- 22 hours ago
What if the Washington Commanders had the choice of choosing between Carnell Tate and Sonny Styles in the NFL Draft back in April? Kevin Sheehan reacts to a clip of Tate saying he thought the Commanders were for sure going to select him if he was available at No. 7, and Kevin discusses if he would rather have Tate or Styles.
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00:00So we are, you know, six weeks after the NFL draft and our football team's putting out a lot of
00:08those videos that they put out this time of year.
00:11We're going to talk about some of those videos maybe later on in the show about, you know, when they
00:17were on the clock for Sonny Stiles at seven.
00:19And then, you know, the calls that, you know, went into the actual discussion of the pick, the back and
00:29forth between the guys on the discussion about the pick.
00:32And then everybody talking to Sonny Stiles when they picked him.
00:35Well, that stuff is out now.
00:36But what's also out is a Carnell Tate appearance on a Monra St. Brown's podcast yesterday.
00:45I want you to hear what he said.
00:47Remember, Carnell Tate was picked fourth overall by the Titans, which was surprising.
00:52And he was very surprised by it because he thought pretty much at the end of the day there was
00:58another team that was going to select him.
01:00First question is, did you know you were going to go that early?
01:03No, I didn't know I was going to go that early.
01:04We thought my draft started at eight.
01:07We said we started at four and then four to 15.
01:10But, like, realistically, I thought I was going to go like six or seven or eight.
01:14Did you have other teams you felt like they were targeting you that wanted you?
01:17I thought Cleveland, I thought they weren't going to pass up on me.
01:21And then also Commanders.
01:23So I think I was locked in with the Commanders.
01:25And then they were, like, saying that, oh, the Chiefs, you're not going to get past them.
01:29If you're there at nine, they're going to take you.
01:31But I thought I was going to the Commanders.
01:34Cardinal Tate thought he was locked in with the Commanders at seven.
01:39He ended up getting picked at four overall.
01:43This is so, you know, I think there's been so much conversation about the lack of wide receiver help for
01:52Jaden Daniels,
01:53the lack of a true wide receiver number two.
01:57And, you know, already criticism for Adam Peters and Lance Newmark and company for not, you know, adding more to
02:07the room.
02:07I mean, they've added Deami Brown and Van Jefferson and Antonio Williams to the room.
02:11They drafted Antonio Williams, as you know, in the third round.
02:16I don't know if Cardinal Tate had been there with Sonny Styles, who the pick would have been.
02:23But there's no doubt that Cardinal Tate was a guy that they were interested in taking at number seven, had
02:29he fallen to number seven.
02:30And, you know, before the draft, that particular week leading up to it,
02:35I think we all thought there was a pretty good chance Cardinal Tate would be there at seven.
02:39And I don't think a lot of people necessarily believed in Cardinal Tate is worthy of the number seven pick.
02:47I liked him personally for whatever it's worth.
02:50It's the draft we're wrong most of the time.
02:52But I actually view Cardinal Tate as even more than a high-end number two.
02:59I think he could be a future number one kind of receiver.
03:02I liked him at Ohio State.
03:04I like the talent.
03:04I love the hands.
03:05I love the route running ability.
03:07I love the clutch play.
03:10Everything about Cardinal Tate I liked more so than Jordan Tyson, the wide receiver from Arizona State,
03:16because Tyson had the injuries.
03:19And, you know, Tyson was on the board at seven.
03:23So, clearly, Washington, based on this, if we believe that Tate thought he was going to Washington at number seven
03:31for a good reason, that there was indication that he was.
03:36If you believe, and I do believe, that Cardinal Tate was certainly one of those players that they had targeted
03:42at number seven,
03:43they had Tate above Tyson because Tyson was on the board for them at seven, and they didn't pick Tyson.
03:49So, they had Tate ahead of Tyson.
03:53The reason, probably, is because of Tyson's injury history.
03:57Tyson had injuries at Arizona State.
03:59And Washington has already, you know, told us through what we learned about the negotiations with Terry McLaurin a year
04:06ago
04:07that analytically they believe, you know, receivers, once they get to a certain age, are more prone to injury,
04:14and you can't, you know, spend too much on receivers once they get into their early 30s.
04:19And the analytics on college-wide receivers who get injured are that, more often than not,
04:26that is a precursor of more injuries to come when they become professional players.
04:31So, Tyson, I'm assuming, was not a player Washington was interested in at seven.
04:37You know, and I'm saying that, like, if Stiles hadn't been on the board, would they have taken Tyson?
04:42Probably not.
04:43They liked Tate more than Tyson, it would appear.
04:45What I don't know is if Tate and Stiles were both there,
04:50which means that another player would have been, needed to have been picked, you know, in the top six
04:55for Tate and Stiles to have both been there.
04:59So, whether it was a Tyson that went earlier, you know, a Tyson goes to Cleveland at six
05:04instead of Cleveland trading it, or to Kansas City at six, you know,
05:09whatever the scenario would have had to have been for Tate and Stiles to both be on the board,
05:15what I don't know is would they have taken Stiles or would they have taken Tate?
05:23Would they have taken Delane?
05:24Had Delane not been picked at six with the Chiefs trading up to that spot?
05:29I certainly think that Delane is probably a player that they had some interest in.
05:35But, yeah, I thought that that was an interesting comment.
05:38And I think some level, some level, not, you know, 100%,
05:43of confirmation that Washington really did like Tate.
05:47And Washington really did want to, just like they did with Alec Pierce and Romeo Dobbs,
05:52they really did have upgrading the wide receiver room as a priority in this offseason.
06:00They were all in on Pierce.
06:02Pierce stayed in Indianapolis.
06:05They were all in on Romeo Dobbs.
06:07They liked Dobbs a lot and made an offer for Dobbs.
06:10And then after missing on those two, you know, they went out and they brought back Deami Brown
06:17and they added Van Jefferson and then they focused in on the draft.
06:23Clearly, for whatever reason, there wasn't, you know, a preference for Jennings out of San Francisco,
06:29but they focused on the draft.
06:32And in the draft, Tate may have been the guy at seven.
06:36Well, Tate goes at four.
06:38A surprise to everybody.
06:39When you think about that first round or the first, you know, seven picks,
06:45the surprise is Tate at four.
06:47Nobody had that.
06:49And we knew going into this draft that after Mendoza, there was like a bunch of players
06:54and nobody was convinced of the order, which made that draft kind of exciting going into it
06:59because usually you have a good sense of three, four, five, you know, two, three, four, and five as well.
07:05And then the draft becomes interesting in terms of what will happen.
07:09And that draft was interesting starting at two with the Jets following the Raiders selecting Mendoza.
07:16I don't know what Washington would have done had Tate and Stiles both been on the board.
07:21You know, it would have been hard for Tate, Stiles and Delaney to have all been on the board at
07:29seven.
07:31I don't know what would have happened in that scenario either.
07:34That's less realistic.
07:36It was realistic.
07:38Maybe not before the draft, but as the draft started to unfold, especially when Love goes three and Tate goes
07:44four,
07:44you know there's a chance Stiles is going to be on the board.
07:46And then it was Stiles and Downs and Tyson and would Delaney be there?
07:51You know, I still am going to be very interested to see what kind of career Ruben Bain Jr. has
07:58from Miami.
07:59He still would have been for me in terms of the tape, and I don't have any of the other
08:04information.
08:05He would have been to me the guy that I would have selected at seven based on the tape,
08:11based on the way he played football in college.
08:13I think Ruben Bain Jr. was the second best college player in America after Mendoza.
08:20I think he was that good.
08:22And I do think that short arms and all, his style and his motor do translate to the NFL.
08:29We'll find out whether or not Todd Bowles got himself a great player at 15 overall for the Bucs in
08:35Ruben Bain Jr.
08:35But, yeah, I think this is definitely a level of confirmation that Tate would have been an interesting,
08:47more than just a possibility, but perhaps a probability at seven.
08:53But if Tennessee had taken Stiles at four rather than taking somebody else,
08:59I don't know what the Stiles-Tate selection would have been.
09:03By the way, they're going to tell you now, no, it was Stiles.
09:06If Stiles made it to seven, Stiles was our guy.
09:09Of course they're going to say that now, but probably Tate was in the mix.
09:15Meantime, so you don't get Pierce.
09:18You don't get Dobbs.
09:20You add, you know, Deami and Van Jefferson, but that doesn't necessarily solve your problem, you don't think.
09:26So now you're honed in on Tate in the draft.
09:28You don't get Tate.
09:30And now Ayuk and others become more of a possibility.
09:36Look, I think before the draft we all said, draft Tate, but that doesn't and shouldn't prevent you from adding
09:43Brandon Ayuk.
09:44By the way, at noon, Grant Cohn, who's covered the 49ers forever, and he was the guy you mentioned to
09:52me the other day that kind of, didn't you say, or one of the callers say, that he has been
10:00more of a Brandon Ayuk supporter in this?
10:04He's been much more critical of the Niners in their front office.
10:07So we'll have him on at 12.
10:09That'll be good.
10:11Right now, let me just ask you, Max.
10:14Would you rather have Tate or Stiles?
10:20It's tough.
10:22I think I would probably prefer Stiles just because I need a long-term option as a defensive leader.
10:29I still have Terry McLaurin.
10:32I still have Jaden Daniels, and I still have a few offensive weapons, and I like the fact that Antonio
10:36Williams is also in the building as well.
10:39So I think I would probably have picked Stiles there because that was kind of my list at the time.
10:45It was Love, Stiles, and then Tate.
10:48So I think I probably would have preferred and stuck with Sonny Stiles.
10:53A friend of mine just texted me and said, don't you think Love was their number one had he dropped
10:57to seven?
11:01I think it was probably how their top three worked out.
11:05I think their top three was Love, Tate, Stiles, in that order.
11:09But I think it became more apparent as we got closer that more likely than not, Love wasn't going to
11:16be there.
11:17I don't know that Love was their number one.
11:20Mansour Delane even said at his introductory thing for the Chiefs, Mr. Peters, you're too late.
11:25So I think Adam had everybody on their toes.
11:28Yeah, I think Love, Tate, Delane, and Stiles were the four that were a possibility for them at seven and
11:39that they had them ranked in some order.
11:40I can't tell you what the order is, though.
11:42I'm not convinced Love would have been number one.
11:48I'm not convinced of that.
11:50But that's sort of because of how the way I felt about Love.
11:57I really think Love's going to be good, but I don't think he was worth seven overall in the draft.
12:02I don't know how they saw him.
12:04I will eventually get, as the summer goes on, I will eventually learn more, I think, about what maybe the
12:14order was.
12:15And specific to Love, what they thought of Love, or at least what their scouting department thought of Love.
12:21I'm looking forward to figuring that out.
12:23I mean, you know, it's the draft.
12:25It's like crapshoot.
12:28I'm happy with Stiles.
12:30Totally happy with Stiles.
12:31I think Stiles was a really good pick.
12:34I think he's going to be a really good player.
12:36I'll just say what I said.
12:37Draft night, draft next day, and the days that followed.
12:41His, like, all-world, all-time indie combine, I don't think that's necessarily the player you're going to see on
12:51the field.
12:52I don't think that's, you know, the 4-4 with the 44-inch vertical or whatever the vertical was,
13:00and the broad jump that was, like, you know, all-time, and this was the best workout ever for a
13:06linebacker.
13:06I think for those that didn't see, you know, Sonny Stiles play college football, you're going to be expecting, like,
13:14this sick, fast, ridiculous all-time athlete.
13:18Remember Mike Mimoula?
13:20I think I picked in the top 10, had an all-time indie combine testing, turned out to be a
13:25bust.
13:26I'm not comparing Stiles to Mimoula.
13:29I think Stiles is a great football player, and I think he's very athletic.
13:33But I don't think all-world athlete, you know, is what you watched when you watched Sonny Stiles play at
13:43Ohio State.
13:44What you saw was a great, instinctive, big-time physical player who was also very athletic, with long arms and
13:56tall,
13:57more than, oh, my God, this guy is a blur, like Sean Taylor was as a player.
14:05Interesting, though, from Carnell Tate.
14:07He thought that Washington was locked in on him at 7, and maybe they would have been.
14:15It'd be interesting.
14:16I mean, I think a lot of the conversations we've had, you know, over the last six weeks, five weeks
14:21since the draft,
14:22we would have had far different conversations had they selected Carnell Tate.
14:27I know some of you didn't love Tate and thought seven was too early,
14:31but the conversations we've had about the number two wide receiver would have been muted for the most part.
14:38There would have still been some Brandon Ayuk chatter, but with the behavior of Ayuk here the last week,
14:46it would have been a lot easier for everybody, not just maybe, you know, a slight majority,
14:51but everybody to just say, no, thank you, we're good.
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