NO GENERATIONAL TALENTS?: Sonny Style, Caleb Downs and Commanders' Edge Value EXPOSED in NFL Draft

0:00Sonny Stiles had himself a historic NFL scone and combine workout, but that isn't enough to label him a generational talent yet in this year's NFL Draft. You are Lockdown Commanders, your daily podcast on the Washington Commanders. Part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team, every day. This is Lockdown Commanders, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, the number one sports podcast network. I'm David Harrison, your guy on the ground, credential member of the media covering the Washington Commanders for WUS-89. Also find me writing for Commanders on SI here with you five days a week and coming up on today's episode, Versatility is the key under David Blow. If you want to be a receiver on this roster, but first this year's draft class is a classic conflict between supply and demand and the need for league altering talent from media and fans alike is having an impact all that coming up on today's episode of Lockdown Commanders. Part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team, every day.

1:02It's all brought to you by Game Time, download the Game Time app, create your account, use the code Lockdown for $20 off your purchase. TJ coming through. I think I gave TJ credit for a question on our last mail bug that wasn't actually TJ's question. I apologize if I got that wrong. Who asked the question? Regardless, just like this one is a great question. As well TJ, this one for short TJ asking who is the true generational quote unquote talent at number seven is the week quarterback class inflating edge value, very astute. Does Hall of Fame potential lie with Caleb Downs Ohio State's safety, sunny styles Ohio State linebacker or main sort of lane LSU cornerback rather than Jeremiah Love Notre Dame running back, our Val Reese Ohio State linebacker slash edge Ruben Bain Jr. Miami, Florida edge. Detail. He needs to be an interior deep as alignment or David Bailey, Texas tech edge or could it be a wider seer?

2:03Lots of layers to the question that are TJ, but I think you hit on something very specific that I think is having an impact on the way people were talking about this year's draft. Apart from Heisman winning quarterback Fernando Mendoza, quarterback from Indiana, the national champion who did defeat my Ohio State Buckeyes in the big 10 championship game, unfortunately for me, there is no consensus number one overall pick. And if we're being honest, Fernando Mendoza is the consensus number one overall pick because it does quarterback in the class and Las Vegas Raiders, you pick number one overall, desperately need a quarterback. What this has done is can create a public vacuum, not a not a inside the NFL vacuum, but a public vacuum where edge players and hybrid defenders are being pushed up the draft boards. These guys are going to be drafted higher than they would in a lot of other classes because typically you have what to maybe three quarterbacks that are going to be considered top 10 picks. So that means you're about about seven of these, you know, positional player guys going in the first round. But in this first round, you're looking at nine. I don't know.

3:04I don't think Ty Simpson is going to work his way into the top 10 of this year's class. So it looks like you're going to have nine positional players, whether it be receivers, D linemen, edge, whatever, going in the top 10 where normally they would not go in the top 10. So the number seven pick dilemma at this point is at this pick, Adam Peters is in position to catch someone who's going to slide because the teams ahead of them, the Raiders adjusts the cardinals among others are still trying to figure out their quarterback plans. Now, there is no one generational player from most people's opinions in this draft. Instead, there are three distinct tiers of players who, you know, I don't know if you want to call it Hall of Fame ceiling, but basically have different levels of ceilings. And you have the first, the big three, and again, this is just my impression. If you reading other outlets or reading other draft experts, I'll tell you right now, I tend to stick to Daniel Jeremiah, Bucky Brooks and Trevor Sikima. But if you're reading other people, you might have a different vibe out there. Caleb Downs, the Ohio State Safety is the quote unquote cleanest prospect.

4:04Daniel Jeremiah has him as a top 10 lock, even though he's a safety and safety. You don't typically go top, go top 10. TJs does seem to think Caleb Downs has generational traits, but it's not really athletic. It's his IQ. And that's going to help him continue to climb up the boards where basically someone can convince himself that Caleb Downs is the is the defensive equivalent to a franchise quarterback. To me, if you're going to have a defensive equivalent to a franchise quarterback, you would have to be an off-ball linebacker that sets the defense does all these things, makes the most of the checks and all that kind of stuff. And that guy could be Ohio State linebacker, sunny styles, who has obviously got the physical part down, right? If you watch his NFL scouting combine workout, I mean, 43 and a half inch vert, the 40, the workout, like this is a dude who has just blew all the all the evaluations off the board. So if you want a hall of fame based or a hall of fame ceiling based on just the measurements, sunny styles has got to be the most likely guy, but even sunny styles like as most people love the athletics and love the measurements and all that, like you turn on the tape and

5:06you see a very good running linebacker not running back. Do you see generational talent? I don't know so much that you do Mansort Elaine. I've said it on this show. I think he's the number one cornerback in this class. I think he's got locked down cornerback potential. But again, I'm going to tell you he's the best cornerback I've ever seen enter the NFL draft. And I haven't been covering the league as much as or as long as a lot of these guys have certainly haven't worked in the league like people like Daniel Jeremiah and Bucky Brooks have. No, I'm not going to tell you that he's the best, but is he the best in this class largely due to Germain McCoy's injury history and what he's coming off of. In fact, he's yet to work out things like that. Yeah, I would say that he's the best in this class. And I think that you also look at that inflated edge market that TJ brought up because of the scarcity of the quarterbacks in this class, the value of guys like Ruben Bay and Junior David Bailey certainly are going up. I don't know if I would say they're skyrocketing like I think both of these guys would be in the top 10 conversation regardless, but I have a lot of doubts on Ruben Bay and Junior as an edge rusher.

6:06I don't think he's an edge guy. I have some doubts that David Bailey, like I'm not going to sit here and guarantee you in any way, shape or form that David Bailey is going to be this elite edge rusher to be quite honest with you. Are they generational? No, I think they're the best in this class in a class where there's only one quarterback and so their pick spot is going to be elevated. Then you have Arville Reese, who's kind of the best hybrid middle ground, right? You can play off ball linebacker. You can play edge. He's got the athleticism. I think he's probably out of the names of all these guys that we've just talked about he's probably the best fit because like even man's sort of lane, who is certainly one of my favorites for number seven, doesn't have the athleticism that you would think that Doront day Jones will probably want. He's got a lot of other things. I think Arville Reese has the best combination of athleticism and all that other stuff. Maybe sunny styles also Caleb down certainly could make that argument. The other Cver wild card like TJ brought up carnal tape. A lot of people were talking about his four or five three 40 and you know, is he slow and all these other things like. You have guys with questions up and down the board, but I think what we're doing from

7:10a public standpoint is we're trying to find, okay, Fernando Mendoza, the automatic number one, who is the defensive or positional player that's going to be the goose that lays the golden egg? Maybe it's a golden dome or Notre Dame running back Jeremiah love. I think of Jeremiah love and Ashton Genti, who was last year's first running back taking off the board. We're in the same draft. I think Jeremiah love would come off the board first. So I do think Jeremiah love is better this year than last year's number one back. Was, but again, I'm not going to sit here and tell you the Jeremiah love is going to be the greatest running back, you know, he's going to just completely transcend what running back, doing the national football league. So, you know, if the question is, is there someone in number seven who can be a generational player? I don't think it's fair to put that tag on any of these guys coming into the NFL draft. I don't think we see, you know, a Calvin Johnson, a Quentin Nelson and Andrew Luck. Like, I don't think we see that guy. Like when those guys were coming out of the draft, people were talking about them as generational players. That's okay. Because there have been plenty of generational players who were not talked about as being generational

8:10players when they came out of the draft, JJ Wat comes to the mind. There are plenty of those guys out there. So I'm not too worried about like from my standpoint and on lockdown commanders, you're not going to hear a lot of talk about like, you got to go get a generational player, no, you don't, you got to go get a guy who's going to be good and is going to fit your system. Whether or not he becomes generational, honestly, has a lot to do with individual personality work ethic, ability to say healthy, which is a little bit of a crapshoot. But a lot of it also has to do with coaching and fit and the scheme and how things go in the organization. So I'm not going to be too wrapped around the axle about it. I understand the question. I think it's a good question to talk about because the national narrative is certainly out there. But I think that we as a public and not necessarily even TJ who asked the question or anybody else who's listening or whoever, but we as a public, whether you're media or fans, I think we're just, we are so used to having like the blue chip players, the top of the NFL draft that we just have to have one. I think this draft is very good. I think it's deep, but I don't think you have this like guaranteed slam dunk generational

9:11player at the top of the board. So that being said, good question there from the mailbag moving on. We've got a question I put out a, I posited right a theory where Tyler, if we can speak Terry McClure and moves into the slot for the Washington commanders. Does that potentially push another Washington commanders receiver off the depth charts? The answer is yes. Why Traylon Berks doesn't work if my theory on Terry McClure and is correct coming up next on today's episode of Locked On Commanders, part of the Locked On podcast network, your team every day. And this episode of Locked On Commanders brought to you in part by game time. We live in a world where we can stream anything. We can order food in minutes and we carry small super computers in our pockets. And somehow buying tickets to a lot of games still feels complicated hidden fees, jumping prices and list steps. There just has to be a better way. And that's why I use the game time app because it is a better way it gives fans the advantage it makes getting tickets simple, whether it's NFL games, concerts, comedy, whatever you're

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11:16You can meet face to face with a real tax expert and your documents get uploaded straight to your TurboTax app on the spot and just like that, you're done. Your TurboTax expert works to get you every dollar you deserve while you get real time notifications as you go about your day. It's a relief of walking in and meeting a real person and walking out knowing your taxes are being handled right head to TurboTax.com slash local again, TurboTax.com slash local to find a store near you and book your appointment. We're wrapping up today's episode of Locked On Commanders, our final mail bag episode of this series. A lot of great questions coming from insiders and all access every day, every day your club. Members greatly appreciate all of you, especially those of you who are signing up new as we get ready for a new league year here on Locked On Commanders. This one coming overseas, more eats. Ask the question more. Hopefully I'm saying that I met you in Spain, so I feel really bad if I'm mispronounced

12:20in your name. So if I am, do not hesitate to correct me, I definitely want to make sure I'm saying that right. But the question is, if Terry McClure moves into the slot more, is there still room on the roster to justify resigning Trail and Berks since that's his best position and to be fair, that saying that's his best position is actually a little bit supported by fact and history. But it's also a take that I had on this show and I don't know that's where you're getting it from. But I want to just not expose, but identify here as we have this conversation that I was on this show talking about Trainland Berks coming about to be that power slot compute Luke McCaffrey go after that job, right? But then later on, struck me like an anvil to the head chasing a road runner. Terry McClure could benefit from moving into the slot more. So it does bring up the question I have actually thought about this. I just haven't had the conversation yet. We're going to have it now. So Terry McClure is moving into the slot more. You already got Luke McCaffrey who can fit the power slot back up role. Is there room for Trail and Berks because if this is happening and the reason we think

13:24this is possibly happening, I should say I can't even say we think it is actually happening, I think possibly happening is David Blow in his one on one interview with John Derand WS a nine telling us that he wants to get Terry McClure and 10 plus targets again. And I'll tell you right now, if David Blow is playing as a good Terry McClure and 10 plus targets a game, as he lines up 77% of the time as the X receiver split far wide left. David Blow may not be around very long as you're on the way to the watch. Because that's like trying to shoot logo 3s as your primary source of scoring the thing and you're going to win games. It's just not going to happen. So Terry's going to have to move around and I think he's going to do it in the slot. So with Trail and Berks, now you're looking at him needing to play more of that exposition, more of that Z position. And when you look at Trail and Berks's game, join the watch compares mid season in 2025 after being waved by the Tennessee Titans, he certainly has potential. You saw that catch. He made great catch. He's certainly that he's always flashed that potential, but he finished the season with just 10 catches 130 yards. Now you try not to weigh that too much because I didn't have can't didn't have all the right

14:26like he's joining midstream. It's hard. It's difficult. But he is currently an unrestricted free agent. The market value suggests three and a half million dollars as a proven deal, very reasonable price. If you even justify spending three and a half million on a backup slot, if he's going to be your backup backup slot, right, because Luke McCaffrey fits that role. Terry McCorns is going to be in there 30, 40% of the time, potentially in this scenario. Luke McCaffrey is going to be in there, what another 15, 20% of the time. Are you going to put Trail and Berks in there the other percentage of the time and pay him three and a half million dollars? I don't know that you are. And with Trail and Berks, he's not a burner six foot two to twenty five pounds. He's got a very physical presence. Just can play does he a little bit on the outside, but in Tennessee, he struggled from the outside. And what he struggled a lot in doing, talking to people who watch Titans football a lot closer than I do, is playing that receiver position outside of your position, because you got to go up and catch a lot of passes and you got to come down with those balls. And that's where he struggled one. He struggled to secure the passes when doing so too. He's struggling to say healthy.

15:27The dude doesn't know how to fall and he gets hurt a lot when he's doing it in Arkansas like college. He was that kind of power slot type receiver and dominated. So that seems to me kind of like the role that he needs to play. But if you've got Terry McClore, like I said, the plans move Terry inside, you've got Luke McCaffer. You can also move inside. Does it really justify bringing Trail and Berks back? It's not just like we just talked about this in Larry McTunsell, right? It's not just the team. Even if the team is like, Hey, dude, we'll bring you back on a vet, men, minimum, and we'll let you kind of grind it out, compete. And Berks, like what is he going to want is he, well, one is he can have offers. That's number one. Number two, if he does have offers, is he going to want to go out there and try to see, well, maybe I can compete for a true blue number two job or true blue number three job and not be out here competing for the third power slot job in Washington. If David Blowr truly wants an offense that is explosive, Trail and Berks on his lack of explosive speed, look, he's got decent wheels, right? And he would beat me and erase any given Sunday, every and twice on every other day. But is it enough for this new system?

16:28I don't know. And if the Terry, like I said, is moving inside, then you want a pure vertical threat to play that x-roll. When Terry is not there, you want a vertical threat to play that z-roll to clear out when Terry is not there. I don't know. The trail and Berks really fits that deal, didn't get a lot of play time with Jay Daniel. So we don't know if the rapport would be there really, you're kind of having to rebuild that. You're only going to keep probably about five, six receivers. You have some special teams, you know, things like Jalen Lane is your part returner, Loot McCafferies, your kick returner, yeah, Trail and Berks can do some kick return stuff. We saw that last year as well, but is that really enough to justify keeping them on the roster? I don't know. So more eats, you brought it up. And to me, yeah, I think that if the wash commanders are planning on moving, Terry McCloren, into the slot more, I don't know that there's room for Trail and Berks to come back on this roster. So I think it's a great question. I think you, you called out a flaw, but, you know, originally I talked about Trail and Berks being that power slot back up to Loot McCafferies, and then we had the great idea of moving Terry McCloren inside. So you point out a great, like trickle down here of, hey, like if this happens, maybe

17:31you got to reverse this, this original thing from previous, so I think you hit the nail on the head right there, which is why we do these mailbox, man, because they're great, great times. That's going to do it for this mail back series. And that's going to do it for today's episode. Next time on Loot McCafferies, we're going to start our preview, our position group preview, who's on the roster? How's the depth chart? Look, where do the washing commanders need to go in free agency, and I'm even going to make some predictions on who they're going to sign that way? You can celebrate me and you can curse me all during the week next week, as these players actually start to get signed. If you never miss it episode, the everyday club is built for you, locked on commanders.supercast.com, promo code free agency to get one month of the everyday club free happening right now until March 15th. We've always already had a numerous amounts of people take advantage of that offer. So I really appreciate those of you coming through, giving it a try. And for those of you who are considering it, it's free, it's free for a month. If you don't like it, you just have to make sure you can't go before the second month starts. And that's it at free episodes, Discord access, you can get newsletters, discounts in

18:32the merch store, all kinds of fun stuff. So make sure you check that out again, locked on commanders.supercast.com, promo code free agency all one word to the everydayers. I see you every day. I appreciate you every day. And I thank you for coming through yet again today to everybody else and all the everydayers. Thank you for coming through today. And until next time, stay safe, be kind. We will talk again real soon right here on locked on commanders, part of the locked on podcast network, your team every day.