Danny Kelly
Appearances
The Bill Simmons Podcast
The 2025 NFL Free Agency Awards With Danny Heifetz, Craig Horlbeck, and Danny Kelly
Yeah, it's desperation. It just doesn't work in the draft. I think you just take a good player, take a player that you know is going, and this is what the Eagles do every year. This is the reason we always give the Eagles good grades in these draft grades is that they just end up taking good players regardless of where they're needed or where their need is.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
The 2025 NFL Free Agency Awards With Danny Heifetz, Craig Horlbeck, and Danny Kelly
They keep taking defensive linemen even though they have one of the best D-lines in the NFL. They keep building on a strength, build in the trenches, take premium positions. It just makes sense. I think especially in a draft like this where the tackle class is really deep. You could get a good tackle in the second round in theory. You can get a defensive tackle in the second round.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
The 2025 NFL Free Agency Awards With Danny Heifetz, Craig Horlbeck, and Danny Kelly
You don't have to take Mason Graham in the first round necessarily, even though I think those guys are really good. I think Will Campbell's really good. I think Mason Graham's really good. I think this is exactly the type of draft where you don't have to take for need. You can just take what player you think is the best player.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
The 2025 NFL Free Agency Awards With Danny Heifetz, Craig Horlbeck, and Danny Kelly
I think Shamar Stewart from Texas A&M. He's another guy.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
The 2025 NFL Free Agency Awards With Danny Heifetz, Craig Horlbeck, and Danny Kelly
I put him one tier below that, I think. I think he's really good. He breaks a ton of tackles. In fact, I think he broke PFF's record for broken tackles in his season last year. So he's obviously, you know, gyroscopic balance, breaks a ton of tackles. He's really slippery. He has some explosiveness to him.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
The 2025 NFL Free Agency Awards With Danny Heifetz, Craig Horlbeck, and Danny Kelly
I just don't think I put him quite on the level of like the Saquon Bijon, you know, Adrian Peterson tier where this is a last 20 years. This is actual a generational pick. You know what I mean? I think he is one slight tier down and that's not a knock on him. I think he's really good, but I don't think I'm quite ready to put him in that tier.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
The 2025 NFL Free Agency Awards With Danny Heifetz, Craig Horlbeck, and Danny Kelly
Uh, what could go wrong? Um, so here's the deal. Sam Darnold, uh, I don't think he's as good as Geno Smith. However, he is 27 years old. He's quite a bit younger. He's probably going to be cheaper, I think, at the end of the day. And there is this theory or scenario where he could turn out to be a longer-term solution for the Seahawks at quarterback.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
The 2025 NFL Free Agency Awards With Danny Heifetz, Craig Horlbeck, and Danny Kelly
Right now, this contract is actually very middling. It's a middle-class contract. They can get out of it if they really had to after a year, probably.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
The 2025 NFL Free Agency Awards With Danny Heifetz, Craig Horlbeck, and Danny Kelly
Right.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
The 2025 NFL Free Agency Awards With Danny Heifetz, Craig Horlbeck, and Danny Kelly
They're hoping that he can turn into a long-term solution for them at the quarterback position, whereas I don't think Geno was... They don't really consider him that. And I said this to Hyphens yesterday. It's like teams tell you what they think of players with their actions. Seahawks clearly didn't believe Geno was a long-term answer for them.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
The 2025 NFL Free Agency Awards With Danny Heifetz, Craig Horlbeck, and Danny Kelly
And so they got out while they could, and they get a new guy in here. I think there's also the element of... Putting the Pete Carroll era to rest for good. DK Metcalf, Gino Smith, obviously two guys that were really close to Pete Carroll. And now this is like fully a new era in Seahawks football.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
The 2025 NFL Free Agency Awards With Danny Heifetz, Craig Horlbeck, and Danny Kelly
Yeah. So I would say like, I'm not super, super optimistic about it. I would hope that. I can see the logic or the rationale for doing it. But I think with the Seahawks lack of, now they have no weapons receiver with just JSN. Just JSN getting double teamed. Yeah, JSN.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
The 2025 NFL Free Agency Awards With Danny Heifetz, Craig Horlbeck, and Danny Kelly
And then if you could name the second best receiver on the Seahawks right now, like I'll give you 10 points, but it's like Jake Bobo or who I don't even know. Oh my God. Yeah.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
The 2025 NFL Free Agency Awards With Danny Heifetz, Craig Horlbeck, and Danny Kelly
Yeah, yeah. That's an acronym I really like, personally.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
The 2025 NFL Free Agency Awards With Danny Heifetz, Craig Horlbeck, and Danny Kelly
Is that in play or no? Possibly. I believe him and Clint Kubiak have overlapped at one point in time. So probably not. But coming off of an injury, also the baggage that I think he would bring, I would hope that wouldn't be their solution. I don't know. DeAndre Hopkins, maybe? I think he's still a free agent. Danny, cover your ears. It's bleak. Cover your ears for this part.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
The 2025 NFL Free Agency Awards With Danny Heifetz, Craig Horlbeck, and Danny Kelly
So quick question. What you just said, though, about how Tom Brady kind of changed everything about what we should expect from older quarterbacks, does that not apply to Geno because of... Basically, he took six or seven years of backup and he didn't really take any hits or whatever. It's possible. Should we pay attention to this?
The Bill Simmons Podcast
The 2025 NFL Free Agency Awards With Danny Heifetz, Craig Horlbeck, and Danny Kelly
That's okay. The next one.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
The 2025 NFL Free Agency Awards With Danny Heifetz, Craig Horlbeck, and Danny Kelly
I mean, I think this is kind of becoming a cliche at this point, but it's just all about the lack of development in college football of offensive linemen. The schemes are wide open. They play wider splits. They don't actually do the real type of pass blocking that you see in the NFL or run blocking that you see in the NFL. I think just it's a... There's a...
The Bill Simmons Podcast
The 2025 NFL Free Agency Awards With Danny Heifetz, Craig Horlbeck, and Danny Kelly
you know, lack of development coming up from college game to the pros. And you see these teams have to develop guys. You're basically now just taking good athletes and hoping that they can, you can teach them to block in a lot of cases, not, not always, but in a lot of Jordan, a lot of strategy. Right.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
The 2025 NFL Free Agency Awards With Danny Heifetz, Craig Horlbeck, and Danny Kelly
And I mean, you know, in this class in particular, and you've mentioned this, but a lot of the top tackles in this class are maybe guards. You know what I mean? They're either not quite long enough arm length or, you know, maybe not quite enough foot speed or whatever. Playing left tackle in the NFL, playing right tackle either side. Now, there's so many good pass rushers.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
The 2025 NFL Free Agency Awards With Danny Heifetz, Craig Horlbeck, and Danny Kelly
The best athletes on the NFL field are pass rushers. And it's an extremely, extremely difficult job to be a left tackle. So or to be a right tackle. So I think it's just a it's a development issue. It's a issue where all the best athletes are going to the defensive line instead of the offensive line.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
The 2025 NFL Free Agency Awards With Danny Heifetz, Craig Horlbeck, and Danny Kelly
And I think, you know, the best teams in the NFL teams, the best offensive lines are putting a ton of resources into a ton of money and have really good coaching at those positions. Like the offensive line coaches is a huge like competitive advantage right now in the NFL, I think. So it's just it's a number of variables.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
The 2025 NFL Free Agency Awards With Danny Heifetz, Craig Horlbeck, and Danny Kelly
Yeah, something right around there. The thing I like about the Pats, what they've done in free agency, is it's kind of like the perfect example of what teams should do in free agency, which is... You're hedging against what you're going to potentially have to do in the draft.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
The 2025 NFL Free Agency Awards With Danny Heifetz, Craig Horlbeck, and Danny Kelly
So the Pats can go any direction now with their pick in the first round and all their picks, really, because they they address the interior defensive line. You know, they added linebacker. They added a starting corner. they added a right tackle. I think the one thing they still really need is a receiver. Yeah.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
The 2025 NFL Free Agency Awards With Danny Heifetz, Craig Horlbeck, and Danny Kelly
Game breaking a guy who can make a big play every once in a while, but they don't have to take that with, you know, their first round or they can usually, they could, they couldn't go for a second round guy. And I think he could still be a contributor. That's the kind of class this is. So they've, they've hedged. So they're not being, they're not being painted into a corner at any one position.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
The 2025 NFL Free Agency Awards With Danny Heifetz, Craig Horlbeck, and Danny Kelly
Like we said just before, you know, having to be desperate at any position is just, it's a bad play to make. So yeah, That's the one really, I think, just smart thing that they've done in free agency is they've addressed basically all their big needs other than receiver so far.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
The 2025 NFL Free Agency Awards With Danny Heifetz, Craig Horlbeck, and Danny Kelly
You say that Belichick would be laughing and not even be paying attention, but it's Belichick's fault that the Patriots roster is in this position. Bill, you sent me, I think, just screenshots of their drafts.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
The 2025 NFL Free Agency Awards With Danny Heifetz, Craig Horlbeck, and Danny Kelly
Did you trade out of the Ladd-McConkie spot, too?
The Bill Simmons Podcast
The 2025 NFL Free Agency Awards With Danny Heifetz, Craig Horlbeck, and Danny Kelly
We did that last year, yeah.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
The 2025 NFL Free Agency Awards With Danny Heifetz, Craig Horlbeck, and Danny Kelly
My point is basically, look, it takes a little bit for it to really show up and make an impact. But if you miss on a draft bus or if you miss on two or three draft buses... You miss on two in a row, it's death. A couple of years later, your roster looks really bleak. And then you have to spend in a free agency to just fill the holes.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
The 2025 NFL Free Agency Awards With Danny Heifetz, Craig Horlbeck, and Danny Kelly
Because those are the types of guys that are supposed to come in and play role-playing positions, be... average starters at the very least. And if you get zero of those guys in a draft, or if you get zero of those guys in two or three drafts, your roster is bad after a couple of years. So that's exactly what happened here.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
The 2025 NFL Free Agency Awards With Danny Heifetz, Craig Horlbeck, and Danny Kelly
I mean, yeah. I was one of Justin Fields' biggest believers. Yeah, I remember. I loved him. I just think he doesn't... He just holds onto the ball too damn long. It is the fatal flaw.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
The 2025 NFL Free Agency Awards With Danny Heifetz, Craig Horlbeck, and Danny Kelly
He's going to be more exciting than Aaron Rodgers on the field, though. So there's that.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
The 2025 NFL Free Agency Awards With Danny Heifetz, Craig Horlbeck, and Danny Kelly
I think it's curious that people are forgetting that Aaron Rodgers just went into New York last year and got everyone fired. Are we forgetting that little detail? I think if you look at the touchdown to interception ratio, and that is the only thing you look at, And you don't watch the games. Don't watch the games. Don't look at their run game.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
The 2025 NFL Free Agency Awards With Danny Heifetz, Craig Horlbeck, and Danny Kelly
I think the Gusecki thing is very interesting. Who are they competing against? Who are they negotiating against with that one? I'm curious. And then why would you sign Samaj P. Ryan? Spend any amount of money on a running back when you... Right. You just find that guy in August.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
The 2025 NFL Free Agency Awards With Danny Heifetz, Craig Horlbeck, and Danny Kelly
You just picked a guy in the sixth round who is your starting running back in Chase Brown or fifth round or whatever it was. I mean, learn that lesson is that you don't have to put any money towards the running back position. Save it all for T. Higgins and Jamar Chase.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
The 2025 NFL Free Agency Awards With Danny Heifetz, Craig Horlbeck, and Danny Kelly
Um, and, but like, if you look at all their signings, it's basically just like, man, you really should be using this money to extend your superstar players. And you can just find all these other guys in free agent or in the trap.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
The 2025 NFL Free Agency Awards With Danny Heifetz, Craig Horlbeck, and Danny Kelly
Don't look at any of the other stuff outside, off the field. If you only look at the number of touchdowns he threw compared to his interceptions, that's where you could talk yourself into Aaron Rodgers. Everything else... You can't.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
The 2025 NFL Free Agency Awards With Danny Heifetz, Craig Horlbeck, and Danny Kelly
The Saints, too, they are constantly and consistently forever overconfident in what they can do. You know what I mean? I think they probably believe they can compete this year. And honestly, in that division, maybe they can. I don't know.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
The 2025 NFL Free Agency Awards With Danny Heifetz, Craig Horlbeck, and Danny Kelly
I think Saints fans really don't like Derek Carr, from what I've heard.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
The 2025 NFL Free Agency Awards With Danny Heifetz, Craig Horlbeck, and Danny Kelly
Do you just want Tomlin to get fired? Is that really what you're going for?
The Bill Simmons Podcast
The 2025 NFL Free Agency Awards With Danny Heifetz, Craig Horlbeck, and Danny Kelly
Dude, the best strategy every team is going to have against the Steelers this year is just start fights with DK Metcalf. And it's like the Dennis Rodman thing. Just go get in their heads. Get in the heads of Pickens and DK Metcalf.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
The 2025 NFL Free Agency Awards With Danny Heifetz, Craig Horlbeck, and Danny Kelly
Anybody? I think from the fantasy point of view, and this is a strategy we have started to adopt on the show is just avoid anybody coming off of a massive injury, major injury. Yeah. Because it usually is the year after the year after they get back from the injury that they start to play well again.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
The 2025 NFL Free Agency Awards With Danny Heifetz, Craig Horlbeck, and Danny Kelly
Right. But yeah, I mean, you can look at so many different examples of guys that... Whether they re-injure the same thing or they have some sort of compensatory injury where their muscles are trying to make up for weakness or whatever from coming back from an injury, it's so hard for these guys to get back to where they were. He's getting older. I think Godwin is kind of built deaf.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
The 2025 NFL Free Agency Awards With Danny Heifetz, Craig Horlbeck, and Danny Kelly
He's an incredible athlete and everything you hear about him, he's an incredible person, but Yeah, it's risky to give him that much money coming off of this massive injury like that.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
The 2025 NFL Free Agency Awards With Danny Heifetz, Craig Horlbeck, and Danny Kelly
The way that he plays to like running, he mainly was out of the slot last year. He moved back to the slot. I think that's a little bit different than trying to be like this guy that wins on the outside against one on one coverage and, you know, all that stuff. His role, I think, gives him an opportunity to still be productive.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
The 2025 NFL Free Agency Awards With Danny Heifetz, Craig Horlbeck, and Danny Kelly
But I think at the end of the day, coming off of a major injury, it's it's scary.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
The 2025 NFL Free Agency Awards With Danny Heifetz, Craig Horlbeck, and Danny Kelly
What were you saying? I've been addict.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
The 2025 NFL Free Agency Awards With Danny Heifetz, Craig Horlbeck, and Danny Kelly
Yeah, it was good. The Rams receivers, almost all of them making catches are off of motion last year, and he gives them, and what Heifetz said with the static thing is he can just line up on the line of scrimmage, get open. I don't know about the NBA comparison, but Devontae Adams kind of reminds me of an old guy with like knee pads and goggles at the Y. His game, his game to me just...
The Bill Simmons Podcast
The 2025 NFL Free Agency Awards With Danny Heifetz, Craig Horlbeck, and Danny Kelly
Craig, his game just translates or age as well. I think because he is, he's all about, you know, route running hands, body positioning, setting up guys. Um, and I think he doesn't, he never was really this guy that relied too much on speed.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
The 2025 NFL Free Agency Awards With Danny Heifetz, Craig Horlbeck, and Danny Kelly
It's kind of like the DeAndre Hopkins thing where, you know, even if he's not very fast, he just wins because he's so savvy as a route runner and positioning and, um, I assume he's going to get on the same page really well with Stafford. Stafford's always made receivers. We call him the kingmaker in fantasy. He's the receiver kingmaker. He feeds his guys until there's no tomorrow.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
The 2025 NFL Free Agency Awards With Danny Heifetz, Craig Horlbeck, and Danny Kelly
And so I'm excited. It makes me happy, Bill, that you're a little down on this because from my point of view, this is scary as a Seahawks fan that they signed Devontae Adams. I hate it.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
The 2025 NFL Free Agency Awards With Danny Heifetz, Craig Horlbeck, and Danny Kelly
But Daniel Jones isn't actually better than Anthony Richardson is the thing.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
The 2025 NFL Free Agency Awards With Danny Heifetz, Craig Horlbeck, and Danny Kelly
Heifetz's joke for the longest time was he's worried about Daniel Jones crossing the street because he has no peripheral vision. He gets sacked and he fumbles more than anyone in the world. He lives in Hoboken. I'm like, he's going to get hit by a car, I guarantee.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
The 2025 NFL Free Agency Awards With Danny Heifetz, Craig Horlbeck, and Danny Kelly
Is this the Danny McBride like butterfly? Yeah.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
The 2025 NFL Free Agency Awards With Danny Heifetz, Craig Horlbeck, and Danny Kelly
We did a bit on the show for a long time during Kenny Pickett's rookie year that was just Kenny Pickett facts. And it was like every Kenny Pickett stat was just sadder than the last. Every Kenny Pickett stat was just the saddest thing you've ever heard in your life. Josh Dobbs came in and passed more yards than him in two games versus Kenny Pickett's entire season.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
The 2025 NFL Free Agency Awards With Danny Heifetz, Craig Horlbeck, and Danny Kelly
Every Kenny Pickett fact was funnier than the last or sadder.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
The 2025 NFL Free Agency Awards With Danny Heifetz, Craig Horlbeck, and Danny Kelly
Tanner McKee probably threw more touchdowns than Kenny Pickett did in his entire time in Pittsburgh, I think.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
The 2025 NFL Free Agency Awards With Danny Heifetz, Craig Horlbeck, and Danny Kelly
We're the problem actually. Yeah.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
The 2025 NFL Free Agency Awards With Danny Heifetz, Craig Horlbeck, and Danny Kelly
Ooh, that is a good question.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
The 2025 NFL Free Agency Awards With Danny Heifetz, Craig Horlbeck, and Danny Kelly
Josh Palmer's a funny one. DJ Reed to the Lions. I don't know if that was sneaky.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
The 2025 NFL Free Agency Awards With Danny Heifetz, Craig Horlbeck, and Danny Kelly
I've been a fan of him. I think he's a good cover corner. He has ball skills. The way he plays, he has an attitude. He brings an intensity to the defense. I think he's the perfect Dan Campbell defender. They needed some help in the secondary, and I think he's a really smart signing for them.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
The 2025 NFL Free Agency Awards With Danny Heifetz, Craig Horlbeck, and Danny Kelly
Look, I don't want to jinx anything. Can the other two answer about this one? Right now, it looks good for me, but yeah.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
The 2025 NFL Free Agency Awards With Danny Heifetz, Craig Horlbeck, and Danny Kelly
I rate him pretty highly. I don't know about top five. I'd say top 10 for sure, though. I feel pretty confident in him as a guy who can get a lot out of the talent he has on offense, which means a lot in the NFL.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
The 2025 NFL Free Agency Awards With Danny Heifetz, Craig Horlbeck, and Danny Kelly
And the ability to go in and have a very good offense with the last pick of the draft, and he's done it with several different... Basically, anyone who goes and plays for the 49ers is going to average eight plus yards per attempt. I think there's a ton of value in that. Um, no coach is perfect though. You know, every coach has like a, it feels like every great coach has one thing.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
The 2025 NFL Free Agency Awards With Danny Heifetz, Craig Horlbeck, and Danny Kelly
That's like, they're really bad at, um, Kyle Shanahan's is like the late game collapses. I know 49er fans are probably pretty sick of that. Um, but.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
The 2025 NFL Free Agency Awards With Danny Heifetz, Craig Horlbeck, and Danny Kelly
Right.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
The 2025 NFL Free Agency Awards With Danny Heifetz, Craig Horlbeck, and Danny Kelly
Right. I think you're right. I think the Tom Brady element here is what makes me feel
The Bill Simmons Podcast
The 2025 NFL Free Agency Awards With Danny Heifetz, Craig Horlbeck, and Danny Kelly
feel that it's more possible I think if it was up to Carroll completely which I don't know exactly how the decision making is being made in that building to be honest but if it was purely up to Carroll I think everything we've seen on his record is let's build up the team let's build up the franchise get good offensive linemen get good weapons and then you drop a quarterback into the system that's exactly what he did
The Bill Simmons Podcast
The 2025 NFL Free Agency Awards With Danny Heifetz, Craig Horlbeck, and Danny Kelly
and tried to do with Seattle, that he talked about it constantly. It's like the number one job of a GM and a coach is to make life easy on the quarterback. That is the number one priority. So drafting a rookie in the first year of your regime doesn't make sense to me. But if the plan is to let him sit a year or two,
The Bill Simmons Podcast
The 2025 NFL Free Agency Awards With Danny Heifetz, Craig Horlbeck, and Danny Kelly
Then I think you can make that argument and maybe Tom Brady loves Shitter enough to kind of step in and overrule. But I think right now it makes more sense for the Raiders to take like an offensive lineman or a defensive lineman, something to build up the trenches and get this team ready where you can drop a young quarterback in eventually like two years down the line.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
The 2025 NFL Free Agency Awards With Danny Heifetz, Craig Horlbeck, and Danny Kelly
I mean, I think, yeah, it would the top three teams need quarterbacks. This is, you know, you traditionally see teams get a little bit desperate for the quarterback position. I think if in a vacuum, you probably wouldn't put Ward and Schroeder as top three picks, you know, types of guys that you would give that type of grade to. But the NFL is desperate for quarterbacks.
The Bill Simmons Podcast
The 2025 NFL Free Agency Awards With Danny Heifetz, Craig Horlbeck, and Danny Kelly
You need to you need a quarterback. So I don't know if I would say I wouldn't be surprised if they go in the top three, but it wouldn't be shocking at the same time if they if they both go top three.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
Kawhi’s Reminder Game and Cade’s Arrival. Plus, NFL Draft Best- and Worst-Case Scenarios With Danny Kelly and Danny Heifetz.
Yeah, that's actually a big part of my contract. I'm always making sure to be one one spot above high fits on everything. Give give everybody the option to read my stuff instead of high fits. That's a big part of it.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
Kawhi’s Reminder Game and Cade’s Arrival. Plus, NFL Draft Best- and Worst-Case Scenarios With Danny Kelly and Danny Heifetz.
I mean, I think the easy answer here is Ashton Gentry running back from Boise State. It would be shocking to me if he didn't end up being at least a very good running back in the league. I mean, elite contact balance, good explosiveness, makes guys miss in a phone booth, good in the passing game. He's basically as complete of a running back as you can get.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
Kawhi’s Reminder Game and Cade’s Arrival. Plus, NFL Draft Best- and Worst-Case Scenarios With Danny Kelly and Danny Heifetz.
I think the one thing that maybe he doesn't have that some of the most elite running back prospects of the past have had is like that extra gear, that home run gear. But I think otherwise he has everything you're looking for.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
Kawhi’s Reminder Game and Cade’s Arrival. Plus, NFL Draft Best- and Worst-Case Scenarios With Danny Kelly and Danny Heifetz.
Yeah, absolutely. I mean, he rose to the occasion, I thought, even when they were playing some of the bigger teams. Because obviously, playing at Boise State, the level of competition is going to be a question mark. But I thought every team that he was playing all year knew he was going to be the centerpiece, the focus of that offense, and he still produced every single game. So I think...
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
Kawhi’s Reminder Game and Cade’s Arrival. Plus, NFL Draft Best- and Worst-Case Scenarios With Danny Kelly and Danny Heifetz.
There are some, I guess, like, ways to look at it. Like, the competition is a concern, but I think he did more than enough against some of the, like, the quote-unquote big teams that I'm not too worried about it.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
Kawhi’s Reminder Game and Cade’s Arrival. Plus, NFL Draft Best- and Worst-Case Scenarios With Danny Kelly and Danny Heifetz.
I totally agree with that. He's my 10th player on my big board. I just think he's a really exciting, versatile, kind of like a hybrid linebacker edge player. You mentioned the like the closing speed, the pursuit. He is special when it comes to he sees he sees a play happening. He triggers down downhill and closes on the quarterback or the ball carrier, what have you. in an instant.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
Kawhi’s Reminder Game and Cade’s Arrival. Plus, NFL Draft Best- and Worst-Case Scenarios With Danny Kelly and Danny Heifetz.
He's just so good. I think he's a spark plug player for a defense where he's going to really energize everybody around him. I think you can line him up and rush him off the edge at times. I think you can line him up off the ball.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
Kawhi’s Reminder Game and Cade’s Arrival. Plus, NFL Draft Best- and Worst-Case Scenarios With Danny Kelly and Danny Heifetz.
He's the perfect type of player for some of these hybrid defenses these days that are kind of taking over the NFL where you have guys coming as blitzers from every different angle on different downs and the offense, the quarterback just never knows where the pressure is going to come from. I think he's the perfect type of player for those defenses.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
Kawhi’s Reminder Game and Cade’s Arrival. Plus, NFL Draft Best- and Worst-Case Scenarios With Danny Kelly and Danny Heifetz.
So yeah, he's one of my favorite players in this draft.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
Kawhi’s Reminder Game and Cade’s Arrival. Plus, NFL Draft Best- and Worst-Case Scenarios With Danny Kelly and Danny Heifetz.
Um, I went with Jihad Campbell, the linebacker edge rusher from Alabama. I just feel like there's a, it's hard to see him not being a productive, good player on a defense, wherever he ends up, whether that's off coming off the edge as a pure pass rusher, or maybe doing a little bit of both lining up, you know, in, in the secondary or whatever, in the second level. Um,
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
Kawhi’s Reminder Game and Cade’s Arrival. Plus, NFL Draft Best- and Worst-Case Scenarios With Danny Kelly and Danny Heifetz.
I like this guy because he's really long. He's really twitchy, really explosive. He has a nose for the football. I mean, he had 117 tackles last year, 65 stops, according to PFF, which was second in the FBS. So he's always around the ball, has a really good feel for, you know, sifting through the trash and finding the football.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
Kawhi’s Reminder Game and Cade’s Arrival. Plus, NFL Draft Best- and Worst-Case Scenarios With Danny Kelly and Danny Heifetz.
And I think he has really untapped potential as just a pure edge rusher. He was recruited as a five-star edge rush guy to Alabama, kind of got stuck behind a bunch of really good pass rushers, a bunch of firsts. round style pass rushers there. And so kind of just decided to play a different position.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
Kawhi’s Reminder Game and Cade’s Arrival. Plus, NFL Draft Best- and Worst-Case Scenarios With Danny Kelly and Danny Heifetz.
He, he had, he offers that hybrid skillset, but I think he could be really good both as a linebacker and as an edge rusher, whatever, whatever he ends up doing, or maybe he does a little bit of both at the next level. And if you look, if you see him, he kind of has the physique of like a miles Garrett.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
Kawhi’s Reminder Game and Cade’s Arrival. Plus, NFL Draft Best- and Worst-Case Scenarios With Danny Kelly and Danny Heifetz.
He's not quite as big as miles Garrett, but I'm like, this guy is just a rare, rare athlete playing defense. So I really like him.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
Kawhi’s Reminder Game and Cade’s Arrival. Plus, NFL Draft Best- and Worst-Case Scenarios With Danny Kelly and Danny Heifetz.
I think he's going to end up going higher than that. Yeah. I think he'll go top 10 probably. What's your hesitation? Well, I think my hesitation is the history of tight ends in the first round is pretty grim in terms of like the return on investment for a lot of teams. If you look at first round tight end, like some of the best tight ends in the NFL are all like second rounders and lower.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
Kawhi’s Reminder Game and Cade’s Arrival. Plus, NFL Draft Best- and Worst-Case Scenarios With Danny Kelly and Danny Heifetz.
And then, you know, so I think there's that. I think the fact that he never tested in this pre-draft process, we don't really know exactly how fast he is. That could throw teams off a little bit. The tight end position, generally speaking, is just not...
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
Kawhi’s Reminder Game and Cade’s Arrival. Plus, NFL Draft Best- and Worst-Case Scenarios With Danny Kelly and Danny Heifetz.
considered a premium position and i think he's still a work in progress a little bit as a blocker so i don't i personally do believe he will go high and i think i've got him in my final mock draft which is going to publish tomorrow um i've got him going to the colts at 14 so i guess a little bit higher but um he is one of the quote-unquote blue chip players in this class in my opinion it's just a matter of whether teams see tight end as is a huge difference making position okay so the last third essentially here of the first round high fits give us a name
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Yeah, I... Oh, no, that's a terrible response.
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Kawhi’s Reminder Game and Cade’s Arrival. Plus, NFL Draft Best- and Worst-Case Scenarios With Danny Kelly and Danny Heifetz.
Yeah, I'm with you. I think he will go in the first round because he is truly, actually, literally, maybe one of the most athletic safeties ever. According to some of his testing times, his relative athletic score, he's probably the most athletic player at his position they've ever measured. And he's big, long. I like how he brings kind of that intimidation factor over the middle of the field.
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Kawhi’s Reminder Game and Cade’s Arrival. Plus, NFL Draft Best- and Worst-Case Scenarios With Danny Kelly and Danny Heifetz.
You don't have a ton of safeties in the NFL nowadays that have that intimidating sort of presence. So he's definitely a guy I really like. I think... he could be a guy that the Seahawks look at too in the first round. All right. Do you have one for us, Danny? I do. I'm going back to the running back. While here, I'm already in Hampton. I just feel like there's no way that he is bad in the NFL.
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Kawhi’s Reminder Game and Cade’s Arrival. Plus, NFL Draft Best- and Worst-Case Scenarios With Danny Kelly and Danny Heifetz.
He's just going to be a rock solid, high volume, tackle breaking running back for whatever team picks him in that 20 to, you know, like the last third of the first round, I think maybe Denver takes him in the first round and he just turns into the next Mark Ingram for, for Sean Payton. Yeah. Explosive accelerator, which I love about him.
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Kawhi’s Reminder Game and Cade’s Arrival. Plus, NFL Draft Best- and Worst-Case Scenarios With Danny Kelly and Danny Heifetz.
He'll sit there and get stopped and then just explode through a hole, through a gap, explode past a big group of guys. He breaks a ton of tackles. He pinballs kind of through the line. Just really hard to bring him down. I think he's reliable in the passing game. He's not necessarily an elite pass catcher, but he's good enough to be on swing passes, screens, things like that.
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Kawhi’s Reminder Game and Cade’s Arrival. Plus, NFL Draft Best- and Worst-Case Scenarios With Danny Kelly and Danny Heifetz.
And yeah, he's just an all-around back with a ton of... experience, son of carries. And I think, you know, other than like injury or whatever, I think there's no way this guy's going to be bad in the NFL.
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I look at the there's some mocks and this is actually turning into sort of like a common thing. Jackson Dart in the top 10 to the Saints specifically, I just feel like has just disaster written all over it. Not that I don't think he could end up developing into a good quarterback down the line. I think he's just one of those players that is going to need some time to develop.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
Kawhi’s Reminder Game and Cade’s Arrival. Plus, NFL Draft Best- and Worst-Case Scenarios With Danny Kelly and Danny Heifetz.
He's going to need some time to develop. It's just a projection right now, whether he can learn to be in a progression passing game, go through his reads. Right now, the offense that we saw at Ole Miss is just one read, get the ball out, or go scramble and kind of be a playmaker. So I just think there's a ton of projection that goes into Jackson Dart's game.
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Kawhi’s Reminder Game and Cade’s Arrival. Plus, NFL Draft Best- and Worst-Case Scenarios With Danny Kelly and Danny Heifetz.
And I just don't think the Saints are really a team right now that is... constructed to give a quarterback a great chance of success, especially a quarterback like Jackson Dart. So it's like they have issues on the offensive line. The receiver core is barren at this point. I mean, assuming Olave is, I don't know what's going to happen with Olave going forward. I don't know.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
Kawhi’s Reminder Game and Cade’s Arrival. Plus, NFL Draft Best- and Worst-Case Scenarios With Danny Kelly and Danny Heifetz.
They just don't seem like a team right now that can put a drop a quarterback in there, especially a developmental type quarterback like Jackson Dart and have success in the NFL. So I think that one to me is just has disaster written all over it.
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Kawhi’s Reminder Game and Cade’s Arrival. Plus, NFL Draft Best- and Worst-Case Scenarios With Danny Kelly and Danny Heifetz.
Sure.
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Kawhi’s Reminder Game and Cade’s Arrival. Plus, NFL Draft Best- and Worst-Case Scenarios With Danny Kelly and Danny Heifetz.
I can throw one out here.
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Kawhi’s Reminder Game and Cade’s Arrival. Plus, NFL Draft Best- and Worst-Case Scenarios With Danny Kelly and Danny Heifetz.
This is kind of a Homer pick here because I'm a Seahawks fan, but Seahawks not taking offensive linemen in the first round is going to... I can already tell. I'm already getting kind of mad about it. Already? Yeah. Just like preemptive anger is forming in my stomach right now because they didn't do anything to basically augment or fix their offensive line. They had to...
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Kawhi’s Reminder Game and Cade’s Arrival. Plus, NFL Draft Best- and Worst-Case Scenarios With Danny Kelly and Danny Heifetz.
bunch of guys come in and they ended up not signing any of them in free agency. And now they've kind of painted themselves into a corner a little bit, I think, um, in having to take a, to take an offensive line. I mean, they've had one of the worst offensive lines over the last, it feels like a decade.
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I don't, I don't know exactly how long it's been, but, um, I can't remember the last time the CX had a good offensive line and we're going into this next season with a quarterback and Sam Darnold, who is pressure sensitive. It's really going to help him a lot. If the offensive line is giving him protection, helping him, um, you know, have that extra beat to get the throw off.
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Kawhi’s Reminder Game and Cade’s Arrival. Plus, NFL Draft Best- and Worst-Case Scenarios With Danny Kelly and Danny Heifetz.
And I just feel like Darnold, especially among quarterbacks is one of those guys that if, if pressure's coming consistently, he's just, it's going to not go well for him. So I'm already getting mad that the Seahawks didn't take an offensive lineman when they pick first. Okay.
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Kawhi’s Reminder Game and Cade’s Arrival. Plus, NFL Draft Best- and Worst-Case Scenarios With Danny Kelly and Danny Heifetz.
Yeah, what if someone trades into the first round to take Milrow? They're giving up picks to get back in there. Yeah, I had that one circled as well.
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I think Heifetz and I are both probably higher on Milrow than most people, but even I would be a little bit concerned if you trade up into the first round or take him in the first round just because, again, that's just such a long development arc for him that you have to kind of bake in. I know he's an awesome athlete, but just not going to be ready to go right away.
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Kawhi’s Reminder Game and Cade’s Arrival. Plus, NFL Draft Best- and Worst-Case Scenarios With Danny Kelly and Danny Heifetz.
I'm going to piggyback off of the Hertz discussion. And the dumbest thing to me that's going to happen in that range of the first round is one of these very talented. And I don't have anyone specifically in mind, but this happens every year where someone who I think the draft consensus really likes ends up falling a little bit.
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Kawhi’s Reminder Game and Cade’s Arrival. Plus, NFL Draft Best- and Worst-Case Scenarios With Danny Kelly and Danny Heifetz.
One of these, one of the beloved draft Twitter people is going to fall to 32 to the Eagles and the Eagles are going to take them. And we're all going to be really excited that the Eagles got a great player.
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Yeah. Like it's going to be someone that everyone loves. And for whatever reason, whether maybe it's like some injury red flag or something that we don't really know about yet, he falls to 32 and the Eagles are like, all right, well, I'll take them. And he's going to turn into like a pro bowl player every year.
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Kawhi’s Reminder Game and Cade’s Arrival. Plus, NFL Draft Best- and Worst-Case Scenarios With Danny Kelly and Danny Heifetz.
I was going to say, Heifetz and I, I think both are pretty lockstep about Jalen Milrow. Not necessarily super high on him, but we just want, like of all the quarterbacks that you could take a risk on, I think I would probably take the guy who can run a 4-3 and has a rocket arm. Maybe we can figure out how to teach him to play quarterback later. Yeah.
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Kawhi’s Reminder Game and Cade’s Arrival. Plus, NFL Draft Best- and Worst-Case Scenarios With Danny Kelly and Danny Heifetz.
I was going to say this one's not so, this one's kind of more in the weeds, but Basial Tootin, the Virginia Tech running back, he gives me the same sort of exciting feeling I had when I was watching Devon Achan in college in terms of just his blazing speed, turbocharged acceleration, ability to access gaps in the line that very few other running backs can have.
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Kawhi’s Reminder Game and Cade’s Arrival. Plus, NFL Draft Best- and Worst-Case Scenarios With Danny Kelly and Danny Heifetz.
He's more of like a third round type of guy. Talladega. Yeah, he's just I love when the cars go by, like just the speed that he has is so fun to watch. So he's kind of like turning into my guy. I think I'm realizing.
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Oh man, this is tough. I, I probably honestly would just go with gentee in this case because he is one of the few very top tier blue chip players in this class. Uh, James Connor, isn't going to be around forever for them. Um, You know, obviously they took Trey Benson last year, but he, you know, the third round, but he wasn't necessarily doing anything all that special for them.
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Kawhi’s Reminder Game and Cade’s Arrival. Plus, NFL Draft Best- and Worst-Case Scenarios With Danny Kelly and Danny Heifetz.
So I think I just got to go with Gentee. I mean, I feel like anytime anyone asks me about Gentee, I'm just going to say Gentee because he is just such a special player in this class.
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I would say no to that. I would be not doing that if I was the Titans. If I was the Broncos, I would 100% do that. Is that what you're asking? Yeah, you're working for Denver. Three firsts for, yeah, 100% would do that.