- 22 hours ago
CBS Sports' Ryan Wilson checks in with Grant to recap the Commanders' draft class and look at some of the other NFC East draft classes!
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00Let's go to the Rude Guest Hotline. Welcome onto the program, my buddy Ryan Wilson of CBS Sports, joining us
00:05on the fan.
00:06Ryan, happy end of the draft. I know the workload was probably bountiful for you. Get a little downtime now.
00:13That's a good one, Grant. They already have me doing 2027 mock drafts, so maybe in the summer I'll take
00:18a little break, but it's always good to talk to you, buddy.
00:20I got a text from someone about the 2027 draft today, and they had just started to dive in, and
00:26they're like, oh my god, it's so much better.
00:27It's going to be so good. The quarterbacks at the top make it more interesting, and selfishly, I'm sitting in
00:33D.C.
00:33We've got this draft on the National Mall. I'm jacked up about it already.
00:38The possibilities even grow when you think about how big the top of the draft could be.
00:42That's a good point, man, because it's going to be in D.C., and we can draw a crowd on
00:47the mall when there are things to stroke out for.
00:50And my only concern, Grant, is this, that we say every year, oh, wait until next year's QB class, and
00:57next year we get two and a half guys.
01:00So this does feel different. Like, I was just going through the list. There are like eight or nine or
01:05ten guys that are going to get a lot of buzz heading into the fall.
01:09We'll see how it shakes out. There's always one or two guys that weren't on our radars.
01:13Ty Simpson, for example. Joe Burrow back in the day that you get at the list.
01:17So it's going to be fun. I did love the draft that just concluded.
01:21I know the quarterbacks weren't deep, but there were so many good players that went off the board, and a
01:25record 21 tight ends, it turns out.
01:28All right, so let's talk Steelers' Aaron Rodgers here.
01:31A, he's definitely going to be their starter week one, right?
01:34And B, what does this rare tender they placed on him today mean?
01:41I think it means the first question you ask may not be so certain in Pittsburgh because it's rarely used,
01:48and Jonathan Jones is our CBS Sports Central insider.
01:50He was weighing in on this, and he knows certainly much more than me, but the bottom line is basically
01:57it allows you to get compensation should he sign elsewhere, that being Aaron Rodgers.
02:02It's because Omar Khan told us at the Combine, we're all watching him, that it won't be long where Aaron
02:07Rodgers will let us know one way or another, and here we are from late February to late April, and
02:13just like last year, there's still no word.
02:16I don't know if it matters whether Aaron plays or not in terms of where the Steelers are in their
02:21post-Big Ben journey.
02:23Obviously, they'll win more games with him than with Mason Rudolph or Will Howard or Drew Aller, but I think
02:27at the end of the day, this feels like a six-and-a-half-win team who's going to have
02:32to take a quarterback, and fingers crossed for them, what is hopefully a deep quarterback class.
02:36So I don't – this feels less certain than ever in terms of what Aaron Rodgers' plans are.
02:40I would imagine – I don't know if he would go elsewhere.
02:42Retirement feels, just my gut feeling, like more probable than him not coming back to play in the league, but
02:47it is a curious decision by the Steelers,
02:50given that they were under the impression that Aaron was going to come back, and certainly before now.
02:55Wow. So is that meaning that he could play somewhere other than Pittsburgh? That's their fear?
03:02Like, it's always felt to me like Steelers are retirement. Are you saying there's a third option here?
03:07Yeah, I would imagine that's the only reason you would slap him with this tag or tender or whatever we're
03:13calling it,
03:14because I don't want to throw a lot of options out there. I mean, Arizona would be an obvious one.
03:17Now, other than that, nothing comes to mind. So unless they're concerned that he is not, in fact,
03:23coming back to Western PA, they wouldn't slap this thing on him if they thought he was going to retire,
03:27because who cares? You're not going to get in compensation one way or the other.
03:30But I don't know where the other obvious landing spots would be.
03:35Arizona feels like the only team in the running. They did draft Carson back, but, you know,
03:38I would imagine you would take Aaron Rodgers over Carson back for one year out there,
03:42especially if you're trying to save your job.
03:43But it feels tenuous. It feels the most tenuous it has in the last 12 months.
03:49He's also going to be 43, and it's been several years since he played at a super high level.
03:55His touchdown totals last year, lowest since 18.
03:58Yardage was not anything like an Aaron Rodgers season, even in the per-game metrics.
04:03Is it worth all of this for teams at this point to do this dance with him in the offseason,
04:08where you've got to make all these calls and read the tea leaves and wait for him to come out
04:12of the quiet room?
04:14Why is the juice still worth the squeeze at this point?
04:17I'm not sure it is, Grant. That's a great question.
04:19Unless you're a team like the Rams, for example, when they went out and got Matthew Stafford,
04:23who was, you know, he wasn't close to 40 at that point when they got him.
04:26He's still playing at a high level.
04:27But if everything else is in place, it makes sense.
04:31That is not the case in Pittsburgh.
04:33You could argue, by the way, the Browns roster outside of quarterback is better than the Steelers roster,
04:38and it may be by a large margin.
04:40It's just that we like to make fun of Cleveland for doing Cleveland things.
04:43It would make more sense on paper for Aaron to go to Cleveland than it would.
04:48I'm not saying he would, but just in terms of the better roster construction
04:50than going back to Pittsburgh to try to eke out seven or eight wins and backdoor your way into the
04:55playoffs.
04:55And the other thing, and this was Mike Tomlin.
04:58It wasn't so much a feature. It was more of a bug.
05:00He won so much they were never in position to draft a quarterback.
05:03The only time they traded up into 10th or higher was when they traded up to get a linebacker
05:09during the Mike Tomlin era because, you know, if you're picking inside the top 10,
05:13you have a chance for the quarterback.
05:14You're picking 20-plus.
05:16You get Kenny Pickett, and you're sort of left to try to figure it out.
05:19And I'm with you.
05:20I think it's okay to win five and a half or six games
05:24and try to regroup with a quarterback that you can draft relatively high.
05:28CBS Sports' Ryan Wilson.
05:30On Grant and Danny here on The Fan.
05:33I speak McVay a little bit because Sean was here,
05:36and I covered him with the then Redskins.
05:39I thought right away that press conference was his way to try to diffuse any controversy,
05:44and I feel more confident in that now.
05:47But I got to ask, are they going a little overboard here?
05:50I saw Pro Football Talk wrote this big thing today about how's Matt Stafford going to react.
05:55They drafted a quarterback that would need to sit anyway.
05:58Matt Stafford is a future Hall of Famer who is coming off of an MVP season,
06:034,700 yards and 46 touchdowns.
06:06Like, I know Brett Favre got in his feels about Rodgers and Rodgers with love,
06:11and this does happen, but this seems like not something to worry that much about.
06:15It seems like the Rams were very worried about it.
06:18It was all very weird, and we've heard subsequent how Les and Sean are always on the same page,
06:24especially during the draft process.
06:26And Sean, I think Jordan Roderick wrote about this in the Athletics,
06:28Sean is never going to draft anyone that he doesn't love.
06:30So that sort of underlines your theory that Sean is just supporting Matthew Stafford.
06:38And my initial question when I heard that was,
06:41Matthew Stafford's a grown man who is one of the best players in the NFL
06:44whose job is not in any way, shape, or form about to be lost.
06:48So I'm not sure why you have to placate a grown man on television for 11 minutes.
06:53This is my point.
06:54It almost makes it weirder.
06:55It's almost like there's some behind-the-scenes thing
06:57where you're putting your Matt Stafford flag in the ground.
07:00If you just draft Ty Simpson at 13 and you say,
07:03yeah, he's going to be the backup, we've got one of the best quarterbacks of all time
07:06still playing at the peak of his powers as long as he wants to,
07:09there is no controversy after that.
07:12The only controversy is why didn't you take Makai Lemon or Mark Cooper Jr.
07:16if you wanted to get better this year?
07:18That part, fine.
07:19The rest of it was incredibly odd, and it was a disservice to Ty Simpson, by the way.
07:23I know Ty Simpson subsequently said that he had spoken secretly to Les
07:27and to Sean, but in the moment, people are probably wondering,
07:30why would you draft this guy that you clearly hate?
07:34And now this young man, as a 22- or 23-year-old, has to answer questions,
07:38which he did have to answer about why things are so awkward at your new job.
07:42Ryan Wilson on Grant and Danny were bouncing around the NFL.
07:46All right, help me with this one.
07:47The Commanders need a wide receiver, too.
07:49Why is the market for Jawan Jennings so small?
07:52What is the deal there?
07:54I think he's a niche fit in that he's a bigger slot receiver
07:59who doesn't have a lot of juice in terms of winning consistently with separation.
08:04He wins with strength and contested catchability,
08:07and maybe that's not for everyone.
08:09And it's funny you mention that because thinking about the guy they did take,
08:13Antonio Williams, he's as juiced up as they come.
08:15I was looking back at my way-too-early mock draft from 12 months ago,
08:18and I had him in the first round.
08:20He was hurt at Clemson starting in Week 1 and wasn't quite himself for much of the season.
08:24Neither was Clemson, for that matter.
08:25But he is electric, and he maybe is the flavor of ice cream that the Commanders are looking for
08:30in a slot where Jawan Jennings, the other Jawan, is a little different in terms of his makeup
08:38and what he brings.
08:39And look, man, he can block, and he does a lot of things well.
08:42He certainly excelled in that Kyle Shanahan offense,
08:45but that may not be the slot that every team is looking for.
08:47So it sounds to me like you really like Antonio Williams.
08:51The Commanders have said they think he can play outside.
08:54The couple people with other teams I've asked about that have said they don't see it that way.
08:58Do you think he can play outside, or is he slot only?
09:02Can he play outside? Yes.
09:04The issue is when you're going up against ACC corners versus NFL corners,
09:08that's where you have to figure out if it's going to work.
09:11You can try it, just like when you talk about let's try the left guard and right guard
09:14and see what happens, and then you can go from there.
09:17I would imagine he was drafted with the idea of primarily slot with some outside abilities,
09:23but he's physical.
09:24I know he's undersized in that he's not north of six feet, but he plays physically.
09:29He's fast.
09:30He can win off the line of scrimmage versus press coverage.
09:32So all the things you want your outside wide receiver to do,
09:36when you're talking about the upgrade in cornerback talent going from the ACC to the NFL,
09:41that's a conversation that you have to wait and see on.
09:43But I would imagine slot first with some outside occasionally,
09:47but I wouldn't imagine he's going to be the guy you don't line up outside on day one.
09:52Washington ended up not having picks in rounds two and four
09:54and only had six players in the class altogether,
09:56but how did you feel about what they got done?
10:00Sonny Stiles.
10:01Here's what I'll tell you, Grant.
10:02I was talking to Rick Spielman, who's now with the Jets,
10:05prior was with the Vikings,
10:08and he had talked to Sonny Stiles about a year and a half ago,
10:11and I didn't know who Sonny was at the time,
10:12but he came back and said,
10:14if I were starting the company tomorrow,
10:16I would want Sonny to run it tomorrow as a 21-year-old or whatever.
10:19That's how mature and what a leader this young man is.
10:23And then you just see what he does on tape,
10:25and you're like, sweet, mercy alive.
10:26I didn't know they made people like this.
10:28He told us in the combine that he was just sort of figuring out how to play linebacker
10:31because he was previously a safety,
10:32and we saw that development sort of in real time.
10:35I think they're just scratching the surface on what he can become.
10:38Joshua Joseph is a powerful edge rusher.
10:41Coming off the edge, I liked that pick in round five.
10:44That felt like some value there.
10:45Katron Allen, I thought, was the better of the two running backs going out of Penn State.
10:48Nicholas Singleton's faster,
10:49but he struggled with injuries and inconsistency last year
10:52and even a little bit the year before.
10:53But Katron Allen is a between-the-tackles workhorse.
10:57It reminds me a little bit of what they had in Detroit
11:01before they moved on from not Jameer Gibbs.
11:04I can't remember his name right now.
11:06He's a David Montgomery type for me.
11:08And I'll just say this, and I'm laughing because I was talking up
11:12Ethan Kelley-Manus a couple weeks before the draft.
11:15Oh, you were the one.
11:17He had taken a ton of 30 visits.
11:20I'm like, what's going on here?
11:21So I asked around the league, and the guys were like,
11:23this guy can play, man.
11:24And if he doesn't get drafted, they're bringing him in as basically a recruiting tool.
11:29He did get drafted.
11:30He got drafted before Garrett Nussmeyer,
11:32and he had to do a lot with a little at Rutgers.
11:35His Penn State game, the last game he played, he was absolutely slinging it.
11:38He did have some tough stretches against Ohio State and Oregon,
11:40but again, those are some really good football teams
11:42and reminded me a little bit of Aiden O'Connell.
11:44So I wouldn't be surprised if he finds a way to make this team as QB3.
11:48That would be a fun story.
11:49Ethan Kaliak-Manus, Rutgers, the senior, was the seventh-round pick at .223.
11:54You mentioned Garrett Nussmeyer, so just before I pivot, what happened there?
11:58I mean, I liked him coming into the year as like a first-rounder.
12:02I would have had him as my quarterback three.
12:04I know he didn't play like that, but we're talking about Ethan Kaliak-Manus
12:07and kind of looking through the trees to find the good.
12:10People didn't do that with Garrett Nussmeyer, it didn't seem like.
12:13No, Garrett Nussmeyer was my QB4, in fact, so not far off.
12:16And it felt a little bit like Quinn Ewer syndrome from a year ago.
12:19Quinn actually outplayed Garrett Nussmeyer in their final years of college.
12:23The difference is Quinn was certainly banged up.
12:25Garrett was banged up, too.
12:27But there were some things you heard about him.
12:29He's not a bad kid.
12:31He wasn't breaking the law, but just in terms of locker room leadership
12:34and whether it was where you wanted to be as a guy you're going to take with a high draft
12:38pick.
12:39I'm guessing it had to do with the injuries.
12:41The size isn't ideal.
12:43He's 6'1", 6'2", on a good day.
12:46His arm is good but not great.
12:48I remember talking to a couple scouts early on in the year about both him and Cade Klubnick,
12:53and what I got back was they're not first-round players.
12:57So teams were on to that in September.
12:59They wanted to see a lot, and obviously they didn't see a lot.
13:03Cade went in the fourth round to the Jets, and obviously we saw KC take Garrett at the end there.
13:07It was a shock that he went that far.
13:09He lasted that long, I should say, in the same way it was for Quinn Ewers.
13:13Quinn Ewers played well, though, when he got the opportunity.
13:15And sometimes you get the team you need, not the team you want.
13:19I think KC, they're the worst landing spots for a young quarterback in Kansas City.
13:22Totally.
13:23Ryan Wilson of CBS Sports here on Grant and Danny on the fan.
13:26The Giants, based on all the maneuvering, end up picking four times in the top 74,
13:31and their haul included Arvo Reese, the edge from Ohio State.
13:35A lot of people's top tackle with a little bit of a back question in Francis Maui Noah from Miami.
13:40They drafted corner Colton Hood from Tennessee at pick 37.
13:44And then Malachi Fields, the big wide receiver at Notre Dame.
13:47A lot of Commanders fans were hoping Washington would take him at 71.
13:50How did you feel about that quartet?
13:53I mean, it feels like they're checking boxes.
13:55They got a defensive tackle at the very next pick,
13:57but they're going to have to do a lot of work to replace Dexter Lawrence despite that pick there.
14:02I loved every single one of those picks, save Malachi Fields, but that's right around the range.
14:07I thought Malachi should come off the board.
14:09He ran a 4.61, and I thought he played at about that speed.
14:11So he is strictly an outside contested catch guy.
14:15He ran sub 4.6?
14:16I didn't know that.
14:18No, 4.61.
14:19So he ran north of 4.6.
14:20Sorry, he ran worse than 4.6, I guess I should say.
14:23Yeah, that's right.
14:24And that's the speed I thought he played.
14:27Well, look, Denzel Boston didn't run at all.
14:29And if I had to guess, Denzel Boston is probably a 4.55 guy.
14:31Yeah, I'm still looking for Caitron Allen's 40-time.
14:34That's right.
14:35So, you know, you're taking a risk, and I do appreciate these guys that try to go out there and
14:39compete.
14:39Had a really good senior bowl.
14:40He's just a big outside target.
14:42And that's okay when you're playing opposite Malik Nabors coming back from injury, and if you're Jackson Dart, he likes
14:48to throw the ball up and let his receivers come down with it.
14:50So it makes sense in what they're doing there, and that's around the range he should have gone off.
14:53So I'm not going to push back too much on that.
14:57But all in all, it's a really good draft.
14:58They've got to figure out the middle of the defense, but it feels like they're certainly helping their young quarterback,
15:02and we'll see if this is the step.
15:05If Jackson takes a step that the Giants figure, he will.
15:08So I'm still curious to see how that plays out, because for as fun as he was to watch, he
15:11didn't necessarily...
15:12...offense coming out of round one with Downs and Malachi Lawrence to help upgrade things.
15:17That offense is cooked every year.
15:19As long as you've got Dak Prescott, now it's CeeDee Lamb, and maybe George Pickens.
15:23We'll see what happens there.
15:24But, you know, you had a running back have a career year as well in the backfield.
15:27I thought Williams was great last year.
15:30They just need to upgrade their defense.
15:31They're a playoff team.
15:32What did you think of Downs at 11?
15:35It was crazy that they got him, and then Malachi Lawrence.
15:38I heard they liked him in Keldrick Falk, so Malachi Lawrence at 23, where they traded back.
15:43And to your point, Grant, they're just checking boxes of huge needs on defense.
15:47And your other point that, you know, they can hang 40 in anyone.
15:50They just couldn't stop teams from scoring 40.
15:52This feels different.
15:53And their third-round pick, Jay Sean Barham, is an absolute monster in terms of hair on fire.
15:59They moved him outside about a month into the season in Michigan because they just loved his athleticism.
16:04He's an off-ball linebacker, so he gives you that versatility.
16:06They have needs at off-ball linebacker.
16:08And it just felt like they were just checking boxes of getting better.
16:12Devin Moore, their fourth-round pick, I actually liked a couple of rounds higher.
16:15Long physical corner who didn't run great as well.
16:17He ran 4-6 the first time, and then 4-5 at his pro day.
16:20But he is a long physical corner that gives them what they need.
16:23And I said this after the first two rounds, or the first two days, I should say.
16:2811-1⁄2 feels like the over-under for Dallas, and I know they can win a lot of games and
16:32lose in the playoffs.
16:33But this feels different, at least as we sit here.
16:36And if you told me they win the division, I wouldn't push back too much on that,
16:40only because, you know, Jayden Daniels has been hurt.
16:42We don't know what's going on in Philly with the quarterback and A.J. Brown.
16:46And the New York Giants are still trying to figure it out.
16:50This feels like this might be what gets them over the hump.
16:52But, you know, this could be a Charlie Brown football situation.
16:55There is also something weird going on in Philadelphia.
16:57I can't quite get to the bottom of it, not being around that building.
17:01But a 17-year executive who interviews for GM jobs every year, Alec Halaby, left today.
17:06Their offensive line coach is on a podcast with one of his former players this week,
17:11bashing their old coordinator.
17:12They run through coordinators like you and I change underwear.
17:15There's questions about Jalen Hurts throwing to the middle of the field,
17:18and they bring in Mannion to bring an offense where they're going to throw to the middle of the field
17:21constantly.
17:21And that's where Makai Lemon basically lived last year.
17:25I got some questions about the Eagles right now.
17:28I'm with you.
17:29And you brought up a lot more than I did when I mentioned them in passing.
17:33You know, if you're Steelers, you're probably not happy that they sold Makai Lemon from you.
17:36You know, the obvious comp is Amin Ross St. Brown, and I certainly loved his game.
17:41But I don't know if that and drafting a tight end, Eli Stowers, who doesn't want to block,
17:45he's more of a glorified wide receiver, if that's going to fix all your problems.
17:49And, you know, their draft was good.
17:51It wasn't great.
17:52Markel Bell is a developmental left tackle who they may try to move to the right side.
17:57He's, you know, he blocks out the sun, and he's like a legit 6'8".
18:01He was the other tackle at Miami with Maui Noah, right?
18:04Other tackle at Miami, and he has a long way to go.
18:08There's some really good tape, and then there's some stuff that leaves you going,
18:11oh, my gosh, he'll get someone killed if you put him out there.
18:14He's young as well, so I get it.
18:16Cole Payton is the quarterback they drafted in the fifth round at North Dakota State.
18:20He feels like a good fit as a backup to Jalen Hurts,
18:22but he's not going to provide you anything unless you plan on making him take some hill.
18:26And he told us he wasn't crazy about that.
18:28So the draft is, it checks a few boxes, but in terms of ranking it with the rest of the
18:32division,
18:33I think it's probably last, and it may be a distant last.
18:36Yeah, that's rare for a Howie Roseman operation.
18:39Ryan, great work all week and over the last several weeks,
18:41been following all the content leading up to the draft.
18:44Thanks for hopping on with us.
18:46Good talking to you, Grant.
18:46Anytime, buddy.
18:47Yeah, you as well.
18:48There's Ryan Wilson, does such a good job.
18:50CBS Sports on Grant.
Comments