- 51 minutes ago
Ali, Mike, and Eric discuss if Eric thinks the Los Angeles Rams drafting Alabama quarterback Ty Simpson with the 13th overall pick in this year’s draft was a good move by the Rams, what the national perspective is right now when it comes to Atlanta Falcons General Manager Ian Cunningham’s first draft and the Falcons 2026 draft class overall, if the most surprising thing to Eric in this year’s NFL Draft was nine offensive tackles getting drafted in the first round or if there was something else.
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00:00It's a post-draft Tuesday, so obviously we're talking all things NFL, and because of that,
00:07we're going to welcome in Eric Edholm. He's going to join us on the Sweet James Accident
00:11Attorney Hotline, and I always love talking to you, Eric. And look, man, I got a bunch of stuff
00:17to cover. The draft, obviously, storylines galore. I know you've covered them a ton
00:21with yourself on NFL.com, but I want to start with something that's kind of Falcons-adjacent.
00:28The Rams picking up that first-rounder from James Pierce trade a year ago, and they use
00:32it on Ty Simpson. Now, to me, Eric, this is the most polarizing pick of the draft. A lot
00:38of people say, oh, Les Snead thinking ahead, setting himself up for when Matthew Stafford
00:43leaves, but also you felt like you could have been a player away from a Super Bowl run.
00:48So where do you stand on the Ty Simpson drama, and do you, in fact, think it was a good
00:52move?
00:53Yeah, on the one hand, you know, it's like you said, we've been sort of crying for years for
00:59teams to take a more proactive approach at quarterback, right? So they're not left in
01:03the lurch, and they have a succession plan in place. And, you know, for all the people I heard
01:08praising the Raiders for signing Kirk Cousins, you know, some sort of insurance for their first
01:13round pick, I heard to say a lot of folks, and again, I'm just sort of pointing out, you know,
01:17from the neutral perspective, you know, a lot of people pan the Simpson pick. Now, look, if you
01:22want to say it isn't good value at the 13th selection, it's hard not to agree, right? I mean,
01:29it's, you look at the situation, he's a one-year starter, he's an undersized guy, he was hurt for
01:34half that year, and the play reflected it, right? I mean, he was good to start the year, and you
01:38thought, maybe this is the first round pick we're looking at here, you know? This could be it. And then
01:43things kind of tailed off now. Obviously, the Rams are a unique situation, but yeah, I think the fact
01:49that they're kind of so close to contention makes you think, boy, wouldn't a Makai Lemon look good
01:55in the offense, or, you know, couldn't they add one more piece to kind of boost things up? But
02:00clearly, they didn't think whoever was available was worth more than the idea of having Simpson in
02:07their back pocket, knowing that Matthew Stafford could be in his swan song season. So, you know,
02:15I can see it both ways. I didn't love the value, but I can understand the thought process.
02:20Hey, Eric, taking a look at Atlanta, we're so close to it, and I saw in your power rankings,
02:24you have the Falcons at 22 as far as the draft. What's the national perspective on Ian Cunningham's
02:30first draft of the Falcons?
02:31I think all things considered, look, no first-round pick, given the hand they were dealt, they did
02:36pretty well for themselves. I mean, you know, the Avion Terrell pick was not just, for me,
02:43a brotherly love thing. I think it was the great value at where they got him. Now, obviously,
02:48you know, he didn't run well, and there's an injury situation there, but, you know, I think
02:51he'll be fine. I'm not worried about that. Obviously, the fact that he paired up with his brother
02:55makes it a great, feel-good story. But just from an upgrading your secondary perspective,
03:00I think he's going to help. So I loved it from that. He was a player that I considered
03:05late in first round at one point. You know, I think the pick that probably got me the most
03:11excited was Ontario Thompson. He was a really interesting player, kind of came on my radar
03:16a little later. I didn't watch him that much. And, you know, you see some juice there.
03:22You see some ability to get into the backfield, and he might be an interesting sub-package
03:26rusher. And, look, Harold Perkins a few years ago, I mean, was a game wrecker. And LSU kind
03:33of tinkered with his role, and it just never felt like he settled in properly. He was an
03:37undersized edge, so they moved him to linebacker. He wasn't as effective there. You know, you
03:42have to remember, he's only been playing the position, really, a couple years. And if they
03:45are indeed sticking him at linebacker and staying there, then, you know, you might see the
03:51best out of him in the coming years. So, I'm interested. I think Zachariah Branch's
03:56speed and skill will play well on turf. You know, overall, you look at the class and you
04:01say, yeah, there's two or three players. And I think that's really what most draft classes
04:07end up reducing down to, is if you can come away with two starters and one contributor
04:11out of a draft class, especially one that doesn't have a first-round pick, it's pretty good
04:16in my opinion. Eric, the
04:20thing about the first round is it kind of sets the trend of how the draft's going to
04:23go when there's a run on positions. And it was very surprising to me that
04:28nine offensive linemen were taken in the first round, seven
04:31tackles. Were you surprised by that, or was there something else in the first
04:35round that surprised you more? Yeah, I mean, I had just been hearing
04:39leading up to the draft, talking to people around the league, kind of getting their
04:43sense. And, you know, I mean, obviously GMs, assistant GMs, scouting directors,
04:49they're going to play close to the vest as far as their own team's plans and
04:52everything. But nearly everybody mentioned the fact that given the makeup of
04:57this class, not a lot of blue-chip players at the top, some pretty
05:03concentrated strengths at offensive tackle, especially, you know, wide receiver,
05:09pass rusher, other positions too. But that offensive tackle position, what you
05:13noticed was it dropped off a cliff. You know, the first seven guys were rated
05:19significantly higher than the next seven, right? I mean, there was a huge gap,
05:23basically. So it didn't shock me. I had been putting nine offensive, or sorry, eight
05:30offensive linemen in almost all my first-round mocks. I didn't have a second
05:34guard. I think I did one time. I think I had chased Besantis as a first-round
05:38mock guard. But, you know, we ended up getting Keelan Rutledge instead. Besantis
05:43went a few picks later. There were a couple other tackles who went quickly in
05:47round two. And, yeah, that just kind of told the tale. The interesting little
05:51subplot to the draft was the run on tight ends. And centers, too. The center market
05:58really heated up with Logan Jones going to 57 and then going on from there. So,
06:03what did it tell me? I mean, teams are bulking up. You know, I mean, they saw what
06:07the Rams did. They saw what multiple tight end teams could do. They saw the
06:12dearth of O-line prospects. You know, ask a pro personnel guy what the hardest
06:18positions, non-quarterback positions to fill are. And, you know, it's like pass rusher,
06:23corner, O-line. I mean, those are the spots that you always want depth at. So,
06:28definite theme to a draft where lacked maybe some of the blue chip talent that
06:33we're used to up top. And I think that kind of helped usher in that run.
06:38Hanging out with Eric at home, NFL.com here on the morning shift. Eric, I want to
06:42stay right there. One of the questions we've been kind of kicking around is about
06:45fit, about who actually, you know, was the best player. And one of the names that
06:49comes to mind for us is obviously Caleb Downs, highly thought of and is going to be
06:54an impact player. Is there a fit just in terms of like the first rounders
06:58or guys at the top of the draft that you thought, boy, he's really going to
07:01flourish when he gets to that team? That was the one that immediately came to
07:05mind for me. I mean, I'm sure I'd come up with another one. But, yeah, that's the
07:09one where you thought, look, Dallas had six interceptions last year. I know the
07:13Jets had zero. But Dallas had six, and that's not great. The worst number, in
07:18addition to all the yards they gave up passing, was 42 passes defended. The next
07:22lowest team had 52. So, that was the Raiders. Ten fewer passes defended than any team in
07:27the league last year. They just were so unimpactful in the secondary. I think he's
07:32going to raise all the boats in that harbor. I think he's going to absolutely
07:36kind of bring the floor up and probably raise the ceiling as well. Because, you
07:42know, towards the end of the season, you started to see Caleb get in on more
07:45plays. He wasn't just that last line of defense. They put him in a position. I
07:50think Dallas will have to do that. I think Dallas is going to have to try to move
07:53him a little bit closer to the line of scrimmage, get him in coverage, you know,
07:57not just stick him back in single high deep coverage, right? He can do that. I
08:01mean, he's going to be very good at it. But I think he's going to end up being a
08:06big, impactful piece for them. And so, he's the one, I think, that makes the most
08:12sense, the best value, the best kind of combination of need and fit in the entire
08:18first round. I mean, look, obviously, Fernando Mendoza, Raiders, he's hard to
08:23argue they couldn't, you know, they had to take him, right? But in terms of
08:27looking a little bit beyond the first pick or two, that one felt like the best
08:31sort of fit. Hey, Eric, I want to go back to our feel-good storyline here in
08:36Atlanta with Avion Terrell and AJ Terrell. Can you remember the last time a
08:40couple of brothers have lined up in the same position group? Yeah, same position
08:44group, that's a tough one. I'd really have to cut a rack by brain a little bit, but
08:48it's a great story. They're different corners, too. I mean, that's, you know,
08:52they're different players. I think it's not one of these things where, you know,
08:56they kind of have similar skill sets and, you know, you're going to put them out
09:00there and everything's, you know, fine. I mean, no, I think Avion's going to be a
09:03nickel. I think he's going to be a, you know, he's sort of uniquely built for that
09:08position given his size limitations, but he does have the reactive quickness. He does
09:13have the fierce edge in his play for a guy that size. What I love this year was that
09:20there are about four or five DBs who fall below the normal threshold of what you would
09:24accept as, like, outside corner size. Almost all of them are going to be projected inside,
09:30but, you know, they're all such tenacious players. You know, D'Angelo Ponce, who went
09:36to the Jets as well. I'd put them in that same bucket. You know, there are a handful of
09:40guys that kind of fit that mold in this draft. I think they're all going to compete
09:44and overplay their positions or come darn close. It was a good year for that kind
09:49of template for that player, and every year we have one or two. It felt like this
09:53year we had a little bit more of the 5'10", 190-pound corner who, you know, is
09:59fearless and will go up there and take on any comer.
10:04Eric, when you look at the NFC South, you know, I thought that all three, all four
10:09teams, to me, kind of did pretty good value. Which one of those teams, other than, not
10:14take Atlanta out of the mix, but those other three teams, which one do you think did the
10:18best job of improving in the draft?
10:21I really like Tampa's draft, I gotta say. I mean, I thought, you know, they found good
10:27value and good talent. Obviously, Reuben Bain kind of falling into their laps at 15 was
10:32great. You know, Josiah Trotter, I think, will have to learn how to play in coverage, but
10:38he is, man, he is an absolute hammer in the run game. You know, his dad, obviously, for
10:42years in Philly was great. His older brother played, has played the last couple of years
10:46with the Eagles, and I think Keontae Scott was another guy. They got Ted Hurst. So, yeah,
10:52I mean, their first four picks made a ton of sense to me. Carolina had a real solid draft
10:57as well. I mean, you know, nothing I could really nitpick too much with. Obviously, there
11:02was a lot of question about where they'd go with their first-round pick, but, you know, given
11:06the long-term need at tackle, and short and long-term, I guess, just given Ikwanu's injury
11:12and everything. So, yeah, I thought they did a really solid job. The Saints obviously took a
11:18little more risk injury-wise with Jordan Tyson and Kristen Miller, and, you know, every year
11:23it feels like they're willing to roll the dice on a player who's got a little bit of an injury
11:27history. Chris Alave, obviously, and other guys, but Brian Bracey, I think, had some stuff
11:32he dealt with before the draft, but, you know, if they hit, it makes a lot of sense. So, I
11:38thought,
11:39you know, Tyson was the perfect kind of weapon to pair with Tyler Shuck. So,
11:44Oscar Delp, nice pick in the middle rounds as well. I mean, pretty good draft. I thought
11:50you could make the case that all four kind of maximize their picks. This is not a great draft.
11:54I don't think we're going to look back in 10 years and say, oh, gosh, you guys remember,
11:58you know, the summer of 2026, spring of 2026, man, it just doesn't have that feel to me.
12:04But I think there will be good, productive players, and, yeah, the South did pretty well
12:09for themselves.
12:10Post-draft, Eric Edholm, he's a hard man to find. He's a busy dude, but we always appreciate
12:14you carving out the time, buddy. Thanks again.
12:17Have a great morning, you guys. See ya.
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