Lance Zierlien's NFL Draft Preview

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3:07A friend of the show, Noah Eagle with the call this past season on NBC, all you need is love. Is that true? Is all you need love? I'll tell you what, I'm a New York Giants fan. I didn't share my love is tremendous. I don't know if the best team building move is to take a running back in the top 10, but it certainly feels like that's going to happen, which are my love. We talked about the wave of mock traps that we've seen this week and almost all of them have loved not only going in the top 10, but going in the top five, and going specifically to the Tennessee Titans at fourth overall. Joining us right now at the talks of NFL draft, I'm fired up for this. Landzerlein who does an amazing job covering the NFL and specifically the NFL draft for our friends at NFL media with us here on the show on Twitter at his name. Landzerlein, Lance, welcome to you better, you bet. Nick Costos on Westwood One Sports, happy NFL draft season. Happy NCAA Tournament to you and yours, my friend. How's it going? Good. As soon as I get off with you, I've got to run out, go meet my buddy.

4:10My best friend, we're going to go watch games like we've done for the last, I don't know how many years, forever years. And we're going to go get something to eat, probably sit through two different spans of games. And then I'll come back here and write up two players for the day, two more players. And then we're going to try and get Lance's video situation. All right, let's do this guy's mic. Let's let's troubleshoot with Lance in his video here. Let's just make sure that the quality is good and Mike let me know when we're good to back to go with Lance here and I'll bring Lance back onto the show. But listen, like Landzerlein is live in the life, man. Think about that sentence for all the fans, the sports fans out there in the audience. Lance is going to watch the NCAA tournament. With his friends, like probably, I don't know, I'm going to paraphrase here. He didn't say this, maybe have a beer too, enjoy himself, eat some delicious food. And then write up some players for the NFL draft. Lance, I was just saying like you are living the life right now that a lot of people would love to live, right?

5:10Like watching the NCAA tournament, writing up players for the NFL draft, pretty cool. Yeah, it is. It is. It's a lot of fun. It's tough. It's pretty tough for especially right before the combine. I mean, I've got to have 350 players done basically. So in the span of about four months, so three months. So it's a lot of work. And you know, everything that I do is going to live on the Internet forever. I'll have 6,000 scatter reports on the Internet. So you want to make sure you get it as accurate as possible. So you can't take any shortcuts. So the time you have to put it, even for these players I'm doing now, or not likely to be drafted. I'm trying to look for the guys who are the sneaky players who could get drafted or could become future players. And so even with those guys, I got to spend the amount of time that it takes to accurately depict who they are and who they could be in the NFL level. And Lance does an awesome job again for our friends at NFL Media, the NFL Network NFL.com, et cetera. Let's start Lance with the presumptive number one overall pick in the NFL draft.

6:13Now I don't think there's any question like Fernandum and Moses going to be the first pick. He'll be the next quarterback of the Raiders. Whether he starts week one as a conversation for another time. I'm curious Lance, your evaluation of Fernandum and Doza, and the type of quarterback that Clint Kubiak and the Raiders will be getting with the first overall pick. I think they're getting a very mature quarterback. A guy with a lot of poise. He watched him at Cal. He got the brakes beaten off of him at Cal. The protection was terrible. He got hit a ton and yet what I saw was a quarterback who never flinched in the face of adversity. And I mean pocket adversity. You're going to sack him some. There's no question about that. I think his pocket mobility is just kind of average in terms of sliding around the pocket and getting to areas where he wants to throw. I don't think he's real fast getting out of their pocket and escaping. So that's a separate conversation. But when it comes to making a throw with people in his face, when you saw the, I'm sure you saw Nick the big throw against Penn State, the winning throw that he had to own.

7:13Tell him Mark Cooper. Yeah. He had a great example of, and he had to make a great throw. That, that, that throw and that drive showed who Fernando Mendoza was to me. He drove down, made some big throws. He had a couple of unbelievable throws. But the last throw, two defenders in his face hitting him in the chest as he got rid of the ball. And he delivered it without flinching. He took his time and threw when he needed to. He didn't rush it. And he put it to a place where only Omar Cooper could get it. And Omar made a great play on the ball. But that's an example who he is. I see Joe Burrow level accuracy and placement when I watch him throw. I think I'm like Joe, go ahead. No, I was going to say like that's really high praise. I would say why? It's not a place. Your Raiders fan, you got to love to hear that, Lance. It's high praise. When he, when you let him throw, when he's comfortable in throwing, I don't know that I've seen very many quarterbacks that I've studied over the years. I've done this. Who will hit a player in the hands accurately every single time more than Fernando Mendoza.

8:13When he gets, when his placement gets off a little bit interestingly enough, it's usually on RPOs where everything, you know, it's just kind of the quick reaction throws off the fake where he's making a read and throwing it quickly. When you let him get set in the pocket and you're not pressuring him, he's going to deliver it on the receiver's hands about 90% of the time. It's an incredible placement and accuracy. And the same thing I saw with Joe Burrow when he came out. Now, the difference is Joe Burrow had the ability to escape pressure. I thought he was more mobile outside of the pocket and I think Joe was on a different level in terms of his understanding of where he wanted to go at the football. But Fernando Mendoza is smart with the football. I think too much is being made about, oh, a lot of his throws are back shoulder and RPOs throws. I factor those out. Like when I filter out my, my tape on him, I'm looking at third and long throws. I'm looking at red zone throws and I'm looking at intermediate throws. A lot of throws between 10 and 20 yards because those are a lot of pro throws. And I also look at them throwing outside the numbers as well.

9:15And what I saw when I turn on to tape for the intermediate throws, when you play zone against him, fearless. He has no problem. He has great spatial awareness, like a point guard who understands how to get the ball from point A to point B without turning it over. He understands, and speaking of that, 29 touchdowns, no turnovers over the last two years in the red zone for him. He understands how to attack zones. He's accurate attacking man defense. I think the one area that you really have some concern about is you have to protect him at an above average level. You cannot be below average because his superpowers go away because he's not going to be able to extend and create on his own. I think if you're average, you're going to get more average Fernando Mendoza. If you're above average at protecting him and letting him throw, like I talked about with you, Nick, when he's got the chance to throw without being pressured, he is going to slice and dice you up every single day of the week. So that's one of the reasons I think Oakland, rather the Raiders,

10:18Las Vegas has done a great job of making offensive line of priority this off season. Because they have to. Yeah, the Tyler Linderbaum signing obviously hope to get Colton Miller healthy. Still have some work to do to fix what was probably the worst offensive line in the league last year. But off to a good start with Tyler Linderbaum, I think, at center with the highest paid center in the history of the NFL. I'll answer a line with us from NFL media. It does an awesome job covering the NFL draft and the NFL for them. Lance, we had one of your colleagues on the show last week. My buddy Matt Miller who covers the NFL draft for ESPN. He said something I found interesting. He thinks Jeremiah love the Notre Dame running back is the best player in the NFL draft. And even when as far to say that he thinks Jeremiah love is up there as a running back prospect, we'll say Quan Barkley, B. John Robinson, a better prospect than Jumeer Gibbs was coming out of Alabama when the Lions took him. I think we're probably going to split hairs with the answer whether or not you think he's as good or maybe not a little less than those guys. Do you see Jeremiah love in that way?

11:20And do you believe he is going to be a top five top 10 pick in the NFL draft? I don't see him in the same way that I had Safe Want Barkley. I think for me, I have a higher grade on not just Safe Want. I had a higher grade on B. John Robinson. And also on Blinken for the Raiders who just came out last year. Ashton Gentie. Yeah, Ashton Gentie. I think that's what he contrary in opinion, Lance on that. It is. It is. It is. And I think Gentie has a chance to still be special. I think he needs offensive line help just like everyone else does. Now, let me explain. I don't even think he's the most skilled runner on his team. I think Chinarian Price as a running back. And when I talk about running back, I'm talking about vision. I'm talking about getting through the contours of the lane, feeling run lane development. Making reads and breaking off cuts at the proper time. When it comes to being a pure running back, Chinarian Price is the best. It's the most skilled running back in the draft.

12:22But when you're talking about the highest rated, you have to go love. And here's why. Chinarian, rather. Jeremiah Love is going to rush some runs from time to time because he's just such an urgent explosive player. But that also comes with the ability to hit it in the holes faster than anyone. So he's got unbelievable burst. If you've got a little bit of a little bit of a crease for him, he can take it from first level to third level. Pass the second level in a hurry. If you miss fit, your run fits. Jeremiah Love can make you pay like generic, like Jeremiah Love is going to make you pay like Chinarian Price can't because he has break away speed. My comp forum was Jameer Gibbs, but they don't really run the same. The reason I made that comp, Nick, is because he can hit a home run out of the backfield, take it a long way on you. If you, if you miss fit, once I, once, you know, once again on your run fits. But the other thing is, and where he stands out above, I think he's on the beach on level. He stands out to me more so than asked and genty at this.

13:25Is he can slide out and literally play from a slot and run routes like a wide receiver? He is a terrific route runner. He has decent hands, but he's obviously electric when the ball on his hands. We obviously know that. But I don't see a, you can't guard him with a linebacker. And if you go smaller on him to, you know, like corner or safety, I think that's, you're now taking away from the rest of your coverage. So you're going to be able to line him up out of the backfield. So you're not accounting for him with the defensive back. Now all of a sudden he slides into the slot and you got a real problem because now you're having to match up with them without a corner or without a safety when you're going empty. He can protect the passer. So I think what makes him special to me and what pushes him above generic price is that his explosiveness they had home runs from anywhere on the field. And then his ability on third down is really, really special out of the backfield. I love that breakdown of Jeremiah love and the other running backs in this draft and especially his Notre Dame teammate.

14:27You better, you bet on this Thursday, Westwood, one sports, Nick Costos joined by land zero line of NFL media talking NFL draft here on the show. We have about five minutes left. Want to hit a couple others with you here. Lance, who is the best defensive player in the draft and who will be the first defensive player taken in the NFL draft? You know, I'm going to say the best defensive player in the draft right now for me is Mansour DeLane. If you just want to get a few corner, I love you. I haven't heard anyone say that. I love that. A pure football answer, Mansour DeLane is the best football player for me right now. Now the highest graded is our Valarice and that's based on projection. That's based on who I believe he's going to be because on the draft, it's not a, it's not, I'm not here to tell you who they are now. My job is to try to tell you who they're going to be in three to five years. So my grades are going to reflect that. DeLane, if he were six feet, six one and with 32 inch arms, to me, he might be the second player in this draft.

15:36I mean, he'd be the number two player on my board for sure. And he was for a while. I think a case can be made for David Bailey from Texas Tech, the past pressure. David Bailey is a much more skilled wrestler than our Valarice. David Bailey is the second most skilled wrestler. The most skilled wrestler is Akim Mesadors, the most skilled wrestler in terms of the ability. The bag is really deep. He can hit you with all kinds of different approaches and attacks, but he's also 25 years old. David Bailey can attack the pocket with an explosiveness or reminds me of Jalen Green. If you're a basketball fan, if you know basketball at all, Jalen Green, you speak with the rockets now with the suns. He's got the explosiveness of like a Jalen Green attacking the basket. That's kind of how David Bailey is. He's like a basketball player with the way he attacks the pocket. He comes at different angles in your used to. He's not necessarily a great bender, but he's super fast and super explosive. He is the, he is possibly the best defensive player in the draft. Mansour DeLane, to me, is just a smothering corner back.

16:37I thought everything about his tape was fantastic. He just doesn't have the elite measurables, but he is going to run really fast this pro day as well. And then, but the highest grade in his article, Reese, because when it's all said and done, I think he's got a chance to be the most special of anybody in this group. Outside of Fernando Mendoza, are any quarterbacks in this draft worthy of a first round pick? Not will they go in the first round or any other quarterbacks worthy? You're giving the thumbs down for people that are just listening to the show. So you don't like Ty Simpson. You don't like any of the others. Why not here in about 90 seconds to two minutes? My grade on Ty was the same grade I had on Chador Sanders last year. I think he could fit into the second round and have a chance. The amount of one year starters who have ever panned out as good NFL quarterbacks. It's a very low number and it's not Ty Simpson's fault. That's just what happened. But I think Ty Simpson shows a lot of potential to become a pretty good quarterback. If everything around him is really, really, you know, put together right. Nick, so he reminds me of Matt Jones in that way. So I think it's going to be his success is going to be deeply, deeply tied to everything

17:44being right around him from the coaching staff to the offensive line to the players around him so that he can, you know, gain the experience he needs as a one year starter because he's still got so much more football to learn. But I would not take him in the first round. Give us right now your biggest NFL. And this can be like hot take doesn't have to be Ty Simpson's going first overall. But give us the thing that you're strongest on right now on the NFL draft. We're about five six weeks out that you think will start coming to prominence. The people will start talking about, especially as we get through this weekend in the NCAA tournament. That's a really good question. Because in the draft, we always talk about this kind of stuff. I'm looking at my board here. I think people are going to fall off on the offensive tackles a little bit. I think they are going to realize that Kenyan Sadiq, I know it's hard to put a tight end anywhere. It's really hard to place them when you start doing mock drafts. But when you have a player like Kenyan Sadiq with this type of athletic profile

18:47and you see what Trey McBride has been able to do and Brock Bauer so less or extensively last year. But the year before in terms of high volume tight ends. I think more and more people as we get closer going to realize Kenyan Sadiq is going to go higher than you think. Because it's hard to find the Trey McBride and the Brock Bauer. Those guys who are high volume tight ends, it's very difficult to find those type of guys. And now we're going to take a guy with the athletic profile of Vernon Davis coming out. Those guys are mismatched pieces. They have to go higher than you think. Final question, Lance. I know you're a Houston guy. I don't know if you're Houston Cougars basketball. Are you, are you pulled for Houston and the NCAA? Okay. I grew up watching my dad as a football coach at University of Houston. So I grew up watching five slamming jambas. I can't, I'd go to games. So yeah, I'm still in with the Cougs. I love it. We go from Ralph Samson to the chemo lodge one now to like this excellent back court this year with Kingston Fleming. And Sharpen, who's on in company? Houston will make it to what rounds of the NCAA tournament this year?

19:50I think they get beat by Illinois. I think Illinois, I think that is elite eight, I believe. I think the three seed beats the two seed. I think I think Illinois, no, no, that's going to be sweet 16. I think Illinois beats Houston this year. It's just something missing from Houston this year. It's hard to explain. They just don't have quite the same front court in terms of being able to beat up on everybody. And for the offense they got with Kingston Fleming, who's very special. There's been a little bit of the same in the consistent tenacity defensively that we've seen in the past. So I like Houston a lot. I don't think this is, it's the most talented offensive unit they have, but there's just a little something missing. They could go to the elite eight. I don't see him as a final four team. I think that game against Illinois is going to be one of the best teams we see in the best games. We see in the whole tournament. Final question, hard 30 seconds for the answer. If the first round of the NBA playoffs is the three seed Los Angeles Lakers versus the six seed Houston Rockets.

20:51Who are you taking to win the series and why 30 seconds? I take, yeah, I take the, I take the Lakers and right now the Rockets are just kind of lost. Kevin Durant is not, is not the fourth quarter sniper that they were hoping for. They don't have the same defensive tenacity that they had previously. And the teams just kind of lost from an identity standpoint. Steven Adams losing him. They lost a toughness, Fred Van Vley. They lost way too much ball handling. They're just not the same team. They were even 20 games out of the season. I'm sorry to get you out on the sour note there. I just sigh. I've been thinking about that as well after the Lakers beat them again last night. So NFL media absolutely slams it with their, as you might imagine, their coverage of the NFL draft and all season long. Lance, Bucky Brooks, Charles Davis, obviously, Daniel Jeremiah, our pal Greg Rosenthal of NFL Daley. Lance, you're an absolute stud. Love your work on the NFL draft. Love to get you on again before the draft coming up in about five, six weeks. Enjoy the day with your buddy. Enjoy the games. You may have shot love to come back on deck. Lance Irland doing an awesome job with us here on you better.

21:53You bet. I'm sorry at the end there to be like, hey, what do you think of the Cougars? Yeah, they're going to lose. What about the Rockets? Yeah, I like the Lakers. Appreciate Lance's honesty. All right, before we take a break and we give you all our bets for today on the other side, Bill Zimmerman, our executive producer here with what I'm sure will be a fun trivia question on opening day of the tournament. Bill, what do we got? All right, Nick. Let's dive into it. So we've got March Madness opening up now in the top eight seeds all time. Every seed has won the national championship, but one. What is the one seed one through eight that has never won a national championship? All right. I think I know the answer. We will attempt to answer that question on the other side. And all our bets, myself, Tyler and Kenny, keep it locked here. You better, you bet Thursday Westwood One Sports. The Broncos created their first round pick to the dolphins for Jalen Wattle. Does the star receiver give Bohnix the weapon he needs to push Denver to the Super Bowl? Westwood One Sports.

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