00:00:00
Speaker 1: I love the work done by the folks that Sports Info Solutions, and we've had their folks on for years, including senior scouting analyst Jordan Edwards, who joined us last year and here he is this year, joining us on the eve of the draft. Jordan, it's good to have you. What's going on.
00:00:14
Speaker 2: Appreciate it, Moe, thanks for having me on.
00:00:16
Speaker 1: Appreciate you doing this. Give me sort of a ballpark assessment of what the Bengals decided to do with their tenth overall pick.
00:00:26
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's been interesting to kind of see the last you know, a few days since it happened, you know, trying to go through all the scenarios if they still had a tenth pick, you know, who would get there. It probably seemed likely that they would get somebody maybe on the deepest side of the ball that would be an impact player. But but you know, it was quite possible. But maybe just those guys kind of you just you know, go through all the scenarios that maybe that that one just doesn't get there, whether it be one of the Ohio State defenders you know, with down or styles even and even you know, going through maybe Ruben Bay doesn't fall that far there's not really another edge rusher in that range other than Baine. Maybe that fell that far where you would feel comfortable taking at ten. And so I think just when it kind of comes down to it, you know, I think the last couple of years, you know, the Bengals that put a premium on trying to you know, fill out the rest of the defense. And you know, whether you truly believe, you know, a nose tackle, whether it is Dexter Lawrence or is worth the tenth overall pick, maybe they just felt that they weren't going to get a type of player that was going to be as impactful now, you know, taking in all the you know, what's his contract going to look like in the future. Is it just a one or two year type of thing. You know that that's kind of a different discussion. But if Lawrence can kind of get back to where he was, you know in twenty twenty four, twenty twenty three, even this is kind of just something that you kind of go, yeah, like this is really kind of worth the risk.
00:02:06
Speaker 1: If there's a Bengals fan who's watching Tomorrow night through the lens of Okay, I'm happy they have Dexter Lawrence, but if this player is there at ten on the pick the Bengals would have used, I'm not gonna feel nearly as great about it. Who's that player?
00:02:24
Speaker 2: For me? It would probably be Caleb Downs. You know, he's our he's our third player on our big board, and you start to kind of calculate, you know, positional value. Maybe he doesn't go in the top five and he starts to slip down closer to ten. I just think that he kind of whether he's not truly you know, you know, a high end you know, corner edge rusher or one of those two, I think he just kind of changes the serious attitude of your defense. You could play a couple of different spots. I think he's super smart. You can see that on film, and you can see it, you know, with with the people that talk about him in his past as well. And so I think having a serious, kind of just player like that on the back end of your defense, that is going to be a leader. You know, whether he's a rookie or a five year player, I think you know, he's going to be somebody that can take control of a defense. And I think that would probably been really the only player that I would have been you know, you take him if you if he's there at ten and you're not there you know tomorrow, like you said on draft night, that would have that would probably be one of the only players where would go. Man, Like, I really wish we had that pick back.
00:03:37
Speaker 1: So their first pick, at least the first pick as of now, unless they trade down forty first. Overall, there's a large collection of players there right that to me, I hate to say they all seem the same or or run together, but there's there's a little bit too that, and I mean that in a positive way where there's there's been like I don't know, eight to nine guys that I've looked at and said, well, if that guy's the picking forty what, I'm gonna be pretty happy with that. When you look at those collections of guys, and obviously we're talking about players who play positions the Bengals need to address. Are there one or two available at forty nine at forty one potentially that stand out more than the others?
00:04:13
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, I still come back to the defensive side of the ball. You know, obviously they went young last year, uh and and played those the linebackers a lot. I think there are probably some some ore linebackers in that area where you could feel okay about. But also, you know, you're talking about downs. This is a deep safety class. This is also uh that twenty to pick kind of forty forty five range. I think there's gonna be some uh some some corners that could could go. Uh maybe a team you know likes one and wants to take a little earlier. But you know, we we we feel like the corner class is a little kind of rich in that specific area the draft, whether that be maybe like a Colton Hood would fall there. You know, maybe a Brandon Sisa, a guy like that could fall there. I'm a big fan of the Angela Pons even though he's you know, kind of an outlier on the on the outside of the defense, that that size that he has, but he's truly a phenomenal player. Chris Johnson from San Diego State I think would be in that range as well. And then also just keep trying to add bodies to the past rush unit, whether you know, you're still trying to find you know, some more you know juice there, uh and everything like that. And so you know, guys like Cashus Howell, Gay aacis Mason Thomas. You know, you know some players that have some pass rush upside that that are gonna be you know, you know, more part of a rotation. Maybe not necessarily truly like your your number one rusher, more of a two or three, but you're just trying to keep adding more bodies to that pass rush unit just to see if something hits uh and you can kind of get a spark there.
00:05:51
Speaker 1: Is there understanding the positions that you just addressed, Is there a position where they could uh less afford to wait to address on Friday than the others?
00:06:03
Speaker 2: You know, paving gets to Lawrence in the fold. It helps that out a lot. Now, I think this is a pretty you know, underwhelming defensive tackle group, and I do think that some of those guys were gonna slip, so that would probably be one one of those areas as well. But you know, defensively, you know, I really do think that corner an edge rusher group, there's gonna have a lot of people, a lot of teams are gonna take take a little run on those guys right in that you know, early second round range. You know, I do think this is a fairly deep receiver class as well, if they wanted to add another body in, you know, to the to the receiving core that they already had too. But yeah, yeah, I would probably say the defensive tackle group if they wanted to get another kind of interior pass rusher to go along there. This class, just in general at defensive tackle, pretty much all of these guys really just kind of go, okay, where's the pass rusher production. Whether it's Peter Woods. You know, Banks was hurt most of the year, but he still has some flashes, but you know, mc donald and Hunter, those guys are more traditional those tackles as well. So everyone's really going to be trying to figure out who's the guy that can kind of pass rush on the interior. And I think that's kind of where the weaknesses, you know, kind of in that range makes sense.
00:07:14
Speaker 1: Jordan, awesome stuff, man, Thanks so much.
00:07:17
Speaker 2: Yeah, of course,
Speaker 1: I love the work done by the folks that Sports Info Solutions, and we've had their folks on for years, including senior scouting analyst Jordan Edwards, who joined us last year and here he is this year, joining us on the eve of the draft. Jordan, it's good to have you. What's going on.
00:00:14
Speaker 2: Appreciate it, Moe, thanks for having me on.
00:00:16
Speaker 1: Appreciate you doing this. Give me sort of a ballpark assessment of what the Bengals decided to do with their tenth overall pick.
00:00:26
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's been interesting to kind of see the last you know, a few days since it happened, you know, trying to go through all the scenarios if they still had a tenth pick, you know, who would get there. It probably seemed likely that they would get somebody maybe on the deepest side of the ball that would be an impact player. But but you know, it was quite possible. But maybe just those guys kind of you just you know, go through all the scenarios that maybe that that one just doesn't get there, whether it be one of the Ohio State defenders you know, with down or styles even and even you know, going through maybe Ruben Bay doesn't fall that far there's not really another edge rusher in that range other than Baine. Maybe that fell that far where you would feel comfortable taking at ten. And so I think just when it kind of comes down to it, you know, I think the last couple of years, you know, the Bengals that put a premium on trying to you know, fill out the rest of the defense. And you know, whether you truly believe, you know, a nose tackle, whether it is Dexter Lawrence or is worth the tenth overall pick, maybe they just felt that they weren't going to get a type of player that was going to be as impactful now, you know, taking in all the you know, what's his contract going to look like in the future. Is it just a one or two year type of thing. You know that that's kind of a different discussion. But if Lawrence can kind of get back to where he was, you know in twenty twenty four, twenty twenty three, even this is kind of just something that you kind of go, yeah, like this is really kind of worth the risk.
00:02:06
Speaker 1: If there's a Bengals fan who's watching Tomorrow night through the lens of Okay, I'm happy they have Dexter Lawrence, but if this player is there at ten on the pick the Bengals would have used, I'm not gonna feel nearly as great about it. Who's that player?
00:02:24
Speaker 2: For me? It would probably be Caleb Downs. You know, he's our he's our third player on our big board, and you start to kind of calculate, you know, positional value. Maybe he doesn't go in the top five and he starts to slip down closer to ten. I just think that he kind of whether he's not truly you know, you know, a high end you know, corner edge rusher or one of those two, I think he just kind of changes the serious attitude of your defense. You could play a couple of different spots. I think he's super smart. You can see that on film, and you can see it, you know, with with the people that talk about him in his past as well. And so I think having a serious, kind of just player like that on the back end of your defense, that is going to be a leader. You know, whether he's a rookie or a five year player, I think you know, he's going to be somebody that can take control of a defense. And I think that would probably been really the only player that I would have been you know, you take him if you if he's there at ten and you're not there you know tomorrow, like you said on draft night, that would have that would probably be one of the only players where would go. Man, Like, I really wish we had that pick back.
00:03:37
Speaker 1: So their first pick, at least the first pick as of now, unless they trade down forty first. Overall, there's a large collection of players there right that to me, I hate to say they all seem the same or or run together, but there's there's a little bit too that, and I mean that in a positive way where there's there's been like I don't know, eight to nine guys that I've looked at and said, well, if that guy's the picking forty what, I'm gonna be pretty happy with that. When you look at those collections of guys, and obviously we're talking about players who play positions the Bengals need to address. Are there one or two available at forty nine at forty one potentially that stand out more than the others?
00:04:13
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, I still come back to the defensive side of the ball. You know, obviously they went young last year, uh and and played those the linebackers a lot. I think there are probably some some ore linebackers in that area where you could feel okay about. But also, you know, you're talking about downs. This is a deep safety class. This is also uh that twenty to pick kind of forty forty five range. I think there's gonna be some uh some some corners that could could go. Uh maybe a team you know likes one and wants to take a little earlier. But you know, we we we feel like the corner class is a little kind of rich in that specific area the draft, whether that be maybe like a Colton Hood would fall there. You know, maybe a Brandon Sisa, a guy like that could fall there. I'm a big fan of the Angela Pons even though he's you know, kind of an outlier on the on the outside of the defense, that that size that he has, but he's truly a phenomenal player. Chris Johnson from San Diego State I think would be in that range as well. And then also just keep trying to add bodies to the past rush unit, whether you know, you're still trying to find you know, some more you know juice there, uh and everything like that. And so you know, guys like Cashus Howell, Gay aacis Mason Thomas. You know, you know some players that have some pass rush upside that that are gonna be you know, you know, more part of a rotation. Maybe not necessarily truly like your your number one rusher, more of a two or three, but you're just trying to keep adding more bodies to that pass rush unit just to see if something hits uh and you can kind of get a spark there.
00:05:51
Speaker 1: Is there understanding the positions that you just addressed, Is there a position where they could uh less afford to wait to address on Friday than the others?
00:06:03
Speaker 2: You know, paving gets to Lawrence in the fold. It helps that out a lot. Now, I think this is a pretty you know, underwhelming defensive tackle group, and I do think that some of those guys were gonna slip, so that would probably be one one of those areas as well. But you know, defensively, you know, I really do think that corner an edge rusher group, there's gonna have a lot of people, a lot of teams are gonna take take a little run on those guys right in that you know, early second round range. You know, I do think this is a fairly deep receiver class as well, if they wanted to add another body in, you know, to the to the receiving core that they already had too. But yeah, yeah, I would probably say the defensive tackle group if they wanted to get another kind of interior pass rusher to go along there. This class, just in general at defensive tackle, pretty much all of these guys really just kind of go, okay, where's the pass rusher production. Whether it's Peter Woods. You know, Banks was hurt most of the year, but he still has some flashes, but you know, mc donald and Hunter, those guys are more traditional those tackles as well. So everyone's really going to be trying to figure out who's the guy that can kind of pass rush on the interior. And I think that's kind of where the weaknesses, you know, kind of in that range makes sense.
00:07:14
Speaker 1: Jordan, awesome stuff, man, Thanks so much.
00:07:17
Speaker 2: Yeah, of course,
