01Avertible.
14:02Okay.
14:03All right.
14:03Sure.
14:04Sure.
14:04Sure.
14:05Get out there and live boys.
14:06Okay.
14:06That's a solid list.
14:08That really is actually.
14:10Especially the whiskey.
14:11I do what I can.
14:12Yeah.
14:12Well, I, uh, we'll send some your way.
14:15Um, all right.
14:16Well, thanks for joining us.
14:17Uh, maybe we'll talk after the draft and, uh, see what Buckeye comes here to Washington.
14:22Very good chance.
14:23We're drafting one of these guys.
14:24Yep.
14:24Very good.
14:24It feels like it, right?
14:25Yeah.
14:26Kind of feels like it.
14:27All right.
14:28Thank you, Bo.
14:28Really appreciate it.
14:30My pleasure, guys.
14:31Take care.
14:31Yeah.
14:31You could draft the golden dome.
14:33Good.
14:34Yeah.
14:34That would be good too, man.
14:36Yep.
14:36That'd be a, that'd be a hit.
14:38I'll tell you all those guys, for some reason, I'm not, I'll take all those guys.
14:42I can't complain.
14:43If they get any of the Ohio state guys or, or love, you're not going to hear one complaint
14:47from this guy right here.
14:49At least not until they play that guy.
14:51Oh, then immediately.
14:52Then you're going to kill him.
14:53I'll say, he's a boss.
14:54Right.
14:54I'll slam.
14:55Then he turns into Jamin Davis.
14:56You're going to kill him.
14:58No, you can't have that.
14:591-800-636-1067 is the number coming up at nine o'clock.
15:04Paul Taboni, the president of baseball operations for the Washington Nationals, joins us here
15:08on the Junkies.
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