00:00We're getting geared up for day two.
00:01What's the biggest position of need that exists here for the Washington Command?
00:06Let's try them again.
00:08Chris Russell, your phone still sounds horrible, my friend.
00:11Can you wind your window up?
00:13I'm pretty sure that's what it is.
00:16My window is up.
00:18Can you hear me?
00:18You sound a lot better now, my friend.
00:20What's going on, man?
00:21Okay.
00:22My window's been up the whole time.
00:24I don't know what's going on.
00:25Later at the late nights, I thought you forgot about me.
00:27How are you?
00:28I'm good, man.
00:30I'm good.
00:30Give us your thoughts.
00:32You sound good.
00:33I love it.
00:34I think Sonny Stiles today on the show was my final pick.
00:38Thought he had a decent chance to be there.
00:41Turned out that he did.
00:43Adam Peters, I don't know if you heard this, but he was a little bit surprised that caught off guard,
00:49basically,
00:49that Mansoor Delaney went a pick before the Commanders in the trade to Kansas City,
00:54and then Delaney had something interesting to say about Adam Peters not coming up to get him.
00:59As a local kid and as a corner, I think the two of them were trying to do some business
01:04there,
01:05and that may have been interesting if he didn't go one pick before Sonny Stiles.
01:11But I love the pick.
01:12I mean, everything you said is right on.
01:15I will tell you this.
01:16The thing that jumps out to me the most in the All-22 that I've watched, I watched the entire
01:22Texas game to open up the year.
01:23New defense, new coordinator, no preseason games, of course.
01:28Second year, first game as an inside linebacker, as a Mike, and that guy's just communicating his ass off verbally,
01:37hand signals, getting everybody adjusted.
01:39There's an urgency you see of communicating with, too, man.
01:44Yeah, I agree.
01:44Yeah, absolutely.
01:46I mean, so that jumped out to me.
01:48Like, everybody can talk about his RAS score.
01:51I'll leave that for the analytics amigos.
01:54You know, and there's plenty of them, some that we work with.
01:57I'll leave that for them.
01:59I'm talking about real football, you know, football that matters, okay?
02:02And that just stood out to me big time.
02:05I talked to Brian Jones, CBS College Football, today on Wednesday, and I asked him that directly, that same question,
02:11man.
02:12Did that stick out to you when you watched that game?
02:15That was the first game under Patricia, and he was like, that was probably the number one thing that jumped
02:20out to me.
02:20And then you watch, like, his last game of the year in college, right, against Miami in the college football
02:27playoff,
02:27and he's lining up on the far left side.
02:29He's lining up at Mike.
02:31He's lining up on the line of scrimmage off the right edge, dropping into coverage, making tackles, shedding blocks.
02:36He's doing everything, Mel Mel.
02:39I think this is, you know, I think this is going to be a slam dunk pick.
02:44You know, I covered most of London Fletcher's tenure here.
02:47I got to know Fletch real well.
02:49You know, Fletch made up for a lot of his deficiencies physically with his mind.
02:53And just note, this kid, Sonny Stiles, doesn't have those physical deficiencies.
02:58And I think eventually he's going to have the mental and football IQ that he's already building
03:04and is already impressive, at least to me and I think to others.
03:07And if he hits that apex, he's going to be an unstoppable force.
03:13Let me ask you this.
03:15Obviously, everyone should be in favor of the pick.
03:18He was probably their best player there.
03:21They still have massive holes at wide receiver and in the secondary.
03:26You're not on the board again until pick 71.
03:29Do you buy what Adam Peters is selling when he says it's unlikely that they move up?
03:35Yeah.
03:37Yeah, because, I mean, I was there when he said it.
03:40He wasn't, like, trying to smirk and he wasn't trying to make stuff up and mislead us.
03:45You know, they brought us in there really early.
03:47Like, you know, I'd say probably, like, pick 14, pick 15.
03:52Like, they weren't trying to play games with us and the media.
03:55Not that that means, you know, that they wouldn't try and make a move
03:58if there's somebody dangling that they just can't resist.
04:01But they don't have, you know, you ran down the list.
04:04They don't have a lot of ammunition.
04:06You don't really want to dip into your 2027 stats
04:09because that's supposed to be a great draft and it's obviously here.
04:12And the positional needs, like, the one, you know,
04:16the one I didn't hear you mention is center, right?
04:20I mean, they need a center.
04:21And it's a really good class.
04:23It's a really good class for centers, as I'm sure you're aware, right?
04:26It goes pretty deep.
04:28So I think they can get one in the fifth round, in the sixth round,
04:31maybe even in the seventh round to compete with Nick Allegretti.
04:35You know, and maybe they don't, right?
04:37Like, last year we all thought they needed an edge, right?
04:40That was the top need.
04:41Did they draft an edge?
04:43No, they did not.
04:44Right.
04:45So wide receiver, corner, you say safety.
04:48I think they're a little bit better at safety.
04:50That's why I was never in on the Caleb Downs train, quite honestly,
04:54one of the reasons why I wasn't.
04:57And I'm glad they chose, quite honestly, Sonny Stiles over Caleb Downs.
05:03And, you know, I feel a little bit better at safety than maybe you do.
05:07But center, corner, wide receiver, all huge needs.
05:12I agree with you, man.
05:13It feels like you can categorize night one as a W for Washington.
05:19The big question is, at 71, what do they end up prioritizing?
05:23Is this a situation?
05:24And I know what teams say, Chris.
05:26The whole thing that everyone says is a no-no in the draft is not drafting for need.
05:30I tend to say that that is total baloney because, damn it,
05:33if there's a guy there at a position in need and he's close to a guy at a position
05:39that's not of need, you take the guy that you need.
05:41What do you see them ultimately prioritizing here as we get to pick 71?
05:47Well, I will say this.
05:48Adam Peters did say that that's like they did not want to draft for a position of need.
05:55And whether you believe that or not, I agree with you, by the way.
05:58If there's a player that's ranked at a need position, that's always going to take priority
06:03over, say, I don't know, quarterback, right?
06:06If you have a quarterback, let's say you have the kid from Penn State, Drew Aller, right,
06:14ranked the same as Ted Hurst, who you were just talking about from Georgia State.
06:17They damn well better take Ted Hurst, right?
06:20Right, right.
06:20They damn well better do that.
06:22I want to believe that that's what they do, and that's what most good organizations do.
06:26But I do think they'll probably prioritize wide receiver over corner and over center,
06:34even though it's a deep, deep, deep class at wide receiver as well,
06:37and maybe not as deep at corner.
06:40Deep at corner, I mean, deep at wide receiver, deep at center.
06:44And I would tell you this.
06:45It's not only for what they need this year, and there's no doubt they need a 1A
06:49or a really good two, whether Brandon and I who comes here or not,
06:54but it's also what they need for next year when Terry, you know,
06:58there's a good chance Terry's not going to be here next year.
07:00I don't want to, you know, break the epitaph.
07:03I just think that's looking.
07:05I don't think this regime and organization has the luxury of looking ahead,
07:09if I'm being frank.
07:11So, you know, probably not.
07:13But you know this, you know, if you're not thinking two and three years ahead
07:20in this league, you're going to get caught with your pants around your ankles.
07:25Yeah, look, you've got to win games, you know.
07:28I mean, that Cinderella year gets further and further away as each passing day goes.
07:35So, it's a what have you done for me lately league.
07:37They've got to add talent to this roster.
07:39I love the Sonny Stiles pick, but like I said, when you were on hold,
07:43you can't go into the season, at least in my opinion, you can't.
07:47In this division with Trey Amos, Mike Samer still, Amit Robertson,
07:53and Akilo Witherspoon.
07:54I'm sorry, people get angry when I leave them out.
07:57Yeah.
07:58No, I agree.
07:59Listen, I totally agree with you.
08:01And if you're looking at the quality.
08:03To me, like Chris, I want to take it a step further.
08:04That takes precedent to the offense to me.
08:07Like, if you're looking at the quality of depth in each of the three need areas
08:14that I identified, and I guess you would go safety.
08:17To me, I think corner is probably the thinnest of those potential pools.
08:22But, again, I just always say to myself,
08:26I literally watched this team do nothing at edge last year
08:30when everyone knew they needed edge help in a deep edge class
08:34and they didn't draft anybody.
08:36Again, that's not what you do every year.
08:39I'm just saying, but if everybody's going to lean on RAS scores
08:42and total athleticism and whatever, you're looking for trends.
08:45You're looking for clues.
08:47And I just wonder if Adam Peters goes,
08:49Hey, you know what?
08:50I want defense in the first round.
08:52I've really got to get Jaden another weapon.
08:54I've really got to get a center to compete with Allegretti.
08:56Again, I'm not saying that they won't draft a corner.
09:00I just wonder if the right guy isn't there.
09:03Maybe the kid you mentioned from Texas isn't there.
09:05And that's who they really like.
09:07Then, you know, they're not just going to take the corner to take a corner.
09:10Can I give you some homework for a little bit later tonight?
09:13You said you were grinding the All-22.
09:15There's one.
09:16I have like a man crush, a wide receiver.
09:19Dane Brogler's got him mocked round five or six.
09:23This kid, Jeff Coltwell out of Cincinnati.
09:25Six-five, two-sixteen, four-three-one-forty, one-four-eight, ten-yard shuttle.
09:33I need him here.
09:34That's the guy for me.
09:35But we'll see what ends up happening.
09:37Yeah, we got to let you go.
09:38I got to be on with the junkies in about eight hours.
09:41So I don't know if I'm going to get to that homework assignment this morning.
09:44But I will get to it at some point.
09:47But good to hear from you, man.
09:49It's been too long.
09:50Yes, indeed.
09:50I appreciate you checking in, my man.
09:52That is Chris Russell.
09:54The Rooster.
09:54You're on weekdays 10.
09:56Excuse me.
09:57You're on weekdays 1 to 4 over on the Team 980.
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